爱喝melot的阿弗洛迪忒

这几天在Aspen（CO）出差。实际上只有半天在工作，午饭以后的时间完全是自己支配的。我在碧荫入云的小路上信步行走，不问来路也不知归途。沿途有健硕的野鹿在跳跃，黑色的蛇在游走，隐隐还有不知名的野兽的低吼。水声淙淙，鲜花遍地，漂亮的木屋掩映在树丛中。晚上经常会下雨，我就跳进hot tub，身子浸没在温热的泉水中，脸上的雨丝却是冰凉的。透过层层树叶，我仰望如墨的夜空，万籁俱寂，遐思神游。恍恍惚惚地，觉得灵魂都飘起来了。

现实却总有机会把我从梦中惊醒。昨天听了Obama的媒体见面会，看见他的白头发，想象几个月前刚刚就任时意气风发的样子，不由长叹，真是一夜白头啊！面对Bush政府甩过来的巨额财政赤字，和岌岌可危的州政府财政，Obama又要bail out financial system， 又要rescue the auto-industry， 又要reform health care, 还要develop new energy resource and go green. 这一切都要钱，许多许多钱。可是on the other hand, congress and taxpayers think they have given enough and have been waiting long enough. No more money and their patience is running out. 谁也不愿意sacrifice, 但是谁都想通过改革得到更多，特别是上层既得利益集团。

以Obama现在的改革理念，which is “soak the rich”, it will be extremely difficult to get through congress that is made up of top-tier wealthy people. 比如说，Obama 想拍卖CO2排放量上限给最佳节能环保规划企业，利用拍卖所得的收入，转而投入health care reform。 This “one stone kills two birds” strategy sounds smart, 但是in reality, 那些有大财团支持的国会议员们则更愿意用免费排放量指标换取财团头头们在政治上的支持。Put together, 任何直接触动上层阶级利益的改革措施肯定会被扼杀在摇篮里。

So, there is nothing we can do? Just sit here and let the economy spiral down to hell? Not necessary. 有一些改革是可以推行，并且be able to generate long-term benefits instead of short-term fake prosperity.

Take financial system improvement for example. 这场危机正是由于金融系统的自由无度缺乏监管造成的，所以instead of bailing out the banks by money, it is more important to have a healthy financial system..第一，明确the way of pricing financial assets. Currently, companies use different ways to price their financial assets, which cause different prices for the same value of financial assets and cause confusions to investors; 第二， whenever monitoring the macroeconomic system in any model, remember to incorporate financial middle men to calculate the risk of the investment, which totally lacks in previous models. 第三，based on consistent pricing of financial assets and precise risk forecast, government should keep an eye on the pace and scale of a financial market develop, balancing out the power of monetary or fiscal policy and the market capability itself.

扯远了扯远了，还是继续Jacuzzi吧：）

It looks like the crisis has passed the lowest point, if not completely gone. The government is desperately looking for new driving force that can grow the economy with a stable high speed for another decade or so. Apparently, it is not in Washington, not in Wall Street, not in Detroit, and even not in Silicon Valley, which created numerous brainy overnight millionaires and witnessed the dream bubbles broke.

 

Obama put his gambling chits in two areas: health care and alternative energy. They are not new topics that just emerged, but have never been taken into real actions due to extremely high cost and various distortions in current political system. I don’t want to go into a tedious discussion about how to overcome those road blocks, but rather stay positive by bringing up the possible options to replace petrol fuel.

 

To establish a low-carbon economy, we need safer nuclear power stations, more efficient solar cells and extract more energy from the wind and the sea. Recent innovation and application in nano-technology left the door wide open. For example, a nano-techonlogy based new material was invented to replace regular metal to fabricate the nuclear reactor. Metal became brittle and weak after it is exposed to radiation, therefore the life time of a traditional nuclear reactor is not long and people need to keep the percentage of nuclear fuel burning very low, roughly 1%, let alone the expense on procession of radioactive waste. However, nanotechnology makes it possible to force different layers in the metal thinner, so the atoms are closer to each other. This very structure gives the new material a “self-healing” feature, namely another atom will fill in the hole made by one lost atom caused by radiation. New materials are more durable, with higher fuel burning efficiency and lower cost on waste. Another eye-catching case is the more efficient solar cell. In a traditional solar cell made of semi-conduct silicon, there is only a portion of the spectrum that is converted to energy. By combining multiple layers, each of which absorbs energy from a particular color in the spectrum, energy is converted from almost the whole spectrum.   

 

Steve Chu, the secretary of department of energy and a noble prize winner, also leans towards low-carbon economy, although he favored corn-based ethanol and vetoed the hydrogen fuel. He has hundreds of billions of dollars in hand and this partially eased the financial burden from high R&D cost in technology renovation. No less politician than Winston Churchill said, scientist should always be on tap, not on top, but in a era that technology is largely relied on to boost economy, this is not true. As long as they can effectively communicate with those obdurate politicians, scientists can be on top, not just on tap.

 

 

 

Life fragment 1:

After several years of PhD training, I am used to make a to-do list every week, every month and every year, with my short-term plans and long-term goals. They are ranked by priority and dates of deadline.

This morning, I was searching my jewelry box for a pair of turquoise earring, and I noticed a small wooden box on the same shelf, which I totally forgot what is used for.  I opened it and it is packed with all sorts of stickers, dated back to 2007.

One sticker said: You are the best! Believe yourself. That was before my oral exam. Another sticker said: Western (morning), time-point, afternoon till midnight. That was when I worked like crazy on a project that eventually didn’t work. A third one said: bank account, insurance, registration fee, oil change…… Ah, that’s a day of chore. Yellow, blue, green and pink, they are in different colors and represent the different portions of my daily life, ordinary, but fulfilling. They bring back my lost memories, flashing back in front of my eyes, like a movie fast- backward. I feel again the pain, the joy, the tears and the laughter, when I checked those items on the stickers. In some way, old stickers are better than pictures or video tapes, as they leave you lots of space to fill in.

 

Life fragment 2:

 

J and I went to play badminton at a park nearby last weekend. The weather was perfect for outdoor activity: most of cloudy, mild moist, not too hot or too cold.

A group of kids were playing baseball, and they were pitching, running, and screaming like mad. Then we saw some trophies on the table next to the playground, aha, it seemed like a competition, a real game. However, Why there were so many trophies? Wasn’t it supposed to give the winner team? We were confused.

Roughly 30 min later, the kids and their parents got together and separated by different groups. There was one coach for each team and he/she started naming the winners. They first described the characters of the person, personality, baseball skills, and then spit out the name and give the kid a title. Every team member has a trophy because everyone is special and unique, playing an unreplacible role in the team. Titles include: “best player of the team” (not out of expectation), “best rookie of the year”(very new to the team?), “best coachable player of the year” (*0*!) and “tallest player of the year”(what kind of title is that?)

看到J有一对很可爱的袖珍音箱，我就抢了过来，回来陪着自己的IBM。音乐的声音一下子变得很立体很质感，颇有“绕梁三日，不绝于耳”之势。

 

清雅的午后，院子里的茉莉开得很低调。我正卧在沙发里看GM要破产的消息，各个Stake Holders 忙着最大化保护自己的利益，熙熙攘攘颇为热闹。耳边突然传来“分骨肉”：“一番风雨路三千，把骨肉家园齐来抛闪。。。。。。。自古穷通皆有定，离合岂无缘。从今分两地，各自保平安。 奴去也，莫牵连，奴去也，莫牵连。。。。。。”一时间，千种情愫百般感慨，如霏霏淫雨，搅得我竟发了呆。五年漂泊，未曾有一日不在思念，堆积的情感，如经冬的落叶，化作春泥，长出小小的灌木，严寒抑或干旱，也总是结出红色的果实，沉甸甸的。

世事纷扰，每个人都绷直了身体，像战斗中的小兽，随时准备着进攻或逃离。当我疲惫或害怕的时候，我就想起我的家，那个永远都会温柔地等着我回去的地方。古往今来，最远的路，就是回家的路吧？家乡湖畔，柳树成荫；年去年来，柔条应折过千尺。什么时候，我可以坐在自家小院儿，雨后黄昏也好，月明星稀也罢，指着天对着屋里喊：“好月亮！”？

If you want to change the world, first change yourself;

If you want to impress the world, first impress yourself.

 

Life is ordinary, but miracles can happen any moment if you are determined.

 

今天早上拉开窗帘，惊喜地发现窗底下的一株蝴蝶兰开花了，粉嫩嫩的，惹人怜爱。空气中也能闻到春天复苏的气息，风还是凉的，却已经不刺骨了。稀薄的阳光洒下来，房间里熠熠生辉。我伸开双臂，像壁虎一样贴在窗户上，汲取温暖和力量。我舒服得眯起了眼睛。

  换上有层层叠叠花边的白裙子，我出门了。在路边小店买了一串windchime，深深浅浅的四叶草，绿得让人心醉。挂在窗檐下，Breeze in the garden can make music when passing by。又在Yard Sale淘到精美的墨西哥手工编织的地毯，白色和金色交融在一起，就像一片阳光洒落在地上,喜欢得不行。

  细碎的喜悦，平凡的幸福，闪闪烁烁，照亮阴霾密布的天空。深夜里一段华丽的施特劳斯，指尖簌簌翻过的诗词，唇齿间流连的Chardonay，甚至，只是发呆时恍惚的一瞬间，便有樱花飘落，重重叠叠铺天盖地，分不清似水年华流过的痕迹；但那春日的芬芳，带着南国的温暖和潮湿，依然是旧时魂魄未消磨。东望故国，遥遥相隔的，不仅仅是横无际涯的大洋，更是十年风雨兼程的岁月。谁还花荫下久立暗伤春？谁还为赋新词强说愁？谁还临水伴月颂清风？谁还击节抚掌开怀笑？匆匆！匆匆！去国十年，老尽少年心。

  酒醉必失言。罢了罢了，这杯饮毕，就把所有的情绪收拾收拾，一丝不落。因为这个世界，千机变，虬首云中现。

当不少人在抱怨北京空气污染严重，交通拥堵，气候恶劣，生存艰难的时候，一个北漂的小伙子，记录下他在北京看到的点点滴滴，

 

 

被很多人漠视的城市的细节，在他的镜头下熠熠生辉，因为爱，因为善良，因为乐观。巍巍中华，屹立世界五千年不倒，就是因为有这样伟大坚强的人民。

多么让人骄傲的中国普通劳动者！我向你致敬！