Scrapbook started after coming to Caltech

On the local TV news reporting style

7- 8-2002 `Reporting live from [whereever].' That seems to be the buzz word on local television news in Los Angeles. Yet, look more carefully. It may be an incident that happened more than ten hours ago---sometimse days ago---and there is absolutely no trace of anything relevant left in the scene during this wonderful live broadcast. All I see in the audience is a reporter standing in the streets, in darkness actually, because it is eleven o'clock news at night and there is really nothing to be seen out there. I wonder which moron first started this practice. My guess is that the news team of one station started doing this, and the news programme producers in competiting stations somehow thought that not following suit would harm the ratings of their stations, and thus everybody started doing it. Yet, how bad can it be? Well, it wastes their resources, sending reporters out unnecessarily late at night, in the cold at times, which is a hassle for everyone. Not to mention that this wastes fuel for their transportation. It also wastes my time, because I have to listen a lot more to dialogues analogous to what follows:
[Newcaster in studio summarized the event.] `Reporting live at the scene is our reporter, [Name]. Hello, [Name], what is the situation there now?'
[Standing in the cold]`Hello back, [Newscaster]. As you can see, the scene has been cleaned up by now and there is absolutely nothing to be seen anymore.' [And then a repeat of the summary given by the newscaster in the studio, this time by the reporter at the scene.] `Back to you, [Newscaster].'
`Thank you, [reporter]. Nice job.'

A mining accident

7- 8-2002 There was a mining accident recently in Pennsylvania. Nine miners had been trapped for days until they were finally rescued, without any casualty. The media said it was a miracle, and George W Bush praised the miners of having the `Spirit of America', that they prayed while waiting to be rescued, that they supported each other, and etc. What I see is the following---the rescue effort succeeded because of a critical reason: America is a rich country. There are numerous mining accidents in China in recent years, too, and I would not be surprised that this is the case in other developing countries as well. In a mining accident in China, the miners are usually killed. Is that because they do not have the Spirit of America? Is that because they do not pray? Well, they may not pray to the Christian deity, but that is not the point anyway. I claim that the Chinese miners do not usually get rescued because China is poor. In a poor country, human life is cheap, meaning that not much resource can be invested into a typical indiviual. If these nine American miners were in a mine in China, I doubt if there would be this `miracle'. Fortunately for them, they are rescued. I just do not agree with the act of misleadingly using this incident to corroborate how great the `Spirit of America' is. Of course, just another one of a politician's rhetorics.

The Spirit of ...

7- 8-2002 Speaking of the spirit of a country, Korea deserves praise on their hosting the World Cup football matches. The Koreans in Los Angeles gathered in a carpark in the Korean town to watch the matches on large screens. After the events, organised workers from their community went about to clean up all the rubbish in the carpark and piled it at a corner for collection. Local news claimed that the place was cleaner than before the events. Another incident---at the end of the third-place match between Korea and Turkey, two big flags (each enough to cover hundreds of seats) were displayed side by side, one of Korea, and the other of Turkey. My friend Edmond and I were surprised that there were so many Turks at the match at first, but we soon realised that both flags were flown by Koreans. Rejoice.

Then, think about the spectators sitting behind the guest team's basket in an NBA match. During the guest team's penalty shots, so many white tubes are waived in the background to distract the player. The effort is so consorted, too. When it comes to the home team's turn, everybody keeps their hands down. Oh, is that called team spirit?