My Oil Painting in Retrospect: First Anniversary

It has been a little over one year since I began learning oil painting at a workshop conducted by Grace Graupe-Pillard. The workshop is held once a week for 2 hours in 8-weeks sessions for 5 sessions a year. There is no lectures and no assignments except for the very first painting which must be a still life using one of the three arrangements in the workshop. After the first painting, the students are free to choose whatever he or she wants to do. With the first assignment, one learns the basic minimum and the process of oil painting – drawing, fixing (with hair spray) to prevent smudging of the charcoal, priming canvas (in oil diluted with mineral spirits), and finally painting with oil colors of subjects in varying values. Here is my first ever oil painting that I thought was pretty good given that it is the first attempt.

My second experiment was on water-lily. It was based on a photo I took of water-lilies in the New York Botanical Garden in Bronx. The new challenge was to handle the water and the reflections of water-lilies. I have to say I wasn’t totally happy with the result especially with the flower itself and the koi. The former looks so heavy that it would sink into the pond and the latter looks a little plastic without life.

Then at the prodding of Grace, I overcame my fear and started a series of portraits with a self portrait as the first one and then one for each of my family. The important part is to capture distinct expression and emotion for which I thought the results were decent, again, as a beginner's work. It turns that doing a portrait is much harder than I had imagined. Our visual impression is incredibly perceptive; a tiny bit inaccuracy in millimeters of the shape and proportion of the figure would be felt immediately. With her extremely sharp artist’ eyes, Grace helped tremendously by pointing out to me what was wrong that would otherwise be a difficult diagnosis task even with a ruler. Here are the four portraits I completed in sequence: a) Funeral – a Self Portrait, b) Happiness – Jade’s Graduation, c) Tenacity – Raemin vs. Raemin, d) Joy – Linda.

I then turned my attention to landscape. After talking with Grace who told me to take a look of the work by Arthur Dove, one of the early American abstract painters, I was inspired and decided to try abstract painting. I have just completed my first such a painting, entitled Tropical Jungle. It posed a different kind of challenge this time. Unlike with realism, I had to be a lot of more imaginative and creative in designing and constructing from shape, color to pretty much every detail, although the scene was based on a photo that I saw on Google Image Database.

All in all, it has been a fun journey. It is far more analytic than I had thought and at the same time, provides me another means of expressing myself without uttering a word or sound. Now, it is time to go back to my studio and start my next painting; probably another abstract landscape.

Talk to you soon!

An Innovator’s Prescription of Health Care Reform

The latest health care reform effort is in its final stretch as U.S. Senate debates the proposed bill and offers amendments. When and if a bill is passed, it will need to be reconciled with the House bill (for a summary analysis of both, see the AARP Nov 24^th article) and is expected to be signed into law by President Obama early next year. It is not an understatement to say that health care reform has been and continues to be the toughest domestic policy challenge for U.S. presidents and congress in nearly a century. It touches everyone and the very fabric of this nation. Even the Great Depression of 1930’s wasn’t enough to help President Frank Roosevelt pass his universal health care proposal. During Truman’s presidency since 1945, Democrats tried and failed again. It took another 20 years, government managed Medicare and Medicaid programs for seniors and poor were finally passed during Lyndon Johnson’s presidency in 1965. For a detailed account of this part of history, see Larry DeWitt’s 2003 article.

There has been extensive coverage of the ongoing health care reform efforts with heated debates and smearing in media and literature. The focus has been on proposed policies and mandates for individuals and business that would extend the coverage with ways to fund it. I have heard of no convincing arguments or analysis on why and how the escalating cost of health care that has been brewing for 30 years would be slowed down meaningfully.

In my search and readings, I ran into an interesting perspective that was offered in a 441 page book published a year ago. The book is entitled The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen along with late Dr. Jerome Crossman and Dr. Jason Hwang. Of course, Professor Clayton Christensen’s claim to fame was his seminal work and model of what he called a decade ago Disruptive Technology and Disruptive Innovation in which he laid out a paradigm and illustrated with numerous examples including Ford Model-T for auto industry, how an innovation can create a new and overwhelm the market by applying different set of values such as low price (and often poor quality initially). While he is not an expert in health care (his coauthors are) and the book is limited to high level broad concepts and arguments, the business and technology angle Christensen took is a refreshing contribution to this difficult and controversial topic that otherwise is filled with muddy political and policy debates.

Arguing that the problems facing the health-care industry isn’t unique and applying his paradigm of disruptive innovation, Christensen offered analysis and examinations of the current health care system in terms of the three key elements - technological enabler, business model innovations and value network - facilitated by regulations and standards. He cites promising innovations in technology towards to precision medicine (such as identifications of 89 different types of leukemia and lymphoma) and business model (such as integrated fixed fee providers and retail clinics by Nurse Practitioners). He argued optimistically that disruptions will take place in not-too-distant of future provided that government and regulators focus on facilitating disruptive changes and stay away from dictating solutions/remedies

The reality is medical science is mostly at empirical stage and still relatively primitive, and we are far far away from the day of precision medicine. While single payer system may not be the ideal solution, Professor Christensen’s prescription which may be sound from technical and business point of view, is void of social and political reality. He himself acknowledged in the book there are several structural and systematic challenges. He pointed out that democracy by its very natural is good at fostering cooperation to maintain status quo and does not work well when significant change is required and when there are no consensus. And indeed, as he put it, health care is one single issue that we don’t have any consensus on what we want nor what actions may lead us to the desired outcome.

There are more serious and deeper philosophical and value issues that he glossed over. The premise and the theory of disruptive innovation are derived from in-depth research of many products and services of a few industries such as transportation and electronics. The driving force for the disruptions is rooted in the feverish pursuit of profitability and efficiency by the providers and its supply chain and at the same time, the demand by consumers for accessible and lower priced goods and services. Health care is where capitalism and socialism/communism meet at a personal level! The lack of consensus goes to the very heart of divided ideology in U.S. (and other countries). Rationing (or distribution or whatever the term you choose to call it) is a fact of life where there isn’t sufficient resource to meet all the competing demands. In systems like Canada’s, it is done by queuing for scarce resources, thus long wait some times for certain procedures and tests. In U.S. it is achieved by extremely complex and clever mechanisms of a hybrid capitalism-socialism piece-meal solution whereby guaranteed, constrained and subsidized services are all provided, charged with prices that the market can bear and regulators allow.

The belief does influence the choice of policy. Christensen recognized and discussed in the book the need to segregate the low probability catastrophic events from day-to-day cares which have totally different characteristics. And yet many of us are sensitive to that fact and are so used to think the bundled solutions? The former should and could be addressed with a traditional high deductible insurance solution which is well-understood. For the latter, he proposes the solution of health saving account (similar to 401K in some sense) that would provide the missing and direct linkage to personal finance that is meaningful at an individual level. Note this is in the opposite direction of the ideals of the left. Similar to social security, the popular Federal Medicare program for seniors is operated as a pool funded with active workers’ Medicare tax and other taxes. The benefits are paid out by need and use, not by patient’s ability to pay.

There is the noble and moral notion that life is priceless and we must treasure every one and do whatever it takes. On the other hand, there is a practical issue of affordability and accessibility depending on the financial resources. From monetary point of view, an average $50K was spent by Medicare during the last 2 months of life of those covered by it with little to show for by numbers. One may argue that it can be spent differently and more effectively. However most of us want to, as the animal instinct dictates, continue living when and if we have a choice, no matter how hard or how slim that chance might be. There is simply no easy way in making that trade as discussed in a recent CBS 60 Minutes story The Cost of Dying. What should we do?

Christensen and his colleagues might be right with the prescription from business and technology perspectives when viewing health care as an economic activity. But what about the intangible and hard-to-quantify parts of the human and social costs? Are we addressing the right question? Shouldn’t we focus on the quality of life as opposed to prolonging the life? Shouldn’t we try to find happy pills instead of solutions to become immortals so we can live happily rather than die badly? Of course, Professor Christensen and colleagues would probably question where are the incentives for creating and sustaining such business?

Talk to you soon!

Tear Down This Wall

There have been lots of reporting and discussions of the 20^th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall (on Nov. 9^th, 1989). Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to surround the West Berlin and stop the escape of East German people from fleeing to the West. It was torn down 20 years ago that symbolized the collapse of Communism and end of the Cold War.

President Ronald Regan was a key figure in ending the cold war with Soviet Union. In his June 12 1987 historical speech at the Brandenburg Gate by the Berlin Wall, President Reagan openly challenged the supreme leader Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall as a symbol for increasing freedom in the Eastern Bloc. He said: “… We welcome change and openness [note: this is referring to Gorbachev’s new 1986 “glasnost” policy after he came to power]; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!...”

Berlin Wall was 103 miles long and 12 feet high, complete with guard towers, anti-vehicle trenches and bed of nails, etc. In the 28 years of its existence, it did serve its purpose and made it extremely difficult for East German to escape using this route. More than 100 people were killed while trying to cross it to the west. To some extent it was an accident and a result of miscommunication by government officials that on Nov 9^th, instead of a later date, East German people demanded to cross the checkpoints of the Berlin Wall in such a mass that border soldiers weren’t able or dare to stop. Then people began to take down the wall, piece by piece.

The fall of Berlin Wall did not happen overnight. It wasn’t really due to any miraculous ideological conversion or armed rebellions by some. The reason was pure and simple – it is the well-being of the people. East Germany has had poor economic development under the Communist rule since end of WWII. The dissatisfication of its people reached the tipping point at late summer of 1989 that proved to be too much for any regime to bear.

Similar and parallel developments had taken places in other countries as well. Over 40 years of experimentation of communism in Russia, China, eastern Europe and so on had failed. Deng recognized it in China and began to reform in 1979; Gorbachev recognized it in Soviet Union and glasnost began in 1987. Poland’s Walesa recognized it and ignited the revolutions in 1989 of Central and Eastern Europe that reached East Germany in Nov, 1989. These leaders are now remembered in history as ones who contributed to the change for better. The hardliners who tried to hang onto their power, like East Germany’s Erich Honecker and Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu stood on the wrong side of the history and are remembered as such.

Less than a year later, west and east Germany reunited to become one Germany. Ironically, British and French leaders Margret Thatcher and François Mitterrand were against it since they feared a unified Germany would change the power balance and British and French interests in Europe and the world.

The reunification of two Germanys of course offered a very interesting model for countries like the two Koreas and two Chinas - China and Taiwan. There are some parallels. For instance, they were all one unified country of same culture and ethnicity before end of WWII (yes, I am ignoring the colonization period and attempt by Japan). Japan and U.S. have not been that interested in seeing it happen for similar reasons that French and British did not want to see one unified Germany. There are some significant differences however. When the two Germanys reunited, the ratio of their GDP (PPP) per capita were about 2 to 1 while the ratio of their populations was about 4 to 1. In comparison, the ratio of two Koreas’ GDP (PPP) per capital is 15 to 1 and the ratio of populations is 2 to 1. The ratio of Taiwan’s and China’s GDP (PPP) per capital is about 4 to 1 while the population ratio is about 1 to 60. I can certainly see possible unification of China and Taiwan in another decade or so, if China continues to prosper and becomes a more open and free society.

Of course, there are still physical walls around the world and some are being built as we speak. To give you few examples, there is the Israeli West-Bank barrier of a target length of over 400 miles and the Mexico – United States barrier of a target length of 700 miles. When will these walls be torn down? That would be anyone’s guess.

Talk to you soon!

Rocket Scientist

We sometimes hear the expressions that suggest something is simple or someone is simple-minded as “this is not rocket science” or "it doesn't take a rocket scientist". A brilliant rocket scientist had just died. On Oct 31^st, Qian Xuesen錢學森aka H.S. (Hsue-shen) Tsien passed away in Beijing, China, a month or so before his 98^th birthday. The news did not attract much public attention and reporting in U.S. but for Chinese and those who followed the development of aerospace science and engineering, it is big. Qian has been called the Father of Chinese Space and Missile programs and was named the person of the year in 2007 by the trade magazine Aviation Week.

Qian was born in HangZhou, China in 1911 and studied mechanical engineering in Shanghai JiaoTong University. He later went to MIT in summer 1935 and obtained his M.S. in aerospace engineering sponsored by the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship庚子賠款獎學金. Incidentally, this scholarship program was established in 1907 under Theodore Roosevelt administration using the “excess” of the indemnity paid to U.S. under the Boxer Protocol or Treaty of 1901 between Eight-Nation Alliance and China (note U.S.’s share was about $0.5 billion dollars in today’s dollar or about twice of what U.S. had asked for; thus the "excess"). The reputed HsingHua University清華大學was started out of this fund and more than 1,000 students came to U.S. to study since 1909 under its sponsorship. Many of them became prominent leaders in their fields including philosopher Hu Shih胡適and Nobel Physics Laureate Chen-Ning Franklin Yang楊振寧 .

Qian went to Caltech (California Institute of Technology) in 1936 and received his Ph.D. in 1939 under the preeminent aerodynamics scientist Theodore von Karman, a Hungarian-American, who had called him as “an undisputed genius”. Qian was a member of the 6 person "suicide squad” led by another Karman’s graduate student Frank Malina that designed and conducted many rocket experiments. As the program matured, they became the founding members of now world renown JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center) with Frank Malina as its first director. As WWII intensified in Europe and the German rocket and missile capabilities advanced, one can imagine the importance of their work to U.S. government and the Ally. In fact Qian was sent to Germany after the war to interrogate key Nazi scientists including Wernher von Braun who designed the German V-2 rocket. Later, von Braun helped U.S. develop its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and led the development of NASA’s Saturn V booster rocket that put first men on the moon. Some have called Von Braun the Father of U.S. space program.

Qian’s stardom career in U.S. took a drastic turn in 1950 during the second Red Scare (the first one took place in 1917-1920 after the Bolshevik Russian Revolution of 1917). He was accused of being a member of a subversive organization, arrested and put in jail for two weeks by Immigration Authority (he was in the process of applying for citizenship at the time) before his colleagues and friends got him out. His security clearance was revoked and he could no longer participate in those critical programs. The only “evidences” cited against him appeared to be that he had gone to one social gathering (at the invitation of Frank Malina) of some alleged communist sympathizers and that his name was mentioned in an American Communist Party document. The sensitive and secret documents and data he was alleged to have packed and brought to China in his planned visit of his family turned out to be public domain data like a logarithm table.

Despite efforts to clear his name by him, his colleagues and Caltech, Qian remained under partial house arrest for subsequent years. He tried his best to continue his unclassified research at home and at Caltech. While it was not totally clear the timeline of various events, Qian did declare his intent to return to China early on during the investigation and prosecution. The action was most likely due to that he was so upset with the accusation and treatment and that he saw his future in U.S. had been ruined. All along it appeared that he had all the intention to stay and work in U.S. Indeed there wasn’t any indication that Qian was ever active in politics or subscribed to any particular ideology.

Of course, U.S. government would not let Qian leave the country under the circumstances, knowing his ability, knowledge, and previous critical involvement of military applications of rocketry. It wasn’t till Sept 1955 when U.S. government released him and allowed him and his family to go to China as a part of post Korea War negotiation for the release and exchange of some American prisoners held by China. The rest is history. China has since developed ballistic missiles of all ranges over the years. It now launches commercial satellites regularly for the western countries including U.S. China has also just completed its first space walk in 2008 and is busy moving ahead for manned space missions. Qian was unquestionably the key figure in China’s quest of missile and space technology in last five decades.

Well, we rarely learn from history. Qian’s story was only one of many examples that took place under McCarthyism-like practices in many countries and societies; it incubates and looks for opportunities to germinate from time to time. As recent as 1998, U.S. House of Representatives had formed a committee to look into military/commercial concerns with China. The final Cox Report included some controversial statements that repeated the allegation of Qian being a Chinese spy without any proof. At about the same time, WenHo Lee 李文和, a Taiwan-born Chinese American scientist who worked at the Los Alamos National Lab, was falsely accused of being a spy for Chinese government. Eventually all the initial sensationalization and exaggeration proved to be just that. Federal government dropped finally dropped 58 out of the 59 charges and settled the case with Lee’s guilty plea to the sole felony charge of improper handling of restricted data.

I am not suggesting a country or an entity should not protect its own interest. Being the most developed country who owns so much advanced commercial and military technologies, U.S. must assume that there are countries and organizations, friends or foe, out there who would like to get their hands on those data. One must devise and implement safeguards to maximize the competitive advantage for business as well as for national security. But let us not forget that the real unique asset and advantage America has is its people including the talented and motivated immigrants.

Thankfully, people in U.S. are blessed with a pretty good judicial system and a strong journalistic tradition, protected under the First Amendment (freedom of speech) and laws like Freedom of Information Act. White terror and mass hysteria sometimes may override logic and reason temporarily for some periods. With persistent pursuits of facts and truth however, justice does usually prevail. Even a powerful and fearful figure like Senator Joe McCarthy was eventually brought down by public opinion with help from transparent proceedings offered by TV broadcast and critical examination of conscientious journalists like Ed Murrow of CBS. However we must be vigilant. We must make sure that immigrants are treated fairly and justly. Incidents like Qian's must not be allowed to happen again.

Talk to you soon!

What is in the Beef?

The latest and hottest political news in Taiwan is about the removal of much of the restrictions on importing American beef to the island. On October 22, Taiwan’s Department of Health (DOH) announced that Taiwan will amend its import restriction on U.S. beef and beef products, consistent with the guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, aka “Mad Cow Disease”), and allow more beef more products to enter Taiwan market starting Nov 10th. Further, there will be a transition period, as short as 6 months, during which U.S. exporters will export only beef and beef products derived from cattle less than 30 months in age. This is not a minor political issue. In spring 2008, South Korean’s new cabinet had to resign in less than 4 months of its installation due to a political crisis triggered by a similar policy change (that did get implemented on July 1^st, 2008).

BSE or “Mad Cow Disease” was first discovered in brains and spines of cattle in Great Britain back in 1986 with unknown origin and had been found in a few countries including U.S. It is a fatal neurodegenerative disease primarily in cattle. However, it is pretty certain that the disease can be transmitted to certain animals and people who had ingested products of infected cattle although the number of known cases is small. In the case of human, BSE is known as a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and there is no cure and death is almost certain, thus a series health concern by all.

Responding to the first BSE case reported in U.S. in Dec. 2003, most countries including Taiwan immediately banned the import of beef and beef products from U.S. The financial impact on American cattle and associated business was significant. Prior to it, the total export of U.S. beef and beef product was valued at about $3.8 billion in 2003. In 2004, after the ban, it dropped to $0.8 billion. With the improvement steps by U.S. cattle business and government regulations/monitors, many countries have relaxed the bans to varying degree. As a result, the export has climbed back close to the pre-BSE era at about $3.6 billion in 2008 according to the private USMEF (U.S. Meat Export Federation). In the case of Taiwan, it lifted the complete ban in Jan 2006 and has been allowing import of boneless muscle cuts from cattle 30 month of age or less. It continues to ban others till now including bone-in cuts and so called variety meat (processed or parts other than skeletal muscles) such as ground beef, intestines, brains, spines, etc.

Taiwan has been an important market to U.S. meat export business for a long time. In 2008, Taiwan was the fifth-largest value market for US beef export valued at $127.7 million, after Mexico ($1.4 billion), Canada($716 million), Japan($383 million), South Korea($294 million) according to USMEF. By the way, Taiwan only produces about 6,000 metric tons of beef annually and relies heavily on imports. It imported about 73 thousand metric tons of beef in 2008 out of which 22 thousand metric tons or 30% were from U.S., slightly behind Australia (~27 thousand metric tons) and ahead of New Zealand (~19 thousand metric tons).

It should not surprise anyone that this business and trade interest between U.S. and Taiwan had become a non-trivial political issue in Taiwan. At one end of the spectrum, fevered nationalism and the remnants of anti-imperialism resurfaced, fanned by some with other political agenda. Some scholars and health experts question the scientific and technical basis for policy change and the lack of transparency of the process. What is clear is that the communications have been so poor that top government officials could not give facts and stories clearly and consistently which naturally led to more speculations and suspicions.

After few days of scrambling to put out the fire, President Ma YingJeo responded in public that we can’t go back on the signed agreement as it would damage our credibility in international negotiations (true, but it does not address the question by many about signing the agreement in the first place). Further he suggested that people should not worry about their safety as there can be safeguards by private business and citizens including refusal to consume U.S. beef products as long as government does not violate the agreement. Wow! This is the first time I have ever seen a government openly absolved its own responsibility and pass it to private! That makes me wonder what promises U.S. government has given in exchange for this beef diplomacy?

Going back to the basics, one has to ask what is the fuss about eating beef and what is in the beef anyway. It turns out the answers can be complex given varying levels of industrialization of the beef production in different countries. Majority of beef consumed in U.S. and for export come from domestic feedlots enabled by cheap, federally subsidized corn. Michael Pollan had a lively discussion about it (and human consumption of food in general) in his 2006 best seller The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Roughly, 6 months after a calf was born and raised on a prairie, it spends 3 months in a pen (for weaning) and then 5 months in a centralized feedlot fed with unnatural diet of corn, fat, protein and drugs. The single dominant business objective is to maximize the amount of meat one can grow without making the cattle too sick to be sent to a slaughterhouse.

When and after being slaughtered, there are numerous opportunities for creating beef products to maximize the value and profit. Quality meat is usually not an issue. It is the utilization and handling of low quality meat and other parts of the beef that causes concerns. Indeed the updated guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) focus on so-called SRM (Specific Risky Materials) such as brains, skulls, eyes, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cords, vertebral columns and dorsal root ganglia from cattle 30 months of age and older, or tonsils and the distal ileum of the small intestine from cattle of all ages. For instance, they should not be used in feed since that is one way BSE gets spread to other cattle. While one may argue the guidelines should be more strict, I am ok with it as a consumer as far as policy goes as long as the guidelines are based on scientific knowledge and if there is a way to trace the suspected material.

What is more disconcerting is the ever popular ground beef and hamburger meat that most of us don’t know what is in it. On Oct 3^rd, 2009, New York Times reporter Michael Moss gave an in-depth examination of the safety of ground beef and hamburger meat. It turns out that with highly mechanized process and global trades, hamburger patties can be made from a variety of trimmings and usually low grades of meat sourced from different slaughterhouses in U.S. and abroad (thus hard to trace and safeguard). Fatal contamination of E Coli O157:H7 in public restaurants and ground beef have happened few times in last decade in U.S. though rare. I wonder what and how do Taiwan’s health organizations deal with such a potential risk. Note technically U.S. government regulations for ground beef and hamburger are different; the former has to be derived from meat only while the latter may include additions of fat, trimmings and derivative of scraps. Sounds like the Credit Default Swaps that triggered the current global financial crisis, doesn’t it?

I am disappointed at the way Taiwan government handles the U.S. beef import controversy. I am frustrated with the lack of attention to details and communication. I do enjoy eating beef, especially Chinese beef soup noodle and once in a while, a thick tender juicy steak. I am not paranoid nor do I plan to give them up for that extremely small risk. But I do want to be an educated consumer living in a place where people value science, are interested in pursuing the truth, and can discuss controversial issues objectively and logically. What about you?

Talk to you soon!

Piano Piano

Like many stereotypical Asian American parents, we bought a Yamaha U1 upright piano when kids were young and retained a piano instructor to teach them playing piano (no, they did not become pianists nor did they go to the Julliard School). The piano has been sitting quietly in our living room for many years, serving as a beautiful piece of furniture and memory since kids left the house. Recently, I decided to give it a try myself and enrolled at a Group Piano Intro class at the local community college, and here I went for my latest new venture. If you have seen the movie The Visitor (which was nominated for the best actor award in 2009 Oscar), you can probably understand my apprehension. In the first part of that movie, the main character, a music loving burned-out professor, was not getting anywhere with his effort of learning to play piano. Eventually his teacher gave up and told him bluntly the best thing he could do is to sell her his piano.

Piano is arguably the most versatile musical instrument. Most modern pianos have 88 keys with 52 white and 36 black keys that span a range of 7 and ¼ octaves from A0 to C7 (the letters refer to the familiar diatonic scale notation …ABCDEFGA…) where A4 is tuned to 440 Hz. Here is a drawing of the piano keyboard from wikipedia. In contrast, violin’s pitch ranges from G3, a little below the middle C (or C4), to C8 (4186.01 Hz), the highest pitch in piano. The pitch range of cello, another popular bowed string instrument, is from C2 (two octaves below the middle C) and A3. Human vocal cord is of course much more limiting; soprano can go as high as “high F” (or F6) while bass can get as low as A1 (55 Hz), 3 octave below the A4. No wonder piano has been a favorite tool by the composers to test and rehearse their music. In addition to being used in solos, it is also a popular instrument for accompaniment, chamber music, and ensembles.

Piano's 88 keys come in a pattern of repeating groups of 12 keys that consist of alternating 2 black and 3 white key and then 3 blacks and 4 white keys. These 12 keys are tuned to approximate the 12-tone equal temperament intonation that divides a scale of an octave into 12 equally spaced half steps (or semitones) such that ratio of the frequencies of successive tones is a constant. Since the frequencies of the notes that are one octave apart is exactly a factor of 2, mathematically and theoretically, this constant ratio can be found as the 12th root of 2. In practice, piano is tuned to reduce the inherent inharmonicity in the strings since the human auditory perception found harmonics (i.e., integer multiples of fundamental frequencies) more pleasant. As a result, octaves are normally stretched such that the high notes are higher, and the low notes lower, than they are in an equal-tempered scale as shown by the Railsback curve to the right (again from Wikipedia) from measurements of well-tuned pianos.

Piano is the short for its original Italian name clavicembalo or gravicembalo col piano e forte that literally means harpsichord with soft and loud whereby harpsichord is its popular predecessor in Renaissance and Baroque Music periods. It was first developed in late 17th and early 18th century and was believed to be created by the Italian harpsichord master maker Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco in Florence. However, unlike harpsichord that produces sound by plucking, piano generates sounds by hammering the strings, similar to clavichord.

It is intuitive that there are practically unlimited possibilities to compose and express different music given the range with any combination of keys, intervals, tempo that make up progressions of varying length, dynamics and so on. Even after the composer has written the music, there is still huge rooms for individual performers to interpret and express it the way they want. For example, here is a YouTube video of the famous Franz Liszt’s La Campanella (third of the six Grandes Etudes de Paganini - Etude No. 3 in G-sharp Minor). It is the recording of the preliminary recital by the blind Japanese young pianist Nobuyuki Tsuuji at the 13th Cliburn Competition earlier this year (by the way, he was a co-recipient of the gold medal award).



Below is another YouTube video of the same music, performed by Yundi Li who was the winner of the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in year 2000 (at age of 18, the youngest winner thus far). To my ear and with my imagination, Li's interpretation is more playful and joyful yet deliberate which is very different from Nobuyuki Tsuuji’s. The latter is full of excitement and anticipation and at times, hurried. But if you look at the total time, it was a mere 14 seconds longer for a piece of music that is almost 4 and half minutes long. It is amazing the minute differences in tempo, force, transition and so on can be felt and amplified so much in listeners’ mind through key strokes of performer’s ten flying fingers and two feet. It is indeed a powerful instrument of music!




Well, I have no idea how far I can go as I barely just got started in this venture. But for the last 6 weeks, I surely have had a lot of fun and I have begun to appreciate otherwise pretty dry music theory and what are behind the beautiful music. If nothing else, I hope I will be a more educated listener of music. Wish me luck and talk to you soon!

Murphy’s Law and Randomness

Have you ever had that sinking feeling that "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." (aka Murphy’s Law)? Unfortunately, I just had such an experience in last few weeks. First, I got an expensive NYC “parking violation” ticket for “blocking the box at intersections” as I was stuck for more than one hour outside Holland Tunnel in a Friday afternoon rush hour. Few days later, my car battery died at age of 2 years 5 months, less than half a year after the warranty expired. Then the mechanics told me that I also need a new water pump and thermostat set. As I was busy getting my car to and from the shop for diagnosis and repairs, driver seat of our remaining working transportation in the house got stuck at an awkward position due to worn-out wiring to the motor. On top of all these, my two years old HP laptop died on me unexpectedly that interrupted my routines and suddenly severed my critical link to the outside world. How much more unlucky can one get? I asked myself.

Haven’t you ever had that exasperated negative feeling that "If anything can go wrong, it will, and it will happen at the worst possible time" (aka Finagle's corollary to Murphy's Law)? How come I am often the unlucky guy who needs to refill the paper for that stupid public copy machine despite its huge storage capacity? Why did it always happen exactly when I had no time to spare? How come my precious demo to my company top echelons ran into glitches despite careful preparation and repeated rehearsals? The only saving grace is that it does not seem to discriminate by rank or gender. Remember the embarrassing botched Windows 98 introduction demo at Comdex Show by Bill Gates?

Many have attributed those and other similar sentiments to Murphy’s Law, first coined in 1952, although one may argue an expression of such a feeling can be traced back to 1841 when an Ohio newspaper published a verse:

I never had a slice of bread,
Particularly large and wide,
That did not fall upon the floor,
And always on the buttered side.

According to the Wikipedia article, like many folklore, there have been several accounts and interpretations and the exact story of Murphy’s Law would never be known for sure. Edward Murphy is did exist however. Apparently he was an aerospace engineer who worked on a rocket sled project during late 40’s for U.S. Air Force to measure the G-force during deceleration that a pilot would experience. The legend has it that Mr. Murphy was so disgusted and made comments like “If it can happen, it will happen” when he found out that experiment failed because every wirings of the instrument was wrong and was reversed.

The spread and popularity of Murphy’s Law is probably due to how easily one can relate it to one’s personal daily life and can color it in so many interesting ways. There have been many corollaries and variants of Murphy’s Law and books were compiled and written about them. In particular the most well-known fallacy is the pessimist’s version that “because something (bad) could happen, it is inevitable that it will happen”. I suppose we all long for some explanations to why something happens and why “I am so unlucky”. But are we truly that unlucky sometimes? Or is it actually random and perfectly normal to have a burst of bad events?

Some of those feelings are easier to explain than others. One problem is we sometimes apply empirical data or experiences obtained from a totally different set of observations and vintage points. For example, we tend to relate rush hour traffic reports in terms of usual experience of waiting in checkout lines in stores when the characteristics of the two are totally different. Have you ever wondered why you almost never experienced delays in the order of what traffic reports gave you a short time ago?

Some misguided expectations are a lot more subtle and related to psychology. For instance, there is the well-known hindsight bias. A good example is those incredible stories of how good some fortunate tellers are; few “predictions” that did occur are so much more vivid in one's mind than those that did not. Confirmation bias certainly would just make it worse for those who are ready to buy into the story.

The most intriguing and the real core issuse, I believe, lies with the fact that vast majority of us are very poor judges of what is random and what is not (does this also explain why some of the stories and beliefs in religion played such prominent parts of various societies?). Here is a story to illustrate my point.

The brilliant Math Professor Theodore P. Hill of Georgia Institute of Technology used to ask his students do an assignment at home. The students could either flip a coin 200 times and record the outcomes, or they could choose to fake the 200 outcomes and report the made-up results. You can imagine some “lazy” kids did make up the outcomes and handed the results in. What impressed the students (and Tax Agencies!) was that Professor Hill can almost always identify correctly which results were faked.

His detection magic is based on the observation that one tends to underestimate significantly the likelihood of the occurrence of certain events that may sound or appear to be rare but is not. In the coin tossing experiment described above, the question for those students who choose to fake the results becomes how often and how many heads or tails in a row does he/she expect to appear? It turns out that since the calculation for such a probability of outcomes is non-trivial, most students, when faking the outcomes without knowing what to expect exactly, end up avoiding having sequences of too many consecutive heads or tails that gave away the secret. If one had bothered to work out the details and computation, it turns out that even for a 100 coin tosses, there is almost a 1 in 3 chances that a consecutive 7 heads or tails will appear. That is much higher than what most people would have guessed.

This example shed insights and psychological light into my “why me” problem. I am pretty sure there is no conspiracy nor deliberate forces that made them happen to me in such a short period of time. To his credit as a good engineer, Edward Murphy learned his lessons and advocated Defensive Design since as a result of the failed experiment in his project. My take away of my bad lucks is we all need to do more Defensive Living and make sure we do what we can to guard against what we thought was rare or unlikely random event. Just remember, it is more likely to happen than you think!

Talk to you soon!

Paz Sin Fronteras (Peace Without Borders)

A free “Paz Sin Fronteras” (Peace Without Borders) concert was held in Havana’s la Plaza de la Revolución José Martí (Jose Marti Revolution Plaza) last Sunday, Sept 20 in Cuba. The concert was organized and led by Juanes (Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez), a Columbia-born Latin pop superstar and social activist, a 17-time Latin Grammy winner. More than 1 million people attended the concert by some estimates. Keeping in mind that the total population of Cuba is 11+ millions people and Havana has about 2 million residents, children and seniors included. Here is a Youtube video of the first 10 minutes of the concert.




According to Wikipedia, Plaza de la Revolucion is one of the largest city plazas in the world with an area of 4.6 square miles that is about 10 times the size of the National Mall in Washington D.C. and 1/6 of Tiananmen Square of Beijing. It was built prior to Cuban Revolution of 1959 in memory of the Cuban nationalist poet and (Latin America) independence hero José Martí. Across from the statue and monument of José Martí at the north side of the Plaza, there is a giant mural of the Argentina-born Che Guevara, the most popular and well-known romantic figure of Latin America revolutionary in 20th century. More than 40 years has passed after his capture and execution in Bolivia in 1967 at an age of 39, fascination with Che is still going strong with many books written and films made about him including The Motorcycle Diaries.

José Martí, on the other hand, is perhaps less known in pop culture but immensely important in history. He is considered Apostle of Cuban Independence and a great poet and writer. Unbeknownst to many, there is a statue of José Martí (see the public domain photo on the net at right) at the 59th street Artists Gate entrance of the Central Park of New York City. It was created by sculptor Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington in 1959 as a gift to Cuba government for the presentation to the people of New York City right before the revolution. It depicts Marti was fatally wounded atop his horse at the 1985 Dos Rios battle against Spanish. Of course, practically everyone has heard the Cuban unofficial national anthem Guantanamera whose lyrics was adapted from a Jose Marti’s poem. Here is the video of a performance by the legendary American folk singer, songwriter and activist, now 90 year old, Pete Seeger with a 12 string guitar.



There have been plenty of controversies surrounding the “Paz Sin Fronteras” (Peace Without Borders) concert as one might expect. Indeed, there has been a forever debate of if staging a cultural event in a country under an authoritarian regime is a good thing or not. The last notable event that I can recall was the Feb ‘08 visit of New York Philharmonic to North Korea. Then of course one can trace back to the famous 1971 Ping-Pong diplomacy when the U.S. Table Tennis team accepted the invitation by Communist China and visited Beijing that paved the way for the later visit of President Nixon and the normalization. The opponents invariably argue that the world must isolate and punish the oppressive regimes inclusive of cultural exchanges. They argue that any visit or gesture would be a betrayal to the suffering people and give a wrong signal that the world could be tolerant of the regime.

I don’t agree with such a view. Even though it might take a long time to see visible impacts from those visits and exchanges, we must not underestimate people’s intelligence and hunger for the pursuit of happiness wherever and whatever they are. Through the human history, oppressive governments and rulers without exception have been most fearful of independent intellectuals, writers, and artists. Because they know full well that when people’s mind are touched and opened by music, arts, or literature, fear will be replaced by hope, ignorance will be replaced by imagination, and herd-like collective behavior will be replaced by individual expression and creativity. Doesn’t it defy the logic then if one wants to help those dictators to further isolate and deprive people the opportunity to see the outside world, no matter how small that window is?

Over 20 years ago, a good friend of mine in telecom business once told me of his dream of democratizing Communist China quickly. He would employ satellites to broadcast TV programs to mainland China. In his calculation, the sheer exposure of the outside world to people in China would be sufficient to start the spiraling demands for more economic freedom, democracy, and ultimately an alternate government system. With the ubiquitous reach of Internet, what he has envisioned has been well underway in last decade and there is no return now for China. The doors and windows needs to be opened for Cuba, North Korea, and alike. Music and arts are the most powerful media and platform to achieve freedom. They transcend the language and cultural gaps. They inspire and unite people. I would love to see more concerts like “Paz Sin Fronteras” (Peace Without Borders) be held in many places of the world.

By the way, U.S. has imposed travel ban and embargo since early 60's. President Obama has been pursuing a different and more sensible policy regarding U.S.-Cuba relations. On April 13, 2009, he had loosened the travel ban and now allowing Cuban-Americans to travel freely to Cuba. For everyone else, the closest one can travel to in U.S. for now is Key West of Florida, the southernmost point of U.S. continent which is 90 miles away from Cuba. If you vacation in south Florida, don’t miss it. It is a charming town where one of the greatest American writers Ernest Hemingway used to live. In addition to touring the Hemingway house, you can visit 33rd President Harry Truman’s (1945-1953) Little White House where he spent many winter days during his presidency.

Talk to you soon!

Hudson River 400th Anniversary

400 years ago this month, Henry Hudson, an English explorer working for the Dutch East India Company made his third trip in his ship Halve Maen (means Half Moon in English) across Atlantic to New York Bay. Hudson and his men found and managed to sail up a broad tidal river all the way to nowadays Albany. In honoring the discovery, the river was later named after him by the settling Dutch immigrants and is now known as the Hudson River whose last 21 miles forms the border of New York City (on its east) and New Jersey. For those of you who have never seen or heard of this river, you surely would recall the news of “Miracle on the Hudson” earlier this year (to be exact, Thurs, Jan 15th) when captain "Sully" Sullenberger crash-landed his Airbus 320 plane of U.S. Airways flight 1549 on the freezing Hudson River and brought all 155 passengers and crew to safety.

The exploration was obviously economically motivated. After the Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan in English) and his crew, sponsored by the Spanish crown, proved once-and-for-all in their 1519-1522 epic journey by sailing westward that the earth is round, many including Henry Hudson tried to find shorter and safer routes to Asia, thus a more competitive way to reach the Spice Islands of Indonesia. His employer, Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602 by the Parliament of the Netherland as a monopoly for all its colonial activities (including diplomatic and military!) in Asia. Within six months, Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the world’s first modern day stock exchange was formed and Dutch East India Company became the first multinational corporation and the first to issued stocks in the world. In an equivalent of today’s IPO (Initial Public Offering), it raised over 6 million guilders of capital, or equivalently about today’s 100 million dollars. The investor was not disappointed; Dutch East India Company was extremely profitable and had been paying an incredible dividend of 18% every year for the subsequent 200 years!

In 1609, Henry Hudson did not bring back to Europe any spices, silk, nor porcelains. Instead he carried back beaver furs from American Indians and the promise of vast land and resources. Subsequently Dutch people began to settle in Hudson Valley and its neighboring regions and called it the New Netherlands which was eventually ceded to England in 1664. Indeed, it was the Dutch who reported to have purchased Manhattan island from the Algonquian-speaking Lenape Indians in 1626 with sixty guilders worth of beads and trinkets. In today’s dollar, it is worth about $1000. However the claim is just Dutch’s version and it is not at all clear what the deal and understanding was by Native Americans given their different or lack of land ownership concept at the time. In any case, the development of the subsequent century for the native residents followed the familiar patterns of American Indian struggles and decimation.

Hudson River is 300+ miles long, flowing north to south through eastern New York State. It starts in Adirondack Mountains, about 100 miles northwest of Albany and ends at the Upper New York Bay. Its widest point is about 3 miles wide at Haverstraw Bay, a little north of Tappan Zee (Tappan is an American Indian tribe name and Zee is Dutch word for “Sea”) Bridge between Rockland and Westchester Counties of New York State. The deepest point of the river is 216 feet, more than twice the depth of deepest part of San Francisco Bay, at the World' End, located near West Point where the world famous U.S. Military Academy is located.

A little north of West Point, right off the main throughway Route 9W, there is an under-developed Storm King State Park next to the river that offers several easy and moderate hiking trails with fabulous views of Hudson River and Valley. One of the parking lots off Route 9W provides convenient access to the trailhead of the Organge-blazed Howell Trail. With less than 1 mile of steep ascend and occasional climb over large granites, one reaches the Butter Hill Summit at 1380 feet, the highest peak of Storm King Mountains. Walking further north and north east, one finds the yellow-blazed Stillman Trail that takes you to the Storm King Summit at 1,340 ft and near Hudson River with several overlooks on the way. The photos to the right was taken from one of the overlooks. As one looks north, Beacon Bridge (Interstate Hwy 84) and Bannerman Castle of the Pollepel Island on Hudson River are clearly visible in a clear day. The trip offers an excellent half-day hikes and scenery. The coming fall colors will no doubtedly light up the whole valley shortly.

Driving south from the Storm King State Park along Hudson River and takes the 40 miles long scenic Palisades Interstate Parkway, one reaches Fort Lee next to the George Washington Bridge, the first motion picture capital of America 100 years ago, now known to some as a Korean town with its high Korean-American population (almost 20% of Fort Lee residents are Koreans) and a perfect place for an authentic Korean dinner. Following the River Road and then Kennedy Blvd through towns of Edgewater, Guttenberg, West New York, Weehawken, one gets incredible views of the beautiful Manhattan skyline across the Hudson River, something that New Yorker themselves don’t see often. Here is a photo of Manhattan taken in the evening from the Hamilton Park in Weehawken, a little north of the Lincoln Tunnel.

Henry Hudson wasn’t the first European explorer to reach New York. It was the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano who, in the service of French Crown, first entered New York Harbor and saw Hudson River in 1524. However he thought it was a lake and did not explore it – a missed opportunity. It wasn’t a total loss. In 1964, the longest suspension bridge of U.S. connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn over the Narrows was completed and was named after him as Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Incidentally, when we took a tour several years ago to Chianti, south of Florence, Italy, we took a break at a small village. Stood at the village plaza, there was a statue. As we read the writings on the plaque, we realized that we were at Greve, the birth place of the local hero Giovanni Verrazano. Come to think of it, I can’t recall seeing statues of explorers in China or Taiwan. The last known explorer by imperial order was Zheng He 鄭和 in early 15th century during Ming Dynasty who went to Southeast Asia, Arabic Peninsula and East Africa. Unfortunately, it was the last major exploration and international trade of China that had a huge negative implication on the lack of advancement of China in modern history. I will save this big topic for some other time.

Talk to you soon!

Taiwan’s Katrina

Typhoon Morakot swept through Taiwan and dumped between 2,000 and 3,000 mm or 6-10 feet of rainfall in parts of Southern Taiwan over three days from Aug 7 to Aug 9, 2009. To give you some perspective, the wettest place in contiguous 48 states of U.S. is the northwest corner (of Washington State), off Pacific Ocean. Its average annual rainfall is around 2,500 mm with over 200 rainy days a year.

The resulting flood caused extensive damages and destruction in southern Taiwan from fisheries to infrastructure. Worse yet, mudslides buried some villages and numerous houses and properties. Over 700 residents lost their lives according to the latest official tally. The last major natural disaster like this on the island took place exactly 50 years ago: On Aug 7th, 1959, Typhoon Ellen brought over 1,000 mm of rainfall over three days and washed away farmlands and roadways in central and southern Taiwan, not to mention almost 2,000 lives were lost. One can’t stop wondering despite the exponential economic growth of the last 50 years, why isn't the island more prepared and why does the history get repeated?

As flood intensified and water level rose, many local and central government clearly weren’t paying much attention to the severity and required proactive actions. The lack of communications, command/control and coordination for speedy emergency response and decision makings for such a large scale disaster was evident. Once the reports of disasters started to dribble in and the TV news clips started to show up on screens, the initial reactions by some politicians were simply stupid and showed a lack of sensitivity. President’s Ma was quoted to question the Central Weather Bureau for its accuracy in forecast; Premier Liu was quoted to defend the government’s emergency response as “faster than the 921 Earthquake disaster 10 years ago”; while lower cabinet ministers, staffs, and local elected officials busily justifying their actions or therelackof. With the media, pundits and some politicians smelling blood and fanning controversies and misstatements, the initial scenes was ugly and exhausting as more and more people’s livelihood was found in peril.

A month has passed by since the political crisis was triggered by the typhoon. The latest casualty was reported on Sept 7th when Premier (or head of the Executive Yuan) Liu ZhaoXuan劉兆玄 announced the resignation of his and his cabinet, effective today. With so much negative coverage and political criticisms during last 30 days, I would not be surprised if most of them felt they had just experienced a political mudslide. The landscape on surface has simply changed overnight. The question remains is how to salvage what is left that is valuable and how to shape the future. Should one just move on business as usual and roll the dice, hoping the next humongous natural disaster will be another 50 years away? Or should one takes a good look at the fundamentals and charts a better course for the future?

The single most important comment (that unfortunately did not receive much attention) came from Shih MingDe施明德,a well-respected, spirited, independent opposition leader and activist for the last four decades in Taiwan. He pointed squarely at the unique semi-presidential government system as the biggest roadblock for democratization and appealed to President Ma to move toward to a Parliamentary system.

Taiwan’s president is granted significant power, evolved out of many decades of autocracy under Chiang’s and political calculations of KMT (Nationalist Party). Unlike the Presidential system in e.g., U.S., Taiwan’s President appoints and can remove pretty much at will the Premier, head of the executive branch who is responsible for government ministration and is responsible to the legislative branch. The "beauty" is that the President can focus more on getting elected while the Premier can become as a convenient political buffer and scapegoat.

Further, unlike the semi-presidential system of France’ fifth Republic, there is no possibility for cohabitation in Taiwan when President and legislative branch come from opposite ends of political spectrum. It was clearly demonstrated by eight years of gridlock of the government from 2000-2008 when Chen Shui-Bian 陳水扁 of DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) was elected twice as President while KMT led coalition controlled the Legislative branch. Legislative Yuan can pass as many bills as it wants and Executive Yuan can drag its feet in implementation. If necessary, President can appoint another Premier with similar ideology and the cycle continues.

Obviously I am not the first one who recognized this fundamental problem. Former Premier Zhang Jun-Xiong 張俊雄 under President Chen was quoted to have commented about the system: “A President who can nominate the Premier without consent of Parliament, is not required to be responsible for Parliament, yet has the right to dissolve Parliament, is creating a powerful President without responsibility and a powerless Premier with responsibility.” This is what just happened in Taiwan in the aftermath of the Morakot disaster.

I feel sorry for Premier Liu, a respected scientist, a former university professor and president. He is one of the few experienced and extremely capable leaders with high integrity and intellects. With a brain-dead semi-presidential system and a narcissistic president, Premier Liu did the last thing he could - resigning from his powerless Premier post with responsibility and dignity. His departure likely marks the end of the legacy of technocracy in Taiwan. If the broken Constitution and political system does not get fixed soon enough, "May God bless the people of Taiwan" - that is the last thing Premier Liu said on his press conference of resignation.

Talk to you soon!

Oh, Shenandoah

Less than 20 miles west of Monticello (see my last blog), there lies the south entrance of the 300+ square miles Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The word Shenandoah comes from Algonquian-Wakashian American Indians which mean Beautiful star daughter, or spruce-lined stream, or vast prairie.

The park resides in the northern section of the Blue Ridge Mountains which is a part of the 1,500 miles long Appalachian Mountains in eastern North America, running from the island of Newfoundland south-westward to Central Alabama. Blue Ridge earns its name because of the bluish color when seen from a distance. Technically, the distinct blue color and characteristic haze on the mountains come from the isoprene released into the atmosphere by the numerous trees of the range.

The best way to appreciate Shenandoah National Park is through hiking. With its massive trails of more than 500 miles long, one can choose short, half day or day hikes at easy or moderate or strenuous grade from trail heads off the 105 miles long Skyline Drive through the park. (For those who prefer the comfort of cars, the Drive offers 75 scenic overlooks and convenient views). Portions of the trails are a part of the 2,100 miles long popular Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia. On the trail, we did run into an old hiker who was carrying a 45 lb load on the way to New York from his North Carolina home, a 450 miles journey.

Hawksbill Summit (at 4050 ft) and Stony Man Summit (at 4010 ft) are two highest peaks in the park. Within one mile or two miles of hiking, one is rewarded with spectacular panoramic views of the mountain ranges and valley (see photo below). The park has many wildlife and wild flowers. You would almost certainly run into few white-tailed deer off the trails or on the meadows. You may see some eastern wild turkey. If you are lucky, you may see black bears crossing the Skyline Drive. We heard people who saw bobcats which are rare. Given the mere sixty miles short distance from Washington D.C. to the north entrance of the park, Shenandoah offers a relaxed long weekend break from brown urban and suburban life.


Before I go, here is “Oh Shenandoah” and its lyric, a popular 200+ year old American folk song. There are many versions and various interpretations of it. I like this one by Randy Granger, a talented Native American musician who delivered it with a deep emotion.



Oh Shenandoah,
I long to hear you,
Away you rolling river,
Oh Shenandoah,
I long to hear you,
Away, I'm bound away
'Cross the wide Missouri.

Oh Shenandoah,
I love your daughter,
Away you rolling river,
Oh Shenandoah,
I love your daughter, Away, I'm bound away
'Cross the wide Missouri.

Oh Shenandoah,
I'm going to leave you.
Away you rolling river,
Oh Shenandoah,
I'm going to leave you.
Away, I'm bound away
'Cross the wide Missouri.
Away, I'm bound away
'Cross the wide Missouri.

Monticello – A Giant’s Little Mountain

Monti-cello, an Italian word that means literally “Little Mountain”, is the name of Thomas Jefferson’s 5,000 acre plantation home in Charlottesville, Virginia, a two and half hours driving southwest of Washington D.C. Just in case you are not familiar with who Thomas Jefferson is, he is one of the seven key “founding fathers” of U.S. (the other six are Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.). He was the 3rd president of U.S., preceded by George Washington and John Adams, serving two full terms from 1801-1809. He was the 1st Secretary of State (under George Washington), 2nd Vice President (when President and Vice President were not in one ticket) and the 2nd Governor of Virginia from 1779-1781. Of course, he is most well-known for his drafting of the American Declaration of Independence in July, 1776, at age 33! Where were you when you were 33 years old?

A visit to Monticello and the mountaintop house Jefferson had designed and built over a period of 40 years from 1769 to 1809 affords a unique experience to get a feel and glimpse of the life of this great American intellect and statesman. Exactly two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson completed his 2nd term of presidency and returned to his beloved Monticello home, a plantation that he inherited from his father at age 14.

As one enters the hall of Thomas Jefferson’s house from the east side, visitors are greeted with artifacts of American Indians on the south wall, sent by Lewis and Clark from their famous 1804-1806 exploration of the west for which Jefferson had championed. On the opposite wall, game trophies including moose, elk, etc. from the west are displayed. Both serve a vivid reminder of Jefferson’s vision of westward expansion of America, began with his Louisiana Territory Purchase from France in 1803. Above the entrance, there is a large wall clock, including a hand for seconds that Jefferson had designed. Day of the week can be read off the wall as fifty pound of cannonball weights traversing downward through the markers, reaching the floor on Friday and into the cellar during the weekend before it is rewind and ready for the new week.

Jefferson must have a very curious and inquisitive mind. Clever gadgets can be seen throughout the house for little but practical tasks like closing the double French door with one hand. A polygraph machine on his desk duplicates his writings letter by letter as he wrote. That explains why there are such good documentations of his letters and memos. His thirst for knowledge is evident as there are shelves of books overflowed beyond his library. He supposedly have owned over 9,000 books through his life time that translates to reading about 150 books a year if he had read them all just once and never read others’ collections. One of his famous quotes was “I can’t live without books”! He is a diligent man; he always got up before daylight and work long hours. He had his single bed fit right in between his chamber and cabinet with a clock above the feet position. That is, he practically slept in his study with just few steps away from his desk.

As one walks outside to reach the west lawn, the white dome tops the center of this 21 rooms 4 stories house in Jefferson's design based on Palladio's architecture is clearly visible. As a self-taught architect, Jefferson had done a magnificent job. Not only had considered the energy efficiency (e.g., double windows on the north side of the house), he had made the connection of his political belief of a young American republic with the Roman republic. It is one of the most elegant and inspiring private house although it is modest and is only a fraction in size compared to opulent mansions like Vanderbilt’s in Newport, Rhode Islands . By the way, if you look at the back of your 5 cent nickel coins, you can see a simple illustration of this Monticello house.

Strolling down the Mulberry Row on the south side of the house, little remains and artifacts of the slave quarters and workshops can still be seen. As a major plantation owner, Thomas Jefferson owned quite a few slaves (at peak, about 600), although he apparently preferred not to engage in buying or selling slaves. In fact, he wasn’t a shrewd business man and barely kept his plantation going with the grains (mostly wheat) it grows. His estate including slaves had to be auctioned at his death as he had cumulated over a hundred thousand dollars of debt. Note a slave can be purchased at the time for low hundreds in average and up to say one thousand dollars (equivalent of approximately $20K of purchasing power of today) depending on their skills and “values”. As a great American who championed the principles of personal liberty and equality during the founding of the nation, did he mean to apply those principles only to the white European immigrants and descendants like himself?

While he had called slavery an "abominable crime," a "moral depravity”, etc. early in his political career before 1785, Jefferson himself never freed any of his slaves if you don’t include members of the Hemings family. The total would have been 9 (including three run-away who were not pursued deliberately), all are children or grandchildren of Betty Hemings, concubine and a slave of Jefferson’s father-in-law. Among the nine, six are believed to be fathered by Jefferson with Sally Hemings (a daughter of Betty Hemings) who is a ¼ African American. There is no question that there were many contradictions in Jefferson’s words and actions regarding slavery. Was he a hypocrite? Did he compromise for political and economic stability, the same issues and conflicts that took the bloody Civil War to settle half a century later?

Political considerations aside, it appears that Jefferson’s racial and generally elites attitude have a lot to do with his positions and approach to slavery. Perhaps his view on issues with Native American Indians shed some lights as well. He believed American Indians should give up their own cultures, religions, and lifestyles to assimilate into western European culture, Christian religion, and an agricultural lifestyle. If they resist, he advocated the removal or in extreme measures, extermination. The net result was the passing of the 1930 Indian Removal Act under President Andrew Jackson. Regarding to slaves, he recognized the impossibility of removal of blacks from the land, he probably ended up with “rationalizations” of slavery using excuses like “not time yet”, “can’t survive without adequate skills”, “needs protection”, with a biased view (but common at the time) that blacks are inferior. Although he was supposed to be a fairly “benevolent” slave owner compared to his peers, his lack of contributions in abolishing slavery remains to be the biggest disappointment to many.

Another possible explanation is related to his political believes. One of the critical debates in the young nation was the balance of power of state vs. federal, sometimes referred to as Jeffersonian vs. Hamiltonian or Anti-federalist vs. Federalist. The former was led by Thomas Jefferson who had always been concerned about concentration of power and interference of government. The latter was led by Alexander Hamilton of New York, another key founding father and nation’s first Secretary of Treasury under George Washington’s, who believed in a strong federal government which can manage effectively fiscal, military and foreign affairs, built on industrial productions, trading, and commerce. It is conceivable that Jefferson might not be eager to see a federal law of abolition imposed on states, despite his own moral values. Note that his contribution of the Virginia stature of Religious Freedom of 1779 was motivated with the concern that without it, government might interfere on individual’s choice and practice of religion. By the way, although it is not clear the implied concept of “separation of state and church” was exactly what he had intended, Jefferson's religious freedom law certainly has put the country on a secular, more robust and rational path.

As one walks down the hill to the parking lot, quickly one reaches the family grave yard of Jefferson’s. On the 20ft tall tombstone of his, the epitaph records what he considered his top three contributions – “AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA”. We have talked about the first two. But discussion of the career of Thomas Jefferson would not be complete without mentioning his founding of the University of Virginia few miles away in Charlottesville. After he returned home from his two-term presidency service, Thomas Jefferson devoted himself to the establishment of the first public school of higher education completely separated from religious doctrine. He personally planned and designed initial buildings of the school including the Rotunda that share some architectural similarity with his Monticello house. Jefferson also created a curriculum inclusive of full electives, the first in America, that many of us still benefited today. It continues to be one of the best research and full universities in the nation.

America was blessed to have a few extraordinary men in its formative years. Thomas Jefferson had flaws but he has certainly earned his place in American and World history. On July 4th, the Independence Day of 1826, Thomas Jefferson passed away in Monticello. As one drives away from Monticello, his words of eternal truth written 233 years ago still echo through the valleys and hills loudly that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” More importantly perhaps, he did not stop there; he went on to say “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Thank you, President Jefferson!