Human Rights Award to Grace Wu

Received this picture from my Pop, but there was not much of an explanation with it:

My mother, Dr. Grace Wu, received the Wang Kong-Lu Human Rights Award in San Diego a few days ago. I tried to Google the award, but I can't find out anything more about it anywhere's on the web. Anyone out there can explain it? Please send me a comment to this blogpost.

Congratulations and thanks, Mom, for your inspiration and dedication!

TimePhiz X-Post

A little rant on the other blog ... NSA and CIA for Kids (click)

While I was posting this, my cousin Jen called, and we talked about the "idea" of NSA and CIA web sites for kids. I mentioned that there were a couple other sorta controversial sites for kids, but I couldn't think of examples for a few things. Well, Jen, here is one: FEMA for Kids

Here's some great commentary by Linton Weeks from the Washington Post via the Winston-Salem Journal (hey, Winston): "The government also uses scaredy-pants tactics with young folks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency Web site for kids, for instance, features a hermit crab mascot named Herman, who, when faced with flood or fire, scurries like a scared crab to find a new shell to hide in. Couldn't the mascot be a wise, muscular Saint Bernard that helps people in disasters?" read more (click) ...

Also, the site that stuck in my mind as the "mother of stupid government web sites" is ready.gov -- you know, the web site that spawned all the duct-tape and plastic nuttiness: ready.gov

Although it seems to be toned down a bit now -- I remember that it was quite a bit sillier. For example, I can't find the "burning man" graphic any more (yeah, that's right, I downloaded and saved all the little graphics!). Also, I've always thought that in the "car with explosion on the horizon" graphic, the arrow should have formed more of a U-turn. It's hard to say if the dead bird and fish are a sign of a bio-hazard, or are themselves a bio-hazard. In any case, it's truly something to stand and consider, hand to chin. Keep in mind that our tax dollars are paying for all these useful web sites. And, hey! Ready Kids is "coming soon"!

Baking and Games

Today, Ethan and Lydia came down and spent the day. It's been a while since I truly broke out my "inner asian tourist" and went nuts with the camera (click on the thumbnails below for a bigger image). So we planned a ton of fun stuff to do. First, Donna and Lydia made a bunch of Christmas cookies! From our ever-growing cookie cutter collection, Lydia selected fish, angels, and other shapes. The sweet smell of sugar quickly filled the house.

Here's Lydia carefully cutting and shaping the cookies. We had shredded coconut, M&Ms, peanut M&Ms, little dark chocolate chips, and a lot of icing. Before lunch, we had enough time to cut the shapes and get some cookies onto the cooling racks.

Pizza for lunch! Laying on pepperoni; checking the final product. We made two gourmet pizzas and loaded on the toppings. Hoo-boy! Pizza and cookies are the foundation of any good day.

Sugar high with Mr. Peanut; Ethan and Mom jammin Gran Turismo. We setup the Momo force-feedback wheels and went a little nuts! The best racing was actually with multi-colored Austin Mini's on the Alpine Mountain course in GT3. They were like riding bikes after driving race-prepped C5-R Corvettes around the Speedway. Much time was spent going the wrong way and driving into each other.

After the Patriots game got started (and the traffic around Gillette cleared), Ethan and I went to the batting cages in Wrentham and did some hitting. Aunt Peggy -- he insisted on wearing his Seattle Mariners hat. I'm not sure I about that! But when we got home, we watched the Pats finish off the Bucs. Wow. The Patriots are looking good down the stretch!

Peace Banner Unveiled

The big snow storm did little to dampen the enthusatic presentation of the Peace Banner on the Walpole Commons this morning. A big, energetic group of people, some very young and some a little less young, gathered to voice their opposition to the on-going military action in Iraq.

It was actually lucky that the sun was at our backs; it kept us very warm. The white-on-white effect may have to be considered if we are to present the banner again -- hopefully we won't get 10-inches of snow each time!

It was an awesome morning; great to meet so many like-minded people and feel some supportive spirit from the people in town, too. I heard that one fellow stopped to say that we should not use the names of volunteer soldiers and later had a policeman check to see if we were blocking traffic. An interesting point, but of course, an all-volunteer military would not necessarily include reservists who never expected to be on hostile foreign soil. A few passersby did stop to chat; one small, older woman in particular crossed the street and let us know she shared our sentiments. She had a low, quiet voice, but her energy was strong. That was really moving and it made my day! I hope someone offered her some hot chocolate.

Time Phiz Blog Is Up

Created a second blog for the TimePhiz project: http://timephiz.blogspot.com/

Letter to the Editor

Tonight's presentation at the Walpole Public Library was atonishingly powerful. Dr. Nancy Hendrie came and spoke about her amazing work in Cambodia. This is a country that has some of the worst poverty in the world, and the images and stories she shared were hearbreaking: The Sharing Foundation

Also, received this via e-mail; it was written by a member of the Group (not me) ...

Dear Editor of the Walpole Times, 

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group has prepared a banner with 2129 stars, each bearing the name of a US soldier, killed in the Iraq war. The act of creating this banner was a moving experience as we placed each star and name and recognized the magnitude of the loss. 2, 129 of our service men and women and over 100,000 Iraqi people have died in this war. Unimaginable destruction, prisoner abuse, botched reconstruction, manipulation of the Iraqi press, chaos and the threat of civil war, all of this the US has brought upon the people of Iraq. The Iraq war has also resulted in a world wide increase in anti American sentiment and threat of terrorist attacks. One must be outraged as evidence mounts that the Bush Administration manipulated intelligence data to justify the war. No weapons of mass destruction, no evidence linking 9/11 or Bin Laden to Sadam Hussein have been found. The continuing presence of US military forces in Iraq now serves as a lightening rod and is counterproductive in resolving the disorder there. The United States should pull our troops out of Iraq now. 

The banner representing the 2,129 US dead in Iraq will be held at a peace vigil on Walpole Common this Saturday, December 10th from 10 AM to Noon. The public is welcome to join us, to see the banner, and to call on the Bush Administration to bring our troops home now!

The Corporation Movie

Wow. Still sort of recovering from our "Corporation" gathering -- it's a long movie that just *dense* with information. A great movie and a wonderful group gathering -- thanks to all who came and participated. I hope we all agreed that the best action, to start, is to try to find ethical corporations and encourage that kind of corporate behavior. Here are two places to start:

• Co-op America
• No Sweat Apparel

Started my day by reading an interesting article in the Boston Globe South (click to link article). The article is about Phil Dunkelbarger, Democrat from Westwood, running against Rep. Stephen Lynch. A short e-mail conversation followed, and it looks like I'll be helping his campaign. Another project! But how could I *not*? Click to find out more about Phil and his campaign.

Phil and Lois called with news -- the banner is really coming along. And next Tuesday the Walpole Peace and Justice Group is hosting an event with Dr. Nancy W. Hendrie of the Sharing Foundation. Click here for the press release. And next weekend is the peace vigil and the presentation of the banner -- can't wait! Click here for the press release.

It feels like things are starting to happen.

Peace Banner: A Field of Stars

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is making a banner with the 2100 names (approx, from the list published Nov 26) of US soldiers killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) on a field of stars. Shiela and Lois consider the banner fabric and structure; Paul arrives with David and the stars from the copier.

The ladies begin trimming the sheets; Barry steps in to supervise. Laying out the field of stars on the first two banners. Applying the names of the soldiers.

The stars and names on the first banner are finished and it looks really great. As we applied the names, Donna and I read them off -- click here to link to the database. 2330 coalition casualties as of today -- tho not all the names have been published. I'm very afraid we'll have to do some updates before we present the banners to the public.

I started a blog today.

I started a blog today. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say. There are a couple of big events coming up in my life, and I'll post news here about them:

• I joined a local peace group and we're protesting the war
• Been trying to start a grassroots effort to make the world better
• Working on a project to make technology accessible to teachers

So I decided to document these events and write some stuff down. That, plus I wanted to post some replies to moderated blogs. Click here to join us for a screening of "The Corporation", Sunday, December 4, 2005.