Essential 2

What is the next most important essential for humans besides air? Water of course. Without water we can only live for days. The sad reality is that water has become a precious resource and the situation is continuing.

The recent drought in China has highlighted the shortage of water. 15 years ago, we had drought in China but it only affected crop; 10 years ago, the drought in China affected crop and animals; now the drought in China is affecting humans. We need to act immediately to control the situation otherwise more people will suffer.

The crux is that although the Chinese government is trying to find more water from underground water or divert river course to acquire more water, the problems are that the first method causes land collapses as hollows are formed underground and the second method may lead to war as we are stealing water from other countries. Some rivers start from China pass different countries before reach to the sea. By diverting river courses people who live in the downstream areas may not get sufficient water.

An alternative which is viable is to change sea water to drinking water. It takes more money than pumping from the underground or stealing from others but the supply is unlimited in theory. If we build up more factories for converting sea water to drinking water, the costs should go down.

Although the above factories can solve the water scarcity, the northwest or southwest parts of China still face the drought problem as the sea is not near them. It is necessary to build up long pipes to pump water from the east to the west in order to solve the problem. If we have built up long pipes for delivering oil from Russia to China, why not water pipes?

Essential

What is the essential of our life? Health? Money? Frame? I think air must be the one, without air we can't live for minutes!

The reality is that air quality in HK is getting worse. Haze is bad and it is caused by pollutants from China as well as HK but dust storm from northern China is worse and it can spread all the way to the US! The air quality index in HK in the past several days speak for itself: the dust storm can reach HK and easily break our worst air quality index!

Dust storm is originated from desert. And desertization in northern China, which is a result of rapid development by invading forest, causes more dust storm. To prevent dust storm, we need to plan more trees and using less forest land for development. Dust storm is threatening the livelihood of China and there will be no development if situation continues.



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Work, Study, and Rest

I have been very busy in the last couple of months. Not only I have to write another paper and prepare my class each week, but also my work is full. I can hardly find time to rest.

I used to like reading but in the past couple of months I seldom had time to read. I know that this will continue in the next several years so I need to read as much as I could during summer when my school work is lessen.

As I have so many tasks to handle and the time is constant, I need to use my time wisely on work and study so that I can have time to rest. I plan what I want to do daily and try to complete it so that I can then focus on others next day. Leisure becomes a luxury. As I travel to work daily by MTR I use the interval to read and I managed to complete the Tales from Shakespeare within a year. It is putting your time to good use.

International Conference

I attended an international conference in early January 2010 and I presented my first paper at the conference. I was a bit nervous but I think it was received by the attendees. Having presented my paper, people on the floor asked me different questions and I needed to answer them. It was a challenging experience but I liked it. In fact, this is a good opportunity to receive others' critical comments and amend your paper, if necessary, accordingly. You may not like others' comments, but they are worth your while as your paper will be improved.

In addition, by attending an international conference, I got to know people in the same area as mine. By discussing your area with these people, you gain more insights. By listening and commenting on others' papers, you learn, think and gain. Beside, by knowing what others are doing, you understand whether you are on the cutting edge or not. If not, better work hard.

Time Management

I was very busy during last month and early this month. My work was packed and I needed to prepare for the assessment of my course. Besides, I am preparing the final version of my conference paper to be presented next month and I need to start writing another paper for another conference.

I need better time management so that I can allocate my time for family/research/work/study/rest. I tried to read some books but just couldn't afford some time to do so. Reading is my habit and I had to put it aside for a moment.

From what I have learned, the time management skill requires you to select the most important task for the day and focus on it. Having done that, go for the second most important task and so on. That's how you can complete the most rather than doing unnecessary but urgent tasks.

Housing in HK

Most of us in HK properly know that the housing prices are surging in the past 6 months and it seems that the trend continues. For those who want to purchase a home, they need to pay a higher and higher price and it looks like that their dream house is far away.

The government, along with property developers, are the only ones who deny the existence of a housing bubble. Everyone else knows the fact. If the housing prices increased by 20, 30 or even 40 percent in the past six months and this situation continues but our salary increment could not match them, it means that we are having a bigger and bigger bubble.

More people cannot afford the current housing prices means that these prices finally will fall and it's only a matter of time. So if you really want to purchase a dream home, I suggest that you had better wait. Set a price level that you think is reasonable and you can afford it, and hit it when the moment comes - the housing price drop to your set level.

Korea

I just visited Korea for the last few days. I attended a wedding banquet there and it was a wonderful experience to see how Koreans celebrated their wedding. I was amazed that the some parts of the wedding ceremony were similar to us such as bowing down to parents, receiving lucky money, and dressing traditional garments.

Seoul is an energetic country and is building up rapidly. Most young Koreans are taller than Hong Kong people and most people there look similar to northern Chinese. There are many tall buildings in the city though many people still live in three-story building. Their places are as hygienic as Japan so you have no problem to enjoy you call of nature. Koreans love coffee. There are countless coffee shops there and their coffee tasted very good. Their food is mostly spicy.

It is a place worth visiting. It only takes you three hour to get there. Try it and you will like it.