Think twice before you Google?

According to today's New York Times, some feel a chilling effect from recent revelations that the Justice Department is collecting information about people's internet search habits.

Last week, Google said that it would resist attempts by the federal government to obtain records of people's online searches, while Yahoo, MSN, and America Online have already complied with requests. The Justice Department claims it needs the information to help combat online pornography.

One woman tells the New York Times, "If I followed my curiosity and did some Web research, going to Web sites of the parties involved [in the Palestinian elections], I would honestly wonder whether someone in my government would someday see my name on a list of people who went to 'terrorist' Web sites."

Some of those interviewed said they were more conscious of what they type into the Google search box. "Each time I put something in, I think about how it could be reconstructed to mean that I have more than an academic curiosity," another woman said.

When State Quarters Go Bad

If you are like me, you have been checking your change for new quarters to add to your state quarter collection. According to a USA Today article, the state quarter program has been a big moneymaker for the Mint, to the tune of 4 billion dollars US when it reached the halfway point of the ten year program .

When people collect the coins and take them out of circulation, the Federal Reserve has to buy more coins from the Mint. The Fed pays full value for the coins, which creates a profit for the Mint.

In my opinion, the process by which the states choose their quarters is too bureaucratic and ends up with designs that are compromised, not the most artistic or interesting one. Most states request submissions from its residents, then make a list of finalists which are presented to the public. A winner is chosen, which is submitted to the Mint, and then the state will revise the design based on the Mint's suggestions.

For example, look at the five finalists for the California quarter (sorry for the small images):











Here is a closer look at the third design by artist Garrett Burke, featuring conservationist John Muir "discovering" Yosemite Valley :






















Here is the version the US Mint designed, based on Burke's design. The California condor above Muir's head was apparently added because of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to try to incorporate the condor image.






















Schwarzenegger ended up choosing this design, but he asked the Mint to simplify the design. This is the final result, which was minted as California's official state quarter:




















If you look at the original design, I think it's clear that it is far superior to what the Mint and Gov. Schwarzenegger ended up selecting.

But some states do manage to get it right. Here is Oregon's state quarter, which was also released in 2005:














Here are some other designs that try to accomplish too much, throwing together images somehow related to the state:























In related news, the US Mint is launching its latest version of the nickel (that's 5 cents to anyone unfamiliar with U.S. currency). This version will have a profile of Thomas Jefferson looking out from the coin. The nickel program, which began in 2003, commemorates the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Also, Congress has sent a bill to President Bush authorizing a new dollar coin program, which is to feature four former U.S. presidents each year starting in 2007. The program is modeled after the US Mint's successful state quarter program, which will run through 2008.











An artist's depiction of possible designs for the new dollar coins.

Earthsea and Miyazaki

This month Turner Classic Movies is showing a retrospective of the films of animation great Hayao Miyazaki. Probably best known in the United States for Princess Mononoke and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, Miyazaki has been called the Walt Disney of Japan, though their sensibilities are quite different.

I have been trying to watch or tape as many of the films on TCM as I can. While surfing the internet for information about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, I found news that Miyazaki's son Goro is directing his first feature film for Japan's Studio Ghibli, which his father co-founded.

The film will be based on Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books, particularly the third book, The Farthest Shore, Reading the younger Miyazaki's diary of how he chose this project, it seems that he really understands what the books are about.

Compare this to the miniseries which aired on the Sci Fi Channel in December 2004, which met with derision both by fans of the books and the author.

The film is due to be released in Japan in July 2006, and will be called Gedo Senki, which translates to Ged's War Chronicles, a somewhat odd title. The English title will be Tales from EarthSea.

UPDATE (2006/03/18): You can now view or download the trailer for the film at this website.
It's a sneak peak from a Japanese tv network, but the picture and sound quality are pretty decent.

UPDATE (2006/05/13): Ursula LeGuin has posted a synopsis of the Studio Ghibli film at her website (SPOILER ALERT):

A sailing ship is rolling in the rough sea. The captain orders the weatherworker to calm the sea, but the weatherworker is unable to remember the true name of the sea and the wind despite his efforts. Then suddenly, two dragons appear from the dark clouds. The dragons were devouring one another. For the dragons living in the end of the West to appear in the eastern ocean area inhabited by humans, and to feed on one another was something unthinkable. The balance of the world was collapsing.

Ged was on a journey, searching for the source causing evil disturbances to the world. Ged — once an impetuous and arrogant goatherd boy — is now a mature man, called by others as "Lord Archmage", the greatest of wizards. During his travels, he meets Arren, Prince of Enlad. The youth was being pursued by a "shadow". The disastrous force destroying the world's balance and driving people mad was nearing Arren as well.

Arren fleeing from his shadow and unable to confront his own inner darkness, was very much like Ged in his younger days. The two traveled down the valley, through the mountain and many deserted ruins. Everywhere, farmers had abandoned their fields. The two arrive to Hort Town, the capital palace. The streets were crowded with people, but craftsmen have forgotten their crafts, items being sold there were all fake, slaves were being traded, and hazia addicts thronged in the backstreets. People bustled about from place to place, but seemed to be without sense of purpose. The people's eyes were fixed on dreams or on death, another world somewhere else.

The two in their quest, seek refuge to Tenar's place, an old acquaintance of Ged. Tenar was once a priestess that guarded the dark Tombs of Atuan when she was a girl. When Ged recovered the broken Ring of Erreth-Akbe from the Tomb, she was brought out to the world of freedom and light by him. Also living in Tenar's house was Therru, a girl whose face was marked with a scar of fire. Therru who had been abandoned by her parents, avoids Arren who holds darkness within and occasionally devastated with despair. Arren spends his days laboring in the fields and interacting with nature, taught and guided by Ged how all creation in the universe is realized on a balance. Therru gradually opens her heart to Arren. Yet even during this time, Arren's fear toward the shadow grows severe and he is troubled by nightmares of being chased by the shadow.

Ged is able to find that a wizard named Cob has opened the door between worlds of the living and of the dead, and that this was triggering the imbalance of the world. This man, once called "Cob of Havnor" had been using of the Pelnish Lore of Paln, and calling up any person he wished from the other world, when asked for with money. In his younger days, Ged was infuriated by Cob who had summoned his master's spirit, and forcefully took the wailing and resisting Cob to the Land of the Dead and pushed him off to the bottom of fear. After that, Cob vowed to reform and left for the West, but he had actually sworn to himself to get his revenge on Ged.

Arren who fears that he will be unable to control the violent "other self" finally goes away from Tenar's house. Running away from the shadow and fainting, Arren comes to at Cob's castle. Cob opens the doors between the worlds of the living and the dead in order to gain eternal life, and plans to kill Ged who is in the way. Arren, whose fear of the shadow has come to a head, is given hazia and loses his senses, and finally tells his true name and falls captive to Cob.

Ged and Therru both risk their lives to bring back Arren to his senses. With their help, Arren overcomes temptation to get eternal life, draws out the sword forged by magical powers and stand face to face with Cob.

Copyright © 2006 by Studio Ghibli

LeGuin says she will have no comment until she sees the film. But rather than a straight-forward narration of The Farthest Shore, the filmmakers have incorporated the shadow pursuing Ged, which was a major element of A Wizard of Earthsea, and transferred it to Arren. Also, they have brought in the characters of Tenar and Therru, who were primary characters in LeGuin's later Earthsea books.

Matchmaking in China and Speaking Cantonese in America

Happy New Year to all. Best wishes for a peaceful and productive 2006.

I ran across a couple of interesting articles in the Los Angeles Times during the recent holidays.

This article from last Saturday describes matchmaking efforts by parents in China. As many as 6,000 middle-aged people have shown up in a park in Beijing to describe their sons or daughters and what they were looking for in a future marriage partner for their child.

From the article:

Known in slang as "bare sticks," more than 500,000 singles between 30 and 50 live in each of China's two main cities, Beijing and Shanghai, according to government figures. That is a fivefold increase from 1990. In China, the average marrying age in 2001 was 24 for men and 23 for women, although experts say it's closer to 30 in big cities such as Beijing.

It's the fate of Chinese parents, the park-goers say with a weary sigh, to do whatever they can for their children and future grandchildren, in a culture centered on clans, generational continuity and ancestor worship.

"China has 1.3 billion people," says Bai Qianling, a woman in her early 60s out looking for a suitable match for her very tall 27-year-old daughter, a former volleyball player now doing brand marketing. "Why is it so hard to find one reasonable person?"

And according to this article from today's newspaper, speakers of the Cantonese dialect living in the United States are finding that they need to learn Mandarin to do business with Chinese companies in the United States, run successfully for political office in Chinese American communities, or communicate with their grandchildren living in China.

Cantonese was the dialect of most Chinese immigrants to the United States until the last thirty years or so. The earlier immigrants came from towns of the southern province called Guangdong. Today Cantonese is still the main dialect spoken in Hong Kong, located in Guangdong, but the Chinese government is working to make Mandarin the standard language of the country.