The Banana Syndrome: Losing Our Cultural Heritage

English-educated Chinese Christians in Malaysia and Singapore faces a unique quandary. Their mindset, worldview and culture are influenced by the Anglo-American influences that come with an English education system. Yet, these Christians are ethnic Chinese brought up with their Chinese cultural heritage whether they are aware of them or not. No wonder they are often called bananas – yellow on the outside but white in the inside. That is one of the reasons why mainland Chinese when China was forced open to the West were very resistant to Christianity. They see Christianity as a Western imperialist tool. They recognize that embracing the Western culture will threaten their Chinese identity. Early Chinese Christian converts were regarded as no longer Chinese.

Present day English-educated Chinese Christians still struggle with the issue of whether they are Chinese Christians or Christian Chinese. This is especially acute in families that no longer speak Chinese or any of its dialects. In many such families their lifestyles are closer to Anglo-Americans rather than to their Chinese-educated brethren. Yet intrinsic to their identity is their Chinese heritage. The pull to their roots become stronger as these English-educated Chinese becomes older. This highlights an important point. As Christians were are not only called by God to be his people (special calling), to be his agent in redemption (general calling) but also to embrace our cultural heritage (cultural calling). Our cultural heritage shows the diversity of God’s people. Revelation 7 shows a heavenly scene where there is a mighty multitude of God’s people from every nation, people, tribe and language.

As Christians, we are to incarnate our ethnicity and its culture. This is especially true in our Chinese English-speaking congregations in Malaysia and Singapore. I am sure this will be same with Chinese Christians elsewhere. There is much we can learn from our Chinese Chinese-speaking congregations in the way they have contextualized the gospel and Christian living within the Chinese heritage. In Chinese culture, the Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important event in the year. The reunion dinner where the whole family comes together is the social event of the year. Family members travel thousands of miles to attend.

I have observed over the years, for many English-speaking Chinese Christians, the Lunar New Year celebrations are becoming less and less important. Similar to the Harvest and other Chinese festivals. It is just another public holiday. More and more are taking the opportunity during this period to travel overseas for extended holidays. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to celebrate Chinese New Year. However this may be symptomatic of the loosening of our cultural identity. There is no running away from our cultural heritage and identity. We run away at our loss. Recently many churches in Malaysia and Singapore are engaged in emotionally mature spirituality. I believe it is time for us to embrace our cultural spirituality too.

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Movie Review on Mr. Holmes

Mr Holmes (2015)

In my opinion, Sherlock Holmes (a fictional character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) is the greatest detective in the world, second only to Batman (another fictional character). Using pure logic, Sherlock Holmes has solved numerous mind boggling mysteries in various medium of books, movies and fanzines. This movie poses the ultimate problem for Sherlock Holmes. Based on Mitch Cullin's 2005 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, the victim of the crime is Sherlock Holmes himself. The crime is senility or Alzheimer’s Disease. How will Holmes solve a crime that robs him of his logic and his memories and will ultimately his selfhood. This is an existential question that this movie attempts to answer. Who are we as a person when we begin to lose our mental faculties and our memories? Do we still remain ‘us’ or become something or someone else?

Ian McKellan gives a superb performance as an aging 93 years old Sherlock Holmes. The year is 1947. Holmes is living in retirement in a picturesque English country cottage, looked after by a war-widow, Mrs Munro and her son, Roger. Holmes has taken up bee keeping as a hobby. He is fragile, subjects to falls, and is plagued by his inability to remember significant parts of his past. Using his remarkable deductive skills which seems to be intact, Holmes try to remember the details of two cases from the past. One involved the suicide of a young wife and the other, the reason why a young man would abandon his family and disappear. This happens in an atmosphere of growing antagonist between his housekeeper and him as he becomes more and more dependent on her but resenting it, and his growing friendship with Roger, the housekeeper’s precocious son. He uses a technique of recovering memories by writing a fictional story involving himself and allows Roger read it. The story unfolds with numerous flashback showing a younger, smartly dressed Holmes, as the older Holmes recover the pieces of the puzzle that were missing from his memories.

Growing old is a common condition to everyone. Most of us fear growing old. Using the number of years to define old may be relative and cultural bound. Living to the 80s and 90s is relatively new to us Asians and we have yet come to terms with an aging population that live longer than our ancestors. In truth, most of us do not fear aging but what accompanies aging – loss of self-esteem, income and privileges after we retire, our bodies falling apart and we become host to aches and pain, chronic diseases, heart problems and cancers. What is more fearful is the onset of Alzheimer’s  when we first begin to lose our recent memories, then logical thinking, emotional control until we became a chaotic mess of fearful uncontrolled emotions in an aged body. In the Gospel of John, Jesus made a rather cryptic statement to Peter about when Peter was young, he can go wherever he wants. When he became old, people will use his belt to tie his hand and lead him to where he does not want to go. The statement often reminds me of Alzheimer’s.

What happens to us when Alzheimer’s robs us of our memories, our emotional control, our reasoning and finally of our self-awareness. This is where I struggle with my evangelical theology. St. Paul advise us to grow spiritually by not conforming to the world but by renewing our minds. By that I assume using our cognitive abilities to choose a life of discipleship. What happens when we no longer have our minds such as in the late stages of Alzheimer’s? I have seen gracious compassionate pious Christian being transformed to sly nasty Gollum as Alzheimer’s take its toll. I wonder what St.Paul will say to that?

[spoiler alert!] The movie does have a happy ending, if we can call that a happy ending. In recovering his memories, Holmes come to understand is own life more. He even feels regrets for paths not taken. More significantly is that he comes to accept his fate and come to terms with his life situation. Winter is not only coming but is already here. In a symbolic gesture, Holmes writes the names of significant people in his life on stones and places them in a circle around them. He then pays homage to them. In typical Holmesian fashion, Sherlock Holmes, grandmaster detective, defeated his villain Alzheimer’s by escaping into his memories.

My other movie reviews and reflection are here

4 November 2015

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Movie Review X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) is the seventh installation of the movie series on the X-Men. The theme of this movie is loosely based on the 1981 Uncanny X-Men storyline "Days of Future Past" by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Personally I prefer the comic storyline as it is more nuanced but this movie is worth watching on its own. Unlike the X-Men movie trilogy which ended with X-Men: The Last Stand, there is more character development and story telling in this movie. Though the action sequences are excellent, it is not as confusing as the Last Stand. This movie is a direct sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: First Class as it made references to both movies. I will suggest that you watch these two movies before watching this. This will make it more enjoyable.

[spoilers alert]

In the future, the war with the sentinels (these are giant robots, not the multiple eyed octopus thingy in the Matrix trilogy) has destroyed much of the cities. Mutants and human mutant sympathizers are being held in detention camps. A small group of mutants make their last stand against the sentinels in the apocalyptic scenario similar to the Terminator series. Why must artificial intelligence and humanoid robots be anti-humans, I wonder? Have no one heard of Asimov’s three laws of robotics anymore? The last remnant of mutants which include Professor X (Charles Xavier), Magneto (Erik Lehnsherr), Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), Storm (Ororo Munroe) and Wolverine (James Logan) devised a plan to send the Wolverine into the past, specifically to 1973. They decided the pivotal moment in time when the war against normal or non-mutant humans began was when Mystique murdered Dr. Bolivar Trask (the designer of the sentinels) and was herself captured in 1973. The research on her DNA from her blood was used to upgrade the new class of sentinels.

Most superhero movies and comics has allegorical implications. These superheroes are our new mythology. X-Men: Days of Future Past, like the Avengers movie series and the Spiderman series have lessons for us today.

First, our actions have consequences that echo through time. Like the butterfly effect in chaos theory, one simple action may cause a ripple that may cause the destruction of a civilization. Driven by hate because of the murder of her fellow mutant, Mystique hunted down to murder Trask because Trask was the one who killed her friends in his scientific experiments. Trask on the other hand, fears for the survival of the human race. Fearing mutants will kill off non-mutants, as humans themselves had killed off the Neanderthals, Trask seeks to find a weapon which will destroy the mutants. His chosen weapon was the sentinels with mutant adaptive powers. Our everyday actions has consequences. A mechanic who was sloppy in installing a brake pad may cause a bus crash that may kill someone who may one day invent the source of limitless non-polluting energy power. A doctor who was sloppy in his work, taking short cuts and doing the minimal work may cause the death of a patient. Time travel may have a way of messing with or creating new consequences. An unforgettable scene in the movie has Hank (Beast) in 1973 watching Captain Kirk (Star Trek) explaining time travel on television. The scene is from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode ‘The Naked Now’.

Second, there is redemption when we are involved in a cause that is greater than ourselves. Both Charles Xavier and Erik (Magneto) believe in saving mutants. Charles believe that it is possible for human and mutants to coexist. Magneto, on the other hand, believe that only way mutants to survive is when humans are destroyed or subjugated. Charles, an idealist, believes in moral ethical rules to achieve their ends. Magneto believes that the end justifies the means. Logan finds a wimpy drug addicted Charles when he arrived in 1973. Charles was pining for his lady love (Mystique) which he lost to Magneto. He became addicted to a drug which allow him to walk (and sleep) but suppressed his mental powers. In other words, Professor Xavier was hitting rock bottom. In a stereotypical storytelling in the movie, his redemption came when he met his future self who revealed to him what his life purpose is. In a heroic messiah like moment, he discarded his drug habit and regained his mental powers to save the day. We often need a cause that is greater than ourselves if we are to live meaningful lives. People who live only for themselves often end up narcissistic and self-centered.

Finally, power is might but may not always be right. To demonstrate his power over magnetism, Magneto lifted and dropped a stadium over the White House and commandeered the sentinels. Magneto wanted to show humans how powerful he is and by doing that cow them into submission. While it is a powerful demonstration, Erik (Magneto) should have remembered his history lessons. History has shown that might as power may not always produce the desired effect. Instead of being cowed, the less powerful always find a way to strike back. The wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan should remind us that the most powerful armies do not always win. In many ways, our world is being divided into ‘us’ and ‘them’. The division may be along the line of skin color, economic status or religions. Instead of trying to annihilate one another, there may be place for peaceful coexistence as envisioned by Charles Xavier.

There is much to recommend for this movie. However there is an incredible amount of violence so parents are forewarned. The sentinels torn Colossus into two in a fight sequence. As he was in his metal state, there was no gore. The Wolverine was kebabed with many metal rods and thrown into the Potomac River by Magneto. The Wolverine starred in so many X-Men movies that we have no doubt that he will survive, as I have the sense that this movie was made as a pre-sequel to many more movies to come. Wait in your seat until the movie credits end and you will see what I mean.

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Spiritual Formation Institute Seminar on Chinese Beliefs and Culture

SFI Seminar 2011/2

The Christian Approach to Chinese Beliefs and Culture

Date:             2.00pm - 9.30pm, Saturday 9 April 2011

Place:            Berea, Holy Light Church
                     11-C, Jalan Gertak Merah, 80100 Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Speaker:         Canon Daniel Tong

Cost :              RM 20.00 (inclusive of seminar materials, refreshment and dinner)

Registration:     Please register with Sister Grace Soon of HLCE (Tel:07-2243285)

Synopsis of seminar

Session 1: Chinese Traditions

Believers in Christ desire to honour and please Him, but do often struggle with doing so while yet respecting and continuing to uphold the ethnic cultural heritage that is ours as Chinese. This struggle between faith and culture is not something new. In this session, principles with which to evaluate the acceptability or not of a cultural belief and practice to the teaching of the Bible will be presented. A number of Chinese festivals will be explored so to help participants understand how these principles are to be applied. 

      Session 2: Ancestral Veneration

The call to honour our father and mother is universal. In Chinese tradition, this thought has been extended to the care of and obedience to our dearly departed. What does the Bible have to say about this? What are we to make of the traditional practices of venerating our departed ancestors? In this session, we will seek to better understand the Chinese perspective, and determine that which is acceptable or unacceptable for us who believe in Christ. 

                          Session 3: Feng Shui 

The Chinese have practiced Feng Shui for thousands of years, but how much do we really understand this practise? Is it really a science? Why do people engage in this practise? Feng Shui has enjoyed renewed interest in South East Asia in recent years. In this session, we will explore the origin of this practise and seek a deeper understand of its primary principles. This will provide us with a better basis with which to decide on whether or not we should engage in Feng Shui.

Biodata of speaker:

Canon Daniel Tong is Vicar of the Chapel of the Resurrection – a Parish under the Diocese of Singapore (Anglican), the Chaplain of the Saint Andrew’s Junior College and author of three books – A Biblical Approach to Chinese Traditions and Beliefs, A Biblical Approach to Feng Shui and Divination, and Praying Right

all are invited.

Other forthcoming SFI seminars

12 March 2011 - Spiritual Formation Seminar by Dr Alex Tang

14 May 2011 - Spiritual Formation in Children by Dr Alex Tang

20 August 2011 - Training for Teachers in Children Ministry by Mona Chia

The Best Yee Sang in Malaysia

The best Yee Sang I have tasted this year is a take-away Yee Sang from Ichiban-boshi in Great World Shopping Mall in Singapore! It was brought across the causeway to my dining table in Malaysia.

More about Yee Sang, read my post here

The 13 components in the Yee Sang each has its significance

1. Chuka kurage-Excellence
2. Red Sweetened Ginger-Luck
3. Peanut Crunch- Wealth
4. Pickled Leek-Divination
5. Sweetened Lime- Merit
6. Pickled Cucumber- Advancement
7. Winter melon- Harmony
8. Fried Sesame- Prosperity
9. Chuka Wakame- Youth
10. Pickled melon - Tanquility
11. Pok Chui Biscuits- Affluence
12. Five Spice, cinnamon and pepper Powder - Fortune
13. Salmon - Abundance

Hawaii Five O

I loved the new reboot of Hawaii Five O.

The Moral Dimension of Technology

I enjoyed the way this article is written and the insights it contains.

The Moral Dimension of Technology

by Kevin Kelly

What technology brings to us individually is the possibility of finding out who we are, and more important, who we might be. During his or her lifetime, each person acquires a unique combination of latent abilities, handy skills, nascent insights, and potential experiences that no one else shares. Even twins—who share common DNA—don’t share the same life. When people maximize their set of talents, they shine because no one can do what they do. People fully inhabiting their unique mixture of skills are inimitable, and that is what we prize about them. Talent unleashed doesn’t mean that everyone will sing on Broadway or play in the Olympics or win a Nobel Prize. Those high-profile roles are merely three well-worn ways of being a star, and by deliberate design those particular opportunities are limited. Popular culture wrongly fixates on proven star roles as the destiny of anyone successful. In fact, those positions of prominence and stardom can be prisons, straitjackets defined by how someone else excelled.
Ideally, we would find a position of excellence tailored specifically for everyone born. We don’t normally think of opportunities this way, but these tools for achievement are called “technology.” The technology of vibrating strings opened up (created) the potential for a virtuoso violin player. The technology of oil paint and canvas unleashed the talents of painters through the centuries. The technology of film created cinematic talents. The soft technologies of writing, lawmaking, and mathematics all expanded our potential to create and do good. Thus in the course of our lives as we invent things and create new works that others may build on, we—as friends, family, clan, nation, and society— have a direct role in enabling each person to optimize their talents—not in the sense of being famous but in the sense of being unequaled in his or her unique contribution.

However, if we fail to enlarge the possibilities for other people, we diminish them, and that is unforgivable. Enlarging the scope of creativity for others, then, is an obligation. We enlarge others by enlarging the possibilities of the technium— the greater ecosystem of technology – by developing more technology and more convivial expressions of it.

read more

picture source

Star Trek: 44 years of Awesomeness

On 8 September 1966, NBC aired the first episode of Star Trek in an episode named The Man Trap. That launched the phenomenon known as the Star Trek Universe.



Live Long and Prosper!

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Can Online Gaming Change the World?

Jane McGonigal: Game designer

Reality is broken, says Jane McGonigal, and we need to make it work more like a game. Her work shows us how.

Jane McGonigal asks: Why doesn't the real world work more like an online game? In the best-designed games, our human experience is optimized: We have important work to do, we're surrounded by potential collaborators, and we learn quickly and in a low-risk environment. In her work as a game designer, she creates games that use mobile and digital technologies to turn everyday spaces into playing fields, and everyday people into teammates. Her game-world insights can explain -- and improve -- the way we learn, work, solve problems, and lead our real lives.

McGonigal directs game R&D at the Institute for the Future, a nonprofit forecasting firm where she developed Superstruct, a massively multiplayer game in which players organize society to solve for issues that will confront the world in 2019. She masterminded World Without Oil, which simulated the beginning of a global oil crisis and inspired players to change their daily energy habits. McGonigal also works with global companies to develop games that build on our collective-intelligence infrastructure -- like The Lost Ring, a mystery game for McDonald's that became the world’s biggest alternate reality game, played by more than 5 million people. (Not to mention the delightful Top Secret Dance-Off, which taps that space in our brains where embarrasment and joy mingle.) She's working on book called Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World.

"Instead of providing gamers with better and more immersive alternatives to reality, I want all of us to be become responsible for providing the world with a better and more immersive reality."

Jane McGonigal

Legendary Heroes on Film

The website Rotten Tomatoes is my favourite movie website. Here is their take on Legendary Heroes on Film.

Without question, movies have helped enhance the stories behind some of the greatest heroes of all time, whether they are based in fact or fiction. From Ancient Greece to the Wild West, feudal Japan to the fields of Scotland, heroes from all over the world have had their stories perpetuated into legend.

With Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett) drawing us back to Sherwood Forest on May 14, it's time to take a trip into historical fact, classic fiction, and regional lore to identify the many legends that have found new life in film.

For the stories behind some of the names that will continue to be passed on from generation to generation, join us for a cinematic tour of some of the most legendary heroes of all-time!

Written by Alex Vo, David Chung, Jeff Giles, Ryan Fujitani, Sara Schieron, Tim Ryan

The 300 Spartans
Ned Kelly
Genghis Khan
Robin Hood
King Arthur
The 47 Ronin
Three Musketeers

Wyatt Earp
Billy the Kid
Joan of Arc
Spartacus
William Wallace
Wong Fei Hung
Rob Roy

Book Review on Qualman's Socialnomics

Erik Qualman (2009), Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Erik Qualman is Global Vice President of Online Marketing for EF Education with extensive experience in e-marketing, e-business, search engines, and maximising the impact of the social media. Social media includes social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, twittering, blogs and the internet. Qualman wakens the world to a new reality. As he writes, "the world as it was, no longer is"(p.14). This cryptic remark is the key construct of his book as he tries to show how social media has changed the way people connects, communicates, interacts, and changes their perception of reality.

Qualman confirms what most of us are aware-that social media is changing the very fabric of our society. His chapter on how Obama became president is illuminative. The data mining of people's use of search engine may predict future social trends is interesting. The little known fact that Pepsi, by using Yahoo's search engine data, was able to predict Britney Spears' popularity a few months in advance and are able to sign her up for their commercial is telling. Unfortunately this did not able to save her from the dangers of becoming a celebrity.

Social media especially micro-blogging such as twitter and texting, argues Qualman, actually makes people better because whatever they have sent into the internet will remains as a permanent record. While the records are permanent, it is debatable whether most people actually care about that-except maybe politicians and CEOs. People will continue to spin a more than perfect image of themselves online.

It is hard to prove that the economic influence of the social media is as powerful as Qualman suggests. People who are active in social media, called soialmedioraties, still remains a small segment of the demography which may not be identical to the demography that has the purchasing power. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile studying the trend especially since Facebook membership has reached half a million people. Still only a small fraction of this many people are active. Most will have an account with which they access for an occasional update.

In a people-driven economy, social media has potential for an increasing role. However as most of the people of less developed countries do not have internet access to this social media, one does wonders how this will translate to the rest of the world.

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Wales and the Founding of Wikipedia

Jimmy Wales: Founder of Wikipedia

With a vision for a free online encyclopedia, Wales assembled legions of volunteer contributors, gave them tools for collaborating, and created the self-organizing, self-correcting, ever-expanding, multilingual encyclopedia of the future.

Jimmy Wales went from betting on interest rates and foreign-currency fluctuations (as an option trader) to betting on the willingness of people to share their knowledge. That's how Wikipedia, imagined in 2001, became one of the most-referenced, most-used repositories of knowledge on the planet, with more than one million articles in English (compared with the Britannica's 80,000) and hundreds of thousands in dozens of other languages, all freely available.

The "wiki" in the name refers to software that allows anyone with Internet access to add, delete or edit entries. This has led to controversies about the reliability of the information, prompting the Wikimedia Foundation to set tighter rules for editors, while still keeping Wikipedia open-source. One thing is certain: Wikipedia will never be finished. In the meantime Wales has started working on Wikiasari, a wiki-style search engine.

"Wikipedia represents a belief in the supremacy of reason and the goodness of others. ... From the respectful clash of opposing viewpoints and the combined wisdom of the many, something resembling the truth will emerge. Most of the time."

WIRED

My Favourite Coke and Pepsi Advertisements

Seth Godin's Insubordinate

From Seth Godin

I’ve written a personal addendum to Linchpin. Here it is, it's a free PDF. Insubordinate is a 40 page ebook, feel free to share. I couldn’t possibly include all the linchpins I’ve worked with over the years, but I think you’ll find that many of the examples in the ebook resonate.

Other free eBooks by Seth Godin

knockknock
who's there
brainwashed
permission marketing
unleashing the ideavirus
the bootstrapper's bible
what matters now (editor)

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Facebook as a Learning Management Tool

Technology is changing education. William Drummond explores using Facebook as a learning management tool and a panel explores the 21st century student. [12/2008]

Random Glimpses of My Desktop (14)

Finally the anime craze has grabbed hold of the Batman. Here is a sculpture of an anime Batman. This is finely detailed. Look carefully at the chest plate. I find the variation of the Batman logo fascinating.





SCULPTED BY JONATHAN MATTHEWS Batman gets the AME-COMI treatment! With the popularity of the AME-COMI HEROINE SERIES, the line extends to the AME-COMI HERO SERIES to include the men of the DC Universe! Looking more menacing than ever before, Batman is the underworld's worst nightmare and Gotham City citizens' darkest savior. Packaged in a 4-color window box with J-hook, this limited-edition, non-articulated PVC statue measures approximately 8.75" high

Here are some facts you do not need to know. Who are the actors to put on the cape and cowl in the Batman movies?

• Batman (Serial) -1943-
  
• ** Lewis Wilson
• Batman and Robin (Serial) -1949-
  
• ** Robert Lowery
• Batman -1966-
  
• ** Adam West
• Batman -1989-
  
• ** Michael Keaton
• Batman Returns -1992-
  
• ** Michael Keaton
• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (Animated) -1993-
  
• ** Kevin Conroy (Voice)
• Batman Forever -1995-
  
• ** Val Kilmer
• Batman and Robin -1997-
  
• ** George Clooney
• Batman Begins -2005-
  
• ** Christian Bale
• The Dark Knight -2008-
  
• ** Christian Bale

Virtual Mentor: The Ethics of Cosmetic Surgery

(For best results, view as HTML or request text version from virtualmentor@ama-assn.org)

Virtual Mentor. May 2010, Volume 12, Number 5: 357-433. Full Issue PDF

May 2010 Contents

Ethics in Cosmetic and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery

From the Editor

The Contested Status of Cosmetic and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
Scott B. Grant
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:359-362.

Educating for Professionalism

Clinical Cases

The “Mommy Makeover” Package
Commentary by Eric T. Carniol and Paul J. Carniol
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:363-366.

Outer Ear Construction: Is Advocacy Part of Treatment?
Commentary by June K. Wu
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:367-372.

An Argument for Patient Autonomy in Elective Surgery
Commentary by Michael Van Vliet and Joseph Rosen
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:373-375.

The Code Says

AMA Code of Medical Ethics’ Opinion on Physician Advertising
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:376-377.

Journal Discussion

Ethical Issues in Face Transplantation
Christian J. Vercler
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:378-382.

Clinical Pearl

Diagnosing and Treating Microtia
Mitchell A. Stotland
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:383-388.

Law, Policy, and Society

Health Law

Silicone Breast Implant Litigation
Kristin E. Schleiter
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:389-394.

Policy Forum

An Argument Against the Feasibility of Taxing Cosmetic Surgery
Lauren Sydney Flicker and Rachel Zuraw
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:395-400.

Medicine and Society

Are Cosmetic Surgeons Complicit in Promoting Suspect Norms of Beauty?
Jordan Amadio
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:401-405.

Comic Strip: Mirror, Mirror
Khris Oak
PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:406.

History, Art, and Narrative

History of Medicine

Advertising Cosmetic Surgery
Deborah A. Sullivan
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:407-411.

Images of Healing and Learning

The Genetic Basis of Body Shape: Lessons from Mirror Twins and High-Definition Digital Photography
David Teplica
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:412-417.

Op-Ed and Correspondence

Op-Ed

Character and the Plastic Surgeon
Robert T. Grant and Michael Sosin
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2010; 12:418-421.

Marvel Superheroes Stamps

This collection is published by the Australian Post. Unfortunately I am unable to find the month and year of publication. I loved it as it has 10 of my favourite comics superheroes.



Who are the favourites of your favourite among this 10 Marvel superheroes? My list in descending order is this

1. Wolverine
2. Daredevil
3. Hulk
4. Spiderman
5. Elecktra
6. Captain America
7. Thing
   
8. Silver Surfer
9. Storm
10. Iron Man

What's yours?

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Will You Be My Facebook Friend?

Do you get irritated by people who invites you to be his or her friend on Facebook? Or are you happy to be invited. What if you decline? Are you worried about offending someone? Richard Baum of Reuters writes about How to decline Facebook friends without offence. He offers some suggestions

One is to accept the invitation and then use Facebook's privacy settings to limit the flow of information between you and your new "friend." To do this, you can create a "colleagues" list from the Friends menu and then add to it your new friend. Then navigate to the privacy settings and use the "Profile Information" section to control what information people on the "colleagues" list can see.

An alternative, says workplace etiquette expert Barbara Pachter, is to suggest to the colleague that you connect instead on LinkedIn, a social network for professional relationships.

"You can just go ahead and ask them to join you on LinkedIn and hope they forget they sent you a Facebook friend request," said Pachter, the author of New Rules @ Work.

"Or you can say, Thanks for asking me. I'm keeping Facebook for my family and friends. I'm asking you to join me on my professional network instead.'"

Pachter said that whatever you do, it's important not to offend your colleague -- and that's not just because politeness is good etiquette.

"The person you offend might end up being your boss next year," she said.

Ha. That's unlikely for me but I do like to make friends on Facebook. Each friend brings new aspects and perspective of humanity. For a student of human nature like me, that is a bonus. Some reveal too much of themselves while others reveal too little. Yet each life is of value and I am constantly being amazed at the diversity of my friends' interests. I am also amazed at how much time some of my friends spend online with Facebook. I assume they do have a life somewhere.

It is interesting that Facebook was started only 4 years ago according to Wiki but 6 years ago according to founder Mark Zuckerberg in his Facebook blog. This is because Facebook seems to be around like forever. Entertainment Weekly notes its value, "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?" This was also during the peak of blogging. Nowadays, many bloggers are Facebookers (yes, there is such a term. I checked).

Many Facebookers are also gamers. The top 5 games on Facebook today are Farmville, Mafia Wars, Cafe World, Fishville and Zunga Poker. CNN Doug Gross gives us the highs and lows of The Facebook games millions love (or hate). No, I have not played any of these games yet. I am still trying to figure out Star Trek online.

Facebook is a virtual watering hole for the gathering of the futurists, the nerds, the internet addicts,the technocrats, the lonely, the bored, the seekers, the gurus, the joyful and the sad. Facebook is a pub in L-space. It is also a place of interconnectivity for people to connect with one another, keep abreast of each others' activities, and retain a sense of control in our fast moving fragmented world. It is also a safe place to hide from intimacy and the emotional investments of a 'real' human relationships. As in the television series Cheers, it is a place where everyone knows your name!

Update

After writing this post, I read a blog post on Facebook Friendship by my Facebook friend Bob.

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Who are You Preaching For?

A valuable lesson I always caution myself about...

Preaching for the Nod

It's easy it is to “speak prophetically” when you know it's what people want to hear.

by Bob Hyatt

Every once in a while I find myself preaching for the nod. That’s when we try to hard wire a bit of ego-stroke into a Sunday morning message. We do it a lot, and it’s so easy—insert that small comment, that little aside, or even that main point that we know will appeal to the sensibilities of certain listeners. You know, the left-leaning (or right leaning) political comment. The doctrinal aside that scratches the itch of that person so prone to give up the "Amen" or the vigorous head nod.

Preaching for the nod has less to do with what we see in the biblical text and more to do with what we want people to see in us. And there lies the danger.

The most God-centered, John Piper-esque sermon or community-centered dialogical discussion can be completely me-centered if my intention is to get certain people to tell me, “Good words today, Pastor!” If my intention is to get certain people to see me as sufficiently hip and relevant (or standing against the tide of culture), or progressive (or appropriately conservative), or doctrinally adventurous (or steadfastly orthodox), then I have traded the proclamation of God's Word for the proclamation of myself, regardless of how I dress it up.

And all for that little nod.

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