Byung Kyu Park's Personal Website

I watched I Am Legend, and I want 2 hours my life back. I hated it. I mean, maybe the novel will be better, but as far as the film goes, they left out all the good parts—sci-fi stuff that explains the existing situation (did they have to leave out so many details in the flashbacks?) advances plot lines—and put in an extra serving of all the gross, nasty, psychotic episodes.

In fact, I don’t even know why they cast Will Smith for the part: there is absolutely nothing humorous about Robert Neville. In fact, the character of Robert Neville is at best confusing, and at worst shallow, poorly developed, and contradictory.

Anyways. I so hated losing 2 hours of sleep last night for this movie (and waking up too late), that I had to vent somewhere—and it had to be you.

I suppose it’s not a very good news for me, but Kindle 2′s price has been cut down once again, to $260. I think there’s an international version (wireless access outside U.S. included, I think) for $280 or something, too.

If anything, this is proof that capitalism works, when there are good capitalists (such as executives at Amazon) around, where there is enough competition (Sony’s new, cheaper readers provide real competition with wireless access, unlike iLiad’s readers, which are too expensive and lacks wireless), and where there is not enough regulation to choke the life out of the market.

Competition will drive price down. We don’t need some sort of “consumer protection agency” forcing companies to charge a fair price. Remove the barriers to entry, and the “exorbitant” profits themselves will be the driving force behind the downward pressure in price—increasing supply, attracted to the good profit, ensures that.

Capitalism works not because of virtues of any one man or organization. It works the same way scientific community works: under the usually held assumptions, there is a self-correcting mechanism in place. In science, it’s the principle of peer review—unless the entire community is rotten to the core, bad research will out itself because no one will be able to reproduce it. In capitalism, it’s the price and competition—any misallocation of resources will correct itself because that precise misallocation is an opportunity for profit (see: international trade) and that profit attracts more competitors, which forces everyone to offer lower price or lose business.

On the other hand, socialism works only when there are benevolent, wise government officials. Are you really willing to take that chance?

And a Rasmussen poll finds that a plurality of American voters agree with me:

Forty-eight percent (48%) of Americans nationwide believe that it is the responsibility of American Muslims to speak out against terrorist attacks on the United States.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 27% do not think American Muslims have that responsibility. Twenty-six percent (26%) of adults are not sure.

To the degree that some terrorists (I am not talking about Ireland here) claim to be adherents of the Muslim faith, those who do follow the teachings of Muhammad need to speak against and absolutely condemn those who besmirch their faith with senseless violence—that is, if Muslim indeed is a religion of peace.

In an ideal society, no man would need to speak for or against another man’s action. After all, each individual is independent and has no obligation—beyond what is specified in a contract—with regard to another man’s action. But, we don’t live in an ideal, free society, and instead, we live in a collectivist one, where identifications are made by group of people sharing same religion, ethnicity, profession, etc. As long as we live in a collectivist society, the group has a responsibility to police and condemn its own members when they sin—such as by suicide bombing a train.

And this is the exact way I feel when some naturalized American citizen commits treason against this country, most commonly by espionage or illegal munitions export. I am positively outraged when that happens and only the constitutional clause regarding due process stops me from suggesting that we just lynch the guy.

Can anyone tell me that American Muslims don’t feel the same way when Muslim terrorists attack America?

Ron Lipsman writes about being a conservative in a university:

I emerged from the exercise as an enthusiastic conservative. Thus I was no longer your average faculty member who adhered to the liberal party line, but instead one of a tiny cadre who completely disagreed with the leftist mentality that dominated the thought of campus faculty and administrators.

The overwhelmingly liberal atmosphere on campus is well known. In the one place in society at which there should be diversity of thought, exploration of conflicting ideas and a propensity to challenge conventional wisdom, we have instead a mind-numbing conformity of opinion and a complete unwillingness to entertain any thought or idea that deviates from the accepted truth.

This is not a particularly uplifting essay, but I don’t see how else it could be. Which part of intellectual freedom dictates that everyone should agree on a host of controversial religious, political, and social issues? And yet, the culture on university campuses are exactly that—even if you accept the weak excuse that professors are Democrats because Republicans “want to destroy higher education”, should academics such as college professors be encouraging open debate in their courses (if it’s germane to the course material) or should they be pushing their agendas and political views onto malleable students?

I honestly don’t know where I can go from here. I will be here to finish my Ph.D. But will I remain where my kinds are not welcome?

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me …

…

Just kidding. I don’t celebrate my birthdays—although I do plan on celebrating my imieniny starting this year—and today is not my birthday.

But it does happen to be Groucho Marx‘s birthday, so happy birthday, Groucho Marx!