Memnison Journal

Take a look at the gravestone to the right; that’s from one of my family members; translated from the German, it reads “Born in the year 1736: Heinrich Rittenhouse…” and trails off into the grass. Wikipedia’s entry on the Mennonite church / movement notes: Persecution and the search for employment forced Mennonites out of the [...]

A young student from China is Ireland-bound, and runs into a problem..agus faigheann sé amach go bhfuil an nach labhraíonn Gaeilge i bhfad Gaelic! 10 minute YouTube video, very funny and sweet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0a62wmd1A

China Daily is reporting that the Chinese police are starting to put together a national DNA database to help combat child trafficking and help lost children; 107,000 kids and 35,000 from anxious parents. The database is composed of blood samples taken by the police from missing children’s parents, children suspected of having been abducted or [...]

Going off to the Dayton trip tomorrow (Monday) morning, coming back by dinnertime Thursday.  Apparently, there’s going to be a ton of snow (6-8 inches) hit Dayton tomorrow, and I’m really not thrilled about having to do a long drive through snow…will check this carefully in the morning.  Expect some reports on the road from [...]

I’ve been asked to speak at a Wright State University forum; their Honors Institute is having a symposium on Chinese-American relations called “Connecting With China”,  and I’m to talk on “Exploring Issues in Cross-Cultural Adoptions” from 2-4 pm, February 17th. The event is free to the public, but you have to register in advance to [...]

This one is a weird amalgam of the Dayton Daily News article and the Newsweek one.  For one thing, it thinks that we used to live in Dayton; the last time I lived in Dayton was 1977, thirty years ago, long before I married Susan. It also notes a 2009 picture of the twins as [...]

Above is a weird line from another Chinese article on the twins that appeared in the Hong Kong news for Yahoo; from the “(Ming Daily) on December 22, 2009 on Tuesday 05:10″ The article (English translation via Babelfish translation) follows after the cut.  It seems to be a boil-down of the Newsweek article.

Only man to be nuked twice and survive dies at 92.

Dayton Daily News article; the reporter’s adopted child from China was first raised by a foster family in China, who the child hadn’t forgotten -and who hadn’t forgotten her.  Great story about how the foster family and the adoptive family got in contact… Considering the whole thing with the twins and sisterfar, this hits home [...]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/225492/page/1 The Power of Two: http://www.newsweek.com/id/225098 Photo gallery of the kids, etc.  The Intro picture is particularly stunning. This has been in the works since spring.  Newsweek came in with a Pulitzer-award winning photographer who was fresh from covering the White House and Obama and Bush to do the shots.  The interviews mostly were around [...]

Rampaging red squirrels in France Kashmiri militants, meet bear.  Bear, eat militants. Dead bison stink really bad: South Dakota meat producer abandons meat storage locker full of 44 tons of kosher bison, and the power gets cut for nonpayment.

Child stealing and smuggling rings in China, including a bust in the twins’ home town. Shanghai Daily _ 上海日报 — En.. (PDF. 28 k – pdf’d version of story)

Just a followup note here from me on a topic broached earlier in my LJ version of the journal about the Chinese explorer Zheng He.   I was gassing on about ‘we need fresher AH situations’ and Steve Silver brought up the idea of Zheng He’s expeditions finding Australia and colonizing it (as it would have [...]

….never hurts when you’re setting up your fonts and browser and such.

Interesting article on how India’s endemic corruption problems are holding the country back, with this comment from the Prime Minister: “The pervasive corruption in our country tarnishes our image [and it] discourages investors who expect fair treatment and transparent dealings with public authorities.” Read it all.