昨天上了第二堂课，但是进度很慢，只看到第四课，感觉好像在学初级华文一样。很谢谢Tech Cheng和Ming，也谢谢Melic昨天的旁听，参与的有David，Jessy，Fan Li， Yi Yun。这个星期天在Maziar & Tina的家里举行了Ridvan Celebration和地区选举（在新加坡最开始是分成９个地区，后来政府重新规划将整个岛分成５个区，新加坡巴哈伊教区也就跟着变成５个地区）。Ridvan是巴哈欧拉向世界宣布他是信使的日子；无记名选出９个人，为期一年，而下面的世界正义院(Universal House of Justice)为期５年。Lalitha已经到海法城等着选举会开始。

BAHA’IS TO ELECT UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

HAIFA, Israel, 22 April 2008 (BWNS) — A global election process that began with people in 100,000 cities and villages around the world will culminate on 29 April when delegates gather here to elect the international governing body of the Baha’i Faith.

Representatives of some 170 nations will cast ballots for the nine members of the Universal House of Justice, which has its seat at the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa. The election is held every five years.

Baha’i elections are distinctive in that there are no nominations, no campaigning, and no discussion about which individuals should be elected.

The delegates to the International Baha’i Convention - members of all the Baha’i national governing bodies around the world - vote by secret ballot for the nine people they believe best suited for membership on the supreme institution of their Faith.

The Baha’i writings state that voters should try to choose people “of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience.”

For Baha’is, the Universal House of Justice is the highest religious authority. It guides the worldwide Baha’i community in its development and in its response to changing world conditions, provides for Baha’i pilgrimage, holds in trust and maintains the Baha’i holy places, and administers international Baha’i funds.

The election process began well over a year ago when Baha’is in some 100,000 localities around the world began meeting in district conventions to elect delegates to their own national conventions. At those gatherings, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of each country is elected.

The members of those national councils gather as electors at the global level for the International Baha’i Convention, to be held from 29 April to 2 May 2008 in Haifa.

About 1,200 delegates are expected to attend the convention. Those unable to attend send ballots by mail.

The establishment of the institution of the Universal House of Justice was called for by Baha’u'llah Himself, the founder of the Baha’i Faith.

To view the photos and additional features click here: http://news.bahai.org

Finally, I got a letter from K’!!, and he is fine. At the end of his letter, he pasted the following paragrahs, and I believe what we need is to support our nation and the Olympic Games peacefully and reasonably. (I added the title) Please visit this post 血犹未冷 from 最好金龟换酒 for further points.

这不是危言耸听

西方国家这次为什么会如次的团结？欧洲的德国、法国，一般是不会冒着这样的风险得罪中国这个经济大国的。伊拉克战争时德国和法国都和中国站在一边，不支持美国对伊动武。为伊拉克而得罪美国，不符合他们的国家利益啊。法国10年前为了不得罪中国，终止了对台军售，损失了几十亿的收入。而为什么今天会冒着这么大的风险公然与中国为敌？难到就是为了和自己根本不相干的西藏和奥运？

而另一个值得让人思考的问题是，一向是西方老大的美国，为什么这一次这么低调？让英、法、德在前台唱主角？对于西藏，西方国家很清楚，再怎么闹，中国也不可能做出让步。对于奥运，他们也很清楚，就算西方国家没有一个领导人出席北京奥运会，中国也就是面子上过不去罢了，对中国有实质影响吗？没有。

所以，西藏只是一个幌子，奥运也只是一个幌子。那么他们到底想从中国得到什么？

西方国家正面临着10年来经济陷入衰退的危险，他们需要有一个有实力的国家为这次西方经济的衰退买单。不言而喻，他们不约而同的想到了中国。做为一个普通老百姓，我对国际经济没有什么研究，但2008年一开始我还是隐约到中国经济面临的危险，现在也就想起了温总理说过的一句话：2008年也许是中国经济最困难的一年。现在想起正在进行的这场闹剧，真的有点让人毛骨耸然了。美国不是低调，是很冷静，他们早已经不露声色的出招了：

1、美元贬值。因为美元贬值，人民币升值，中国16000亿美元的外汇储备已经人间蒸发了3000亿美元，而且还在继续蒸发中。更要命的是，由于人民币升值，中国出口产品成本增加，沉重的打击中国的出口，许多企业面临倒闭的危险。因为中国企业的倒闭，西方国家生产企业就可以开始生产复苏。
2、通过高油价以拖跨中国经济。中国经济的高速发展需要大量的进品原油，而西方国家则不断的提高石油储备，造成高油价一直持续，以增加中国经济建设的成本。这就是美国为什么要打伊拉克、打伊朗的原因：控制石油就是控制了经济命脉。
3、足涨中国金融泡沫。人民币升值，大量热钱自然要涌入中国，造成中国高成本、高币值的经济泡沫。或许这就是为什么政府就算是背着千夫所指都绝不救市的原因，就是为了打击国际投机资本在中国的恶意圈钱行为，而另一方面却不得不面对成千上万痛不欲生的股民的唾骂而有可能造成国内社会动荡的危险。现在看了，什么西藏事件、抵制奥运都是不足为道的事。

所以，“西藏”和“奥运”只是西方国家绑架的两个“人质”，他们真正的目的不是西藏，也不是奥运，而是以此为要挟，要中国为他们的经济衰退买单。不买单：搞乱你，要死大家一起死。买单：坐下来谈，你答应我我就息事宁人！

中国政府的冷静是对的，死死抓住经济建设这个中心不动摇才是关键。经济如果一垮，那就什么都垮了。国民要冷静，要相互理解，不要给政府出难题。还是那句话：发展才是硬道理，压倒一切的是稳定。一个普通的中国人都能预料到，我相信政府能从容应对。我们要支持政府打赢这场表面上看起来是舆论战，而事实上是经济的战争。

我们需要更团结 希望大家奔走相告：
1、多省油！多乘坐公共交通出行能坐车就不要开车，能开窗户就不要开空调。
2、多省电！路灯不用就关掉，能用耳机就不要开音箱，家电不用就要把整个开关拔下来。又省电又安全希望政府把夜景工程的灯光就关掉。
3、支持国货！能买到国货就不要买外国货，促进内需钱要给自己人赚。
4、努力工作！多开发和制造更好的产品实业才是救国之本！
5、尊重自己！尊重国人不要崇洋媚外！
6、告诉台湾、西藏包括其他民族的青年为什么我们现在还这么痛苦——别的国家看不起，因为我们的祖辈太喜欢窝里斗。
7、告诉身边的每一个人，中国只有强大才会有更好的家，落后就要挨打挨骂！
8、政府在进步，督促政府更快的进步，而不是推倒他，那样高兴的是美日，痛苦的是自己！

I like this book very very much which written by Mark Haddon (personal website). I like Christopher’s acting and his thinking eventhough he is not a normal guy. I like the imagination. I like the way Mark wrote in this book.

Chapter 181
I see everything.

That is why I don’t like new places. If I am in a place I know, like home, or school, or the bus, or the shop, or the street, I have seen almost everything in it beforehand and all I have to do is to look at the things that have changed or moved. . . .

But most people are lazy. They never look at everything. They do what is called glancing which is the same word for bumping off something and carrying on in almost the same direction, e.g. when a snooker ball glances off another snooker ball. And the information in their head is really simple. For example, if they are in the countryside, it might be

1. I am standing in a field that is full of grass.
2. There are some cows in the fields.
3. It is sunny with a few clouds.
4. There are some flowers in the grass.
5. There is a village off in the distance.
6. There is a fence at the edge of the field and it has a gate in it.

And then they would stop noticing anything because they would be thinking something else like, “Oh it is very beautiful here, or “I’m worried that I might have left the gas cooker on,” or “I wonder if Julie has given birth yet.”

But if I am standing in a field in the countryside I notice everything. For example, I remember stnding in a field on Wednesday, 15 June 1994, because Father and Mother and I were driving to Dover to get a ferry to France and we did what Father called Taking the Scenic Route, which means going by little roads and stopping for lunch in a pub garden, and I had to stop to go for a wee and I went into a field with cows in it and after I’d had a wee I stopped and looked at the field and I noticed these things

1. There are 19 cows in the field, 15 of which are black and white and 4 of which are brown and white.
2. There is a village in the distance which has 31 visible houses and a church with a square tower and not a spire.
3. There are ridges in the field, which means that in medieval times it was called a ridge and furrow field and people who lived in the village would have a ridge each to do farming on.
4. There is an old plastic bag from ASDA in the hedge, and a squashed Coca-Cola can with a snail on it, and a long piece of orange string.
5. The northeast corner of the field is the highest and the southwest corner is lowest (I had a compass because we were going on holiday and I wanted to know where Swindon was when we were in France) and the field is folded downward slightly along the line between these two corners so that the northwest and southeast corners are slightly lower than they would be if the field was an inclined plane.
6. I can see three different types of grass and two colors of flowers in the grass.
7. The cows are mostly facing uphill.

And there were 31 more things in this list of things I noticed but Siobhan said I didn’t need to write them all down. And it means that it is very tiring if I am in a new place because I see all these things, and if someone asked me afterwards what the cows looked like, I could ask which one, and I could do a drawing of them at home and say that a particular cow had patterns on it like this

(the photo is absent here)

And I realise that I told a lie in Chapter 13 because I said, ‘I cannot tell jokes’, because I do know 3 jokes that I can tell and I understand and one of them is about a cow, and Siobhan and I didn’t have to go back and change what I wrote in Chapter 13 because it doesn’t matter because it is not a lie, just a clarification.

And this is the joke.

There are three men on a train. One of them is an economist and one of them is a logican and one of them is a mathematician. And they have just crossed the border into Scotland (I don’t know why they are going to Scotland) and they see a brown cow standing in a field from the window of the train (and the cow is standing parallel to the train).

And the economist says, ‘Look, the cows in Scotland are brown.’

And the logician says, ‘No. There is at least one com in Scotland, of which one side appears to be brown.’

And the mathematician says, ‘No. There is at least one cow in Scotland, of which one side appears to be brown.’

And it is funny because economists are not real scientists, and because logicians think more clearly, but mathemticians are best.

And when I am in a new place, because I see everything, it is like when a computer is doing too many things at the same time and the central processor unit is blocked up and there isn’t any space left to think about other things. And when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is even harder because people are not like cows and flowers and grass and then can talk to you and do things that you don’t expect, so you have to notice everything that is in the place, and also you have to notice things that might happen as well. And sometimes, when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is like a computer crashing and I have to close my eyes and put my hands over my ears and groan, which is like pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL and shutting down programs and turning the computer off and rebooting so that I can remember what I am doing and where I am meant to be doing.

And that is why I am good at chess and maths and logic, because most people are almost blind and they don’t see most things and there is lots of spare capacity in their heads and it is filled with things which aren’t connected and are silly, like, ‘I’m worried that I might have left the gas cooker on.’

3-Day Seminar on Understanding Chinese Culture and its Relationship to the Bahá’í Teachings

Speaker: Professor Cai Degui
Chief Director, Center for Bahá’í Faith, Shandong University, China

Date: 6-8 June 2008
Venue: Bahá’í Centre, 110-D Wishart Road

Organised by: The Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Singapore

探讨中华文化与巴哈伊教义
(三日研讨会)
演讲者： 蔡德贵 教授
山东大学巴哈伊研究中心主任

日期： ２００８年６月６日 － ６月８日
地点： 巴哈伊中心 (新加坡 １１０－D Wishart Road)

新加坡巴哈伊国家灵体会 主办

(The sessions will be conducted in Mandarin / 研讨会将以中文为主)

Further information / 欲知详情请联络：
Kuek Yi Hsing (郭义行)
Email: fvalleys#pacific.net.sg
(please replace # with @ / 请将#替换成@)

刚看完一本名叫The songs of distant earth的科幻小说，作者是Arthur C. Clarke (亚瑟·克拉克, 16 December 1917–19 March 2008)。这本书属于牛津书虫系列，所以很缩简和简略。在这个版本里面有五个短篇小说：

１. The Nice Billion Names of God
We know what the lamas are trying to do. But we didn’t know why. It’s the craziest thing but old Sam’s just told me the reason. He’s getting a bit excited now that we’re getting close to the end of the list. You see, they believe that when they have listed all His names - and they think that there are nine billion of them - God’s purpose in making the world will be finished. There will be nothing more for human beings to do, and indeed, no further reason for humans to go on living. When the list’s completed, God steps in and simply closes everything down … bang!

喇嘛借助电脑在短短的三个月内将上帝的九十亿个可能的名字列出来后，人类也就失去了存在的意义，一切又回归混沌。

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