triggering Action Potential

World Series Champions

The Cubs, according to Sports Illustrated, are ranked #1 overall as the team to win the World Series this year. Last year was close to winning the pennant. But are the Cubs hyped to win? They do have a good team, but other teams, like Houston, also improved upon last year's. We'll see. It's not fun and exciting when there's no competition in sports. The NL Central will be a close match once again, with the rivals, Cardinals, Astros, and the Cubs, battling it out until the last out of the season. Ah, this is the baseball I love. No some bullshit in the AL East...

Taiwan Election

At what cost is democracy worth the risk? and at what cost is the practice of democracy?

when the vote is split 50-50, there's gonna be problems because neither side will be happy.

I usually don't like to be involved with politics.

College Tuition

read an article about U of C increasing its undergraduate tuition for 2004-2005 academic year.

Annual undergraduate tuition at the University, which currently is $28,689, will increase to $30,123 in the academic year beginning in the fall of 2004. Room and board charges will rise from $9,165 to $9,624, and additional mandatory fees -- health and wellness and student activity fees -- will increase from $549 to $606. The total charge for a student in the College in 2004-2005 will be $40,353.

I'm glad I got out when I did... but just imagine how much my children will pay for tuition when they attend college. One argument about the amount of money spent is that the U of C still doesn't get more recognition than say Ivy League schools. Are we getting more bangs for our bucks?

Pictures for comparison

I took the following pictures using the Nikkor 70-300mm D ED lens, for close-up shots. I think the lens is much better for wildlife than my 28-80mm G lens.

The sea lion was sleeping when I took this picture. Rather surprising that the animal would stick its head out like that, toward the public.
Sea Lion 1; Sea Lion 2;

With the zoom lens, I was able to get a very nice shot at individual birds.
Flamingoes 1; Flamingoes 3;