tim thoughts

dannzee:

To “Chase a Charmander” or “Chasing Charmanders”  refers to the act of pursing someone (often with romantic intrest) that will only hurt you. Charmanders are very cute and lovable but their tail will burn you before you ever catch it. 

Inspired by my friend Tim Phan and the Pokemon franchise
This phrase often reminds me of Adele’s “Chasing Pavements”

I don’t always reblog posts, but when I do, it’s because I’m the direct inspiration for it.

Uncertainty is a Warm Gun- The Future of 3D Printing, Gun Control, and Globalization

The recent passage of the UN Arms Trade Treaty by the General Assembly was a victory for civil…

View Post

finals motivation from Data Analysis with Professor DePaolis #maythefourthbewithyou (at Monterey Institute of International Studies)

My very first Tumblr post back in 2010 was a stream of consciousness rant that would horrify my high school English teachers. It was inspired by my reading of Dag Hammarskjold’s Markings, the former UN Secretary General’s diary. Actually, he was truly a poet in a politician’s suit (his diary is an endless stream of motivational haikus).

Over time, my disjointed thoughts evolved into something more concrete. I put more time and effort into each post, I wanted it to be meaningful rather than just mind-farting, I never posted anything that wasn’t an original thought. I appreciated the feedback from friends and strangers alike who read my works, especially the advice columns that I wrote. 

I rarely (if ever) put my personal life into this blog. Tumblr was just my space to express my identity, my ideas, my passions. As a typical twenty-something Millennial seeking his purpose, Tumblr was a valuable whiteboard to organize my thoughts. 

Some of my most inspired pieces of writing come from that genuine wish to help mentor my younger friends, as we leave the bubble of university for the “real world”. I’ve developed a lot of strong thoughts about education, careers, and the future of this economy that I would love to share with a wider audience (especially those students with a passion in politics also pursuing a career in the NGO or policy arena). My specific education here at a professional graduate school has given me a lot of valuable insights that I wish I knew about, when I was a college student myself. 

My epiphany is that my personal and professional lives are quite intertwined. I still aspire to be a career “point guard” of sorts, as I once wrote about how “I want to push friends and strangers alike into the right direction, I want to assist them in reaching their dreams and goals.” Even though I wrote that over a year ago, time has shown that my drive to help others is no mere hobby, but an actual life pursuit. I realize my desire to help my friends is strongly tied to my own professional goals, I want to be someone that helps you (or your NGO/business/government/institution/etc) get to your maximum potential. 

(If all works out, I’ll hopefully be working in my school’s career center next semester. Maybe even our digital media lab, since I enjoy this Web 2.0 so dearly)

So I’ve started a new blog at Perpetual Beats. This will be a more focused attempt to interact with a more professional audience in my field, on a web platform that is more conducive to interaction. While this blog will be generally be focused on development/politics/data, I hope to soon include career topics like the values of networking, the importance of Web 2.0 and social media, how to “brand” yourself, and the relevance of your “useless” humanities/social science/liberal arts degree. All of these posts will be linked back to Tumblr for your convenience.

Please continue to give me feedback as much as possible, I’ve always treasured it.

I don’t know what I’ll do with Tumblr then. It’s not like I post any personal stuff here anyways (that’s in my private drafts!). Perhaps I’ll find time to reflect on some of my traditional identity issues, but time will tell what my priorities will be. 

I look back at my Tumblr archive now with a sense of pride, despite some of my more juvenile and poorly-written works. My archive is the closest thing I have to tracing the evolution of my ideas, and therefore my own development from a young college sophomore to the working professional I will soon be. I hope to look back at Perpetual Beats’ archives with the same satisfaction one day as well.

Many sensible people have preached patience and prudence in the aftermath of the Boston bombings. I particularly agreed with the concerns of those who advocated against “fear”, such as Stephen Walt who argues we have given a disproportionate amount of…

View Post

GDELT and Big Data- Why Theory Still Matters

I’m really excited by the announcement of the GDELT (Global Data on Events, Location, and…

View Post

For me, the most peculiar thing about Kobe’s potentially career-ending injury is that I realize I’ve been watching him since his career first started. He was only a second string scrub, but how he grew up in front of our very eyes. My very eyes, when I first started watching basketball around 1997ish. I remember faint memories of a young gunner hyped to be the next Michael, the way he attacked the rim with reckless abandon, his poofy afro, his complete lack of fear, all those awkward fights with Shaq…

Yet it’s saddening to recognize the eventual passage of time. A generation of young boys and girls who grew up with Kobe (not Michael Jordan), who watched him both succeed to 5 championships and struggle during those dark days in a Colorado courtroom. But all our legends grow older, as do we. 

It’s sobering to realize that like Kobe, we all grew up. We all got a bit older, we all had both successes and failures. We cling on to Kobe and all the icons of our lost childhood, we defend him against the newcomers to the throne like LeBron and Durant. But nothing will protect him or us from time, for such is life.

A man with that much heart, I do not think it’ll be the last I’ll see him in yellow and gold. But that day comes for us all eventually, the day when we part ways with our past to an uncertain future. On such days, I think it’s okay to reminisce.

words fail to describe the full range of emotions I feel. Love because he is my truest influence, a kindred soul across the generations. Grief because time stole him too soon. Doubt because his vision remains incomplete. Hope because I’m still trying, I’ve only just begun, and I won’t ever give up. Rest easy Bobby. (at Grave of Robert F. Kennedy)

I hate the concept of MLK Day, detest it really. I’m worried that his revolutionary legacy is being sanitized for the students of tomorrow. Such holidays and days of remembrance commemorate the victories of the past.

Yet King’s battle against racism, poverty, war is a never-ending fight that is universal and timeless. There is no final victory; there is always another battle. Barack Obama is inaugurated yet again, yet racism is not dead. America’s economy is slowly regaining its footing from the global recession, but the future still remains bleak for so many. The firebombed streets of Vietnam may be behind us, but the hubris of American exceptionalism in foreign policy has never wavered. 

Such a holiday should be used to remind people about how far we have left to overcome. This video is a reminder. A powerful and under-appreciated message that non-violence should not merely be confined to the domestic turbulence of the 60’s.

King’s message will remain universal and timeless as long as there is oppression and suffering.
As long as there is injustice and inequality.
Yet above all, as long as there is hope.

A lot of people are posting sympathetic messages to the victims in Connecticut. Others are more political, as they call for stricter gun control laws. Yet a particularly interesting Facebook status of a friend got my attention. Without quoting him directly, the gist of his rant was that the world should “man up, don’t take out your anger and resentment on innocents, deal with your own problems yourself”.

I am a feminist. This type of status bugs me. It reinforces a masculinity-dominated culture where men are conditioned to internalize our problems, where we are unable to reach out and talk with one another about our problems. Before elaborating, I want to comment on another recent example of gun violence.

The recent murder-suicide of a NFL football player left his team and community in shock. Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend, and then drove to work to confront his manager and coaches. As his friends pleaded with him, Belcher simply thanked them for giving him a chance to fulfill his football dreams before shooting himself, saying “I came here to tell you thank you. Thank you for my chance. I love you, bro.”

It struck me as strange of an evil or corrupted man to thank his friends. Other accounts listed Belcher as a model citizen who worked with underprivileged kids in the community, an undrafted linebacker who beat the odds to land a recent contract extension.

His teammates were shocked, for they had never seen him troubled. But a masculine culture like professional football is extremely counterproductive to asking for help. In football, it is “manly” to play through concussions, to the extent that players will fear going out of a game because they may lose their starting spot to a backup. No matter how much the NFL will try to improve the safety of the game, the incentive to play through injuries will remain in fear of losing your next contract. How does a troubled man ask for help, in such an environment?

Teammate Brady Quinn has an answer.

“We live in a society of social networks, with Twitter pages and Facebook, and that’s fine, but we have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends, and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships that we have right in front of us. Hopefully, people can learn from this and try to actually help if someone is battling something deeper on the inside than what they are revealing on a day-to-day basis.”

Brady Quinn, Quarterback of the KC Chiefs