在看THE SECRET WORLD OF CHINESE COMMUNIST RULERS, 一段提到中组部觉得很好玩：

The department is accurately, if blandly, described as the human resources arm of the Party, but this does not do justice to its extraordinary brief and the way it is empowered to penetrate every state body, and even some nominally private ones, throughout the country. The best way to get a sense of the department's job is to conjure up an imaginary parallel body in Washington. A similar department in the US would oversee the appointment of the entire US cabinet, state governors and their deputies, the mayors of major cities, the heads of all federal regulatory agencies, the chief executives of GE, Exxon-Mobile, Wal-Mart and about fifty of the remaining largest US companies, the justices on the Supreme court, the editors of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, the bosses of the TV networks and cable stations, the presidents of Yale and Harvard and other big universities, and the head of think-tanks like the Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation. Not only that, the vetting process would take place behind closed doors, and the appointments announced without any accompanying explanation...

生态太好

作为一名准基督徒，我就不能再用进化论看待他们了: )

兑现

是准基督徒了。

recent reading

最近被要求学习的书是The Rise and Decline of Nations, 外加Peter Schiff的畅销书How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, 等看完了汇报感想

放假了

这几天一个劲劝我爸妈卖房产，趁泡泡破了之前

向崩紧的房地产资金链条投降？

这边认识的同学大部分暑假回家，托Bob回来时帮我托几本LSAT的书。

BTW, HIS 375终于拿了个A

对了还有，承诺的就要实现，虽然她似乎再也与我无关。so暑假继续去教会。

引一段维基百科

Soviet war in Afghanistan

The United States, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia became major financial contributors, the United States donating "$600 million in aid per year, with a matching amount coming from the Persian Gulf states."[87] The People's Republic of China also sold Type 59 tanks, Type 68 assault rifles, Type 56 assault rifles, Type 69 RPGs, and much more to mujahideen in co-operation with the CIA, as did Egypt with assault rifles. Of particular significance was the donation of US-made FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, which caused a notable increase in aircraft losses of the Soviet Air Force.[88] The main impact that it made, however, was the change it led to in Soviet tactics – helicopters increasingly stayed over friendly forces and limited daytime flights, jetcraft were forced to fly much higher, and other contingency measures were put in place.[89]

再引一段污有之乡：

当前的国际恐怖组织，除美国之外，大都集中在中东的伊斯兰世界。这个地区为什么盛产恐怖主义？这与这个地区丰富的石油资源和重要的战略位置分不开。为了争夺这一地区的战略资源，前苏联入侵阿富汗，美国支持以色列，频繁在这个地区发动战争，让无数的穆斯林教徒人失去了家园，无数的穆斯林失去了亲人。这些失去家园和亲人的穆斯林，就成了恐怖主义肥沃的土壤。因而，美苏的霸权是恐怖主义泛滥的根源。现在，苏联解体了，美国又在这里发动了多场战争，美国就成了当前恐怖主义的唯一根源。

短短一段话错误怎么这么多...

interesting extra credit #3

§EXTRA CREDIT #3

You begin with a certain number of points. This number of points is equal to the score that you received on the second midterm (if you missed the second midterm, then the number is equal to your score on the first midterm; if you missed both, the number of your points is equal to 10).The points are worth extra credit such that each point is worth 0.1% extra credit towards your POL 101 course grade.

Your task is to contribute some, or none, of your points to the public pool. Also, you cannot contribute more points than you have.

If the sum of all contributions is equal to or greater than 2500 points: then your extra credit is equal to whatever points you saved (i.e., did not contribute).

If the sum of all contributions is less than 2500: no one gets extra credit.

In addition: if you get A or A- on the final exam, I will subtract 5 points from the target (which is initially 2500). That is, getting A/A- on the final exam makes it easier for everyone to get extra credit.

If you get F on the final exam, I will add 5 points to the target (which, again, is initially 2500). That is, getting F on the final exam makes it more difficult for everyone to get extra credit.

For example, 30 students get A/A- on the final exam and 20 students get F. Thus, the extra credit target that must be reached changes to 2500 - 30*5 + 20*5 = 2450.

On the other hand, if 20 students get A/A- on the final exam and 30 students get F, the extra credit target that must be reached changes to 2500 - 20*5 + 30*5 = 2550.

For your information: There are 200 students in the class. The total number of points that the students have is between 5000 and 5500.

Please, think carefully about your choice and enter the number, which corresponds to your contribution. You will not be able to change your contribution once it is submitted. If you fail to answer the question, your contribution is assumed to be zero. The deadline to submit your answer is the last day of classes.

Good luck,

Oleg Smirnov