Jia Lin’s Weblog

bad-landlord index

About one month ago, I got my deposit back from the former landlord who had attempted to keep my money. After I sent him a registered mail threatening I will sue him for “illegally holding deposit,, intentional fraud and tort of conversion”, I got my full deposit back plus $3 of interest. Everyone says it is a miracle: You were three thousand miles away, and he sent you the check? This experience and reaction from friends and lawyer makes me realize the omnipresence of the problem, how easy for landlord to keep the deposit and how difficult for tenant to get money back. Well, since the law is so loose on landlord’s liability and could not really protect tenant’s benefit, and there is no self-regulation for these landlords, why don’t tenants get together to protect themselves?

Few weeks ago I listened to a talk on “oppositional new media”, which refers to some cool sites that attempt to fight against, or at least caricature, government and corporations. Then I thought why there is no website targeted on irresponsible landlords. On such a website, people who do not get their deposit back can log on line to enter the name of the landlord, and the list could be indexed alphabetically based on state, city, and name! I guess the list will go fast and long. Other than a outlet for rage and frustration, this online database serves two function: a reference for people looking for housing to check the credibility of landlord, and a Sword of Damocles to remind those landlords that they are being watched. Any tricks the landlord play will win him a place in the black list and people interested in renting will check his name out. He really needs to rethink the consequence if he tries to hold the money.
Sure it might be some legal issue involved in this plan. Will there be any malign or unfairness to the landlord, it is hard to tell. The confirmation of the prosecutor�s identity as well as reiteration of non-involvement to any legal issues is critical to the website�s survival.

Acquisition and stealing

Having dinner last night with Jiangfeng, one of Bin’s old friends. He is working in a high-tech company in Irvine, and he is on his second job in two years. Being retreating to school for so long, we were intrigued by everything we learnt about corporation world. For one that impressed me the most is the strategy in acquiring new technology. In Taiwan, the fist company that have the break-through innovation is the one lose money. Investing a lot in R&D, its product demands a high price to offset its cost. Regardless of high margin, very soon other dozens of companies will be able to manufacture same products at much lower price. How? The general scheme is to steal the key R&D personnel from the old company by promising astounding high salary and fabulous benefit. Once acquiring the key technology, these later companies will be able to produce and market in much lower price. The lacking of IP protection makes almost every pioneer company the victim of the unfair competition. Acer, one of the biggest digital manufacturers even boasted for their spirit of “always compete for the second place”.
In US, the situation is different. The omnipresence of IP law made impossible to just use other’s technology by stealing the scientist. The most common practice is to buying the whole company. In this way, the new owner can be legitimately enjoy the profit of new technology. Jiangfeng’s boss, who is a Taiwanese, had acquired 10 companies or so in past several years, and switched their direction again and again. In conclusion, in High-tech industry, technology marketing is even more important than R&D itself. The early slum of IT industry in California, in large degree, is the result of mass acquisition in a blind way. Unable to finding the right innovators, the company will gamble to buy as many other companies as possible, in order to top others in sense of time to enter the market.

Immortality and baby

When I started to read Milan Kundera’s books, he was so popular in China that I had chance to read all his fictions. It was about 15 years ago, of course I did not understand them all. My favorite Kundera was “Immortality“. It does not read like a novel, though there was a consistent storyline through the book. I loved his style: always an observer in a close distance, he observe everyday life and go above to explore its implications. I found some excerpts on line, which I could clearly remember its Chinese translation:

“. . . She walked around the pool toward the exit. She passed the lifeguard, and after she had gone some three or four steps beyond him, she turned her head, smiled, and waved to him. At that instant I felt a pang in my heart! That smile and that gesture belonged to a twenty-year-old girl! Her arm rose with bewitching ease. It was as if she were playfully tossing a brightly colored ball to her lover. That smile and that gesture had charm and elegance, while the face and the body no longer had any charm. It was the charm of a gesture drowning in the charmlessness of the body. But the woman, though she must of course have realized that she was no longer beautiful, forgot that for the moment. There is a certain part of all of us that lives outside of time. Perhaps we become aware of our age only at exceptional moments and most of the time we are ageless. In any case, the instant she turned, smiled, and waved to the young lifeguard (who couldn’t control himself and burst out laughing), she was unaware of her age. The essence of her charm, independent of time, revealed itself for a second in that gesture and dazzled me. I was strangely moved. And then the word Agnes entered my mind. Agnes. I had never known a woman by that name.”

I must say the Chinese translation did a better work than this English version; the latter still feels less reserved and detached. What Kundura discussed in the book is what immortal image an individual would leave in the world when his biological body is worn and gone, and the fear of leaving nothing or leaving an embarrassing one.

The reason I thought about Kundera and his “immortality” was that I were able have time to think about life and future for past several months. When I think about anything far-reaching, I think about death. One insomniatic night when I thought of this destined endeing I was breathless and heartburn, literally. I talk about it with my mother several days later, and she again proposed a baby solution: “when you knew your life is passed on, you will fear no more.� Among thousands of reasons she gave trying to persuade me having baby, this one really gets me. Maybe fear of human being is the extinction of his whole self.

I was reading an interview on Amy Tan, in which she is talking about her choice of no children. Except selfishness and self-efficient reasons (certainly, which elite is not), she explained:

�What’s in me that I have wanted to pass on is already in the books�.

Passing yourself on seems quite a primitive motivation for beings, but it seems something people try to accomplish for life, consciously or unconsciously. Go back to Kundera�s accounting of immortality, I would rather believe we had that beauty or charm outside of time for a moment and was observed and remembered by the anonymous ones, instead of making baby or fame to conquer our fears.

Autumn in LA

I know the title sounds farfetched, but LA did rain, though only for one day, after which LA did have autumn. Trees are still green, but the air is cold and dry. No more fog or mist, we could even see the full shape of sun, from Santa Monica, right before the fire ball sank to ocean.

stars got blogs

I’m not sure how much juicy detail you will find, but this is definetly an interesting phenomenon: it shows how popular blogging has become and definetly starts to penetrate into popular culture.