ASEAN proceeds with making a human rights commission

Flags of ASEAN member countries.
Interestingly enough, ASEAN will proceed in creating a human rights commission to improve its standing in the international community, despite initial objections by Burmese diplomats. The Irrawaddy reports that:
A diplomat involved in negotiations o­n the issue said lower-level officials finished a draft of the charter o­n Sunday with a reference [...]

Orientation is finally over

Originally uploaded by slack12.
I am finally back from UCLA’s grueling 2 nights and 3 days 1st year orientation session. It feels so good to be back home, despite the initial exhilaration at living free from my family for a few days. The comforts of home definitely outweigh the ‘independence’ of living in college dorms. Perhaps [...]

U.S. sanctions renewal, Burma’s first decade in ASEAN and UN intervention

Headline from the Financial Times (July 12, 2007) reporting about a leaked UN report on Burma.
How interesting. Several important developments regarding Burma today: (1) Burma celebrates its 10th anniversary in ASEAN, (2) The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to renew sanctions against Burma, and (3) UN Envoy to Burma, Gambari has begun a [...]

43 years since the death of Burma’s foremost man of letters

Kodaw Hmaing, one of the most influential literary figures in modern Burmese history, died on this day in 1964. His life is worthy of being known. Ba Zan Lin has a wonderfully detailed post on Kodaw Hmaing’s life, although it is in Burmese. In the introduction, he describes Kodaw Hmaing as “the foremost literati and [...]

Typing in Burmese on Windows Vista

Does anybody know how to install ‘keyboards’ (Burmese Unicode) on Windows Vista (I have a 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate laptop)? I’ve tried every program imaginable on the Internet to install keyboards so that I can type in Burmese but none will install. If anybody does, please leave a comment because I can’t figure this out.
Works [...]

A taste of Thai culture

Today, my family went to to the Wat Thai of Los Angeles, one of the largest Thai temples in the L.A. area (the other one is in the suburb of the City of Industry). Every weekend, Thai families sell different types of Thai food at a market in the parking lot. But today, I believe [...]

New laptop, new life

I–actually, my parents–bought me a new laptop this weekend. It’s Hewlett Packard, as usual (all of the computers my family has bought have been Hewlett Packards). And it’s a bargain, considering that the laptop has 4 gigabytes of RAM. The customer service at Circuit City, where I bought the laptop, however, is sub-par. There is [...]