Rob Cheng’s Blog

My room mate from college freshman year in college came to visit me in Rio de Janeiro. I took a few days off and we went to all the typical Rio tourist traps and took a lot of photos. I am doing HDR photography which is using an auto exposure bracket for +/- 2 exposure values. Then I put it all in Photo Matix. Still not perfect but I found some of the photos interesting.

May 7th, 2013 | Category: General | Leave a comment

Last year, I began working on the beach instead of in my house. During the fall, the famous beaches of Rio de Janeiro are not crowded despite the fact that the weather is spectacular. You can get a lot of work done in a beautiful environment.

April 16th, 2013 | Category: General | Leave a comment

Before I begin this post, I want to state that I believe that life begins at conception. As the father of two children, I can say that a lot of the child’s personality is already formed in the womb, and you can hear a heart beat at very early stages of a woman’s pregnancy. Despite all of that, I have decided that it is a waste of time to decide the governance of our country based on this issue. My opinion has nothing to do with a woman’s right to choose. After all I am not a woman. I do believe that if terminating a pregnancy is illegal, there would be less of them. But again, I am don’t think there should be an effort to make it illegal. Here is my reasoning.

First there is the reason that it may just not be possible in the USA to overturn Rowe versus Wade. Just because we disagree with a law does not mean it should be overturned. There are lots and lots of American laws that effect me more directly than Rowe vs Wade. But I don’t spend any time trying to over turn those laws either. I hear from my ultra conservative plan is that we should elect conservative politicians and then they will elect conservative justices and then somehow there will be a critical mass of conservatism and Rowe vs Wade will be overturned. It has been 40 years since Rowe vs Wade and nothing close to this has happened and I bet it never will. Read More »

March 24th, 2013 | Category: General | Leave a comment

It’s been four years since the greatest economic melt down since the great depression. The underlying reason behind this depression is the economic structure of American and European banks. In addition to that, there is a more insidious problem with the American economy – the trade deficit.

America is perhaps the greatest nation in the history of civilization because it had the largest sustained trade surplus in the history of time. Starting in the early 1900′s, American products and innovation led the entire world and the many American inventions, products and companies made the world as we know it today. Included in this list is the light bulb, the radio, the television, the car, the airplane, and of course the computer. These were American products that were designed and manufactured in the United States. These products were also exported throughout the world.

We ran a hug trade surplus that drove the highest standard living in the entire world. It is the trade surplus that creates true jobs and sustains the economy. When a country has a trade surplus, then all the other related jobs such as policemen, barbers, stock brokers, accountants and everything other category rises naturally. The trade surplus is the tide that lifts all boats. Read More »

February 24th, 2013 | Category: Financial Crisis, Politics | Comments (1)

I was watching the NFL playoff games a few weeks ago, and there was an advertisement for a new anti depressant. Just like all the drug industry ads, it was a very slick with happy people who against all odds beat their depression because of this new wonder drug. The back drop of the happy people continued but the announcers voice got serious. It warned of thoughts of violence and suicide. Half of the ad was devoted to the horrible unintended side effects of this drug.

If one has depression in the United States, there is only one basic treatment – DRUGS. My wife was very depressed due to post partum depression after the birth of our second child. We went to a psychiatrist, and it was definitely spooky. She essentially told us that she had no idea on how to treat her depression. She then showed an incredible list of drug options. We would start with one and then move to others if they did not work. She warned of thoughts of violence and suicide as well. Literally, if a depressed person took these drugs, there is an increased risk of violence and suicide.

What happened at Sandy Hook? The kid, Adam Lanza, by all accounts had some psychological issues. I would bet strongly since their family was well to do, that Adam saw numerous psychiatrists and he was constantly on some medication. Could the last medication been enough to set him on a suicidal homicidal rampage?

Shortly before the massacre in Connecticutt, we learned that one of our football heros, Junior Seau, had committed suicide. Like Lanza, he was depressed and well to do. So it seems like the only logical conclusion that Seau was also on some depression medication prescribed by some doctor.

When my wife was going through her depression, we both came to the conclusion that these drugs are not worth it. The doctors by their own admission have no idea how these drugs work or whether the outcome could be disastrous. Furthermore, no one knows, including the doctors, the FDA nor the drug companies themselves understand the long term ramification of taking these drugs over an extended period of time. As we are learning, there are also considerations for society as a whole when one of their patients goes on a drug induced rampage.

I am not on any medications and I don’t plan to be on any. I don’t have a problem taking an anti biotic to kill an infection, but I walk away from any drug that they require you to take for months, years or the rest of your life.

February 4th, 2013 | Category: General | Leave a comment

Have you ever noticed that cars have a different MPG for city and highway? Why is that? I think I figured it out. The difference is that in “city” driving, you have to hit the brake a lot more. If you are driving on the highway, you can go miles and miles without ever hitting the brake if there is no traffic around you. In city driving, you hit the brake because there is more traffic around you and more stop signs and signals.

So there is one underlying principle to vastly improve your gas mileage, hit the brake less. Here’s an example that almost anyone can try. If there is good visibility, you can see the stop light in front of you, just turned from green to yellow. Immediately, you should take your foot off the accelerator. Any gas you burn at this point, will be wasted because you surely have to stop. In fact, the ideal situation is that you are able to stop without hitting the brake at all. You coast into the stop light and the weight of the car slows itself down so you never have to hit the brake. At that point, you have maximized your gas mileage. Read More »

January 31st, 2013 | Category: Technology | Leave a comment

November 12th, 2012 | Category: Brazil, Jesse, Photos, Rio de Janeiro, Slide Show, Solange, Teddy | Leave a comment

October 8th, 2012 | Category: Brazil, Jesse, Photos, Rio de Janeiro, Slide Show, Teddy | Leave a comment

Ever since the great economic crisis of 2008, I have read over 20 books on this topic to figure out what’s the matter with our country. I think that I finally figured it out. The problem is that it’s not easy to explain, but let me give it a try.

Let’s say, I am at McDonalds and I want to buy a Big Mac for $3.00. I look in my pocket and I discover that I have no money. Damnit, because I am hungry and I really wanted a Big Mac. All of sudden, I look in my shoe and there magically is 3 one dollar bills. Now I can pay for the Big Mac, but I don’t give the money to McDonalds. There is a guy also standing in line, and I give him the money. He then loans me back the $3, and I now have my Big Mac. The problem is that I now owe this guy $3, plus any interest due until I pay back all $3. Read More »

August 19th, 2012 | Category: Financial Crisis, Politics | Comments (3)