Life on the isle of the blessed

A man after my own heart

2010-12-13T22:56:00.001+08:00

In Search of Equilibrium by Jeffrey Sachs.

Happiness defined

2010-12-13T22:39:00.002+08:00

"A judicious equilibrium between gains in material comfort and growth of the mind and spirit in a just and sustainable environment".

~Jigmi Thinley, Prime Minister of Bhutan (article)

背對背擁抱 - 林俊杰

2010-11-23T22:15:00.000+08:00

Well said, Mr. President!

2010-11-06T14:07:00.001+08:00

Exporting Our Way To Stability by Barack Obama - New York Times

回家- 顺子

2010-10-23T15:02:00.002+08:00

The Girl Effect

2010-09-23T21:28:00.002+08:00

For White House Policy Wonks...

2010-08-11T00:34:00.002+08:00

Check out this fascinating blog post on the many interactions between White House economic policy advisers when deliberating economic policy.

Hat tip: Greg Mankiw

时光机 - 周杰伦

2010-07-25T19:21:00.002+08:00

Slave history in America

2010-04-28T23:06:00.006+08:00

Great article from Thomas Sowell on history, in particular the teaching of slave history in America.

"The history of slavery across the centuries and in many countries around the world is a painful history to read - not only in terms of how slaves have been treated, but because of what that says about the whole human species - because slaves and enslavers alike have been of every race, religion and nationality."

"If the history of slavery ought to teach us anything, it is that human beings cannot be trusted with unbridled power over other human beings - no matter what color or creed any of them are. The history of ancient despotism and modern totalitarianism practically shouts that same message from the blood-stained pages of history."

"But that is not the message that is being taught in our schools and colleges, or dramatized on television and in the movies. The message that is pounded home again and again is that white people enslaved black people."

A terrible beauty

2010-04-17T02:31:00.004+08:00

It is a terrible beauty to want something that you simply cannot have, to think yourself capable of achieving something you simply aren’t capable of. This is something that bothers me quite a lot, as it relates to some important people in my life. A great deal of effort expended, but sad to say not a great deal to show for it. All in the expectation of a big future pay-off, as impossible as it is. A man who thinks so highly of himself in the hustle and bustle of business, yet was there ever a man as foolish as he?

The belief is not lacking, the vision crystal clear. A decent man with a good heart, but there the tributes stop. For it is pride that eats at the core of one’s good character, a pride that lets you think you are so much better than most when in fact this is far from the case. A man possessing this trait, along with a fantastical ignorance of how the real world works, is a recipe for financial disaster no matter how you look at it. And so much the worse when the sheer madness of it all is within a family, damaging the warmth and joy that lies beneath charged emotions.

To sort through this mess, to minimize the damage done and salvage what scarce value remains is my preoccupation. For I seek solace in positive creation, in my constant search for the good, the true, the beautiful.

Itching to get going

2010-02-20T05:18:00.000+08:00

It feels like one long holiday, starting back in late December. Christmas, followed by New Year's, then getting sick for while, then the move to Shanghai, just in time for Chinese New Year's. A long, drawn-out affair of fireworks and celebrations, again and again.

Thankfully, it's all coming to a close in a few days, and I'll be able to start pounding the streets again, getting on with business. I'll also be taking Chinese classes again on weekday mornings, which is something I've been meaning to do for a long while now and quite looking forward to. Then there's the whole business of meeting people, familiarizing myself with the city, adjusting to the weather, and all that jazz.

But first let's get the festivities behind us and get on with it already!

Really hate the Shanghai winter

2010-02-18T02:56:00.001+08:00

The weather has been God awful this last week in Shanghai. The cold seems to enter every crevice of the house, into my clothes, into my bones. I have the heater on full blast in my room but still the floors are freezing and the bedsheets cool to the touch.

Shanghai in winter is no fun. Let's hope spring comes early this year.

I'm in!

2010-02-17T04:41:00.000+08:00

I've found this awesome proxy server that lets me by-pass the Great Fire Wall! Does this mean I'll be able to blog again?

Let's hit publish and find out!

Back into the fray

2010-02-03T04:47:00.003+08:00

So I've decided to move back to Shanghai, China. It's taken me a while, but after all the back and forth in my head, I think I'm going to settle down there for a while and develop my career.

On the one hand I'm going to really hate the pollution and crowds, but on the other hand the pace of economic growth and dynamism is just too exciting to miss out on.

We'll see how it pans out, but since blogger is blocked in China, the frequency of posts on this blog is likely to subside. Oh well.

Now on to bigger and better things!

关心

2010-02-01T15:36:00.001+08:00

一日早上，在教室同学A问同学B：

A：早上吃了没？

B：没（小小感动中）

A：饿不？

B: 饿！（是要给我买吃的？感动中……）

A：吃不？

B：吃！（感动！）

A：那待会下楼给我捎个面包!

B：…… ……

From Duzhe.

Yeah baby!

2010-01-31T23:25:00.000+08:00

In memory of J. D. Salinger

2010-01-30T15:36:00.002+08:00

“The thing is, most of the time when you’re coming pretty close to doing it with a girl ... she keeps telling you to stop. The trouble with me is, I stop. Most guys don’t. I can’t help it. You never know whether they really want you to stop, or whether they’re just scared as hell, or whether they’re just telling you to stop so that if you do go through with it, the blame’ll be on you, not them. Anyway, I keep stopping. The trouble is, I get to feeling sorry for them. I mean most girls are so dumb and all. After you neck them for a while you can really watch them losing their brains. You take a girl when she really gets passionate, she just hasn’t any brains. I don’t know. They tell me to stop, so I stop.”

From the NYT.

Identity

2010-01-29T15:41:00.004+08:00

Reading this article in the New York Times Magazine called The Jihadist Next Door really made me think about the issue of identity.

Our identity is central to who are are as human beings and affects how we behave and the values we hold. It is shaped by our upbringing, the society in which we are surrounded, and genetic factors which influence our personality. How we perceive ourselves (ie. our identity) plays a big role in how we spend our money as consumers, how we vote as citizens, the jobs we choose as employees, and the things we do in our free time, such as volunteering, seeking spirituality, or playing games.

For most of us, our identity is a source of strength, something we use to navigate the complexities of the modern era. Sadly, as the aforementioned article shows, sometimes that strength translates into a perverse rigidness that comes at the expense of society as a whole (as for example, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a graduation ceremony for medical students in Somalia last December).

We all need a sense of identity to make sense of ourselves as humans in this globalized world, but it is important that that source of strength is channeled into productive rather destructive purposes, lest death and carnage be all that remains once we dispense with claiming our wounded prides.

Chipotle

2010-01-28T06:12:00.005+08:00

One thing I really miss about the US is my favorite burrito joint Chipotle Mexican Grill. Their tasty yet affordable burritos are made with naturally-raised meat and fresh vegetables in friendly, unpretentious surroundings.

This article in Knowledge@Wharton with Chipotle founder Steve Ells is a nice introduction to the company, its origins, and values.

New business idea - bring Chipotle to Singapore and China!

Conjunctivitis

2010-01-27T02:58:00.002+08:00

The last two weeks have been hell for me, as I've struggled to rid myself of a nasty bout of conjunctivitis. My eyes were red and swollen as anything, and I had trouble reading and spending time in the sun.

Thank goodness the antibiotic eye-drops the doctor prescribed seems to be working, because my eyes are now well on the road to recovery.

Just a small reminder of the fragility of human life, and to cherish your health.

The Chinks they are a-comin'!

2010-01-25T21:40:00.001+08:00

Even in tennis, as this NYT article reports...

Sapa

2010-01-24T18:37:00.009+08:00

Happy holidays!

2009-12-27T00:37:00.002+08:00

I will be backpacking through southwestern China and Vietnam for the next week or so with a friend, to celebrate New Year's and all.

Farewell 2009, and welcome 2010!

Quote of the day

2009-12-24T02:43:00.002+08:00

"There are many ways for people to die, but somehow dying of starvation is the most unacceptable of all. It happens in slow motion. Second by second, the distance between life and death becomes smaller and smaller, until the two are in such close proximity that one can hardly tell the difference. Like sleep, death by starvation happens so quietly, so inexorably, one does not even sense it happening. And all for lack of a handful of rice at each meal. In this world of plenty, a tiny baby, who does not yet understand the mysteries of the world, is allowed to cry and cry and finally fall asleep without the milk she needs to survive. The next day she may not have the strength to continue living."

~Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor, Introduction viii

It's all about the marketing

2009-12-20T22:39:00.005+08:00

The ability to do business is crawling to a standstill now in the lead-up to the holiday season. Which is just as well for me since it gives me a break from all the endless cold calling I've been doing lately and lets me have a chance to catch up with some reading. If I were to do a little recap of all the things I've learned these past few months though, I'd say:

I already knew this, but entrepreneurship is hard. No one in the business world gives a shit about your new product or service, and you really have to take it upon yourself to get into people's faces and convince them to give you a few seconds of their precious time. I actually hate being a salesman, but when you're just starting out, there isn't much choice, is there?

Some things can be commoditized, while some things simply can't. Take distribution and logistics, for example. Being the fledgling that I am in the business world, I always thought that distribution and logistics was going to be really complicated with customs documentation, delivery schedules, warehousing costs, and all the rest of it going to take up heaps of time, energy, and money to figure out and get right. It turns out, however, that once you outsource these activities to a 3rd party logistics provider, most of these problems just disappear, and simply becomes a cost of doing business. A commodity. Which leads to the next point...

Marketing is the hard part. Right now, I've got the manufacturing down, the distribution and logistics figured out, the website up and running, and a grip on the finances and accounting. But actually getting the word out, and having the patience, persistence, and passion to win sales is proving to be my Achilles heel. Slowly it is dawning on me that contrary to all the "hard" finance classes I took in university that I thought would be useful for my career, it is the "soft" marketing skills that I really need now at this stage of my career...

Quote of the day

2009-12-19T19:57:00.002+08:00

"Economic development, therefore, requires that each economy overcome four hurdles: there must be adequate savings, a competitive export sector that can earn the foreign exchange needed to pay for imported technologies, a financially strong government that can finance needed infrastructure (roads, power, clinics) to complement private-sector investment, and the ability to adapt international technologies to local ecological conditions and needs."

Jeffrey Sachs, Common Wealth, p. 208-209

Go on. Be a Tiger.

2009-12-17T23:41:00.009+08:00

The New York Times has an interesting article on the Tiger Woods saga as it relates to consulting giant Accenture. Tiger, of course, has been under intense media scrutiny after crashing his car and arguing with his wife over his infidelity. He was also the very public face of Accenture, as witnessed through numerous ad campaigns such as the following:

Now Accenture is busy scrubbing itself clean of all its Tiger-related marketing efforts. Hilarious.

Jim Rogers

2009-12-16T01:25:00.005+08:00

I just finished reading Jim Rogers' A Bull In China. A pleasant read. I was truly surprised by Rogers' knowledge of China and his business acumen in general. He has a very good grasp of the issues at the heart of China's future economic development and provides lots of investment tips on the movers and shakers of corporate China.

The man is my hero. He co-founded the Quantum Fund in his late 20's, "retired" at age 38 to travel around the world on a motorcycle and custom-made Mercedes, has written a number of books highlighting his exotic adventures and business-savvy, and has a hot wife to boot. Now based in Singapore, Rogers is as excited as I am about all the growth that is taking placing across Asia today.

Good inspiration!

Shanghai's metro system in 2020

2009-12-13T13:59:00.002+08:00

Pretty kick-ass, huh!

Real estate woes in China

2009-12-10T10:50:00.005+08:00

Check out this post at Shanghaiist. A young guy has staged a protest in a Shanghai subway car by pitching a tent and plastering messages across the tent and his T-shirt.

His basic message is: I need a house to get married. But real estate prices are too high, so I can't afford a house and hence no girl will give me a chance. This situation is intolerable!

House prices in big Chinese cities are insane right now. What to do?

The future of journalism

2009-12-09T04:32:00.003+08:00

A perceptive and forward-looking op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal by none other than Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Newscorp.

Well worth a read.

Another nice one

2009-12-08T02:11:00.000+08:00

某人在屋檐下躲雨，看见观音正撑伞走过。
这人说：“观音菩萨，普度一下众生吧，带我一段如何？”
观音说：“我在雨里，你在檐下，而檐下无雨，你不需要我度。”
这人立刻跳出檐下，站在雨中：“现在我也在雨中了，该度我了吧？”
观音说：“你在雨中，我也在雨中，我不被淋，因为有伞；你被雨淋，因为无伞。所以不是我度自己，而是伞度我。你要想度，不必找我，请自找伞去！”说完便走了。
第二天，这人遇到了难事，便去寺庙里求观音。走进庙里，才发现观音的像前也有一个人在拜，那个人长得和观音一模一样，丝毫不差。
这人问：“你是观音吗？” 那人答道：“我正是观音。”
这人又问：“那你为何还拜自己？” 观音笑道：“我也遇到了难事，但我知道，求人不如求己。”

From: Duzhe

Good joke

2009-12-06T03:19:00.003+08:00

建筑师

一位夫人打电话给建筑师，说每当火车经过时，她的睡床就会摇动。

“这简直是无稽之谈”建筑师回答说，“我来看看。”

建筑师到达后，夫人建议他躺在床上，体会一下火车经过时的感觉。

建筑师刚躺下，夫人的丈夫就回来了。他见此情形，便厉声喝问：“你躺在我妻子的床上干什么？”

建筑师战战兢兢地回答：“我说是在等火车，你会相信吗？”

From: Duzhe

最难的学问

2009-12-02T03:20:00.004+08:00

一名年轻人兴冲冲地向他的老师讲述自己的出游经历：“最近，我在喜马拉雅山遇见一位睿智的老人，他能预测到不可知的未来。先生，您也懂这个吗？我真想学。”

“每个人都懂呀，”老师平静地说，“真正困难的学问不是这个。”

“那是什么？”年轻人不解，“先生，还有比未卜先知更高深的学问？”

“飞翔的鸟儿，葱郁的林木，人人都能张眼即见，但你看得见自己的睫毛吗？它可是就在你的眼前啊！所以，我要教给弟子的，不是让他们预见朦胧的未来，而是看清鲜活的现在。”

From: Duzhe

That empty feeling

2009-11-29T04:19:00.005+08:00

I get bored when I stay in one place for too long. My day starts to fall into a dull routine, and I lose interest in pushing myself to my limits, which is how I like to roll.

To fight off this feeling, I need to get stuck into my business now - meeting people, perfecting my sales pitch, throwing myself out there to ensure that I'm maximizing my possibilities for success and riches.

Then to new lands and horizons, both to further myself and the world around me. Because the the journey never ends.

Website is up

2009-11-26T05:32:00.005+08:00

So after many delays and changes, our website is finally up: www.hand-free.com.

If you know anyone in the hot dog or burrito business, please get in touch.

Now, on to marketing and selling!

Interview with Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia

2009-11-22T00:46:00.001+08:00

How to write a CV cover letter - China edition

2009-11-21T12:12:00.002+08:00

Dear Managers:

First, thanks for your time to notice this letter.

I will graduate with certificate from Accounting of Anhui Finance & Trade Vocational College. for upcoming social life, with more pure-hearted and high sense of responsibility, I will make my life close to you. Three years’ university life, I have built up philosophy of life, axiology in correct. More confidence and filled with passional, aspirant, unflaggingly, honest, faithful and accountable, warmly in my life. Three years, this is accumulating steadily and need this when it is well prepared. I’m convinced I am prepared it very well to hit the new profession life.

As you sow, so will you reap. During 3 years’ university study and life, I learn some basic knowledge, especial financial management accounting and other areas knowledge of accounting. 3 years is very short but lots of knowledge I have acquired, in order to get progress in the major and my job occupation, I will continue to work hard with good efficiency and seek more from new thing. I’m convinced that man can get success who have a assiduousness.

I believe honesting and painstaking will make me success and my professional and special skill knowledge structure will give me chance what I want to get later. Possibly, In all of students, I am not the best. But I am sure I will work hard and never give up.

I sincerely hope that your company reviews this and give a chance to me.

Looking forward to your back for this!

Hat tip: I Love China

Wuhan

2009-10-26T14:04:00.008+08:00

A defense of insider trading...

2009-10-25T12:57:00.001+08:00

Interesting argument.

(H/t to Greg Mankiw)

Pizza Hut's success in China

2009-10-24T04:46:00.003+08:00

Something I think about a lot...

2009-10-24T04:15:00.003+08:00

Here's a nice McKinsey report on a consumer paradigm for China.

A big part of moving the global economy forward rests on getting the Chinese economy to shift from an export-led growth model to a consumer-led growth model. In other words, putting more money into the hands of ordinary Chinese people to buy products and services that will lift them out of poverty and raise standards of living.

So how can all this be achieved?

1. Improve the social security and health-care system

2. Structural financial and banking reform, such as shifting bank lending from large state-owned enterprises to small, private firms

3. Letting market forces dictate the renminbi (ie. rmb appreciation against the US dollar), which would lead to a correction in global macroeconomic trade imbalances and give Chinese consumers greater purchasing power in buying goods from abroad

Up close and personal with the Taliban

2009-10-23T11:10:00.000+08:00

The New York Times has been running a series of articles on a NYT reporter who got kidnapped by the Taliban and then escaped.

Fascinating stuff. Getting into the minds of the jihadists, learning about their organizational dynamics, and just seeing Afghan and Pakistani culture up close... it makes for a riveting read.

Globalization and its discontents, indeed.

Beijing, post-Olympics

2009-10-22T13:57:00.001+08:00

Nissan Leaf: My first car purchase?

2009-10-21T22:30:00.002+08:00

More here.

Macau

2009-10-20T22:13:00.006+08:00

Healthcare: Singapore vs America

2009-10-20T21:58:00.004+08:00

Interesting op-ed from the Wall Street Journal.

As the US healthcare debate (debacle?) continues, I have often found myself asking what it is that the Singaporean healthcare system does that allows it, in the words of this journalist, to "spend only about 4% of GDP on health care—against 17% for the United States" yet allows Singapore to score "better than the U.S. on life expectancy, infant mortality, and other key international measures."

A nanny state that delivers better results than a liberal democracy? I think I'll hold onto that pink IC of mine...

Going all out

2009-09-24T04:42:00.001+08:00

Preparations for the 60th year anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

Amazing photos.

Totally agree

2009-09-23T05:13:00.001+08:00

From the New York Times.

The Claim: Lack of Sleep Increases the Risk of Catching a Cold.

No such thing as a free lunch

2009-09-21T08:19:00.002+08:00

Greg Mankiw writes about the economics driving the US health care debate in the New York Times.

Great article.

Quote of the day

2009-09-19T02:45:00.002+08:00

"A house may be large or small; as long as the surrounding houses are equally small it satisfies all social demands for a dwelling. But let a palace arise beside the little house, and it shrinks from a little house to a small hut... however high it may shoot up in the course of civilization, if the neighboring palace grows to an equal or even greater extent, the occupant of the relatively small house will feel more and more uncomfortable, dissatisfied and cramped within its four walls."

~Karl Marx, Wage Labour and Capital p.259

Water woes in India

2009-09-14T03:35:00.002+08:00

From this week's Economist.

A painful look at the problem of water scarcity for India's peasant farmers. This is India's driest monsoon season in decades. No rain means no crops, which means leaving the rural countryside for jobs in the big cities. Not an easy life, and another small reminder of the hardships people face in this harsh world...

Education spending

2009-09-11T03:56:00.001+08:00

From the Economist.

Quote of the day

2009-09-11T02:22:00.001+08:00

"I never let my schooling get in the way of my education."

~Mark Twain

Great article

2009-09-04T22:51:00.003+08:00

Are people perfectly rational? Are markets perfectly efficient? A clear and succinct summary of the macro-economic "lay of the land" of the last two years.

How Did Economists Get It So Wrong? by Paul Krugman in the NYT.

Is there a market?

2009-09-02T02:27:00.007+08:00

City under construction

2009-08-30T04:27:00.011+08:00

Hiatus

2009-08-17T04:19:00.004+08:00

It's been slow going here, I know. I'm heading back into Mainland China for a week or so, where Facebook and Blogger access is spotty to say the least. Will try to update again when I have time and out of The Great Firewall's reach.

Lots going on these days. Website, database system management, factory matters, sales pitch, setting up an office, business registration, product development. It's all happening, and I'm quite excited.

Let's see where all this leads...

孙燕资- 我还怀念

2009-08-16T12:06:00.000+08:00

Tradition vs modernity in India

2009-08-14T01:35:00.003+08:00

"It’s true that a meritocratic India is a more hopeful India. It’s certainly a vast improvement over a country in which millions were oppressed for being born into the wrong caste or gender or family. But it’s good to remember that meritocracy inflicts its own harms. It replaces old forms of subjugation with new ones — the tyranny of competition, of competence, of drive and ambition, of education."

~Akash Kapur, In the New India, Everyone Is Free to Flourish or Fail, NYT 08/13/09

The Graduate

2009-08-03T00:36:00.003+08:00

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you - just one word.
Ben: Yes sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Ben: Yes I am.
Mr. McGuire: 'Plastics.'
Ben: Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?
Ben: Yes I will.
Mr. McGuire: Shh! Enough said. That's a deal.

Who would have thought a movie made in the 60's would still be so relevant for this young graduate in 2009?

Ambition

2009-07-12T20:41:00.009+08:00

It came to me when I was about 15. I was lying in bed and the thought struck me like a bolt of lightning. I want to be somebody. Hell, I'm going to go for it. I had a hard time falling asleep that night. Ever since, my life has been a mission: to achieve, to understand, to strive, and to conquer. I don't quite understand it completely, but it is like an indomitable spirit, an iron-will that will do whatever it takes to see it through to the end goal.

Up to now, this ambition has primarily been channeled into my eagerness to understand the world, through books and learning. And while it has been very rewarding to learn about theories and weigh things in the solitary confines of my mind, there is a part of me that yearns for real action. To get out there and meet people, strike deals, make decisions and actually wield some influence in the affairs of men and women. Thankfully, I will soon have my chance. I fly for Hong Kong in a few days, and my work in the real world begins shortly thereafter. It is an interesting period and place in history to begin one's career to be sure, one fraught with challenges and complexities, but I would like to think that I am up to the task. Nothing prepares you better for business than real world experience, and it's high time I put my books and theories down and get doing.

Ambition. Too little of it and you live a mundane existence hostage to the vagaries of life and the wills of other men. Too much of it and it consumes you, bringing much joy in the chase but often also blind-siding you to greater joys like family, friends, and spirituality. Well, I do not suffer from too little ambition, which is just as well since I do not believe it to be incompatible with the finer things in life. And while I do not know what pitfalls and failures await me, this much is certain: I am still very hungry to prove my worth. There is so much that I want to achieve, and hence so much to live for. And now this, two months out from graduation, is my opening.

Defining democracy

2009-07-12T14:40:00.003+08:00

"That institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide through a competitive struggle for the people's vote."

~Joseph Schumpeter

The 3 main elements of this arrangement:

1. regular, free, and competitive elections
2. the existence and enforcement of constitutional rules to ensure civil and political rights
3. mechanisms to ensure that nobody is unreasonably excluded from exercising those rights and from participating in elections

(From Michael Reid's Forgotten Continent, p. 270)

China's Uyghur Muslim Minority

2009-07-09T19:11:00.001+08:00

China Debate: Fallows VS Ferguson

2009-07-04T20:07:00.005+08:00

`
More here: Chinese Fireworks Display by David Brooks at the New York Times and Fallows vs Ferguson at Aspen at The Atlantic.

Quote of the day

2009-06-30T21:46:00.003+08:00

"None of the Asian societies that has prospered economically in the past few generations could have done so without incorporating important elements of economic liberalism into their indigenous cultural systems, including property rights, contract, commercial law, and the entire confluence of Western ideas concerning rationality, science, innovation, and abstraction."

"The work of Joseph Needham and others has shown that the Chinese level of technology in the year 1500 was higher than that prevailing in Europe. What Chinese did not have, however, and what Europe subsequently developed, was a scientific method that permitted the progressive conquest of nature through empirical observation and experiment. The scientific method itself was made possible by a cast of mind that sought to understand higher-level causality through abstract reasoning about underlying physical principles, something alien to the polytheistic religious cultures of Asia."

~Francis Fukuyama, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, p. 350

Welcome to China

2009-06-29T19:09:00.001+08:00

Hat tip to China Bystander.

The mullahs

2009-06-25T17:33:00.008+08:00

"In a sense, the hard-liners are offering the populace their own social compact, whereby in exchange for spiritual salvation, the public will relinquish the right to dissent. In such an order - whee the task at hand is to construct a society seeking continuous conformity with God's will as seen by an enlightened clerical corps - there is no room for disagreement. The populace should be grateful, the hard-liners assert, that it is provided with a leadership and a social arrangement leading to celestial rewards."

"To disagree with clerical fiats and the accumulation of power by a narrowly self-selected group of religious reactionaries is to engage in a provocative act of defiance that must necessarily be suppressed. Iran's Right seems to perceive that it has reached 'the end of history,' where an exalted order has been constructed that requires no further reform or alteration."

~Ray Takeyh, Hidden Iran p.39

Good investing advice from Warren Buffet

2009-06-24T18:58:00.003+08:00

Obama clueless on Iran

2009-06-20T17:32:00.002+08:00

At least according to Charles Krauthammer. Strong words.

Counter-arguments here.

"The iron law of wages"

2009-06-18T11:56:00.003+08:00

"Labor, like all other things which are purchased and sold, and which may be increased or diminished in quantity, has its natural and its market price. The natural price of labor is that price which is necessary to enable the laborers, one with another, to subsist and perpetuate their race, without either increase or diminution."

~David Ricardo

Quote of the day

2009-06-17T19:00:00.003+08:00

"Keynes, in his most famous observation, noted that we are ruled by ideas and by very little else. In the immediate sense, this is true. And he was right in attributing importance to ideas as opposed to the simple influence of pecuniary vested interest. But the rule of ideas is only powerful in a world that does not change. Ideas are inherently conservative. They yield not to the attack of other ideas but, as I may note once more, to the massive onslaught of circumstance with which they cannot contend."

~John Kenneth Galbraith, The Concept of the Conventional Wisdom, The Affluent Society

Quote of the day

2009-06-15T07:33:00.001+08:00

"'Capitalism messed up,' the British tycoon Martin Sorrell wrote recently, 'or, to be more precise, capitalists did.' Actually, that's not true. Finance screwed up, or to be more precise, financiers did. In June 2007, when the financial crisis began, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, IBM, Nike, Wal-Mart and Microsoft were all running their companies with strong balance sheets and sensible business models. Major American corporations were highly profitable, and they were spending prudently, holding on to cash to build a cushion for a downturn. For that reason, many of them have been able to weather the storm remarkably well. Finance and anything finance-related—like real estate—is another story."

~Fareed Zakaria, A Capitalist Manifesto, Newsweek 06/13/09

Tour of Google headquarters

2009-06-14T11:44:00.015+08:00

So I visited Google Headquarters last Thursday. It was a trip organized by the Georgetown Club of Northern California. I was probably one of the very first to sign up, because of my interest in technology and business. And I'm glad I signed up, because it turned out to be a very interesting.

Some observations:

1. They really look after their employees! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner is provided free of charge to all employees. I didn't get to see or try the food, but apparently it's pretty tasty. In addition, littered all over campus are "mini-kitchens" stocked with drinks and snacks. Then there are gyms, health clinics, a beach volleyball court, and "nap-pods" for a quick shut-eye sessions when tired. I even saw a haircut bus parked on the curb to provide haircuts for employees!

2. Company culture seemed very laid back, informal, and cheerful. A fun place to work. And play.

3. There was a reception after the tour including a Q&A session with a few Google employees who were Georgetown alums. From the responses to the questions that were asked, I very much got a sense of optimism, of a company that was moving very rapidly and in all directions, of traversing uncharted waters and realizing unbridled potential. Like the typical Silicon Valley tech firm, I guess.

4. Beautiful weather, lots of sun, warm but not hot. Perfect for the solar panels on top of the car park, from which our guide told us 30% of the firm's electricity usage came from. Impressive.

Some pictures:

Intelligence

2009-06-14T07:53:00.003+08:00

"Next is sorting, the important and subtle task of grouping items according to similarities and differences. In a sense, this kind of pattern recognition is the highest level of human intelligence. Seeing patterns where others see confusion is what distinguishes the great chess masters — and the great diagnosticians, historians, philosophers, legal theorists. Recognizing distinctions is the other side of the same skill."

~James Fallows, from the article What Was I Thinking?,The Atlantic

I'm glad this ain't me...

2009-06-13T16:33:00.003+08:00

College job fairs in China. Talk about competition!

Online Newspaper Classified Ads: Dying a Slow Death

2009-06-13T16:27:00.003+08:00

From Silicon Valley Insider.

The imprecision of macroeconomics

2009-06-12T16:10:00.002+08:00

"So why should we listen to what macroeconomists say? Some economists think that often we shouldn't. Russell Roberts, a scholar at George Mason University and the Hoover Institution, told me, "I think some of macro is useful -- what causes inflation, for example. I just don't believe we're very good at testing theories at the macro level in a convincing way." Many times, he says, all macroeconomists can do is concoct stories that explain events after the fact."

~Steve Chapman, Baffled by the Economy Chicago Tribune 6/12/09

A good laugh...

2009-06-11T06:26:00.004+08:00

Not mincing his words

2009-06-10T00:43:00.004+08:00

"Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive countries in the world. Practicing a religion other than Islam there is likely to lead to your being executed. Being gay is likely to lead to your being executed. Being female means you have virtually no rights at all. It is the leading funder of terrorism worldwide and most everyone knows that it was people in the Saudi government who funded 9-11.

It executes as large a percentage of its population in any given year as any country in the world, oh, and oftentimes, just for good measure, it beheads those whom they execute, after they are dead. There is no democracy there. Not even a hint. If you are not royalty or super rich, you are scum. Its foreign laborers are treated pretty much like slaves; in fact, many of them are literally slaves.

It is a country where if you are a father (even if you are a muderer) you can take your kids and be absolutely certain that your wife will never get them back. If it didn't have oil, it would have nothing at all, but because it does have oil and because its present rulers are so greedy that despite their hatred of us, they are willing to sell us oil, we will not press them on their human rights record and we will not embarrass them before the international community. In fact, our Presidents will walk with them at Camp David, etc. as though they are just like us and even one of our Presidents will bow."

~Dan Harris, of the China Law Blog, in this long, long post on human rights in China and US hypocrisy.

What I've been working on

2009-06-09T06:31:00.007+08:00

Don't think I've just been fooling around these last couple of weeks!

It may be summer vacation for some, but I've actually started a new blog on China: RealClearChina.blogspot.com. My intent is to collect all the various Chinese-related news - politics, business, society - from all over the internet and place them in one easy-to-navigate site.

The website is modeled somewhat on one of my favorite websites for politics: RealClearPolitics.com. And now, with my Google ads in place, the challenge is to market my site and get a following.

If you know anyone interested in Chinese affairs, let them know please!

RealClearChina.blogpost.com. 多谢!

Remembering Tiananmen

2009-06-08T06:12:00.002+08:00

Damn!

2009-06-07T06:18:00.005+08:00

From the WSJ: Cold Cash, Not Cold Feet, Motivating Runaway Brides In China.

Quote of the day

2009-06-06T16:10:00.001+08:00

"I believe that democracy is about values before it is about voting. These values must be nurtured within society and integrated into the electoral process itself. We cannot offer international legitimacy for radical groups and then simply hope that elections and governance will take care of the rest. In fact, the capacity to influence radical groups can diminish significantly once they are viewed as indispensable coalition partners and are able to intimidate the electorate with the authority of the state behind them."

~Tzipi Livni, Democracy's Price of Admission, NYT Op-Ed 06/05/09

GM: Reinvention or ruin?

2009-06-06T10:29:00.003+08:00

The future of Russia

2009-06-05T13:06:00.004+08:00

I liked this article too much to pass up. From this week's Economist.

The money quote: "The risk for the Kremlin is not that it will lose control or collapse into internecine fighting—Mr Putin’s grip is too firm. Nor is it that Russia will go bust, as the Soviet Union almost did in the late 1980s and Boris Yeltsin’s Russia did in 1998. Foreign reserves of $380 billion mean there is enough money to pull through. But without legal, political and economic reform, Russia could well lapse into stagnation. It has squandered one oil-price boom. The price of doing nothing again would be to condemn Russia to the vagaries of the oil market. Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev must not make the same mistake twice."

Insights on Chinese culture

2009-06-05T10:15:00.005+08:00

On Confucianism
"The superior man is modest, even self-deprecating; he is moderate in habits, generous, and given to compromise and conciliation rather than direct confrontation. He has no need to parade his belongings or his accomplishments before others. He is driven by a well-developed sense of duty. He endeavors to make others comfortable and is solicitous of guests. He never loses his balance or his temper, and remains poised no matter what the situation. A man of integrity, he overlooks deficiencies in others and demonstrates honestly and propriety in all of his dealings."

On Emotional Privacy
"Keeping one's own emotions to oneself is not only a Chinese custom; it is considered a highly desirable attainment. The impassive expression Westerners observe when they look into the faces of many of their Chinese friends, which no doubt gave rise to the common use of the adjective 'inscrutable' in describing Chinese people, is something that is, in fact, socialized into Chinese children from birth."

~Scott D. Seligman, Chapter 4 of Chinese Business Etiquette

This is hilarious!

2009-06-05T05:45:00.002+08:00

Quote of the day

2009-06-04T16:04:00.002+08:00

"The answer of free societies, the old American dream, is that you may choose for yourself. Freedom, in the framework of a true democracy, allows individuals to weigh their own talents, skills and ambitions, choose their own trade-offs, and chart their own dreams. That gives rise to innovation, exuberance and prosperity of a kind that no government can plan or centrally command into existence."

~Claudia Rosett, What I Saw At Tiananmen, WSJ June 4th 2009

Job hunting begins...

2009-06-02T14:50:00.005+08:00

Time to brace myself for rejections. The economy sucks big-time right now and my guess is that there are probably at least ten applicants for every job I'm applying for.

Since my dream is still to get involved in a start-up, I don't want to get sucked into the corporate world. Therefore, I'm actually on the hunt for part-time stuff like helping with the ledger accounts in a small firm or SAT tutoring. Just enough to pay the bills so I can focus on the more important stuff.

Now what that "important stuff" actually entails is kind of up in the air right now. We are witnessing a remarkable period of business history in which numerous industries - cars, retail, publishing, technology - are undergoing such dramatic shifts and seizures that I still can't quite get a grip on what to do about it all. It's mind-boggling.

What I need is to find my niche, learn everything about it as far as I can, think creatively and trenchantly on how to exploit some value-added in that niche, and then just run with it. It will come, I'm sure. Good things come to those who are patient and can stick with it...

Quote of the day

2009-06-01T12:48:00.002+08:00

"Democracy is possible for the simple reason that it is the one form of government which evolves constantly to ensure that it is possible. It is a self-correcting system in a way that others are not."

~Bruce Gilley, Is Democracy Possible?, Journal of Democracy, January 2009.

And now the real education begins...

2009-05-30T12:53:00.002+08:00

Conservative resistance to the Supreme Court nomination

2009-05-29T17:17:00.008+08:00

As most of us are aware, President Obama has nominated Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the US Supreme Court.

Today, I just want to highlight the views of two of my favorite conservative thinkers on this matter: David Brooks of the New York Times, and Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post. Both have written thoughtful op-eds on the points of disagreement between the political left and right, as well as the judicial principles that are at stake in appointing Sotomayor.

As a student of American politics, my own views have been much enriched by the almost always interesting articles these two writers churn out on a regular basis. In a world where the mass media tends to have a liberal bias, it is refreshing to get such reasoned and well-articulated responses from the other side.

The Empathy Issue by David Brooks.

Sotomayor: Rebut, then Confirm by Charles Krauthammer.

Interesting stuff from Nicholas Kristof

2009-05-28T23:44:00.002+08:00

On his blog, Kristof writes about a common misconception of micro-finance, namely that "the most important element... isn't lending, but savings."

Excerpt:

"The book notes that many poor people must pay to save. That’s right — instead of receiving interest for depositing their savings with someone, they have to pay interest on their own money. One common scheme in West Africa, for example, charges an annual interest of 40 percent for accepting savings. If you struggle to save $100, a year later you have $60."

Yet another example of how the poor and powerless get screwed over in societies with poorly fleshed-out political and economic institutions.

Bring on the football!

2009-05-27T15:25:00.005+08:00

Some exciting football coming up. Barcelona vs Manchester United, the two best teams on Earth, battling for the Champions League trophy. Starring the two best players in the world, Ronoldo and Messi.

Let's hope it turns out to be a cracker.

Two interesting articles

2009-05-26T14:13:00.005+08:00

The first article is from Fortune Magazine on what goes on inside the mind of hedge fund virtuoso Ray Dalio. I really like how he works through problems and arrives at conclusions. Very consistent and systematic, and as I understand it, successful.

The second article is from the NYT on the ubiquitous roles for which the mobile phone is now used in South Korea. A partial list of phone functions includes alarm clock, weather forecast, metro card, internet, TV, school attendance recorder, TV remote control, and ATM. Not to mention making and taking calls.

This trend towards mobile computing and technological convergence is exciting, but also a bit troubling for me. Troubling in the sense that things are moving so quickly, it's hard to get a handle on where this is all heading, and what to do about it. Is it going to make our lives better? More productive? Happier?

Quote of the day

2009-05-26T14:07:00.004+08:00

"There is an unfortunate optical illusion - a variant on the Doppler effect - that besets all frauds. It's unfortunate, because it has the effect of exacerbating the pecuniary losses that fraud victims endure, by unfairly leaving them out, like many rape victims, irrationally ashamed of themselves. The Doppler principle we posit holds that as a victim approaches a swindler, he sees nothing but green lights. But as soon as he realizes that his money is gone, he spins around and beholds, as if by magic, bright red flags as far as the eye can see."

~Roger Parloff, from the article The Imposter, Fortune Magazine (April 13, 2009).

Languages of the world

2009-05-24T14:03:00.005+08:00

Graduation

2009-05-23T20:10:00.005+08:00

Senior Ball

2009-05-22T06:24:00.007+08:00