Hello World(s) — From Code to Culture: A 10 Year Celebration of Java Technology Sun Microsystems Inc. ISBN: 0-13-188867-6

Kid picked from my pile from weekend’s garage clean-up project and blogged about it. It jerked back so much memory, bitter and sweet. I brought this book to China in 2005 and bragged about my ownership of it to so many. I would flip to pages and told stories like a veteran on his glorious battles in the long past.

I left Sun with regret. I tried hard to make it a great company, then I gave up and left. I watched, on the side line, wishing that I was wrong leaving it. It is somehow more satisfying to miss the would-have turn-around. I would have been happy for friends; they would have teased me for missing out; that would have been cool.

I now have less friends there, found myself caring less, and feeling more bitter. Sun seems determined not to capture opportunities, all too risky or difficult.

I was right. That does not feel good.

In the formative years of my managerial career, I ate books to facilate growth. It became a habit. Later, I would pick up books from airports or lists from New York Times or Wall Street Journal. For years, managerial books are the only non-fiction I read.

Two books, I tried to memorize them: I-Jing and SunTzu.

I-Jing, in its entirety, has less than 7,000 words. SunTzu is just a bit longer, less than 8,000 words. Both can be printed on 8 pages of letter-size, in succinct Chinese, of course. English is voluminous.

I-Jing explains life with 64 cases. When I have a moment to reflect my life, I pick a random case and frequently fell into a trance thinking the relavance to whatever happening to myself at the time.

SunTzu offers 13 strategic considerations on how to win a war, any war. To me, these two books form the foundation of life. I-Jing gives me insight on goals and SunTzu offers the strategies to obtain them. I read many on similar topics, none topped these two. Both books were written thousands years ago and are part of the Chinese heritageous wisdom. The translation works are all painful to read, and, again, so voluminous.

Thank you, Darrin, for the classically bound copy and the humourous Stanley Bing version.

According to The Economist, Taiwan forecast 2009 GDP to shrink by 3.5%. Across the strait, China predicted a much reduced growth of 6%, highest on the chart, seconded by India’s 5%.

The media has been fixated on the trial of Mr. CHEN Shui-Bian: the former president indicted for corruption, massive embezzlement, and money laundering. He foolhardily refused to capitalize on China’s amazing growth during his 8 years of presidency. Alas, Taiwan is arguably best positioned: it has sufficient capital, advanced industrial managerial talents, the same language and heritage, and the memory of how to best manufacture in the world.

The new president, Mr. MA Ying-Jeou, won the election largely on the economic platform. He made good with one of his campaign promises to open the island for direct flights to major China cities: Beijing, Shanghai, ShenZhen, etc. He also opened Taiwan for China tourists and other activities. Those measures should help, but matter little to the GDP.

Many optimists hope for a transformation, from an export- to service-based economy. Taiwan has long lost its labor costs competitiveness. It wishes to become the equivalent of silicon valley, only larger, that offers diversified design expertise: electronics, industry design, pharmaceutical, life-science, or even software. “We have talents and the resolute,” claimed these hopeful people.

Japan and Singapore were hopeful too. Vietnam and parts of China are aiming for the same goals. Good old original silicon valley is holding on to the reign real tight. Talents and will power are not enough to achieve the goal. There must be long-term programs, focused funding, and a few good people at the top driving it.

The island is still mired in internal politics, like Japan. Guess it is not surprising that Japan is also contracting by 3.2%.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Stephen King ISBN-13: 978-0743455961 Publisher: Pocket (July 1, 2002)

I was a big fan: Salem’s Lot, Cujo, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Tommy Knockers, Pet Sematary, The Shining. Then I stopped reading Stephen King. Somehow, Dreamcatcher was not scary or suspenseful. From a Buick 8 was my last Stephen King. I owned two Buicks and the title hooked me. When I put it down, I sighed. Either he has become too wealthy or I am now old and calloused. I have definitively grew out of Stephen King. In fact, I have read less and less fictions over the year. So it is probably me.

Claire reminded me about this book. It has been on my list for the longest. I picked it up years ago, read the preface, and did not bite. I wanted to write, but life placed it at a lower priority. I read Strunk and White all the time, but a book on fiction writing can wait. Then Claire started her book, quoting Stephen King all the time.

Stephen King was practical. If you want to write professionally, you need to work hard for it. For beginners, that this book aimed for, it means reading as much as writing. I am glad that he revered Strunk and White.

I remembered my youth days when I wrote short stories and submitted them to newspapers and magazines. My collection of rejection slips are long buried. Stephen King gave me back that aspiration. Well, it never hurts to get a bit more alive. Right?

The economy is bad. Your company considers a reduction-in-force (RIF). Geographically, how to do it?

Sort sale regions by anticipated rebound speed. Infra-structure and employees spin up slowly. If a company’s capacity is not ready, it will miss the rebound, a one-time chance.

Middle managers instinctively protect home-base and therefore RIF evenly, like peanut-butter. The economy, however, never recovered evenly. Peanut-buttered previously, the company is ill prepared for the faster regions and wastes capacity elsewhere. Darwinian result ensues; wrong decision leads to non-competitiveness.

If your company did it wrong, seek employment elsewhere. You will have to in several years.

别急着找工！东家把你给裁了，依法有遣散费，总有几个月的钱。先定下心，想想。谋定而后动。

想不想创业?农牧,医疗,教育.这三块大有前途.你有没有个独到的先机(每个人都有,要去想)．

不知道？没关系．够年轻的话，考虑去念个书．国外的最好，国内的也行．

还是要找活？可以。简历写的好吗？这事要花点时间，少则4小时，多则一两天。不要第一个offer就收，想好自己要做什么，老板如何，能学到什么?钱是小，前途是大。

Good luck.

A Beijing friend visited us yesterday. She brought two bags of roasted chestnuts. We celebrated.

Traditionally, chestnuts are roasted in a bed of hot sands, coarse, more like fine gravels. Vendors mix sugar and sands into a roasting pan and heat it up lowly. For the whole day, they fold the sands/chestnut with a wooden spatula. The warmth and the aroma, a bit burnt sugar and lots of chestnut fragrance, will draw a crowd. They will wait patiently for the vendor to declare the batch ready. Then the next batch starts.

The arts are in the temperature control, proportion of the sugar, and, of course, the selection of the chestnuts. At a glance, the concoction is similar to coffee roasting: a big bowl of black substance flowing circularly and continuously over heat and radiating irresistible aroma.

QiuLiXiang (秋栗香) has perfected this art. This street corner vendor managed to maintain at least half-an-hour’s queue during its entire business day pretty much everyday. Most people buy several bags, US$1.50 for 500 grams, enough as a meal. Once in a while, someone will take 20 bags, load them into a car, and disappeared into the busy street.

We attacked those two bags with concentration and ferocity. Quickly, fingers get sticky from the sweet lightly coated on the shells, nostrils filled with the roast aroma, and mouths filled to the point that conversation stopped. Hot tea, Chinese, goes well with them.

If you are in Beijing, go to 地安门西大街2号. Remember to bring a company, the wait can be long.

Taiwan, that small island of 22 million people, issued about US$100 for every citizens: man, woman, child, baby. If you exist on the government’s census record (that is kept pretty much up-to-date all the time), you get $100.

Not cash, though. It is a government issued coupon with an expiration date. It is a legal tender for anything retail: foods, clothes, appliance, services, etc. Banks do not accept them for deposit. The merchants cancel them and redeem cash from the government.

Simply put, Taiwan government added $2.5 billions money to the circulation and guaranteed that they will come back quickly.

The retailers fought for coupon business with massive advertisements and deep discounts. All of the sudden, malls, stores, and restaurants are packed with customers. Great discounts, free money, and expiration date formed an effective stimulus for consumption. Citizens are patriotic and leaned unproportionally to local brands. Government projected the GDP to increased by 0.64% with this stimulus package.

That was immediate, short-term, and effective. It was well calculated and planned. There is no risk of corruption or waste. Well done, Taiwan.

“Sin-Yaw, I won the lottery!” She sat down across my desk. “I had a 2nd on my house and went refinancing for a lower rate. The bank said it was too risky and just wrote it off.”

“YOU? Got the bail-out money?” I asked.

“YEESS.” She waltzed out of my office and left me thinking of this stimulus package.

If someone borrowed money and use it wisely, the debt would generate future income that pays back the loan and more. Otherwise, the borrower simply ends up poorer. This is the golden rule. No getting around it.

If the government borrows money, John Maynard Keynes said it is different. If the citizens spend them away, the consumption whirl into virtuous cycle and multiply the wealth many times over. Don’t buy imports, however, since then the money then becomes part of their virtuous cycle and the citizens just ended up poorer.

The government can also invest on infra-structure that boosts everyone’s productivity. Extra productivity means more wealth to pay back those debts. The pitfalls are those wasteful projects, such as the infamous bridge to nowhere, that do not really improve productivity.

If neither happens, the debts translate into inflation: more money and same productivity equal higher prices. Inflation discourages savings, punishes the most vulnerable, and ends up impoverishing everyone. Inflation also happens in the future. The next generation pays, with no choice and much bitterness. Or they can borrow against their offspring and thus enter the vicious cycle.

Only two would lend money to our government: yourselves or foreigners. Which one will forgive the debts? If the USA is bailing out its society, who bails out the USA? I guess it is OK anyway. Our kids will figure it out.