Is recycling paper really more ecological? To recycle paper, used paper must go through some pretty intensive chemical processes that pollute heavily. In the meantime, people would plant less trees since demand decreases. Maybe the total number of trees would decrease if we recycle paper aggressively? Between the choices of planting trees, cutting down, and make them into new paper; versus not planting trees and recycle used paper, which one is better for the planet?

I heard that the majority of mink coats used fur harvested from farm minks that would have lived much more comfortable lives than their wild counter parts. If people stop buying mink coats, world mink population will decrease. I read that animal activists broke into a fur farm and released thousands of mink into the wild. Would those freed mink live longer or better?

By the way, if wearing mink coat is wrong, why are leather shoes OK?

Chinese use so, so many disposable chopsticks that trees and bamboos are planted just to make them. In a true sense, those trees and bamboos are farmed and no different than the vegetables and rice that people eat. They are natural, sustainable, and usually organic (it is too expensive not to be). The production process harmed no lives and does not pollute. What’s really wrong using them?

I get that waste is always wrong. It is not economical and usually not ecological. Other than that, was it scientifically established that Green is really better for Earth?

Actually, a geologist once told me, “Earth really does not care. Everything came from Earth and will return to her. Earth was here before Homo Sapiens, and will still be here long after.” So, it is not really saving Earth. Isn’t it?

Clayton Christensen’s book, in 2003, made the word disruptor into every managers’ vocabulary. Innovator’s Dilemma depicted the inability of a successful company to escape its own trap. The very things that made it successful are exactly the ones that will fail it. Since the company will be so well tuned to sustain its successful trajectory, all rational decisions and on-going optimizations will lead to its rigidity and eventual demise. That book gave thousands of smaller companies hope to win over the larger competitors: all they need to come up is a disruptor.

Honestly, for a couple of years, if you don’t utter the words disruption, disruptor, or disruptive technologies in an executive presentation, it is as if you picked the wrong dress code.

This is the, less popular, companion book. Many concepts are the same, but this one gave more details on how to attack with or defend against disruptions.

To summarize, Mr. Christensen presented two disruptive approaches:

• When the current product or technology have over-served the customers, the value shifts to the component suppliers and the disruption will be the integrators of modular components. Think how Dell, Intel, and Microsoft disrupted IBM and DEC.
• There are customers who cannot afford the standard products or technologies. In that case, an inferior offering can capture those non-consumers whose only other option is not having anything at all. This kind of disruption will gradually eat up the current leaders. Think Sony beating out vacuum tube stereo manufacturers.

I found the definition of capability interesting. Mr. Christensen defined it with three elements: resources, processes, and values. He observed that different companies have varied difficulty changing when their capability have different mixes.

At the end, I was less inspired than his first book. It is still a good refresher and thought provoker.

Wall Street Journal’s provocatively titled article stirred up such a storm. I got several direct emails and numerous forwards, one of them a comment from Melanie on my blog.

Most of my American friends asked, “Is it true? Did you bring up your kids that way?” For that, I forwarded the piece to my kids, “Did we?” Politely and diplomatically, they forwarded me other Chinese kids’ comments. So we have three sides on on this topic: American parents, Chinese parents, and Chinese kids. It is probably fair to say this is a raw subject that brings up intense emotions from all three sides.

If you are in a game of fierce competition and the outcome requires decades of preparation, what kind of coach do you want? One that you would hate for pushing you to the brink of collapse, or the one that becomes your friend? Well, it depends on how much you care about winning or losing.

It is with amusement that I read the comments from kids’ point of view. Many of them are highly successful yet bitter that they are nothing but trophy kids. They implied that their parents sacrificed their well-being for the trophy status, or, given a choice, they would rather not have those material successes.

But the decision is up to the coaches, not kids. Most Chinese parents do not expect their kids to like those decisions, but knew that they would understand.

Kids would face the same decision if they become parents. It does not matter how they will choose, they will understand the gravity of the choice. And that’s enough for me. Just wait.

Where are the mysteries of wines? When I swirled it in the glass, held up the glass against the light, sip and tasted it. I didn’t really think about them. I have a general understanding on how wines are made, but, honestly, so are cattle are slaughtered or cakes are baked. I have no desire to be too involved with the production of any of them.

Then I came to this unique winery at a suburb of Phoenix, in a strip mall in the city of Tempe. There are no agricultural farm like building, rolling grapevines, rows of barrels in a dark and cool cave, or hours of driving through natural peace. It is a store next to supermarket and beauty supply. It is the only winery in Phoenix.

The owner imports grape juices, crushed and filtered, from Oregon or California in sealed plastic bags. She then mixes in other ingredients, like oak chips, into six-gallon jars. The jars sit on metal wire shelves for three to 12 months and the wine is considered made. She then bottle, label, cork, and sleeve them up, about 14 bottles, for about less than $300.

All of those, plus catered foods and light entertainment, are available from this so-called winery where wine making can be a party activities for amateurs like myself. What’s more fun than coming home with a bottle that you made yourself?

Except that they don’t taste that great. Guess either there are more mysteries to be unlocked, or those grapevines, barrels, and remote locations actually make a difference to the taste. Given the choice of making bad wines myself or buying good wines from a store, I would make the same choice as in beef and cakes.

The story began when she was 15. At that time, she has been bed ridden for six years. Summers were scorching hot and winters bitterly cold. The parents cannot afford the $1,500 operation that will close the hole in her belly. When she turned, part of her intestines would fall out from that hole. It was painful, infectious, and could grind the spirit of anyone, let alone a little girl.

When the story broke, the society and community opened their hearts and wallets. The hospital donated their services and the girl got the wish of her life. Too late. The hole has deteriorated beyond repair. She went home and soon died, of hopelessness.

The TV show a bone-thin girl that smiled sweetly and quietly. She stared with soulful eyes that brought tears to our eyes. We would have funded the whole operation on the spot. That program was aired several years ago, in China. It was about health-care reform.

By and large, China’s medical system is fee-for-services. Just about the first thing you do entering a hospital or clinic is settling your payments. You don’t see any doctor or receive any care before that. Rich people get first-class services, poor waited in the smelly hallways. Poor people die, rich live long and healthy. When I talked about the medical philosophy and laws in the US, that hospitals will treat people first and talk money later. They were flabbergasted. “You mean. The doctors knew that they may not get paid?” “Yes,” I replied. “The government will take care of it.”

This state of Arizona sure has taken some unusal and unpopular stances. Facing a $1 billion budget deficit, it decided to stop paying for several types of organ transplant, in addition to many other medical coverage reductions. If you cannot afford it, you don’t get organ transplant. Two already died and 97 may follow.

When we watched that TV program, we thought that Chinese girl would have lived a happy and healthy life had she were born in America. Her ailment would have been taken care of within weeks, if not days. She wouldn’t have suffered six years and died at the end. We would have seen a pair of innocent and naughty eyes, not ones from a tortured soul.

Only if she were born not in Arizona.

A little more than a year ago, I said no to Kindle. At that time, I have a stack of books next to my bed. I wasn’t going to switch before finishing them. Many things changed in this industry this past year.

iPad disrupted the whole publishing industry and eReader business. It forced Amazon to raise eBook prices! It also forced Barnes and Noble, Border, Sony, and many more beefed up their offerings. Amazon reduced Kindle’s price and introduce the 3rd generation. On my many business trips, my age (sigh) exacerbated two problems with books.

On a airplane seat, I read with some difficulty. The dim or poorly aimed lights do not help my aging eyesight. I would sit uncomfortably to read. Secondly, the desire to travel lighter forced me to make hard choices to accommodate either the luggage space or the weight imposed on my shoulders.

This new Kindle is slightly bigger than a paperback and about half-an-inch thick. It weighs enough to feel the substance, but not too much to tax the holding hand. Unlike book, I don’t need to prop the pages open (I like reading with only one hand, twisting and extending my fingers to hold the open book.) Flipping the page is deftly done with one of my knuckles clicking a big button the side. (I practiced and experiment the best way to hold it.) The dictionary is built-in, so I don’t need to put the book down, fetch the dictionary, and come back to it. (I do that a lot.) The bookmark, highlight, and annotation are easy to use. I don’t need my usual pencil anymore and the notes are now legible.

Since now all books are the same font size, I picked one that is easy to my eyes. The reading surface is flat and smaller to find the light. The contrast is usually no worse, if better, than print. (I tried reading from my iPod Touch, it is really too small a surface. I have not read extensively on an iPad yet.)

Kindle is great as a single purpose device. It does not email, browse, play games, or even display in color. Whatever you fancy, there is no app for that. It does one thing: displaying text for books or other things sold from Amazon.com.

And it is $139. I am willing to experiment with that amount of money.