傳聞李開復的文章,真是洛陽紙貴.網上流傳不止.Google一下,不難找到轉載. 年輕的被說的心悸,過來人看得心有戚戚焉.

同樣的文章,古今中外,歷史上有了幾千版了.李開復的威力,在他的踏實,明確.(但李本人說這文章不是他寫的.) 幾句:

如果你20歲以後所花的每一分錢還都是伸手向父母親人要來的，那你的滿身名牌就只能襯托出你的無恥.

不要與浪子，文藝青年交往，別和沒心沒肺的人在一起，別和沒有正當職業混日子的人在一起.

說穿了,要務實獨立,不要夢幻痛苦,也別想一步登天.

但真想想,沒有幾個天才20歲就念完書了.基本的大學文憑要22歲.這一代近30才走出校園的,比比皆是.我大慨可以接受把他寫的加個10歲.三十以前,人追求的是應該是理想及愛情.在那追求的過程中,年輕人走過那世世代代都走過的路,才站立成人.沒有那段夢幻痛苦,怎麼破繭成蝶?

人的成長歷程,一定有一段是在找自己.找到後,才可能走下一步.過來人看到下一代的歷程會心疼,”能不能聽話,別去找了,你就在這兒.” 很不幸,每一代都必須過這關.

每一代,都有一群過不了這關. 那就是被時代淘汰掉的一群. 如果自己的孩子在那群裏,當然心疼. 看到明明有天分的被淘汰,也心疼. 那些孩子,只要聽話,就能好好的,多可惜.

其實,不聽話的年輕人,當然淘汰率高.但把人類推到新高的偉人,也是年輕時不聽話的那群.

順其自然吧!

The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World Tim Harford February 10, 2009 978-0812977875

Free market will drive out bigotry, since prejudice is inferior and will eventually lose to the competition. This is, however, a long-term view. For a quick bet, it is statistically better to hire from a historically advantaged group, since the chances of getting a good talent is higher. Yes, this is a form of discrimination, since the decision is not based on individual merit — college grads are not necessarily smarter, men are not always stronger, young is not always more energetic — but statistically they are and the bet frequently pays off. The discrimination is economically rational.

At the same time, human beings strongly like to “belong.” We need to have relatives, friends, and social networks that are rich and supporting. This innate desire pushes us to “fit in” — trying to conform to a norm. For some, this desire drags those youngsters into gang, violence, drugs, teen pregnancy, or simply not academically outstanding. Those who tried to thrive in school became lonely or, worse, shunned from the peer group.

Tim Hartford explained, as above, that discrimination is rational. He was not defending the behavior, but suggested that the reversal requires much stronger incentives. It is depressing to be convinced that discrimination actually pays. It is also politically wrong to state so. I cannot imagine the hate mail he gets from publishing this book.

Tim also explained that politics is about minority interest, not the other way around. For a politician to be elected, he or she must win votes that matter. It pays to spread costs to a large population to reward a smaller group that swing the outcome of an election. All politicians have campaigned to tax the largest population to benefit a concentrated small group of people that matter to his or her election. None of them would champion the real worthy causes, since they won’t concentrate the benefits to the minority that win elections. There will be little hope for global warming, world economy, world peace, etc.

Yep, depressing.

The logo said, “Hand Forged Doughnuts” with a picture of a blacksmith hitting an anvil. Hmm…

A boy sat down next to us. His legs dangled happily, too short for the chair. His cute eyes trained on his dad who eventually came with a glazed one with colorful sprinkles all over the top. The boy held up the doughnut and buried his head into it. A while later, he reached for the milk and smiled at his dad. A few more bites and he handed his dad the half-eaten doughnut. He then put his hands to the face, inhaled, and gave a smile that was so satisfying. Daddy put the doughnut in a bag. They walked out of the door hand-in-hand.

Does it get better than this?

At 9am of this drizzling Saturday (this is Seattle), there were more than a dozen people waiting in line to get their doughnut fix. I bit into my Bavarian Chocolate Filled one and understood. The dough makes the difference. It was light yet with the right texture. The dough must balance the sweetness. It needs to give just enough substance so that it is a doughnut, instead of a piece of cake, bread, or just sugar.

Of course the coffee must be right too. This is Seattle so that’s a safe bet. It was strong and flavorful. With my companion, this makes it a near perfect breakfast.

Warm Strangers Vienna Teng

I like to be pleasantly surprised. After two CDs, I thought that would be the end of my Vienna Teng collection. I liked her music, at the same level of Charlotte Church’s first two CDs. Two are enough for my library. After all, I have more music than the time of the day.

Then, through Kid’s connection, I got her Warm Strangers album. In this CD, she moved up from a niche voice singer to a big league star. Her other two CDs were good, but couldn’t hold my attention long enough. After several songs, I would start to press the skip button, hoping to find something that was not a re-mix of the same ingredients. This one, however, every songs was distinctively her and has lasting power. I could savor each of them and would try to play them again.

ITunes starred six out of the entire 12 songs. That’s impressive. The bonus track, a Taiwan folk song, was a treat. Her Mandarin voice was sweet and authentic. I can imagine a tour in Taiwan and China entirely in Chinese songs. Imagine her parents’ proud expressions.

Yes, I knew this is her second CD and I actually had her third, Dreaming Through Noise before this one.

In the haunting song, Where Have All The Flowers Gone by Peter, Paul, and Mary. One of the verses wonder where have all the young girls gone. Of course, the song is about anti-war and the girls were mourning their dead boy friends. It appears that many Chinese young men, and their Indian counter-parts will soon wonder where to find eligible brides in the world.

The Economist reported that China will have a surplus of eligible bachelors as many as the entire Germany’s population! India, South Korea, Taiwan, and several mid-eastern countries are heading the same imbalance. This article reminded me the short-fiction Goddess, by Linda Nagata, in which future Indian elders routinely implant a gender selector in young woman’s wombs — have a boy or have no child what-so-ever. Modern Chinese and Indians would depend on the skills of the ultrasonic technicians for such decisions.

A surprise consequence is the size of the dowry. As eligible maids become less available, they command higher dowry or whatever forms of payment from the groom’s side. Parents of young boys need to save more, since wealth is part of the bidding to win a bride.

The society will fix this problem by itself. The surplus men will be denied opportunity to have a traditional family. They will share a wife with someone else, import a bride from outside, or stay single. The society will gain its gender balance in one or two generations no matter what. The question is really how violent the process will be — unwed young male is the source of most mayhem in the world.

Maybe the song is hinting a solution after all? Where have all the young men gone? Gone to graveyard everyone. Oh when will they ever learn?

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner 978-0060889579

Do Indian men really have smaller penises? Can you imagine the tease toward our brown friends?

They over-hyped the book dead. All interesting concepts were ruined by all those blogs, media coverage, and party talks. It read like a long re-run. Many meant-to-be startling or new concepts have become old and stale by the time I read them.

Other than that, the chapters were unorganized. Steven and Stephen jumped from one concept to another with very weak linkages. By the time I reached the end of the chapter, I needed to think back the original concept and frequently found the trace-back too winding. The biggest let-down was their approach. Behavior economists should examine data and found insights that explain the world. Instead, the book read like a 300-page news magazine. The articles were interesting, just not very social economical.

The chapter on geoengineering was simply ideas, with good scientific theories behind them. That is disappointing, since I expected experiments or prototypes. Nathan Myhrvold is a billionair and his venture is well-funded. Why are those ideas not backed by solid proofs?

The chapter on “cheap and simple” fixes felt just naive. There are almost insurmountable problems. Historical examples of simple solutions do not guarantee, what-so-ever, that the next one will just emerge miraculously. Most of those solutions took Herculean efforts, rare ingenuity and talents, and solid funding. If we all just sit and wait, the miracle will never come.

They went to length to refute the existence of altruism. Every good Samaritan did good for some incentives, they claimed. No one is completely altruistic, everyone does it for themselves, at least partially. Altruism is an intention and can never be proven one way or the other, with or without the existence of any incentive. Philosophically, however, what good is for humanity to prove that altruism does not exist?

The epilogue, on monkeys, was extremely entertaining. I was laughing out loud. Good closing.

開始聽三國，總共上百回．有空聽聽，也得年把才聽的完．

曹操聚了各路諸侯，以袁紹為首伐董卓，第一個就碰到華雄．他把袁軍殺的一榻糊塗．終於關羽以馬弓手的低職，一刀取了華雄的首級，揚名立萬．

如果水滸講的是政府腐敗，三國就是政治權謀的黑暗了．曹操有名的”寧教我負天下人，休教天下人負我”． 袁術怕孫監搶功，不發糧草．孫監因此敗陣，差點丟了腦袋．三國的軍事政治鬥爭，於此舖開．

靈劍 鄭丰 978-986-6712-74-6

靈劍是天關雙俠的前集.鄭丰被捧成”女版金庸”.神雕三部是永遠的經典,她的武俠也比的上金庸的二級作品了.靈劍的情節誨暗悽慘,鄭丰兩集都把虎嘯山莊安排的很不幸.其實”醫俠”是個很有詩意的想法,凌霄也有英雄的特質,典型武俠他不左擁右抱,稱霸武林,也至少能贏得美人歸.但鄭丰兩本都給他悲劇黑暗,這是她對武俠的突破嗎?我讀了40年武俠,還不大習慣離開那模式呢.

傳統的武功已經是超能了,鄭丰還加上了靈能及巫毒.天關裏,主角的武功平常(他是百花掌門,下毒的).這部有改善,但被天關中傳頌的大決戰,卻只有一點篇幅帶過.筆墨放在了燕龍偉大的犧牲上.可惜那過程太”成人”,鄭丰不能寫的露骨.遺憾.

武俠就是中國的007,不論如何的公式化,讀者都要能忘了這現實,看完了得不能自及的幻想自己是那英雄主角.天關還行,靈劍看完還真有點失落,沒那期待的滿足感.

鄭丰有個部落格.可以去給她加點人氣.

What the Dog Saw Malcolm Gladwell ISBN: 978-0316075848

This is Malcolm’s best book.

I must be a Malcolm fan, having read every books he published so far. Before this one, the best was still the Tipping Point. I read others like I read Harry Potter #4 to #7: probably wouldn’t had I not read #1 to #3 already. Sequel power.

I made a mental note that this be my last Malcolm Gladwell when I picked up What the Dog Saw. The only other non-fiction writer that I have the complete collection was Michael Porter. Last chance, Gladwell. I delayed Black Swan for you. You’d better be brilliant for this one.

I was a turned off when I have read the preface. What?! He just collected his past shorter works into a book? That’s it?! He was milking me (like a cash cow). He did not work for this book. He was a paid writer for the New Yorker and now was re-selling his past works.

I read for entertainment that has different forms: positive emotional stimulus, intellectual enhancements through well presented facts, or deeper understanding of a worthy cause. This is why my favorite genre is SciFi. The good ones have all three.

Since each chapter in the book was not related and not too long, I paused whenever I finished one. It is a good bed-time book: one chapter then turn off the light. After the first two, I told Daughter, “Gladwell was just showing off his writing skills.” “That’s good,” she replied. “I like his style.” I did too.

Then they got better. I would have forgotten all about his writing skills and hooked by his stories that aimed to shed a new light into an old or familiar social issue. Malcolm was effective in moving, changing, or at least entertaining people. I felt myself changed, maybe not much, but perceivable, after reading his works. That’s exciting, I wanted to talk about what I read in dinner parties and expect others to get excited too.

OK, Malcolm, you just earned my money for your next book.

This generation that defined American’s tastes and styles is now old. Unfortunately, the new ones, call them X, Y, post-80, whatever, has not taken over the most important reign: money. No wonder entertainment industries still try to wring the last billions out of us, the baby boomers.

Up in the Air, a movie by George Clooney, tells the story of a man who travels over 320 days a year, for over 10 years. The poignant part of the movie was when he explained how all the happy memories are with people and he had none. This is like Lost in Translation: about the sadness of a lonely old man.

Several years ago, I glanced, from the doorway, into that lifestyle. Those membership status were earned with the most precious commodity of all: part of the life. Those black, silver, gold membership cards are badges of hardwork and achievements. The flip side of those glamorous perks — priority queues, preferential treatments, discounts, etc. — is a sad life-style that is unhealthy, exhausting, and lonely.

It’s Complicated was wonderfully written, rich, and satisfying. Meryl Streep certainly was a charming old woman. Unlike Julie and Julia, she was giggling and easily-overwhelmed in this one like a hormone-infused teenager, only in her 50s. It is officially a chick-flick when the only nude scene was Alec Baldwin’s. There were several LOL scenes that had everyone thumping their feet or slapping their thighs. The kids are also wonderfully played, particularly the future brother-in-law. Over-all, this movie was quite enjoyable.

I never quite understood the toll of a divorce; every one of my divorced friends exhibited its weight. I do see its effects on children. The movie set a good guideline: be honest with them. Kids need to deal with the divorce like their parents. Don’t make it worse.

Maybe I should check out options for my sagging eye lids too?