周瑜和諸葛亮的競爭,是三國中的個小插曲. 最後,周瑜長嘆,認輸了.

書中描述周瑜是個文武雙全的美男子. 他娶了美女小喬. 又是吳國軍方第一把. 也就是說,他是天之驕子,世界上該有的:名,利,外表,內涵,權勢,美妻,他都有了. 幹嘛還跟諸葛亮爭什麼爭呢? 因為”贏”的追求是個無底洞,永遠不會滿足的.

赤壁之戰,周瑜大勝. 但幾次他要殺諸葛亮都沒成. 徣完東風後,諸葛亮飄然而去. 周瑜知道這下不好搞了.

一氣周瑜是諸葛亮巧取南郡,稱周瑜鬥曹:”用計策，損兵馬，費錢糧＂他趁虛而入圖了個現成. 再氣周瑜是有名的”賠了夫人又折兵”. 用美人計不成,反賠了個孫權的妹妹孫尚香.最後,諸葛亮識破周瑜”假途滅虢”計,又大敗瑜於荊州.把周瑜氣到巴丘而亡. 成了三分天下.

周瑜如果誠心聯劉破曹,是有成功的機會的. 但他一心想先吃下劉備,壯大東吳後,再攻曹操. 這策略也不能說是錯了. 畢竟聯軍不如自己一國方便. 何況劉備羽翼未成,乘弱先吃也好. 不幸栽在諸葛亮手下,大計不成. “既生瑜,何生亮”,遺憾而亡.

當年北京一個個黃髮垂髫小女孩們,不但已嫁了一群,幾個還當媽了. 感嘆真的老了. 電郵恭賀這個,閒閒扯出了中國的剩女話題. 這詞指的是越來越多的過了適婚年齡的女性同胞. 諧音的聖女,暗指這些高齡女子,都不好”搞定”,男人望而卻步. 成了娛樂界的熱門談笑話題.

其實,中國不過是跟著個世界模式走罷了. 當然,中國的規模,會比別的”先進”國家大幾倍.

現代都市女性,高薪高學歷,學歷,資歷,工作能力不亞同齡男子. 女孩家心細周到,說寫溝通能力普遍較強.上台一般亮些. 近十年來,她們發現,除了要找個伴侶,她們並不需要個丈夫. 要同時做賢妻良母,還得不輸巾幗,不大容易. 許多決定一個人過日子,簡單些.

中國都市女性結婚的首要原因是”孩子得有個爸”. 西方國家連這都放棄了,她們不婚生子的比率越來越高. 男性的角色和種牛差不多.

剩女是個社會的抉擇. 女性逐漸遠離她們的傳統角色,男性沒有這轉變,所以要求對方不變. 現代社會在經濟上沒有任何要結婚的壓力或誘因. 雙方漸行漸遠,不但剩女多,光棍更多.

光棍和剩女的唯一差別是他們的生育力. 中國女性不願未婚生子. 她們得”找個歸宿”或犧牲母性. 可能既有家庭幸福,又有成功事業嗎? 剩女問題是要既主內又主外壓力下的副產品. 絕大部分的婦女,知道做不到,但不能抉擇,一拖幾年,悔恨光陰不再,就成了剩女了. 其實男性幾千年來早搞清楚了,這是極難事. 他們的解決方案是”討個好老婆顧家.” 只是這招對女流不管用.

奇怪. 曹操一世奸雄,才以少勝多,贏了袁紹. 回頭來大兵打劉備,孫權,卻又被他們少勝多打敗. 三國中,赤壁是最精彩的一段鬥智.

首先孔明”舌戰群雄”. 反面,曹操下個”檄文”,逼腦了孫權. 一來一回,促成孫劉聯盟.

第二是中了周瑜計,錯殺了蔡瑁,張允. 曹兵中沒了水戰人才. 這點是他準備不週,要打東吳,怎能沒水將呢? 沒帶一個來,也得練個出來啊.

第三是又中了周瑜的”打黃蓋”苦肉計,加上龐統的”連環計”把船綁在一起,墊下日後被火攻的種子. 這點倒不能怪曹操,冬天不該有東南風,東吳不該有火攻的可能.

所有的成敗,都是一連串的事件,一步步演出來的. 曹操連錯三步,但有十倍兵力. 應該還是穩操勝算的. 赤壁的最後決勝,在孔明的”借東風”. 小說裏寫成如鬼似神. 不論如何,這是決定的關鍵. 但是曹操再意料不到,他為什麼連提防都沒呢? 在江上要滅火應該不難,鐵環連鎖,也應該能解. 但兩步都沒準備.

一語道之,驕兵大意.

New York Times reported something that’s hardly a news: China now dominates world’s solar cell production. Geez, can someone name anything that China does not?

The sensation of the report is on the high-technology nature of the product. This is no clothing, toy, car parts, MP3 players, or cell phones that the US either do not care about or, by action, had no interest of trying to win. This is green technology. Something the Obama government emphasized and pour money into subsidizing. This industry is the innovation, the future, the jobs, the game the US wanted to win.

Why does Solyndra bankrupt and its Chinese counter-parts thrive? One reason quoted is that Chinese government gives the industry subsidy grants for companies to buy from China companies. I don’t know if Obama’s job bill included any such subsidy.

It also seemed to me that the US companies focused too much on the innovation part of the business and missed the rest of the business execution: budgeting, schedule, cost control, distribution, selling, etc. They focused a lot on the creation of great technologies, instead of trying to make money from such creation. They make something that is very cool, but ended up losing money in the process. Once in a long while, we have an Apple that makes cool and profitable products. Don’t forget that Steve Job’s NeXT was a commercial disaster and ended up only as a footnote in the computer history book.

Good old Chinese pragmatism. Can we put that in Obama’s job bill?

總有五六年了吧,有一天在北京逛書店,看到部”四大小說”評書(就是說書). 現在早忘了多少錢,反正不貴,買下來再說. 不久開始聽水滸,一回半小時,共百來回,有時聽聽,有時擱下,林沖宋江,從北京聽到美國,居然聽了三年多才聽完. 過癮,但也停了小半年才有過勁去聽下一本:三國. 這回聽的勤些,但也快兩年才聽到赤壁之戰.可是心裡納悶,一百一十五回快完了,難道講完赤壁就沒了嗎?

果然,關公義釋華容道後,就沒了. 就是最後一回. 太不爽了.

好在我剛好來了北京.上網一查,好小子,全書365回,那書店根本沒賣全.當當網有全集,88元. 當場(立馬)下單,下午送到兩盒子.共16張CD. 365個MP3檔.看來全了.

為甚麼商人要做這種事呢? 不就是幾張CD嗎?這麼便宜東西,還要惹人罵一陣子.嘆!

常山趙子龍,入千軍萬馬如無人之地. 殺到血染全身,精疲力盡,逃出重圍. 要不是張飛在長坂坡喝退曹兵,他一員虎將,也被蟻兵捉去了. 這仗,是為了救他”主公”劉備的兒子阿斗,後主劉禪. 這是中國的故有美德: 愚忠. “為人臣子”,必須聽話,絕對效忠不二. 如果”忠孝不能兩全”,那只有犧牲孝了. 孔子的倫理,”君臣”第一,”父子”第二.

從老闆的角度看,這太美了. 不論手下人多有能力,市場價多高. 他們一絕對不能”不忠”,也就是不能叛變. 他們還得絕對聽話,所有的能力,判斷力,都只是對外的. 到了老闆面前,每個都是白癡,只有老闆是對的.

而且他們都是”家臣”不是”員工”. 他們存在的目的是保護老闆個人,或家人,的利益. 而非公司或國家. 三國中,劉備是最爛的老闆,曹操,孫權比他強多了. 若非關張趙,及諸葛亮的愚忠,那可能成三國之勢?

忠,當然是個美德. 但不是”忠君”,而是忠於個理念. 美國是第一個把這觀念搞清楚的國家. 所有的政府員工,他們效忠的對象,是美國憲法,而不是任何組織或個人. 三國時期,根本還沒這觀念呢.

當然,趙雲有他的職責,其中之一,就是保護糜甘二夫人及少主.所以他是忠於他的職責. 劉備“故把親兒擲馬前” 換來趙雲的“雖肝腦涂地,不能報也.” 也是不錯的管理手段.

Remembered that I couldn’t post Chinese blogs after upgrading WordPress to 3.x?

Honestly, I did not really try very hard to solve that problem. I was a bit miffed at WordPress at breaking the backward compatibility. It was working and now it is not. Then again, as a software practitioner myself, breaking backward compatibility is what we software people try not to, but do everyday. Can’t cast the stone at WordPress since I am not without sin. Sigh…

Just a bit research yielded this site. The solution appears to be straight-forward. No need to install any plug-ins or what. To quote:

define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf-8′);
define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ‘gbk_chinese_ci’);
define(‘WPLANG’, ‘zh_CN’);

I honestly don’t know if the 2nd step is necessary. But it works now. Yeah.

繁简体都能使。

聽完過五關宰六將,真是過癮. 劉備三兄弟終於團圓,又得趙雲. 評書人,袁闊城,話頭一轉,說起曹操破袁紹.

官渡之戰是最精彩的一段,曹操以近十分之一的兵力,隔水對抗袁紹. 對壘多時後,他夜襲烏巢,把袁紹的糧燒了. 袁紹想稱機拿官渡,但不料曹操烏巢的兵大勝而回,反而首尾受敵. 結果十萬大兵,只剩800人退回黎陽. 這一戰,奠定了曹操的地位,也毀了袁紹.

小時看三國,只想諸葛亮打勝仗. 一面看一面氣,為什麼又輸了. 現在的角度不同了,官渡之戰的關鍵,是許攸倒戈,他有烏巢的資訊,曹操因此出兵夜襲. 而許攸倒戈,是因為袁紹沒有管理能力. 歷史雖以成敗論英雄,但是袁曹的人格及管理能力,在這官渡之戰呈現無疑.

從管理的角度看,官渡是雙方的”決定性時機”. 但袁紹以為可以用兵力致勝,而掉以輕心,留下了烏巢這弱點. 曹操要以少致勝,必然想出奇.袁紹低估了對方. 但曹操的膽識,必須佩服. 敢以十分之一兵力對敵,也有”執行能力”,信任許攸,打下烏巢. 這是得霸業的能力,不是運氣.

I have not figured out how to write blogs in Chinese after I upgraded WordPress version. If you know, please teach me. I am running WP 3.1.2, PHP5, MySQL 5.

That’s why all my Chinese blogs are garbled.

Stay tuned.

I am envious of Panda. They live such good lives.

(Pictures by Fred Zlotnick)

ChengDu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is essentially a zoo for only two species: Panda and Red Panda. I am, of course, saw many TV programs on this animal. But I did not realize how playful and, huh, contently lazy, they are. There were two cubs in a cage, they played with each other in a gentle way, rolling over each other, squeezing for toys or attention, and moving around casually. You just couldn’t hold back the smile watching them play.

One adult Panda came slowing toward us in a steady pace. Then, just like that, decided to lay down and take a quick nap. The crowd just burst into laughter. Then, obviously well rested, he proceeded to the destination: an area with a bunch of bamboo on the ground. Unexpectedly, as I thought all four-legged mammals would bow down to eat, he turned around and sat down. Human-like, he reached out and grab a bunch of bamboo, and started to garble those leaves like a kid would a chicken drumstick: holding it with a hand and never mind whatever dripping on the chest.

He was oblivious to those shutterbugs clicking and ate with such enjoyment that someone in the crowd said, “I am hungry.”

Done eating, he climbed up a platform nearby. He reached the top where there was a railing, put an arm over the railing, lied down, rest his head on that arm, and closed the eyes. “Awww…,” I want to snug up to him and take a nap.

Panda appeared to enjoy simple lives that all of us wish we could too: wake up, eat, nap, play around lazily, more naps, and repeat. Wouldn’t it be cool if we don’t need to worry all those complexity?

Oh, yes, I would have bamboo leaves for dinner please.