Information overload

Imaging a world where your thoughts, what you see and what you feel is broadcast to the whole world. Where you hear and feel the fishes thought about you, EAT.... That is the basic premise of the chaos walking trilogy by Patrick Ness. It was a good read, but it is not a book review per se, but what it meant to cope with information overload.

Too much information is Noise (that is what the immigrant from the Old world call it), where the effort require to filter the true and the false, and reality and fantasy is enough to drive people mad. When the first batch of colonist reach the new world, many are driven mad by the flow of information. The two extremes of how to cope with such information is to either embrace it (like Ben in the series) or reject it (like the mayor).

What kind of parallel can we see in our world? The Internet is overflowing with information, truth, half-truth and outright lies. People who are quiet and introvert are spilling their guts on blogs and tweet. People who jump on the first piece of news and spread it without even bother to think about the authenticity. People who opinion are the sum of the collective noise they are immerse in. People who constructs mis-informations to bury their true intend.

To not to connect to the flow of information is to deny one a huge asset, however to filter the noise required a strong values within a person. The more selfless one is in the the sea of information, the more self assertive one need to be.


The New World Prequel
The Knife of Never Letting Go: Chaos Walking: Book One
The Ask and the Answer: Chaos Walking: Book Two
Monsters of Men: Chaos Walking: Book Three

Letting go

One day I am asked on how to forget about a past, I am at a lost. I remember something about about how to deal with a past that we may not like. A bit of google turn up the phrase that I am looking for,

 面对它、接受它、处理它、放下它 (圣严法师 )

Although proposed by a Zen monk, it encompass the four actions that will allows us to cope with anything. The key thing here is action. The situation will not change if there is no action. A lot of people want to deal with the past yet are no willing to put in to action, how would the situation change?

The four actions are:

1. Face it - Look at the issue and acknowledge that it existed. The toughest step in problem solving is identify the  problem. Many a time however, we conveniently forget about the issue and allows it to hit us back at the worst possible moment.

2. Accept it - Accept that the issue affect you, that you need to do something about, that it will not go away by you sheer force of will. Accepting is to come to term with. Rejecting an issue will not solve the problem.

3. Deal with it - Now that the issue is acknowledge and accepted, you need to deal with it with all your life experience and ingenuity. Is there a absolutely correct way? No. But it should be a way that will allows the fourth step.

4. Let it go - Letting go is not about forgetting, or trade something for something. It is about treating the issue as something that happen, but has being acknowledged, and accepted and completely dealt with, no other attachment except experience gain, friendship strengthen, family bonded etc. Removing all the negative association that tied us to it.

http://baike.baidu.com/view/366511.htm

To my Grand Uncle

Yesterday got a call from my cousin telling me that my Grand Uncle (舅公) had pass away. It is amazing that while me and my mother is increasingly distance ourself from the extended family, my two lady cousins (one on my mom side and one on my father side) are the one that is keeping the connection.

While my Grandmom is still alive, he will at least visit his elder sister once a year. And more often when we are still living in the cross street old house. Loud and macho, liquor never far, all his hair combed back James Dean style with so much hair cream that it is glossy and shiny. My mother on the way back home from the wake, in the rare emotional moment, reveal that on the night of his marriage, my grandmom was crying all night because he is almost a son as much as a brother to her (grandmom lose a couple of son, miscarriage and early death).

Goodbye, Grand Uncle. I will miss you. And although my mom wouldn't admit, I sure she does too.

On Mortality

Over the weekend, one of my wife colleague pass away  in/after a soccer match. He is all of 42 years old. My sincere condolences to the family. In the not too distance past, when the median age of man is 20 plus and a common cold can kill you, to die at 42 would be decent and would be a grand old age. But in this age and time, when career usually start after twenty, 42 is consider the peak of one's life. With more then ten years of experience under the belt and another ten years of senior management role to come.

Such is the unpredicability of life, one minute you are well and kicking and the next you are six feet under. As always, an incident such as this provoke thinking of one's own mortality. I am of the same age group, obese and never heathy in diet. Lucky I am not too involved in sport, so I do not think I would die on a run-track but more on a dining table, haha.

There are places that we want to go but never get to go, things we like to do but never get to do and people that we like to say "I Love You" but never get to say it. There is this idea of things flashing across your mind prior to the moment of death, which I suppose could the chemical imbalance in the brain, brought about by the trauma of body losing entropy, that trigger rapid firing of the synapses. I have yet to have a near death experience, though I would rather not have one, but I would really like to have scenes of happiness and joys flashing instead of regrets and disappointment.

So while we can not be very certain if we get to breathe the next moment, we can decide that the next breath you take is worth taking.

教出第2名的小孩

Two days ago while looking for my wife at Popular, spot this very interesting title <教出第2名的小孩 - 田中直子> - teaching your kid to be at 2nd place. Why would you would to teach your kid to be at 2nd place? So the book geek instead of looking for wife, brought the book! haha

The author was an educator before become a full time housewife. And the content of the book reflected that linkage. Examples and cases from both school and family, detail observation of both parent and kid behavior and spot on analysis of current state of child rearing issues. After teaching at ITE for a couple of years, many of the issue that the student faced are not academic in nature but a deeper set of issues that mostly developed from a younger age at home.

For parent or parent want to be, this would be a good book to remind yourself the most important idea of child rearing, "Your child can only have their childhood once, you have no right to take that away"


book www @ www.17buy.com.tw

Accidents on Highway

Yesterday morning while going to work, saw 2 accidents. One was one West Coast Highway, one in KPE towards PIE. The one on west coast was a old Mazda 5 coupe buried into the side of the road, driver not around, looks like an early morning spin that went out of control. The one in KPE looks more serious, motorbike and i think the rider under a somewhat exteriorly modify Altis or Vios (Did not get a good look as there are quite a number of police around). Took out 2 of the 3 lane in KPE.

I like speed and doing up rides, but I always feel very strongly about uncontrolled speeding on public road. A race conducted on a track against drivers who know the risk and have the skill is about sportsmanship. A reckless drive on public road with drivers that do not know the risk and do not know how to react is pure stupidity. No only wasting public resource (jams etc) but endanger others life.

This morning 93.3 have a discussion on whether expressway driving should be part of the driving competency test/curriculum. Reaction was mix.

To me is it no whether someone have experience on the expressway, but whether the driver respect the right of other road users.

Viral Campaign

I was prompted by one of my student to change my facebook profile to a childhood cartoon character in the name of creating awareness against child abuse. Exactly how changing the profile will lead to more awareness is beyond me. I surf for more information on the web but did not manage to find the source of it. The few links that reference it term it as viral campaign, a marketing campaign that uses the spread of todays social network to do the traditional month-to-month promotion. Viral Campaign is fast, it can reach many in a short span of time, but it is also short live and shallow. It work best when use in combination with other advertisement channels.

Any action that will prevent child abuse should be support, but the central question is does changing your profile picture do anything to forward the cause? Of course the effort of changing one's profile picture is small, and many simply just switch since their friend did too. If there is one person out there, because of this viral campaign, actually do something more positive about child abuse then maybe, just maybe it is worthwhile.

Update: Now the new viral is that the previous viral is spread by pedophile?! What a load of crap. The only thing to do is if the source of the information can not be verify, DO NOT believe it.

On Practice

Miyamoto Musashi, the fame Japanese sword man and philosopher, accumulated 6 wars, 60 plus duels and countless hours of practice to be what he is. In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, he put a time line that separate the 'expert' from the average: 10,000 hours of practice. Which is about three and half years for some one who practice 8 hours a day for 365 days a year.


However, it is disheartening to known that many still do not believe in practice. We are all the slave of efficiency. Time is of the essence. But then again, expertise needs experience and experience needs practices and practices needs time!


Does long hours of practice make perfect? Do a cow that has been plowing the field for years does it better? Practice without thinking or reflecting is useless. Practice with a mind to improve. Practice with a partner that is better than you. Practice with an objective and goals. That is what make perfect.

Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵) 's Dokkodo (独行道)

Musashi was one of my favorite swords man, image of him slicing his way through the enemy had once upon a time fascinated my young mind. It was however many many years later, I started to appreciate that Musashi had transcend the mere violent and blood business of hack and slash and in to a philosophical and even spiritual realm.

Dokkodo was written by Musashi a week before his death. It is a summary of his Way of life, and we can learn much from it.  


独行道


世々の道を背く事なし Do not turn your back on the various Ways of this world

身に楽しみをたくまず Do not scheme for physical pleasure
に依怙(頼ること）の心なし Do not intend to rely on anything

身を浅く思い、世を深く思う Consider yourself lightly; consider the world deeply

一生の間欲心思わず Do not ever think in acquisitive terms

我事において後悔せず Do not regret things about your own personal life

善悪に他を妬む心なし Do not envy another's good or evil

いずれの道にも別れを悲しまず Do not lament parting on any road whatsoever

自他ともに恨みかこつ心なし Do not complain or feel bitterly about yourself or other

恋慕の道思いよる心なし Have no heart for approaching the path of love

物ごとに数寄好む事なし Do not have preferences

私宅において望む心なし Do not harbor hopes for your own personal home

身一つに美食を好まず Do not have a liking for delicious food for yourself

末々代物なる古き道具所持せず Do not carry antiques handed down from generation to generation

わが身に至り、物忌みする事なし Do not fast so that it affects you physically

兵具は格別、世の道具たしなまず While it's different with military equipment, do not be fond of material things

道においては、死をいとわず思う While on the Way, do not begrudge death

老身に財宝所領用ゆる心なし Do not be intent on possessing valuables or fief in old age

仏神は貴し、仏神をたのまず Respect the gods and Buddhas, but do not depend on them

身を捨てても名利は捨てず Though you give up your life, do not give up your honor

常に兵法の道を離れず Never depart from the Way of the Martial Arts


Japaneses version from http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~itoh/musashi01.htm
English version from The Book of Five Rings (The Way of the Warrior Series) 
And a very nice interpretation of the rules...
http://www.pluginid.com/21-rules-to-live-your-life/

A Letter from Anyone to Anyone

From No Time for Goodbye - Linwood Barclay

"Dear Anyone:

This is a letter from one anyone to another anyone, no names required, because nobody really knows anybody anyway. Names don't make a hell of a lot of difference. The world is made up entirely of strangers. Millions and millions of them. Everyone is a stranger to everyone else.

Sometimes we think we know other people, especially those we supposedly are close to, but if we really knew them, why are we so often surprised by the shit they do? Like, parents are always surprised by what their kids will do. They raise them from the time they are babies, spend each and every day with them, think they're these goddamn fxxxxxxx angels, and then one day the cops come to the door and say hay, guess what, parents? Your kid just bashed some other kid's head in with a baseball bat.

Or you're the kid, and you think things are pretty okay, and then one day this guys who's supposed to be your dad says so long, have a nice life. And you think, what the fxxx is this? So years later, your mom ends up living with another guy, and he seems okay, but you think, when's it coming?

That's what life is. Lift is always asking yourself, when's it coming? Because if it hasn't come for a long, long time, you know you're fxxxxxx due.

All the best,

Anyone."

How much do we know someone? Even if is our children? The recent series of events happening - the Yishun stabber/Woodland murderer, Downtown East choppers and their victims, Civil Servant that put semen in colleague's drink. Does their parents have any idea what is going through their children mind? And even if their closest kin is unable to tell, how could someone else? Is it that the closeness and relationship blind us from any telltales sign? Must we all start to detached ourself from relationship and view everyone with suspicious?

Thus the eternal debate of born Good vs born Evil. (性本善，性本恶)

The effort required to really know someone is often humongous, the time, the emotion attachment. Very often we end up making assumption based on superficial observation.

There is no simple answer to the questions. If we could just put in some effort in to really knowing our love one, maybe we may have less of such incident of rude realization.

On our Perception of Time

Today while reading zaobao (联合早报), come across a interesting article on Time and our perception of Time.


When did we acquire the sense of time? How does time define us? How do we perceive time?


A short story that the writer include in the article is very interesting and profound. The writer's father pass away a few years ago, but recently an old friend of the father called the family not knowing that his friend had already move on. To this old friend, the writer's father had been alive until the time of the call.


It is almost like the father is the Schrödinger's cat living and non living until the collapse of the wave function.


Time is how we define it, how we perceive it. To a bacteria, eternal is but a few minutes; To a tree, a few year is but an instant.


The best measurement of time is how we make use of it.


Ref: 时间的局外人（阿果）联合早报副刊 12月1日2010年


Yun, Sŏk-jung (text)
Yi, Yŏng-gyŏng (illus.)
Nŏkchŏm ban
(Four and a half strokes)
P’aju : Ch’angbi, 2004. [36] p.
(Uri si kŭrimch’aek ; 3)
ISBN 89-364-5405-6

Me and My Kindle

I first saw ebook device when I was in UK early 2009, display in a bookstore (blackwell in oxford, i think). Didn't take too much notice of it as I have a time limit in the store, haha. When my brother in law was in London for a business trip in Oct 2010, my wife ask me if there are thing I will like to buy over there. Drop in to Amazon UK site and the first thing that catch my eye is the Kindle device. 

I have been reading ebook in .lit (Microsoft Reader) format and pdf on Laptop/Desktop. It was difficult to read for long in those devices as I tend to read myself to sleep... So I start to do some research on the Kindle devices, the biggest problem it seem is the availability of content, apparently Amazon do not allow me to purchase content because of where I am (in Singapore)! But it does allow me to buy the device and ship to anywhere. Further probing does find a work around over the DRM (which is ridiculous, if I buy a physical book, I can read it anywhere I go, where not for the e-version?)

With the pound-SGD conversion near the low end, I decide that it is worth the risk of get the device first then try to get it work. There are still royalty free classic on the net and those ebook that I have (after conversion to kindle's format) which I can still read.

So I create an account in Amazon.co.uk and order a Kindle device non 3G version with a Lighted Leather Cover (the geek in me cant resist), free shipping it to my brother-in-law's hotel in London. It arrived on the second night he stay in the hotel, great service!

While wait for my Brother-in-law to return, I brought a few e-contents in Amazon just to try the work around,  it works! Now I need the device to read it, haha.

The device reach Singapore a week later. My first time with an e-ink device, the look and feel is that it is like a book, not as glaring as LCD and the weight is just about right. Transfer the couple of books that I have brought previous to the devices and the rest is history... haha.

Jeff's Blog is a great help to use kindle in Singapore. It help me make the decision!

Note: The text in the picture is from the ebook (Makers by Cory Doctorow) download at http://craphound.com/makers/download/

Kindle with night light on

Burnt Orange Cover with night light extended

How to be the second best?

ITE MICT (MacPherson ICT) team was the losing finalist in the recently concluded National Education Gaming Competition (http://www.negc.com.sg/). I know many of the 19 participants, being with them for more than 1.5 years. I was there at the final and the atmosphere is simply stunning.

They play well, stick to their game plan, yet was not good enough to win the championship. Many, many factors contribute to the success of a team, but the most important is the experience of being the second best. Knock out competition format is crude, and the most crude position to be in is the 1st runner up.

How to cope as the 1st runner up? I am incline to actually suggest some form of group therapy session for the participant, haha. It is normal to reflect back on the experience and experiment with the thought that MAYBE if I have DONE it this way, the ending would be different etc etc etc. Unfortunately, life have no replay option or reload from save game. The key is to extract that situation, and know that the next time similar situation happen, what would be the respond.

The next thing is that each would know that they have put in the best effort in to the competition. The is no shame in losing if you have put in the best effort. However, the lingering thoughts would be "have I put in my best effort". Only each will know in their heart, and each will find their own closure.

It will be nice if this will be a recurring competition, and maybe those who have a chance to compete again find strength to seek higher.

Knowing that been the second best will make you hungrier.