Li Ka-shing is the wealthiest businessman in Hong Kong and was ranked 14th as the world's richest billionaires by Forbes in 2010. Once, he was interviewed in a TV documentary in Hong Kong, and told the interviewer a personal story:
One day, Li was driven back home after work. When Li got off from his car, he dropped a $10 coin, and the coin rolled underneath the car. Li bent down and stretched his hand under the car in order to grab it back. With Li's age, he was not able to do so even after a few tries. Li's driver saw the situation, and asked, "Mr Li, what are you doing? Is there anything I can do for you?" Li told him that he lost his $10 coin. The driver took off his jacket, knelt down and grabbed the $10 coin out from beneath the car, and gave it back to Li. Li smiled, and happily put the $10 coin into his pocket. He then took out a $100 note, and gave to the driver as appreciation.
Li said to the interviewer, " It's not about the value of the money. I gave my driver $100, he would spend it and make use of it. If I didn't pick up the $10 coin, it would be lost for ever and wasted."
Li Ka-shing's point was that money could always be used, but never be wasted.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Happy Birthday
Happy birthdays in this month, Vickie and Veronica.
Those were happy memories in the not-too-distant past. To mum and dad, things always seem like yesterday. Here, we'd like to share the following song with you for these special occasions, and with everyone too in this festive season of X'mas!
A ray of hope flickers in the sky.
A tiny star lights up way up high.
All across the land dawns a brand new morn.
This comes to pass when a child is born.
It must come true sometime soon somehow.
All across the land dawns a brand new morn.
This comes to pass when a child is born.
(extract from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R47B9LWjVrg&feature=related)
Those were happy memories in the not-too-distant past. To mum and dad, things always seem like yesterday. Here, we'd like to share the following song with you for these special occasions, and with everyone too in this festive season of X'mas!
When A Child Is Born
A ray of hope flickers in the sky.
A tiny star lights up way up high.
All across the land dawns a brand new morn.
This comes to pass when a child is born.
A silent wish sails the seven seas.
The winds of change whisper in the trees.
And the walls of doubt crumble tossed and torn.
This comes to pass, when a child is born.
A rosy hue settles all around.
You got the feel, you're on solid ground.
For a spell or two no one seems forlorn.
This comes to pass, when a child is born.
And all of this happens, because the world is waiting.
Waiting for one child; Black-white-yellow, no one knows...
but a child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter,
hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone's neighbor,
and misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten forever.
It must come true sometime soon somehow.
All across the land dawns a brand new morn.
This comes to pass when a child is born.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
True Love
I heard this story from my friend some time ago:
A young academically excellent person went to apply for a management trainee position in a big firm. He passed the first interview. He went for a second interview with the director of the company who was to make the final decision. During the interview, the director read from the CV that the youth's academic results were excellent all the way from his secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year he didn't score.
The director said to the youth, "Your resume looks very good to us. Have you obtained any scholarships in school?"
The youth replied, "None, sir."
The director asked, "Is it your father who paid for your school fees?"
The youth replied, "No, sir. My father passed away when I was one. It's my mother who paid for my school fees."
The director asked, "What is your mother's profession?"
The youth replied, "She's a cloth cleaner."
The director then asked the youth to show his hands to him. The youth's hands looked soft and smooth to the director.
The director asked, "Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?"
The youth replied, "Never, sir. My mother always wanted me to study hard and read more books when I had spare times. Besides, my mother could wash clothes much faster than I."
After a few other conversations, the director said to the youth, " We are very pleased with your academic achievements. But I have a request. When you go home tonight, go and help clean your mother's hands, and then come back to see me tomorrow morning."
The youth had the feeling his chance of getting the job was very good. But he wasn't sure why the director asked him to clean his mother's hands. Anyway he went home that evening, and happily wanted to clean his mother's hands. The mother felt flattered and showed her hands to her kid.
The youth held his mother's hands, and cleaned them slowly. Tears began to fall down as the son started to clean the mother's hands. That was the first time the son noticed the mother's hand were so rough, wrinkled and full of bruises. Some bruises were so severe that the mother shivered as water ran over the skin while being washed. The son then realized it was this very pair of hands that earned him the school fees all these years. The bruises in the hands were the price the mother paid for his graduation, his academic excellence and probably his future.
After finished cleaning his mother's hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother. That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.
Next morning, the youth went to the director's office. The director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, and asked, "Can you tell me what you did in your house last night?"
The youth answered, "I cleaned my mother's hands, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes."
The director asked, "Can you tell me your feeling?"
The youth said, "First, I know what appreciation is. Without my mother, I would never be what I am today. Second, working together with my mother, I can realize how tough and hard to get things done, as my mother did in the past. Third, I know the importance and value of family relationship."
The director said, " Good. This is exactly what I'm looking for. I want to recruit a person not only has good academic training and knowledge, but also the ability to appreciate others' help and difficulties when getting things done. I don't want to recruit a person who just put money as his only goal in life to be my manager. You are hired."
Later on, this young person worked very hard and earned the respect from his subordinates. Every staff worked diligently under him as a team. The company's results improved significantly.
If a child was brought up in a fully protected environment, and was given whatever and whenever he wanted, he tended to grow up as a self-centred person who would always take things for granted and always put himself first. He would be ignorant of the parents' efforts and difficulties. When he started work, he would assume people always listen to him, and would blame others whenever he encountered setbacks. When he became a manager, he would not understand his staff's problems and concerns. He might have good results and would be successful in the short term. But in the long run, he would not have good sense of satisfaction and co-operations, and would be unlikely to attain higher achievements. As parents, do we love our kids or spoil them?
Whether we can afford to live in big houses, have maids to serve the family and provide our kids with good educations, learning pianos, watching large TVs and playing latest video games, don't just raise our kids inside the greenhouse. Do give the kids the chance to experience the real life; be it good or bad, easy or difficult, rich or poor, success or failure. Let them help planting trees and flowers when you do the gardening, have turns to wash dishes after meals, and clean the house during holidays. Show them the poor and needy on the street and encourage them to show their concerns and helps to the less fortunate in the community. We love our kids. We want them to become capable persons in the future, be able to appreciate the efforts and difficulties of others, have abilities to work with others to get things done, and have the willingness to provide their contributions back to the family and to the society at large.
A young academically excellent person went to apply for a management trainee position in a big firm. He passed the first interview. He went for a second interview with the director of the company who was to make the final decision. During the interview, the director read from the CV that the youth's academic results were excellent all the way from his secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year he didn't score.
The director said to the youth, "Your resume looks very good to us. Have you obtained any scholarships in school?"
The youth replied, "None, sir."
The director asked, "Is it your father who paid for your school fees?"
The youth replied, "No, sir. My father passed away when I was one. It's my mother who paid for my school fees."
The director asked, "What is your mother's profession?"
The youth replied, "She's a cloth cleaner."
The director then asked the youth to show his hands to him. The youth's hands looked soft and smooth to the director.
The director asked, "Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?"
The youth replied, "Never, sir. My mother always wanted me to study hard and read more books when I had spare times. Besides, my mother could wash clothes much faster than I."
After a few other conversations, the director said to the youth, " We are very pleased with your academic achievements. But I have a request. When you go home tonight, go and help clean your mother's hands, and then come back to see me tomorrow morning."
The youth had the feeling his chance of getting the job was very good. But he wasn't sure why the director asked him to clean his mother's hands. Anyway he went home that evening, and happily wanted to clean his mother's hands. The mother felt flattered and showed her hands to her kid.
The youth held his mother's hands, and cleaned them slowly. Tears began to fall down as the son started to clean the mother's hands. That was the first time the son noticed the mother's hand were so rough, wrinkled and full of bruises. Some bruises were so severe that the mother shivered as water ran over the skin while being washed. The son then realized it was this very pair of hands that earned him the school fees all these years. The bruises in the hands were the price the mother paid for his graduation, his academic excellence and probably his future.
After finished cleaning his mother's hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother. That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.
Next morning, the youth went to the director's office. The director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, and asked, "Can you tell me what you did in your house last night?"
The youth answered, "I cleaned my mother's hands, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes."
The director asked, "Can you tell me your feeling?"
The youth said, "First, I know what appreciation is. Without my mother, I would never be what I am today. Second, working together with my mother, I can realize how tough and hard to get things done, as my mother did in the past. Third, I know the importance and value of family relationship."
The director said, " Good. This is exactly what I'm looking for. I want to recruit a person not only has good academic training and knowledge, but also the ability to appreciate others' help and difficulties when getting things done. I don't want to recruit a person who just put money as his only goal in life to be my manager. You are hired."
Later on, this young person worked very hard and earned the respect from his subordinates. Every staff worked diligently under him as a team. The company's results improved significantly.
If a child was brought up in a fully protected environment, and was given whatever and whenever he wanted, he tended to grow up as a self-centred person who would always take things for granted and always put himself first. He would be ignorant of the parents' efforts and difficulties. When he started work, he would assume people always listen to him, and would blame others whenever he encountered setbacks. When he became a manager, he would not understand his staff's problems and concerns. He might have good results and would be successful in the short term. But in the long run, he would not have good sense of satisfaction and co-operations, and would be unlikely to attain higher achievements. As parents, do we love our kids or spoil them?
Whether we can afford to live in big houses, have maids to serve the family and provide our kids with good educations, learning pianos, watching large TVs and playing latest video games, don't just raise our kids inside the greenhouse. Do give the kids the chance to experience the real life; be it good or bad, easy or difficult, rich or poor, success or failure. Let them help planting trees and flowers when you do the gardening, have turns to wash dishes after meals, and clean the house during holidays. Show them the poor and needy on the street and encourage them to show their concerns and helps to the less fortunate in the community. We love our kids. We want them to become capable persons in the future, be able to appreciate the efforts and difficulties of others, have abilities to work with others to get things done, and have the willingness to provide their contributions back to the family and to the society at large.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Bad Pronunciation
I seemed to have countless stories with the McDonalds.
One day I went to the McDonalds to buy a chocolate sundae. Being a senior, I have the privilege of having a complementary drink together with any purchase in McDonalds. So I asked the girl at the counter for a "free fruit fizz". As happened a few times already, I was again mistaken as asking for a fillet-o-fish. I was then given a fillet-o-fish burger with my chocolate sundae. With a bit of difficulty, I explained to the girl what I asked was a fruit fizz drink and not a fillet-o-fish burger. The girl apologized, and gave me the fruit fizz drink. I then returned the fillet-o-fish burger to the girl. But the girl said since the burger had already been made, I might just as well take it. So I ended up having a few freebies as result of my bad pronunciation.
Sometimes, a bad thing really isn't too bad at all!
One day I went to the McDonalds to buy a chocolate sundae. Being a senior, I have the privilege of having a complementary drink together with any purchase in McDonalds. So I asked the girl at the counter for a "free fruit fizz". As happened a few times already, I was again mistaken as asking for a fillet-o-fish. I was then given a fillet-o-fish burger with my chocolate sundae. With a bit of difficulty, I explained to the girl what I asked was a fruit fizz drink and not a fillet-o-fish burger. The girl apologized, and gave me the fruit fizz drink. I then returned the fillet-o-fish burger to the girl. But the girl said since the burger had already been made, I might just as well take it. So I ended up having a few freebies as result of my bad pronunciation.
Sometimes, a bad thing really isn't too bad at all!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Lost or Stolen?
A few months ago, I lost my handbag in a shopping centre in Gordon. I went to the police station to report the loss. The police officer wrote down my details, and descriptions of all the contents in my handbag. Finally he asked, "Was the handbag lost or stolen?" I replied, "I just knew my handbag disappeared when I left the shopping centre. I had no idea whether it was stolen or not,"
I thought that was only a particular incidence. But that evening when I got home, I rang up the banks and credit card centres to report losses of my bank cards and credit cards, and requested to re-issue replacements. I provided details of where and when they were lost. To my surprise, everybody asked the same question, "Was it lost or stolen?"
My goodness. I wonder how people can answer such a question. The thief wouldn't leave a note to us to let us know if the thing was indeed stolen!
I thought that was only a particular incidence. But that evening when I got home, I rang up the banks and credit card centres to report losses of my bank cards and credit cards, and requested to re-issue replacements. I provided details of where and when they were lost. To my surprise, everybody asked the same question, "Was it lost or stolen?"
My goodness. I wonder how people can answer such a question. The thief wouldn't leave a note to us to let us know if the thing was indeed stolen!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Arrow's Dichotomy
The story of 'Achilles and the Tortoise' as mentioned in my blog on 2 August, 2010 is likened to the story of 'The Arrow's Dichotomy' in which it goes as follows:
For an arrow to be shot from one side of the room to the other, the arrow has first to travel one half of the room. When the arrow reaches one half of the room, it still has to travel one half of the remaining length (i.e. one quarter) of the room. When the arrow reaches that position, it still has to travel yet one half of the remaining length (i.e. one eighth) of the room, and so on and so forth. Thus, the total distance the arrow needs to travel in order to cross the room is an infinite series:
For an arrow to be shot from one side of the room to the other, the arrow has first to travel one half of the room. When the arrow reaches one half of the room, it still has to travel one half of the remaining length (i.e. one quarter) of the room. When the arrow reaches that position, it still has to travel yet one half of the remaining length (i.e. one eighth) of the room, and so on and so forth. Thus, the total distance the arrow needs to travel in order to cross the room is an infinite series:
1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ..............
Being an infinite series, there is no finite value for the sum. Rather, the limit of this sum is 1 meaning the more terms we add, the sum will get closer and closer to 1 but will never be 1 and cannot exceed 1. Hence, the total distance the arrow travels will never be equal to the length of the room. In other words, the arrow cannot get to the other side of the room.
If we replace the length of the room by some shorter length, say a metre, with similar arguments, we can say the arrow cannot get to the end of the metre. If we replace the metre by yet a shorter length, say an inch, with similar arguments, we can say the arrow cannot get to the end of an inch. If we go on with shorter and shorter length, we will come to the conclusion that the arrow cannot move at all. Finally we conclude motion is not possible, which obviously is a paradox.
Both 'Achilles and the Tortoise' and 'The Arrow's Dichotomy' are different representations of the Zeno's Paradox, and both stories concern about motion, position and time - i.e. physics. We shall discuss Zeno's Paradox from the physics perspective in some later blogs as time permits.
If we replace the length of the room by some shorter length, say a metre, with similar arguments, we can say the arrow cannot get to the end of the metre. If we replace the metre by yet a shorter length, say an inch, with similar arguments, we can say the arrow cannot get to the end of an inch. If we go on with shorter and shorter length, we will come to the conclusion that the arrow cannot move at all. Finally we conclude motion is not possible, which obviously is a paradox.
Both 'Achilles and the Tortoise' and 'The Arrow's Dichotomy' are different representations of the Zeno's Paradox, and both stories concern about motion, position and time - i.e. physics. We shall discuss Zeno's Paradox from the physics perspective in some later blogs as time permits.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Can You See?
In a remote rural country area, a man was seen removing the 'DEER CROSSING' sign on the road. The police stopped him. The man said, "There are too many deers being hit by cars out here! I don't think this is a safe place for them to be crossing anymore."
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Always Let The Boss Speak First
I read this story in one of my former colleague's blog.
Three men were walking back to the office after lunch, and found a wonder lamp on the way. They rubbed the lamp and a genie appeared. The genie said, "Normally I grant three wishes to people who found me. But since there are three of you here, I allow one wish to each of you."
The first guy was excited, and shouted, "I want to go to Bahamas, on a speed boat and have no work and no worries." The genie said okay, and pfuffff ...................... the first guy was gone. The second guy got more ecstatic, and shouted, "I want to go to Florida, with beautiful girls and plenty of good food and cocktails." The genie said okay, and pfuffff ...................... the second guy was gone. The third guy was the boss of these two guys. He grumbled, "I want these two idiots back in the office. NOW!"
Three men were walking back to the office after lunch, and found a wonder lamp on the way. They rubbed the lamp and a genie appeared. The genie said, "Normally I grant three wishes to people who found me. But since there are three of you here, I allow one wish to each of you."
The first guy was excited, and shouted, "I want to go to Bahamas, on a speed boat and have no work and no worries." The genie said okay, and pfuffff ...................... the first guy was gone. The second guy got more ecstatic, and shouted, "I want to go to Florida, with beautiful girls and plenty of good food and cocktails." The genie said okay, and pfuffff ...................... the second guy was gone. The third guy was the boss of these two guys. He grumbled, "I want these two idiots back in the office. NOW!"
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Mr Holland's Opus
I watched this 1995 movie a few times on flights between Sydney and Hong Kong a few years ago. It was an ordinary story about an ordinary person in an ordinary town.
Glenn Holland lived with his wife, Iris, in a small town. Glenn had a great passion in music. He always wanted to compose a remarkable piece of symphony that would make him rich and famous. In his late twenties, he took up a teaching position in music in a local high school, hoping that he could have some spare time to compose his masterpiece while being able to meet the financial needs of the family.
At first, Glenn thought he would only spend a few years in teaching before returning to his full-time composing. But as his teaching career started, he found he was confronted with groups of bored and unresponsive students unappreciative of music. In order to inspire the students to enjoy music as he did, he devoted much of his time demonstrating his own passion and knowledge in this subject to the students. He started patiently showing the students the common elements of popular music like rock and roll and classical music. He tried to arouse interests among the students so that they feel playing music was fun with various musical instruments, bands and concerts. He even spent extra hours mentoring students with difficulties in music and with musical instruments. Over time, he came to realize that he had to spend much more time than he thought before in teaching, leaving him little time in composing his symphony as he originally planned. Further to that, Iris became pregnant and later gave birth to their son, Cole. Glenn was forced to live with the reality to prolong his teaching life for necessary financial commitments to the family.
Years passed. Glenn met with constantly changing bodies of students, inspired many of his challenged and troubled pupils and enhanced the school music program with new marching bands, orchestras and performances. Unfortunately one day, their young son, Cole was diagnosed as having severe hearing difficulty. Glenn was devastated to hear the news that he could never teach the joys of music to his own child. He reacted passively by refusing to learn sign languages together with Iris to communicate with Cole, leaving Iris as the single person to maintain communications in the whole family. He even tried to get away from this reality by spending more and more time in school and with the students. During auditions for a music drama, Glenn became attracted to a young student named Rowena. Without Iris' knowing, Glenn wrote a small piece of music for her entitled 'Rowena's Theme' and took an interest when Rowena stated she wanted to leave town and go to the City to sing professionally. Glenn encouraged her. When Rowena planned to leave on the night after the last performance of the drama, she hinted that she would like Glenn to come with her. Being content with his love with Iris, Glenn was in time to withdraw and declined. Instead, he gave Rowena the name of someone in the City to help her find lodging. That night, he just watched Rowena depart, and went home.
Time further went along. One day Glenn heard the news from the radio that one of the Beatles, John Lennon, was killed by gunshot. Although seemingly unrelated, Glenn suddenly realized that he was wrong to continue his lack of concern with Cole. He tried every effort to repair the situation. He began to learn the sign languages. He provided a concert at the special high school where Cole attended. He even did an interpretation by sign languages of John Lennon's song 'Beautiful Boy', dedicated to Cole.
Time continued to move on, Glenn unknowingly worked with his teaching career for over 30 years. At the age of 60, Glenn's high school met with financial difficulties and needed to cut the school budget. The school board decided to eliminate some facilities in the school for cost saving, and planned to remove the music program. Glenn strongly objected and argued with the school saying that music was very important to the development of students. The Principal insisted to go ahead explaining that if the school needed to eliminate languages, mathematics or music, they had no choice but to remove the music program. Glenn then realized his working life was over. He looked back and felt very much that he had achieved little in his entire life. He had not produced, and would never produce, a memorable piece of symphony as he liked to produce. He believed his students, who had grown up and graduated, year after year, had mostly forgotten him.
On the final day as working teacher, Glenn packed up in school with help from his wife, Iris, and son, Cole. Before leaving, Glenn took a last look around the school campus, and was led by Iris and Cole to the school auditorium. When Cole opened the door of the auditorium, they were faced with a full house of audience inside; the Principal, teachers, present and past students coming from all walks of life. Hearing the news of Glenn's departure, the students secretly came back to the school to celebrate his retirement, bid him farewell and honored his life. A former student and now state governor, represented the students to thank Glenn for his dedication and contribution in teaching over the years. She then handed him a baton and invited him to serve as conductor of the orchestra made up by alumni of different years for the first ever performance of a piece of symphony that Glenn had completed but was totally forgotten and never performed.
Glenn Holland didn't accomplish what he had always wanted. Instead, he spent most of his life in work that he didn't intend to do, but he did it remarkably well. He felt his life was a complete failure, but he didn't realize he had planted lots of seeds for successes. I think this whole story can best be summarized in the speech made by the state governor at the farewell ceremony in the closing finale:
"Mr Holland had a profound influence on my life and on a lot of lives I know. But I have a feeling that he considers a great part of his own life misspent. Rumour had it he was always working on this symphony of his. And this was going to make him rich, famous, probably both. But Mr Holland isn't rich and he isn't famous, at least not outside of our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure. But he would be wrong, because I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame. Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you haven't touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony, Mr Holland. we are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life.
Mr Holland, we would now like to give something back to you, to you and your wife, who along with you has waited 30 years for what we are about to hear. If you will, would you please come up here and take this baton and lead us in the first performance ever of the American Symphony by Glenn Holland."
(extract from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jM9MC7t-8g&feature=related)
Glenn Holland lived with his wife, Iris, in a small town. Glenn had a great passion in music. He always wanted to compose a remarkable piece of symphony that would make him rich and famous. In his late twenties, he took up a teaching position in music in a local high school, hoping that he could have some spare time to compose his masterpiece while being able to meet the financial needs of the family.
At first, Glenn thought he would only spend a few years in teaching before returning to his full-time composing. But as his teaching career started, he found he was confronted with groups of bored and unresponsive students unappreciative of music. In order to inspire the students to enjoy music as he did, he devoted much of his time demonstrating his own passion and knowledge in this subject to the students. He started patiently showing the students the common elements of popular music like rock and roll and classical music. He tried to arouse interests among the students so that they feel playing music was fun with various musical instruments, bands and concerts. He even spent extra hours mentoring students with difficulties in music and with musical instruments. Over time, he came to realize that he had to spend much more time than he thought before in teaching, leaving him little time in composing his symphony as he originally planned. Further to that, Iris became pregnant and later gave birth to their son, Cole. Glenn was forced to live with the reality to prolong his teaching life for necessary financial commitments to the family.
Years passed. Glenn met with constantly changing bodies of students, inspired many of his challenged and troubled pupils and enhanced the school music program with new marching bands, orchestras and performances. Unfortunately one day, their young son, Cole was diagnosed as having severe hearing difficulty. Glenn was devastated to hear the news that he could never teach the joys of music to his own child. He reacted passively by refusing to learn sign languages together with Iris to communicate with Cole, leaving Iris as the single person to maintain communications in the whole family. He even tried to get away from this reality by spending more and more time in school and with the students. During auditions for a music drama, Glenn became attracted to a young student named Rowena. Without Iris' knowing, Glenn wrote a small piece of music for her entitled 'Rowena's Theme' and took an interest when Rowena stated she wanted to leave town and go to the City to sing professionally. Glenn encouraged her. When Rowena planned to leave on the night after the last performance of the drama, she hinted that she would like Glenn to come with her. Being content with his love with Iris, Glenn was in time to withdraw and declined. Instead, he gave Rowena the name of someone in the City to help her find lodging. That night, he just watched Rowena depart, and went home.
Time further went along. One day Glenn heard the news from the radio that one of the Beatles, John Lennon, was killed by gunshot. Although seemingly unrelated, Glenn suddenly realized that he was wrong to continue his lack of concern with Cole. He tried every effort to repair the situation. He began to learn the sign languages. He provided a concert at the special high school where Cole attended. He even did an interpretation by sign languages of John Lennon's song 'Beautiful Boy', dedicated to Cole.
Time continued to move on, Glenn unknowingly worked with his teaching career for over 30 years. At the age of 60, Glenn's high school met with financial difficulties and needed to cut the school budget. The school board decided to eliminate some facilities in the school for cost saving, and planned to remove the music program. Glenn strongly objected and argued with the school saying that music was very important to the development of students. The Principal insisted to go ahead explaining that if the school needed to eliminate languages, mathematics or music, they had no choice but to remove the music program. Glenn then realized his working life was over. He looked back and felt very much that he had achieved little in his entire life. He had not produced, and would never produce, a memorable piece of symphony as he liked to produce. He believed his students, who had grown up and graduated, year after year, had mostly forgotten him.
On the final day as working teacher, Glenn packed up in school with help from his wife, Iris, and son, Cole. Before leaving, Glenn took a last look around the school campus, and was led by Iris and Cole to the school auditorium. When Cole opened the door of the auditorium, they were faced with a full house of audience inside; the Principal, teachers, present and past students coming from all walks of life. Hearing the news of Glenn's departure, the students secretly came back to the school to celebrate his retirement, bid him farewell and honored his life. A former student and now state governor, represented the students to thank Glenn for his dedication and contribution in teaching over the years. She then handed him a baton and invited him to serve as conductor of the orchestra made up by alumni of different years for the first ever performance of a piece of symphony that Glenn had completed but was totally forgotten and never performed.
Glenn Holland didn't accomplish what he had always wanted. Instead, he spent most of his life in work that he didn't intend to do, but he did it remarkably well. He felt his life was a complete failure, but he didn't realize he had planted lots of seeds for successes. I think this whole story can best be summarized in the speech made by the state governor at the farewell ceremony in the closing finale:
"Mr Holland had a profound influence on my life and on a lot of lives I know. But I have a feeling that he considers a great part of his own life misspent. Rumour had it he was always working on this symphony of his. And this was going to make him rich, famous, probably both. But Mr Holland isn't rich and he isn't famous, at least not outside of our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure. But he would be wrong, because I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame. Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you haven't touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony, Mr Holland. we are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life.
Mr Holland, we would now like to give something back to you, to you and your wife, who along with you has waited 30 years for what we are about to hear. If you will, would you please come up here and take this baton and lead us in the first performance ever of the American Symphony by Glenn Holland."
(extract from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jM9MC7t-8g&feature=related)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
A Love Story
Laura and Tommy were lovers.
He wanted to give her everything;flowers, presents,
and most of all, a wedding ring.
He saw a sign for a stock car race.
A thousand dollars prize it read.
He couldn't get Laura on the phone.
So to her mother, Tommy said,
"Tell Laura I love her.
Tell Laura I need her.
Tell Laura I may be late,
I've something to do that cannot wait."
He drove his car to the racing ground.
He was the youngest driver there.
The crowd roared as they started the race.
Round the track they drove at a deadly pace.
No one knows what happened that day,
how his car overturned in flames.
But as they pulled him from the twisted wreck,
With his dying breath, they heard him say,
"Tell Laura I love her.
Tell Laura I need her.
Tell Laura not to cry.
My love for her will never die."
Now in the chapel Laura prays,
for her Tommy who passed away.
It was just for Laura he lived and died.
Alone in the chapel she can hear him cry,
"Tell Laura I love her.
Tell Laura I need her.
Tell Laura not to cry.
My love for her will never die.
Tell ... Laura ... I ... love ... her..........
Tell ... Laura ... I ... love ... her..........
Tell ............... Laura ................................"
Lyrics from the song 'Tell Laura I Love Her' (1960).
(extract from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjvah1TDZxE)
Friday, September 10, 2010
Counting with Infinities
The set of natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ..................... is infinite meaning that no matter how large a number we go, there are always larger numbers we can go further. Likewise, the set of even numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, ..................... is also infinite. While both are infinite, we want to ask, "Are there more natural numbers than even numbers?"
Our answer tends to be yes because natural numbers consist of both even numbers and odd numbers. Apparently the number of natural numbers is doubled that of even numbers. This answer may be correct IF both of them are finite (i.e. of fixed quantities). But things behave differently when they are infinite. Twice of infinite quantity is still infinite quantity. Seemingly amazingly, the correct answer would be: "No, there are as many even numbers as natural numbers."
Suppose we ask, "Are there as many fingers on the right hand as the left hand?" The simple way to determine the answer is to count the number of fingers on the right hand and the left. If they both come to five, we know the answer is yes. But suppose we haven't developed the number system, and we don't have any knowledge of one, two, three and so on. Then we would not be able to count. But it doesn't mean we cannot answer the question. We can still match the fingers on the right hand to those on the left; thumb against thumb, index finger against index finger, middle finger against middle finger and so on. If all the fingers on the right hand can find a corresponding partner on the left, then we know the answer is yes.
Now suppose we have infinite number of fingers on the right and left hands (a monster!). We would not be able to count as they are infinite. But we can still use the method of matching to find the answer. Although the process of matching goes on indefinitely, if each finger on the right hand is able to find a one-to-one corresponding partner on the left, and each finger on the left hand can find a one-to-one corresponding partner on the right, then we know the answer is yes. However, if we can find some finger on the right hand that doesn't have any partner on the left while each finger on the left hand can find a partner on the right, we know there are more fingers on the right hand than the left.
Alternatively, imagine we have a very very large audience and a very very large cinema hall. In order to determine whether there are as many spectators as seats in the hall, we could ask the audience to seat themselves one by one. If there is no spectator left unseated and if there is no seat left empty, then we know there are as many spectators as seats in the cinema hall without going through the tedious process of counting with very very large numbers.
So, using the same methodology, we list the natural numbers N and the even numbers E as follows:
Situation of this type is said to be countably infinite, and is the basis upon which Georg Cantor (1845-1918) developed his theory of infinite sets.
Our answer tends to be yes because natural numbers consist of both even numbers and odd numbers. Apparently the number of natural numbers is doubled that of even numbers. This answer may be correct IF both of them are finite (i.e. of fixed quantities). But things behave differently when they are infinite. Twice of infinite quantity is still infinite quantity. Seemingly amazingly, the correct answer would be: "No, there are as many even numbers as natural numbers."
Suppose we ask, "Are there as many fingers on the right hand as the left hand?" The simple way to determine the answer is to count the number of fingers on the right hand and the left. If they both come to five, we know the answer is yes. But suppose we haven't developed the number system, and we don't have any knowledge of one, two, three and so on. Then we would not be able to count. But it doesn't mean we cannot answer the question. We can still match the fingers on the right hand to those on the left; thumb against thumb, index finger against index finger, middle finger against middle finger and so on. If all the fingers on the right hand can find a corresponding partner on the left, then we know the answer is yes.
Now suppose we have infinite number of fingers on the right and left hands (a monster!). We would not be able to count as they are infinite. But we can still use the method of matching to find the answer. Although the process of matching goes on indefinitely, if each finger on the right hand is able to find a one-to-one corresponding partner on the left, and each finger on the left hand can find a one-to-one corresponding partner on the right, then we know the answer is yes. However, if we can find some finger on the right hand that doesn't have any partner on the left while each finger on the left hand can find a partner on the right, we know there are more fingers on the right hand than the left.
Alternatively, imagine we have a very very large audience and a very very large cinema hall. In order to determine whether there are as many spectators as seats in the hall, we could ask the audience to seat themselves one by one. If there is no spectator left unseated and if there is no seat left empty, then we know there are as many spectators as seats in the cinema hall without going through the tedious process of counting with very very large numbers.
So, using the same methodology, we list the natural numbers N and the even numbers E as follows:
N: 1 2 3 4 5 ............ n ......
E: 2 4 6 8 10 ........ 2n .....
We can see that for each natural number, there is always a one-to-one corresponding even number by doubling its value. And for each even number, there is always a one-to-one corresponding natural number by halving its value. Although the process goes on indefinitely, there is no natural number nor even number left unmatched. Hence, we conclude there are as many even numbers as natural numbers.E: 2 4 6 8 10 ........ 2n .....
Situation of this type is said to be countably infinite, and is the basis upon which Georg Cantor (1845-1918) developed his theory of infinite sets.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Stones and Sands
We probably have heard this story from some management training courses.
A lecturer started the lesson with a large empty jar in his hands and proceeded to fill it with stones until no more stones could be put inside. He then asked the students if the jar was full. The class agreed it was. The lecturer then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open spaces between the stones. He asked the students again if the jar was full. The class all agreed it was. The lecturer next picked up a box of sands and poured them into the jar. Of course, the sands filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The class unanimously agreed it was.
The lecturer then explained, "Now, I want you to recognize this jar represents your life. The stones are the most important things like your career, your family, your health or your favourite passions. If everything else was lost and only they remained, your life will still be full. The pebbles are other less important things like your job, your car or your vacation. The sands are just small and trivial things like playing games, napping or simply doing nothing. If you spend effort in the most important things first, your life will be full, and yet you still have rooms for handling the less important things and small matters, just like what we did with the jar. On the other hand, if you put the sands into the jar first, there will be no rooms for the pebbles and stones. Thus, if you spend all your time and energy on small matters, you will never have rooms for the things that are important to you. So, remember the main point of today's lesson:
A lecturer started the lesson with a large empty jar in his hands and proceeded to fill it with stones until no more stones could be put inside. He then asked the students if the jar was full. The class agreed it was. The lecturer then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open spaces between the stones. He asked the students again if the jar was full. The class all agreed it was. The lecturer next picked up a box of sands and poured them into the jar. Of course, the sands filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The class unanimously agreed it was.
The lecturer then explained, "Now, I want you to recognize this jar represents your life. The stones are the most important things like your career, your family, your health or your favourite passions. If everything else was lost and only they remained, your life will still be full. The pebbles are other less important things like your job, your car or your vacation. The sands are just small and trivial things like playing games, napping or simply doing nothing. If you spend effort in the most important things first, your life will be full, and yet you still have rooms for handling the less important things and small matters, just like what we did with the jar. On the other hand, if you put the sands into the jar first, there will be no rooms for the pebbles and stones. Thus, if you spend all your time and energy on small matters, you will never have rooms for the things that are important to you. So, remember the main point of today's lesson:
Establish your priorities and work towards them."
The class all nodded in agreement. The lecturer then poured the remaining cup of coffee he was drinking into the jar. The coffee quickly got mixed up with the stones, pebbles and sands. A student asked what it meant. The lecturer smiled, "There's always room for another cup of coffee. Let's go."
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Story of Mobile Phones
A few years ago, when 3G mobile phones were first launched in Australia, my daughter Veronica and I bought two 3G mobiles from a mobile phone shop in Chatswood. We were issued two 3G mobile phone sets (silver for me and red for Veronica) and two mobile phone numbers (04xxxxxxxx for me and 04yyyyyyyy for Veronica). As Veronica was still studying in university at that time, I grouped these two mobiles into one account under my name, and the monthly usages went into a single bill sent to our registered address in Sydney:
The 3G phones were great. The network coverage was good. We were quite happy with the 3G mobile phone services.
Came 2007. Veronica graduated from College, found a job in the Government and relocated to Canberra. I thought it was appropriate time for Veronica to look after the usages of her mobile phone, and pay for her own bills. So we went to the mobile phone shop in Chatswood to request splitting the mobile 04yyyyyyyy to a separate account under Veronica and a separate bill to be sent to her registered address in Canberra. The salesperson asked us to fill in the necessary forms, and said the update would be made in a week's time.
In the following month, we received phone bills as follows:
As we saw that the bill in Canberra was still under my name, we went to the mobile phone shop in Chatswood a few weeks later to ask for correction. The salesperson explained that the error might be due to the fact that the mobile was split from my original account under my name. They could just simply update the account name from John to Veronica. So we filled in the necessary forms, and were told that the update would be made in a week's time.
In the following month, we received new phone bills as follows:
As we saw that the account names were interchanged, we went to the mobile phone shop in Chatswood again a couple of months later, and asked for further corrections. This time the salesperson said they could just swap the names between the two accounts. So we filled in the necessary forms and were told that the updates would be made in a week's time.
In the following month, we received bizarre new phone bills as follows:
This time, the account names were correctly updated, but all my phone usages went to the Canberra bill and all Veronica's usages went to my Sydney bill. I had to pay for Veronica's usages and Veronica for mine, and we had to reimburse each other afterwards. We did these for a few months, and subsequently couldn't help but to complain to the mobile phone shop in Chatswood. The salesperson suggested a brilliant idea. He said in order to cut short the time to fix the problem and to save all the paperwork and updating, the simplest way was to swap my mobile phone set with Veronica's! We strongly refused saying we had our own choices of colour and style of the phone set. The salesperson then further suggested we could keep our phone sets and just swap the SIM cards!!
We went almost to the top of the roof. True. It would be simple for the shop as they didn't have to do anything. But we had to go through all the pains of notifying all our friends and contacts that our phone numbers were to change, not to mention to update all the contact information in the SIM cards ourselves. So we spent an hour in the shop patiently explaining in details where we started from and what exactly we wanted to be, and drew several diagrams and the following table outlining what we wanted to achieve:
So we filled in the necessary forms, and were told that the updates would be made in a week's time.
Luckily this time, all were fine in the following month. We were afraid that if we ever needed to go to the shop again to request for further changes, the salesperson might ask me to rename myself to Veronica, and Veronica to rename herself to John in order to fix our problem!!!
I just don't understand why an apparently simple matter could grow to become a such complicated and annoying issue!
| | |
| | |
| John phone set – silver Veronica phone set – red | |
| John phone no. – 04xxxxxxxx Veronica phone no. - 04yyyyyyyy | |
| A/C name - John | |
The 3G phones were great. The network coverage was good. We were quite happy with the 3G mobile phone services.
Came 2007. Veronica graduated from College, found a job in the Government and relocated to Canberra. I thought it was appropriate time for Veronica to look after the usages of her mobile phone, and pay for her own bills. So we went to the mobile phone shop in Chatswood to request splitting the mobile 04yyyyyyyy to a separate account under Veronica and a separate bill to be sent to her registered address in Canberra. The salesperson asked us to fill in the necessary forms, and said the update would be made in a week's time.
In the following month, we received phone bills as follows:
| | |
| | |
| John phone set – silver | Veronica phone set – red |
| John phone no. – 04xxxxxxxx | Veronica phone no. - 04yyyyyyyy |
| A/C name - John | A/C name - John |
As we saw that the bill in Canberra was still under my name, we went to the mobile phone shop in Chatswood a few weeks later to ask for correction. The salesperson explained that the error might be due to the fact that the mobile was split from my original account under my name. They could just simply update the account name from John to Veronica. So we filled in the necessary forms, and were told that the update would be made in a week's time.
In the following month, we received new phone bills as follows:
| | |
| | |
| John phone set – silver | Veronica phone set – red |
| John phone no. – 04xxxxxxxx | Veronica phone no. - 04yyyyyyyy |
| A/C name - Veronica | A/C name - John |
As we saw that the account names were interchanged, we went to the mobile phone shop in Chatswood again a couple of months later, and asked for further corrections. This time the salesperson said they could just swap the names between the two accounts. So we filled in the necessary forms and were told that the updates would be made in a week's time.
In the following month, we received bizarre new phone bills as follows:
| | |
| | |
| John phone set – silver | Veronica phone set – red |
| Veronica phone no. - 04yyyyyyyy | John phone no. – 04xxxxxxxx |
| A/C name - John | A/C name - Veronica |
This time, the account names were correctly updated, but all my phone usages went to the Canberra bill and all Veronica's usages went to my Sydney bill. I had to pay for Veronica's usages and Veronica for mine, and we had to reimburse each other afterwards. We did these for a few months, and subsequently couldn't help but to complain to the mobile phone shop in Chatswood. The salesperson suggested a brilliant idea. He said in order to cut short the time to fix the problem and to save all the paperwork and updating, the simplest way was to swap my mobile phone set with Veronica's! We strongly refused saying we had our own choices of colour and style of the phone set. The salesperson then further suggested we could keep our phone sets and just swap the SIM cards!!
We went almost to the top of the roof. True. It would be simple for the shop as they didn't have to do anything. But we had to go through all the pains of notifying all our friends and contacts that our phone numbers were to change, not to mention to update all the contact information in the SIM cards ourselves. So we spent an hour in the shop patiently explaining in details where we started from and what exactly we wanted to be, and drew several diagrams and the following table outlining what we wanted to achieve:
| | |
| | |
| John phone set – silver | Veronica phone set – red |
| John phone no. – 04xxxxxxxx | Veronica phone no. - 04yyyyyyyy |
| A/C name - John | A/C name - Veronica |
So we filled in the necessary forms, and were told that the updates would be made in a week's time.
Luckily this time, all were fine in the following month. We were afraid that if we ever needed to go to the shop again to request for further changes, the salesperson might ask me to rename myself to Veronica, and Veronica to rename herself to John in order to fix our problem!!!
I just don't understand why an apparently simple matter could grow to become a such complicated and annoying issue!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Another Unresolved Chinese Couplet
In my blogs - Qianlong Emperor and the Widow, 8 December, 2009 and 2 March, 2010, I mentioned a famous Chinese couplet which remains unresolved. Here is another one:
As I understand, this couplet still remains uncompleted. If you can complete it, please let me know.
東種蘭 西種菊 中總種竹
As I understand, this couplet still remains uncompleted. If you can complete it, please let me know.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Achilles and the Tortoise
The tortoise challenged the great Greek warrior, Achilles to a race with an allowance of 100-metre head start. Although Achilles was such a strong and fast warrior, he would never be able to catch the tortoise, not to mention to overtake him.
In order for Achilles to overtake the tortoise, he had to run the 100 metres, bringing him to the tortoise's starting point. Since both Achilles and the tortoise were moving at the same time, by the time Achilles reached the tortoise's starting point, the tortoise should have moved forward some distance, say a metre. So the tortoise was a metre ahead of Achilles. In order to overtake the tortoise, Achilles then had to run that one metre, bringing him to the tortoise's new position. Again, since they both were moving at the same time, by the time Achilles reached the tortoise's new position, the tortoise should have moved forward yet some distance, albeit smaller this time. So the tortoise was still at some distance ahead of Achilles. Achilles then had to catch up with the new distance. But the tortoise yet moved forward another distance at the same time, albeit much smaller and smaller. So the tortoise was always at some distance ahead of Achilles, no matter how small it was. Therefore, Achilles would never catch the tortoise.
This is the famous Zeno's Paradox by the Greek philosopher, Zeno (490BC - 430BC). We know from common sense Achilles could overtake the tortoise in matter of seconds. But Zeno's argument was perfectly logical. How can we resolve this paradox?
I shall leave it to some later blog.
In order for Achilles to overtake the tortoise, he had to run the 100 metres, bringing him to the tortoise's starting point. Since both Achilles and the tortoise were moving at the same time, by the time Achilles reached the tortoise's starting point, the tortoise should have moved forward some distance, say a metre. So the tortoise was a metre ahead of Achilles. In order to overtake the tortoise, Achilles then had to run that one metre, bringing him to the tortoise's new position. Again, since they both were moving at the same time, by the time Achilles reached the tortoise's new position, the tortoise should have moved forward yet some distance, albeit smaller this time. So the tortoise was still at some distance ahead of Achilles. Achilles then had to catch up with the new distance. But the tortoise yet moved forward another distance at the same time, albeit much smaller and smaller. So the tortoise was always at some distance ahead of Achilles, no matter how small it was. Therefore, Achilles would never catch the tortoise.
This is the famous Zeno's Paradox by the Greek philosopher, Zeno (490BC - 430BC). We know from common sense Achilles could overtake the tortoise in matter of seconds. But Zeno's argument was perfectly logical. How can we resolve this paradox?
I shall leave it to some later blog.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Border Stupidity
'Border Security' is a popular reality show TV series in Australia.
A woman was checking in her luggage at the airport. The airline staff asked, "Has anyone put anything in your luggage without your knowledge?" The woman seemed annoyed, and replied, "If someone put something in your luggage without your knowledge, how would you know?" The man shrugged his shoulders, and giggled, "That's why I ask."
A woman was checking in her luggage at the airport. The airline staff asked, "Has anyone put anything in your luggage without your knowledge?" The woman seemed annoyed, and replied, "If someone put something in your luggage without your knowledge, how would you know?" The man shrugged his shoulders, and giggled, "That's why I ask."
Friday, July 9, 2010
The Story of the Father and the Son
Nasser came from Saudi Arabia. He just started his study in the University of Sydney as a foreign student. After settling down, he sent an email to his father:
"Sydney is wonderful. The weather is beautiful. People are very nice and I really like it here. But dad. I'm a bit ashamed to arrive to my college with my Gold Mercedes. Everybody here comes to school by train."
Next day he received a reply from his father:
"Please stop embarrassing us, my son. I just transferred twenty millions to your account. Go and get yourself a train too tomorrow. Dad."
"Sydney is wonderful. The weather is beautiful. People are very nice and I really like it here. But dad. I'm a bit ashamed to arrive to my college with my Gold Mercedes. Everybody here comes to school by train."
Next day he received a reply from his father:
"Please stop embarrassing us, my son. I just transferred twenty millions to your account. Go and get yourself a train too tomorrow. Dad."
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Change for Good
I went to the McDonald's with my son. We ordered some food for a total of $4.15. I gave the girl at the counter a $5 note, one 10-cent coin and one 5-cent coin. I was hoping to get a $1 coin back for change.
The girl seemed perplexed, apparently thinking I was paying too much. She said, "It's only $4.15, sir." I said, "I know. Can I get the change?" She hesitated for a second, and turned to the manager behind her for help. The manager stepped forward, and said, "No worries. Let's do it one thing at a time."
1. The manager gave me my 10-cent and 5-cent coins.
2. He gave the girl my $5 note, and repeated my order.
3. The girl proceeded very smoothly, and gave me the food and 85 cents in change.
4. I took the whole bunch of loose coins and the food, and left the counter.
The girl seemed perplexed, apparently thinking I was paying too much. She said, "It's only $4.15, sir." I said, "I know. Can I get the change?" She hesitated for a second, and turned to the manager behind her for help. The manager stepped forward, and said, "No worries. Let's do it one thing at a time."
1. The manager gave me my 10-cent and 5-cent coins.
2. He gave the girl my $5 note, and repeated my order.
3. The girl proceeded very smoothly, and gave me the food and 85 cents in change.
4. I took the whole bunch of loose coins and the food, and left the counter.
Motto: Don't confuse the cashier.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Story of the Mother and the Son
Just after 1 am on Saturday, 17 March, 2006, a gun battle broke out in a Tsim Sha Tsui underpass in which two uniformed police officers were ambushed by a man. One police officer was seriously injured and the other was shot dead. Before the police officer died, he returned fire and shot the man, killing him at the scene. The man was later found to be an off-duty police constable, named Tsui Po-ko (徐步高). Subsequent investigations further linked Tsui to a killing of another on-duty police officer in March, 2001, in which the police officer went to investigate a fake noise complaint in a housing estate in Tsuen Wan, but was ambushed and shot dead. His police revolver was stolen during the incidence. Tsui was also linked to a killing of a Pakistani security guard during an armed robbery of the Hang Seng Bank in Tsuen Wan by a masked gunman in December 2001. Both shootings in the bank robbery in December, 2001 and in the gun battle in March, 2006 were from a gun which was identified to be the stolen revolver from the killed police officer in the March, 2001 incidence. Absolutely nothing was known to be related to Tsui until he was shot dead. Before Tsui's death, he was seen as an ordinary person in the family. an outstanding police cadet and an excellent shooter, and performed well in the police force. After he died, he was dubbed as a 'devil cop' by the media. This episode created a tremendous media coverage at that time, and had aroused an enormous attention, shock and interest to the general public in the Hong Kong community.
One year later, an inquest was made in the Coroner's Court to examine the whole case. During the 2-month hearing which started in February, 2007, we saw everyday vividly from the TV a middle-aged woman, wearing a backpack and all alone by herself. She persistently went to the the court from start till finish. We saw the woman being chased by the media before and after the hearing each day. The woman didn't say a word but just walked quickly away from the media. The woman was Tsui's mother.
Day after day, the mother tirelessly went to the hearing, just wanted to know something she didn't want to know. As the truth continued to unfold, the mother came to know more and more about her son, and what he had done, which was so different in contrast to the son she used to know. At the end of the inquest, the court ruled that Tsui unlawfully killed the two police officers and the Pakistani security guard, and he was lawfully killed by the police officer as result of self defence. At this time, we saw the mother coming out from the court, making brief statements in front of the camera slowly in a low voice, "I feel sorry for what had happened. It's very painful for me to accept because I believe my son was very very good. I hope to put the pain behind, and live life in a strong manner from now on." As we saw the mother reading out the statements word by word, we could feel how much pain the mother had gone through in learning and accepting what had happened. We could imagine how difficult it was for the mother to face all the comments and criticisms from the media, friends, relatives and neighbours over the year. And yet we could see a MOTHER still able to bravely and firmly say to the whole world,
One year later, an inquest was made in the Coroner's Court to examine the whole case. During the 2-month hearing which started in February, 2007, we saw everyday vividly from the TV a middle-aged woman, wearing a backpack and all alone by herself. She persistently went to the the court from start till finish. We saw the woman being chased by the media before and after the hearing each day. The woman didn't say a word but just walked quickly away from the media. The woman was Tsui's mother.
Day after day, the mother tirelessly went to the hearing, just wanted to know something she didn't want to know. As the truth continued to unfold, the mother came to know more and more about her son, and what he had done, which was so different in contrast to the son she used to know. At the end of the inquest, the court ruled that Tsui unlawfully killed the two police officers and the Pakistani security guard, and he was lawfully killed by the police officer as result of self defence. At this time, we saw the mother coming out from the court, making brief statements in front of the camera slowly in a low voice, "I feel sorry for what had happened. It's very painful for me to accept because I believe my son was very very good. I hope to put the pain behind, and live life in a strong manner from now on." As we saw the mother reading out the statements word by word, we could feel how much pain the mother had gone through in learning and accepting what had happened. We could imagine how difficult it was for the mother to face all the comments and criticisms from the media, friends, relatives and neighbours over the year. And yet we could see a MOTHER still able to bravely and firmly say to the whole world,
"He's my SON, my very good boy."
I think the scene had deeply moved everyone including the media. The media stopped all the stories ever since then, to leave the mother alone to recover and to resume her normal life (if there could be a such one again).
I think the scene had deeply moved everyone including the media. The media stopped all the stories ever since then, to leave the mother alone to recover and to resume her normal life (if there could be a such one again).
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Elephant and the Seven Children
This story was from the TV series 'Off Peddar' in TVBJ.
Once upon a time, there was a young elephant. One day, the elephant found seven little children abandoned in the wilderness. She brought them home, fed them and raised them as her kids. When the children grew up, they left home and had their own lives. Every time the children encountered setbacks and failures, they went back home and asked the mother elephant for food. The mother always unreservedly gave the children all that was left in the family. Once again, the children came back to mother elephant and begged for food. This time, the mother elephant didn't have anything more for them. In order to satisfy the children, mother elephant gave her last and most precious belonging, the tusk (elephant tooth) to her seven most beloved kids, and let them trade for food. Without the tusk, mother elephant was unable to protect her own self, and was attacked by other wild animals in the forest, ............................ .................................... Finally, mother elephant was killed in the wilderness.
Seeing their mother lying in the wilderness, the seven children were too late to regret.
Once upon a time, there was a young elephant. One day, the elephant found seven little children abandoned in the wilderness. She brought them home, fed them and raised them as her kids. When the children grew up, they left home and had their own lives. Every time the children encountered setbacks and failures, they went back home and asked the mother elephant for food. The mother always unreservedly gave the children all that was left in the family. Once again, the children came back to mother elephant and begged for food. This time, the mother elephant didn't have anything more for them. In order to satisfy the children, mother elephant gave her last and most precious belonging, the tusk (elephant tooth) to her seven most beloved kids, and let them trade for food. Without the tusk, mother elephant was unable to protect her own self, and was attacked by other wild animals in the forest, ............................ .................................... Finally, mother elephant was killed in the wilderness.
Seeing their mother lying in the wilderness, the seven children were too late to regret.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Mathematics Achieves Longevity
You probably have been taught in school about the many benefits of Mathematics. I'd just like to mention a less obvious one.
Mathematicians usually enjoy long lives. We can always pick up a few well known figures and illustrate below:
Archimedes : 287B.C.-212B.C. (75)
Isaac Newton : 1643-1727 (84)
Galileo Galilei : 1564-1642 (78)
Albert Einstein : 1879-1955 (76)
Carl Gauss : 1777-1855 (78)
Johann Bernoulli : 1667-1748 (81)
Leonhard Euler : 1707-1783 (76)
Augustin Cauchy : 1789-1857 (68)
Pierre-Simon Laplace : 1749-1827 (78)
David Hilbert : 1862-1943 (81)
Chern Shiing-shen (陳省身) : 1911-2004 (93)
Huo Luogeng (華羅庚) : 1910-1985 (74)
Tsien Hseu-shen (錢學森) : 1911-2009 (98)
In 'The Longevity Bible' (2006) by Gary Small, sharpening the mind is considered as the first essential for extending life expectancy, together with other essentials like physical exercise, healthy diet, positive attitude, harmonious relationship, stress-free environment and appropriate medication etc. As the author put it, "Fix the brain first, the rest will follow." A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that frequent participation in mentally stimulating activities such as board games, cross word puzzles, sudoku and book reading lowers the risk for Alzheimer's disease (loss of memory and mental abilities usually associated with old age leading subsequently to death) by nearly one third. Hong Kong people have long been aware that playing mahjong avoids or reduces the chance of Alzheimer, although there is no formal study to substantiate. Mathematics is a much more mentally stimulating game. Frequent usages/exercises can achieve similar results, if not better. Most mathematicians work on Mathematics until their very last days, and enjoyed longevity as shown by observations above. Mathematics is indeed rewarding!
Mathematicians usually enjoy long lives. We can always pick up a few well known figures and illustrate below:
Archimedes : 287B.C.-212B.C. (75)
Isaac Newton : 1643-1727 (84)
Galileo Galilei : 1564-1642 (78)
Albert Einstein : 1879-1955 (76)
Carl Gauss : 1777-1855 (78)
Johann Bernoulli : 1667-1748 (81)
Leonhard Euler : 1707-1783 (76)
Augustin Cauchy : 1789-1857 (68)
Pierre-Simon Laplace : 1749-1827 (78)
David Hilbert : 1862-1943 (81)
Chern Shiing-shen (陳省身) : 1911-2004 (93)
Huo Luogeng (華羅庚) : 1910-1985 (74)
Tsien Hseu-shen (錢學森) : 1911-2009 (98)
In 'The Longevity Bible' (2006) by Gary Small, sharpening the mind is considered as the first essential for extending life expectancy, together with other essentials like physical exercise, healthy diet, positive attitude, harmonious relationship, stress-free environment and appropriate medication etc. As the author put it, "Fix the brain first, the rest will follow." A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that frequent participation in mentally stimulating activities such as board games, cross word puzzles, sudoku and book reading lowers the risk for Alzheimer's disease (loss of memory and mental abilities usually associated with old age leading subsequently to death) by nearly one third. Hong Kong people have long been aware that playing mahjong avoids or reduces the chance of Alzheimer, although there is no formal study to substantiate. Mathematics is a much more mentally stimulating game. Frequent usages/exercises can achieve similar results, if not better. Most mathematicians work on Mathematics until their very last days, and enjoyed longevity as shown by observations above. Mathematics is indeed rewarding!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Distance Learning in Mathematics
Back in 2003, I somehow had the desire of taking some distance learning in Mathematics. The idea came about 2 years ago when I was helping my second daughter in her study of 4-unit Mathematics as preparation of the HSC examination (HSC is the joint examination for secondary school students in Australia and is the credential awarded for successful completion of high school study and as basis for entrance to universities). To facilitate the assistance to my daughter, I had to review and refresh my knowledge of my high school mathematics. And in so doing, I came to have rekindled my interest in this subject which was my favourite during my early school days.
I searched the internet for distance learning in university level Mathematics. To my surprise, despite there were lots and lots of distance learning courses everywhere, there were hardly anything in Mathematics. Mathematics is quite a wonderful thing. Everybody learns Mathematics, but few study it. Mathematics is compulsory for everyone in School, but only a handful take it in College. There seemed to be no market for higher level Mathematics. So I searched the universities one by one. Finally I saw in the website of Stanford University, California that they had a program called EPGY (Education Program for Gifted Youths) in which they offered university level Mathematics courses to talented high school students in the form of distance learning. I then wrote to Stanford for possibility of enrollment. I said frankly that I was not sure whether I was gifted, but definitely I was not a youth given my age. Stanford declined insisting their program was aimed for talented high school students only. I expressed that I had gone through the whole world (electronically) and was only able to find this suitable program in Stanford, and that I was very keen to pursue knowledge at this level. After several exchanges of emails, Stanford advised that they could offer the program to teachers of Mathematics. So I suddenly became a teacher and was accepted.
Thence I undertook the program part-time from 2003 to 2006 while I was still working with Qantas. I completed subjects including:
. Multivariable Differential Calculus
. Multivariable Integral Calculus
. Ordinary Differential Equations
. Partial Differential Equations
. Real Analysis
. Complex Analysis
. Logic
. Number Theory
. Linear Algebra
. Modern Algebra
Despite the hard work (it was particularly hard for me being away from school so long), the experience was indeed very enjoyable and satisfying. Although the materials covered were quite involved, some of them are still regarded as 'Introduction' and 'Elementary'. Really there are still so much more lying ahead!
I searched the internet for distance learning in university level Mathematics. To my surprise, despite there were lots and lots of distance learning courses everywhere, there were hardly anything in Mathematics. Mathematics is quite a wonderful thing. Everybody learns Mathematics, but few study it. Mathematics is compulsory for everyone in School, but only a handful take it in College. There seemed to be no market for higher level Mathematics. So I searched the universities one by one. Finally I saw in the website of Stanford University, California that they had a program called EPGY (Education Program for Gifted Youths) in which they offered university level Mathematics courses to talented high school students in the form of distance learning. I then wrote to Stanford for possibility of enrollment. I said frankly that I was not sure whether I was gifted, but definitely I was not a youth given my age. Stanford declined insisting their program was aimed for talented high school students only. I expressed that I had gone through the whole world (electronically) and was only able to find this suitable program in Stanford, and that I was very keen to pursue knowledge at this level. After several exchanges of emails, Stanford advised that they could offer the program to teachers of Mathematics. So I suddenly became a teacher and was accepted.
Thence I undertook the program part-time from 2003 to 2006 while I was still working with Qantas. I completed subjects including:
. Multivariable Differential Calculus
. Multivariable Integral Calculus
. Ordinary Differential Equations
. Partial Differential Equations
. Real Analysis
. Complex Analysis
. Logic
. Number Theory
. Linear Algebra
. Modern Algebra
Despite the hard work (it was particularly hard for me being away from school so long), the experience was indeed very enjoyable and satisfying. Although the materials covered were quite involved, some of them are still regarded as 'Introduction' and 'Elementary'. Really there are still so much more lying ahead!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Prisoner's Dilemma
The police had been watching two suspects of bank robbery for some time but they didn't have sufficient evidence for a conviction. One day, these two guys were caught stealing packs of bubble gum in a supermarket. The police put them into separate rooms, visited each of them and offered the same deal: If one testifies (defects from the other) for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent suspect receives the full 10-year sentence for bank robbery. If each betrays the other, each receives a 5-year sentence for bank robbery. If both remain silent, both suspects will be sentenced to only a 1-month jail for theft in supermarket. Each suspect was assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation and each was told that the other was also offered the same deal. Thus, each suspect was facing a dilemma of choosing either to co-operate with the police (betray the other) or not to co-operate with the police (remain silent).
How would the suspect act?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The possible outcomes (pay-off) can be summarized diagrammatically as follows:
In 'win-lose' terminology, the table looks like this:
Clearly from the diagrams above, the best result (for BOTH suspects) could be achieved IF both co-operated with each other and not with the police by remaining silent. Then each would only be sentenced to a 1-month jail for theft. However, since they were shut up separately, they would not be able to negotiate with each other for a co-operation, and they could only guess what the outcomes would be for different scenarios. Without loss of generality, if suspect A remained silent, he had 50% chance for 1-month jail and 50% chance for 10-year jail. His average pay-off was 5 years and a half month. If A betrayed, he had 50% chance to go free and 50% chance for 5-year jail. His average pay-off was 2 and a half years. A might think that, regardless what B chose, he would always receive a higher pay-off (lesser sentence) by betraying. A could actually say, "No matter what B does, I personally am better off betraying than remaining silent. Therefore, for my own sake, I should betray." All things being equal, suspect B would act similarly. Then they both betrayed each other, and both actually got a lesser pay-off (5 years) than they would get by remaining silent (1 month).
This classical prisoner's dilemma illustrates the different strategies that the player (suspect) would take in the game with different perspectives. If the player could look at the broad picture (which only the police could but the suspects could not), he would opt for remaining silent to achieve the best result. If the player looked at the game only from his own perspective (which the suspects were constrained to do), the strategy to remain silent is clearly dominated by that to betray. So the only possible equilibrium for the game is for all players to betray. No matter what the other player does, one player will always gain a greater benefit by playing betrayal. Since in any situation, playing betrayal is more beneficial than playing remaining silent, all rational players will betray. It also shows how a win-win situation (for the suspects) can be turned into a lose-lose situation (as exactly what the police wanted).
How would the suspect act?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The possible outcomes (pay-off) can be summarized diagrammatically as follows:
| | B remains silent | B betrays |
| A remains silent | A: 1 month B: 1 month | A: 10 years B: goes free |
| A betrays | A: goes free B: 10 years | A: 5 years B: 5 years |
In 'win-lose' terminology, the table looks like this:
| | B remains silent | B betrays |
| A remains silent | win-win | lose much-win much |
| A betrays | win much-lose much | lose-lose |
Clearly from the diagrams above, the best result (for BOTH suspects) could be achieved IF both co-operated with each other and not with the police by remaining silent. Then each would only be sentenced to a 1-month jail for theft. However, since they were shut up separately, they would not be able to negotiate with each other for a co-operation, and they could only guess what the outcomes would be for different scenarios. Without loss of generality, if suspect A remained silent, he had 50% chance for 1-month jail and 50% chance for 10-year jail. His average pay-off was 5 years and a half month. If A betrayed, he had 50% chance to go free and 50% chance for 5-year jail. His average pay-off was 2 and a half years. A might think that, regardless what B chose, he would always receive a higher pay-off (lesser sentence) by betraying. A could actually say, "No matter what B does, I personally am better off betraying than remaining silent. Therefore, for my own sake, I should betray." All things being equal, suspect B would act similarly. Then they both betrayed each other, and both actually got a lesser pay-off (5 years) than they would get by remaining silent (1 month).
This classical prisoner's dilemma illustrates the different strategies that the player (suspect) would take in the game with different perspectives. If the player could look at the broad picture (which only the police could but the suspects could not), he would opt for remaining silent to achieve the best result. If the player looked at the game only from his own perspective (which the suspects were constrained to do), the strategy to remain silent is clearly dominated by that to betray. So the only possible equilibrium for the game is for all players to betray. No matter what the other player does, one player will always gain a greater benefit by playing betrayal. Since in any situation, playing betrayal is more beneficial than playing remaining silent, all rational players will betray. It also shows how a win-win situation (for the suspects) can be turned into a lose-lose situation (as exactly what the police wanted).
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