Have you wondered why a car's windshield is so large, and the rear-view mirror is so small?
Because we need to look more to the FUTURE than to the PAST.
Have a healthy and wealthy 2011. Happy New Year!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
A Story from Li Ka-shing
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.
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.
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!"
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