When a conversation is put into a book, it becomes a dialogue. When an idea is put into execution, it becomes an endeavor.

Oh, the modern seeming of the Shanghai city.

("Old Shanghai in New Hong Kong" By PAPYRARRI / http://www.flickr.com/photos/papyrist/3223211398/ / CC)

Too many people, especially the Chinese, are riveted by investing, or speculating, their spare moneys in the securities markets.

They are being too proud and actually looking down on formidable yet largely invisible Western investment firms, hedge funds, and the like, whose sophistication reaches far beyond the imagination of mom and pop investors, I suppose.

Manufacturers even weave 20% polyester into baby wash cloths, the other 80% of which is cotton. Gee. I guess the polyester industry has been booming in the past decade.

I've sifted through the newsletters of the Future Shop and decided to unsubscribe them. There's too much mundane advertising stuff in them.

The almost new fridge's door voices squeaks while it turns and closes.

In theory, the dialogues and negotiations between Israel and Palestine should occur on the platform of UN. But why has it been the U.S. which provides that sort of platform instead?

The No. 1 country on the Earth possesses inherited interests in allying with Israel, mainly for two reasons:
1. Many influential Jewish people and Zionists live and work in the U.S.
2. Christianity, the de facto religion of the U.S., has a very closely knitted relationship with Judaism, which is the religion of Israel.

If Palestine were much more powerful, which platform of dialogues would it choose? The U.S., UN, or an influential Arab country?

Do you like listening to singers who have squeaky voices? I don't, I think.

What's going to be caused by the groundswell of the Chinese people who hold PhD degrees from Western universities?

Sourcing good technologies takes many years.

Always figuring out sales channels.

I don't know if I can trust George Soros as a fount of philosophical wisdom, which he apparently has promoted as the silver bullet for his financial investments successes.

Willfulness is a double-edged sword.

I kind of suspect that Mr. Obama may personally be more interested in social justice, disseminating democracy across the world, Israel vs. Palestine, and so on, than he's interested in the economy.

As the holder of the top job in the U.S., he's got to manage the most important issues.

Maybe he's not naturally interested in managing the economy. But when the recession has been making nearly everyone frown for several years in a row, man, he's got to remember that for average American voters, "it's the economy, stupid."

Text and pics - Vulcan

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Andrea_Mantegna_045.jpg)

Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking.

(By rhiannonstone / http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhiannonstone/5213808680/ / CC)

Quote: "Vulcan, the bare-assed god of the forge, is the largest cast-iron statue in the world and a beloved symbol of the city of Birmingham(, Alabama, U.S.A.)."

(By IvorF/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivorf/3878904096/ / CC)

Quote: "Vulcan bomber in silhouette at the Shoreham Airshow 2009."





"
Vulcan is the patron God of the English steel making city of Sheffield. His statue sits on top of Sheffield Town Hall.

A Vulcan Statue located in Birmingham, Alabama is the largest cast iron statue in the world.

The word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn originates from Vulcan.
"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(god)#Legacy

When a person puts out the foreword of a book, does he have on his mind the best interests of the readers, the author(s), or himself?

Understatedness is a fine art.

It seems that U.S. presidents only with education background in Law are no longer sufficient to act as capable leaders of the very important nation.

They need to get some education background in Finance in order to REALLY UNKENNEL the finance industry which tends to hijack the American economy, as well as the world economy, from time to time.

Much occulted information can be eventually reflected in the futures market.

So speculation has its merits.

In the Buddhism of China and Taiwan, eating no meat has been held as a piety.

What about the Buddhism in Japan, India, Thailand, and other countries? What about that in the ancient era in which Buddha lived?

There must be something good about the Canadian way of life. Otherwise, all talents would have siphoned out of it into the great United States of America.

Japanese products typically look elegant in their own subdued way, which I guess coincidentally match Anglo Saxon consumers' tastes.

Something must be afoot in the online payment industry.

Canada is apparently blest with its vast reservoir of natural energies.

Well, High-Speed Rail, a.k.a. HSR, seems to be an up-and-coming industry, however, the 7.23 fatal HSR collision in Wenzhou, China has terminated China's undue ambition of competing and exporting along that line of industry.

I threshed the material at hand, and developed several further questions. Constantly thrashing concepts and ideas.

Once upon a time, in the business world, Microsoft out-Heroded Herod.

And maybe, Yahoo! has never really walked out of its shadow.

For an individual, freedom of will, mitigated and balanced by pragmatism, is pivotal to happiness.

If he gives up that invisible yet precious freedom of will for a mortgaged house or a steady salary, then he gives up some of his possible happiness, as a consequence.

Prefaces are usually less interesting than prologues by people other than the author.

Every man holds at most ten friends in his heart of heart.

Shallow yet headstrong people don't admit failures. They always think those as buffets.

I don't know. Out there in this world, there're so many people who talk or write about some real entities, which are people or companies, but those talks and writings are just fictitious or imaginary. On the other hand, there're some talks and writings which are fictions or fables, about animals or imagined figures, but they are so truthful.

(By My Standard Break From Life / http://www.flickr.com/photos/mystandardbreakfromlife/4524182838/ CC)

民眾的 “兔死狐悲” 的心理驅動

此次 7.23 溫州動車追尾事故，死幾十人，傷數百人（據目前的政府公佈數據），引起了中國人的公憤。另一方面，中國的煤礦礦難常常也死亡數十人，ms往往不能引起如此大幅度的公憤。為什麼？

我猜測，客觀地講，驅動此次關於 7.23 溫州動車追尾事故的大幅度公憤的主要力量是一種 “兔死狐悲” 的心理，也就是這種事故有可能找上任何一個人；而煤礦礦難卻沒那種可能，有多少人會下井採煤？

There are so myriad people who constantly parse the stock market. It's too much of a good thing. Beside predicting and speculating, you also need to build.

The Chrome app of Personal Blocklist by Google is a policing act to filter out unworthy content farms on the web, I suppose. Well, since my daily Google searches normally don't encounter that kind of content farms, I don't need to keep it installed in my Chrome browser.

I guess that many women think that crooking a finger at a man works. You can see that in a lot of movies.

My baby daughter was squealing with excitement, scrambling on the couch.

Our baby daughter has become to like thrashing a baby spoon in her dinner bowl. Well, how industrious she is.

Some financial debts are never expected to be anted up, e.g. those held by poor African countries. On the other hand, some other financial debts are expected to, e.g. those held by Greece, Spain, and the like, I suppose.

How many fawners are in corner offices?

We can see a lot of spaniels in Montreal.

I don't know much about the case of Americans' piety to their parents.

Law of the Hammer, Maslow's Hammer, or Golden Hammer:

"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

"I'm very sorry. I was absent-minded," J apologized after having spilled some coffee on a bystander. "It's Okay. Stay out of trouble," she said nicely and left.

Our baby daughter likes candied peaches which are baked in oven with brown sugar stuffed inside.

When you see a company thrashes its competitors, it's usually because it has become to know better than others.

"They (the customers) are arriving very soon," Z said over the phone, with his voice trembling a little and squeaking a bit, which exposed something about his character.

The design of the drainage in Southeastern Asian cities must be quite different than that in Canadian cities.

Can time sift out incapable business leaders? And, can time thresh out wonderful ones?

Pursue your dream in your allowance. Get closer to it step by step.

"Please relay my congratulations," said J. ""Relay" is a perfect word for this," Z complimented.

The asking prices of many good private childcare facilities typically range between $38 and $65 per day. Compared to those, the wages of the people who do menial jobs look like chicken feed.

Many Chinese parents debit their bank accounts enormously to send their children to study overseas, especially into the U.S, Canada, U.K. and Australia. But many cases among those will turn out to be lousy deals, in terms of eventual financial payouts, I suspect.

Over the years, there's been pretty much censure on George W. Bush's administration. I know little about politics, but I can be nearly sure that the guy's depth isn't unfathomable.

The traditional two-week construction holidays begin today in Quebec. It's no coincidence that they largely concur with the hottest summer days.

But boy, the last day preceding them, i.e. yesterday, was excruciatingly hot. I don't know how construction workers could manage to do some work in yesterday's weather.

(matt.hintsa / http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_hintsa/2509009203/ / CC)

A day recurs after a night. To where did my hours fly?

Ray-Ban, the prominent brand name of sun glasses, was developed and owned by Bausch & Lomb, the eminent American eye wear and health company.

The emotional pangs stroke inwardly.

關於 risks 的一對一的交易，通常是零和遊戲。例如 期貨 (futures) 市場。

關於 risks 的 n 對 n 的交易，其實也是零和遊戲。例如 保險 (insurance)。

In those cases, which party is the consumer, and which one is the seller? And how to calculate the consumer surplus and the like?

任何一個新加入者能否不受限制地參與自由競爭，是一個體制好不好的重要標誌之一。

It's been said that in Silicon Valley, some promising start-ups are siphoning off talents from the big companies.

It grieved me to live my life the way that that university required. I had my own way and plans. Life is short, and time was limited.

Does a company always really have to worry about a miserly growth rate in sales?

There IS a business cost of crime, terrorism (either by the domestic government or the outside forces), and corruption!

And in addition, think about the Western companies having entered the Chinese market.

Option one: "Well, we're busier than she is," J said.

Option two: "Well, we're busier than her," J said.

Both must be correct. But the option one looks more natural to me.

Interestingly, the Chinese versions of the two most prominent business newspapers in the world, which are the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, have been competing quite a lot in China.

And also interestingly, on a related note, an author may get his articles published often at cn.WSJ.com , but never gets them onto WSJ.com .

Some SNS users' recommendations chime with my need to be on top of important things. But they put out dense information too frequently. Sigh.

I've never come to really understand why so many classic music lovers are so Mozartian.

A person's judiciousness usually takes another's wisdom to appreciate. And not only what he's done, but also what he hasn't.

In Montreal, sort of unskillful are some, or many, cooks in Chinese food restaurants and outlets.

The temperance never ceases to amaze me which Americans and Canadians show in their expression of sadness of losing one or more of their dear ones.

It's nearly obvious that even if RIM will manage to survive in the face of the challenges put out by Apple and Google, it will only squeak through, even in the overseas markets.

Well, I've begun to doubt the competence of some economists or analysts on the Bay Street. They're still voicing that RIM's market shares in emerging markets economies have been improving although that in the U.S. has been sagging, and hence RIM is a buy.

Well, isn't it obvious that the consumers in the above mentioned emerging markets will get informed and become to know better and then follow the suit of savvy American consumers and choose iPhone and Android devices over Blackberry?

Gee, those economists / analysts. Were they speaking their personal true opinions?

The two Co-CEOs of RIM have been sidestepping tough questions from investors.

Will Libya's Gaddafi voluntarily observe the West's claim that his regime is no longer legitimate? We can safely bet he won't, can't we?

But we can bet that he will eventually bow his head under the mounting pressures from the West, because Lybia is so strategically important: "Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world and the 17th-highest petroleum production" (excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya ).

You sift every information stream which attracts your attention and then decide whether to subscribe to it by some means or not.

I have always been curious about the societal effects which have been caused in the West by the continuous decline of observance of Christianity, coupled with the uprising of sex revolution in the 1960s.

A suburban house can fit more people than its urban counterpart. But the problem is, the number of the people who want to live there has been declining.

They say that kids' sweat glands aren't fully developed so that their body temperatures climb more quickly than those of adults.

Judo (柔道) is derived from Jujitsu (柔術) of the ancient Japan.

What is the relationship, if any, between Jujitsu and Tai Chi Chuan, a sort of Chinese martial arts?

Well, the American people are pious to their country, and many Chinese are pious to the Chinese mentality and people. So when the two countries' interests collide, what will happen?

It will be interesting to watch the sequel of Obama's administration to unfold.

Keep your fingers crossed, Mr. Obama.

Well, Herod the Great, a famous ancient blustering tyrant of Judea, was actually only a client king who submitted to the Roman Empire.

("Idealized, undated portrayal of Herod" / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HerodtheGreat2.jpg)

真理、真相往往要通過 溝通 才能得到。

"Tweetstream" is such a nice word.

Spinoza, the famous ancient Dutch philosopher and a Jewish, intrigues me. For example, how does he view pleasure? And, how does he explain "mind and matter being two incommensurable ways of conceiving the one reality"?

See http://www.google.com/dictionary?source=dict-chrome-ex&sl=en&tl=en&q=spinoza    and    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinoza .

Well, I have to admit that when the Canada Post's unionized workers squealed recently, they did it in a peaceful way. Am I wrong?

It's crucial for men to be capable of recognizing termagants and staying safely away from turning those women into their wives, for the sake of their life.

Some people missed potential opportunities for themselves, big and small, because they knew no better. Anyways, adults are responsible for teaching themselves better ways.

Well, I haven't met a dumbshow that my patience can stand.

It seems that many Canadians live cheque by cheque, no matter how high their incomes are. Why don't they shift their behavior patterns and take EXTRA care of their personal spending?

Don't let popular entertainment drain you of your precious time. Will ya?

Given the finiteness of human beings' life spans, higher education or advanced education is not always an unmitigated good for all individuals.

Boy, in some moments, I really love living in Montreal.

Being sophisticated and eclectic means acknowledging many elements and letting them to mitigate and balance each other. Being doctrinaire means the opposite.

Ideals are best when they are balanced by pragmatism. And vice versa.

Canadians below the age 45 sleep for around 6 or 7 hours per day, on average. At any rate, people don't get enough sleep because there's too much information that costs their time to consume in their daily life.

J's slippers squeak against the kitchen floor during these humid summer days.

Maybe the media and entertainment industries in the U.S. have bred too many groundlings in the world.

In household finance, being illiquid is Okay once in a while, but being insolvent, especially in your late forties or older ages, is just not good at all.