Daily Scribble

Tulaip Casino

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This weekend we went to visit my cousin’s baby girl in Seattle. Other than seeing the baby, we also spent the afternoon in the Seattle Premium Outlets. Tulaip Casino is right next to the outlet mall and it offers a pretty good buffet brunch and the price is very reasonable. It was a fine Sunday afternoon with nice weather and sun shines outside. We have to go through the gambling floor to go to the restaurant. I am surprised by the number of people in the casino. I wonder who would want to waste a fine afternoon inside a casino sitting in front of the slot machines. I always thought gambling in the casino is something to do after dark when everywhere else is closed.

Slot machine is probably the most boring gambling in the casino. It lacks the human interaction at the card or dice table. Slot machine is controlled by computer and it is guarantee the gambler will lose in a long run. In fact many slot machine even have fine prints about its odds written somewhere. Usually it is worse than 0.98, which means on average you will lose your bet after playing 50 times. All the gamblers I saw in the casino are overweight, it is pretty obvious that keep pressing the same button mindlessly and then watching the LCD showing some repetitively graphics won’t burns much calories.. Looking at those oversize gamblers, I can’t help but wondering does intelligence have a negative correlation with obesity. The fatter you are, the dumber you are. I guess I should not criticize but thank them instead, they subsidize my buffer brunch after all.

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The ungovernable state

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California is a textbook case when democracy falls flat on its face, yet it is still considerably better than places with no democracy.

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兩週一聚

兩週一聚﹕五年之後

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前言﹕這是一個叫「兩周一聚」的活動。是網友米雪兒發起。每月十五日﹑三十日﹐一班住在世界不同角落的香港人都會一起寫同一個題目。今天是第十五次相聚，由Readandeat 出題﹐主題定為「五年之後」。

子日﹕人無遠慮﹐必有近憂。意思是人若沒有長遠的考慮﹐沒有計劃未來﹐便會不斷被眼前的事情困擾。五年是個很適合計劃的年期﹐十年之後太遙遠﹐計劃很容易流於不切實際的空談。一年之後時間太過近﹐轉眼便到欠缺長遠的眼光。以前蘇聯和中國的經濟計劃﹐也是以五年為期的五年計劃。

我的五年計劃很平凡﹐大慨每個中年男人也差不多。結婚後人就要安定下來﹐好聽是不再好高鶩遠變得踏實﹐不好聽是埋沒年輕時的理想。家庭方便首要買屋生小孩﹐努力工作升職加薪﹐工餘進修相關知識﹐不要給科技轉變和工作外判淘汰。一兩年後開始工餘兼讀MBA﹐不過學費昂貴倒是個問題﹐希望能夠游說到公司贊助。可能經歷過科技泡沬爆破﹐也不太害怕行業衰退公司裁員﹐只要保持競爭力作好心理準備﹐頂多是找過另一份工作﹐反正現今社會己沒有保證﹐能在同一間公司做到退休這回事。

人生的大方向普通平凡﹐生活細節倒有精彩創新的空間。博客文章一定要繼續寫﹐那是磨練文筆訓練思維的習作。從開始至今寫了四年﹐感覺只是克服了寫作障礙﹐還未能揮筆落默得心應手。五年後希望學有小成﹐可以寫出點像樣的文章﹐偶然文章可以登報見人。不過夢想當作家和當時事評論人﹐是個比五年更長遠的目標﹐大慨如Malcom Gladwell所說﹐只有痛下一萬小時苦功的人才會成功。

寫作若只寫不讀﹐知識很快便乾溏見底。在磨練寫作技巧以外﹐還要進修看書﹐吸收多方便的學識﹐寫出來的文章才有說服力。哲學依然會繼續讀﹐一年修讀三門課﹐五年可以讀十五課﹐大慨足夠學分去報讀哲學碩士或博士課程了。修讀哲學所有主要領域的基本課後﹐我的興趣是政治和道德哲學的應用﹐所以也要讀經濟學和社會學相關的課。在學習和寫作外﹐我希望能夠重新溫習以前讀過的課﹐把我的讀書筆記整理上網﹐方便日後作為寫文章的參考資料。

人生的最大意義是玩樂﹐曾經把我想學想玩的東西例出來﹐發現就算不愁吃穿不用工作﹐也沒可能在有生之年完成所有夢想。生有涯而知無涯﹐只好作出取捨﹐放棄次要沒有天份的項目﹐專心發展幾樣最感興趣的活動。我喜歡旅行見識世界﹐隨了工作和學習以外﹐我要和老婆多去旅行。我自己身為中國人﹐可是還未到過中國大陸。我喜歡日本動畫﹐可是還未去過東京朝聖。我擁有英國照護是英國公民﹐可是每次去英國只是在希斯魯轉機﹐還未踏出過機場一步。中國﹐日本和英國﹐將會是下一站的目的地。五年去三次旅行﹐不算很過份吧。我運動細胞並不發達﹐但我深信可以將勤補拙。如能每星期冬天練習滑雪﹐夏天練習射擊﹐五年後雖未必可以達專業水平﹐但作為業餘嗜好也不會太失禮吧。其他想學的東西﹐有機會也想學習﹐只恐怕學入門班後﹐沒有空餘時間持續升級。

看看五年前的自己﹐與今天沒有很大的變化﹐只是在各面方進步了點。五年之後大慨我還是這個我﹐在正常的人生階梯﹐慢慢捨級而上吧。

其他文章﹕ Sherry、wiwiana、yaya、周游、洛言、Petit_melon、The Man who Loves Everton、hevangel、Zero、Haricot、Catherine Lim、Nankin、Best Actor、石先生、leona、humptidumpti、Silver、michelle、chilli mom、Middle、folium、Watson、Janice、C+、 Kempton、mingmanfred、Natchan、lomichee、C9讀與食 、肥肥媽媽、呆王、火羽、小孜媽、longqt、本棉_簡單快樂、軍師奶

若果想參加兩周一聚的朋友﹐可以參看這個網頁。

書評

孔子無雙 – 何故

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我從開始修讀哲學以來﹐一直也想學習中國哲學﹐可是大學沒有開中國哲學的課﹐想看書自修又感到無從入手。內地學者于丹在電視台講論言很出名﹐不過在書店看見她的《論語心得》厚厚一大本﹐又有點擔心自己初看吃不消。正在躊躇不知該從那裏開始時﹐剛好在獨媒看見《孔子無雙》的廣告﹐便不其然被這本書的名字吸引。廣告中標榜新派歷史小說﹐有很多名字熟悉的文化界名人推廌﹐加上平常也有看作者何故寫的日本文化評論﹐我想這本書應該會很有趣便買了下來。

書中首四個故事寫得不錯﹐分別以孔子四個學生為主角﹐用不同的角度去介紹孔子的學說。側寫的手法除了讓孔子更具立體感外﹐故事中更加插不少孔子時代的歷史典故﹐讓讀者感受孔子在那個亂世時代的使命感。中段的四個故事用中國歷史人物﹐簡述孔子思想對中國歷史的影響。最後作者杜撰四個近代人物﹐日本儒商和西洋傳教士的故事﹐重點非是孔子的思想﹐倒似在隨便地說說作者自己對孔子的想法。韓國學者描寫祭孔的傳統﹐給讀者的感覺像是作者抄百科全書。最後一篇以香港中學生為主角﹐﹐天馬行空的幻想在現代如何推廣孔子思想﹐內容輕鬆搞笑是篇不錯的故事。我不介意在網上閱讀這種遊戲文字﹐可是這些東西沒有重讀的價值﹐真金白銀買本書回來﹐卻是這種貨色的內容﹐未免有點浪費金錢的感覺。若果全書能保持初段的寫作水準﹐或許我會有截然不同的評價﹐現在這本書給我爛尾的感覺。

坦白說我對這本書很失望﹐可能是我一開始有錯誤的期望﹐以為這本是介紹孔子思想的入門書藉。誠如作者自己在後記所言﹐此書不是什麼偉大的著作﹐不過記錄他對中國文化的反思。畢竟何故不是唸中國哲學出身﹐他對孔子思想的解讀﹐只是限於引用原文並加以注釋﹐欠缺具啟發性的分析研究。他創作了十二個故事﹐用淺白的文字介紹孔子的生平﹐以及孔子那幾個人所共知的主要想法﹐如君子之道﹐提倡禮樂﹐恢復周禮等等。也許這本書以青少年為目標﹐作者為照顧讀者程度﹐不能寫得太過深入﹐恐怕會把讀者悶壞嚇跑。

原來期望看完這本書後﹐可以寫點我自己對孔子哲學的感想。可是書中對儒家精神描寫過於零碎﹐除了溫故知新學多一點論言的經文﹐和春秋時代的歷史知識外﹐對於理解孔子學說沒有多大幫助。我想我還未對孔子有足夠的認識﹐可以對孔學作出中肯有主見的判斷。還是多讀幾本中國哲學的書﹐思考儒家的想法透徹點﹐才去評論孔子的哲學吧。

Daily Scribble

Whom to hire?

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After 3 weeks of interview, we have narrowed down to two candidates for a new grad position. Both of them have good enough, but not superb, technical skills. Both of them have good evaluation from previous co-op work term with my company. Both of them seems hard working. One of them is smarter than the other. He works very fast, maybe too fast. He does not think about the solution thoroughly before jumping into the conclusion. He has confidence on herself but sometimes having trouble realizing her own problem. The less smart one has more patient and seems more obedience. You can instruct him to finish the work and he will simply follow the order. Among the interviewers, we have different opinions on whom to hire.

My friend has really bad experience from working with someone has similar character as the smarter candidate. The project was going fine in the beginning, but due to the lack of foresight, it blew up big time close to the end. He spent lots of time to clean up the mess. He was burned pretty bad, so he is hesitate to hire anyone who may turn out being the same. Obviously, my friend’s gut feeling him to reject the the smarter candidate.

On the other hand, I don’t think that is a big problem. I remember I was kind of like that when I first came out of school. It takes time and experience to learn the importance of doing somethings right instead of getting something done quickly. I found it annoying to work with someone who only know how to follow instructions. I think given proper mentoring and guidance, the smarter candidate should turn out to be fine. I found nothing particularily wrong with the less smart candidate, but my gut feeling is the smarter one has more potential.

The idea solution is we come across another candidate who we both like, so we don’t have to limit our choices from these two. We have agreement in rejecting many other unqualified candidates and we sort of have the same idea about the ideal candidate. Somehow, choosing between these two candidates is a tough decision. Maybe we should simply don’t hire both of them. My interview philosophy is better to miss a good person than hiring the wrong person. You will never able to find out how good the good person you missed, but the wrong person will stick around in the company for a long time.