First day of soccer

Finally after a long winter, the weather was gorgeous yesterday, and kids' soccer program had their first day of practice. Watch these young fellows played each other in 5 to 5 settings, chasing the ball like crazy, and their never getting tired body. We parents on the sides were just shouting non-stop, trying to give them some attack or defense advice. It just all of a sudden reminded me that there is a purpose why I worked so hard in my humble position. I believed it when Congressman Paul Ryan said he doesn't want to leave the burden to his kids generation when introducing the new budgets plan. We absolutely owe it to them to get the deficits under control and to see to it that we have put together a mechanism to constrain the ever-reaching-out government once and for all.

Watched "Network" by Sidney Lumet over the weekend. Absolutely brilliant. Sorry to learn that he passed away Saturday.

Arthur Jensen: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it! Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU... WILL... ATONE! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that... perfect world... in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock. All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel. 
Howard Beale: Why me? 
Arthur Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday. 
Howard Beale: I have seen the face of God. 
Arthur Jensen: You just might be right, Mr. Beale. 

The best background noise

Netflix movie. That's right. Sometimes I am bored with my music (about 20GB of music). But I really need to listen to something to shield out the noise from people next to me in a cramped up cubicle spaces (or trading desk layout if you will). I still have the unlimited data plan with AT&T. So I download the Netflix to my iPhone 4 and fire it up. In the last two days, I have listened to Bourne Identity, Hunt of Red October, and Verdict. They worked like charm. Perfect background. And I have to say that AT&T's data speed is very good. The picture is very crisp (thanks to the Retina Display). On these three movies, Netflix paused twice, each time less than 10 seconds. So I am very happy with the solution. I am not a heavy voice call user so it is cool that I have found a good way to keep AT&T a bit busier.

Care to share what you use as a background noise?

When $13 billion is not enough?

I guess when you think you didn't get enough credit for the making of it. I am not Paul Allen and I certainly don't know anything about what $13 billion would make people do or think different. But hey, F.Scott Fitzgerald told us long time ago rich people are different. You better believe it.

I actually wanted to include this blog into the previous one Why smart people did such blatant stupid things? but then I kindly like the current title so I decided to post a separate blog.

So what do you think why did Paul Allen paint Mr. Gates such an image in his latest book, and tried to take many credits for what Microsoft did long after he left the company? Can't he just happily take the $13 billion and keep the business between him and Mr. Gates to himself?
 

Why smart people did such blatant stupid things?

We are talking about David Sokol, the heir apparent to Mr. Buffet's empire Berkshire Hathaway. So he bought shares of Lubrizol and then recommended the company to Mr. Buffet for consideration. No matter how you slice and dice the issue, it is just blatant stupid in every aspect. Warren Buffet tried to save face by getting half (or maybe 90%) of facts out fast was another insult to our intelligent. I am truly disappointed this time.

Well, if you live long enough and you care too much about the legacy, you are going to end up doing stupid things that you would never do.

So why Mr. Sokol did it? Yes he profit around 3 million with his purchase. Was 3 million worth the CEO jobs he hold, the reputation he has build for his whole life so far, given that 3 million probably doesn't mount to too much for him? Are WSJ reporters and national tabloids' reporter going to dig up everything about him?

I'm not talking celebrity, vanity, CBS. I'm talking about when you're nearer the end of your life than the beginning. Now, what do you think you think about then? The future? In the future I'm going to do this? Become that? What future? No. What you think is "How will I be regarded in the end?" After I'm gone. Now, along the way I suppose I made some minor impact. I did Iran-Gate and the Ayatollah, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Saddam, Sadat, etcetera, etcetera. I showed them thieves in suits. I've spent a lifetime building all that. But history only remembers most what you did last. And should that be fronting a segment that allowed a tobacco giant to crash this network? Does it give someone at my time of life pause? Yeah. -- Mike Wallace, from "The Insider"

Which country is more open?

Today at the sunday worship, a visit pastor Stephen Tong from Indonesia gave us a very good and inspiring sermon. At the very beginning he shared with us some photos of his church the Messiah Cathedral in Jakarta, Indonesia (which includes a 4600-capacity auditorium and it was completed in 2008, we were told), and talked a bit of details on the church interior, and how long it took to get the permit (a 16 years effort). Here is the fact: Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim population. But their government eventually came through and approved the building permit. It is a magnificent building. The insider is even better, it even has one of the best concert hall in the world!!! You may still remember all the up-roaring and complaints that were filed against Muslim buildings near the ground zero in NYC, and in other places, (not to mention the burning just happened).  Now, let's put these into context and we should ask the question: which country is more open and tolerant? USA, or Indonesia?

As a Chinese, I also dream a day that a as wonderful Christian church building would be build somewhere in China. A building is more than a million words.

Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself. -- Nixon