Heather Armstrong dies

 

I was scrolling through on phone when news of Heather Armstrong's death came out.  Heather Armstrong?  I though that name was familiar.  It was.  Heather Armstrong ran the blog Dooce which I used to read, primarily attracted by her dog Chuck which could balance almost everything on its head.

Armstrong wrote about parenthood mostly.  But what I enjoyed reading was about Chuck.  When Chuck passed on, I landed on Dooce less and less and just a few days ago I read about Armstrong's death.  I never did realise then how popular Armstrong or Dooce was, and now feel like part of an era had just passed on with Armstrong's passing.

Queen Elizabeth II funeral: Nation pays final farewell

And so with the Queen laid to rest, as BBC reported in Queen Elizabeth II funeral: Nation pays final farewell, an era has come to an end.  By a strange quirk of circumstance, the young Princess Elizabeth became heir to a shrinking empire that was once so huge that the sun never set.  

I wasn't able to watch the funeral, but BBC created a helpful guide which I really appreciated.

It was by the sheer charisma of the Queen who held the commonwealth nations together, but with her passing, I won't be surprised if before long nations which had been considering becoming republics proceed quicker towards it.  Perhaps even within the United Kingdom, there could be more and louder questions about taxpayers continuing to fund the royal family.

Der Tod der Königin

Königin Elizabeth II. starb am 8. September 2022 im Alter von 96 Jahren.  Der Buckingham Place gab den Tod bekannt. 

Obwohl es unvermeidlich ist, dass die Königin stirbt, war es dennoch eine ziemliche Überraschung, da sie Liz Truss gerade erst am 6. September 2022 zur neuen britischen Premierministerin ernannt hatte.

Jetzt fühlt es sich seltsam und surreal an, dass König Charles der Dritte der Monarch ist. Die meisten Menschen haben Queen Elizabeth nur als Queen gekannt. Für mich haben alle meine britischen Briefmarken das Profilbild der Königin, und ich hätte nie gedacht, dass es sich eines Tages ändern könnte.  

Die Website royal.uk hat Informationen über die königliche Familie aktualisiert, und Prinz William hat den ehemaligen Prinzen Charles als Prinz von Wales ersetzt.

Das Ableben der Königin löst weltweit große Emotionen aus, aber unbestreitbar wird die Frage, ob der neue König das Staatsoberhaupt bestimmter Nationen bleiben wird, stärker auftauchen.

安倍晋三元首相、演説中に撃たれ死亡

奈良での選挙運動中に安倍晋三前首相が致命傷を負ったという昨日のニュースには、今でも非常にショックを受けています。

私は通常、朝日新聞アプリが通知をプッシュするたびに一瞥します。昨日の朝のプッシュ通知は、「安倍晋三」と「銃声」という言葉が同じ文に含まれていたので、少し珍しいものでした。見出しから何かを誤解したに違いないと思って二度読み直し、ニュースをクリックして、シャツに血を流した安倍晋三が仰向けに寝転がっている写真を見てショックを受けた。後の通知で彼が心停止に苦しんでいると言われたとき、それはもっと心配になりました。私はプッシュ通知に頼るのをやめ、代わりに定期的にニュースWebサイトをチェックし、安倍晋三が大量の失血で亡くなったと報告された日の後半にショックを受けました。弾丸は安倍晋三動脈に当たっていた。

犯罪者の論理を完全に理解することはできません。意見の相違があるときに前首相またはそれについて誰かを撃つことは、利用可能な唯一の解決策ではありません。

私は選挙運動期間中に伝統的な市場や道路の交差点で政治家を見てきました。ほとんどの場合、ボディーガードや地元の警察は周りにいないようです。彼らは不満を持った有権者から卵を投げられないだろうと彼らは自信過剰だと思った。

安倍晋三を致命的に撃った犯罪者は罰せられるべきです。いくつかの教訓があるはずです。キャンペーン中、政治家は少なくともある程度の目に見える保護を必要とします。

Simone Biles!

When Simone Biles announced that she would not be competing in the events for the Olympics after arriving in Japan, I was quite resigned to having the 50 pictograms as the only memory I will have of Olympics 2020.  (I think I may be quite addicted to it, watching it an average of 2 or 3 times everyday since the opening ceremony itself.  Sometimes it doesn't take a whole lot of money or warm bodies to create a warm fuzzy impact!)

The other athletes are great in their pursuit of sporting glory, whether they were successful in defending their gold medals (I honestly don't get the "defend the gold medal" thingy.  These athletes had already achieved a (or more) gold medals.  Why are they expected to "defend" their previous titles?)  Me merely wanting to watch Simone Biles compete at Tokyo 2020 takes nothing away from them.

Still!  It was awesome to see Simone Biles compete in the beams balance.  And I do hope that whatever it takes, Simone enjoyed herself on the beams.

Pharaoh's Golden Parade

What a spectacle!!  22 Pharaohs (18 ancient kings and 4 ancient queens) were relocated in a dazzling parade from The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat on Sat and I've watched the entire parade twice.

Most of the pharaohs were from the ancient New Kingdom, and transported in vehicles built to resemble boats carrying deceased pharaohs to their resting places.

It was so many many moons ago that I was at The Egyptian Museum and I could have seen with my own eyes some of the pharaohs.  Unfortunately, the tour guide allowed us only a miserly 90 minutes in such an awesome place but insisted on spending the next 2.5hrs at a papyrus shop where he could receive commissions if we bought something there.

It was strange to see the streets of Cairo emptied of its usual life for the parade, and I do wonder where all the people went.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization to receive the convoy, and I can't help thinking that he had to walk a long way to where the concert was, and later to the exterior of the Museum.

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization was not built the last time I was in Egypt, and I am hoping to be able to visit it and more when borders are finally opened.

Now that my gushing over the Parade has tempered down a little, I wonder if the pharaohs themselves expected to be relocated once from their ancient resting places to The Egyptian Museum and again to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.  And to be displayed, and to endure the excited chatters or whispers of fascinated visitors.  

I wonder, if they might feel comforted knowing that despite the relocation, they are still in their lands, compared to mummies and artefacts in the British Museum and other museums that continue to take pride in their ancient Egyptian collections.  When the day comes that Egypt is more than capable to preserve and restore their ancient history in good condition, what would stop museums (and private collectors) outside Egypt from returning the artefacts to their land of origin?

"Democracy has prevailed"

Declared the New York Times as Joe Biden is augurated as the 46th POTUS.

While the past 4 years were probably mind boggling to many people, it cannot be denied that in the last few months of 2020, the world probably got to see for itself (and me too, after a couple of documentaries showing the other side of globalisation - one that many in countries that benefitted from globalisation never saw and probably couldn't care less) that the globalisation had not lifted all boats.  In fact, some boats sank.  People on the sunk boats probably found an outlet for their frustrations conveniently, however the polling results of the election did demonstrate their distrust of the current system.  Hopefully the new POTUS can, as he said "...end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal...".

全员获救！

过去的星期是个非常让人兴奋的星期。

泰国当局介于雨季，星期天开始把受困的十二名少年足球员与他们的教练救出洞穴。

这是一项非常艰难的救援行动。救援行动开始之前已有一名退役的泰国海豹队突击队员在运送氧气瓶过程中缺氧身亡。

星期天早上，新闻应用软件传来拯救行动已开始的消息，预计当晚第一名少年足球员将被救出洞穴。六点之前，第一名少年足球员出洞了！之后另三名也被救出洞穴。

接下来的三天，其他少年足球员与他们的教练也陆续被救出洞穴。

在所有救援人员已到达较安全所在地后，把水抽出洞穴的泵停止操作，洞穴内的水位又上涨了。

在这场不可思议艰难万分的救援行动中，受困的十二名少年足球员与他们的教练竟然被找到并成功被救出洞穴。

冥冥之中似乎有一种更大的力量保护着受困的十二名少年足球员与他们的教练与所有参与拯救行动的人员。

退役的泰国海豹队突击队员的牺牲警惕着人们事事无完美。但是他的牺牲使他的生命更显意义。

希望这次奇迹般的重生可让受困的十二名少年足球员与他们的教练接下来对生命的意义有所领悟。

接下来，受困的十二名少年足球员与他们的教练受困与被拯救的故事将让世界更了解其中的艰难。出书，故事被拍成电影应该是少不了的。

在这一连串商业行动的当儿，我不会忘记:

• 洞穴附近的农民不计损失让救援队伍将洞穴内抽出的污水往他们田里灌
• 各国洞穴潜水员不畏危险或酬报，与泰国海豹队突击队携手救人后还相当低调不觉的自己是英雄
• 洞穴附近的村民义务为救援队伍洗衣，烧饭，按摩

这是一场非理性的，失败几率非常高的拯救行动。拯救队员似乎都对行动的成功讶议非常。

泰国骨子里是个怎么样的国家？受困的十二名少年足球员与他们的教练非什么二代，泰国当局竟不计人力物力拯救他们。这个问题可让我思考良久。

13 trapped in Thai Cave

I didn't pay much attention when news broke on the 12 young Thai boys who became trapped in a cave with their coach.  Another silly excursion fueled by youthful exuberance, I thought.  Soon these boys and their coach would walk out of the cave to camera flashes.  Was für ein Foto-Op!

As days continued without the 13 being found, I started to realize that perhaps the boys and their coach were trapped far deeper into the cave.  News reported that they could have been trapped by water at the cave entrance, hence they were unable to walk out themselves.  With the impending monsoon season, the boys had to be found quick.

After news reported that specialist cave divers had found all 12 boys and their coach on Mon, tears nearly came to my eyes, especially when I found out that their coach was 25 years old.  This 25-year old had the resiliance and wits around him to keep his young charges all safe and alive.  And all the 12 young boys had held up pretty well mentally in the constant darkness in the cave.  That blew my mind away.  How many 25-year olds can do that?

What further blew my mind away was the farmers' response to their fields being flooded with muddy water pumped out from the cave.  One farmer, whose fields are now submerged and ducks wiped out by the water was quoted as saying that 'with the farming, we can make money again, but 13 lives are not something we can create.'  He was proud of his small but significant contribution to the rescue of the 13 still trapped in the cave.

Sadly, an ex-Navy diver died from lack of oxygen during the rescue operation, underscoring the urgency to bring the 13 out of the cave before oxygen level further decreases in the cave and the heavy rain starts.

This story has been gripping, and I believe stirs much more positive emotions in people that the Trump-Kim Gipfel had.  

The man who was fired by a machine

Such a clickbait title for a BBC article!

Upon reading the article, it became apparent that Mr Diallo was not fired by a machine.  

Mr Diallo, who was eight months into his three-year contract with the company, did not have his contract renewed by his original manager (who had been laid off) in the company's new IT system.  This kicked off a series of instructions by the IT system to offboard Mr Diallo.

Questionable clickbait title aside, this story had a few interesting points:

1. Why did Mr Diallo's contract had to be renewed in the new system when he was only eight months into his contract?  There should have been a batch job to transfer these data from the old system to the new system and not rely on human intervention.  Furthermore, Mr Diallo was still in his contract, hence the question of his contract having to be 'renewed' should not even come into picture at all.
2. The company was seemingly helpless to reverse the instructions of the IT system.  This seemed odd, because an alternative solution would have been to add Mr Diallo as a new hire, and then reprogramme his card access and computer access.  
3. Mr Diallo found his co-workers distant after his three weeks' absence from the office.  Neither Mr Diallo nor BBC offered an explanation for the co-workers' behaviour, and it was puzzling why this was even brought up.

Most certainly, Mr Diallo was NOT fired by a machine.  Algorithms are programmed by humans, even those with AI.  So it boiled down to whether all bugs in the programme were properly sieved out and resolved, and proper and exhaustive UAT done before the deployment of the system.

Der Trump-Kim-Gipfel

Der Trump-Kim-Gipfel muss diese Woche das am meisten diskutierte Ereignis sein, dass es eine Schande wäre, nicht den Legionen von Politik- und Medienexperten beizutreten, um darüber nachzudenken. 

Einige Reporter kamen mit einem Who Won and Who Lost vom Gipfel und erklärten Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un und Moon Jae-In als Gewinner, während einige dachten, dass Trump und Moon Verlierer wären. 

Ich bin der Meinung, dass Kim Jong Un definitiv THE WINNER ist. 

In einer sehr kurzen Zeitspanne von etwa 6 Jahren seit seiner Machtübernahme hatte Kim erreicht, was sein Großvater und sein Vater nicht konnten: den sitzenden US-Präsidenten den ganzen Weg von Quebec weg fliegen zu lassen, wo er seine Teilnahme am G7-Gipfel kürzte ihn zu treffen, an einer Serie von Photo-Ops teilzunehmen, die von einem Handschlag vor US- und Nordkorea-Flaggen ausging (wobei Trump seinen ausgestreckten Arm im Voraus verlängerte, wohlgemerkt), hatten die internationalen Medien in Raserei versetzt, als er Sehenswürdigkeiten in Singapur in der Nacht vor dem Gipfeltreffen und ließ Trump die Militärübungen der USA und Südkoreas zum Stillstand bringen (anscheinend einseitig, da Südkorea und Japan sich im Vorfeld dieser Entscheidung nicht bewusst waren). Alles ohne eine verbindliche Erklärung oder einen Zeitplan für die Entnuklearisierung Nordkoreas abzugeben, und die Regierung von Singapur nahm den Hinweis auf seinen Aufenthalt im sehr teuren St. Regis Hotel entgegen, mit all dieser Sicherheit. 

Jetzt will sogar Abe mit ihm einen Gipfel haben. 

Wenn Kim Jong Un kein geschickter Diplomat ist, dann weiß ich nicht, was Fachkenntnis bedeutet. 

Um jedoch die heute scheinbar bizarre Situation zu erreichen, in der der Kopf eines Pariastaats nun die Höflichkeit eines Staatsmannes erhält, hat sich Kim Jong Un sicher gut vorbereitet, indem er vor seinen Treffen mit Xi Jinping, Moon Jae-In und Donald Trump Raketen abgefeuert hat. Sicherlich vermied er das Schicksal des syrischen Präsidenten Bashar al-Assad, indem er sicherstellte, dass die Welt von Nordkoreas interkontinentaler ballistischer Rakete wusste. 

Und so ist die Lektion für die weniger Sterblichen, nicht nur bereit zu sein, sondern ihre Fähigkeiten bereit und bekannt zu haben, so dass man nicht herumgeschubst werden kann und andere zu einem auf seine Weise kommen werden.

Pakatan Harapan wins Malaysian Election 2018

I had initially thought of staying up to wait for the results of the Malaysian Election 2018, then I decided against it.  Many newspapers had predicted that BN could lose the popular vote but it would stilll form the next government, and so I thought why sacrifice my sleep.

It was nothing short of a huge surprise that Pakatan Harapan, with the ex-PM Dr Mahathir, sweep BN out of power after 60 years.  This followed the recent shocking election outcomes in USA and GB, where voters seemingly outwitted pundits and liberals in their choices.  I wonder if the current disruptive technologies of AI could have accurately predicted these outcomes with their big data algorithm.

The change in political climate in Malaysia had been nothing short of surprises recently, with Dr Mahathir quitting his previous party, making up with Anwar, and leading the ernstwhile fragmented opposition to power.

Meanwhile, news kept pouring in the New Straits Times today:

• ex-PM Najib stopped from leaving Malaysia
• Lim Guan Eng to return to Penang
• Calls for Najib to step down as UMNO President

The Malaysian electorate had made its voice heard.  Hopefully, change that was promised would materialise.

Earthquake in Bagan

I was in Bagan in 2012 and never forgot about that awesome place.

I was so shocked to read about the earthquake measuring 6.8 near Bagan on 24 Aug and the devastation it wrought on the people and the ancient structures since the time of the Pagan.

How I did it: The Founder of TOMS on reimaging the company’s mission

The Jan-Feb 2016 issue of HBR was a good read. I came across another article that was interesting. I had seen many people wearing alpargata with TOMS’ label, and also many others wearing much cheaper knock-offs produced in China. I did not know the story about TOMS, and while I thought I might like to have a pair of TOMS everytime I saw them on someone’s feet, I decided against paying for a pair of shoes that I thought earned its company a high profit margin simply because it was made in China, where wages and cost of material were comparatively lower.

Before I read this article, I had no idea that:
* TOMS was more than just a shoe company, coffee is also sold
* The start-up was 100% owned by its founder, having grown in 6 years from a start-up to a USD 300 Million company, until 50% of the company was sold to Bain Capital, an investment firm
* TOMS gave away a pair of shoes for every pair sold, extended to eyewear.

Some interesting points shared by TOMS’ founder Blake Mycoskie:
* The “experienced team of executives he brought in to manage the day-to-day operations of the company…was bogged down in personality conflicts and bickering…implement processes and systems similar to those used at their previous companies
* “people follow you, buy from you, when they believe what you believe”
* After his sabbatical, he realized that he was “better in the founder’s role – setting the vision…not running marketing or any other department”

As a founder, Blake Mycoskie, in bringing in an external team of executives, experienced what many employees would have experienced if their companies had changed ownership or had senior figures brought in from another company or industry. Having been very familiar with how things were ran at their previous companies, the new executives would probably be very keen on bringing their previous experience to their new companies, especially if they were brought in to troubleshoot issues. During the transition phase, there could have been quite an upheaval, as I read in previous HBR articles where CEOs detailed how they restructured the companies they went in, by removing senior figures resistant to changes or by letting off departments that no longer align with the companies new directions. While HBR articles are typically from management perspective, it would be interesting if there were articles on employees’ experience during such transition.

Blake Mycoskie’s point about “people follow you, buy from you, when they believe what you believe” is so simple to understand, yet so difficult to implement. Having heard of people who follow their superiors when they switch employers, I suppose this is what “people follow you, when they believe what you believe” means.

People are not all the same. Some are better than certain things than others. I suppose in an entity, the CEO functions much like a founder in a start-up where the founder or CEO draws the vision of the company and communicates it to the company such that “people follow you, when they believe what you believe”. A founder or CEO unable to adequately communicate the vision to the people he/she is leading could lead to frustration of the employees who are unable to clear grasp where the goal is, much less how to get to the goal.

The Royal Mail specially commissioned Stamp Sheet, featuring four generations of the Royal Family

The stamp sheet as seen on the Royal Mail's webshop was pretty normal looking, but the actual photograph itself on the Royal Family's Instagram was hilarious.

Prince George stood on blocks so that all the faces could be captured at about the same height.  I wonder if the photographer took a long time to obtain this shot?  Aren't little boys prone to running about and not staying still long enough for a photograph?

William and Kate visited Bhutan`s Tiger´s Nest too

During their visit to Bhutan, William and Kate trekked up to Tiger`s Nest, which I did last year!

According to the article, they found the view up the trek stunning, and the trek easy.  Evidently both of them are fitter than me, as the trek up became increasingly tough for me.

It wasn`t stated in the article if they went into the cave where Guru Rinpoche mediated in, so that might have been one experience they missed if they were not accorded special privileges.

The photos from their trek brought back lovely memories of my trek last year, and now I`m thinking of making a second trip to Bhutan.

Hokkaido Shinkansen opened

Hokkaido is finally linked to Honshu by Shinkansen!  That means shaving time off getting from Tokyo to Hakodate by nearly an hour!

I am so looking forward to finally be able to get to Hakodate.  Previous options of getting there consisted of:

• a domestic flight from Tokyo to Hakodate
• Shinkansen from Toyko to Shin Aomori then transferring to Haokodate by limited express, or by ferry

Both options did not appeal to me enough.  I would prefer to be on a train than a domestic flight and would prefer not to have to break my journey up especially if I have bags with me.

There are only 10 cars for the Hokkaido Shinkansen - actually only 8 to me because I am unlikely to want to pay for either a Green Car or Gran Class seat for now, much shorter than the 16-car Tokaido Shinkansen.

Considering that it took me a year before I travelled on the Hokuriku Shinkansen after it opened, it might be 2017 before I'm on my first ride on the Hokkaido Shinkansen.

Teams: When Authority Trumps Competence

In the March 2016 edition of Harvard Business Review (HBR), a lab experiment was cited, whereby students were divided into teams to work on scenarios. Half of the teams were not instructed to choose a leader while the remaining half was. The results? Teams instructed to choose a leader and those that had the most capable leaders performed best. Next were teams not instructed to choose a leader. Surprisingly, teams that performed worst were teams instructed to choose a leader but had leaders who appeared authoritative.

A simple conclusion from the experiment was that teams could still function without a leader, but teams that had leaders had outcomes on extreme ends of the scale. They either performed very well or very badly. All else being equal, it would seem that choosing the right leader matters.
In the HBR article, it was cited that “those who see themselves as experts and project the most confidence may be the people whose expertise we should question most”. This would contradict what most students are taught in school to be confident and appear confident, regardless of their level of capability.

Stanford Professor Lindred Greer advised in the HBR article “don’t get snowed by persuasiveness or the appearance of authority. Some of those things can be useful, but competence comes first.”
In today’s world, be it in schools or in organizations, people learn that those who project authority, and are good with words very often enjoy the spotlight and the rewards that come with being able to project authority, competency notwithstanding.

Despite Professor Greer’s advice, people will still continue to be snowed by persuasiveness or the appearance of authority. These are typically the first encounter that people have of others, and first impression counts. Competency however, usually cannot be encountered during initial contacts.

PJ Crowley: How Obama learned the limits of American power

It's been a long and complicated eight years for America's foreign policy under Barack Obama, but the chastened president is still a believer in US leadership, as PJ Crowley writes.

In the first year of his presidency, Barack Obama the idealistic internationalist cared deeply about what the world thought of US policy and power and committed himself to repairing America's standing in the world.....

In the last year of his presidency, a far more chastened and realistic Barack Obama gave a remarkably blunt series of interviews to Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic that revealed the difficulty of translating that presumed indispensability into coherent strategies and meaningful collective action to resolve complex conflicts that are rooted as much in the past as the present.(Read the rest of the article here)

What struck me as I read this article on the BBC website, was not so much about how Obama 'learned the limits of American power', but how real those words in italics (italics my own) could easily have referred to how an organization works.

Newly appointed or promoted executives might have had lofty and idealistic hopes of transforming the organizations or departments they took over into one where people really worked in teams.  Some do succeed very well, some may encounter  the difficulty of translating (an idea)  into coherent strategies and meaningful collective action to resolve complex conflicts that are rooted as much in the past as the present.

I heard of executives who hired personal life coaches, or had personal life coaches hired for them by their organizations who worked wonders.  But I do wonder for some of the personal life coaches who have had limited corporate experience and hence perhaps less personal experience of the dynamics of the corporate world, how are they able to advise and coach their charges?

台湾2016总统立委大选

虽说小英躺着中选，开票还是一件令人紧张期待的事。例去年新加坡大选虽逢开国元老过世，执政党的票数还是令各界相当震惊。

看着三立新闻网的直播，小英的票数一路领先，其他两位总统候选人的票数被抛的远远的。现在就是看立委的选情了！

紧张紧张刺激刺激！！