Not a lame duck

.. is the kingmaker who can choose to decide who will be the winner.

青花瓷

素胚勾勒出青花 笔锋浓转淡
瓶身描绘的牡丹 一如你初妆
冉冉檀香透过窗 心事我了然
宣纸上走笔 自此搁一半
釉色渲染仕女图 韵味被私藏
而你嫣然的一笑 如含苞待放
你的美一缕飘散
去到我去不了的地方

天青色等烟雨 而我在等你
炊烟袅袅升起 隔江千万里
在瓶底书汉隶仿 前朝的飘逸
就当我 为遇见你伏笔
天青色等烟雨 而我在等你
月色被打捞起 晕开了结局
如传世的青花瓷 自顾自美丽
你眼带笑意

色白花青的锦鲤 跃然于碗底
临摹宋体落款时 却惦记着你
你隐藏在窑烧里 千年的秘密
极细腻 犹如绣花针落地
帘外芭蕉惹骤雨 门环惹铜绿
而我路过那江南小镇 惹了你
泼墨的山水画里
你从墨色深处 被隐去

天青色等烟雨 而我在等你
炊烟袅袅升起 隔江千万里
在瓶底书汉隶仿 前朝的飘逸
就当我 为遇见你伏笔
天青色等烟雨 而我在等你
月色被打捞起 晕开了结局
如传世的青花瓷 自顾自美丽
你眼带笑意

方文山
 

Inventing the inventors, full spectrum

A miracle? Inexpensive, incredibly efficient “liquid metal" battery.
The missing link to renewable energy, by designing a way out.

江雪 山河

江雪   柳宗元  773-819

千山鳥飛絕 萬徑人踪滅
孤舟蓑笠翁 獨釣寒江雪

漫天星閃爍 遍地物奔波
眾生浮躁世 自悟暖球禍

山河   文凯尔  2008

Be liberated from fear, of failure

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"

思蜀

彦博万页琛瑞秀
如璧似玉书尚有

凯尔

A will to survive; a spirit to inspire.

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

Long Walk To Freedom - Nelson Mandela 1995

“人生最大的光榮不在於永不跌倒，而在於每次跌倒後能回升...”

Years ago I planted a Japanese maple (Acer Palmatum - Dissectum cultivar) in the backyard. I love this cultivar of Acer for its delicate silhouette and colourful seasonal variations.

The Japanese maple had been growing healthily in its happy little spot. My reward has been its thriving greens in spring, and intense reds in autumn - my favourite season.

Happiness came to an abrupt halt. I came home one day to find the itinerant gardener, while mowing my lawn, had ring-barked the base of its trunk. A heart rending sight to behold.. the gardener dismissed; an episode began to unfold..

The maple began to wilt; its leaves fallen. The damaged bark above the severed base slowly died and rotted. As the damage progressed gradually, branches began to dehydrate and turned black…

I harboured the thought of giving it an honourable end - the best love that one could give a suffering horse is to end its agony. I procrastinated... as if fate had assumed its own calling, notwithstanding me. Seasons drifted on, as I travelled. It changed my mind in late winter; it sprouted vibrant spikes of new life on the opposite side, long before spring was to break.

It took a few years to nurse it, by cleaning away the dead bark and pruning the diseased branches back to the trunk. I mixed rice rinse water 洗米水 and leftover yoghurt for its probiotic culture 益生培菌 to supplement it. It was an extremely dry and hot El Nino period that Australia had witnessed severe drought and scorching summers of 45ºC heat in Melbourne.

This spring brought me immense joy: the maple showed a sure sign of life. Not only has it sprouted new branches with freshly green foliage, barks around the diseased stems are bursting with new life. Wounds have begun to suture to closure as the barks are rejuvenated with new growth - like a latent life force that has finally found a voice to announce its awakening.. I feel the breeze speaking in its grace: Am here; hear me...

Throughout the long and arduous journey of regrowth and self-healing, the maple speaks to the subliminal.. reflecting on life, as it were. How the many frustrations and failures I have faced would pale to insignificance in stark contrast to the struggles by its will to survive, and to rebound with abundant inner strength. Never give up, it winks at me; it brought to mind a passage that had long eluded me:

“We are all meant to shine, as children do.
And as we let our own light shine, we give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles” - Marianne Williamson 1992

就像小孩子一樣，我們自會容光照人。

當我們讓自己的光芒照耀時，我們自應允他人依樣揮發。

當我們從自己的恐懼中開脫，我們的存現就自然的開釋他人。

Infected.. 27 March 2012

Fresh Atlantic Salmon, Salad Malaysian Style

鱼生, literally sashimi the Malaysian style, is a popular Chinese New Year dish.

Main ingredient is raw fish. Simple. In minutes.


Try my take, Melbourne version:

• Baby oak lettuce, baby spinach, cherry tomato, young carrot and Lebanese cucumber finely sliced.
• Bed the serving plate with salad.
• Fresh Atlantic salmon, finely sliced.
• Vermicelli (mung bean or starch based), blanched >90°C just translucent, like 冬粉.
• Peanut sauce, dash of plum sauce, drops of Balsamic, garnish with ground peanut.
• Angel's touch: finely diced leek, coriander, lime peel, lemon grass for that extra zing.

Time should take 3~5 minutes.

Be better. By 6

6 habits of strategic leaders:

Anticipate 

“Peripheral vision.”

• Find game-changing, peripheral industry information
• Search beyond current business boundaries
• Build wide external networks

Think Critically

"Question everything."

• Reframe problems to get to root causes
• Challenge all current beliefs and mindsets
• Uncover hypocrisy, manipulation, bias in decisions

Interpret 

"Synthesize information; develop viewpoint."

• Seek patterns in multiple data sources
• Question prevailing assumptions
• Test multiple hypotheses simultaneously

Decide

"Develop processes; enforce them."

• Frame the decision to target the crux
• Achieve balance, not perfection
• Take a stand amidst incomplete info and diverse views

Align

"Foster dialogue; build trust; engage stakeholders."

• Understand the drivers in agendas, open or hidden
• Open up tough issues, even if uncomfortable
• Assess risk tolerance, build necessary support

Learn

"Feedback is valuable for learning."

• Encourage honest, rigorous debriefs to extract lessons
• Correct swiftly when off track
• Both success and failures provide insight

http://www.inc.com/paul-schoemaker/6-habits-of-strategic-thinkers.html

Music in Adversity

Kinshasa Symphony

By day: a porter, a hawker, a single mother, a barber, a jobless pilot.

In moonlight: a violinist, a trombonist, a flutist, a tenor, a conductor.

Bicycle brake cables for violin strings.

Out of raw woodwork the cello and double bass.

Violist the sentinel of floodlight and power generator.

Open air rehearsal amidst noxious dust and diesel fumes.

Music in adversity: "It's like a staircase. You go up, and up..." None deters.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/03/06/148075689/kinshasa-symphony-an-ode-to-musical-joy-in-central-africa

Ode To A Light Spent

I nurture a life to its fullest

lest my best were ever tested

I wish not an entitlement the slightest

lest the least were ever granted

I spent light to behold a purpose

though my shades were jaded

I recant shadow to behest a vision

though my past was trodden

I wish not my life exemplary

but directions I usher

You will trespass as you carry

this faltering mark I tender

I wish not my reflection your beacon

for your brilliance is ever spotless

You will transcend as you reason

for your guiding light is ever boundless

《憶母頌》

凯尔

Feel inoculated..

 Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley 1849–1903 

Invictus : unconquered (Latin)

月下美人 Gift of Goh TS

Epiphyllum oxypelatum  曇花一現

ゲッカビジン 月下美人

Gekka Bijin : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyllum_oxypetalum

Everything I need to know about startups.. from a crime boss

Perceptive. Cutting. Vivid.

http://gigaom.com/2012/01/07/desantis-startups-crime-boss/

Passages I found insightful:

"...“Large vs. small” is a different debate than “bootstrapped vs venture-backed”, though the two are often conflated. It’s also worth noting that serving a small segment and progressively expanding outwards to serve the larger market is a totally legitimate large-market strategy..."

"...when we cut out the middleman. In addition to reducing cost, we often end up creating an internal byproduct that can be productized and sold to a completely new customer..."

"...Don’t screw with your users. They are your golden-egg-laying goose. Protect them from rapacious cofounders and investors..."

"...It’s our responsibility to create the circumstances for it and then capture that good fortune. The meek may inherit the earth, but they’ll be getting it from [the boss' nom de guerre] Kobayashi..."

"...pirate ships as organizational models. Pirate ships combine an “us against the world” mentality with a hunt for treasure. This crucible of chaos and ambition somehow...had a gravitational pull for talent and resources...the source of their power: influence rather than authority..."

Introspection

Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds

wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the
dreamers of the day are dangerous men,

for they may act their dream with
open eyes to make it possible.

Thomas Edward Lawrence 1888-1935  |  Lawrence of Arabia

人在夜間作夢
於塵封的思淵深處

曉後醒覺 這夢是虛榮的

然而白天的夢想家 是些危險的人

他們以明亮的眼睛 用行動使夢想成為可能

Of Red Beans, and a Journey for Pods

I remember those little red beans, crimson red disc-like beans 红珠仔.. in a popular game played by young girls mostly in the southern, tropical countries.



A poem was written about these red beans by a poet in Tang Dynasty 唐朝诗人 王维 http://hanyu.iciba.com/wiki/132439.shtml#1 (my English version follows):

红豆生南国   In southern kingdom they grow
春来发几枝   Sprouting abundance in spring
愿君多采撷   Wish thou would pick aplenty
此物最相思   Most lovesake are these beans

"...唐朝诗人王维咏颂红豆的这首名诗流传至今，仍然被人们广为传诵，真可谓千古绝唱。鸟有相思鸟，树有相思树，豆也有相思豆。

相传古代有位少妇，因思念出征战死于边塞的夫君，朝夕倚于门前树下恸哭，泪水流干了，眼里流出了血，血泪染红了树根，于是就结出了具有相思意义的红色小豆子..."

With the help of an old school mate, hotfoong (whose interests extend from photography to electronics to quantum physics to meteorology to astronomy to multiverse to pursuits of passion and compassion..), I was able to recall the species' botanical name: Adenanthera pavonina, also known as 海紅豆, 孔雀豆 or 相思豆:
http://www.hktree.com/tree/adenanthera_pavonina1.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenanthera_pavonina has meaningful passages about 相思豆 tree:

"This tree is useful for nitrogen fixation, and it is often cultivated for forage, as a medicinal plant, and as an ornamental garden plant and urban tree. The beauty of the seeds, their use as beads and for necklace, and their nourishing qualities.. ..The wood, which is extremely hard, is used in boat-building, making furniture and for firewood..."

As romantic as it is indigenously meaningful also known by its Malay name, saga, and this part is what I really like:

"...in India, the seeds have been used as far back as history records as units of weight for fine measures, of gold for instance. The Malay name for the tree, saga, has been traced to the Arabic for 'goldsmith'.."


A tree of substance and ornament.

A produce for health and utility.

A unit of fine measure of gold.