One of the simplest and best precepts Katharine Graham got from his father Eugene Meyer for parents to live by

"What parents may sometimes do in a helpful way is to point out certain principles of actions. I do not think I would be helpful in advising you too strongly. I do not even feel the need of doing that because I have so much confidence in your having really good judgement. I believe that what I can do for you once in while is to point out certain principles that have developed in my mind as sound and practical, leaving it for you yourself to apply them if your own mind grasps and approves the principles.'" --- Eugene Meyer

Book review: The age of the unthinkable: Why the new world disorder constantly surprises us and what we can do about it by Joshua Cooper Ramo, ISBN9780316118088

The book covers a lot of new thinking in the current economics and political sciences:

• Eric von Hipppel Democratizing Innovation
• Ricardo Semler and his new management practice in his company Semco
• Per Bak and his self-organized criticality phenomenon
• Isaiah Berlin: Hedgehogs thinker vs fox thinker
• Masako Watanabe: Styles of reasoning in Japan and the United States: Logic of education in two cultures
• Richard Nisbett: The geography of thoughts
• Mike Moritz and secret of successful venture investment in Sequoia Capital
• Aharon Farkash's tenure at Israeli military intelligence unit IDF
• Shigeru Miyamoto's creation of Wii and revival of Nintendo
• Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scevola's invention of camouflage in World War I
• Dan Kaminsky's discovery of DNS flaw and innovative way of fixing it
• Anselm Kiefer's painting Deutschlands Geistesheldon
• Tony Moll's leading anti HIV efforts in South Africa and re-emergence of TB due to failure of patient education
• Gertrude Stein and her role in new art movement (Cubism) in 1910s
• David Kotz with Fred Weir Revolution from above: The demise of the Soviet System
• C.S Holling and Simon Levin: Two ecologists
• Bill Broweder's Russian investment strategy and his early detection of 2008 financial meltdown

Security vs Privacy

Privacy is gaining attention from C-suite, "it is all about data, stupid!" But how privacy initiative plays with security initiative?
"You can have security without privacy, but you can't have privacy without security" - Michael Howard

What separate a security amateur and security professional

"A security amateur can tell you how to secure something, a security professional knows when you don't need to." - Michael Howard

Book review: The cod's tale by Mark Kurlansky and illustrated by S.D.Schindler, ISBN0399234764

What: A picture book about history of cod fishing and cod trade and its contribution to the sea voyage and discovery of America
Best for: Intermediate reader grade 3 to 5
Rating: 5 of 5
Review: A enchanting history of cod and cod fishing and cod trade masterfully told and illustrated. And the author threads the information about cod and its impact on history is subtle and brilliant. If all history and trade book can be written this beautifully ...

Book review: One witch by Laura Leuck and illustrated by S.D.Schindler ISBN0802788602

What: A beautiful picture book
Best for: Beginner reader Pre-K to 2nd grade
Rating: 5 of 5
Review: Crispy color, beautiful illustration, simple and rhymed Halloween themed stories. Any young reader will fall in love instantly.

Book review: The discovery of the Americas by Betsy and Giulio Maestro, ISBN 0688068375

What: A picture book about the discovery of America
Best for: Intermediate reader (grade 3 to 5)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review: Beautiful illustrations and clear simple languages make this saga of discovery as fascinating to six-year-olds as it will be to older readers. Very informative material.

Fall's line

Fall's line

Vivek Ranadive: How to win anything

The video is here.
Three winning rules:

• Think out of the box
• Play by your own rule, not other people's rule
• Work harder than anybody else

The tricky business of transforming a culture

The unifying and stabilizing force in western culture is the law. Law is the foundation. It provides a stable platform to evolve and change. And it may also be the reason why western civilization is leading the pack.
For China, the unifying and stabilizing force and foundation is Confucian's concept of family. Family is not just the household, whole kingdom is a big family. Family is why China as a culture still maintains its sanity and dignity (although very vulnerable) after all the indignities suffered during last couple of centuries. And closeness and inward looking nature of family may also be the reason why China missed the opportunity for industrialization(outward exploration+open competition) and scientific advancement early in the twentieth century. And Chinese people realized that family may not be a good foundation for China to enter the world market and compete any more. China may need a new foundation to be able to catch up and lead.
The challenge is really in the transformation. While China is searching for new culture launchpad, we cannot throw away the current foundation (family) yet, otherwise the house will crumble down and collapse. We especially need a strong foundation during this time of great change. Chairman Mao tried to rid all the old and rebuild a new one from the ruin, and it led to twenty years of setback and chaos. Deng Xiaping learned the lesson and vouch to maintain Communist ruling as a stable foundation.

Tons of witches and bats and a bat girl

Tons of witches

There are lots of bats,arggg

And then there is a bat girl :-)