London School of Excuses

It's been exactly twenty days since I first landed on this city. And I will start my blogging from now on. No more excuses. Many Thanks.

My Kind of Hero

In the 60th anniversary issue of Time magazine Asian edition, Simon Elegant wrote about Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew. Lee was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. Mr. Elegant wrote beautifully and elegantly.

I share the same birthday (September 16) with this veteran political leader. I've been to Singapore twice. And I'd like to quote a paragraph from the ariticle titled Lee Kuan Yew: Smart, Tough, Pragmatic -- an Enduring Symbol of Asia Itself.

Lee is famous for his formidable personality

and unshakeable faith in his own convictions.

Combine those qualities with a burning intelligence,

a cold-eyed pragmatism

and an unrelenting focus on his goals

and you have some sense of the man

who almost single-handedly transformed a sleepy tropical port

into one of the world's most economically vibrant city-states.

Yet that achievement, extraordinary as it is,

it not what makes Lee unique.

Today, at 83, after some 50 years of public life,

Lee can securely count himself as the one and only Asian

who has played witness, sculptor and advisor to all the

great historical shifts Asia has undergone over the decades;

the rise of nationalism; the end of the cold war;

the growth of prosperity; and the emergence of China as a new global power.

It is all this that makes Lee not just an elder statesman and

and a voice for Asia, but an enduring symbol of

the region's pragmatism and resilience.

before sunset

I like Ethan Hawke. On this perticular film, he becomes the kind of person I'd like to make friends with. The dialogue is just beautiful. The walking and talking and laughing and all that. I never really saw the first film Before Sunrise. I can't do a comparison. But I enjoy every minute of this sequel. You know. Books. Book shop. Writer. Environmental activist who sings her own song with a guitar. A stroll in a sunny afternoon. PARIS.

What follows is my favorite quotes from the movie:

Jesse: Do you have kids?
Celine: Yes. Two.

Celine: Shit!
Jesse: What?
Celine: I left them in the car! With the windows rolled up! It was six months ago! Think they're okay?

No-Byline Policy

Byline is the writer's name printed at the top of an article in a magazine or newspaper. The magazine where I work has the policy of not putting bylines in all of the articles. This is something the British magazine-like newspaper The Economist has been doing for a long time. It has been said that what is written is more important than who writes it. I beleive it's true. You can listen to an interview of Economist's science and technology editor Tom Standage. He talked about the no-byline policy. He's interesting.

Relearn

The idea that knowledge will come back again and again in one's life has been on my mind for years. I believe that something you learned (well-learned or poorly-learned) before will creep into your presence unexpectedly. The network of information where all things are connected often delivers something different from your own points-of-view. But at times you get something familiar or even friendly. You say to yourself, "I've seen you before."

If education brings the best out of a person, relearning brings back an old friend.