The future for Europe's economic growth?

Singapore Trip 2011 - (1)

At 5 a.m. in the morning, I was riding a cab on my way to Changi Airport. It's time to go home.

After 5 days of stay, I finally got to say goodbye to another stranger country. This time as usual, saying goodbye seems to be the hardest thing. 

On the beautiful highway to Changi Airport, the taxi driver explained to me how and why he doesn't like Singapore. You get to know the true color of a country when you talk to local people.

'In Singapore, everything is so controlled and controlled by the government.'

'There is no true democracy here. If you criticize the government, the government will sue you.'

'In Singapore, most businesses are owned by the government. You do not see much entrepreneurs here.'

'Singaporean government doesn't look like a government, it is more like a company, which makes many things very efficient, but too business-oriented. So there is not much you can do here, because most things are taken care of by the government.'

'And the living standard is too high, many things are expensive, especially housing.'

So what he said about Singapore is sort of a wrapping-up of my first impression to Singapore after this trip. However, I think those phenomena is just a result of a unique combination of several political/governmental models. I found that quite interesting and thought that might be a partial answer (not perfect) to a better government for Taiwan.

20101212 文茜世界週報 part2

文茜世界財經週報 12122010

從孫大偉看歐巴馬

前陣子新聞傳出孫大偉過世的消息，我對他並不甚了解，於是在網上查了些關於這個人的過去和相關影片。不經意的，我看到之前孫大偉說過得一段話:

『我們這一代從小是被父母教育成要準備面對寒冬，但是沒想到等到我們長大碰到的卻是初春；反觀下一代，他們從小長大以為他們要面對的是盛夏，但沒想到長大後好像到了秋末。』

這句話一語中的，的確道出我長大後對這世界的感受。但這跟美國總統歐巴馬 (Obama) 有什麼關係呢？

就在孫大偉去世後一兩個禮拜，美國期中選舉 (midterm election) 民主黨慘敗，眾院被翻盤，參院也讓共和黨拿到足夠的席次發動否決權。這次選舉可以說是對歐巴馬投下極度不信任票。何以如此讓美國人民產生如此大的轉變？簡單的說就是經濟，美國那痿靡不振的經濟一直無法獲得明顯或是強勁的好轉讓美國人民失去耐心了。美國經濟何以在歐巴馬和其政府投入如此多救市和刺激經濟方案後還是不見起色呢？

答案在期中選舉後越來越明瞭了：原來當初歐巴馬底下有兩派經濟學家，對金融危機的救市規模持兩種不同看法，一派認為救市資金大約七千多億美金即足夠，並估計金融危機後失業率大概只會有7%或8%；另一派卻悲觀的多，認為救市規模應該要一兆美金，並估計之後經濟復甦的長期性失業率為10%。而歐巴馬選擇相信前者。結果，現在時間似乎證明了較悲觀的經濟學家們很可能是對的，而美國失業率遲遲居高不下(約9.6%)，而可以肯定的是美國需要第二次的經濟振興方案。但 ...

但現在政治局勢完全反轉，歐巴馬政府已經變成跛腳政府，共和黨來勢洶洶誓言要幫人民看緊荷包，要砍一堆預算並阻擋法案，甚至想要將之前通過的健保改革法案也廢除。看來美國經濟的前景是雪上加霜了；而美國不好，世界其他地區也會受到牽連。

從歐巴馬那一關鍵性的決定，我赫然發現孫大偉說的話應驗在歐巴馬身上：歐巴馬以為他面對的是盛夏的美國阿！他會做出這樣的判斷是可以理解的，因為歐巴馬成長中的美國，是一個越來越強大且盛夏的美國阿！看著他那美國式十足的自信是相當有魅力的，可惜的是他的自信背後並沒有足夠的危機感和謙遜來支撐。

從這一切在反觀我自己，我必須要為即將到來的寒冬做好準備，不論來的到底是不是寒冬。

全民大講堂 創意狂想曲 孫大偉

A new era

http://recsys.acm.org/2010/

“We are leaving the age of information and entering the age of recommendation”
- Chris Anderson in The Long Tail

陽痿美國

李敖的新書。陽痿是動詞。強烈建議大家買來看或是借來看。

以下摘自『陽痿美國』文字片段:

"
美國的絕症很邪門兒，它得了『政治上的強陽不倒』，禍害世界和他自己。

美國曾經安分過，曾經有錢過，但是今天他變了，它變得鴨霸四方，狂吃八方，債台高築之下，他的政府，每花一美元，其中四角一分是借來的；它的人民呢，一美元當十美元大花特花、虛擲浪費。在美國境外流通的美金總數，比在美國本土還多得多，這就是說，美國在用印鈔機吃世界，一張百元美鈔的印刷費只要兩分錢，一張張印出來全世界都被他偷吃了。

美國變了，美國是他國的禍害、是人類的惡夢、是世界的猙獰。美國動用排山倒海的『柔性力量』載歌載舞，在歡樂中使我們嚮往它，淡化它的惡形惡狀。我們曾經嚮往過，但是，我們必須覺悟了。
"

你還對美國存有幻想和憧憬嗎？你幫助美國，就等於幫助他傷害世界和我們的國家!

別鬧了，讓我們一起萊陽委美國吧!

商業周刊-國際話題-兩岸話題-賦別釣魚台 (1/4)

• 商業周刊-國際話題-兩岸話題-賦別釣魚台 (1/4)
  The very truth of Taiwan's fate. 我認為這才是台灣人應該有的國際觀與台灣角色認定。
  tags: 商業周刊 兩岸話題

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

A project idea

On the subway back home today, I suddenly came up with an idea about making a web shell. I googled this idea after I got home and found that some people already had that exact project deployed. However I still think this idea is fun and might be a future standard for the upcoming WebOS.

Everybody has creativity, but to realize your idea and sell it to the world is another thing.

What is random?

Nobody knows ... only god can define it. Human beings can only achieve pseudo-random. If you can play god, then you know the secret of throwing a dice. Even more, you can throw a dice for everyone and everything in this world.

Something we should knokw

Check the following videos. Interview with 劉兆玄. We do not necessarily agree with what he said in that interview. But it is at least a good chance to know what the government is thinking and what it is planning. Clip 1: http://tinyurl.com/c3h22w Clip 2: http://tinyurl.com/cse275 Clip 3: http://tinyurl.com/bmoh7j Clip 4: http://tinyurl.com/bf7gor Clip 5: http://tinyurl.com/dbxaw2 http://www.youtube.com/user/qop2525268

A good saying ...

"當老天給你荒野, 祂是要你做一隻高飛的鷹" - 簡媜 (現代知名女文學家) And she thinks: "每個人來世間都有很多功課要做, 其中最重要的一門功課是好好做｢人｣｡理想中的人很簡單 : ｢做個可以給別人溫暖的人｡｣"

I know that my mother is proud of me because she thinks that his son is the kind of person who can give others warm and care, and I will keep her proud. I hope that one day my kids grow up to be this kind of person too. A person that makes this world a better and a happier place. Henry