J.F.C Fuller on Education and being Educated

Reading Gen. J.F.C Fuller's gem - Generalship, Its Diseases and their Cure and found this rather succinct point on the aim of education (staff generals in his case but conveys a telling point, nevertheless):

It does not really matter much what a certain general did at a certain date, but what is of importance is - why he did it in a certain set of circumstances. The object of education is not so much to discover 'what to think' as to learn 'how to think'. What is, or was, the governing reason of an action? What is, or was, the nature of an army's machinery; what can it, or could it, make? These are the types of questions an educated mind should ask itself.

I remember once attending some French maneuvers, when after an exercise, General Debeney asked a divisional commander to explain his plan to him. The officer began -- 'My machine guns, ...' whereupon he was cut short by Debeney who excitedly roared out : 'Damn your machine guns, I want your ideas."

Quote of the Day

Though it was referring to Clausewitz specifically, it seems so applicable to many in general:

" Clausewitz was a genius, and geniuses and clever men have a distressing habit of assuming that everyone understands what is perfectly clear to them"

- Lt-Col. G. F. R. Henderson

Newsweek Thinks The Internet Ain't All It's Hyped Up To Be

Finally, some opinion from the other side of the fence:

How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it's an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book.
......
What the Internet hucksters won't tell you is tht (sic - self-proven point?) the Internet is one big ocean of unedited data, without any pretense of completeness. Lacking editors, reviewers or critics, the Internet has become a wasteland of unfiltered data.

(full article: Newsweek - The Internet? Bah!)

Temasek Funds 9You.com, declares itself non-SWG

Seems like Temasek and others have just plunged US$100 million into Chinese online gaming and music site 9You. The site has recently claimed to have broken the 1M concurrent users milestone and is heading to IPO later this year.

This is interesting as it departs from Temasek's regular infrastructure-type investments and enters the virtual world. If it pans out, the ROI could be pretty high, but so's the inherent risk of such ventures.

(via : VentureBeat & alarm:clock)

===

In other news, Temasek says it "not a sovereign wealth fund" and hence "not affected by an agreement by Singapore, Abu Dhabi and the United States on principles to increase the transparency of sovereign wealth funds."

Spokesperson Mark Lee elaborated "Temasek has to sell assets to raise cash for new investments and doesn't require the government to give approvals."

The mind boogles.

(via: STOnline)

When I Stopped Studying and Started Learning

As a kid, there wasn't many other ways I could have gained information. It came firstly from the folks at home, then from the teachers in school. There wasn't much one could do but accept knowledge from these sources at face value and hope its worth whatever they are made out to me.

A bit later, there were libraries. Huge collections of information trapped with books enthrall which would the mind. The best part is you get to pick what you want to. And so, the choice widened but it was only as accessible as often as the folks brought me there. But still, it was a great leap.

Then the Internet happened. And boy, was it a whizz.

It was as if a surge of knowledge broke through. Never before was there so much information so readily available at the fingertips. It was a curious time as well as an empowering time. Data out there just to be collected as well as information being updated by the second.

===

So, that was the nutshell of perhaps, what most of my generation must have went through. We are a special bunch because we lived through the transition from analog to digital.

And the funny thing is, it is only now that I start to think: "Hey, I'm learning something here. compared to school, I get a choice, isn't this great?"

Then it struck me - What's happening now is the liberation of information from the few to the many. The sources of data have exponentially increased. The challenge is no longer getting the knowledge, but picking the right one to believe in.

And I learnt. Not to internalize bits of information nor to memorize dates, people and times, but to look at concepts and arguments, ideas and visions. We live in a age of ideas, not information, which merely is the vessel for ideas to propagate. The key now is working with information to get the ideas, not working the information alone.

PBS Frontline - The Secret of Credit Card

Another documentary about the dark side of these plastic cards:

PBS Frontline - The Secret of Credit Card

Much Ado about Stressed Out Team Members

Its nothing short of amazing to see how certain person can crack up or freeze like a deer in the headlights when they are put under stressful situations. Not so good though when that person is on your side of the playing field.

How then, does one deal with a stress-intolerant team member? I like to try the following:

1. Slow down on purpose - We all get influenced by people around us. If there's going to be a panicky bunch of people working on something, I'm more inclined on putting my money on a bunch of monkeys randomly punching typewriters as they probably are more productive. Try influencing the others with deliberation and deep thoughtful insight instead of wasteful worrying or haste.
   
   
2. Highlight the futility of cracking up - Extending from the earlier point, sometimes one just has to show that getting all cracked or frozen up does nothing positive for the end result.
   
   
3. Chart the Baby Steps - Seeing how the perception of someone under stress is going to be different (and probably more focused on the setbacks) than otherwise, sometimes it may just be better to go manual and lay out baby steps for them to take. At the very least, you can get them to be productive in some way (coffee-making?) or just keep them out from underfoot.
   
   
4. Avoid them the third time - Life's too short to be counseling stressed-out people all the time. Probably just work with them once more to see if they stick that way and make a mental note to avoid them next time. Nothing can be worse for team morale than a panicked guy running around the room with arms flailing.

So far so good ....

Thought of the Day

Maybe success is 5% inspiration, 90% perspiration and 5% knowing when it is opportune to be a jackass.

The Economic Naturalist

Just finished the book The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas by Robert H. Frank.






Essentially, this book is nice collection of little curiosities of life which seem to make no apparent sense but clear when we apply simple economic principles (mostly cost/benefit) to them. What's even more interesting is that all the examples and questions featured in the book come from term paper questions which the author had received after setting his students loose to go use economic reasoning to answer seemingly absurd daily occurences.

Some of the crackers include:

+ Why do drive through ATMS have braille keys on them?

+ Why do colour photos sell for less than black-and-white ones?

+ Why milk cartons are rectangular but soda cans are cylindrical?

and (for something closer to home)
+ Why do new luxury cars account for a higher proportion of automobiles sold in Singapore than in the United States?

This book should have been recommended reading for any introductory economics class as the examples are brilliant ones which first engage the curiosity and then answer it based on economic ideas. Definitely a must-read if you enjoyed Freakanomics also!

Thoughts of the Day

Where's the competitive advantage in being conventional?

==

Reading less just because you're studying is like holding your breath to allow more blood to go to your brains from your lungs.

The world mourns Gary Gygax. Roll on!

Always remembered for bringing us the rolling good times, the online community tips its hat in final farewell to Gary Gygax.

Penny Arcade

Giant in the Playground

xkcd

icanhascheezburger

Forbes' 2008 Billionaires List released.

Forbes' just released their 2008 List of the Richest Billionaires in the World. Here it is:

1. Warren Buffet, 77, US - US$22bn
2. Carlos Slim, Helu & family, 68, Mexico - US$60bn
3. William Gates III, 52, US - US$58bn
4. Lakshmi Mittal, 57, India - US$45bn
5. Mukesh Ambani, 50, India - US$43bn
6. Anil Ambani, 48, India - US$42bn
7. Ingvar Kamprad & family, 81, Sweden - US$31bn
8. KP Singh, 76, India - US$30bn
9. Oleg Deripaska, 40, Russia - $28bn
10. Karl Albrecht, 88, Germany - $27bn

Couple of main moves include Bill Gates' drop to 3rd as well as the emergence of a lot of Asian names (notably Indian)on the list. Guess the US dollar's exchange rate's weakness may be a key driver. Also interesting to note that these figures are mostly based on stock ownership with the addition of key private assets, so doubt the ultimate credibility of the figures. Possibly lots of more discrete

Also, it could be ironic if folks are actually less concerned about their own wealth than we are are for them.

In any case, it is a spectacular list.

[ More : Forbes ]

The Failure of Education ?

If there's a thing to be said of formal education in Singapore, it's that it doesn't really help one on the skills of thinking and talking. But it sure has done a helluva job for textbook and paper sales.

Thought of the Day

It used to be knowledge is power to the extent of how much you could stuff information in your head.

Now it seems that it is more useful to:

• Know how to and where to find information.
• Know how to synthesize/combine information.
• Learn when or how much information is enough.
• Understand what information is relevant.
• Learn to make decisions in light of (1) overwhelming information, or (2) too little information (There never seems to be just enough information anyway)
• Learn how to turnaround information in a prompt and useful fashion.