Sunday, November 18, 2012

Ted's Lines

Reminder to self: Don't ever forget them.

Another Reminder on Speechwriting (I)

Our chief criterion was always audience comprehension and comfort, and this meant: (1) short speeches, short clauses and short words, wherever possible; (2) a series of points or propositions in numbered or logical sequence wherever appropriate; and (3) the construction of sentences, phrases and paragraphs in such a manner as to simplify, clarify and emphasize. - Ted Sorensen

Link

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Ode to Zeck

寄酬韩冬郎兼呈畏之员外
[唐]李商隐

 十岁裁诗走马成,冷灰残烛动离情。
 桐花万里丹山路,雏凤清于老凤声。

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Learning Poetry from my Girl (II)

罗隐
《蜂》

 不论平地与山尖, 无限风光尽被占。
 采得百花成蜜后, 为谁辛苦为谁甜?

 Quite sad right? At the end of all our labors, what is it for, really?

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Learning my girl's poetry from school (1)

小儿垂钓

(唐)胡令能
蓬头稚子学垂纶,
侧坐莓苔草映身。
路人借问遥招手,
怕得鱼惊不应人。

 园果
王建
雨中梨果病,每树无数个。   
小儿出入看,一半鸟啄破。

回乡偶书
[贺知章]
少小离家老大回,
乡音无改鬓毛衰。
儿童相见不相识,
笑问客从何处来。

All of them has to do with kids, but not all of them for for kids.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The Role of a Leader

I read this bit from an excellent children's book by Robin McKinley "The Hero and the Crown":

"At home, pride of place and Arlbeth's encouragement brought her to attend more of the courts and councils that administered the country that Arlbeth ruled.  'Don't let the title mislead you, ' Arlbeth told her. 'The king is simply the visible one. I'm so visible, in fact, that most of the important work has to be done by other people.'

'Nonsense.' said Tor.

Arlbeth chuckled. 'Your loyalty does you honor, but you are in the process of becoming too visible to be effective yourself, so what do you know about it?'

The most important thing that Aerin learned was that a king needed people he could trust, and who trusted him.  And so she learned all over again that she lacked the most important aspect of her heritage, for she could not trust her father's people, because they could not trust her.  It was not a lesson she learn gratefully.  But she had come out of hiding, and just as she could not scream when the dragon bit her, so she could not go back to her former life."

Monday, April 23, 2012

Tip #2 for Older People

I just had a heated argument with an older colleague.  We're fine.  But I kinda wish that person had seen this wonderful clip:



My favorite part of the clip is when she said, when somebody disagree with us, we first assume they are ignorant.  When we realize they know the same facts, then we assume they are stupid.  When we realize they are not stupid, then we assume they are evil.  My tip is this: if you are talking to a younger person, it is fine to agree to disagree.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Tip #1 for Older People

Please don't say "You remind me of your father/mother", say the following instead.
This comic is my favorite: GunnerKrigg Start reading from the beginning!


Sunday, April 08, 2012

"No Disrespect" to Yale

The Yale-NUS debacle had been going on for a while.  Though I'm a Singaporean, I don't wish to take sides on the matter.  While I think the Yale faculty's concerns were somewhat merited, they could certainly learn more about Singapore as some of the comments feels condescending and Ivory-Towerish.  But I feel rather bemused when I read this report from Today.  "No disrespect"?!?!  Come on.  Let's call a spade a spade, and then we may perhaps recognize the differences and progress from there.  I immediately thought of this clip from Conan when I hear the words: "No disrespect" .

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Is it hypocritical to be intolerant of intolerance?

Most people who advocate tolerance are caught in a paradox.  They believe in tolerance, but they feel helpless against intolerance.  It seems hypocrisy to be intolerant of intolerant behavior.  This article from Stand to Reason has a good solution: When tolerance is intolerance.

Quoting Peter Kreeft, the proper understanding of the paradox should be:
“Be egalitarian regarding persons.”
 “Be elitist regarding ideas.”

Simply put, we continue to exhibit tolerant behavior by being civil to one another.  Even with intolerant people, there are proper ways to put them in their place.  However, we have to be intolerant with harmful ideas like intolerance or racism.  Using tolerant manners, we combat them properly so that Reason prevails.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Idea for Christmas: Las Posadas

Las Posadas is a 9-day celebration in Mexico leading up to Christmas.

From Wikipedia: Typically, each family in a neighborhood will schedule a night for the Posada to be held at their home, starting on the 16th of December and finishing on the 24th. Every home has a nativity scene and the hosts of the Posada act as the innkeepers. The neighborhood children and adults are the pilgrims (los peregrinos), who have to request lodging by going house to house singing a traditional song about the pilgrims. All the pilgrims carry small lit candles in their hands, and four people carry statuettes of Joseph leading a donkey, on which Mary is riding.

Sounds cool right? It is especially fitting because we will be doing Advent in Luke's version this year. I think I can get 9 families in Jubilee to play host for this.