Fire & Motion 31

Fleeting Quote

路都是自己走出來的，一路走好。
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曾經闊氣的要復古，正在闊氣的要保持現狀，未曾闊氣的要革新。大抵如此。
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他們之所謂復古，是回到他們記得的若干年前，並非虞夏商周。
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Deep connections between people are formed through a trifecta of ambition, vulnerability, and intense shared emotion, each representing a different aspect of time: the future, the past, and the present.

Reading

📕抉擇

外交勝利是由一連串微小的優勢組合而成：這兒一個明智的建議，那兒一個合適的禮節，上一刻一個睿智的讓步，下一刻一個有遠見的堅持，不會睡著的機制，堅定不移、沒有任何蠢事、挑釁和謬誤可以撼動的平靜與耐心。

人生循環裡何嘗不是這樣呢？！生命是長期而持續的累積，不會因為單一事件而大起或大落，真正的優勢藏於每一次的小小勝利 (small win)。希拉蕊在書中提到的巧實力 (smart power) 也相當重要，人生中不能以強硬的單一實力 (例如大國的軍力) 做為唯一解，多重組合拳更佳！

📕老派少女購物路線

人趨中年，愈發覺得旅行的興味，發生於心境調轉，或在於望穿表裡的眼色，這些家園中的異國，樸素的生活場域，屢次複雜，反而好玩。

每隔一陣子翻翻家鄉的旅遊指南，必會有意想不到的趣味。同時也提醒自己：真正的他鄉未必在國外，而是此刻已過度熟悉的家鄉裡；單調的並非是看膩的街容，而是自己的心。

我家對滷肉有潔癖。滷肉鍋裡，只能有肉，其他食材如雞蛋、豆腐、夏季觀音山盛產的綠竹筍、冬季白蘿蔔，與滷汁同燉，皆是神仙滋味，但必須另取一鍋，將肉汁分裝出來熬煮。原鍋裡若雜有其他配料，肉就容易酸敗，不易存放，湯汁中飄著豆腐碎末或是蛋白，看上去亦不像話。

Master guidance!

我所處的時代，眾生喧嘩，人在其中常站不穩。這本書寫家中老人、老菜、老物件、菜市場，及這些「老派」事物如何在生活下樁，穩定自我。起點單純，若對他人有益，也是好事。

《老派少女購物路線》所帶來的質樸，乃至於近似日本的空氣感，即是這本書帶給我最大的禮物：住在敘事過於分散的台北城，老派場景是最好的錨定物。撰寫評注的此刻，手邊是一包劉仲記的菜脯餅，耳機裡放著陳達，種種標記著自己是如何被老舊事物滋養茁壯。

📕在台北生存的一百個理由

這一本書，要獻給在這座城市中，想要積極享樂，並付諸行動，不斷開發城市生活樂趣的朋友們。自己常常被迫為這座居住的城市辯論，對手就是到國外許多大城市旅行過的自己，不斷地說服自己這是一座有趣的城市，台北是個可以繼續生活下去的地方。[...] 這是一本探討城市可能性的書，它可以幫助人們更加了解這座城市中，有點意思的許多局部；這也是一本關於「面對這座城市周遭事物的生活態度與看法」的書，它提示城市住民一些不一樣的操作方式，重新定義這座城市。比起一般標榜提供吃喝玩樂資訊指南的書，這樣的書，應該才是大多數城市居民所真正需要的。因為我們不能改變的是城市現實，可以調整的是我們面對它的態度。

台北也真的是這樣的一處所在，也許沒有整體性的論述，但當許多有意思的局部加總後，一座混融且包容的城市便渾然而生。這樣的居所難免使人感到無根，甚至無所適從，但這也正是台北得以便利、乾淨、安全的理由之一。Taipei as it is.

偷偷觀察過四鄰顯赫的人物之後，一位朋友回過神來，幽幽嘆道：「我們照這樣下去，十年以後混得再好，充其量也只不過是從現在這桌換到隔壁桌罷了。」這句一針見血的評論，讓哥兒們為之語塞。本來正在商量「轟轟烈烈的大事」，一下子變得好笑起來。是啊，再怎麼轟轟烈烈，還不就是坐在這裡，吃一樣的韭菜蝦仁水餃配皇家奶茶？原來我們腦中勾畫的那個美好未來，已經在眼前預先排練著了啊。

好現實，但也好真的一段話啊 (苦笑)。幾乎可以想像自己在未來某刻，還是坐在同樣的咖啡廳裡讀著書，看似前進著，但其實沒有。真正的擔憂並非無法想像未來，而是未來長得跟此刻無比雷同。Plant some seeds that lead to real changes in the future.

「懷舊」，並不是毫無節制地耽溺，而是站在歷史的基礎上，讓現在的自己找到生存下去的力量。

Due confirmation of where we're from & what leads us here.

📕百年孤寂

阿爾卡迪歐曾在這間倒塌的教室裡，第一次感受到權力帶來的安全感，距離他初識愛情的不安的房間僅僅相差幾公尺，此刻他發現死亡拘泥形式真是可笑。事實上他之於死亡更在意活著，因此當他聽到宣判死刑，湧上心頭的不是恐懼而是思念。

📕梅克爾傳

「我認為德國人並沒有特別壞，也沒有特別了不起的地方。我喜歡吃沙威瑪，也愛吃披薩，我覺得義大利的戶外咖啡館很浪漫，也認為瑞士的陽光比較充足。但我在這裡長大，喜歡在這裡過日子。我對這個國家有信心，我就是德國歷史的一部分，不管是痛苦的或是美好的。」在一個排外主義和民粹主義抬頭的時代，梅克爾這番話簡直太溫和了，猶如來自另一個時代的聲音。

能在意識到一切痛苦和美好後選擇接受、還保有信心，這樣的國民不可多得啊！我甚至希望有天我也能打從心底這樣認為：此刻的我對台灣有無數的不滿，但我還是對這個國家有著無比期盼。有一天台灣能成為我們向外追求的所有模樣。

📕什麼才是經營最難的事？

公司如何對待資遣員工，會是留任員工日後特別在意的事。

留任者也有可能成為被資遣者，適當的態度能讓留任者放下心。

身兼公司創辦人及執行長，在指出對方不勝任的同時，對方大概也很清楚你這個執行長做得也不稱職。請坦然承認自己做得不夠好，甚至應該跟他說，如果你是個經驗豐富的執行長，或許還能協助他培養所需的能力，但畢竟你們兩人經驗不足，維持現狀只會拖垮公司。

尤其針對高階經理人時，一段關係的適任與否儼然是由雙方共同擔負，雇主坦承自己的不足是促進組織進步的動力。

一旦發現友情與工作利益衝突時，你應該跟這位明星員工明講，說你和他現在的公司有重要的業務往來，必須先與他的執行長進行資格審核才能確定；如果應試者不希望讓他的執行長知道，你就不應該繼續考慮這個人，並將整個過程保密。事先知會朋友，更能判斷這件事對雙方關係有何衝擊，也可能因此避免誤把庸才當人才。

「如果應試者不希望讓他的執行長知道，你就不應該繼續考慮這個人」這句話特別讓我有感，which means there may be some "wrong secret" going on. 這樣的景況即是不該雇用此人的最佳警訊。另外，所謂的「友情與工作利益衝突」意謂著若最後選的是工作利益，那友情勢必得做出犧牲。

📄There’s no such thing as data

[...] the value isn't in the ‘data’ at all but in the flow of activity around it - the meaning is not in the picture or video you post but in how the network reacts to it, and how the products creates and captures that reaction. [...] All of this prompted Tim O'Reilly to say that ‘data isn't oil - it's sand’ - data is valuable only in the aggregate of millions.

Today’s discussions around AI and around data look a lot like discussions around databases in the 1980s.

📄Text of J.K. Rowling’s speech

There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

Don't blame on parents.

Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

Being in poverty satisfies nobody. 

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are secure in your ability to survive. You'll never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.

What is more, those who choose not to empathise enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.

Actively empathise.

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

Quality over quantity.

Podcastism

🎙️#658: CEO Coach Matt Mochary - The Tim Ferriss Show

If we have to do something that isn’t fun and we’re alone, it is painful, but if we’re in the presence of another human, then we’re usually okay to do that thing which isn’t fun. Who that other human is doesn’t matter too much. It can be our child, our EA, or any other random person.

The trick also works even we're in the presence of a total stranger. (There's an app that arrage it for you) 

[...] the writing doesn’t fully satisfy the communication. And so, at least Pedro, I don’t think Pedro at Brex is cancelling exec team meetings because the issues and the comments are so thorough. [...] It’s “Let’s do the final — I’ve seen your comments. Now I’d like to hear verbally. You and you and you, please share your verbally. Okay, now I get it. Now I have my decision. Here’s my decision. Let me share it with you.” Or I’m going to appoint someone else to be the decision-maker. But yeah, the synchronous portion is needed to finalize the decision to really make people feel heard.

Confirm in person even though the writing is so thorough, with which acts as a ritual to enforce determination on people. 

“I want you right now to think of what is causing you pain. What about that situation that you got angry about is causing you pain? And just share it with me.”

Use anger to uncover pain.

Watching

🎥Working: What We Do All Day

Are you at peace?

Such a low-toned but well-narrated piece. What interests me is that the series categories workers into four ladders: service worker, the middle, dream job, and the boss. We may not be able to strike for the boss, but the ability to pursue our own dream job, and the correct mindset toward it, is what distinguishes us from the middle.

📹Do schools kill creativity?

People who have to move to think.

Hilarious and thoughful.

📹Bring on the learning revolution!

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Rise with the occasion.

📹RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms

Schools are organized on factory lines: ringing bells, separated facilities specialized in separate subjects, we still educate children by batches, and we put them through the system by age group.

Avoid falling into production line mentality.

📹How to escape education's death valley

Children are suffering from childhood.

I once told Sharon that the reason we don't want a child isn't because he/she disturbs us, but the fact that our child won't be able to thrive in the coming world.

What it proved is this: that Death Valley isn't dead. It's dormant. Right beneath the surface are these seeds of possibility waiting for the right conditions to come about, and with organic systems, if the conditions are right, life is inevitable.

The real role of leadership is climate control, creating a climate of possibility.

Outside Interest!

🎶Classic Road Trip Songs - a spotify playlist

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