The History and Philosophy of China in Comics

I am fortunate enough to have a Chinese friend who has sent me some wonderful books that narrate, in comic form, various histories and philosophies of China. The books have been created by the artist Tsai Chih Chung and are comical as well as informative. The English translations are good with some humourous colloquialisms that I can only hope are an accurate representation of the original Chinese text.

I have 15 of these books on my shelf and have read them in bits and pieces over the last year or two. I am going to make these my main source of recreational reading from now until I get through them all. I will provide reviews on this site as I complete each book. I will start with History Speaks. The complete list of books that I have by Tsai Chih Chung is:

• History Speaks: The Four Princess of the Warring States
• Zen Stories: The Staff and Shout of the Venerable Ones
• The Dao Speaks I: Whispers of Wisdom
• The Dao Speaks II: More Whispers of Wisdom
• The New Dao: Mystery and Pure Conversation
• The Analects of Confucius
• Mencius Speaks: The Cure for Chaos
• Sunzi Speaks: The Art of War
• Zhuangzi Speaks I: The Music of Nature
• Zhuangzi Speaks II: More Music of Nature
• The Roots of Wisdom
• Madam White Snake
• Journey to the West Book I
• Journey to the West Book II
• Ghosts and Wizards: Fables and Fairy Tales from Late China

My take on Apple's iPad

The Apple iPad is not an iPhone and it is not a laptop or netbook. The Apple iPad is a media/content delivery device. Instead of comparing the iPad with other touch screen tablets, or with the iPhone, or with laptops/netbooks, I think it deserves comparison with the Sony Playstation, the Microsoft Xbox, and the Nintendo Wii. These devices are closed, the manufacturers make money from licensing companies to create content, and they all have tacked on online stores for purchasing content. It is the content where these companies make their money and to such an extent that they reportedly take a loss on the hardware in order to get these content delivery devices into the hands of consumers.

The iPad fits exactly in this game console mold as a content delivery device. Apple already has music/movie/tv content being delivered and the iPad is going to be able to access those streams. The iPhone added applications which the iPad will also be able to access. In addition, the iPad will bring two new content sources: applications built specifically for the iPad and the books/magazines/newspapers. Amazon has been doing a rollicking trade with e-books supplied to its Kindle and Apple will take a piece of this market. The Kindle probably provides a better reading experience and definitely provides a better battery life, but this is not going to matter. The aesthetics of the iPad are going to win over the general population and people who would never have thought of buying a Kindle are not going to think twice about buying an iPad.

Every media report I've seen on Apple's newly announced iPad has mentioned disappointment that this is just a "big iPod/iPhone". However, that's pretty much exactly what I want. I have two concrete use cases I can quote:

1. In an earlier post I mentioned that my wife spent more time using her iPhone than she spent using her newly obtained Sony P-Series netbook. At the end of that post I predicted that if an Apple Tablet were to appear, it would basically relegate the Sony to the nether world under the bed. Well, Apple delivered exactly the device that will cause my prediction to come to fruition. I will buy an iPad when it comes out and my new prediction is that I won't be able to pry it from my wife's hands. She will be using it to keep up with Facebook, chat with friends, and browse the web for recipes. I'll have to wait until she puts it down to grab a few minutes with it and then give it up again upon her return. I suspect this scenario will play out in a lot of households.

2. I have bought a bunch of e-books over the last few years. I read these on my 13" MacBook when I am on the road. They way I read (the pdf e-books) is to enter full screen and then rotate the view 90 degrees. I then hold my MacBook vertically so that the screen is in a portrait orientation. This provides an experience where I can have an entire page on screen and have the text readable, but it is uncomfortable. The iPad, out of the box, fits squarely in this use case, without the discomfort.

These two reasons are enough for me to shell out for Apple's newest shiny. At present I plan to buy the entry level version and pick up a beefier one at a future iteration.

My predictions for the Apple's success as a result of the iPad are:

1. The iPad won't sell close to the numbers we have seen for the iPod/iPhone,
2. There will be a fall in sales of Apple's entry level laptops as people purchase the iPad instead. However, iPad sales will outstrip the fall in laptop sales as there will be people not in the market for a laptop buying the iPad,
3. Overall, Apple's revenue will increase thanks to these extra iPad sales and also the content sales the iPad will provide.

Apple's stock was falling yesterday. If I had the money, I'd be buying.

I need a (good) zoom lens

I've been loading my Flickr Photostream with images taken from the recent Tour Down Under held in Adelaide. Most of my shots were taken with Canon's thrifty fifty (50mm f1.8) strapped to my 400D. I did get what I consider to be some nice shots, such as the following of Chris Sutton, Greg Henderson, and Ben Swift of Team Sky on their warm down lap after Greg and Chris had finished 1-2 in the Cancer Council Helpline Classic.



However, my wife was using our Canon G10 and was able to capture more atmospheric photos thanks to its ability to shoot wider. For example, this photo of Lance Armstrong heading to the start line for Stage 4.



A zoom lens would have given me more flexibility shooting this event. I do have the kit 18-55mm lens, but I just haven't been bothering with this since I bought the 50f1.8. What I need is a decent zoom lens and I think the 24-70mm f2.8L would fit the bill nicely. On my 400D that would effectively give me a 40-110mm lens which might not be quite wide enough at the low end. Perhaps I need a full frame camera as well ... the 5D MkII perhaps?

My birthday is in three months, anyone want to buy me these shiny things?

Review of Year 2010 goals

Three weeks into the new year and it is time for a quick review of the goals I have set myself to achieve this year:

• 2010.1 - Lose weight: No progress yet. I have been out for a few walks and have made some forays into dieting, but nothing consistent. I can blame a lot of things - the weather in Adelaide (we had a run of 4 days over 41C), a few parties, quality TV (!) - but it is down to me. I have to pick this up sooner rather than later as I have an intermediate slimming goal to reach by early April. I need to fit into some clothes I had made when I was thinner in time for my sister's wedding.
• 2010.2 - Belajar Bahasa Indonesia: I have made some progress with this goal. I pulled out some flash cards I bought more than a year ago and have been working through them. Of the 440 odd cards I can translate better than 420 on sight and without error. The remaining 20 I can sort of squint and probe my memory for the translations that don't match any of the other 420 cards and guess right most of the time. My wife has been helping my when we drive by quizzing me on the cards verbally. My listening skills still need a lot of work. But, I have been able to read more of the posts our Indonesian friends make on Facebook.
• 2010.3 - Search for my 'ikigai': The process of studying Indonesian has revealed to me that I really enjoy learning. I went through those flash cards for about four days and the information stuck. The reward of being able to read more Indonesian text felt great. However, I don't think I am going to make a great living just reading through Wikipedia and amazing people at parties with my tidbits of trivia (although, that's an interesting idea for a blog). I could step into academia now that I am a PhD graduate but it would be a step back financially and I'm not in a position where I am able to take that cut. Not that I am unhappy with my current job which has great scope and support for learning and development as well. I think this blog and my Know Thy Tools website provide a good avenue for turning my learning into output and perhaps I can earn some money from advertising and affiliate links.

A slow start to the year but there is promise. This post has been kicking around in my mind for a while and I am glad I have written it down. Goals are only meaningful if they are kept in sight and regularly reviewed. I'll have more posts like this in the future.

Goal 2010.3: Search for my `ikigai'.

Ikigai is a Japanese word that translates to `what one gets up in the morning to do'. Basically it is one's purpose in life. Dan Buettner reports on Blue Zones at a TED conference. Blue Zones are regions in the world where the life expectancy is significantly higher than the norm. One region is in Okinawa and one of the reasons postulated for the long life of an Okinawan is that they can clearly and immediately express their `ikigai'.



I don't necessarily need to live to 100 and beyond but I would like to have an `ikigai' --- a concrete purpose and passion to my life. At the moment I get up on a weekday and go to work and my weekends are spent waiting to go to work again on Monday.

Expressed another way, I am looking for my job in life. What is the single thing I dedicate my life to doing. This is expressed in another TED talk, this time by Elizabeth Gilbert whose life's job is writing. She gets up in the morning and she knows her job is to write. Her talk is very interesting and I encourage anyone with a creative streak to watch.



How am I to go about searching for my ikigai? Introspection is going to have to be a big part of the process. I need to think back through my life and try and identify the times I was engaged in what I was doing.

Focussed exploration and practice within my current areas of interest will also occur. I am doing what I am doing now for some reason. My life has led me here and it is worth my time to really focus on where I am now to make sure my current feeling of a lack of purpose isn't just due to laziness.

A goal is fairly useless if progress can not be measured. I will track progress by creating sub-goals that capture specific tasks to accomplish as part of my search. If I complete around six to twelve sub-goals this year I will be happy that I made a concerted effort in my search. I may not have found my ikigai, but I'll know that I looked.

This blog will contain reports and notes as I search.

Goal 2010.2: Belajar Bahasa Indonesia

Another resolution carry over from last year: Belajar Bahasa Indonesia.

At the end of the year I will be able to converse with my wife, her family and friends in Indonesian. I don't expect to be fluent, but I will be able to understand what is being said and understand when I don't understand and be able to ask for clarification. I expect to be a better listener/reader than talker as that is just who I am (and is evidenced by my `proficiency' with English).

I have a bunch of resources available to me. Google Translate is doing a pretty spiffy job of translating to/from Indonesian. I've been really impressed with the few times I have used it. I also have a books dedicated to teaching Indonesian. The free content from the Learning Indonesian podcast is really good and I may spring for the enhanced content, however, I haven't seen much activity from the hosts in a while. I have both the original English and Indonesian translation of three novels - Across the Nightingale Floor, Grass for His Pillow, and Brilliance of the Moon. I also have some flash cards. And finally I have this thing called the "Internet". It is supposed to be big at the moment.

I'll pick one of my Indonesian study guides as a first step to achieving this goal.