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Singing one song per day

Singing is a fun thing to do. It’s effective in preventing us from feeling lonely and bored. Nowadays I’m singing - with the goal of learning one song per day.

I’m learning to sing mandopop songs, not because I like the genre, but because they are generally much easier to sing than the songs I like, such as this one. Mandopop songs also help me to connect to people around me because it’s popular and is a nice chat topic. Maybe one day I should also learn to sing cantopop songs to learn Cantonese.

Occasionally we are asked to go up the stage and sing in front of a crowd. This can be embarrassing and awkward if we seldom sing. Knowing how to sing some popular songs can save us from such embarrassment. Karaoke seems to be a popular adult past time in some cultures, where we have to sing with a group of friends. Being able to sing songs well make us likable in such occasion.

Another reason I learn to sing one song per day is to train my memory and creativity. I have to repeat a song many times until I can sing without looking at the lyrics, at the same time I imagine the story and meaning in the song. I believe such activity keeps the mind active and helps to prevent dementia and senility.

I shall end this post with an example of mandopop song. Enjoy:

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Learn the pattern

Remember playing games like tic-tac-toe, minesweeper, and chess? The more you play the more “pattern” of playing you’ll recognize to win the game. By following such pattern of playing, you’ll learn how to increase the chance of winning. That applies to mahjong and card games too.

Pattern can be observed not just in games, but also in all aspects of life. There are patterns in school life, working environment, and human relationship. Those who know the “right” pattern always win the game of life. Those who don’t will always bang their heads against the wall. That’s why sometimes we have to learn the hard way and go through trial and error to learn such pattern, so that we won’t repeat our mistake and do things right.

Some scientists try to understand the mysterious pattern of life by writing it down in mathematical terms. They try to summarize life into theorems and formulas, such as Von Neumann game theory and non-classical logics. It’s definitely beyond our understanding. But if we are a bit observant, we can pick up these patterns.

I believe life is easier if we try to recognize patterns instead of banging the wall countless times. For example, we can mark down the patterns in solving Math problem instead of doing thousands of homework exercises blindly. We can solve other similar problems easily once we recognize the solving pattern, where we just need to repeat the winning formula.

Life is too short for us to repeat countless mistakes. Learn the patterns quickly so that we can focus more on enjoying life.

Cheers!

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Interesting books that actually improve your life

Nowadays when you go to Self-Help section of a book shop, you’ll find tons of self-help junk books that contain common sense stuff (work hard, set your goals, be honest etc.). Most of these books are written because they sell well to make the publishers and writers richer. It’s not easy to find really good self-help gems.

Empty self-help material can be dangerous to your well being. It’s usually preached to a bunch of network marketing members to encourage them to get more down lines and clients to sell stuff. These people end up hallucinating about reality and life. How can we minimize the chance of getting self-help junk so that we won’t become one of those motivated zombies?

It’s a good strategy to get books that actually help you to acquire specific set of knowledge or skill, which is like tools that you can actually use. I think it’s OK to read motivational books as long as they give you clear guide on how to apply its bla-bla-bla in real life in a realistic way. Otherwise it’s just day dreaming, where you get nothing useful out of the book.

It’s good to start with book series like “For Dummies” or “Complete Idiot’s Guide” that offer you useful knowledge and skills in layman terms. Normally they are interesting, entertaining, and relatively free from heavy expert-jargons. Here are some For Dummies books that I find useful for general improvement in life:

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Etiquette for Dummies

Behaving well in front of others is important. Learn how to act properly, move gracefully, and gain respect from others.
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Negotiating for Dummies

Negotiating is a skill that we often use no matter who or what we are. It helps us to get what we want and make everyone happy.
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Nutrition for Dummies

We all must eat. And eating right is important for health. Nutrition is something that we should know about.
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Personal Finance for Dummies

Money can’t buy everything, but it’s still important in life. Learn how to manage and grow your money so that you’re financially stable. Hopefully you’ll get rich someday.

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There are many more good books to read in For Dummies series. Just pick the topics that are relevant to your life.

Maybe you can start by reading one chapter a day. Such knowledge will help you in the long run.

Other interesting topics in For Dummies series include:

• Anger Management
  Body Language
  Branding
  Business Etiquette
  Consulting
  Counseling Skill
  Fundraising
  Investing
  Job Interviews
  Logic
  Public Relations
  Successful Time Management

And many more…

]]> http://wisecurve.com/interesting-books-that-actually-improve-your-life/feed/ http://wisecurve.com/interesting-books-that-actually-improve-your-life/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWiseCurve/~3/T6h8g2Vwlrk/ http://wisecurve.com/statue-a-symbol-an-expression-and-a-masterpiece/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:03:37 +0000 Relax http://wisecurve.com/?p=456 .

Statue - A symbol, an expression, and a masterpiece

Statues are built to represent humans or animals and immortalized as landmark of a place. Sometimes they are symbols of certain towns or cities, such as The Little Mermaid of Copenhagen, Denmark, and The Merlion of Singapore. They are an essential part of human culture and civilization.

Statues are also popular snapshot target. With a bit of skill and experience, we can take excellent pictures of such artwork, as if they are alive and moving. We just need to be creative and make use of camera angle, lighting, shadow, background, and color combination to yield superb result. Here are some of the pictures that I took last time:

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The Light Boy

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The Merlion, Singapore

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The Bremen Town Musicians

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The Golden Boy

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The Working Woman

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Moritzburg, Meissen, Germany

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Shaking hands might be slightly disgusting

Handshake is a culture that promotes peace, friendship, and cooperation. People shake hand when they congratulate someone, meet friends, or seal a deal. It’s said that ancient people shake hands to show that there’s no weapon in their hands. Watch this video to learn more about it:

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People from different cultures shake hands differently. The Germans normally give firm and confident handshake to show trustworthiness. But such handshake will make some Malaysians feel uncomfortable. Malaysians’ handshake is much softer and colder. I know about it because some Malaysians openly complained that my firm western handshake was quite hurting (I only shake hands with moderate strength and never intend to crush bones). Maybe it was some sort of culture shock.

Besides being a potential culture shock inducer, hand shaking is not a culture that I like because of hygiene issues. People seldom wash their hands before and after a handshake. This enables germs and dirt to pass around. Imagine someone cough into his hand before shaking your beautiful hand.

Now imagine someone did one of these things with his right hand before touching you:

1. Digging or rubbing nose
2. Coughing into palm
3. Sneezing into palm
4. Directly or indirectly having hand contact with own feces (shit)
5. Touching oneself or inducing sexual sensation (ahem ahem)
6. Touching potentially dirty surfaces like door knob and wall
7. Handling random bank notes
8. Licking fingers after a good meal

and many more….

Don’t forget: many people don’t wash their hands thoroughly. That means some dirt (or slime) might stuck to their hands for quite some time.

I strongly think that we need alternative gestures (with no body contact) to replace hand shaking, since it’s disgusting or culturally offensive to some sensitive individuals. Raising one’s hand and say “Hi!” or “Bye!” is good enough for me. Anyways, the video below demonstrates an alternative ritual to handshake. You might enjoy watching it (but not actually doing it).

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Beware of bias China-themed reading material

I love to read books about China. However, I always have to ask whether the book I pick up is China praising or China bashing (panda hugging versus dragon slaying). Nowadays it’s not easy to get China related books that offer balanced point of view.

Last year (2008) National Geographic published a special edition magazine focusing on China. You know what’s inside this magazine? There are tons of pictures showing poverty, factory workers, pollution, and all sorts of “dark” side of China. More than 90 percent of the pictures put China in negative light. Those who have visited China and seen the country for themselves will find the pictures in this magazine misleading.

It’s misleading because a country has both positive and negative aspects. When you show only dark side without stating the bright side of the story, you’re unfair and bias. It’s sad that a reputable media like National Geographic does something like this, as if the China hating fanatics are running the editorial board.

Last time I saw a heap of China themed books at a book store. I randomly picked up a book and read its back cover. It says something like this, “The high oil price is caused by huge demand in China and India.” The (China bashing) book was published before the recent economy crisis. We know it isn’t true because the oil price plunged deeply during the recent crisis. The price fluctuation is due to commodity speculation. Yet, the book blamed China for it. Come to think of it, they’ll blame everything they can think of on China (and never on themselves). I’m not surprise if they point finger at China when their pet goldfish dies.

It’s great that there are still good China-themed books to read. One such example is The China Road by Rob Gifford. It’s a travelogue, where the author used his travelling experience to discuss about the lives of the Chinese and the progress of China. It shows both negative and positive aspects of the country. I think the author is great by giving a voice to the local people. He wrote down his conversation with the Chinese so that the readers also know what the Chinese people think about their nation.

A Year Without “Made in China” by Sara Bongiorni is also a good read. It’s about an American family’s struggle to boycott “Made in China” products for a year. Interestingly, they do this as a curious experiment just to see if it’s feasible. Their boycott is rather neutral and not driven by other anti-China causes like human rights, separatism, anti-communism, local job losses etc. It’s a break from the usual China bashing.

So what’s the moral of the story?

Number 1
Media should be fair by providing balanced and neutral point of view.

Number 2
Blindly demonizing the whole nation will only bring more tension and cause more trouble. People of different nations will end up suspicious of each other and it’ll hamper the dream of unity in humanity.

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Book Review: Buat Duit Tanpa Kerja Makan Gaji

A magical book that might change your life forever…

This book is written in Malay language by Zulkifli Musa, a Malaysian blogger who’s very knowledgeable in local human resource market. He maintains a popular bi-lingual blog called Skor Career: an excellent resource for those who are concerned about Malaysian job market.

The title literally means “making money without being employed“. It mainly talks about alternative ways for white-collar employees to generate income without the need to work 8 hours a day at office.

Imagine your wife and children leave you because you spend most of your time at the office. This book reveals the harsh reality faced by many white collar employees, where their lives are negatively affected by their work. Not everyone loves to run the office rat race. Many people are forced to work from 9 to 5 till they’re 65. Maybe they’ll live a happier life by making a living by other means as outlined in this book.

If you think white-collar working lifestyle doesn’t suit you and feel like escaping it, then you might need this book. If you love your stable job, or if you are ambitious to climb your career ladder, this book is still valuable to you because you can use it to learn how to generate side income to make your wallet fatter.

This book is easy to read as it’s written in a casual style. Read more about it here.

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Ideas to make cities greener

Green cars, such as hybrid and electrical cars, are expensive and impractical. Some of them still cause some degree of air pollution. That’s why I think to make our environment greener, we shouldn’t focus only on creating the cleanest vehicles, but also on new concepts of human transportation to reduce energy consumption and air pollution. For example, it’s greener for 60 people to travel by 2 normal buses than by 60 bio-fuel cars.

Good City Design - because you don’t want to drive 2 hours to the cinema

Imagine places like shopping centers, schools, and post offices are miles apart within a city. You have to travel a great distance just to do simple things like shopping and sending postcards. Such inconvenience eats away the fuel and your time.  That’s why cities should be well designed to reduce the need to travel great distance.

Helsinki, Finland is a well designed city. You can take a cruise ship (Silja or Viking line) from Stockholm to Helsinki and it’ll dock directly at the heart of the city! Just walk a little further and you’ll reach the shopping places, main train station, schools etc. Everything is in walking distance, and you hardly need a car. Another example of well designed city is Gothenburg of Sweden, where walking is the best mode of transportation to get you anywhere.

Map of Helsinki, Finland

Providing green transportation infrastructure - because you don’t want to cycle in the middle of the road

The government should enable “green traffic” by providing the required infrastructure. You just need to visit cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen and see how people travel around. Their bicycle lanes can be as wide as a two lane road! No wonder so many people choose to travel by bikes. Possibly in the future, there’ll be lanes for Segways.

Thousands of bicycles in Münster, Germany

Public transportation network - because it’s better than getting stuck in front of traffic lights

Those who live in developing nations know how lousy their buses and trains are: confusing and never punctual. It’ll be great if the government sets up an efficient public transportation network throughout the city, which allows people to commute easily. That will reduce the dependence on cars.

The network has to be integrated, where the buses/subway/trams/trains are under one system or management so that people can transit easily between different modes of transportation. We just need to buy a ticket to use all modes of transportation in the city.     Proper incentives should be offered to encourage people to use the public transportation network. Frequent travelers should get cheaper ticket (normally it comes in the form of weekly or monthly pass). People who travel in one group should also get cheaper group tickets. I wish they provide us free coffee too!

Transportation network in Frankfurt, Germany

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I know some of you are familiar with the ideas mentioned above, but they are still new to many countries. If every major city implements them, the world will be much greener.

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The ritual of eating

Eating is basic human activity to stay alive. It gives us nutrient, brings us pleasure, and keeps hunger away.
This simple activity gradually evolves into complex rituals in human society, where it plays an important role to initiate and encourage human interaction. It also serves other purposes such as fulfilling emotional needs and healing. Here are some of the “applications” of eating in human society:

1. Healing or recovery
2. Growing (for children)
3. Improve health
4. Refreshing body and mind
5. Gaining pleasure from food (taste, smell, texture etc.)
6. Gaining experience from new kind of food
7. Recalling old experience from food
8. Reducing stress
9. Escaping reality through eating
10. Showing gratitude
11. Expressing apology
12. Expressing joy
13. Being a part of religious rituals
14. Celebrating
15. Partying
16. A way to past time
17. Initiating conversation
18. Trading (barter trade a meal for something)
19. Initiating other activities, such as negotiation and business dealing (this includes prostitution)
20. Make a lot of people gather together at certain place/time (Banquet, wedding dinner etc.)
21. Enabling mass socialization
22. Showing one’s social or financial status
23. Getting to know someone better
24. Conveying certain message or making certain announcement
25. Spreading propaganda
26. Marketing gimmick and business promotion
27. Courting and inducing romantic/sexual relationship
28. Strengthen relationship amongst individuals
29. Asking favor from someone
30. Getting people together to start negotiation or discussion
31. Motivating people
32. and many more….

I’m writing this thing down because not many people think deeply about this very important aspect of human life. Hmmm…. I’m thinking of eating pizza now.

I just want to let you know that my laptop is kaput. My IT expert friend told me that it’ll take a few weeks to get it fix.

For now, I’m taking a short break from blogging until I get my laptop back.

See you soon. Live well!