I took the same flight with GY and KL on my way back Hong Kong. During our casual conversation, the cardiologist questioned about the admission interview of our medical school.
"We asked mostly the usual stuff: Why do you want to study medicine, why do you choose our medical school rather than the one on the other side of the harbour, and so forth," the professor of gastroenterology explained, "In general, candidates with a good examination result would be admitted - unless they appear eccentric in the interview. For the mediocre, it really depends on how well they perform in that 10 or 15 minutes."
The answer was hardly surprising.
But my friend went on, "The annoying bit is, most of the candidates have no creativity and give very boring answers. Take my first question as an example. More than half of them would say they have a special experience when they or their family fell sick some years ago, or they are inspired by some great doctor. You know what, it is often difficult for us to stay awake throughout a long day of interview !"
I nodded. In fact, the better an applicant does in the examination, the more likely they would give a dull answer in the interview.
There is an entirely scientific explanation.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
川菜
There’s actually very little to say about my stay in Chengdu – except perhaps the Sichuan food.
I shall elaborate a little.
*******************************
Dandan noodle (擔擔麵): Contrary to what you have in Hong Kong, there's very little soup in the Sichuan version. In essence it is kind of a bàn miàn (拌麵) with spicy dressing. There's no flavour of peanut butter and, in the one that I had, very little Sichuan pepper either.
Twice cooked port (回鍋肉): Honestly I could not recognize the dish when it was put on the dinning table. There were only a few slices of pork, hardly any cabbage or sweat pepper, but a lot of mushroom of all kinds. As I was told long ago: If you forget about the name and just take it as a hot dish, it is fabulous.
Steamed five cereals (五穀豐登): This is a simple but brilliant one. After repeated challenges of pepper, what is better than an assortment of potato, sweet potato, corn, taros, and yam ?
By the way, the order of dishes was in itself remarkable. Unlike Canton and western banquet, Sichuan people serve fresh fruit as the starter, and there's no clear separation between appetizer and main dish - a series of them, cold and hot, big and small, vegetable and poultry and meat, appeared to come in a seemingly random order.
Of course, food is never the focus on the dinner table - but I am no expert of liquor and would not make any comment.
I shall elaborate a little.
*******************************
Dandan noodle (擔擔麵): Contrary to what you have in Hong Kong, there's very little soup in the Sichuan version. In essence it is kind of a bàn miàn (拌麵) with spicy dressing. There's no flavour of peanut butter and, in the one that I had, very little Sichuan pepper either.
Twice cooked port (回鍋肉): Honestly I could not recognize the dish when it was put on the dinning table. There were only a few slices of pork, hardly any cabbage or sweat pepper, but a lot of mushroom of all kinds. As I was told long ago: If you forget about the name and just take it as a hot dish, it is fabulous.
Steamed five cereals (五穀豐登): This is a simple but brilliant one. After repeated challenges of pepper, what is better than an assortment of potato, sweet potato, corn, taros, and yam ?
By the way, the order of dishes was in itself remarkable. Unlike Canton and western banquet, Sichuan people serve fresh fruit as the starter, and there's no clear separation between appetizer and main dish - a series of them, cold and hot, big and small, vegetable and poultry and meat, appeared to come in a seemingly random order.
Of course, food is never the focus on the dinner table - but I am no expert of liquor and would not make any comment.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Chengdu
We arrived at Chengdu late in the evening and were warmly welcome by a group of local doctors. To our surprise, they did not bring us to the hotel – we were invited to a late supper.
As expected, alcohol was a main dish of the meal.
****************************
I shall not elaborate further about the evening. This was the first time I went to the mainland, which seemed incredulous to our chairman. During the day, he asked me no less than three times: How could that happen ?
Each time I put up a polite smile as the reply.
In reality, although I have much respect to my home country, I always find it uneasy to go to a universe where the laws of physics are different.
As Li Wenxiu (李文秀) said towards the end of the novel Swordswoman Riding West on White Horse (白馬嘯西風): Those are very very good, but they are not my cup of tea.
Or my glass of beverage ?
As expected, alcohol was a main dish of the meal.
****************************
I shall not elaborate further about the evening. This was the first time I went to the mainland, which seemed incredulous to our chairman. During the day, he asked me no less than three times: How could that happen ?
Each time I put up a polite smile as the reply.
In reality, although I have much respect to my home country, I always find it uneasy to go to a universe where the laws of physics are different.
As Li Wenxiu (李文秀) said towards the end of the novel Swordswoman Riding West on White Horse (白馬嘯西風): Those are very very good, but they are not my cup of tea.
Or my glass of beverage ?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Cantonese
While I was pondering on the behavior of our delinquent house officers, we set off to Chengdu (成都) for a conference.
There were eight of us – including our man from Pluto. On our way to the airport, he sighed, “You know, I’m coming to the conclusion that VC is one of the worst jobs you could get. Our students often behave as if they are the boss and I am their servant.”
A few of us giggled and made an inviting grunt.
“That was the University Grant Council visit last week,” he went on to explain, “Two of the visitors were British but, you know what, our student representatives refused to speak to them in English – because they are students of the Chinese U !” (I could imagine how embarrassing the scene was.)
“Inferiority complex,” KL murmured.
“And we are still in the procedure to justify why we have to teach some of the subjects in English …” our future VC continued.
“Do they propose to use Putonghua to teach all subjects in our university ?” I suggested.
“Of course not. Most of them could speak only Cantonese.”
“In that case, shall we propose to change our name to the Cantonese University ?” I said to myself.
There were eight of us – including our man from Pluto. On our way to the airport, he sighed, “You know, I’m coming to the conclusion that VC is one of the worst jobs you could get. Our students often behave as if they are the boss and I am their servant.”
A few of us giggled and made an inviting grunt.
“That was the University Grant Council visit last week,” he went on to explain, “Two of the visitors were British but, you know what, our student representatives refused to speak to them in English – because they are students of the Chinese U !” (I could imagine how embarrassing the scene was.)
“Inferiority complex,” KL murmured.
“And we are still in the procedure to justify why we have to teach some of the subjects in English …” our future VC continued.
“Do they propose to use Putonghua to teach all subjects in our university ?” I suggested.
“Of course not. Most of them could speak only Cantonese.”
“In that case, shall we propose to change our name to the Cantonese University ?” I said to myself.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Theory
There is, in fact, a division in opinion on (what we should do with) our house officers' delinquent behaviour. By the law of nature, two schools of thought emerge - conforming to the traditional teaching by ancient Chinese philosophisers.
One group is the keen followers of the conventional Confucianism (actually the theory of Mencius) and believes human beings wish to do good. In other words, if the department provides a satisfactory environment and gives sufficient incentive or reward to the graduating interns, they would do their best in return.
The others are believers of Xun Zi (荀子) and concludes that conscience is not reliable. We must put up disciplinary actions in order to ensure houseman doing their job right.
Which one is right ?
I don't know. But I'm sure human behaviour has nothing to do with the amount of teaching in ethics and professional conduct in the medical curriculum.
PS. To begin with, I tend to think an increase in supply of house officer (as compared to the number of MO vacancy) would improve the performance. That's certainly a naive idea: interns who have fixed up with their future job would continue to pay no attention to things at hand, while those who could not find a job would have a low morale and use the time to secure their future.
One group is the keen followers of the conventional Confucianism (actually the theory of Mencius) and believes human beings wish to do good. In other words, if the department provides a satisfactory environment and gives sufficient incentive or reward to the graduating interns, they would do their best in return.
The others are believers of Xun Zi (荀子) and concludes that conscience is not reliable. We must put up disciplinary actions in order to ensure houseman doing their job right.
Which one is right ?
I don't know. But I'm sure human behaviour has nothing to do with the amount of teaching in ethics and professional conduct in the medical curriculum.
PS. To begin with, I tend to think an increase in supply of house officer (as compared to the number of MO vacancy) would improve the performance. That's certainly a naive idea: interns who have fixed up with their future job would continue to pay no attention to things at hand, while those who could not find a job would have a low morale and use the time to secure their future.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Discipline
"What do you make out of XXX's emails ?" I asked LS.
"What do you think ?" my friend asked back.
"I suppose we are going to defer some of the poorly performed interns ?" I was rather naive.
"Well, do you know the procedure of doing so ?" She went on.
"So it is complicated ?"
"Not quite - although it could be a torture to us. You see, we first have to see them and list the event that we are not satisfied. We then give a verbal warning. After some time, if there is no improvement, we see them again and give a written warning. It needs another while and we have to review the situation again. Deferral could only be issued if things remain bad ..." She explained.
"And ... ?" I saw that she had not finished.
"And, all through the process, the intern could give explanations to their poor performance. Many a time the stories they put up are obviously excuses, but we have to accept and do away with the formal warning - because we usually have no evidence to prove that the story is fake." Check.
"Moreover, procedures take time," I began to saw her point, "It is difficult to have all these finished in a 3-month rotation - unless you start the ball rolling from their first day. In fact, if a house officer deliberately performs badly in the last week or two, there isn't even enough time to give a verbal warning !"
Checkmate.
PS. No wonder the last rotation of houseman starts on 1st April. We are treated as fools.
"What do you think ?" my friend asked back.
"I suppose we are going to defer some of the poorly performed interns ?" I was rather naive.
"Well, do you know the procedure of doing so ?" She went on.
"So it is complicated ?"
"Not quite - although it could be a torture to us. You see, we first have to see them and list the event that we are not satisfied. We then give a verbal warning. After some time, if there is no improvement, we see them again and give a written warning. It needs another while and we have to review the situation again. Deferral could only be issued if things remain bad ..." She explained.
"And ... ?" I saw that she had not finished.
"And, all through the process, the intern could give explanations to their poor performance. Many a time the stories they put up are obviously excuses, but we have to accept and do away with the formal warning - because we usually have no evidence to prove that the story is fake." Check.
"Moreover, procedures take time," I began to saw her point, "It is difficult to have all these finished in a 3-month rotation - unless you start the ball rolling from their first day. In fact, if a house officer deliberately performs badly in the last week or two, there isn't even enough time to give a verbal warning !"
Checkmate.
PS. No wonder the last rotation of houseman starts on 1st April. We are treated as fools.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Intern
A recent hot topic amongst our colleagues during lunch is the quality of our house officers.
Oh, I mean the lack of quality of them.
The reason is simple: Most of the interns have already fixed up with an MO job. The last three months of internship is nothing but a pass time.
One of my friends is particularly furious (which I fully agree). He went so far to wrote two emails, one to our chairman and the other to us.
Here they are.
**********************************
Dear Chairmen,
I hope you could allow us to have more stringent disciplinary actions on our interns, particularly the last group of them who fail to execute their jobs in a professional way after securing their next jobs. While we have been accumulating tremendous tangible assets through publications, awards, grants, donations, new centers etc, we are also running the risk of losing intangible assets through tolerance to substandard practice. In the long run, this will undermine our medical school's reputation and professionalism.
XXX
**********************************
Dear all,
We set role models and develop culture for our students so that they can follow. This is how the tradition of professionalism can be perpetuated. Unfortunately, we do see a small minority of them, for various reasons, fail to practise professionally. And in most occasions, they are well aware of what they should do but they deliberately choose not to do.
If positive discipline through encouragement and acknowledgement doesn't work, I strongly support that they need to bear the consequence of what they have done. This implies deferral of internship, written warning and notification of future employers. We should also think of some forms of database or inquiry system of disciplinary / conduct problem in which their future employers, whether they are of private sector or HA, can get access with careful observation of privacy issues. Tolerance or negligence will lead to perpetuation of this malpractice and in the long run erode the creditability of our profession and our medical school.
XXX
Oh, I mean the lack of quality of them.
The reason is simple: Most of the interns have already fixed up with an MO job. The last three months of internship is nothing but a pass time.
One of my friends is particularly furious (which I fully agree). He went so far to wrote two emails, one to our chairman and the other to us.
Here they are.
**********************************
Dear Chairmen,
I hope you could allow us to have more stringent disciplinary actions on our interns, particularly the last group of them who fail to execute their jobs in a professional way after securing their next jobs. While we have been accumulating tremendous tangible assets through publications, awards, grants, donations, new centers etc, we are also running the risk of losing intangible assets through tolerance to substandard practice. In the long run, this will undermine our medical school's reputation and professionalism.
XXX
**********************************
Dear all,
We set role models and develop culture for our students so that they can follow. This is how the tradition of professionalism can be perpetuated. Unfortunately, we do see a small minority of them, for various reasons, fail to practise professionally. And in most occasions, they are well aware of what they should do but they deliberately choose not to do.
If positive discipline through encouragement and acknowledgement doesn't work, I strongly support that they need to bear the consequence of what they have done. This implies deferral of internship, written warning and notification of future employers. We should also think of some forms of database or inquiry system of disciplinary / conduct problem in which their future employers, whether they are of private sector or HA, can get access with careful observation of privacy issues. Tolerance or negligence will lead to perpetuation of this malpractice and in the long run erode the creditability of our profession and our medical school.
XXX
Friday, April 23, 2010
Advice
You may argue, not limited to investment, we should listen to others' advice and be flexible.
Well, yes, if you could tell which advice is good and which other leads you to deep water; in that case you have already made your own decision successfully.
If you could not and have to follow people's words blindly, the balance of probability is that you would pick the poor ones - because they have an abundant supply.
****************************
One common form of advise is: Someone did this and was very successful. Why don't you do the same ?
And that very successful action may be buying stocks and hold or selling them early to cut loss, eating only meat or vegetables or yourself to lose weight, following John Keynes or Milton Friedman, or Karl Marx or Voltaire.
As my friend KT said, "They are good. But it doesn't necessarily mean that we should follow."
(See http://ccszeto.blogspot.com/2007/12/confidence.html)
Well, yes, if you could tell which advice is good and which other leads you to deep water; in that case you have already made your own decision successfully.
If you could not and have to follow people's words blindly, the balance of probability is that you would pick the poor ones - because they have an abundant supply.
****************************
One common form of advise is: Someone did this and was very successful. Why don't you do the same ?
And that very successful action may be buying stocks and hold or selling them early to cut loss, eating only meat or vegetables or yourself to lose weight, following John Keynes or Milton Friedman, or Karl Marx or Voltaire.
As my friend KT said, "They are good. But it doesn't necessarily mean that we should follow."
(See http://ccszeto.blogspot.com/2007/12/confidence.html)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Decision
As to the role of a superb memory, in the practice of medicine, the problem is usually not unable to remember certain facts, but failure to make a decision. After all, what good is there to be able to list 100 differential diagnosis of a certain symptom but unable to pin down which one your patient at hand is having?
A list of differential diagnosis is a list of wrong diagnosis.
**************************
While thinking about making decisions, I met AG - a young colleague of mine - during lunch.
She was thinking of buying a new flat and start some other investment, and she asked for my advice.
The first question was easy: As long as one has a need to live in the flat and one could afford, go buy one by all means. How about fluctuation of the property market ? Oh, if there is no consensus amongst the experts, you can do whatever you like; if there is a consensus, of course you should go and do the opposite.
As to the second question, you don't need a genius to have a satisfactory result - neither do you need to listen to much investment advise. As Andre Kostolany pointed out, winners of the investment game are usually decisive but persistent persons.
That actually applies to many other things in life.
A list of differential diagnosis is a list of wrong diagnosis.
**************************
While thinking about making decisions, I met AG - a young colleague of mine - during lunch.
She was thinking of buying a new flat and start some other investment, and she asked for my advice.
The first question was easy: As long as one has a need to live in the flat and one could afford, go buy one by all means. How about fluctuation of the property market ? Oh, if there is no consensus amongst the experts, you can do whatever you like; if there is a consensus, of course you should go and do the opposite.
As to the second question, you don't need a genius to have a satisfactory result - neither do you need to listen to much investment advise. As Andre Kostolany pointed out, winners of the investment game are usually decisive but persistent persons.
That actually applies to many other things in life.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Memory
Talking about English grammar, my recent bedtime reading is American English Idiomatic Expressions in 52 Weeks by John Holleman.
The book is more a reference or dictionary, but somehow I read it through. No, I do not expect to remember anything - except that I could have some vague idea of where to find the relevant description when it becomes necessary.
The book is, therefore, now safe on the shelf of my office.
*****************************
By the way, it is a romantic idea that some people could read once and remember forever. Being suspected to have such an amazing capability, I could assure you I have none (for example, although never intended to be a surgeon, I read Bailey and Love no fewer than three times before my final examination).
Further, I am still waiting to see the first genius of this kind in my life.
PS. A few of my friends - notably TW - are close to this, but I always suspect she is more hardworking than she appears to be.
The book is more a reference or dictionary, but somehow I read it through. No, I do not expect to remember anything - except that I could have some vague idea of where to find the relevant description when it becomes necessary.
The book is, therefore, now safe on the shelf of my office.
*****************************
By the way, it is a romantic idea that some people could read once and remember forever. Being suspected to have such an amazing capability, I could assure you I have none (for example, although never intended to be a surgeon, I read Bailey and Love no fewer than three times before my final examination).
Further, I am still waiting to see the first genius of this kind in my life.
PS. A few of my friends - notably TW - are close to this, but I always suspect she is more hardworking than she appears to be.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Grammar
Shortly after I encountered the medical student with an impressive hair colour, a friend rang me up in frustration.
He showed me a document he wrote - and asked if I could double check the grammar.
"What an idea !" I said to myself. To me, there is only one rule of English grammar that I could handle: Does it sound right ?
After all, even Shakespeare failed to observe the rules of grammar all the time - and I have not heard of any grammar expert writing pieces close to the quality of Hamlet.
(Well, yes, some are close to Les Miserables - they achieve the second word.)
By the way, being challenged on grammar is not only the problem of myself. Many of my colleagues have the same experience of being asked to revise a manuscript by some native English speaker.
On one occasion, one of my previous colleagues - who is a head-to-toe English - told me that he was asked to do so for his manuscript submitted to an international journal.
"They must have thought that the paper comes from Hong Kong and we could not be fluent in English." He complained.
"Well, how did you reply ?" I asked.
"Oh, I didn't revise anything. I just asked them to look at my name - that says everything." He could not help smiling.
PS. Although most Hong Kong people are native Chinese speakers, I believe if we are asked to give an expert opinion on the Chinese grammar of a document, the result would be catastrophic.
He showed me a document he wrote - and asked if I could double check the grammar.
"What an idea !" I said to myself. To me, there is only one rule of English grammar that I could handle: Does it sound right ?
After all, even Shakespeare failed to observe the rules of grammar all the time - and I have not heard of any grammar expert writing pieces close to the quality of Hamlet.
(Well, yes, some are close to Les Miserables - they achieve the second word.)
By the way, being challenged on grammar is not only the problem of myself. Many of my colleagues have the same experience of being asked to revise a manuscript by some native English speaker.
On one occasion, one of my previous colleagues - who is a head-to-toe English - told me that he was asked to do so for his manuscript submitted to an international journal.
"They must have thought that the paper comes from Hong Kong and we could not be fluent in English." He complained.
"Well, how did you reply ?" I asked.
"Oh, I didn't revise anything. I just asked them to look at my name - that says everything." He could not help smiling.
PS. Although most Hong Kong people are native Chinese speakers, I believe if we are asked to give an expert opinion on the Chinese grammar of a document, the result would be catastrophic.
Monday, April 19, 2010
金毛
You may think I am quite outspoken and do not hide my opinion.
Alas, I have the same impression - until I went to the campus and taught our first year medical students recently.
Don't be too excited. Nothing actually happened. Yes, the class was getting more noisy every year, but I have passed the age of trying to quiet them down.
The event went like this: After a short lecture, the students were splitted into groups; a few of us did with them a so-called small group tutorial.
When I entered the room, a boy sitting in the front row caught my eyes.
His hair was dyed to the colour of glistering gold - a style that we only expect to find in members of some underground society.
I had thought of no fewer than two versions to talk to him.
After the class, I met this very student in the corridor, and we exchanged a polite nod.
Maybe he is merely naive - or am I really getting old ?
Alas, I have the same impression - until I went to the campus and taught our first year medical students recently.
Don't be too excited. Nothing actually happened. Yes, the class was getting more noisy every year, but I have passed the age of trying to quiet them down.
The event went like this: After a short lecture, the students were splitted into groups; a few of us did with them a so-called small group tutorial.
When I entered the room, a boy sitting in the front row caught my eyes.
His hair was dyed to the colour of glistering gold - a style that we only expect to find in members of some underground society.
I had thought of no fewer than two versions to talk to him.
- Malicious: "You would never be able to pass any clinical examination with golden hair."
- Benign: "This kind of appearance would do you no good; no patient would like to talk to - not to say be examined by - a medical student who appears as a gangster !"
After the class, I met this very student in the corridor, and we exchanged a polite nod.
Maybe he is merely naive - or am I really getting old ?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Beginning
While talking about the running of this blog, I must say I had very little planning when I began the whole thing. It was merely a vague idea that I do have enough opinion on a variety of subject so that I could write on regularly.
(I agree that's quite against my usual personality, which tries to plan most things ahead. But, I am no governor of the universe, and do on occasion allow things to happen by random. After all, even god throws dice.)
Similarly, I had no plan to write diary (the hard copy one I mean) whatsoever. In fact, I started writing it nearly 25 years ago for some unrelated reason.
It went like this: Shortly after I entered the medical school, I began some private study on Chinese poetry. Because my reading was rather patchy, I decided to keep a little notebook to jot down the good pieces that I encountered. Soon afterwards, I began to add some comments to the poem. The situation gradually evolved; I soon had no poem to put down (because the subject of my private study became philosophy) but quite a bit of comments (alas, grumbles) to write.
And that formed my diary.
(I agree that's quite against my usual personality, which tries to plan most things ahead. But, I am no governor of the universe, and do on occasion allow things to happen by random. After all, even god throws dice.)
Similarly, I had no plan to write diary (the hard copy one I mean) whatsoever. In fact, I started writing it nearly 25 years ago for some unrelated reason.
It went like this: Shortly after I entered the medical school, I began some private study on Chinese poetry. Because my reading was rather patchy, I decided to keep a little notebook to jot down the good pieces that I encountered. Soon afterwards, I began to add some comments to the poem. The situation gradually evolved; I soon had no poem to put down (because the subject of my private study became philosophy) but quite a bit of comments (alas, grumbles) to write.
And that formed my diary.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Self
A few of my friends commented that my blog is becoming more interesting recently.
That, alas, is not a good sign.
Although this little page is open to public, and I do share in here my opinion to things around, my blog is never meant to be something popular. More often than not I show here some of my fragmented view on history, philosophy, economics, or any other (to me) interesting subject. It is true that a practising clinician may not be entirely knowledgeable or appropriate to comment on this topics. Nonetheless, I have a grandiose personality disorder. As Sherlock Holmes said (in The Adventure of Abbey Grange):
“Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.”
Therefore, I choose to express my untimely, biased, and sometimes unpalatable, view on many irrelevant subjects.
Well, on a few occasions I put up funny little stories that I personally encountered. But that's more for the ventilation of myself than the interest of any audience. As to blog page, I always take the view my friend KM: The blogger is merely talking to himself, and audience are peepers.
And, you know the unwritten rule of peepers ?
Please keep quiet.
That, alas, is not a good sign.
Although this little page is open to public, and I do share in here my opinion to things around, my blog is never meant to be something popular. More often than not I show here some of my fragmented view on history, philosophy, economics, or any other (to me) interesting subject. It is true that a practising clinician may not be entirely knowledgeable or appropriate to comment on this topics. Nonetheless, I have a grandiose personality disorder. As Sherlock Holmes said (in The Adventure of Abbey Grange):
“Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.”
Therefore, I choose to express my untimely, biased, and sometimes unpalatable, view on many irrelevant subjects.
Well, on a few occasions I put up funny little stories that I personally encountered. But that's more for the ventilation of myself than the interest of any audience. As to blog page, I always take the view my friend KM: The blogger is merely talking to himself, and audience are peepers.
And, you know the unwritten rule of peepers ?
Please keep quiet.
Friday, April 16, 2010
... cont'd
(My communication with Warren continued.)
Dear Warren,
I agree CKI is, at the moment, the least over-priced blue chip that pays a reasonable dividend. As discussed, the long term outlook of China Light seems not favorable, but I am not optimistic with the successor of Superman either. Seriously I have no ingenious advise, but my own practice now is to put half of my dividend generating portfolio for Link, and the other half for the Bank of China - until the latter decides to change its dividend policy, or I could find a reliable international cash cow selling at a reasonable price.
(For the latter point, I must confess I did have some hope on HKB until recently.)
Sincerely,
Szeto
**********************************
Thanks Szeto. Perhaps many people share your worries and that’s why 1038 remains cheap.
I did have serious consideration of 823. I have made numerous visits to its malls and car parks. While I agree that it is a reliable choice for dividend, I have doubts whether its dividend can be increased in the long run…… a good topic for discussion on the future of HK economy!
Are you talking about BOC or BOCHK? I sold BOC and switched to 939 and 2888 for the same reason but I guess 939/1398 won’t be immune from the policy risk of dividend cut.
I will consider buying back HSBC if its expected dividend rate rise back to 4%. As I have mentioned before, it is still worthwhile to invest on HSBC…… provided that the opportunity cost is low.
Warren
Dear Warren,
I agree CKI is, at the moment, the least over-priced blue chip that pays a reasonable dividend. As discussed, the long term outlook of China Light seems not favorable, but I am not optimistic with the successor of Superman either. Seriously I have no ingenious advise, but my own practice now is to put half of my dividend generating portfolio for Link, and the other half for the Bank of China - until the latter decides to change its dividend policy, or I could find a reliable international cash cow selling at a reasonable price.
(For the latter point, I must confess I did have some hope on HKB until recently.)
Sincerely,
Szeto
**********************************
Thanks Szeto. Perhaps many people share your worries and that’s why 1038 remains cheap.
I did have serious consideration of 823. I have made numerous visits to its malls and car parks. While I agree that it is a reliable choice for dividend, I have doubts whether its dividend can be increased in the long run…… a good topic for discussion on the future of HK economy!
Are you talking about BOC or BOCHK? I sold BOC and switched to 939 and 2888 for the same reason but I guess 939/1398 won’t be immune from the policy risk of dividend cut.
I will consider buying back HSBC if its expected dividend rate rise back to 4%. As I have mentioned before, it is still worthwhile to invest on HSBC…… provided that the opportunity cost is low.
Warren
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Exerpts
Rather than boring you further with the news of extra-terrestrials, let me share with you some recent wisdom of my friend Warren.
************************************
Dear Szeto,
How do you compare 2 and 1038 for a portfolio with equal emphasis on stable dividend income and capital growth? I am a bit worried whether 2 can still sustain its current dividend payout. Thanks.
Warren
************************************
Dear Szeto,
Please check this out.
Although I haven’t examined the cash flow, but both the dividend increment and debt ratios favor 1038. However, 2 is remarkably (20-30%) more expensive than 1038.
I don’t know this huge premium of 2’s management over 1138’s is justified or not. After all, the superman didn’t exploit 1038 even during the worst days of their business in the early 2000s.
It appears that the institutional investors rushed to 2 for its apparently superior dividend rate in the short term as well as the higher liquidity.
You can also take a look of the 3rd slide which illustrates how Mr. Market treats these 2 companies as a weighing machine.
You can also take a look of 737. My wife is holding this and the current dividend rate is around 6.5%. However, I will sell it after reaching its intrinsic value (~25-30% to go).
Warren
************************************
Dear Szeto,
How do you compare 2 and 1038 for a portfolio with equal emphasis on stable dividend income and capital growth? I am a bit worried whether 2 can still sustain its current dividend payout. Thanks.
Warren
************************************
Dear Szeto,
Please check this out.
Although I haven’t examined the cash flow, but both the dividend increment and debt ratios favor 1038. However, 2 is remarkably (20-30%) more expensive than 1038.
I don’t know this huge premium of 2’s management over 1138’s is justified or not. After all, the superman didn’t exploit 1038 even during the worst days of their business in the early 2000s.
It appears that the institutional investors rushed to 2 for its apparently superior dividend rate in the short term as well as the higher liquidity.
You can also take a look of the 3rd slide which illustrates how Mr. Market treats these 2 companies as a weighing machine.
You can also take a look of 737. My wife is holding this and the current dividend rate is around 6.5%. However, I will sell it after reaching its intrinsic value (~25-30% to go).
Warren
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Explain
(Two weeks after the Secretary of Defence sent out the letters to invite for application, he met again with the Chief Commander.)
"There is only one applicant ! How could that happen ?" The civil servant was obviously surprised.
"That's not entirely unexpected," explained the senior soldier, "People just get used to their old pair of boots."
"But we've got the money and need to submit our homework ... a report I mean," the Secretary grumbled.
"Well, what else could we do ?" the army general asked.
"That's easy. Go and ask all troop leaders in the army to submit a list of names for recommendation - these soldiers will be contacted individually and invited to apply. We shall then do the boot visit and draw lots as planned."
"My original suggestion was to choose suitable soldiers by us. What's the difference here ?" the Chief Commander was puzzled.
"The difference is, we shall ask all troop leaders to provide written explanation for each and every soldier that they do not recommend." The Secretary replied solemnly.
"There is only one applicant ! How could that happen ?" The civil servant was obviously surprised.
"That's not entirely unexpected," explained the senior soldier, "People just get used to their old pair of boots."
"But we've got the money and need to submit our homework ... a report I mean," the Secretary grumbled.
"Well, what else could we do ?" the army general asked.
"That's easy. Go and ask all troop leaders in the army to submit a list of names for recommendation - these soldiers will be contacted individually and invited to apply. We shall then do the boot visit and draw lots as planned."
"My original suggestion was to choose suitable soldiers by us. What's the difference here ?" the Chief Commander was puzzled.
"The difference is, we shall ask all troop leaders to provide written explanation for each and every soldier that they do not recommend." The Secretary replied solemnly.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Boots
A few months after the story between a Secretary of Defence and the Chief Commander of the Army that I described in http://ccszeto.blogspot.com/2010/01/missile.html
Somehow they survived, and hold another meeting. (Being different from Rene Descartes, their motto is: I attend meetings, therefore I am. I shall leave the Chinese translation to your imagination.)
The senior civil servant began, "Look, now we have a small funding from the prime minister for twenty pairs of new boots for our foot soldiers. It's a new design and should be more comfortable than the old ones that we are using."
The chief soldier frowned, "But we have several thousand foot soldiers. How are we going to decide which of them should get the new ones ? Well, maybe I should pick a small troop that is most in need."
"No, you can't do that," the Secretary interrupted, "We need a fair and open system so that every soldier would know of the news and consider applying for the boots."
"Eh ... ?" The army general could not believe his ears.
"Yes, we shall send letters to each and every one of them. They shall fill in a form if they want to apply. We shall then arrange the applicants to have a formal inspection of the boots, and then we draw lots ..."
"Well, how much does this process cost ?" the Commander murmured.
"Don't worry. As I said, we have the money. If necessary, we shall cut down the plan to ten pair of new boots and save the money for the administrative procedure."
Somehow they survived, and hold another meeting. (Being different from Rene Descartes, their motto is: I attend meetings, therefore I am. I shall leave the Chinese translation to your imagination.)
The senior civil servant began, "Look, now we have a small funding from the prime minister for twenty pairs of new boots for our foot soldiers. It's a new design and should be more comfortable than the old ones that we are using."
The chief soldier frowned, "But we have several thousand foot soldiers. How are we going to decide which of them should get the new ones ? Well, maybe I should pick a small troop that is most in need."
"No, you can't do that," the Secretary interrupted, "We need a fair and open system so that every soldier would know of the news and consider applying for the boots."
"Eh ... ?" The army general could not believe his ears.
"Yes, we shall send letters to each and every one of them. They shall fill in a form if they want to apply. We shall then arrange the applicants to have a formal inspection of the boots, and then we draw lots ..."
"Well, how much does this process cost ?" the Commander murmured.
"Don't worry. As I said, we have the money. If necessary, we shall cut down the plan to ten pair of new boots and save the money for the administrative procedure."
Monday, April 12, 2010
Ankle
While we were pondering on the use of HK$5000 during our lunch time discussion, it came to our attention that DH - our professor of respiratory medicine - sprained his ankle.
"It must be quite bad," one of my friend remarked, "He was immediately wheeled back to his office and had plaster put on."
"No wonder I did not hear from him," I said.
"No, you wouldn't. He was granted an urgent sick leave by the orthopedic surgeon."
"Really ?" I made a wicked smile, "I think he could still come back and work."
"How on earth !?" my friends all protested, "He needs to stay on a wheelchair and would not be able to do ward round or go to the clinic - not to say doing bronchoscopy !"
"But, if on one hand we declare someone who has to stay on a wheelchair for life could fulfill the duty of a doctor, why do we accept another physician, a fully trained one who could not walk for a couple of weeks, not suitable for clinical duty ?"
PS. For an entirely logical argument, the ankle of my poor friend obviously hurts so much that he could not work. Nonetheless, for our discussion, that's quite beyond the point.
"It must be quite bad," one of my friend remarked, "He was immediately wheeled back to his office and had plaster put on."
"No wonder I did not hear from him," I said.
"No, you wouldn't. He was granted an urgent sick leave by the orthopedic surgeon."
"Really ?" I made a wicked smile, "I think he could still come back and work."
"How on earth !?" my friends all protested, "He needs to stay on a wheelchair and would not be able to do ward round or go to the clinic - not to say doing bronchoscopy !"
"But, if on one hand we declare someone who has to stay on a wheelchair for life could fulfill the duty of a doctor, why do we accept another physician, a fully trained one who could not walk for a couple of weeks, not suitable for clinical duty ?"
PS. For an entirely logical argument, the ankle of my poor friend obviously hurts so much that he could not work. Nonetheless, for our discussion, that's quite beyond the point.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
$5000
What could you do with HK$5000 ?
But, not for those who tries to govern every quark movement.
That needs HK$5001.
PS. As Albert Einstein said: When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
No wonder why we all agree time is money.
- Hire someone at HK$20 per hour, 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 5 weeks.
- Hire someone at HK$33 per hour, 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 3 weeks.
- Check the serum level of any cytokine you like (by ELISA test) for 40 patients.
- Buy 3 sets of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine.
- Subscribe New England Journal of Medicine for 18 months.
- Buy a new desktop computer for my office.
- Host 2 tables (i.e. 24 guests) in the annual dinner of our renal patient association.
But, not for those who tries to govern every quark movement.
That needs HK$5001.
PS. As Albert Einstein said: When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
No wonder why we all agree time is money.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Bowen
Don't get me wrong. The book 《明朝那些事兒》 is entirely satisfactory and enjoyable - as a bedtime reading, to say the least.
Of course, I could not agree with many of the author's view points, notably, his praise to the few important founders of the dynasty - particularly Liu Bowen (劉伯温) - and the interpretation about the capacity of the Scholar of the Wenyuan Chamber (文淵閣大學士).
The first point may worth further elaboration. You may know Liu Bowen was the principal political advisor of Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), a post similar to Zhang Liang (張良) who served for Liu Bang (劉邦). Since Zhu and Liu were the only two in the history of China who rose from an ordinary citizen to the emperor, it seems logical to compare Liu and Zhang.
Alas, take aside all the advises that they actually gave to their boss, Zhang successfully excused himself from the limelight soon after the Han empire got going and enjoyed a peaceful retirement, while Liu died after refusing medical treatment - for the fear that his political adversary, or Zhu Yuanzhang himself, would try to poison him through the doctor.
That's more than a fine line of difference.
PS. Many people believe that Liu Bowen was an expert in astrology, and wrote the classical Biscuit Poem (燒餅歌). That may be true. Nonetheless, the Poem becomes insignificant when put by the side of the Push-Back Pictures (推背圖), written by Li Chun-Feng (李淳風) and Yuan Tian-Gang (袁天罡) of the Tang empire.
Of course, I could not agree with many of the author's view points, notably, his praise to the few important founders of the dynasty - particularly Liu Bowen (劉伯温) - and the interpretation about the capacity of the Scholar of the Wenyuan Chamber (文淵閣大學士).
The first point may worth further elaboration. You may know Liu Bowen was the principal political advisor of Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), a post similar to Zhang Liang (張良) who served for Liu Bang (劉邦). Since Zhu and Liu were the only two in the history of China who rose from an ordinary citizen to the emperor, it seems logical to compare Liu and Zhang.
Alas, take aside all the advises that they actually gave to their boss, Zhang successfully excused himself from the limelight soon after the Han empire got going and enjoyed a peaceful retirement, while Liu died after refusing medical treatment - for the fear that his political adversary, or Zhu Yuanzhang himself, would try to poison him through the doctor.
That's more than a fine line of difference.
PS. Many people believe that Liu Bowen was an expert in astrology, and wrote the classical Biscuit Poem (燒餅歌). That may be true. Nonetheless, the Poem becomes insignificant when put by the side of the Push-Back Pictures (推背圖), written by Li Chun-Feng (李淳風) and Yuan Tian-Gang (袁天罡) of the Tang empire.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Ming
My recent bedtime reading is 《明朝那些事兒》 - again I borrow it from AL.
To be specific, I read only book one, which focused on Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋). Although I have much interest in history, the Ming dynasty is a period that I distinctly dislike, and I decided not to ask AL for the latter volumes of this series.
By and large my personal bias against the Ming emperors was because of a book, the name of which I have forgotten, that I read in primary school. It was about the Tumubao Crisis (土木堡之變), and the tragic death of Yu Qian (于謙).
From that time, I understand justice is imaginary and fairness hallucinatory.
And, the years between 1368 to 1644 were omitted subconsciously from my mind.
PS. My little story also proves that history is not suitable for school children.
Maybe our government is right after all.
To be specific, I read only book one, which focused on Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋). Although I have much interest in history, the Ming dynasty is a period that I distinctly dislike, and I decided not to ask AL for the latter volumes of this series.
By and large my personal bias against the Ming emperors was because of a book, the name of which I have forgotten, that I read in primary school. It was about the Tumubao Crisis (土木堡之變), and the tragic death of Yu Qian (于謙).
From that time, I understand justice is imaginary and fairness hallucinatory.
And, the years between 1368 to 1644 were omitted subconsciously from my mind.
PS. My little story also proves that history is not suitable for school children.
Maybe our government is right after all.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
長平
Just a little bit of history.
I suppose you've heard of the Battle of Changping (長平之戰) ? With the horrible leadership by Zhao Kuo (趙括), who was famous for discussing military strategy on paper (紙上談兵), as many as 400,000 Zhao (趙) soldiers were executed after they surrendered.
One small point that may skip your eyes: Bai Qi (白起), the general of Qin (秦), actually released 240 surrendered young Zhao soldiers back to their home country - not for any goodwill, but as a tactic to terrify Zhao and other countries.
What's not well mentioned in most history books is that the King of Zhao (趙孝成王) was actually advised by a courtier to put up a tortuous procedure to treat the returning soldiers:
Alas, maybe he does many many years later.
I suppose you've heard of the Battle of Changping (長平之戰) ? With the horrible leadership by Zhao Kuo (趙括), who was famous for discussing military strategy on paper (紙上談兵), as many as 400,000 Zhao (趙) soldiers were executed after they surrendered.
One small point that may skip your eyes: Bai Qi (白起), the general of Qin (秦), actually released 240 surrendered young Zhao soldiers back to their home country - not for any goodwill, but as a tactic to terrify Zhao and other countries.
What's not well mentioned in most history books is that the King of Zhao (趙孝成王) was actually advised by a courtier to put up a tortuous procedure to treat the returning soldiers:
- They would be welcome in the most fabulous way, preferably in gigantic carts, so that the actual number of coming back would seem much more than 240.
- After a ceremony, they would be sent immediately to a long term project (or so would their family be told); in reality they would be immediately killed - so that they would not spread around the news of the recent battle.
Alas, maybe he does many many years later.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Queen
On that very evening after our third year examination, the male version of Marie Antoinette came and visit all clergy of the First Estate.
I would cite a few fragments of our conversation for your interest.
***********************************
"You know, we are desperately in need of more postgraduate students." One of the priests said.
"I agree the assignment is not entirely fair at the moment. Some other faculties get a lot more research students to do the work." His Highness replied.
"And that could not be changed ?" Another clergy asked.
"Well, it's not engraved on a stone ... but we could not change it over night ..." the queen continued.
"So ... ?"
"So I would not expect any substantial change before I retire."
I looked carefully at him, from head to toe. There would probably be fifteen years before he claims his pension.
But the discussion continued.
"We are really short of space. There is even difficulty for our new research assistant to find a place to sit !" another senior nun said.
"In fact there is ample of space - but that may not be the place you want. For example, we have lot of office space up on the hill in the main campus ..."
We all looked at each other.
"And again we should look north," Queen Marie continued, "There will be a new campus north to the SZ river a few years later."
"Do you mean we could move some of the research there ?"
"Of course, of course ... provided that your research is related to arts or social science or engineering or a handful of other dedicated topics."
PS. It has been a long time I have not meet a senior official who would attend a meeting with his personal secretary that takes notes by traditional shorthand; our queen brought with him one. It was almost impossible for me to resist the temptation to advise that young lady to put down the phrase for summarizing what His Highness said:
何不食肉糜 ?
I would cite a few fragments of our conversation for your interest.
***********************************
"You know, we are desperately in need of more postgraduate students." One of the priests said.
"I agree the assignment is not entirely fair at the moment. Some other faculties get a lot more research students to do the work." His Highness replied.
"And that could not be changed ?" Another clergy asked.
"Well, it's not engraved on a stone ... but we could not change it over night ..." the queen continued.
"So ... ?"
"So I would not expect any substantial change before I retire."
I looked carefully at him, from head to toe. There would probably be fifteen years before he claims his pension.
But the discussion continued.
"We are really short of space. There is even difficulty for our new research assistant to find a place to sit !" another senior nun said.
"In fact there is ample of space - but that may not be the place you want. For example, we have lot of office space up on the hill in the main campus ..."
We all looked at each other.
"And again we should look north," Queen Marie continued, "There will be a new campus north to the SZ river a few years later."
"Do you mean we could move some of the research there ?"
"Of course, of course ... provided that your research is related to arts or social science or engineering or a handful of other dedicated topics."
PS. It has been a long time I have not meet a senior official who would attend a meeting with his personal secretary that takes notes by traditional shorthand; our queen brought with him one. It was almost impossible for me to resist the temptation to advise that young lady to put down the phrase for summarizing what His Highness said:
何不食肉糜 ?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Poem
While VW and I were discussing the advance in medical technology, AL came and joined us.
When we asked about the recent interview for the personal assistant of our new chairman, she told us (one of) the question being asked:
Recite a Chinese poem (七絕) and explain it in Putonghua.
For sure it was meant to be a test of Putonghua (of which I declare myself to be completely incapable) rather than Chinese literature or general knowledge.
Nonetheless, if I were to choose a poem for interview of this kind, here is my pick:
宣室求賢訪逐臣，賈生才調更無倫。
可憐夜半虛前席，不問蒼生問鬼神。
李商隱 《賈生》
I shall leave the explanation to your own.
When we asked about the recent interview for the personal assistant of our new chairman, she told us (one of) the question being asked:
Recite a Chinese poem (七絕) and explain it in Putonghua.
For sure it was meant to be a test of Putonghua (of which I declare myself to be completely incapable) rather than Chinese literature or general knowledge.
Nonetheless, if I were to choose a poem for interview of this kind, here is my pick:
宣室求賢訪逐臣，賈生才調更無倫。
可憐夜半虛前席，不問蒼生問鬼神。
李商隱 《賈生》
I shall leave the explanation to your own.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Technology
(My examination discussion with VW continued.)
"Although the quality of medical profession is declining, I am still optimistic to the standard of care by the time we get old." My friend said.
"Really ... ?" I hinted that I disagreed - obviously not to the first half of his comment.
"Oh, technology is ever advancing. It seems realistic to expect in 10 or 20 years we could have sophisticated artificial intelligence to make medical decisions, unbelievable devices for investigations, and robots and other automatic mechanics to do all surgical procedures."
"You may be right with the facts. Alas, once again, we two see the same thing but arrive at a different conclusion !" I could not help smiling.
"Well ?" It was his turn to look puzzled.
"To begin with, medical care involves person-to-person contact. However good the technology is, the quality of care hinges on how good the doctors are."
"I would take that," my friend nodded, "and ... ?"
"And, more importantly, advance in technology means that we could do away with simple procedures. The inevitable result is junior doctors have few things for their practice, and, therefore, they would have more difficulty to master the difficult techniques !"
"Although the quality of medical profession is declining, I am still optimistic to the standard of care by the time we get old." My friend said.
"Really ... ?" I hinted that I disagreed - obviously not to the first half of his comment.
"Oh, technology is ever advancing. It seems realistic to expect in 10 or 20 years we could have sophisticated artificial intelligence to make medical decisions, unbelievable devices for investigations, and robots and other automatic mechanics to do all surgical procedures."
"You may be right with the facts. Alas, once again, we two see the same thing but arrive at a different conclusion !" I could not help smiling.
"Well ?" It was his turn to look puzzled.
"To begin with, medical care involves person-to-person contact. However good the technology is, the quality of care hinges on how good the doctors are."
"I would take that," my friend nodded, "and ... ?"
"And, more importantly, advance in technology means that we could do away with simple procedures. The inevitable result is junior doctors have few things for their practice, and, therefore, they would have more difficulty to master the difficult techniques !"
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Career
Shortly after I completed my duty as a clinical psychologist, we held the year 3 examination.
The running was amazingly smooth and immensely efficient under VW, so much so I have very little to remember. Late in the morning, when everything was in the right track, VW and I had a leisured moment, and he talked about a recent gathering with a friend of his, who was looking for job in Hong Kong (see http://vwswong.blogspot.com/2010/03/supervision.html).
My friend asked, "If you were to give some career advise to our new graduates, what would you say ?"
"Oh, I don't think I could give any," I murmured, and said to myself, "After all, they seem to have their own idea."
*********************************
When you come to think of it, the eternal dilemma of choosing a career seems to be either pursuing your own interest or following the market trend.
On this, I would say neither.
To begin with, personal interest is a frothy idea. True, we should avoid choosing a job that we distinctly dislike - but it doesn't mean that we should have one that we love best.
And, to excel in a social game, we should not always follow the crowd.
PS. Unlike the choice of a career, for decisions that we have to do repeatedly, there is now go evidence that the chance of survival is highest if one follows the crowd 60% of the time and spend the other 40% searching out escape routes on your own.
Go read The Perfect Swarm by Len Fisher.
The running was amazingly smooth and immensely efficient under VW, so much so I have very little to remember. Late in the morning, when everything was in the right track, VW and I had a leisured moment, and he talked about a recent gathering with a friend of his, who was looking for job in Hong Kong (see http://vwswong.blogspot.com/2010/03/supervision.html).
My friend asked, "If you were to give some career advise to our new graduates, what would you say ?"
"Oh, I don't think I could give any," I murmured, and said to myself, "After all, they seem to have their own idea."
*********************************
When you come to think of it, the eternal dilemma of choosing a career seems to be either pursuing your own interest or following the market trend.
On this, I would say neither.
To begin with, personal interest is a frothy idea. True, we should avoid choosing a job that we distinctly dislike - but it doesn't mean that we should have one that we love best.
And, to excel in a social game, we should not always follow the crowd.
PS. Unlike the choice of a career, for decisions that we have to do repeatedly, there is now go evidence that the chance of survival is highest if one follows the crowd 60% of the time and spend the other 40% searching out escape routes on your own.
Go read The Perfect Swarm by Len Fisher.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Quark
I must have changed my specialty and became a clinical psychologist recently. Shortly after my dinner discussion with KB, YP - another friend of mine - grabbed me on my way to the out-patient clinic and asked for some counseling.
"You know, he has to control everything ! Money, staff, duty, space, data ... just anything you could or could not think of." My friend was hot when he talked about his boss.
"Quite right, quite right ..." I tried to cool him down a bit. But, in fact, I know his boss just too well. He does not micro-manage (like Zhuge Liang); he is more advanced and is a keen practitioner of quark management.
You may ask: What's the difference between micro- and quark management ?
That's simple.
A quark manager is a true physician: He (wants to) know everything (and makes every decision) but wishes to do nothing.
A micro-manager is a pathologist: He knows everything and does everything, but it is often too late.
Another perfect illustration of personality determines specialty.
PS. Quark - not proton and neutron - is the elementary particle of every matter.
Go read The Universe in a Nutshell.
"You know, he has to control everything ! Money, staff, duty, space, data ... just anything you could or could not think of." My friend was hot when he talked about his boss.
"Quite right, quite right ..." I tried to cool him down a bit. But, in fact, I know his boss just too well. He does not micro-manage (like Zhuge Liang); he is more advanced and is a keen practitioner of quark management.
You may ask: What's the difference between micro- and quark management ?
That's simple.
A quark manager is a true physician: He (wants to) know everything (and makes every decision) but wishes to do nothing.
A micro-manager is a pathologist: He knows everything and does everything, but it is often too late.
Another perfect illustration of personality determines specialty.
PS. Quark - not proton and neutron - is the elementary particle of every matter.
Go read The Universe in a Nutshell.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Micro
On that very evening of the Third Estate meeting, I dined with KB and AC, two friends of mine who are laboratory scientists.
Our discussion inevitably fell to some recent changes in the management level.
KB sighed, "You know, it is really difficult to work for someone who insists on knowing and working on every detail themselves."
I made an inviting grunt - knowing perfectly well whom she was referring to. With due respect, the classical model from our history was the highly praised Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮).
Alas, you may think the prime minister of Shu Han (蜀漢) was a genius. Well, he might be, but he was too hardworking to be a good leader. As mentioned in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義), how could a system sustain if the CEO of a government has to work on every case that needs a punishment of caning for 20 strokes (罰二十以上皆親覽) ?
PS. The major problem is not that the hardworking genius would inevitably die, but that he cultivated a body of dependent officials, so that, after his death, no one could take up the post.
Our discussion inevitably fell to some recent changes in the management level.
KB sighed, "You know, it is really difficult to work for someone who insists on knowing and working on every detail themselves."
I made an inviting grunt - knowing perfectly well whom she was referring to. With due respect, the classical model from our history was the highly praised Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮).
Alas, you may think the prime minister of Shu Han (蜀漢) was a genius. Well, he might be, but he was too hardworking to be a good leader. As mentioned in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義), how could a system sustain if the CEO of a government has to work on every case that needs a punishment of caning for 20 strokes (罰二十以上皆親覽) ?
PS. The major problem is not that the hardworking genius would inevitably die, but that he cultivated a body of dependent officials, so that, after his death, no one could take up the post.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Democrazy
Talking about King Louis XVI, there was recently a meeting of the Third Estate (第三等级) close to my office.
It was planned to be a meeting to discuss how the system of duty should be juggled. (I do mean juggling: The number of balls on the air is fixed and so is the number of working hands - and there are always more balls than hands.)
Although it was supposed to be a meeting of the working class, it was led by a Noblesse.
That was, of course, King Nikochan's unnamed servant.
I learnt from bits and pieces what happened in the meeting. As you know, our governor of the universe is a die-hard supporter of democracy. After a brief introduction of one-and-a-half hour by the King's noble servant, the forum was opened to all Laboratores members. As repeatedly stressed by the representative of extra-terrestrials, democracy means that the front line workers should have the right to design their own working system.
And, following the history of France, there was much a vigorous exchange in opinion between the two sub-groups of the Third Estate - the bourgeoisie (middle class) and the peasantry (farming class).
You would expect no conclusion was made ? To the credit of some bourgeoisie, there was one - and was seemingly accepted by the majority of them. The proposal was submitted to the King's servant the next day.
And, as the Estates-General of 1789, our governor of the universe banned the proposal - it did not conform to his original idea. (In his own words, the Estate did not consider the whole problem thoroughly from every angle as he did.)
A nice demonstration of crazy.
It was planned to be a meeting to discuss how the system of duty should be juggled. (I do mean juggling: The number of balls on the air is fixed and so is the number of working hands - and there are always more balls than hands.)
Although it was supposed to be a meeting of the working class, it was led by a Noblesse.
That was, of course, King Nikochan's unnamed servant.
I learnt from bits and pieces what happened in the meeting. As you know, our governor of the universe is a die-hard supporter of democracy. After a brief introduction of one-and-a-half hour by the King's noble servant, the forum was opened to all Laboratores members. As repeatedly stressed by the representative of extra-terrestrials, democracy means that the front line workers should have the right to design their own working system.
And, following the history of France, there was much a vigorous exchange in opinion between the two sub-groups of the Third Estate - the bourgeoisie (middle class) and the peasantry (farming class).
You would expect no conclusion was made ? To the credit of some bourgeoisie, there was one - and was seemingly accepted by the majority of them. The proposal was submitted to the King's servant the next day.
And, as the Estates-General of 1789, our governor of the universe banned the proposal - it did not conform to his original idea. (In his own words, the Estate did not consider the whole problem thoroughly from every angle as he did.)
A nice demonstration of crazy.
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