Keys of Learning a Course

The only keys to do well in learning a course are:

• preparation before the class
• review after the class

Impressions of Dublin -- things I love most (Ⅱ)

No.2 Environment

• City Environment

Dublin is not polluted by the manufacture. The few factories are all located closely to the sea, far away from the city center. Even if there is air pollution, it will disperse very soon, because the wind can blow it away. Since Ireland is a small island, I guess a big sea wind can change the air all over the country in one day. The first benefit the wind brings to the Dublin is the clean and uncontaminated air. I like to breathe the air in the city. When cycling to work in the morning, I try to breathe heavily to enjoy more fresh air, which tastes like a light jasmine tea. You can also the sky here is clear and low. It seems that you can catch and touch the clouds in front of you if running fast enough.

The rain is another free purifier. It works very day -- actually, this is why I do not like it generally -- to clean the streets, architectures and moisten the plants and grasses, which keeps the city clean and nice-looking. There are lots of plant and grass in this city and the frequent alternate appearance of rain and sunshine makes the them grow well. They return fresh air and fine scenery to the city. I have to mention the river traversing the city, Liffey Reiver. The water in the river changes every 2 or 3 days as the ebb and flow of the sea. This makes the water in most of river within the city keep flowing and the city full of vigour.

• Human Environment

The environment mentioned here mainly referes to the non-human environment, but I can still talk about the human environment I have felt on campus--anyway, it is impossible to know much in such a short period. Firstly, people are treaded equally here, just as what I mentioned in the talk of people. So you generally have the same chance as others to do what you like and be successful.

Moreover, the academic atmosphere relatively open and free. People are open-minded to the new ideas and those they are not familiar with. They are willing to listen to the new ideas and will not deny them at first sight. Thus, as the students can be curious and think what they like, their curiosity can be well protected and even encouraged, which, I guess, is one of the primary reason that they can have more innovative talents.

Finally, let me talk about the competition. People from the countries with high competition like China tend to believe that Ireland is not a so competitive country, but I have to say "It depends". It depends on the environment you are in and the people you are with. Generally, you can live a not so competitive life if you want. But actually, competition happens everyday. If you apply for the research funding, you will find lots of colleagues have the same idea. If you go to the public hospital, you always have to queue for a long time. And you may find that the prices of the dailies are lower than before nowadasy, which may make you, the consumer better, but actually indicates that the competition among sellers are more severe.

Dublin The Impression - SunCity

(to be continued...)

8 am & pm

I find it seldom rains before 8 in the morning and rains more after 8 in the evening, so it is better to arrive at office before 8am and get home before 8pm.

Type again

If not in a rush, be not too remorseful about forgetting saving what you wrote on the computer just now. Just type the words again, you will probably have a much better article.

Impressions of Dublin -- things I love most (Ⅰ)

Being in Dublin for 4 months, I am asked the feeling of this city sometimes. To answer questions like this, I tend to list the things I love most and least of the city.

So far, there are three things of Dublin I love most.

No. 1 People

Irish people are friendly and of spirit of equality.

If you ask for directions in the street, you will always get an answer to make you better off. Even if the person you ask does not know the way to the place, he or she will help you to google it with the phone or ask somebody else, or at least tell you to whom you can turn for better help. Anyway, you will definitely get some improvement by asking them. Moreover, they are responsible for what they tell you. Once the person who had showed me the way a moment before ran to stop me just for checking whether I really understood him, because he found the way he had directed tended to confuse me after discussing it with his workmate.

I work with some Irish guys. They are always very patient to help me. They answer my questions about the language and local lifestyles very detailedly and graphically so that I will not be confused or embarrassed. Sometimes I cannot express my ideas clearly, they try many ways to catch what I mean and then teach me how to express in the right way. They are also considerate. If they find I have not said anything for a long time during the conversation with lots of people, they will change to the topics I know more so that I can join the talk.

They will never ask you to change for them, and at the same time they will not change for you. If you cannot understand them well because they speak fast, they will repeat again and again or change the way to explain it for you, but they will not slow down. Because they respect their own right to keep the ways they speak as well as they respect your right to understand them. Once you join their society, they treat you as a equal member as themselves. Nothing will change to meet your special requirement or discriminate you. The shop will not charge you more because you know less about the local price level. The taxi will not take the longer way because you are not familiar with the route. Likewise, your IT Services will not install a Chinese operating system in your computer especially. Even people walking in the street will not give you a second glance because your nose bridge seems lower than theirs. They have their own paces, nobody will speed up or slow down because of you.

(to be continued ...)

Micro Blog

Micro Blog is very popular in China. A micro blog can be short and flexible. This is the first mico blog of Barry's Blog.

Reading Makes a Full Man

"Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man."

--Francis Bacon

What influence do you think reading, conversation and writing have in making you a citizen of the world ?

The major aim is to become and be a citizen of the world. One may be a citizen of a town or city or country. That is easy because the spirit of the place grows into one's own blood as it were. Thus one can be easily a Malaysian, an American and so on. But to be a citizen of the world it calls for a much more broad outlook, deep understanding and a judicious appreciation of other cultures. Very few people could claim to be a citizen of the world. But there have been and there are people who have reached that height. If we analyse and study their lives we could see how their education, interactions with others and writings have made them citizens of the world. So let us see the role played by reading, interactions and writing in the make up of the citizen of the world.

First of all take the case of reading. One reads for pleasure or for understanding or for improving his stock for knowledge. What we read in the school or college or professional institutions is only the beginning and they show and guide what and where to look for. For example specialists like doctors, lawyers or engineers cannot be content with what they have studied in their colleges. Unless they study professional publications later they cannot be up to date. Thus a lawyer may study law reports; a doctor may study professional magazines and monographs. For pleasure we read a lot in our own mother tongue and in other languages as well. The companionship of books is the best that one could look for. Books may please you but never offend you. The reading may be light as a weekend magazine or it may be a master piece. One may read materials pertaining to his profession or personal interest; he may also read books on other areas for fun. Thus one may read books on dozens of different interests and this reading surely goes to make him a full or an all-round man. Such people of wide knowledge are really useful.

Very few people are good conversationalists though there are many well read men. To be a good conversationalist one requires certain qualities. Basically one must be a good mixer; in other words one should like to socialize and have the gift of the gab*. He must be a good conversationalist and listener and must never be offensive or must not wound the feelings of the other. At a higher level when a man meets others in conference he learns a lot from them. To be a success at a conference one must have the ability to put forth his arguments forcibly and logically and convincingly. He must have the patience to hear the other man. He must grasp the other man's point of view quickly and reply. This makes one a ready man.

Coming to writing, we write when we cannot directly converse or talk to. In writing words are recorded and once the writing goes out of one's hand and reaches the other person it becomes a record. The right word in the right place shows the depth of knowledge of the writer and his penmanship. One may write simple, loving family letters, serious stories, poems, dramas, business letters and short articles. What ever is written the flow of words shows the man. You must write what you want to express in plain, straight forward language avoiding redundancy. In conversation one may be wandering; digressions are permissible but in writing each word or sentence must take you forward. We can see this in the great essays of master writers. The power of the written word has been proved in the great books of the world. From the Bible to the Communist Manifesto we find the effect of the written word. The compactness, the exactness, the sequence of logic, all these make good writing. The more one writes the more chastened he becomes like the polishing of a precious stone.

So to be a good citizen of the world one must read a lot, one must learn from companions and one must write. Then can he become a full, ready and exact man.

* the gift of the gab: the ability to speak easily and confidently in a way that makes people want to listen to you and believe you

Economics of Sharing

A large quantity of university students live in shared accommodations. They pay the rent independently and usually share the bills (which usually include electricity, gas, garbage collection or Internet access fees) with their flatmates. As a sharer of the bills, will you tend to consume more goods and services in the bill list or less (which, of course, do not reach the peak of the marginal utility curve) since you only need to pay a portion (probably not a large portion) of the cost.

It seems a rational decision to consume more because you own the whole utility gained from the consumption but only need to pay part of it. Suppose that you have 3 flatmates and the price of electricity is 1 euro per KWh. If you use the electrical appliance, which consumes 1 KWh of electricity, you get the benefit which is worth 1 euro, but you only need to pay 0.25 euro for it. Does it mean you earn 0.75 in this transaction? But we should consider the lost which may issue from the increased consumption by your flatmates due to the same consideration (do not forget you are the loser in their winning transactions based on the same theory). 

This is the economics of sharing. The key feature of the phenomena is that a portion of the cost of your consumption is paid the others, and you pay for a portion of the cost of their consumption. They cannot control the cost they pay for you and analogously, you cannot control the cost you pay for them. This is an interesting issue needs further thinking. Maybe we can get some inspirations from the game theory.

Random Thought during My Illness

I got a cold and had a sore throat and itchy eyes on Friday morning and started a fever that afternoon. Next day, I took a turn for the worse and the sore throat became more serious. I felt tired and run down. My body hurt all over. I also had severe head pains. My body temperature turned higher. I tried to read something, but I cannot concentrate. I did not take any medicine (actually; I refuse the medicine, especially the western medicine, due to its side effect). I will not take it unless have to. And I believed that I will recover soon, just like before. I am proved right again. I felt much better next morning. My body temperature became normal and the head pains disappeared. This is self-healing, a manifestation of the self-adaption of my body system.

Though I played Taichi in the early morning of Saturday, I had not played it regularly for 3 weeks. I was in poor condition. My body lost the balance of Yin and Yang as the Traditional Chinese Medicine says. In some conditions, the body system can return to the balance of Yin and Yang. Mostly, medicine is needed to create such conditions. 

People are weak and fragile when they are suffering. Even a strongest man will become the piteous girl. I thought of my wife, my mother and father, my brothers and sisters, and even all the other people who helped and may help me when I was at the worst. That may be the most reason why people need a family. That is the best and may be the only place you can heal yourself.

First Sense of Complexity Science

Complexity science is the subject for which one can explore all the life. It may rewrite the whole science, the economics and even change the way people think.

The world is recognized as a dynamic and non-equilibrium system with uncertainties, a contradictory unity. Any specific phenomenon is a connection of necessity and chance, regularity and randomness. There are at least four features of complex system. (1) Non-linearity. The explanation given by academician Guangzhao Zhou is quite clear, which states that a system is regarded as non-linearity if the action and the result of the action is disproportional. In the real world, no relationship is actually linear unless people define it for some reason. (2) Dynamics. Nothing is absolutely static. We can seize some features of a object due to its relative statics, which is just a section of dynamic process. Thus, it is unreliable to set the stability or equilibrium as the objective of research. Changing economy, if in the benign direction, is much better than the stable or optimized one. (3) Adaptivity of the agents. There are frequent interactions among the agents in the complex system. They can self-restrain and self-organize. They can adapt themselves to the change or shock from outside world to some sentence. And they can self-evolve as well. (4) Openness. The system keeps exchanging information (including energies and materials) with the outside system(s). It changes the environment and be changed by the outside environment. Actually, the information exchange offers what the system needs to evolve or even mutate.

Since the phenomenon is so complex and the stability and equilibrium are not qualified to be what we pursuit in the model any more, what should be the questions we try to answer in the research, or in other words, what should truth look like? Without deep thinking, I guess what the researchers should figure out is how the system work, or say, how the elements we cared about act in different dimensions. Is there a law demonstrates how they act (in the specific period and space) and what is the law? The different dimensions here refers to the different angles we observe the phenomenon. The phenomenon shows us different statements if we see it in different ways.

One of the biggest problems is, if a lot of elements are considered in our research, at least two difficulties will come up. First, the issue will be too complicated to solve by the current methods. Secondly, the conclusion we gain will be very indirect and becomes not so valuable due to the complication of the issue and too many hypothesises even if we solve it successfully. My further guess is we can simplify or abstract all the qualities of a system into two types. One is positive, the other is negative. One reflects the contradict side of the system, and the other one reflects the unified side of the system. Everything is syntheses of contradictions, which consist of contradict part and unified part. The quality comes from the contradict parts leads to the changing of the system, and the attraction to the outside elements, while the qualities shown by the unified parts makes the system stay the same and reject the outside world. Why not divided all the natures of an object into two sides which are contradict one and unified one (or positive and negative, or Yin and Yang, or any other names you like)? Tradition Chinese Medicine (TCM) defines all the qualities of the tissues in the body as Yin or Yang, and thus converts all the relationships relative to the body and its environment into the relationships between Yin and Yang. You see, it solves the problems of health well. And now some western doctors even said that only the TCM can cure the cancer. In Marx’s economics, all the elements in the economy are classified to either productive forces or relations of production. To some extent, we can say his theory provides a better explanation of economic than contemporary prevalent economic theory.

The next problem maybe how two model the 2D world. Well, this is exactly what we should figure out, we cannot go any further. Actually, some attempt has been done by Chinese scholars.