Short, concise, funny — and on-point as long as you remind yourself this was written 23 years ago; yet the foundation still stands. Honesty is more important than kindness. A quarrel that has not been solved is not really over. Dutch like direct communication and a student can contradict his or her teacher. And to a […]
I was born four months before the Berlin Wall fell, two days before the B-2 Stealth Bomber made its first flight, and a month after the wreckage of Germany’s Second World War battleship the Bismarck was found, 650 kilometers west of France and 4791 meters deep into the Atlantic. That same year the World Wide […]
In ‘The Nurture Assumption‘, Judith Rich Harris challenges the idea that children are mainly formed by their parents. In 462 pages, Harris goes over many ideas, the main one being that the environment in which children grow up has a much bigger influence on children’s future than their parents. It’s an appealing idea that should […]
Why do we produce luxury cars while people are dying in poor countries? Why do we work on missions to Mars while our own planet has problems? Why is Starbuck’s revenue is 26,5 billion dollars, while malaria would cost 8.5 billion dollars to eradicate? Why do we worry about climate change if nuclear weapons are […]
Janet, 1970s Janet teaches about foreign-invested joint ventures in China at Fudan University. At the start of her lecture, she introduces herself starting from present to past. She now travels around the world advising big multinationals — but her roots lie in 70s rural China. Janet tells us how she’d perceive an apple to be […]
We can improve the way we love when we stop looking at love like a kind of work, the way we may look at careers: how to mold the perfect child, how to have the perfect partner. Modern lovers search for their perfect romance and *the one*. Young girls try to live up to the […]
I’ve driven a NIO ES6 for a few thousand kilometers in between Shanghai & Suzhou, across highways, parking garages, and little alleys. I’m not an expert car reviewer, but I’ve driven (not owned) other full-electric and hybrid cars. Last updated, September 17th 2020 Pros of the NIO ES6: The NIO ES6 is big. Especially the […]
The last mosque in Suzhou. Before 1949 there were over ten mosques in the city. Among small restaurants and butchers, Taipingfang 太平坊 was restored in 2018 — made anew and more turquoise — and it now offers a spot to pray for local and visiting Muslims. Shifu gave us a tour, even though non-muslims aren’t […]
三年在中国，我回到起点。街道变了一点儿，我变了更多。我现在可以看懂标志而能和中国人沟通。 Three years in China. The street changes, but not as fast as me. Taikang Road next to Tianzifang, for me the starting point in Shanghai. I try to go back once a year, even though now it’s far from my home and work.
She looks south and seawards and always. Putuo Shan is the dojo for Guanyin Bodhisattva. She’s originally the patron saint of seafarers, but she now gives an audience to anyone who comes with wishes. And listen she does. The three characters that make up her Chinese name (观世音 Guānshìyīn) literally means ‘the one who hears […]