Jan. 30, 2012Just

Just finished reading the latest issue of New Yorker. Really enjoyed two articles in particular.

1. Groupthink by Jonah Lehrer – The brainstorming myth

First half of the article explained why brainstorming (w/o criticism) doesn’t work, but brainstorming with debate does.

Even when alternative views are clearly wrong, being exposed to them still expands our creative potential.  In a way, the power of dissent is the power of surprise.  After hearing someone shout out an errant answer, we work to understand it, which causes us to reassess our initial assumptions and try out new perspectives.  ”Authentic dissent can be difficult, but it’s always invigorating,” Nemeth says. “It wakes us right up.”

The 2nd half is about how buildings make a group more creative. Examples including Pixar building designed by Jobs, and Building 20 of MIT.

The lesson of Building 20 is that when the composition of the group is right — enough people with different perspectives running into one another in unpredictable ways — the group dynamic will take care of itself.  All these errant discussions add up.  In fact, they may even be the most essential part of the creative process.  Although such conersations will occasionally be unpleasant–not everyone is always in the mood for small talk or criticism –that doesn’t mean that they can be avoided.  The most creative spaces are those which hurl us together. It is the human friction that makes the sparks.

2. The Obama Memos by Ryan Lizza, The making of a post-post-partisan Presidency.

Obama was learning the same lesson of many previous occupants of the Oval Office: he didn’t have the power that one might think he had. Harry Truman, one in a long line of Commanders-in-Chief frustrated by the limits of the office, once complained that the President “has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues. . . . The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make ’em behave. Well, all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

Obama didn’t remake Washington. But his first two years stand as one of the most successful legislative periods in modern history. Among other achievements, he has saved the economy from depression, passed universal health care, and reformed Wall Street. Along the way, Obama may have changed his mind about his 2008 critique of Hillary Clinton. “Working the system, not changing it” and being “consumed with beating” Republicans “rather than unifying the country and building consensus to get things done” do not seem like such bad strategies for success after all.

“The normal is what you find but rarely. The normal is an ideal. It is a picture that one fabricates of the average characteristics of men, and to find them all in a single man is hardly to be expected.

“It seems to me that what makes genius is the combination of natural gifts for creation with an idiosyncrasy that enables its possessor to see the world personally in the highest degree, and yet with such catholicity that his appeal is not to this type of man or to that type, but to all men. His private world is that of common men, but ampler and more pithy. His communication is universal, and though men may not be able to tell exactly what it signifies that they feel that it is important. He is supremely normal.

–W. Somerset Maugham, “The Summing Up”

I read Maugham’s little autobiography of a book “The Summing Up” in early 2009. The quote above struck me as unique and amusing. Late 2011, when i was reading Jobs biography, i found myself kept on returning to this quote.

The world’s perception of Apple’s recent success (starting with ipod) was due to Jobs’ design genius, and his consideration for his users. But reading the biography, one realized that is a lie. Jobs couldn’t care less about users. 99.9% of us are nothing but moron’s in Jobs mind anyways. So how do we explain this conflict of superb received design and Jobs condescension of common men?

The only explanation i can think of is that Jobs wasn’t designing for the users. He was designing for himself, period. And it just happened, his taste has the mass appealof a genius. Using Maugham’s metaphor, most of us have our own little quirks. What we like don’t translate to what most others will like. But Jobs happened to have the “appeal that is not to this type of man or to that type, but to all men.”

On top of that genius, Jobs is probably the most persuasive deal maker silicon valley has ever seen. iPod, even with its gorgeous design and superb craftsmanship, would have still failed if Jobs weren’t able to secure those deals with record companies. That kind of deal making is what makes Apple stand out among all other tech companies.

The rumored Apple TV would be a good case to watch. I dont’ doubt Apple has the technical ability and design talent to make their TV a beauty. But the key is whether they can make the required deals with media companies like Jobs did for iPod.

Oh yeah, and the “rebel” image Jobs put up with the 1984 Superbowl commercial? That’s a lie, too. Jobs was probably the biggest control freak who won’t be out-controlled by anyone else. So if you think the deal he signed with carrier is meant to liberating the users, think again. Users are just being locked up by Apple instead of carriers. Pick your prison. But don’t’ delude yourself thinking you are free.

When i joined my current company, i went to its holiday party (with Gui) then just to check out the scene. ZM refuses to go to any social gatherings that has a dress code. I wasn’t into holiday parties. So i’ve never been to a holiday party after that first year.

The venue of this year’s party is so unique that I was intrigued. When i told ZM, he expressed interest too. It became an even easier decision when i found out there is not really a dress code. Anything from Black-tie to jeans and t-shirt are welcome.

We spent most of the time below the party–engine room, sick bay, Torpedo berthing–or above the party — flight deck, the Admirals Bridge, the Pilot House, and the Combat Information Center. Fascinating! The scene at the party was equally good looking. The 40’s theme goes very well with the interior of the hangars of the aircraft carrier. Many guys showed up as sailor or pilot. Some were in dashing Navy Officer suits. Most women showed up in full 40’s style wear to the t. The music was chosen from the 40’s as well. So were the dancing.

What really caught me by surprise was how good the food was. The open bar certainly helped. I also loved the desert table, which has the name of “Port of call – France”. yumm.

Holiday Party onboard USS Hornet

I looked up “40’s fashion” before hand, and they really aren’t my cup of tea (thank heaven’s I didn’t have to live in the 40’s). Since ZM was just going wearing his everyday clothing, I don’t need to be too formal either. So i just threw something together from my wardrobe. I stayed warm and comfy, and i get to wear this skirt that i bought for a song many many years ago and never had a chance to wear it! (I had on a very comfy pair of boots under that skirt).

If you are like me, having spent better half of your working life being told to tame your “tactless communication style,” “try not to upset anyone this time” “why do you always have to get into a fight?” Imagine how surprised i am when i’m sitting at my annual review meeting with my new boss and being told specifically, “I’d much rather you stay animated than not.  Sometimes it is no avoiding upsetting people, and that is okay.”

It is like sitting an alcoholic at an open bar. My jaw dropped to the floor.

I couldn’t think of anything to say until much later.

I wonder whether it is because my previous bosses have curbed my “tactless communication style” so much that my new boss had no idea which kind of liberty he just give me. Has he any idea what kind of spectacular “shock” i am capable of unleashing?!

but it is a refreshing point of view. Having been working for so long and having been through the same old annual review for so long, i’m surprised to learn that “it is okay to be yourself.” I have to admit i like the sound of it.  I had the urge to just get out and pick a fight.

Just kidding.

There is a memorable line from “A River Runs Through It“: “we can love completely without complete understanding.”  That’s how i feel about this movie, “Melancholia“.

I don’t understand it completely, but i find it deeply moving. Now thinking back, i realize it is also beautifully made: the cinematography and the music, which i just found out were from Wagner’s Opera “Tristan Und Isolde.”

First part of the movie is about a luxuriously arranged wedding goes horribly wrong, mostly because of the erratically behaving bride. Normally i might have started disliking the bride being such an irresponsible brat. But since i just finished reading Water Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs”, Justine’s struggle with depression seemed largely innocent and heartbreaking comparing to Jobs cold manipulation and abuse of others.

I absolutely fell in love with the 2nd part.  Charlotte Gainsbourg’s acting is phenomenon, the story telling, the music, the landscape, everything is perfectly done.

Some of the reviews mentioned how in the face of disaster, Claire (by Charlotte Gainsbourg) freaked out but Justine (by Kirsten Dunst) was completely calm. In an interview with the director Lars von Trier, he mentioned that in the face of sudden disaster, usually victims of severe depression tend to be calm compare to normal population because they go through the kind of devastation all the time.

In the Fresh Air interview, Dunst said her understanding is that Justine is the one calling Melancholia to earth because that was her planet, she could be calm because she was returning home.

But what moved me the most was why Claire was panic. It was not because she was afraid for her life, or her bourgeois existence (granted, i love the castle she and her family live in!). She was panic because if it was true, if Melancholia really was going to hit the earth, then Leo, her young son, won’t have a chance to grow up.

That line made me cry all the way home. I think probably all parents of young children could relate.

Think about it more, given how chaotic the universe really is, isn’t it miraculous that nothing significant has hit our planet all these time?!

For that i need to watch Melancholia one more time.

It is Noah’s first week at day care.
Winter storm started on Monday ended our shortlived(barely 2 weeks?) Indian Summer.
Apple announced IPhone 4S which was largely criticized as underwhelming.
Then the real big news hit everyone by surprise: Steve Jobs, the star of our century, Passed Away.

Shortly after i started on my first job, one evening as i was leaving, i found a graphic artist friend was also working late, we started chatting. He was telling me about the new documentary on “BLUES”. We started talking about how great the beginning of 20th century was, with all those stars born, all those exciting social changes and the World Wars were brewing. I remember myself sighed, “We live in such boring times, comparing to that.”

Soon after that conversation, dot com boom was in full swing, then the bust, then the election drama that got Bush in the office, then 911, the wars, Obama, Steve Jobs announcing ipod, iphone, ipad, macbook air, the financial crisis, the rise of China, etc. etc.

I couldn’t dream of a more exciting time to live.

“Be careful what you wish for…”

Had to do some UI mockup at work, after trying out a few UI mock tools, i finally pulled out emacs and started code them up myself. I did a few years of web UI coding in my last job. Many many times i had the urge to throw my monitor out of the office window. Learning javascript does that to you. But now, for some strange reason, i felt immense comfort to be back in the UI land, tweaking the elements on a page, learning new css, jquery tricks. Even the frustration generated by javascript felt somehow familiar, and comforting.

In my spare time i started re-read Peter Hessler’s China trilogy. Good writing always put me in a good mood.

So here i am, good reading plus css make me feel a gentle kind of happiness that i haven’t felt for a long while.

Shows how much i dislike working with hardware. ha.