Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Negotiation in practice.
I think its a huge joke to see how people really negotiate in real life. The most classic example being the current crisis of the 23 (now 21) koreans being held hostage by the taleban. in my earnest people, i think they are all gonna die. in layman term possible... there is no bargaining zone. Taleban point of view: release our prisoners or the koreans will die. Afghan government: Unconditional release of the hostage. Release them or YOU WILL ALL DIE. is there any common ground? not really. let me put it across in a simpler way. a tenant (afghan) tell the landlord (taleban) to lower the rent... what's the most likely outcome? your landlord will probably gonna ask you to move out cos there is someone out there is who is willing to pay the same price as you are paying now...
not to forget... these bunch of people (taleban) have some loose screw in their heads who resort to violence to resolve problems... in the name of religion? damn it... that is really perverse fanactism... i wonder how can any one be so occult. its like i get quite disturb when i see mickey mouse and harley davidson tatoo... its really all the same. successful marketing to the extend that it become part of culture.
nonetheless i have digress. honestly, that is real lousy negotiation. we have seen umpteen time in movie. someone got held hostage, a negotiator is sent and the negotiator will try to compromise on the "intangible", eg food whenever possible... but in reality what they are trying to do? trying to use the rare occasion that these taleban walks out in broad daylight to hunt them down once and for all. quite funny, if u ask me. cos its obvious that afghan govt is resorting to the hollywood style tricks... especially the trademark move of keeping silence... i remember i see it all the time.
pity if you ask me... taleban aren't noobs nor stupid but my guess is... the koreans are as good as dead. though i ain't religious... my only comment is... if i am god, i probably won't allow this to happen anyway.
posted @ 11:23 PM ||
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Lonely Planet Suck
I don't understand the hype over lonely plant. When i read the book, the first thing it struck me was... yeah... the author's tone is really.... LONELY. The book is really boring, wordy and lacks feeling on every single page. Let me tell you what separate it from Eye Guide (my personal favourite Travel book publisher).
Its in black and white... not exactly, there is some shades of red here and there on maps. but most importantly... NO PHOTOGRAPH. what is this man? u write one whole thick book, describing everything in detail. but from one point of view, i cannot visualise ONE BIT of it. and the language use is so dull. it uses the same few word to describe many different place and it didn't even bother to use capitivating phrases like"MUST GO", "Not to be missed". but what the heck, the lack of photograph is a big turn off.
I guess much of it has to be blame with the fact the book tried to remain objective in its perspective for the travel book. but hey, let's be honest, a travel book should NEVER be objective. for a simple reason. I only have a limited time within the city, naturally, I hope the book will help me decide the itinery by placing more emphasis on the more popular hot spots rahter than making everything sound mediocre.
Much less to say... the price for a lousy book is exhorbitant... $45 bucks for a lousy book that I feel probably can do something better if i spend the same amount of time in a country as the author. but still i feel this book is not too bad. it beats sleeping pills. its has no side effect and i guarantee u folks a good 7-8 hour of good night sleep after spending 60 minute of it.
posted @ 9:09 PM ||
Monday, July 16, 2007
Different Perspective
Background:
2 guys A and B were tasked to come up with a transcript to a forum held earlier. There is one gal, C that is somewhat caught in between them (you can assume that is the current relationship, though somewhat untrue, as i have no intention to elaborate). Here is an interesting story from an incident from 2 person's perspective.
Girl C: Guy B walk up to me to enquire where Guy A is. He is holding on to an edited copy of the transcript and was looking for Guy A so that Guy A can vet through it. Then Guy A pops by out of no where and ask me if i wanna attend a tea buffet for the staff. he takes a look at the transcript and left without even a reply from me. Guy B then left, having accomplish what he set out to do. i realise i didn't know the location of the buffet and i called Guy A to find out the exact location. knowing the location, i left the office, but i realise i haven't been to the meeting venue before and neither do i know how to get there, so despite being it so near the office, i take quite some time to find it.
Guy A: I walked pass Girl C desk and realised Guy B standing there, in a suggestive position, holding on to a copy of the transcript and Girl C was reading it. Hmm... funny, thought both of us were suppose to work together, why was girl C in the picture. Maybe Guy B is trying to pull a fast one. Oh well, doesn't matter. I invited Girl C to a tea buffet for the staff as without another word, i took the transcript and head back to my own desk. dump the script and left for the meeting. soon, Girl C then called to ask of the location of the buffet. and despite the short distance, it took her 15 minute to appear. hmm.. probably too engross with Guy B.
i realise the huge difference between the 2 party perspective. i just suddenly found this illustration quite epic. many misunderstanding and quarrel bcos we fail to look at things from the other parties perspective. and that is essentially what the quarrel are all about. are quarrels good? maybe... but if we always remember to ask ourselves... how did that scenario appear from the other parties point of view, we probably can avoid a quarrel. but of course, if it boils down to a dispute... then go for it. avoidance for a dispute will, in my own opinion, worsen situation.
posted @ 12:05 AM ||
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Hearing Impaired
He has hearing impairment, despite the handicapped, it did not stop him from entering college. Many of his peers in college didn't realise it, nor did he attempts to cover up for his deficit with hearing aids. He hardly joined any conversation as he can't catch the contents. Nor did he care about what is going on. It look so evident that he probably going to be a loner for his college days.
It was free speech day. Everyone in the class is invited to give a speech on a topic of their choice. Most topic were horribly shallow, it was not so much of a content. He probably give each speaker 30 second of grace before he switched off (partially because they were speaking too fast for him). Topics such as networking, soccer tactics or even staying young simply do not appeal to him.
Suddenly a low profile gal whom like him, a soft spoken character stood up, she wants her 5 minutes of fame too. Fair enough. But she didn't talk. She began her speech with a series of hand signals. "I am deaf. But I can still talk to you." "How does it feel like to be deaf?" He sat up. Finally, he has seen something which interest him. It is as if the girl knows his predicament. It didn't matter. The fact that she knows sign language was already enough to catch his attention. It showed who she really is, someone who really has the heart to go out of her way and be there for others.
posted @ 10:01 PM ||
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
i think i am a good story teller
Fishing story:
a group of guys were fishing out at sea. so we will take a look at the type of guys we have.
type a: the convention fisher, who uses meat bait and a single 5lbs rod.
type b: a stingy fisher, who uses rubber fish (know as lure) with luminous tail and the standard 5 lbs ord. Rubber fish are renewable, unlike meat bait, if the fish finished the bait, it has a chance of escaping. but with a rubber fish, no such things. the fish bite but can't swallow and it got stuck onto the hook. viola, reel the fish up and reuse the fish again. if the fish escape... the lure is still there!
type c: the net caster, hated by all other people out at sea. grabbing much more than the minimum required.
type d: attaching a few hooks and baits. whilst his performance doesn't really affect others. his greed did annoy a few
type e: the one who aims uses 20lbs rod and super big bait and can only catch swordfish. does nothing other than dream of catching his swordfish. must to the wrath of the others who work their ass out to the fishing yacht going.
story no 2:
would you have a coconut or would you have a durian? i dunno. i look at up at both tree. both fruits are out reach. given the weather, i will probably want to have coconut to quench the thirst. but the problem is... it will probably take even more sweat to get the top of the tree. the durian... the taste of durian is simply irresistable. but i guess, quenching thirst should be more important. i walk towards the coast where the coconut tree is and it was then i hear sth. i turned round, the durian has fallen! suddenly with a ripe durian lying in front of me. the tempation is strong. coconut? nay... too hard and out of reach for the time being. i will settle for the durian... even though it means enduring with the thirst a while longer and more importantly... the durian pricks.
posted @ 8:55 PM ||
Saturday, June 09, 2007
whining about how the world goes by
Another dormant time for this blog. Not because I have been busy but I am just tired of the many things which I am currently seeing in my life. Indeed, there is always something for me to be unhappy about and I think that has been a hallmark which I have created for myself. I spend a significant amount of time fighting for causes which many feel are unimportant, but these are the very things which I believe in and naive as it may sound. I still wanna believe it is true.
maybe just to jot a few things off my mind,
current work: indifference analysis of imperfect market in the absence of price competition
virtuaso 2007
current cca plan: lots but no time to get it done.
current social life: not too good, but still ok, as i am trying to limit the time i spend with people.
online pet: starving it to death, i still think an elephant for 30 bucks a month is a good buy.
many people ask me why i am unable to translate my usual full of shit daily lifestyle onto my blog. the reason is pretty simple. i don't want it. i guess i want to maintain some novelty.
i still need some inspiration. i want it. not cos i need it. yep... part of my preachy life philsophy again. there is no such things i cannot. its i want or not.
had some brushes with the school admin. can't help but feel that in terms of administration they suck and i hate to be given lip service. i was looking at unsw and what then i take a look at smu. sometime, i feel, the spirit of education is long gone. look, to run an education institute with money as the bottomline will end up nowhere. that is why primary, secondary and pre-u are so heavily subsidised. education is a good with high positive externalities.
and smu is more ludicrous, they have stunning ways to bootstrap their finance.
a) losing receipts from student claims
b) shutting down aircon at 8pm (it seems fair, but considering that there are MORE people in school outside of office hour than during... it doesn't and yet the students, who mainly comes in after office hour don't carry so much weight.
c) promising student something to allay their complains temporarily and then reversing their stance and first possible opportunity.
picking the mole out of the mound hill? what kind of phrase is that? pretty sure its wrong.
posted @ 5:58 PM ||
Sunday, May 20, 2007
King of Pangseh
I think i have just dethroned mr yang as the king of pangseh. i think i hold a record this week for pangsehing people. at one point of time, i was still feeling bad about pangsehing people and keeping track, then it stopped totally, the number is increasing quite fast. it was at least once a day. eg... not jioing for colleagues for lunch, or disappearing 10 minutes before an outing, and not turning up for friend's bdae (reason being... lazy) and not turning up for class gathering. (i remember some of my friends were keeping track of the exact numbers... which i totally lost count). but having said that, i found pangseh addictive. sia lah, in the past, i always do things which i didn't want to, for the sake of others. now when i am in control, i actually feel so much better and happier, though yah lah... i pangseh people, but all in all i felt the time were actually BETTER spent bcos i pangseh. being in control of your own time and prioritising who u want to spent time with really beats the hell out of prioritising who u should spend time with. and i think its a small step forward.
on the other hand, things have become clearer to me. i realise i have procrastinating cos i do not know what i want. kinda ironic. yes and i didn't like the feeling and i have been dragging cos i didn't wanna hurt anyone feeling. i guess it was selfish on my part. but after talking to some people, i begin to realise what i value more. and what i really can do without. no one is a perfect fit, but what i can do is to find the "most" perfect one. and more or less. i think i have decided. at the end of the day, i choose to be rational but i won't recommend this to all my peers.
posted @ 10:15 PM ||
