A Global Architecture of Corruption

Hi guys~

This weekend I want us to talk about something about worldwide corruption.

http://www.ted.com/talks/charmian_gooch_meet_global_corruption_s_hidden_players.html

This TED speech pointed out the way powerful people occupy resources, and let

others live in miserable poverty.

The speaker and her organization investigated money laundering process and figured out corruptions occur all over the world. Then they summarized the factors of the situation.

Belows are our discussion question:

1.)    The speaker mentioned that several ppl are not able to conduct global corruption, lots of world-class banks involve in it. Do you think they are accomplice in those criminal activities?

2.)    In China and Taiwan, there are always quite strong link between politician and dirty money. How do you suggest improving the situation?

3.)    Wealthy people and elites use some skills like shell company to transform or steal money, while ordinary people work hard and get rich slowly,  How do you think about this unfair phenomenon?

4.)    Make those oil and mining industry transparency help building a rule or standard to follow. Is it possible to do so in public construction in Taiwan?

We need to talk about injustice

In our daily lives, there're too many injustice cases happening at every moment. Sometimes we put them into our consideration and try to make solutions out of them; however, very often we sort of ignore them, since they are not quite related to our own interests.  

Let's talk about injustice this weekends. :)

Reference: 
http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice.html

Questions:
1. Do you have anything related to injustice in your daily lives? How do you deal with it?

2. Bryan talked about the power of identity via the story with his grandmother. For somehow, our backgrounds and the education we received could shape our own identities. Please share some experiences of yours.

3. Bryan also mentioned that the opposite of poverty is justice and how we judge our society is not based on either technology or design, but how we treat the poor. Sometimes we just believe what we see, so we're inclined to omit that the human dignity should also be respected by law. Please share some of the examples which are relevant to this idea.

You're welcomed to bring some more questions here.
Free talk topic: How do you usually manage your entertaining activities in your daily lives?

Eating for a better future

"Every time you make a purchase decision, your option shape the future of the world." said by Tzu-I Chuang (莊祖宜), one of my favorite bloggers.

In past few decades, eating plays a whole new role in our culture. Instead of survive, it became the way to indulge your life, the way to demonstrate your tastes, and the way to show off.  Food programs mushroom year by year to introduce the gourmet food; foodies upload their photos to social media to allure your taste buds. In fact, our eating habits have alternated the environment profoundly and endangered many species. 

The strong demand of shark fin soup severely post threaten to the amount of sharks. Unlimited fishing broke the balance of ocean systems. In order to produce enough cheap meat, more and more antibiotics and growth hormone are applied. In the meantime, the food safety issues increase day by day.

Materials

1. 吃出更好的未來

(Although she presented in Chinese, it was a great speech. If you have time, do not miss it.)

2. Change the way you eat

Discussion

1. Would you like to pay more to buy organic food?

2. Tzu-I Chuang mentioned "if you cannot afford organic food, then you can eat less". Is it an option for you? Would you like to sacrifice your appetite for the environment?

3. When I go traveling, I arrange my schedule according to the food I must eat in that area. Are you a foodie or to you eating is just a way for surviving? 

4. Do you believe that your decision can make a difference? Why?

What not to wear when you shop

Oprah Winfrey, an billionaire woman,  recounts an allegedly racist experience she had in a Zurich boutique. While the sales clerk at the center of the controversy denies the Queen of Talk’s version of events.

pls see following link to get more information.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/oprah-account-racism-switzerland-true-shop-clerk-article-1.1424327


1. What's your opinion when you hear the news in the first time? And what do you think about this event after you read this news?

2.Do you think this event is a racist discrimination or not? Or language misunderstanding as the store owner thought?

3.Have you ever had the experience of misunderstanding during intercultural communication?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-dress-for-every-shopping-occasion-2013-08-14
4.Do you think cloth culture is a latent social rules?
What will you dress in specific situation? Pls share your dress code.

5. Which one do you think is more important? Appearances or inner sides?

Unspoken Rules

According to the definetion from wikipedia:

Unspoken rules are behavioral constraints imposed in organizations or societies that are not voiced or written down. They usually exist in unspoken and unwritten format because they form a part of the logical argument or course of action implied by tacit assumptions

These rules are not written down, but they usually constrain the behavoir of the organization in a stronger way. Here are some articles about unspoken rules in working place.

5 unspoken rules that could get you fired

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-03/work/32335132_1_keith-block-mark-hurd-oracle

Unspoken Rules for a Successful Career

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carrie-cook/the-unspoken-rules-for-a-successful-career_b_3348380.html

1. Have you discover unspoken rules in your workplace? Please name some of them(at least 3), and try to explain the origin.

2. How those unspoken rules affect your work or career? 

3. How well would you accept the existence of these rules?

4. What would you do if you are reluctant to obey?

This is water.

Humanity often makes us complain and look at the dark side. This video obviously gives us a new thought about what life should be in reality. If we try to show more sympathy on the "socalled" annoying things around us, maybe the ugly reality wound't be that ugly.

Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwEMOt2HTJc

1. Please describe your daily life. Has anything annoyed you recently?

2. What's your simple awarenesses? Have you tried to raise your awarenesses on things around you? For example, try to observe anything which had happened on you and enrich new viewpoints on them.

3. According to the clip, the real freedom is that you give yourself a chance to think and to pay attention to, so you would have different options. Do you think if this idea is reasonable and this idea could be workable in your daily lives.

4. Does this video have anything to with water(or the statement of "this is water")?

The Surprising Science of Happiness

Hi~This week I want us to talk about a topic about "Happiness".

Here is an interesting video about "Synthetic Happiness", which compare
the difference between synthetic happiness and natural happiness.
Beside, It also talks about the way people synthesizing happiness.
It turns out that being happy is not hard, we all have the abilities to make our self happy.

Enjoy the video: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html


Brainstorming questions :

1.)Talk about a happy experience that you once worked hard and achieved some goals.

2.)Share ur experience that you once failed doing something (passing exam, interviewing a job, a relationship...), how did deal with the failure? Did you synthesize happiness in you life again?

3.)Sometimes we just overrated the importance of some goals and push ourselves too hard, did u hv some experience about that? What did you learn from it?

Surprising Result of Golden Melody Awards

I noticed this news from my Facebook wall at the day the Awards held. At first glance, my intuitional feeling was "how ridiculous and ironic it is", and then I found my thinking process is interesting. I realized that I have never heard her song before so I didn't have standing to criticize it. Additionally, Hong Kong singer, Sandy Lam, was the biggest winner that night. Both girls are not Taiwanese, but people had total different reactions. Wasn't it interesting?

Reading:
Shanghai girl wins Taiwan Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan after the song was part of the attack users

Questions:
Q1: What is your opinion about a Shanghai girl won the awards?
Q2: Do you think that the racial discrimination exist in Taiwan?
Q3: Some says the Golden Melody Awards should be limited for Taiwan singer. Do you think protectionism is good for us in the long-term?
Q4: Do you have any other observation from this event?

Google Doodles = Surprise

Are you a heavy user of google search engine? Do you notice that sometimes the homepage changes?
It is "Doodles," a creative group which making surprise, anniversaries, and memory of famous people to us.


http://www.google.com/doodles/about
pls see the story for doodles.

1. Have you ever seen Doodle? or you just skip the homepage?

2. Did you play the flash made by Doodle? If yes, share your experience.

3. Here are the collection of Doodle homepage. Pls choose one and tell us why you think it is special.
http://www.google.com/doodles/finder/2013/All%20doodles

4.What's your opinion of the team of Doodle?  (boring and nothing to do...making love and happy to the world...)

5.What's your ideas for Doodle? (that people can see your idea in Google homepage!!)

6/30 Electronic tattoos

Hey guys

Sry for late post the disscussion material this week~

Plz see the following TED video:Big Data, Tattoos & Immortality
http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_how_to_think_about_digital_tattoos.html

Here are some questions I want us to talk about:

1.)Do you think that its normal to Google a stranger before meeting them in person? Why or Why not?

2.) American government spied on millions of Americans’ phone records and on the internet activity of hundreds of millions of foreigners to protect its citizens, do you think it's decent?

ps:Compare with the internet firewall & cencorship in China.

3.)How do you think about put anything on Facebook or twitter...what kind of informtion you think is not proper to share online?

4.)Keep 100% anonymity online also brings lots of problems, agree or disagree?

Law:tool for order or excuse for inaction?

The CEO of PChome's comment and his struggling experience with government officers seems something similar happening everyday. Government officers would rather stay comfortably behind the law instead of helping entrepreneurs to work on the frontier field. The reason seems apparent: they either fail to take responsibility for consequences or being too cautious with every setback or side effect. However, would our society tolerate a government that makes mistake or fails to take care of every aspect of the policy result?

Kissinger: ‘Illegal we do immediately; unconstitutional takes a little longer’

http://www.infowars.com/illegal-we-do-immediately-unconstitutional-takes-a-little-longer-kissinger-in-new-mass-wikileaks-document-release/

詹宏志：我打交道的公務員，是一群有禮貌的失敗主義者

http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/KWebArticle.aspx?id=50727

1. In your most idealized picture of the world, what role should the law play? 

2. Some say "even evil law is law", in what condition will you agree with it?

3. One policy may cause significant change to the life of people, any suggestion to make it more completed?

4. Do you have any case that is illegal or not legal but helps people a lot?

One more episodes-TV addiction

I am in my very last summer vacation of my life now. I know I should cherish the time and do something different in this long vacation. However,  I spent last few weeks on Korean, Japanese, and American TV shows. After I open one episode, I cannot stop myself and sit in front of monitor all day and night. I felt regretful and exhausted after finish the TV series, but I cannot resist my desire for one more episodes. It is a vicious circle. Do you have the same experience?

Readings:
TV binge watching

Discussion:
1. How much time do you spend on watching TV shows per week? Are you addicted to it?
2. Some justify themselves that watching popular TV show is an important way to build social connection. Do you agree with it or not?
3. How many episodes do you watch per time? Do you have any suggestion for TV addicts like me?
4. Everyone has some sort of addiction. What are you addicted to?

Can You Really Make Money In Direct Sales?

     My colleague just brought me to Amway today, and I am really surprised that there are so many people doing direct sales in Taiwan nowadays. Everyone believes that direct sales can help you make fortune. For me, it's brain washing.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2013/04/01/can-you-really-make-money-in-direct-sales/
This is an article which helps you understand direct sales better.

1. Do you know direct sales (multilevel and income system) ? Pls share you knowing to us.
2. What's your opinion on this system?
3. What brands of direct sales do you know?
4. Have you ever bough goods from direct sales? What's your opinion on their products?
5. Do you think direct sales can make fortune?

 

How to plan a round-the-world trip

Hey guys~
Plz read this interesting article about  round-the-world trip.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/europe/travel-tips-and-articles/76922

and think about the following question.


1. What countries do you want to travel the most?
2. What are the reasons do you want to choose these coutries?
3. Which way do you like to travel? and give ur reasons.
Guided tour, package tour with your family or friends, or to travel alone?
4. Talk about the special experience in your journeys?
5. How do you think about take a year off (work or education) and take a round-the-world trip? 

Promotion, a Better Job?

Getting a job promotion seems a welcome expectation for everyone.
It may be the result of an employee's proactive pursuit of a higher ranking or as a reward by employers for good performance.
However, high ranking positions are not enough to satisfy every employee, yet not everyone fits the position.
Let's discuss and share thoughts about how a company or organization chooses its best leader.



1. Introduce the merits of the organization you belong to?
2. What suggestion you would like to provide for your organization?
3. What would be your favorite leadership style?
4. If you have right to promote a group leader among eligible candidates, how do you prioritize your criteria?
5. Promotion usually means taking more responsibility and commitment for more time to work.
Is it the kind of career path you are looking for?

The advance of medical technology

Some said, “prevention is better than cure.” Angelina Jolie made the most extreme example for the world. In order to get rid of family history, she made a bold decision to remove her breast and ovary to prevent the horrible diseases happen to her. The other interesting news is from a Russian billionaire, who claimed a new plan for transferring humans thoughts and memories to computer so that human beings can survive after the body function loss. The advance of medical care indeed brings us a whole new world but also creates several questions. Hope that you’ll enjoy today’s discussion!

Reading

1.     My medical choice

2.     Russian billionaire plans to make humans immortal by 2045

Discussion

1.     Do you have any family medical history? If yes, do you do anything to prevent it?

2.     If you were Angelina Jolie, would you make the same decision? Why?

3.     In her article, she said her risk of breast cancer dropped from 87% to 5% after the surgery. It’s to say, she still has chance to get the breast cancer after the surgery, and she might not have the breast cancer even she did nothing. It seems tricky. Do you believe probability? 

4.     Would you like to be immortal? Why?

5.     The new medical technology indeed makes people live longer but not necessary better. A lot of people are struggling for chronic disease and cannot live without drugs or machines. What kind of consequence of improving medical care that we might face?

3D printing

      The development of technology has changed our life rapidly.  20 years age, personal computer went into the world. 10 years ago, cell phone jump out. Now, 3D printer is coming to the next new star.

pls see following link,
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/09/3d-printing

but I prefer the articles in《今周刊》as below.
http://www.businesstoday.com.tw/v1/content.aspx?a=W20130305320

1. Have you ever heard about 3D printer? Have you used it to print anything before?

2. It seems that 3D printer can print everything. What kind of  things do you want to print out?

3. 3D printer can make vehicles, too. What is your opinion on these? Will you try it?

4. What's your imagination about future world? Do you have any new ideas may change the world?

Fake It Till You Make It

The behavior of imitating confidence itself will generate real confidence. Sounds too good to be true.

You may learn similar advice through some self help books, but now a psychologist proved it is scientifically fact. This week i am curious to know the tips how you conquering fear and gain your confidence.

reading you might find useful:
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/faking-it-till-you-make-it-actually-works

discussion questions:
1. What do you do to gain enough confidence for the situation you need? Provide 3 tips.

2. Any advice about how other people conquer their fear? Have you found it useful?

3. Have you found someone is faking to be confident? Is it acceptable or not?

4. What is the drawback when people are faking to be someone they would like to be?

5. what is your strategy when entering a new business, new environment, or new position?

White lies

Our daily lives are full of lies. White lies, usually small and non-hurt lies, make our life easier, reduce several quarrels and promote world peaceJ. Almost everyone tells white lies carelessly or deliberately and in the same time listens to white lie. I pick an article, which gives an example of white lie. The doctor in the story told a white lie to earn more time for her patient. I hope that you find that interesting!

Reading:

Jane Fibber, M.D.: Why Do Doctors Tell White Lies?

Discussion:

1.  Some say women prefer lies to truth. Do you agree with that? Do you prefer ugly truth or white lie? Why?
2. Describe a situation you have to tell a white lie.
3. What is the reason making you to or not to tell a white lie?
4. Some consider white as a social manner, while some think little white lie hurt, too. What’s your opinion?
5. Who benefit from the white lie?

Does Mobile cause cancer?

Following link has been forwarded through email in Taiwan recently. It warns people not to use mobile too often and be better to keep it away because  wave could cause cancer.

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/lisa-920904/article?mid=-2&prev=1925&l=a&fid=8

This article cited a report from The World Health Organization and said mobile is classified as 2B level, which is a serious level that cause cancer.

http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf

I also want to show following article, which introducing more about the level and wave couldn't cause cancer.

http://www.emfsite.org.tw/news_detial.php?level1_id=6&bbsId=181


1. What' your habits of using mobile? Do you keep it away from you? Or always bring it with you?

2. Do you think the wave of mobile could cause cancer based on this two articles?

3. Will you forward the letter to others when you get it?

4. There are many forwarded mails in daily life, will you check the truth?

5. According to the last link, base station couldn't cause cancer. Do you believe that? Will you still live near base station if there is one near you house?

A Walk in the Clouds

The term 'cloud computing' has been hot since 2011.

Instead of buying out a software or hardware for your own, now you can use the remote service from any device without spending a lot of money on upgrading. 

You can log in from any device and work under the same platform, the internet could bring everything you need at door.

For example, youtube actually counts as cloud service.

you don't need to save all the videos in your computer but just watch it through the net. That is even a better idea for sharing.

Some questions we may use for discussion:

What kind of cloud service are you using now?

What is the best cloud service you like or you expect to have?

What is the side effect this service may bring to us?

What is the threat and opportunity this trend is bringing to taiwan tech companies?

related Ref:

cloud computing as a threat to older tech companies

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/cloud-computing-endangers-older-tech-companies/

Taiwan Data Center

http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/taiwan/

http://www.techbang.com/posts/8901-google-zhang-bin-data-centre-earth-night-remaining-energy-to-cool

The power of media

Facebook is a enormously powerful website, which was approved again this week. Business Week post a news that 7-11 decided to postpone Business Week selling just because a report which was attacked 7-11. Within less than one day, numerous webzines started to boycott 7-11. The whole news reminds me a video.  This video is from CBS WKBT News anchor, who responded viewer’s critical/advised (depends on how you see it) email on her show. 

Question:

1.  Do you see this email as a malicious critics or a neutral advice?
2.  Do you think a public personality/celebrity has responsibility to maintain health physical condition?
3. The anchor said this email could be seen as a bully behavior. Do you agree with it?
4. The anchor categorized obesity, skin color, sexual preference, and disability together. In fact, all them list above except for obesity are born of nature. However, obesity is not. People can get rid of it if they make up their minds to change lifestyle. Do you think this anchor misuse media’s power as a weapon?
5. Share with us your thought about Business Week v. 7-11 event.