today

Mar 1

Beautiful.

Feb 27

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness. — Bertrand Russell

Jan 19

“At the same time, this balance sheet pressure and worries about counterparty risk have led to a significant rise in term borrowing rates. Banks that are sellers of funds have shifted to the overnight market to preserve their liquidity, and this shift has starved the term market of funds, pushing those rates higher …. Moreover, the increased reliance by banks on overnight funding increases rollover risk and may limit the willingness of banks to expand their balance sheets to accommodate the deleveraging of the nonbank financial sector.” Bill Dudley, 9/18/2007

Jan 5

2013

In 2013:

One resolution: write more letters. Hopefully the pen and paper type.

One goal: make kimchi at least once.

And a list of things to keep in mind, and to check back in 360 days:

Spend more time to remember; and more effort to forget.
Spend more time away from technology and read, stare, or be bored.
Cook a bit more.
Exercise a little.
Hope. Because God will open another door somewhere.

Nov 9

China Blocks Google, Again

From TNW:

While the domains play.google.com and plus.google.com aren’t specifically mentioned, it seems that the Google Play Store and Google+, as well as pretty much any other service hosted on Google.com are also being blocked.

As the once-every-five-year 18th Party Congress is under way, Google gets the block treatment. Not good news when for Google when its market share in China has just dipped below 5%.

Now, more bad news for Google: imagine if you are trying to sell a Android smartphone. You can:

Sell a stock Android device, and risk your users not being able to access search, app store, and most basic functions of a modern smartphone for the foreseeable future
Port Android. Like Xiaomi, Lenovo, etc. Sell tons of cheap phones and hope developers jump on the bandwagon.

The second option is clearly the safer choice. Still think Google will take off on mobile in China?

Oct 20

inothernews:

POKESTACKS The world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, jutted above the fog in Dubai Friday. A natural phenomena occurs every year around this time as the temperature begins to drop and humidity meets cooler air, forming the rolling fog. (Photo: Bjoern Lauen / National News / Zuma Press via The Wall Street Journal)

Looks a lot better than the Daly City fog

(via dpstyles)

Sep 19

“

I am better at dry sadness than at cold anger, for I remained dry eyed until now, as dry as smoked fish, but my heart is a kind of dirty soft custard inside.

[…]

I am not sad. Rather stunned, very far away fro myself, not really believing you are now so far, so far, you so near. I want to tell you only two things before leaving, and then I’ll not speak about it any more, I promise. First, I hope so much, I want and need so much to see you again, some day. But, remember, please, I shall never more ask to see you — not from any pride since I have none with you, as you know, but our meeting will mean something only when you wish it. So, I’ll wait. When you’ll wish it, just tell. I shall not assume that you love me anew, not even that you have to sleep with me, and we have not to stay together such a long time — just as you feel, and when you feel. But know that i’ll always long for your asking me. No, I cannot think that I shall not see you again. I have lost your love and it was (it is) painful, but shall not lose you. Anyhow, you have me so much, Nelson, what you gave me meant so much, that you could never take it back. And then your tenderness and friendship were so precious to me that I can still feel warm and happy and harshly grateful when I look at you inside me. I do hope this tenderness and friendship will never, never desert me. As for me, it is baffling to say so and I feel ashamed, but it is the only true truth: I just love as much as I did when I landed into your disappointed arms, that means with my whole self and all my dirty heart; I cannot do less. But that will not bother you, honey, and don’t make writing letters of any kind a duty, just write when you feel like it, knowing every time it will make me very happy.

Well, all words seem silly. You seem so near, so near, let me come near to you, too. And let me, as in the past times, let me be in my own heart forever.

Your own Simone

” A Breakup Letter from Simone de Beauvoir

The First Ads for Famous Books

Sep 13

Facebook really missed me while I’m blacked out in China

Aug 28

@Twitter and @Summify revisited

A little while ago I posted some thoughts on Twitter’s rationale for buying Summify, and what Summify could do to bring back disengaged users on Twitter.

Recently I’ve noticed that I haven’t been using Twitter as much. For example, the last time I checked my feed was 4 days ago on my phone, and I rarely use the web interface. I think this decline in usage directly correlated to me spending more time with aggregation services, like Zite and Prismatic. Yes, Twitter is still my go-to place to look for breaking news stories; but daily readings are usually not urgent and it is easier to miss important stories when browsing through the Twitter feed. Zite takes care of that problem and brings stories that I would’ve missed or not even come across otherwise right to me.

I think this is another opportunity where Summify’s algorithms could shine. The logged out user phenomenon is well known, and if a user could get all the important stuff they want to see, minus the noise on Twitter, the user may not come back to Twitter again (especially as aggregation algorithms get better at learning the interest graph).

I am already receiving emails like below for my dormant accounts, which I think is huge for them:

I think the next step for Twitter should be creating a Twitter-independent aggregation service that keeps the user’s minutes being spent in the Twitter family. This will be cannibalizing to their existing business metrics. But it’s a lot better to keep the user, than seeing him fleeing to another service right under your eyes.

Jul 11

“Good things in Brooklyn can take more time. Leave Manhattan to the rushers and elbow-throwers and frantic cases pulling jumpy, nervous dogs. People here will spend a half hour picking through bad LPs left on a brownstone stoop, or circle the block endlessly, hoping to spy on-street parking. There’s a coffee shop my wife insists on going to—I’m not kidding, you order a cappuccino and I believe the cashier goes behind the counter and reads 40 pages of “The Catcher in the Rye.” The experience is annoying as anything. Somehow it turns out to be worth it.” Brooklyn’s Big, Tall Wait

Jun 20

theatlantic:

Study of the Day: Why Crowded Coffee Shops Actually Help Creative Thinking

The next time you’re stumped on a creative challenge, head to a bustling coffee shop, not the library. As the researchers write in their paper, “[I]nstead of burying oneself in a quiet room trying to figure out a solution, walking out of one’s comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment may trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas.”

Read more. [Image: Global X/Flickr]

Jun 16

Email from The Listserve

Google translate is great, and I use it extensively while learning Spanish. But there’s only so much it can do. There are some words of a language which remain untranslatable. Here are some of my favourites:

Duende (Spanish)- On a translator, it’ll show “elf”. It is actually the spark of divine inspiration, expressing itself out of one’s heart, or the involuntary feeling of awe, in reaction to an inspiring piece of art or music.

Tenalach (Gaeilge)- The relationship one has with the earth, the air, the water. A deep connection that makes you one with nature.

Gemütlich (German)- Translates as “comfortable”, but it is the sort of comfortable exhibited by a warm house full of people who love you; when you are happy and relaxed.

Ya’aburnee (Arabic)- Literally translates as “You bury me.” The declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person, because of how difficult it would be to live without them.

Koi No Yokan (Japanese)- The feeling you can get when meeting a person for the first time, that you will fall in love with them. Different from “love at first sight”, as it does not say that love already exists, only the knowledge that it WILL happen later.

On that note, I’ll sign off. Hopefully you will find these words as beautiful as I did.

Sign up for The Listserve here.

Jun 2

“That is to say, the sounds weren’t a sign that data was being transferred: they were the data being transferred. This noise was the analog world being bridged by the digital. If you are old enough to remember it, you still knew a world that was analog-first.” Alexis Madrigal - The Mechanics and Meaning of That Ol’ Dial-Up Modem Sound (via thisistheverge)

(via theatlantic)

Bob Marley on how to love a woman
“You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect - you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.”
- Bob Marley

Powerful

Bob Marley on how to love a woman

“You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect - you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.”

- Bob Marley

Powerful

(via khuyi)