Monthly Archives: April 2012

Awesome math book and an anecdote on it

on April 30, 2012 in Blog, Creativity, Nature

Math and science to me are beautiful — about the most beautiful things in the world. I hope some of that comes across when I write on them. After a couple posts on a physicist’s perspective on our impact on the world — about an awesome blog (called Do The Math, but it has a science perspective) and an awesome video presentation by the blogger, here’s something on math. When[…] Keep reading →

The height of annoying

on April 29, 2012 in Awareness, Blog, Humor

Is there anything as annoying as someone who exhibits traits you used to have, you’ve done your best to get rid of, but still have in you? It cuts to your core. I spent a week and a half with a guy who had traits the rest of the group all had gotten over a know-it-all couldn’t help butting into conversations interrupting always had to point out what he knew[…] Keep reading →

See my North Korea strategy talk

on April 28, 2012 in Blog, Leadership, NorthKorea

Sebastian posted the video of my North Korea strategy talk to his strategy group of entrepreneurs in Beijing. Check it out. The video didn’t capture the questions and answers afterward. One of the first questions people asked was if I worried I was overly sympathetic to North Korean decision-makers. My goal is to understand them and their perspective, which people sometimes interpret as support. It bears repeating that understanding doesn’t[…] Keep reading →

Words of wisdom for crunch time

on April 27, 2012 in Blog, Leadership, Tips

Crunch time means you don’t have a lot of time, you have a lot to do, mistakes can cost a lot, people depend on you, and likely you depend on other people. People make mistakes. Also, sometimes you have to make decisions based on less information than you’d like. If people dwell on the mistakes or find out later that someone else could have made a better decision, they point[…] Keep reading →

Leadership-based thoughts on economic and energy growth and limits

on April 26, 2012 in Awareness, Blog, Leadership, Nature

My closing paragraphs on yesterday’s post, anticipating people’s reaction, got me thinking about Marshall Goldsmith, one of today’s top business thinkers (and a friend). I wrote the following: By now, many of you are probably thinking “we’ve solved all the problems so far, we’ll solve the ones to come” “since before Malthus scientists project doomsday and they never happen, we can ignore this” or “this won’t affect me” If so,[…] Keep reading →

Fantastic video on economic and energy growth and limits

on April 25, 2012 in Awareness, Blog, Education, Nature

I’ve written about the Do The Math blog, which looks at the numbers underlying how our economy works, particularly the energy part, which is to say, what drives it. If you think something else drives it, do the math! I think you’ll see otherwise. Incidentally, analysis like his is one of the reasons I studied physics (if you didn’t know, I got a PhD in the subject) — to understand[…] Keep reading →

The Forbidden City

on April 24, 2012 in Art, Blog

You can’t visit the Forbidden City in Beijing without posting pictures! It wasn’t as crowded as the Great Wall, but plenty of people were there. Here are a few pictures.

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