6/29/2020 0 Comments Change This is our first time to move FoT online. Due to the pandemic, we have experienced a lot of changes in work and in life. Some are experiencing changes in career, some are experiencing changes in society, some others are experiencing the change in family communication. Some changes are good, like you have more time than before to call your parents, some changes are sad, like you are experiencing increase of violence in society, some changes are unexpected, like you have to quit a job due to the Cov-19, but you end up gaining higher benefits through government than the original salary and have free time to do some thing you love. As Ms Moem said, nothing ever stays the same, but the change.
I also used this time to explore functions of zoom webinar, and invited all participants to draw pictures together with the music provided by Sanna (see last slide). Though the picture looks a bit childish, it feels so shiny, and loving! I believe it represents the instinct of love of many people, in which humans and wildlife live together happily and peacefully. There are also a few questions in the slides for myself and for whoever are reading it to reflect. I think it is important to take some time to revisit your life and make some real changes to make it better. Hope you all enjoy your reflection and have some good changes every day!
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5/29/2019 0 Comments Feast of Thought (3)Keywords: Financial management; Bottom-up; Individual impacts; Collective action We had a very informative discussion this time with three shining stars and quite a few listeners. The topics span from economy, food security, education to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Even though we have such diverse topics, there always exist some underlying connection, this time, is making impacts as an individual. AG: Don’t be Steve! AG tells a story about Steve: Without managing his money properly, Steve becomes as poor as he was in school when he gets older. If you want to know more about the story, please click the file link below for the presentation and corresponding illustration ML added later on. By telling the story, AG shares with us 7 reasons that people would struggle financially. It includes:
People sometimes will neglect the importance of managing money in their early stage, which gets them financially insecure when they retire. When we start earning money after graduation, we may tend to feel better and spend more than we could have afforded. It is natural to use credit card to have pre-expenditure. But a trick that seldom known is that the credit score can be boosted if one always uses credit card to consume and returns the money fully 2-3 days before the due date. It will give you a very good rate in loan which may count a lot in the long term even it is 0.25 discount. When you have quite a few savings, you may think of investments. Sometimes buying a house is not the most proper investment for individuals. A full examination on your financial situation would be better before you invest. Here on page 30/44, AG listed a series of investment options ranked by their riskiness. He also proves using the compound Interest Calculator that it is not so hard to become millionaire in 40 years if you routinely save certain amount of money. AG even developed a series of Financial Workshop sharing all the detailed knowledge about managing money. He told me personally that the most recent one should start in May mostly in Bronfman Building. Let’ keep an eye on it!
JH: Food can change the world. JH shared her project named PDT. It is a food depot initiative based in Guangzhou. She had just delivered her pitch in the final of Dobson cup and it is our honor to have her pitch again in FoT. Let’s pray for her success in Dobson cup and a bright future for PDT (Follow-up: Congratulations to JH for winning the second award in Dobson cup! Woo-hoo!) ! Using only 800 dollars a year, they have already saved over 15.3 tons of food, which benefits more than 3000 people. It has contributed to the benefits in social, environmental and economic aspects, including reducing food waste, nutrition loss, and increasing corporate social responsibility. They take cautious to ensure that the food is safe for human health, and try not to store too much food at their end by dredging the supply chain. She still has concerns on how to promote a food-saving attitude in the community with this initiative. But let's have a shout-out for her for the first milestone on addressing food security problem! AK: Education with no border or lable.
AK shared her idea on an education system with no border. She gave an illuminating example in France where people could learn from each other without any restrictions. Without hierarchy, people feel free to share what they know and exchange ideas actively. She has long been thinking about it, and wants to launch an initiative some day. I know she will be trying hard to pursue the goal. Let’s wish her dream come true in the near future! Actually, the FoT has the same wish of fostering a non-labeled learning environment. I am so happy to find like-minded people and am looking forward to further corporations! During the break, SG played a beautiful song with guitar. Stars and listeners couldn’t help chatting more on the previous presentations (They are soooo charming and informative!). Having no chance to share with you all those fascinating ideas, I will jump to the second session to feed you more. In the second session, we asked each of participants to come up with a question s/he wants to discuss in this group. Questions include: How to find motivation of launching an initiative or to yourself? How much is the possibility that an individual behavior impacts the world? Will AI takes over the human society? Why some impacts/initiatives didn't happen earlier? How to understand the tax loops (e.g. companies evade the taxes by investing in charity, is it right or wrong)? How to have effective communication? Small groups could make big impacts! We ended up talking on the individual impacts, but also touched on other questions from time to time. Is it possible for individual to impact the whole world? This question arises when JH finds that an individual's behaviour of saving food seems to have no impact onto the world, which makes her feeling a bit frustrated. ML pointed out that it depends on the scales of individual behaviours. Despite that the behaviour of one single person won't make any difference on the whole food stocks, it will incur a big adverse impact if all individuals waste food. The value/attitude of food-saving is important to ensure the majority of people could well behave. KW also shared a theory developed in 2009 by Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom arguing that a collective effort made by a smaller group of local people could manage local property better than the central authorities. It indicates that the relational values could help people to build trust and autonomously make rules for managing the resources. KW also gave the German's example of Nuclear Power Phase-out to illustrate that small campaigns are helpful to get people ready for big changes. AK also seconded this idea with the example of French revolution. On the other hand, YC acknowledged the efficiency of top-down method by quoting Amazon's CEO's word, "it is the enterprise that has the power to maximize the value in supply chain and welfare." YB concluded that, either using top-down or bottom up methods, it depends on the problem you are solving. He also pointed out that decision-makers have to prioritize some issues while putting off others because of limited time and resources. This applies to the paralyzed progress in solving worldwide environmental problems. JH then shared a professor's points of view on how individuals could make small but scalable impact on a greener environment: vote as a citizen or invest in green economy. This idea of "many a little makes a mickle" brings to a peak of conversation when all of participants started sharing lovely examples that small group of people makes greater impacts to the world. At the same time, we actually are worried about some adverse impacts scaled up by increasing populations. For example, by 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, 23 percent higher than today. The consumption level will also increase accordingly. How we can sustain the world? In addition to many known strategies to feed more people, we jokingly mentioned another controversial way of restricting population. AK also shared the book 21 lessons for the 21st Century which has many controversial but interesting arguments. One of them is that computer does better than humans which seems that AI will ultimately take over the world. But there are still many counterview mentioning things that AI can’t take on. ML pointed out that, AI is actually made possible by programmers sitting in front of computer, which are also humans. I would like to stop here by quoting AG's question, " Why people have to wait other agents to change the world?" Let's take actions, little by little, to make impacts to the world, and to build a better Earth for humans as well as other lives. Bloger’s note: With so many great minds, there is no surprise that brilliant ideas keep jumping out and can hardly be fully captured in this one blog. But I hope the discussions and summary could benefit all the speakers and participants. I find it is helpful to reflect again after the events. I actually used one theory mentioned in the discussion to argue for a point in my research paper! I never expect this kind of influence! Even more, I later find a lovely resource named Freedom Journal when doing the reflection. I am using it right now to keep my writing habits every day! Life is a magic network, you can always find connections of your dots, sooner or later. Meanwhile, I am thinking of ways to improve FoT. I find writing blogs by recording participants' comments may not be very informative or reader-friendly (and also time-consuming;P). I wonder if it would be more interesting and easy to follow if I simply write my own thoughts/reflections and invite other participants/stars to write their thoughts on spots? I will give it a try next time! Interesting resources/ topics arised:
When the food and clothings are enough, people care honors and shames.
Do not given up good things though they may be minor matters. 10. Other resources might be useful for you: 3/26/2019 1 Comment Feast of Thought (2)Keywords: Lifestyle; Mentor; Communication; UN Today's sharing is about career choice. We not only discussed about experiences and strategies of making life choice, but also experiences of being impacted by mentors (parents & supervisors). KW has the same struggle before she decides to do postdoc. She shared her view of worklife style as a postdoc, and ML concluded using a poem as below: Life has different choices,
Like the squashes vary with colors and sizes. Walk in the nature, You look outside, Fly in the sky, or immerse in the modern light, Sometimes messy, sometimes infertile. Then you see the sign, "Sluit Je Ogen". A voice saying, "Close your eyes, Listen to your inner side." Either a pirate or a postdoc, all live locally but think worldwide. A conference flight to share your research, Or staying at home to save carbon footprints, We balance the type of our impacts. No matter how hard the life is, sth great will finally surface, Move on, move on... Along the rail, You will see the shining lights. Life choice, salary or self-actualization? We started the discussion with a personal experience as a close familiy of local field staff who works for refugee division of the UN. In the early 80s, wars incurred a lot of Afghan refugees which have been further intensified by Soviet invasions. The US-led attacks later catalyzed the emergence of Taliban/extremist groups in the Afghanistan. In order to provide the displaced civilians with food, housing and shelter, a UN staff has to go to camps to negotiate. The negotiation between military, government and local people has to be done using principles that may be against the values of educated people. (e.g. the existence of gender discrimination, or opaque business relying on personal relations). The security of the local staff is at stake, which makes her close family worries all the time. The field work remote from home may also mean less time to be with her kids to facilitate their individual developments. This big sacrifice doesn't match the salary they are offered. Usually, local staff doesn't get equal reward as the international coordinator. However, it may be the sense of fulfillment and large happiness seeing people benefiting from their work that compels them to make such life choices. Mentors may influence but not determine your future We also discussed the influences of mentors (parents and supervisors) on our life choices. It is sometimes challenging to remain our true pursuit even with different expectations of mentors. Actually, the role of a supervisor is a guider instead of a teacher. Like in research, PhD students may have already formed their own bubble of knowledge in which supervisors may not have full scope. However supervisors are indispensable for individual growth, as they can share time-test solutions or point out potential risks based on their past experiences. More importantly, they may subconsciously influence our way of thinking and behaviors through daily life which may direct our futures. This personal impact is sometimes even more profound than the formal education in school. That's why it is important to select right mentors in your studies: your study experience may largely differ due to different gender, ethnic backgrounds and personalities of the mentors. Some may be straight and efficient, and some may be have loose track of work progress but are more considerate. Some may have more individual interactions but may be bound with trivial, while others may be good at delegation, but may give you less chance to discuss details or learn the personal experience through daily conversations. Still, it totally depends on the students themselves to select what to be learned and testify which ways are best for themselves. In the end, it is you not mentors that finally determine your future. Be brave to communicate and challenge people's thoughts While listening to different life stories, we always see the importance of communication to help us to get what we really want. You sometimes have to challenge others' habits, or mindsets which is not easy but may be very useful. Suppose you have a supervisor who is very pushed and worries about your progress all the time. If you want to be comfortable with your own working pace without the overwhelming pressure of your supervisor, maybe you need to think about communicating to them. For example, you can explain to him/her the price you have to pay if you are not working hard, and convince the mentor that you know the importance of the work to yourself and that have tried your best to make progresses. Also, the supervisors might think high technology has made it much easier for you to do research than for themselves back in the past. If so, you then have to challenge his/her thoughts. You shall get the supervisor realize that the current challenge for young generation is no less than the challenge the older generation came across before. Indeed, the effort we have to put on searching internet to sort out most helpful information from the tsunami of data nowadays is as challenging as, if not more than walking to the library to sort out the information from 6 volumes on bookshelves in the past. Communication is one of efficient ways for you and your mentor to best use their past experiences while embracing changes in new times. Today is also Lantern Festival. We enjoyed some glutinous rice balls during the intermission. It is interesting to know that both China and Pakistan have unique traditions for this day: while Chinese traditionally make the paper light and light fireworks, Pakistani has a tradition of kite fighting. However, both fireworks in China and kite fighting in Pakistan are restricted nowadays considering their potential risks. But, who knows what will be changed in the future? PS. This is the second FOT at ML' s place. We surprisingly discovered different sparkles of each star which could hardly be realized if not having this lovely gathering. It drives us to move the FOT further! We look forward to having more people interested in doing FOT, and taking turns to be the organizer! Something to share and interesting topics arised: Slide presentation for the poem Afghan in Pakistan Book : Kite Runner See Trailer here Lunar calendar and Islamic calendar Thanks to the sharing of MS and KW. 3/3/2019 0 Comments Feast of Thought (1)关键词:开源节流,破除标签,人生价值 Keywords: Broaden sources of income and cut the cost; Break the label; Life Value 阳光洒向白色沙发,冬日的晴空分外明朗。充满异域风情的蓝色花纹,让汹涌的思潮渐渐归于平静。思想盛宴的首次尝试比预想中要成功。虽然人数不多,却进行了许多有意义,有深度,且相当有正能量的讨论。临近结束时,大家还意犹未尽滔滔不绝。在接下来的一周中,我真的感觉到有更多的能量做一个想要的自己。 买房 vs. 租房?
YC首当其冲就带来了实实在在的干货。在场人有幸见证一个非常有价值的买房决策应用的新鲜出炉。被邀请分享有时是完成自己想做未能做之事的最有效动力。YC是个爱钻研的人。因为自己要买房,就自己去了解了房产投资市场,很细致地计算了未来收益。在思想盛宴的“敦促”下,竟诞生出一个漂亮的小软件,它能很轻松的帮你解决一个问题:综合考虑通货膨胀率,贷款利息,房价升值,还有折旧率等等等等,我到底是买房赚还是租房赚?YC的回答是: 看你能等多久!如果寻求短期利益,还是租房划算,因为你可以有多余资金在其他方面创造价值。如果你在某一处长住,那么买房更划算。这似乎显而易见,但又不尽然。YC用一个实时生成的图表让你清晰地看出来在蒙特利尔,如果想通过买房赢过你隔壁租房的同事,那得坚持还贷到5年以后再卖。 破除标签,实现开源 YZM 临时受命,却也做了非常有意义的分享。他以自己的经历说明了资金管理的两大渠道:开源和节流。他认为, 常在象牙塔里的学生,常常只满足于节流,而不敢于去开源,其根本原因是受到了标签的限制。从小的应试教育常让人们觉得学习是学生最重要的任务,也是唯一的任务,而且认为只有上课,考试,才是正常的学习模式。但YZM认为,学习不仅可以在课堂,它是随时随地的。反而社会给学生角色设定的标签让我们不自主屏蔽了一些学习渠道,也因此让我们与一些开源渠道无缘。要克服这一点,首先是自己不要给自己贴标签,而且不要给别人机会去限定你的标签。GS 也举出了现实中突破特定职业标签的实例(教授开公司)来肯定这一观点。 这辈子要做什么样的人? 这个问题很大很泛,却也非常值得分享和探索。可能因为每个人都还有疑惑, 或者都曾经想过,这成为了我们第一次讨论的话题。YZM一再强调了健康的重要性。走前还给我们做了实地演示(马步,俯卧撑)。YC引用了亚马逊的公训(work hard, have fun, make history) 且提醒了我们充满感激之心可以让我们变得快乐。LM表达了对自己好才能更好地对别人好的观点。GS 也在讨论中发表了很多独特的见解。比如过去学习的马哲矛盾论在我们现在解决实际复杂问题时的指导意义。还比如关于晚睡问题的困惑,引出了关于如何增强意志力,自律性的话题。YZM的一句“要够贪心” 让我们充满正能量的讨论变得更接地气。 我们最后还讨论了让思想盛宴变得更有意思的一些建议。比如选取有争议性的主题可以引发正反面讨论,比如有时深度和广度可以交替侧重,还比如可以通过创业市场、学校、社区等有效寻找到牛人。 编者记: “谁等待了足够的时间,谁就将永远等待下去,超过了某一期限,就什么也不会再发生了! ”--塞缪尔·贝克特 <马龙之死>。 一个由一本书(《跃迁》)而起意,在这句敲响的警钟下而推进的思想盛宴终于发生了!参加者们不错的反响让组织人LM信心倍增,也让她的个人生活产生了很奇妙的积极转变。由于身体欠佳而遗憾缺席的DJ近期传来了人一生中少有的大好消息 (将成人母)。希望这颗小小的种子可以带来更多美好的变化,慢慢发芽开花结果,甚至传播到更远更广的地方。 分享列表: * YC展示的小工具, 还在开发中,欢迎问题或建议。以及他写的关于买房的博文。 * 加拿大房地产走势数据,包括各个城市, 如蒙特利尔。 |