A “natural” deception expert recently did an analysis of the interview. Fascinating reading.

Having multiple friends who are alumni of the school, all I can say is, “It’s the end of an era”.

I asked to see this film mainly out of curiosity arising from the first two, My Life as McDull (2001) and McDull, Prince de la Bun (2004). I watched the first two while on study leave for my final actuarial exams, and was greatly amused by the contrast between the simplicity of the McDull character and the complexity of the plat and its commentary on life in Hong Kong.

The starting context is this. In the midst of a siege in a nondescript office complex, it turned out that both the captors and their hostages were alumni from the “Flower on the Spring Field Kindergarten”, McDull’s first school.

From reminiscing the early days of discussing what the students aspire to be when they grow up came a satirical commentary on life in Hong Kong. Targets include vocational university degrees, steam boating, the importance of lunch, corporate motivational speakers and many more.

Unlike the first two, most of this film is live action, assisted by many on Hong Kong’s A-list. Only a few minutes were animated like the previous films. So those who are looking for cute characters are likely to be disappointed.

It’s an intriguing film, with lots to think about. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if many came out of the film totally confused, and thus disappointed. Not for everyone.

So I’m more than a little curious to see this particular article about productivity improvements with a four-day working week. A few quotes, and you’ll get the idea:

There will always be more to do. Working more won’t change that. In fact, working more is actually counter-productive. […] The problem wasn’t a time issue, it was a mental issue. I knew I had a whole week to finish my work, so I spread it out over five (or seven!) days. If I knew I only had four days to finish a whole week of work, it would’ve motivated me to get things done more efficiently.

Working efficiently increases productivity.

Now if we can all do that.

Given that I haven’t thought that much about purchasing property as yet, I politely declined. They promised to call me back in six months’ time.

That’s why speeches like this one are so interesting.

This article in the Sydney Morning Herald discusses the psychological isolation of those young people that do not have mobile phones.

Mobile phones are increasing being used as a mechanism of social networking rather than simple communication. It is now viewed as more important for people to receive a large number of mobile phone calls and text messages rather than having a fewer number of good quality conversations. As a result, it is not surprising that James Katz, director of the Centre for Mobile Communication Studies at the Rutgers University in the US, found that about 90 per cent of young people admit they have faked a call.

Not only mobile phones are now dominant in social networking, it is increasing being used for social dis-networking. A quote:

Last year a large New Zealand study of 12- to 15-year-olds found that 23 per cent of mobile phone users had ended a relationship by text, 39 per cent had used text messages in an argument, 29 per cent used their phone in class and 11 per cent were woken up every night by incoming text messages.

For someone whose mobile phone conversations average less than a minute each, much food for thought.

There is from time to time social commentary suggesting that there has been a decline in the level of civility in our society. It is not clear how one measures this.

…

There does, however, appear to be a growing concern with personal conduct in many areas of discourse: the emergence of road-rage; the behaviour of parents at school sporting events, referred to as the “ugly parent syndrome”; the prevalence of offensive language in many spheres of social interaction and popular culture; the sensationalism of a media driven by declining circulations and audiences; the indifference to the tranquillity of others by the infliction of noise, whether from boorish conduct or mobile phones; the vulgarity and rudeness of reality TV shows; the selfishness of littering; the virtual disappearance in common discourse of words such as “please”, “thank you” and “sorry”.

It appears that the speech sparked a short, but interesting, debate on the issue. For example, an editorial on the issues suggests that there is too much tolerance at bad behaviour in many areas of discourse.

I think many people underestimate how much good being polite can bring about, myself included.

My other gripe is the confusion between the two words “enormousness” (the noun form of the word “enormous”) and “enormity” (which means “great wickedness”). It can be quite confusing to describe something good and big as possessing “enormity”. And it does not help the English-speaking community when members of the press are also getting it wrong.

I have ridden my hobby horse far enough. Time to get off now.

P.S. For those who do not know what an apostrophe man is, he is someone who is particularly pedantic on the correct use of apostrophes.

It provided an interesting case study on what is generally accepted as the best selective school in New South Wales, James Ruse Agricultural High School. The articles reported that approximately 90% of the school student population are from a non-English-speaking background, with a predominance in Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean language groups.

It’s quite true. Some of my friends who happen to be Ruse alumni find great enjoyment in playing the “spot the non-Asian” game in recent school photographs.

Nevertheless, here is one bizzare section (under Herald’s standards) in the article (emphasis added):

However, the teenagers do not fit the stereotype of all work and no play. More than 100 students are in the school’s army cadet unit, many are musicians and one of the most popular groups is the Christian fellowship.

…

And when the Christian group holds meetings “about a quarter of the school” attends, even though many students are not religious.

“They are interested in the philosophy,” he [Greg Wearne, acting principal] said.

Combining all of these, I would note that only time will tell how God is using the James Ruse ISCF for the evanglisation of the Chinese (and other Asians) in Australia.

The October 2005 issue on personality is particularly interesting. I know it’s a little bit late, but there are two articles about which I would like to comment. Perhaps it’s because I am one of those shy, allegedly smart types.

My life as a fake

In My life as a fake, Manfred Kets de Vries describe the phenomenon of “neurotic imposture”. Put simply, these are high achieving people who, despite their success, feel like they are impostors and do not deserve the success that they are getting. They fear that they will eventually be “exposed” as a “fraud”. Thus, they turn to self-destructive behaviours which are then exposed, so the whole thing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is not to be confused with humility. Neurotic imposture is more like thinking more lowly as one ought. It is particularly prevalent in gifted people who exhibit a perfectionist personality. I would imagine that it is not that difficult for a neurotic impostor to become depressed.

Update: I found the original paper.

Bashful business

The blurb for Bashful business summarises it nicely: The meek may inherit the Earth but they have a tough time in the modern firm, where extroverts thrive. But there is a cure.

The article notes that despite media headlines, the best corporate results are often achieved by … people who exhibit classic shy traits. So there is hope for us, after all.

Tips for shy people noted by the article:

• Smile and maintain eye contact
• Open posture (don’t cross arms, etc)
• Learn to make small talk
• Give compliments, learn how to receive them gracefully
• Practise speaking in small groups
• Challenge negative thoughts