To err is human, it is divine to forgive.

It's a platitude so easy to say or write, and like most platitudes, much more interesting when one has the perspective to understand them.  Ostensibly, this particular saying relates to the Christian faith.  It is human to err; it is a matter of existential importance.  The ontology of fallen humanity is a sinful state, fraught with error and miscommunication, villainous intent and self-centeredness.  Forgiveness, on the other hand, is a taste of divinity; divine when one is forgiven by God, and a piece of that, when forgiven by a fellow human.

I have made an error recently that may never be ameliorated.  It is emblematic of my own recklessness and tendency to sin.  In a sense, it has been forgiven, but the consequences are staring at me with a lambent gaze, limning my own ugliness with an artist's preceision.  I am reminded poignantly of my need for the divine.  For grace and atonement come only through the blood of Christ.  I have no other advocate than him.

May his mercy amaze me.

Amen.

In the sci-fi film noir classic, Blade Runner, Rutger Hauer improvises a line that forever echoes - "And all these memories will be gone, like tears in the rain."

I think about the memories my parents have - of growing up in Hong Kong and Indonesia respectively father's and mother's - and how detailed and interesting they must be.  How many little aromas and vistas flit in and out of their memories, especially when they visit home.  They made their memories living through their childhoods and young adult hoods, going through travails and challenges that no one else will remember.

Memories made alone are so piquant, because they are only witnessed by one.  With a flick of fate's hands, the memory is dashed away.  It is only carried by one person.  Sharing these memories - making them together -- that's amazing.  Having memories to examine together is beautiful.

Watching my parents hold hands and look into one another's eyes meaningfully is so moving to me.  They have 40 years of shared memories to cherish.  I envy and admire them for that tenderness.  

Every sunrise and sunset that I witness alone.  Every quiet walk on the shores of Hong Kong's Bay...  they are another memory made alone.

"It is not good for man to be alone."

Amen.

I came across a Stella Artois ad this weekend sporting a dapper young man in his mid 20s to early thirties peering intently at a young woman quaffing a goblet of beer in her late teen to twenties with golden, two toned locks of blonde hair piled artfully upon her head.  Slender graceful neck arched gently, she is a picture of the innocence and beauty of youth.  The ad reads, "she is a thing of beauty."

His eyes are one eye width lower than hers are on the image.  His head is tilted forward, but eyes are upturned to peer at her.  Her eyes are heavily lidded, turned to the beer, nearly closed, her aristocratic bearing in full force with her gaze aligned down the length of her nose in to the Stella.

Desire and imperiousness drip from the image, set on the shade of white Stella uses on each of their adverts.

My perspective on youth, vitality and beauty has changed a great deal since my youth.  Upon reading Proverbs 31 as a child, I saw the phrase, "beauty is fleeting" sort of as a caveat encouraging a sort of valuation discount; as in as beauty fades outwardly, one is left with beauty of character and of the soul.  Beauty was much more abstract and less sensual at the time; at 8, the carnality of beauty was completely opaque to me.  So looking at the concept of beauty at that age, was a mathematical exercise, if not financial.

Beauty, however, is pleasing at a very basic level - one that requires little cerebration at all.  It simply is, and that beauty is appreciated just as viscerally.  As such, realising that the impact of raw beauty (natural landscape or human) was something that shouldn't be reduced to abstraction required a rethink philosophically.

This was probably late high school.  At the time, I really enjoyed sketching models and outfits in fashion magazines.  In a strange way, one might argue that the fashion industry at times abstracts the human into geometry, as human lines are stretched into inhuman perfection - at first through make up and later with camera techniques and now using post processing.  Add to that dietary regimens and plastic surgery that distort the human before the lens...
Now we are seeking to reshape the human into an ideal of our own imagination.  As an aside, is this narcissism or angel worship/idolatry?

It is within this milieu that the modern fashion and beauty industry operates, encouraging the lust of the eyes in both genders.  Women evaluate themselves and one another using hypercritical standards approaching an impossible asymptote of unattainable perfection.  Despite being conscious of the absurdity of competing with an artistic ideal, not a few women go on to spend untold hours and wealth in the quest for aesthetic desirability.

In this context of desire and desirability, men are confronted with ads showing these imaginary people, to which they can compare the flesh and blood persons around them.  Whereas, women are confronted with the same images which with they compare themselves.

In short, the modern fashion beauty industries exert an inordinate influence on what we desire and what we desire to be.  At one level, we know that its fake - artificial.  But on another, the temptation to aspire to those ideals are formidable.

At heart, it is a quest for youth, vitality and potence.  I think, that as men age, the appreciation of youthful beauty changes as we age.  Each encounter with the young reminds of age, and the boundless perspective that youth affords.

Reminiscence, nostalgia, wishful interpretations of opportunities lost - an appreciation of that which youth possesses yet does not know.  It is the perspective of time.

It is amazing, looking at that image of sublimely unconscious, imperious beauty.   Wisdom dictates that beauty realize its own ephemeral nature, its vanity.  It is the picture of teenage tyranny.  Stella has captured the self-absorbed rapture of privileged youth.

And yet, what we ought to best is look beyond, and see the truth of the phrase, "but the woman who loves the Lord is to be praised."

It is true.  Beauty is fleeting, charm is deceitful, but a woman who loves the Lord is to be praised.  Character and righteousness last.  Short term benefits must be viewed through the lens of eternity.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/07/grammar

Discussion from Sun Times -

I just watched Inception last night.

I love Christopher Nolan's work.  At present, his brief body of work makes him my favourite living western director.  There was a time when the movies

Hong Kong, an end to an era - From the Economist.

I'm still not sure how sad to feel; but the headlong growth that has marked Hong Kong represents a relative purity of form/concept that was rather unique.  I shall miss it.

Languages and Personalities - From the Economist

I stand by my assessment that to learn another language fluently, it's best to "pick up" another persona complete with different mannerisms.  You have to think differently to speak differently... Act the part, think the part, then speak the part!

Disease and Intelligence - The Economist

Actual Article

Rather cool research, which is, on the face of it, rather intuitive -- once one has seen how fragile the brain is.  Intelligence is delicate - in that small disturbances can result in profound cognitive decline.

It is the seat of the soul, no?

At any rate, Singapore may have one of the highest IQs, but it also is one of the most selected communities in the world, at many levels. 

While IQ is a flawed measure, it is a proxy, and there are few proxies for intelligence.  I'm curious how IQ averages were calculated, however.

This year, traveling through Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong, I'm reminded how differently city planning has worked in these asian city-states.  Within the hearts of these cities, vast networks of tunnels have been constructed in which inhabitants can walk, shop, and eat without ever leaving man-made structures.  In Hong Kong's case, the tunnels bridge beneath the city, but there are also walkways above ground criss crossing the avenues between the large hotel and office buildings, seen particularly around Central, Admiralty, and too a lesser extent Tsim Sha Tsui.  The whole city seems to be growing into a nest like structure. 

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, while in some ways less dense, some of the newer constructs, such as Roppongi Hills, are truly amazing mixed-use spaces with residential, office, and retail space all coexisting.  The architecture really provides for some interesting spaces.  The subways are labyrinths of interconnecting passageways and shops.

Singapore, though less populated by far than either of the above, already is manifesting many of the same features.  From what I remember of Seoul, it was also heading in this direction.

Is this a reaction to limited space?  Perhaps to unfavourable weather?  Cost?

I personally think it's largely a reaction to space features of the cities.  The cities seem to have ceased to be merely 2D grids of buildings, but rather 3D matrices with multiple interconnects, bridging at every level of building, street, and undercity.

What I would wish to see most, however, would cities with more roof-top farming/foliage.  It would be neat to lower the carbon footprint of even these mega cities. 

Banks and Rent - From the Economist.

Finance is a very interesting industry.  Ultimately, the most important service (IMO) that finance provides is for the more efficient application/allocation of capital to areas of highest potential growth, and it's removal from decaying growth.

How much this efficiency advantage is worth is not something I can calculate, but it's certainly not worth 50% or more of a countries' GDP.  If I trade a dollar 1B times, I've generated 1B dollars of cash flow.  If I take 1% as a transactional fee, I make 10 million dollars.  Cash flows in finance industries do not create anything - buying and selling the oranges do not create more oranges - but it might get the orange to a place that could appreciate the orange more.  How much should finance be worth?  It should be worth how much value moving an asset's ownership is worth. 

In this case, I agree with the author.  Efficient capital allocation is a very important function, but the "rent" seeking behaviour that is now endemic in finance is hostile to the economies that support it.