Norris' Digital Media Blog

If I asked a random person on the street to define success, he would most likely say that success is purely hard work. In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, however Gladwell explains that success is not as straightforward as most of us think it is; in fact, the factors of success is intriguing. He used fascinating examples and reliable data to back up his theories of success.

 

1. Why Oppenheimer succeeded and Langan did not

 

Chapter 4 of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers compares Robert Oppenheimer to Christopher Langan to show that IQ is not relevant to success. Even though they were both undisputed geniuses, Oppenheimer succeeded and Langan did not. Gladwell arrived at this conclusion by contrasting Oppenheimer and Langan’s background. Langan was from a poor family whereas Oppenheimer was from a better-educated family and this meant that Oppenheimer had more opportunities than Langan. For example, Langan’s family was so poor that he could only go to colleges that offered him a full scholarship. Even though Langan was brilliant enough to get a scholarship, his mum forgot to fill out a financial statement in his sophomore year, which led to the cancellation of the scholarship. This meant that Langan had to go to work without graduating from university. In contrast, Oppenheimer was born into a wealthier surrounding. He went to Harvard, and then did his masters at Cambridge. Instead of doing hard labor on the weekends like Langan, Oppenheimer travelled around Europe. As a young man he had seen much more of the world compared to Langan. Oppenheimer’s advanced educational opportunities enabled him to become a top-notch scientist. He developed the atomic bomb, making significant contributions to the war effort. Gladwell explains clearly how he came up with this theory, and presented a convincing case that IQ is not the most essential factor for a person to be successful, contrary to what everyone else thinks.

 

2. Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes

 

Gladwell investigated why Korean Air had such a high accident rate until 2000, when David Greenberg took over the operations. After careful investigation, Gladwell concluded that cultural factors contributed to communication problems in the cockpit. When Gladwell was listening to dialogues between pilots and co-pilots, he decided that the tone between them was generally indirect and uncommanding. In other words, those in a lower ranking position did not assert commands that were crucial to safety. This is due to their Korean culture, which teaches people to be more polite and give one’s utmost respect to one’s authority. This leads to statements like “I think pulling around would be a better option here” rather then “pull around here” by the co-pilot or engineer towards the pilot. Due to these indirect and ambiguous statements, there was a lot of confusion between the co-pilots and the pilots, leading to accidents. After 2000, when Korean Air hired Greenberg from America to control Korean Air’s operations, the average crash rate immediately dropped. This was because Greenberg told his pilots to use English and most importantly change their tone to a more commanding voice. Now, Korean Air is one of the safest airlines in the world. Gladwell had intriguingly explained that how the influence of the Korean culture played a significant role to the high number of plane crashes.

3. Joe Flom

 

To explain Flom’s success, Gladwell analyzes Flom’s background and the time period in which he was born. Gladwell investigates others who also had similar opportunities with Flom in order to explain Flom’s success. Gladwell used Alexander Bikel, as an example of how being Jewish back then was crucial. Bikel, like Flom, also wanted to be a lawyer. However, the top law firms on Wall Street rejected most Jews because the firms did not trust them. This made Bikel work at a second-rate firm, which at that time did what the big law firms did not do: mergers and acquisitions. Suddenly this business boomed and Bikel was right on top of this wave. Flom was also Jewish at that time; he took advantage of the boom in mergers and acquisitions and built a successful law firm. Gladwell also uses Maurice Janklow as an example of how being born at the right period matters. Janklow was the only one in his family who went to college then went to Law school. Afterwards, he acquired a paper printing business, which did not succeed. He had a decent family background and a good education, all the components that leads to success in business, but he couldn’t make an impact. Gladwell also investigated on Janklow’s son Mort, who became a successful lawyer. Gladwell explained that Maurice’s failure was purely because of bad timing. Maurice’s business did not succeed due to bad timing he started during the Great Depression, when the stock market and banks crashed. In contrast, Mort was born at the right time so that he had the advantage of having less people in the classroom, hence he received a better quality education; this all led to Mort building a successful law firm. Mort was born around the same years as Flom was, 1930, so Flom also had a more focused education. Gladwell examined Bikel and Janklow’s family to explain how Flom had the advantage of being Jewish and being born at the right time to build Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which was a successful law firm.

 

Gladwell explanations proved that the common myth, “success is just working hard”, is wrong. Gladwell brilliantly finds correlation between success and many other factors for example culture, birth period, parental background and opportunity. It is only a great thinker like Gladwell who could find out these correlations and deliver them to readers.

Recently I watched this show called Sherlock and fell in love with it. They also came out with a new trailer for Season 3, check it out!

My favourite character in the series, is Sherlock Holmes. What a cliche! Sherlock Holmes was a tall man, about six feet. He wore a black suit with a white collared shirt underneath. When he went outside, he put on an overcoat and wears a chauffeur’s hat. Occasionally he wore a scarf, depending on the weather. He had sharp eyes and a hawk-like nose sensed unusually well.

Holmes’ observation skills were no secret. It is one of his traits which intrigued me. He had human eyes; he saw what everyone saw. However, he came up with different conclusions. For example, in the episode “The Great Game”, the Police could not find any leads on the body. Holmes however could predict who the killer was and the daily habits of the victim. Looking at the victim’s alarm schedule on his watch, Holmes concluded that he has a daily routine. The buttons were stiff so the victim did not change the alarm too often, indicating a daily pattern that he follows. The victim also had a gun strapped to him, but due to his body condition, it was unlikely that he was in the army so Holmes concluded that he was a guard. Further evidence of his oversized uniform and hardly worn shoe sole also insinuated that the victim was a guard. Holmes found ticket stubs in the victim’s pocket, suggesting he worked somewhere in a museum or a gallery. Holmes decided to list out the museums and galleries beside the area which reported missing workers. One gallery reported a person missing, so Holmes concluded that the victim was from a gallery.

I was also fascinated by his knowledge foundation and his ability to apply it. His correct decisions were mainly based on his knowledge base. Throughout the series, Holmes was portrayed as a person who knew everything. In “Scandal of Belgravia”, Holmes was given a bunch of random letters and numbers, which he had to decode. At first, he gathered that this was a 747 flight leaving London Heathrow. The code was a seat allocation. He eliminated the possible airlines and came to the conclusion that there was a bomb armed in the 6:30 flight from Heathrow to Baltimore. The speed and precision of his delivery was nothing but impressive. People didn’t interrupt him when he was on a roll, because he just spewed out information. After his rants, people would be shocked at first, then impressed. The speed with which he utilized access his vast amounts of knowledge intrigues me. He was like a massive library with an efficient borrowing system.

What I found most intriguing is his ability to express his complicated thoughts. He had a unique brain yet he could express himself with logical coherence. When he explained the code to Irene Adler, he spent around 4 minutes explaining how he came to his conclusion. He didn’t breathe nor pause in the middle of his explanations; connections ran across his brain and he delivered that well. At first, people would be shocked at the speed of delivery, but later they would understand what Sherlock was trying to say. No one could understand what goes on in Holmes’ mind but he managed to express his thought process for everyone to understand.

Even though Holmes had an awkward personality, I found him to be the most intriguing character in the series. He was so passionate and confident that he was willing to risk his life, as shown in “A Study in Pink”, to prove his theory. Three suicidal cases occurred and police found correlation between them. Holmes traced one the victim’s phone signal and found the killer at the same time the killer found him. The killer gave Holmes same riddle he gave his other victims. The killer gave Holmes two pills and said one of the pills is harmless, the other poisonous; he invited Holmes to choose one, promising that he will swallow the other – otherwise the cabbie would shoot Holmes. Even though Holmes could have walked out and call the cops after realizing the gun was a fake, he still decided to play the game.

Holmes didn’t make any mistakes in any of the episodes shown. This was because he had accurate senses; his senses did not lie to him. If it weren’t for him, the police department would not have got anything done. Even Detective Inspector Lestrade quoted: “we couldn’t do anything without Holmes.” His alertness brought the world into balance; if it wasn’t for his alertness, the evil symbol Jim Moriaty would have destroyed the world. People like Holmes kept the world away from evil taking over, and that was what intrigued me.

I just had to rush down here to blog about this.

I have sat in the library for around 10 hours now and as I was using the last bit of energy in me… A voice started going through my head. At first I thought I was so tired that I started dreaming about Christmas songs. Quickly after I realised that there was a acapella group singing in the library, I sprinted away from my desk to listen to it.

As I stopped by the stairs where i could see them sing. It was the most beautiful thing I have heard in a while. For some reason it gave me the biggest chills and brought back many childhood memories to me. This force completely reenergised me. As I was rotting through my final paper of Immigrant America, as I was complaining only to myself of how miserable life is at this moment, the voices of the acapella group completely brought me out of that bubble. I was so in the zone that I couldn’t see the other 100 people also listening from upstairs. Damn, they must be feeling what I felt just now.

Now I feel refreshed. Tonight was going to be such a cruel night but the voices of those people made it 500 percent better.

Norris out.

I have found blogging books fun, especially the ones that you used to love but haven’t been able to read recently. There are some books in my life which I have read so many times that I know the plot inside out. In Middlebury, I haven’t had any time to read books for pleasure, so I wrote a list down of the books that I have read multiple times so I could review on them and learn from the main lessons again. It only takes a glance at the summary to bring all the old memories back. It is also fun to write about old memories (currently doing a piece on my old housemaster and have some other cool ideas).

Hope you guys aren’t too stressed out of the work load, we are almost there!

I had my first gig in two brothers tavern during halloween. I lucked out because the regular DJ couldn’t make it so the bar allowed me to spin for the night. I usually play house (tech, electro, deep, progressive) so I was very nervous when they asked me to play hip hop. I haven’t done much hip hop mixing before so obviously I was scared.

I found For One More Day engrossing. Even though I read it approximately a year ago, I still clearly remember the lessons it taught me. It was like every other Mitch Albom book I have read; it taught me important life lessons. Albom uses simple language to teach meaningful lessons.

 

This book is about Charley Benetto, a broken man living under alcohol. His life was full of regrets and eventually he tried to take his own life by drunk driving. He then became unconscious and started to hallucinate. He dreamt of spending one more day with his beloved mother and by the end of the dream his mother persuaded him to forgive himself. Afterwards he lived his life to the fullest and died with no regrets.

 

The life lessons of For One More Day us are truly intriguing. One of them is to appreciate what one has right now, and to also enjoy it. Albom always tells his readers this message. One doesn’t know how much that certain thing signified until that certain thing is out of one’s life. For Benetto, he didn’t know how much he loved his mother until she was gone. He regretted not being able to spend the last moments with her. However, he was lucky enough to spend one more day with his mother, and he gave himself a second chance in life. Appreciate what you have right now and truly treasure it in order to live your life to the fullest.

 

The other lesson taught by Albom is about accepting loves warm embrace, and sharing your heart and feelings with someone else. Doing this will make one a much more happier person. Benetto kept everyone away from his life and turned to alcohol. He tried to take his own life because he was so depressed and almost died from an accident. After forgiving himself, he decided to move next to his daughter and reconcile with his ex-wife, Catherine. He quit drinking and started to live a happy life.

 

Albom conveyed these life lessons well. Even though the language is simple and the sentences aren’t complicated, the reader still has to read every paragraph carefully in order to get the main message. This story seems random at first but after reading the whole book, everything comes together like pieces of an elaborate puzzle.

 

Albom choses to keep the reader guessing all the time in order to grab the reader’s attention. At the beginning, there isn’t concrete evidence that Benetto was in dream, even though Albom did make it clear that Benetto’s mother died. It compels the reader to guess whether Benetto was living, in heaven, or simply in a dream. Albom wants to grab the reader’s attention in order to let the reader think like Albom. This draws the reader in and also has the reader thinking more of the underlying message between the words.

 

I strongly recommend reading this book for people who are seeking to be happy. It is easy to read and hard to put down. I have become a new person after reading books by Albom and I try to live my life to the fullest. The lessons I learnt from Albom will be instilled in me whilst I live my Middlebury life.

Thanksgiving started out during fall in 1621, when Pilgrims and Native Americans gathered together to celebrate a successful harvest to thank everyone who had been involved. Our mentors and teachers also deserve a celebration; we need to be grateful of what they have done for us. My mentor is my godmother Karen. Even though I have only known her for a couple of years, she has already made a big difference in my life.

 

She is blunt and straightforward. She doesn’t just simply give her godson a present every year. She isn’t one to say sweet words when I am depressed. However, she does call me at least once a week to check in on me, letting me know that she cares. Her calls usually end with her criticizing me about what I have done wrong, which happens every week. Even though I get fed up with her efforts to teach me, at the end of the day I realize that she loves me and just genuinely wants me to be a more mature person.

 

In the summer of 2012, she helped me out of my misery by telling me not to ignore other people’s perspectives. It started out in January when I invited my best friend Charlie to Hong Kong. After all the anticipation build-up, he told me at the last minute that his parents wouldn’t give him the money for an air-ticket. I was furious because I have invited him to Hong Kong many times and every time there was an excuse, so I started to doubt our friendship. I blamed myself many times for wasting five years building this friendship so I started to ignore Charlie. Then, my godmother called me one day and I told her my story, expecting her to be sympathetic. However, instead of telling me how sorry she was for me, she scolded me and said I was being inconsiderate. I was annoyed at her for being so blunt but afterwards I did some self-reflection. Then I realized that talking to him would be the civilized thing to do. I approached him afterwards and we became friends again. If it weren’t for my godmother’s direct and harsh words, I would have never learned to think from other people’s perspective.

 

Also, she was the one who suggested that I take a gap year. A gap year is a big deal to everyone because it is the year to gain experience outside of school, and to take an early step forward in life. I thought she wanted to travel with me, so I was ecstatic about it; instead of us going trekking in the Andes or climbing Machu Picchu, she said I should gain work experience and improve my English before I go to Middlebury, but most importantly develop a better work ethic. I was reluctant to the idea at first but she absolutely forced me into it. Now, even though I still feel childish and unconfident at times, I still saw a lot of improvement in myself.

 

Although I have known her for only a couple of years, we have bonded through her genuine intentions. If it weren’t for her bluntness, I wouldn’t know the right thing to do. Even though she is neither intellectual nor polite, my mum thought that Karen should be my godmother because my mum understands that this is what I need to become a stronger person. For Thanksgiving, I would like to share a piece of my turkey with my godmother, for her fascinating ways of teaching me how to grow up.

I have many ideas for what to write in this blog. This gap year has been a big change for me; at least I am more aware of what goes around me. I understand my family, Hong Kong and myself better.  I have forgotten how vibrant Hong Kong could be as a city, yet how frustrating it could be.

 

There are so many reasons to love about Hong Kong. It has the best infrastructure in the world. It is hard to explain in words, but I am comfortable wherever I go in Hong Kong.

 

Everything just seems to be planned out. Hong Kong is prepared for whatever you want. I feel quite spoilt by Hong Kong because I feel it satisfies me in so many ways. Everything just seems to be there when I want it to be. I am going to list out of some of the major reasons of why I love Hong Kong so much, but everyday I keep finding new reasons to love Hong Kong.

 

All of my friends live in Hong Kong. Whenever we want to meet up, it is possible because Hong Kong is such a small city; everyone just seems to live beside each other. Friends are important in my life; I enjoy sharing my thoughts with them and listening to what they have to say. As Mitch Albom said, love is opening your heart to someone and listening to what they have to say; love is the only rational thing.

 

Public transport is amazingly convenient. As I mentioned just now, it just seems to work. Everywhere I go just seems to be on top of a MTR exit, so I actually travel more by MTR even though my mum allows me to use her driver. Even though the MTR doesn’t reach the Peak, bus service is so easy and accessible in Hong Kong that I could expect a Route 1 bus when I stand by the roads. Everything seems to be there at the right time; it’s inexplicable how convenient Hong Kong is.

 

I am lucky enough to live on the Peak so that I could see both sides of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is one of the leading financial centers in the world. At central, there are massive skyscrapers and a decent amount of traffic. Foreign people see Hong Kong this way. However, I live in the Peak, and I see a tranquil side of Hong Kong.

 

The only major thing I do not like and love about Hong Kong is that all my friends and acquaintances are around me. It gets tiring after a while, bumping into a friend or an acquaintance on the street, and then organizing for lunch. However, it is also not polite to reject them for a catch-up, putting one in a tough spot. It isn’t that I have some sort of hatred against all them; it is that I simply can’t spend too much time on socializing. I get fed up, occasionally angry when this happens and feel the need to leave Hong Kong.

 

Everything seems too redundant. I remember the times I was at Winchester when I craved just to be back at Hong Kong. Being at Hong Kong for the past six months, I realized that living in Hong Kong is not what I need. I need a balanced life; some time spent in quiet towns, and times spent in busy cities. Thinking about all of this, I recognized how lucky I am. My parents have given me the most comfortable environment to live in. It is time to appreciate all of this and take full advantage of it.

I read three articles written by Thomas Friedman and found them truly intriguing. Here are my thoughts and analysis.

 

We sometimes tend to get distracted by short-term concerns and forget about the essentials for the long run. Three of Thomas Friedman’s articles: Get it Right on Gas, The Virtual Middle Class Rises and How Mexico Got Back In the Game tell his readers not only to think in the short term, but also view the world in the long term.

 

Get it Right on Gas stresses the advantages of technology to extract gas efficiently and our priorities to invest in clean energy. Indeed, with the rapid development of technology, it is getting easier to extract clean natural gas. There are also massive amounts of gas locked away in shale deposits. Even though this energy is clean and could last people in the short term and middle term, it couldn’t last long because it is still a fossil fuel. Friedman says people shouldn’t forget about renewable energy and rely on natural gas. A certain amount of investment in renewable energy is still crucial. We should not wait until natural gas is depleted, and then search for other viable sources. Friedman focuses on natural gas as a reminder of long term planning.

 

Friedman also uses Mexico as an example of how people should look further ahead. How Mexico Got Back in the Game talks about the growth potential of Mexico, a country known for rampant crime and poverty. After the Mexican companies lost out to China in 1990’s, they did not give up. Now, they have 44 free trade agreements with countries all over the globe, more than two times that of China. Friedman thinks that Mexico’s economy is just starting to boom. He talks about how America is still focused on fighting in the Middle East and is ignorant about the $1.5 billion worth of trade with Mexico. If they focus solely on getting rid off Al Qaeda in the Middle East, they are only benefitting in the short term. However if the Americans concentrate on getting rid off Al Qaeda, they are missing out on a big opportunity on investing in Mexico. Friedman tells America not to be stubborn to focus on the short term but also to take long term into account.

 

Virtual Middle Class Rises also teaches us the same lesson. Friedman feels that people are underestimating how quickly technology is expanding, and how fast an undeveloped economy could grow. India’s lower class is now catching up with middle class due to cheap technology. India is giving benefits to the poor by using technology, for example electricity cards and safe drinking water. What people think of India now is a place full of crime. They are not aware that the lower class of India is slowly catching up with the middle class, and they will eventually have the same rights with the middle class. Friedman is telling his readers to respect these people now, because in the long term, these people will dominate the world.

 

The true message behind Friedman’s words is pretty harsh. Between his words, I believe Friedman is criticizing the American government for what they are doing. He is saying how narrow-minded the Americans are, and how deceived they are by technology. He hopes that American could change and not be so ignorant about everything. He writes these articles hoping to inform America what they are doing wrong. If he didn’t want America to become a better country, he wouldn’t be so critical.

I never had any teaching experience before. Contrary to belief, I was really confident before class. I kept asking my partner Erin “why am I not nervous? I should be”. It wasn’t until that moment when I stepped into the classroom when I felt butterflies shoot up in my stomach.

I remember hating teachers at that age. During middle school, all I wanted to do was to skip class and go home. I had no passion for learning whatsoever and had no respect for any teachers. Seeing the kids in MUMS settled down for 30 minutes straight and actually listening to what Erin and me had to say was very impressive.

After couple minutes of messing about (we expected that) they settled down immediately. Thank god they were energetic and involved or else it would have been such an awkward class! I knew immediately that they were the energetic type because before I even started a kid already greeted me. That simple greeting gave me a new sense of confidence and I proceeded to make the class more energetic and fun.

They were very excited at the fact that they could actually collaborate with Google Docs, instead of just doing peer editing. As expected, some of the more rebellious kids started messing about with the prompt i.e changing the font size and type. Afterwards they did their task. I hate to admit it but I think they messed around less than us in the beginning. There were certain members in the DML class who just wouldn’t stop goofing around. At the end they did a solid job by producing a paragraph describing what good does Google Docs do to them.