Excerpts from Encouraging Learning by Xunzi

translated from Chinese by George Rao

The Virtuous Gentlemen say: "Learning cannot stop."
Deep blue is taken from blue, yet it is bluer than blue.
Ice is made up of water, yet it is colder than water.
Wood is straight; it fits the rope.
Bend it to form a wheel; its curve fits the compass.
Although it dries, it doesn't re-straighten.

The bending made it natural.
Wood is measured with a rope, then it is straight.
Metal is sharpened, then it is sharp.
The Virtuous Gentleman is richly educated,

and three times a day he examines himself.
Then he knows the clarity and has no mistakes in his actions.
I often think deeply the entire day,

but this is not as good as the learning of a moment.
I often stand on my toes and gaze,

but this is not as good as the vast view of climbing high.
When climbing high and waving, one's arm is not increased in length,

but the viewers are farther away.
When calling along the wind, one's sound is not increased in speed,

but the audience is more wide.
Those who employ horses in carriages have no advantage in foot,

yet they can go one thousand miles.
Those who employ oars in boats may not be able to swim,

yet they can travel the rivers.
The Virtuous Gentlemen are not born different.

It is their ability to employ things.
Accumulate dirt to form a mountain; the wind and rain flourish.
Accumulate water to form a lake; the dragon is born.
Accumulate kindness to form virtue, and the divine clarity comes naturally.

The sacred state of mind is equipped.
If one does not accumulate half-steps, he cannot go one thousand miles.
If small streams are not accumulated, they have no way to become an ocean.
When an excellent horse leaps, it cannot go the distance of ten steps.
Harness ten inferior horses. The power is in not giving up.
Carve and give up; you cannot harm rotten wood.

Carve and not give up; you can engrave metal and rock.
Worms have not the sharpness of claws and teeth,
nor the strength of muscle and bone.
Above, they eat dirt. Below, they drink groundwater.
They are focused.
Crabs have six legs and two pincers.
But without the holes dug by snakes, they are homeless.
They are aimless.

Is Studying Required Subjects Truly Important?

In this world, we are all taught that learning math is very important. But how is it different from learning to sew?

In a mandatory math class, an aspiring tailor asks, "Why am I learning math? I want to be a tailor when I grow up." The accepted consensus is that sewing incurs expenses, making math an indispensable tool.

Now, let's imagine an alternate world in which learning to sew is required in the school system. In a mandatory sewing class, an aspiring mathematician asks, "Why am I learning to sew? I want to be a mathematician when I grow up." The accepted consensus is that sewing together parallel and perpendicular strings builds an intuition in geometry.

In each world, students learn a skill not because they have an interest in it, but because the skill will help them in other subjects.

So is studying the skill really important? No.

Is studying anything important? Yes. But only in the sense that we study it based on our interests.

An Ergonomic Phone

So far, most mainstream phone designs focus on beauty. But when a person uses a phone, he doesn't care about what his phone looks like, because he is looking at the display. He cares about the way the phone feels in the hand. This is why a phone that focused on ergonomics would be ideal. For an example, let's see how the iPhone 6's design could be changed to feel better in the hand.

Lose the aluminum. After Steve Jobs died, the designers at Apple started to make aluminum phones. But the iPhone 6 is slippery because of the aluminum. I prefer the design of the iPhone 4. The stainless steel sides gave it a premium feel, while the glass back made the phone shiny but at the same time gave it traction. But because glass can be shattered easily, let's change the glass into Kevlar. The Kevlar would give the phone a good grip and a premium feel, but wouldn't feel cold.
Glass front, steel sides, Kevlar back.

Round out the back. When the user holds the iPhone 6, he doesn't actually hold the phone. He holds the sides of the phone. Because a hand's relaxed position is curved, a flat phone back just doesn't make sense. The Moto line of smartphones have a curved back. Sure, they wobble on a table, but they fit better in the hand, making the phones more comfortable to use.
Round back.

Lose the aluminum and round out the back, because a phone is not something to look at and appreciate. It's a utility.

The Nexus 10 Is Better Than the Nexus 9

Google may have made a mistake in releasing the new Nexus 9. It improves very little on the old Nexus 10, and even may have taken a step back in a few categories.

The Nexus 9 has a better processor.

The Nexus 9 has a metal frame and a lighter body.

The Nexus 9 has a better back camera and flash.

The Nexus 9 will get more Android updates.

Both devices have 2GB of RAM.

Both devices have a similar front camera.

The Nexus 10's screen is bigger.

The Nexus 10's display has a higher pixel density.

The Nexus 10 has a bigger battery.

The Nexus 10's 16:10 aspect ratio is better for videos, while the Nexus 9's 4:3 aspect ratio is better for web browsing. Some games work better on 16:10, some work better on 4:3.

The Nexus 9 is a bit smaller and more pocketable, while the Nexus 10 is better for media consumption.

Currently, the Nexus 10 32GB is $425.99 on Amazon.

The Nexus 9 32GB is $429.99 on Amazon.

The Nexus 10 is clearly the better bang for the buck. The Nexus 9 is a mistake.

The Half-A-Loaf Approach

A common way of approaching a problem is the half-a-loaf approach. Here's an example.

Let's say a student is faced with a matching test:
========================================================================
COLORS TEST
Match the fruit with the corresponding color.

___1. Grape      A. Green
___2. Banana    B. Purple
___3. Pear        C. Yellow
========================================================================
Assume that the student knows for certain that grapes are purple. The student's paper now looks like this:
========================================================================
COLORS TEST
Match the fruit with the corresponding color.

 B  1. Grape      A. Green
___2. Banana    B. Purple
___3. Pear        C. Yellow
========================================================================
Now, the student is stumped. He doesn't know what colors bananas and pears are. So he decides to use the half-a-loaf approach. The student's reasoning is as follows.

There are four possible situations.

Possibility One: (1. B) (2. C) (3. A)   Score: 100%
Possibility Two: (1. B) (2. A) (3. C)   Score: 33%
Possibility Three: (1. B) (2. C) (3. C)   Score: 66%
Possibility Four: (1. B) (2. A) (3. A)   Score: 66%

Getting a 100% would be pleasant.
Getting a 66% would be bad, but not horrible.
Getting a 33% would be devastating to the student's average grade.

The student should avoid the 33% at all costs.

The student now has two choices: either put different answers for all the questions, or put the same answer for two of the questions.

The former gives the student a 50% chance of getting a 100% and a 50% chance of getting a 33%.

The latter guarantees the student a 66%.

The student picks the latter, securing a 66%.

Technically, the two choices are intrinsically the same, because the former choice would, on average, give the student a 66% anyway. But in a real life situation, the latter choice is better because it avoids the 33%.

This is the half-a-loaf approach: being certain of getting half a loaf of bread is better than having a chance of getting no bread.

How Dreams Came to Be

I first wrote this on November 18, 2012. I have published it word for word here, adding line spaces between the paragraphs.

How Dreams Came to Be

George Rao

Joe was the god of the sky, earth, and oceans. He was so powerful and wise, that he could lift tall buildings, jump past vast mountain ranges, and decode complex mathematical equations with ease. Joe was taller than the Statue of Liberty and stronger and faster than a horse. Despite his awesomeness, he could not resist the thing that threatened to remove all joy from the world.

The Evil Spirit was pure evil. It was made up of the souls of wicked wizards and the blood of gambling gangsters. It was made up of Internet viruses and Windows errors. It was made up of the very essence of evil. The Evil Spirit had neither shape nor form, so it could only inhabit the mind of a living being. The person had to have the strength of a tiger and the courage of a lion. Who did? The Evil Spirit chose Joe. It crept into Joe’s mind and gave life while asleep. This new invention was called a “dream”.

Although Joe was the ruler of the sky, earth, and sea, he did not have control over the other elements. Joe desperately longed for more power in the universe. Using this, the Evil Spirit taunted him: “Do you want control over fire and lava? Do you want control over iron and gold? Do you want control over love and marriage? Join me, and we will have power over everything!”

“What’s your problem?” Joe exclaimed. How dare you enter my mind without downloading the you-may-enter-a-god’s-mind iPhone app?” In the dream, Joe walked over to the personification of the Evil Spirit and attempted to smash him to bits. With his first step, the Evil Spirit flew out of the body, and Joe collapsed.

After thinking about it in bed for a few hours, Joe finally decided: “Ok, I will join you.” “Good.” Suddenly, a voice in his head talked. Using the power of Joe’s broken will, the Evil Spirit broke into his mind. Having gained the power of Joe, it was now easy to steal the other gods’ powers. The Evil Spirit channeled this power to cast away happiness from the world. Flowers started wilting. Birds stopped chirping. Even the mighty Sun started to flicker.

At last, the other gods had no choice. They turned their beloved Joe into stone, and trapped the Evil Spirit inside him. In the process, a part of the Evil Spirit escaped, and it still wanders around today, trying to seize power once again in the form of dreams.

Accurate Acrostics

Seven

Classroom

Hours

Of

Our

Lives

Going

After

Money

Before

Losing

Everything

Separate

Any

Wood

Everyone's

Audio

Reciever