.:: Arctos' Corner ::.

What is the secret to becoming a better negotiator and reaching successful agreements? In Getting to YES with Yourself , author William Ury talks about reaching agreement with the greatest obstacle in a negotiation - our own selves. In the book, William outlined 6 steps to getting to yes with ourselves: Putting Yourself in Your Shoes. All too often we judge ourselves harshly and sometimes unfairly. In the first step of getting to yes with ourselves, William suggests that we listen to our feelings and figure out our underlying needs, so as to better understand what we truly wish to achieve in the negotiation. Develop Your Inner BATNA. The second step is to take responsibility for our own life and relationships instead of putting the blame on others. That way, we can make a commitment to ourselves to take care of our needs and develop our B est A lternative T o a N egotiated A greement (BATNA) regardless of what the other party does or does not do for us. Reframe Your Picture. Much o...

A quick summary of my key takeaways from the book "Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life" by Hector Garcia . Chapter 3: The basic principles of Morita therapy Accept your feelings. Similar to the weather, we cannot predict or control them, we can only observe them. Do what you should be doing. Don't focus on eliminating symptoms, just focus on the present moment and avoid intellectualizing the situation. Discover your life's purpose. Have a clear sense of our purpose and ask ourselves: "What do we need to be doing right now? What action should we be taking?" Chapter 9: Resilience and wabi-sabi 七転び八起き「 Nana korobi ya oki 」 Fall seven times, rise eight - Japanese proverb - Chapter 9: Reilience and wabi-sabi We all have to face difficult moments at some point in our lives, and the way we approach these setbacks will make a huge difference to our quality of life. Will we be able to stay focused on our objectives and pick o...

Phew... 2018 went faster than expected and 2019 isn't slowing down. Here's how I did for my New Year's Resolution : Resolution 1: Read 10 books I've already covered the first 4 books in another post so this will be the list of remaining books I've read since. Happiness Is a Choice You Make  by John Leland Blue on Blue by Charles Campisi Touching Heaven by Leanne Hadley What I liked: I'm not sure what is there not to like about this book. The touching and heartfelt stories about the faith the children had in the face of their illness had me tearing more than once while reading. What I disliked: None that I can think of. Kiss That Frog by Brian Tracy What I liked: Short, manageable chapters making it suitable for brief periods of reading while commuting. What I disliked: Yet another self-improvement book, really? (Just kidding, it is a good book with much less 'feel-good-fluff' that characterises other self-improvement book. And that bri...

Blue on Blue by Charles Campisi is about the police work in New York's Police Department's (NYPD) Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB). It is quite an enlightening read to know about how the detectives track and investigate the 'tips' they get about corrupt cops, and just how much time and effort goes into such investigations. The tone is light and the overall pace is good; I did not feel bored while reading this book and in fact, had a hard time putting it down many a times. Two noteworthy quotes for me came from Officer Lenny Swindell, "If ya got a job, do the job!" And Officer Fahy: What is the one four-letter word that should never, ever be associated with your service in the NYPD? In case anyone is wondering, the four letter word is not a profanity but the word F-A-I-R . In the book, Officer Fahy cautions the recruits that life isn't fair, the department isn't fair, the job of police officer isn't fair, and the sooner they accept that, the bette...

Happiness Is A Choice You Make - Lessons from a year among the oldest old by John Leland weaves together the stories and wisdom of six New Yorkers who number among the “oldest old”― those eighty-five and up. A fairly good read with nuggets of wisdom from the seniors on living with contentment, despite the challenges of old age they face. I can't write as good a review as those already found on Amazon so I'll put some favourite passages from the book (and there's quite a fair number of them!) here instead. Chapter 4: Love in the Time of Lipitor If my year with the elders was also to be a love story, this was a lesson that I needed to learn: that in a relationship, sometimes taking - allowing the other person to do something for you, rather than insisting on doing it yourself - is also a kind of giving. The same applies in friendships or business relationships. True generosity includes enabling others to be generous. Chapter 5: On the Other Hand ... I knew successf...

Considering it's the middle of 2018, it is time to do a review of my New Year's Resolutions . 1) Read 10 books Here's my read list thus far: The 10-Second Rule What I liked: There was none of the usual 'sales-talk' about the goodness of following Jesus, just some simple advice on how to allow God into one's life and work His magic. What I disliked: Nothing much really. The Little Book of Value Investing What I liked: Simplified language for financial novices like me to understand more about investing and what stock indicators to look out for. What I disliked: Too simplified for those looking for a more in-depth guide on how to perform business valuation and identify value stocks. My Holiday in North Korea What I liked: Simmons' anecdotes of her experiences in North Korea, which nearly had me burst out laughing on the train at times. What I disliked: Not sure if it's due to cultural or language differences but I did have difficulty understan...

Some quick notes for myself: Ubuntu VirtualBox Guest Additions Install VirtualBox guest additions Create virtual machine shared folder Add virtual machine Ubuntu user to vboxsf group `sudo usermod -a -G vboxsf username` Logout/restart References: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26740113/virtualbox-shared-folder-permissions Creating Ubuntu Custom LiveCD Add Cubic repository `sudo apt-add-repository ppa:cubic-wizard/release` Install Cubic `sudo apt install cubic` Run Cubic and point to default ISO downloaded from www.ubuntu.com Install any additional packages needed Finish customizing ISO image References: https://askubuntu.com/questions/741753/how-to-use-cubic-to-create-a-custom-ubuntu-live-cd-image https://www.ostechnix.com/create-custom-ubuntu-live-cd-image/ For the more adventurous who want to create a LiveCD from scratch:  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCDCustomizationFromScratch

It's such a coincidence that I had barely finished reading "My Holiday in North Korea: The Funniest / Worst Place on Earth" by Wendy E. Simmons when news came about of the historic North and South Korea meeting in Panmunjom in which they agreed to "work toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, and declaring a formal end to the Korean War by the end of the year". Talk about impeccable timing! My Holiday in North Korea  by Wendy E. Simmons I first picked up the book at the library due to the catchy title and cover photo which suggests a fun filled read - something I could do with seeing as to how I failed to finish reading the previous book I picked. Fortunately it did not disappoint and I frequently found myself grinning like a mad woman on the train while reading during my daily commute. Thankfully I managed to hold in my laughter so as to not appear deranged to the other passengers. My impression of North Korea before reading the book, formed from v...

Some quick notes for my future reference: iOS backups Windows C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ macOS ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ iOS software file (.ipsw) Windows C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates macOS ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates Where ~ on macOS represents the user's home directory.

This was supposed to be February's book review but I have been dragging my heels over it so here it is finally. The Little Book of Value Investing by Christopher H. Browne is the second book in the "little book" series that I've read, with the first being The Little Book that Still Beats the Market . As is usual with books in the little book series, The Little Book of Value Investing is written in a style that is understandable for commonfolk like me, without all the technical jargon that plagues most investing books. Unfortunately this is also its weakness, as the book failed to dive into the techniques of value investing which one can learn and apply. Browne did a good job of explaining the concept of value investing to the beginner though, and I would recommend this as a first book for those new to investing before picking up Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor . This might be my last book review post though, seeing as to how Amazon reviews are...

It's been a crazy week. First was the mental exercise afforded by CS50x Puzzle Day 2018 , then a week of unplanned physical activity where I ended up clocking 10,000+ steps daily, before cumulating in yet another unplanned 3 kilometers walk/run. Quite the workout over a period of 10 days; I think I've hit my quota for the year. The highlight of the week was making a new friend through a chance encounter. Fate works in really mysterious ways - if I had left work slightly earlier, or if she had been held up a little longer, we wouldn't have met. It feels like life is trying to hint something to me, having met two spritely ladies one after another, both of whom are well advanced in years and still living life to their fullest. It makes me feel ashamed and somewhat guilty with the way I have been muddling along, especially in the area of physical fitness. Perhaps it is time to take the first steps towards a healthier and more fulfilling life? All in all, it was an eventfu...

Quick post on fixing the EFI shell issue for booting Ubuntu on VirtualBox with the "Enable EFI" option selected. Credits to Mostafa Ahangarha over on https://askubuntu.com/questions/566315/virtualbox-boots-only-in-uefi-interactive-shell for the original answer. From the EFI shell after installing Ubuntu, type the following to boot: Shell> FS0:\EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi After booting into Ubuntu, create or modify file /boot/efi/startup.nsh and add the following line: FS0:\EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi Save and close the file. Tested to work on Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS.

Three useful Windows commands: 1) Getting MD5/SHA hash of a file I've always envied Linux users for having built-in  md5sum command but now there is a command in Windows PowerShell that does the same function! > Get-FileHash -Path C:\Users\YourName\Downloads\some.iso -Algorithm MD5 Algorithm Hash Path --------- ---- ---- MD5 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ123456 C:\Users\YourName\Downloa... 2) Getting license key of upgraded Windows installation With Windows moving towards digital license, here's how to find out what's the license key on your working computer in case you ever decide to reinstall. > wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey OA3xOriginalProductKey ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-P1234-56789 3) Download files over http/https using PowerShell Have a URL that points to a file that you'll like to download but your browser stupidly insists on rendering it in ...

The 10-Second Rule by Clare De Graaf is a rule book on following Jesus made simple as stated on its cover. The idea behind the rule was basically to do what you are reasonably certain that Jesus wants you to do in the next 10 seconds. No procrastinating, no over-thinking, just do it like Nike's slogan. Many times we may have felt an impression, like a passing feeling or thought, to do something such as stopping to offer someone a hitch or to call someone and ask about their day, but fail to follow through on the thought/feeling as we start to analyse and feel that maybe the person trying to hitchhike could be dangerous, or the person we call may start to ramble and we won't be able to get off the phone. Such promptings could have been an instruction from God, perhaps to act as the 'angel' someone has been praying that He will send, or to help pull someone from the edge of thinking of suicide because no one cares in this world. The 10 second rule is about obeying ...

It's the end of another year and the start of a new one. 2017 has been somewhat disappointing in the area of self-development so in order to not repeat the same mistake for the next year, here are some goals I am setting for myself in 2018: Read 10 books. As they say, reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. So to keep my mind fit, I'll be aiming for approximately one book a month, with a small discount to make it manageable. Finish CS50x on edX . This is for completion sake as I have a bad track record of not completing the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) I signed up for. With CS50x Introduction to Computer Science as a foundation, hopefully I'll feel more inspired to complete the rest of the technically courses I started. I would probably have a much longer list but I figured I should keep it simple for now. Plus there's always time to review again along the year to tack on more goals should I find any pressing ones. Here's a Happy New ...

This month's review is for fiction book Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult, which makes it the second book by the author I read, with the first being My Sister's Keeper . I picked it up at the Ng Teng Fong Hospital branch of Dignity Mama Stall on the cheap. ( Dignity Mama Stall is an initiative for youths with special needs to equip them with skills to run and manage a stall. Do consider supporting them through book donations or purchasing titles from them in person or through their online store.) Perfect Match is gripping from start to end and in Picoult's usual style, makes one wonder how far can one keep to one's moral compass when events are not happening to someone else but yourself. The story is especially poignant for me as the questions Nina had to ask herself were questions I find myself wondering too in my current line of work. Having dedicated herself to her work as a public attorney and asking her clients to have faith in the law as she worked to place crimi...

This month's review is on The Little Book That Still Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt. I borrowed the ebook copy from the local library and was surprised to find it available. The Little Book That Beats the Market and its revised edition, The Little Book That Still Beats the Market, are among recommended titles for those starting out on their investment journey. The book contains thirteen chapters, with each chapter between four to eight pages long. This made for much more manageable reading compared to thicker volumes. Joel's witty humour is also made reading fun and I breezed through the book in a little under five hours. While I am not a savvy enough investor to know whether the method Joel preaches has a good chance of beating the market, it does shed light on an easy to follow and plausible way for picking stocks for novices. That said, one should still tread carefully when investing with one's monies and not blindly follow any book or method without furthe...

Took me a little long but I finally managed to finish reading Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends & Influence People". Most reviews would state it as a "must-read", or "timeless classic", but those reviews are probably overly exaggerated. Unless one has been living under a rock or alone on a island, most of the principles should come across as common sense, which unfortunately is not all that common. That said, the book is still a recommended read in my opinion for even when we intuitively understand certain principles, it is very different from having it put into words for understanding and application. Much as the principles covered are common sense, it was hard to put them into practice in daily life as one's natural instinct is to react defensively when placed in a confrontational situation. In addition, the way one applies the principles would play a large part in how successful it is as most of the examples quoted throughout the b...

Posting more for self reference but hopefully it'll be useful for others too. :) Left-pad string with character 'c': String.prototype.padZero= function(len, c){ var s= this, c= c || '0'; while(s.length< len) s= c+ s; return s; } (Credit: kennebec from stackoverflow: convert '1' to '0001' in JavaScript .) Convert numbers between different bases (built in Javascript function): parseInt(<number>, <baseFrom>).toString(<baseTo>) Examples: parseInt("12", 10).toString(16); // returns "c" parseInt("1011", 2).toString(10); // returns 11 (Credit: faisalman from GitHubGist: baseConverter.js .)

So recently I have been (unhealthily) hooked on mobile game Mobile Legends: Bang bang  (MLBB). It is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) that harks back to my days of playing Defense of the Ancients (DotA), even though it is more commonly compared to the newer League of Legends (LoL) on PC. Since I've never played LoL, my review will be mainly based on comparison with my limited exposure to DotA. Generally for MOBA games like DotA, players had to memorize the items' effect as well as the recipe as you do not have the luxury of time to browse and read the individual item descriptions while in the game. In addition, advanced techniques such as last hitting, denying, and animation cancelling all have a strong impact on the outcome of the game, which makes it not so friendly for a noob like me. :p What I love about MLBB is that players can customize the recommended items for each hero ahead of battle so I can take my time to read and optimize the items and sequence o...