The Position of "Theories"

Are theories really useless? If it is true, why so many respectable masters devoted their life to developing a theory?

In my opinion, I don't think the challenge is significant. It's not the problem of "A is superior or inferior to B" but a choice of belief or favor. As for me, I choose close to theories now.

How do you think about the question (the first sentence of this article) ?

LIS (Library and Information Science) is going through a chaos status. Many people confuse what the discipline is. Really hard to answer. There's almost a dichotomy appearing in this domain (not surprise, it seems a regular phenomenon in every discipline on the planet). Some people are trying to define some important concepts of LIS (of course, it's also a long way to clarify what are "important concepts"), while the others are interested in empirical researches. Instinctively thinking, the 2 should become one and make LIS the whole, but now they seem to fight against each other...Unfortunately!

"The theoretical group" obviously is beaten. Why so? Maybe the world has looked down "theories" (think they are "full-blown"), especially for "theories" don't always quickly bring some concrete outcomes to human society (they can't solve problems immediately). "Theories" tend to be failed by the world.

"Theories" are about thinking, "theories" are thinking tools; they are different from "reality" in essence. That's why I don't think the question at the beginning needs to be answered. Whether empirical or theoretical researches, they all count, and should deeply depend on each other.

Just like a person can't live without soul, just like it's impossible to tell me your body can move without receiving signals from brain. Do you know what I emphasize on? Thinking is really important to human beings, so are theories to empirical studies! However, a weird situation exists. Most people think if things can be predictable, they won't waste much energy in decision-making. In this case, why so many people refuse the importance of theories? As I said above, theories are not really "the truth", moreover, they sometimes can be some kinds of "ideotype". (yeah, that might be the weakness of "theories" once they have to defend for themselves) Therefore, they can show us "a possible future", like a guide to a better destination.

Look at other "strong/ mainstream" disciplines like Management, it has many many theories, although it's practical-oriented in our impression. For example, Motivation Theory, the famous 6 sigma theory, TQM, and etc., if they are bull shit, why so many companies still adopt them in management? They (those companies) absolutely can't assert the success just come out of practical deeds! Don't be silly.

LIS lacks this sort of perception. In a practical professional, people often long for "fast-food" outcomes. It’s sad to see this. But it's not really a disaster, comparing to other "aged" disciplines, LIS is just an infant, it has a long way to define the key concepts and to construct the relationships among those concepts. I'd rather take a optimistic view to embrace this discipline.

And now, we (LIS guys) don't have to bicker with others, it doesn't make sense. Looking for the insights in an open-minded attitude matters. Don't forget it takes time. Being quiet is powerful somehow. Haven't you ever heard of the words "softly killing you" :P

High Heels

"ko ko ko ko ko...."
It's really a kind of bothering sound to me....

The sound of high heels equals to "the teacher is coming" or "mom is coming". Gosh! I was successfully conditioned by this kind of sound >"< But more girls and women put their feet in high heels, I think I have to take the sound for granted when hearing it in everyday life...

I read a news recently. It's about high heels, pretty funny. Maybe it's a therapy for my pain with high heels, haha..

It's a "race" held in St.Petersburg(Russia) July 21, 2007. The report wrote, "Some 100 women took part in the race wearing high-heeled shoes with a required minimum height of 9 centimetres (3.5 inches) to compete for a shopping voucher worth 50,000 roubles (about 2,000 U.S. dollars)." Oh! those participants are SUPERWOMEN! I can't even stand well with high heels, they can run and compete with each other on the contrary@@

You shouldn't miss the spectacular scene, I recommend strongly!!

Look! what a firm belief to win on her face!(the front guy)

What a awful accident >"< I'm so worried about the fallen guy...hope she wasn't stepped on..BTW, the nearest legs of the camera are really beautiful, with lenthy muscle...ENVY THE GUY SO MUCH!!!

What can I say? The world is interesting, and full of "kuso" XD

I will melt under Ricky Martin's charisma!!

這真的是身為一個好扭女子的心聲哪!!!(先說好，我很少這樣.....)

從好久以前就迷戀他了啊！而且都覺得我心中理想型的男生要像他這樣，能隨音樂熱情的扭扭扭，不過...他好像也承認自己是gay了...，後，都這樣=.=

anyway，我今天要share "La bomba"這首歌，這首歌的歌齡也老大不小了，可是我真的好愛這旋律！幾年前聽著它做了個青春洋溢的桌布，現在則作為我的手機鈴聲，讓我這個很害怕聽到手機鈴聲響的人，竟多少達到減緩恐懼症的作用:P 原來夢中情人plus音樂就是我的the best medicine XD That's why I show you the video instead of the music bar as i used to:P

我一直覺得"La bomba"的音樂性很強，不知道是中南美or西班牙既有的傳統舞曲還是新曲?總之我最早知道這首歌是出現在Ricky 1998年《Vuelve》的專輯中，後來2006年《MTV Unplugged》版本中他又重新詮釋了這首歌。前者節奏很鮮明，很年輕有活力；後者以big band形式演出，tempo沒有那個快，倒有一種中年男子耍性感的感覺。兩個不一樣的Ricky Martin，兩個不一樣的音樂性，我喜歡早期的編曲，至於男人嘛，兩個都喜歡!!!

先上的菜是早期的 La Bomba，我較愛者。中間分別有鋼琴和小喇叭的solo，鋼琴的部分實在很酷！然後另一個重點就是...OMG!MV也太養眼了吧@@

source: from Youtube

再來就是近年那個現場不插電的版本，在這裡的Ricky Martin"成熟了"(不是"老"!!)，現場魅力更出色。看著這影片，當我回神有意識時，竟從手機鏡面看到嘴角上揚喜滋滋的狀態XD 哎喲也真是的....

source: from Youtube

拼一個好吃來

(點一下框內的loading the puzzle!)

昨天的圖還有小尼的提議給了靈感，想說，那就找找看吧，有沒有這種語法。網路輔助工具真的無其不有，真的讓我找到了!拼拼看吧。哈。

這是BurgerKing的Cheeseburger。其實我很少很少上速食店，這個難忘的滋味也是在美國嚐到的，台灣好像還沒吃到那種感覺。美國BurgerKing的Cheeseburger很特別，它的牛肉是用炭烤的，吃起來很香，很開心。

記得那是一個很冷的天，我們在華爾街一邊走一邊顫抖，然後衝到BurgerKing取暖，就這樣有了一個unforgettable的滋味相遇。

如果你還拼不出來，看一下它就是長這樣囉，不過也就長了個漢堡樣而已啦:P


source: BurgerKing's website

念舊

This is a gift. Do you know you are exactly the gift giver?

You may forget it, i guess.Show you in the normal way.

And now?

不知道我為什麼會變成一個很念舊的人，還是舊的東西原本對我就有吸引力? 從小，只要泛黃的照片就特別吸引我的注意，會有一股讓我想要探索照片當時狀況的勁，也許是如此所以我還蠻愛歷史這東西的。然後我也愛吃傳統糕點，有時候甚至連食物名字叫啥都不曉得，我只知道走在傳統市集或糕餅店或龍山寺的街道上，會很想買下那些古早味。

有道是，舊的不去，新的不來。有時候就是無法理解這句話，舊的怎麼會去?我一直覺得舊的東西去不了，不然，為什麼我們要讀歷史?還要讀本國歷史，以及世界史。舊的一點一滴，成為現在的我們的樣子。

我很想這輩子一直都用微笑來面對所有已經過去的事情，就像我看到這個小盒子，雖然已經無法精確回想，當初什麼情況下岑帆用這個小盒子裝了什麼東西給我，但是我會閃過當然對這個人的記憶，還有高中的生活。

當一段一段的歷史串聯起來，有時候就會更了解自己的生命線是怎樣的走動著，心情好的時候，這條生命線會被我解讀得很幸福；心情不好的時候，總會看見傷心的部分。所以當我感到很難過時，會分不清楚是為當下難過、還是為整個生命路感到疲倦?

當我漸漸覺得看得懂太宰治或吳爾芙這類作家的作品，是不是意味著我的心靈本質開始和他們像了起來呢?老實說，我並不是很想。那種逐漸發現人生曲線的成立，有時候是很恐怖的一件事，我似乎不應該想太多。

波若波羅密多心經上有一句話，「無罣礙故，無有恐怖」，我想，讓我意識到恐怖也是不錯的，至少能讓我去想想這些罣礙的源頭何自。這一兩年，人生開始走入學習「放下」的階段，自己感覺這樣好像還不錯，雖然還沒學到很完全。

寫到這邊就發現自己又再離題了XD