Decision—thinking is not unlike poker—it often matters not only what you think, but also what others think you think what you think they think you think. The mental process(过程) is similar. Naturally, this card game has often been of considerable interest to people who are, by any standards, good thinkers.

    The great mathematician John von Neumann was one of the founders of game theory. In particular, he showed that all games fall into two classes; there are what he called games of 'perfect information', games like chess where the players can't hide anything or play tricks; they don't win by chance, but by means of logic and skills. Then there are games of 'imperfect information', like poker, in which it is impossible to know in advance that one course of action is better than another.

    One mistaken idea about business is that it can be treated as a game of perfect information. Quite the reverse Business, life itself are games which we must normally play with very imperfect information. Business decisions are often made with many unknown and unknowable factors(因素), best poker players. But few business people find it comfortable to admit that they are taking a chance, and many still prefer to believe that they are playing chess, not poker.

    One May morning, 10-year-old Khadab played in the ruins of a school near his home in northern Iraq. He saw something that looked interesting. It was yellow and plastic and looked like a ball. He reached for his new toy and, BANG!

    The last thing he remembered was a big noise. When Khadab awoke, he was in hospital. His parents stood sadly by his side. They told him he had picked up an unexploded bomb. When it exploded, Khadab lost an arm.

    He was just one of hundreds of Iraqi children who have been injured or killed by stepping on and picking up explosives left over from the war.

    These landmines (地雷) and bombs have injured and killed at least 15 people a day since Saddam Hussein's government fell on April 9. And children are the most affected.

    Iraq is among the worst landmine-affected countries in the world. Many villages in the war-torn areas are surrounded by minefields (雷区). These landmines lie on the ground between rocks, up in trees and on riverbeds.

    Even though the war in Iraq is over, many children have not returned to school. They can be seen walking the streets with the natural curiosity of young kids. Their new playgrounds are places where the fighting took place. Many boys can be seen playing with unexploded bombs. A new game is to throw the bombs and run away. Some of them get away, but too many are killed. They do this for fun, and don't realize the dangers until it's too late.

    UNICEF (联合国教科文组织) has warned children, through the TV, of the dangers of landmines and unexploded bombs in Iraq. They hope to make children aware of the dangers they face.

    “I can't imagine there's going to be a classroom in the north without scared children in it. It's so widespread,” said Sean Sutton of the British-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG).

    MAG is an organization working to clear unexploded bombs and landmines in war-torn areas.

    It is difficult to report the exact number of deaths. Sutton said MAG found 320 injuries in northern Iraq in the first month after April 9. But he said the real figure was probably much higher.

    Airbags, now found in almost every vehicle, have saved countless lives and largely reduced the severity of injuries in crashes. Similar technology could greatly reduce broken hips (髋部) resulting from a fall, something most seniors fear.

    Dr. Robert Buckman and his start-up company, Active Protective in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has developed a promising solution, a wearable airbag that can protect hip bones in the event of a fall. The idea was the result of Dr. Buckman's years as a doctor at Temple University. He noticed how many elderly people were being brought into hospitals with broken hip due to falls, and how they often never completely recovered from the injuries. He started to ask what he could do for these people, and that was when he started trying to figure out whether there was a way of helping people who were at the highest risk of falling and suffering these kinds of injuries.

    The device is worn much like a regular belt, but on the outside of the clothing, and it includes sensors that monitor the movement of hips. If the device detects that the person, is falling, an airbag opens before the person hits the ground, cushioning the fall. When the wearer hits the ground, the bag reduces the force to the hip bones by 90 percent, enough to avoid the majority of hip injuries.

    With one out of every three people aged 65 and older suffering serious falls each year, Active Protective has a big market for its wearable device. It also has the potential to sizably reduce hip - related health care expenses: Hip injuries among the elderly cost the US health care system in 2012 $30 billion, which doesn't include the long-term care expenses associated with the high percentage of patients that can no longer live independently.

    To be honest, I do not know Sybrina Fulton. Nor can I claim to understand the depth of her pain. Yet, we share a deep connection. A common feature experienced by those women who face the challenge of raising a Black male child in a nation that far too often views Black male bodies through fear. You see, Ms. Fulton is living my nightmare (噩梦). A constant worry that has stayed in the back of my mind since the birth of my eldest son, some sixteen years ago.

    Through the years, I have witnessed the world's reaction to my son evolve as he has grown from a small boy to a young man. In his early years, his easy smile and lovable character were nothing less than magnetic (有磁性的). Complete strangers would approach him in the street, draw him into conversation, and find themselves easily struck by his lively spirit. Even at that time I worried, how would my son react when in the years to come some of those who found themselves so impressed by this cute, intelligent boy, might grasp their purse tighter as he walked by.

    Over the years I have sought to protect his spirit from the hurt that comes from undeserved hatred. I have also sought to arm him with the knowledge that could one day save his life. He knows, for example, that if he is ever pulled over by the police, that he is to keep both hands on the wheel at all times and only reach for his license when the officer is specifically observing his actions. He knows, even in less threatening situations, that rough play and loud interactions with his buddies of any color will be viewed very differently when he does it, than when his white friends display the very same behavior. Still, the truth of the matter is, no amount of advice or voiceless behavior overcomes the physical, immovable fact of the color of his skin. His intelligence, easy smile, and lovable character won't protect him from unfounded assumptions of criminality.

    What makes the Trayvon Martin travesty (歪曲) of justice so painful to me, personally, is the knowledge that Trayvon's mother loved her baby no less than I love mine. The various pictures of moments throughout a happy childhood that have now found a home on nationwide newscasts provides clear evidence of that. Yet no amount of love and care, and no words of advice could have saved her son from the cruel killing he faced at the hands of a self-appointed neighborhood watch-dog. And perhaps even worse, nothing could have prepared her for the inhuman way her son has been treated by officials even in death. To think for three long days, his parents searched for him while officials failed to inform them of his fate and instead, performed drug and alcohol tests on his lifeless body, while failing to do the same for his attacker—the only one of the two who indeed had a criminal past is frankly, unforgivable. To know that the words of her son's killer were given more weight than eye-witnesses and taped evidence of her child's screams and eventual death must be heartbreaking. But to also have to live with the fact that his attacker still breathes free while her son lays buried underground is certainly more than any sorrowful parent should have to endure (忍受).

    It is this type of pain that is not unfamiliar to the Black experience in America, for this is the Black mothers' burden. A burden we have endured for centuries. Yet, there is still the rightful expectation, that in modern-day America, the wheels of justice would not be stopped.

    So today, it is my hope that Trayvon's mother, father, family and friends can take some comfort in the fact that millions of Americans of every color stand with them in their fight for justice. This is a burden no family should have to endure alone.

    We will not give up. We will not forget. We will continue the fight until justice is done.

    In university I had a part-time job at a shop that sold doughnuts and coffee. Situated on a block where several buses stopped, it served the people who had a few minutes to wait for their bus.

    Every afternoon around four o'clock, a group of schoolchildren would burst into the shop, and business would come to a stop. Adults would glance in, see the crowd and pass on. But I didn't mind if the children waited for their bus inside. Sometimes I would hand out a bus fare when a ticket went missing — always repaid the next day. On snowy days I would give away some doughnuts. I would lock the door at closing time, and we waited in the warm shop until their bus finally arrived.

    I enjoyed my young friends, but it never occurred to me that I played an important role in their lives — until one afternoon when a man came and asked if I was the girl working on weekdays around four o'clock. He identified himself as the father of two of my favorites.

    "I want you to know I appreciate what you do for my children. I worry about them taking two buses to get home. It means a lot that they can wait here and you keep an eye on them. When they are with the doughnut lady, I know they are safe." I told him it wasn't a big deal, and that I enjoyed the kids.

    So I was the Doughnut Lady. I not only received a title, but became a landmark.

    Now I think about all the people who keep an eye on my own children. They become, well, Doughnut Ladies. Like the men at the skating rink (滑冰场) who let my boys ring home; Or the bus driver who drove my daughter to her stop at the end of the route at night but wouldn't leave until I arrived to pick her up; Or that nice police officer who took pity on my boys walking home in the rain when I was at work — even though the phone rang all the next day with calls from curious neighbors. "Was that a police car I saw at your house last night?"

    That wasn't a police car. That was a Doughnut Lady.

Yesterday, I went to the bookstore to pick up a present for my mother's upcoming birthday. I found one of the books I wanted, but not the other one my mother had discussed with me the other day. When I went to pay. I asked the clerk behind the counter if I could order the second book.

A lady was standing in line behind me at the checkout. The clerk said she could order the book. but asked if I would mind letting the lady behind me pay for her purchases first. The lady behind me said no and that it was fine to wait.

It took nearly 15 minutes to put my order through! The lady behind me chatted agreeably with us for the entire time. When it finally came time for me to pay, I placed two $10 off cards on the counter. The clerk informed me the offer was only valid(有效) for the book I was purchasing in-store and wouldn't work for the book I'd ordered. This meant that I'd have one $ 10 card left.

"You can come back and purchase another book." the clerk smiled. "The offer is valid until the end of the week."

I thought about this for a millisecond and then turned around to face the lady behind me who'd been so patient, kind, and charming through the very long wait at the checkout. "Here." I gave her the $10 off card. She was very surprised and said. "Really?"

The gift didn't cost me anything. I knew I wouldn't be back before the end of the week and it rewarded someone whose attitude left a smile in my heart. Most definitely a win-win moment.