For the last two weeks it's basically been madness, I walked into the lab today and my co-worker remarked that I hadn't been in since before our ski trip which was February 9th, crazy huh? That made me realize that I'm doing what I always do, take on more and more projects and making excuses to myself about stuff so in March my goal is to stop taking on new things, reassessing where I am on my current ones, putting some on hold and making a ton of progress on the rest. I'm going to learn how to straighten my priorities and learn to say no, or at least a long yes...

Here are some of the things I've been working on in February:

Technology Journalism - I've joined onto TeenCastic and Teens In Tech in a few different roles to make them both better products.

Stanford Entrepreneur Week - I was welcomed to Stanford by Kevin Xu and invited to attend several events including Reverse VC Pitch Party with Larry Chiang. I also did VC3 pitches hosted by ASES and went to a great BASES mentorship dinner. It's a great school and hopefully I'll be going there or another similar school in the fall. I really learned a lot from the students there and know that whatever most of them do with their lives they will make a big impact. It was great meeting everyone and best of luck!

Other projects: I'm working on a few other projects that aren't ready for primetime yet, but keep your eyes peeled for them.

My plan for March.

Be great at all the stuff I have on my plate, meet a ton of new people and help out as many as I can. Build relationships and hang out with old friends. Have fun and get things done. I have a few major things that I need to get done and I'm going to do them.

This I Believe is an international project engaging people in writing and sharing essays describing the core values that guide their daily lives. Over 70,000 of these essays, written by people from all walks of life, are archived here on our website, heard on public radio, chronicled through our books and television programming, and featured in weekly podcasts. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

I took his challenge and though about my beliefs and wrote about one. I still live by it. I don't think I've changed. It's raw and unadulterated. Enjoy.

When I was in fourth grade I moved to London, I started at a new school and knew no one, I made new friends and started a new chapter of my life. In sixth grade, I started at Hoover Middle School; I stepped into the large auditorium knowing almost none of the 400 runny nose kids, who I would spend the next three years with. I grew to know and love every single one of them, each in their own way, their quirks and their weaknesses. Then again in 9th grade I started at a new school, new kids. This time I was more prepared, or so I thought, but what I realized was that no matter how prepared you think you are, you aren’t, you need to be able to think on your feet at any given moment in time, introduce yourself to new ideas and adapt. Everyone always tells you that your childhood is to prepare you to be an adult. I don’t agree with that, I think that being a child teaches you to adapt, in fact it teaches you how to learn. In life there are so many things that can’t be prepared for like a parent dying, or seeing your home destroyed or any of the millions of things that life can toss at you. These are things that you must learn to adapt to. I believe in adaptation, in going into an unknown environment and forcing you to adjust, to fit in, or stand out, but be involved, not be walked past. I believe that you can prepare all you want, but it is only as good as what you can think of in a split second. This is what I believe; this is what I live by.

I hope that convinces you to write your own too! And link to it so I can read.

Caio.

The other day I was on Skype chatting with a friend of mine, Dale, and we got to talking about what we wanted to do with our lives and I think the conversation went something like this:

Dale: What do you want to do before you die?

Me: Backpack around Europe for a month or Asia or both.

Dale: Start a National Library Foundation.

(we then went for another 2 hours resulting in a list 60 items long which can be seen here)

I decided that I wanted to write a bit more about my list of things and make it more my own, after all the list that we made was half Dale's.

So here's my list:

1. Backpack on each continent except Antarctica for a period of time
2. Learn to think in another language. Not only speak it, but think in it.
3. Write a love song. Pour my heart out into words and hopefully some music Like in that episode of This American Life in which Phil Collins helps Starlee Kine write a break-up song.
4. Fall in Love and be loved in return. What can I say? I'm basically a hopeless romantic. Even though more than half of Americans have been divorced I still believe in finding true love.
5. Learn to code - Build an app and deploy it.
6. Write and produce a play. I've been involved in a bunch of plays and helped write some, but have never really written and produced one of my own.
7. Reform education. Growing up in California public school system I've seen how messed up it can be. I believe that it can be fixed and part of that is giving each child an individualized education plan and really teaching them to learn from the world around them.
8. Being a mentor. Without all the amazing people in my life I would probably be homeless and begging for quarters. Everyone needs to have a mentor to guide them in life. I want to return that favor. I don't think I'm qualified to at this point and I'm not an expert in anything, but I'm someone who loves to just sit down for a cup of tea or chocolates (you should get this reference if you've see Good Will Hunting, and if you don't you should watch it.) and just talk about anything, if you ever need advice I'd love to help.
9. Learn to fly an airplane. I'm a sailor and I love the freedom of getting in a boat and having no boundaries. I'd love to experience that in the air.
10. Start a chocolate company that makes only dark chocolate. Yeah. I don't understand milk or white chocolate. White chocolate isn't even cocoa.
11. Free 4G for the world. Communication should be free.
12. Write a children's book. Change lives. The world needs idealists who never stop believing. If you don't dream, you'll never succeed.
13. Be a guest on Fresh Air and Talk of the Nation. I listen to these two programs almost religiously every day. Terry Gross is probably tied as best interviewer with Ira Glass and since I don't think I'd ever be on This American Life, I want to be on Fresh Air. I want to be on Talk of the Nation because everyone who gets on is an expert on a certain subject and I want to be the authority on something.
14. 2024 Leung Stephens. I should start fund raising now.
15. Skydive, Paraglide, Windsurf. I want to try everything once.
16. Go to culinary school. I've always loved cooking and I think it's something that I can be good at. It's an art and since I'm not a great writer or visual artist, I want to pour my soul into something that others can appreciate by eating. Plus I love eating and want to learn to made all those fabulous things no matter how unhealthy.
17. Start a news media outlet that ousts Fox News as the top news source in America. Why does this even need to happen? Fox news should not be considered news no matter what political lean and I don't consider Keith Olbermann news either.
18. Reform California budget. How can a state be a world leader when it also owes the most money?
19. Bail out the New York Times. The Times is part of America, it has played many a role in shaping our country and is something that if let die would be a great detriment to society. It continues to uphold journalistic excellence sending reporters all over the world to do real reporting, not sensationalism news.
20. Save a life. Not save someone from drowning, but finding someone in a dark place of depression or drug addiction and helping them get out of that hole. Sometimes people need a helping hand. I've definitely been overwhelmed at times in my life and felt that the world was collapsing on me, but I have always had amazing friends who have helped me. I want to do the same.
21. Win Nobel Prize. Most likely peace, but who knows. I'd like to be beyond recognition, but I think receiving a prize would be a great honor and help me continue changing the world.
22. Compete in the Olympics or America's Cup. I love sailing and I'd love to work hard enough at it that I was good enough to compete on the world stage.
23. See Aurora Borealis from Arctic Circle. That would just be amazing.
24. Sail around the world for a few years. Stop off at ports all over the world picking up friends and dropping them off along the way, just have an amazing time and expanding my world view. Visiting as many people as I can and changing the world. I want to sail along the coast of Chile, visit the Galapagos, New Zealand, Philippines, just everywhere that has a coast.
25. Live homeless for a month. Something to stay humble.
26. Build a school. This one goes hand in hand with number 7, it's the first step. I want to give kids an education of an expensive prep school regardless of their income, having independent learning plans for each student, shaping them into the leaders of tomorrow. Giving them all the resources that they need. You can't move an entire mountain, but you can move a stone and if you move enough stones you can really change the world.
27. Build a full-size tree house or network of rooms in trees. This is the child inside me talking, I want to live amongst the trees and live in the trees. I want to be able to see the stars at night without the light pollution of the city.
28. Photography published in National Geographic. Learn to take photos that change the world and share it with the world.
29. Visit the Himalayas. I don't need to climb Everest, but I'd love to visit. It's supposed to be really beautiful.
30. Eliminate age as a barrier. I don't believe that age is something that should hold you back. I believe youth have just as big a voice if not bigger than any other demographic. I'm working on a project to achieve this. I want people to stop looking down to youth. I don't believe age and maturity have anything to do with each other and there are plenty of 30 somethings or older people who don't act any more mature than a five year old.
31. Reform college admissions process. GPA really shouldn't be that big of a thing and people have no business applying to 18 schools like I am. Applying to college should be an enjoyable process for schools to really find people who would love going to their school not people who apply to them from a brochure.
32. Put College Board out of business. They claim to be a non-profit, but charge $70 for SATs, $110 per AP and all kinds of other fees to send scores, scholarship profiles, and everything else they can charge for. It has seriously got to end. They make more money than most for profit businesses.

Me and my teammate, Ellis Briery, sailing.

That's my list as of now. I'm sure it'll keep on adding to it till the day I die, but if you want to help or join me in any of these I'd love to work with you. Together we can change the world.

On Monday evening I received a phone call from someone I trust who told me that one of our interns had asked for compensation in exchange for a blog post. Specifically, this intern had allegedly asked for a Macbook Air in exchange for a post about a startup.

After an investigation we determined that the allegation was true. In fact, on at least one other occasion this intern was almost certainly given a computer in exchange for a post.

The intern in question has admitted to some of the allegations, and has denied others. We suspended this person while we were sorting through exactly what happened. When it became clear yesterday that there was no question that this person had requested, and in one case taken, compensation for a post, the intern was terminated.

First off, I am not posting the name of the person here because I do not think it's relevant to what I'm going to say. If you would like to find out, it should be pretty clear by the comments of the quoted article which can be found here. I do not know this person personally, but do know many people who are close to him/her. I'm going to break this post up into three parts: what I think about TechCrunch's actions, the behavior of the said person, and my personal opinion of the effect on teens involved in technology as a whole. I am not an ombudsman or claim to have any authority on this issue, but feel that what I have to say is relevant and would love to hear your input as well. Here I go; sorry for the long preface.

TechCrunch's actions - I believe that TechCrunch (TC) in this case has done what any credible news outlet would have done and was legally required of them. I do believe that TC has increasingly become an outlet of news that I question on it's journalistic objectivity. I have seen posts reviewing products that may or may not have been influenced by an outside source. This irks me: I have even gone as far as to poll my friends' thoughts. All in all, I do not believe in good conscience could they have kept this quiet nor could they have kept the employee.  It is important that they keep their journalistic integrity and I applaud them for that. They also omitted the person's name--which I believe was a legal issue, but was what I would have done regardless.

The actions in question - It was stupid. Really, really, stupid. And If I ever do that, please shoot me first. Yet, how many of you have honestly never done a really stupid thing in your youth? None, if you haven't you haven't lived, or more likely, are lying. I think the visual picture most of you are getting are of the said person demanding a bribe--that's what was--in return for a positive review. Magazines do it all the time with their advertisers, but journalists should be unencumbered and objective. Journalists should disclose all connections with companies they review and avoid reviewing them if they can not be completely unbiased. I know that is a pretty high standard and I expect bloggers to adhere to it too. Now is a good time to say that I own shares in Apple, Fannie Mae, and Cisco--I'll post that disclosure prominently on my blog later, and on every post regarding those three companies.

The truth of the matter is that he/she is 17 years old. As a friend said, "[said person] has so much power, yet so little power:" a writer at a respected blog with a wide audience yet being the lowest on the totem pole there. I'm not sure if he came up with the idea him/herself, but it was likely a situation of him/her testing their power. I might have even been half-jokingly and he/she will regret it for a long time. I don't think it was a huge financial incentive--I can say that on several good sources. This person does not need a Macbook Air and could afford to buy many of them if they wanted.

The effect on teens and credibility of teens as a whole - I believe that this is probably the most relevant part. As a teen, I can say that many adults don't take you seriously already and after incidents like this, why should they? I truly believe that people learn more from their mistakes and failures than their successes. The person in question has had much success in the past yet might not have reached any limits and kept going. I admire that, just not in this case. I am very much a believer in what many people have told me and which is quoted on one of my favorite t-shirts:

There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. — Bruce Lee (1940-1973)

The realist in me says that it's important to be prepared with the tools of success and those tools are gained through struggles and failures. I can only hope that this person has gained some "tools" from this experience. I hope that we can all learn from this experience and never repeat it. As my ex-theater teacher says:

"If you're going to make a mistake, be the first one to do it." - Phillip Rayher, Actor, Director, Teacher.

To all the adults out there, please don't let this one transgression affect your entire outlook on today's youth, and we won't let your continuing transgressions define you.

Thank you for reading this, and I will post an update as soon as there is a response to the article by the subject.

Justin

Update (1:40am February 5, 2010): I just read Daniel's response. I am glad that he came out with it. It shows his professionalism. It is still yet to be seen if we have learned as a whole from this experience, but I respect him for his achievements and hope that good things continue to come his way - in college and in life. As I am going through that process as well. It is very much a learning stage for him. As for the whole story, I'm not sure if we'll ever know - just like the CrunchPadJoojoo. I would love to hear everyone's opinion about this and how you think I covered the story.

Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that novelist Ernest Hemingway responded: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."

NPR Talk of The Nation

I was listening to NPR Talk of The Nation today and I came across a this story about six word memoirs. Here's the link to the NPR story. What can you say about you life with six words? Here are some famous ones from the book It All Changed In An Instant and the website to submit your own:

Alzheimer's: meeting new people every day.
Phil Skversky

Met wife at her bachelorette party.
Eddie Matz

Family portrait: everyone smiles but me.
Ian Baaske

Normal person becomes psychotic on Twitter.
Robin Slick

So would you believe me anyway?
James Frey

Mine is constantly changing, but here's one that I can think of now.

Rejected from college; attending life everyday

Share yours in the comments section below.

Some of my birthday cakes

Today I'm 19. I can hardly believe it. Over this year I've grown immensely as a person done things that I never thought about doing and started on some great new adventures, but I'd be nowhere without my friends new and old. So I'd like to take my time to thank each and every one of you for being in my life. Even when you tell me to stop posting my twitter on my Facebook because it fills up your feed (you know who you are!) And I've missed the dinner parties that we have or the random 3am walks or donut runs and drives. This year I've also made a lot of new and amazing friends who have been there for me, taught me about being an adult about entrepreneurship, and sharing in my struggles. The ones that I randomly run into at concerts and those of you that call me to tell me that you're coming home. The ones that let me crash on their couches when visiting and introducing me to all their friends. Those of you that work thanklessly to make our team better. You have always been supportive and accepting of my faults, guided me to the right path. I don't believe in God, but from what I've seen in my life so far you are all looking out for me. I am forever indebted to all of you and if there is ever anything that I can do. I'd be glad to.

Thank you! I know I don't say that enough and hope to do that more often.

In case we haven't been keeping in touch I'll just do a recap of what I've been up to for the last year or so.

In January of 2009 I graduated a semester early from School of the Arts in San Francisco, during that same time while working at UCSF, I became involved with Dr. Laura Koth and began to do scientific research with her in her lab. I started on my own project looking into the cellular mediators of alveolar macrophage fusion, I learned about scientific technique, designed an experiment, and I'm no in the process of publishing my results. I applied for a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through the NIH and received it to continue my research for two summers. In May I hope to be presenting my research at the American Thoracic Society Meeting in New Orleans.

Here are some of the great people who I've had the opportunity to work with over the past year.

Outside of work, I've gotten involved with a few projects in tech. I have joined the Teens in Tech blogging network and hope to help other teens get involved with the startup and tech community. This Saturday I will be going to their yearly Teens in Tech Conference; my teens in tech blog is here Through one of my new best friends, Adam, I have started blogging more and shaped my social persona. I have worked on a few small projects as a tester and collaborator brainstorming ideas and giving suggestions on improvements. I've joined the team of Eutopia Airlines as COO and will be writing more about this later.

Aside from my intellectual pursuits, I've continued to stay fit. I sailed competitively as part of the Golden Gate Yacht Club High Youth Sailing Team and also participated in Friday night races at South Beach Yacht Club on my friend, Chris' boat.

My friday night sailing buddies

Along with Adam, I have embarked on a six month journey of raising $4k each towards the training of youth outreach workers and teachers to give inner city kids the opportunity to experience the great outdoors. Once we raise the money, we will climbing Mt. Shasta. You can donate and read about our journey here.

Adam and I on our first training hike. Photo courtesey of Adam Jackson http://adam-jackson.net

On the subject of College, I'm not quite there yet. I chose to take a year off and just went through the process of of re-applying to about eighteen of them. I've looked at all of them very closely and will be happy at any one of them. I hope to start a podcast on this topic to help others through that very stressful process. I hope to of help to anyone who needs help with this and welcome any questions.

Finally here are some things that are important to me in the coming year:

1. Studying - believe it or not, I actually want to be studying and doing homework. This past year not being in school has really shown me what I still have yet to live and learn and a big part of that might actually be in the classroom. I've gotten really good at learning from the world as my classroom, but I think I need to get back in the classroom and learn to write again, to do math, to over analyze history, and learn about economic and political models.
2. Writing - One of the major reasons I started this blog and some others. I feel like the quality of my written work has been going down since my sophomore year, the last time that I took an intense writing course.
3. Friends - I want to keep in touch with more friends, this is always one of my goals - I feel like I'm nothing with the amazing people that help me be the best I can be. I know a lot of you have gone off to school and are doing your own thing, but I hope you find time to stay in touch and I will do the same. I'm sure I will meet a lot more of you this year and I'm looking forward to that as well.
4. Health - This is something that can be overlooked easily. I hope to cook more, eat out less, and stay fit and healthy.

That's about it folks. I could probably go on, but I thought that it was important to let everyone know how much I care about you. I could not have made it this far if not for you all. It doesn't just take a "village to raise a child" it takes the entire world and you guys are my world.

Thank you all for being here and reading I hope to see more of everyone this year,

Justin Chi Hung Leung

"... through lowered educational standards, declining intellectual competence, diminished zest for substantive debate, and social sanctions against skepticism, our liberties can be slowly eroded and our rights subverted."

"Trends working at least marginally towards the implantation of a very narrow range of attitudes, memories, and opinions include control of major television networks and newspapers by a small number of similarly motivated powerful corporations and individuals, the disappearance of competitive daily newspapers in many cities, the replacement of substantive debate by sleaze in political campaigns, and episodic erosion of the principle of the separation of powers... It's hard to tell how it's going to turn out"

"I have a forboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness."

-Carl Sagan, "The Demon Haunted World", copyright 1995

A friend, Marshall, posted this on Facebook and I thought I'd share. This is becoming increasingly true especially in America, being one of the most advanced countries, while also being one of the most religious and illogical. We are increasingly becoming a nation which believes more in popularity than fact, more in what feels good than what is good. Being a scientist and idealist, this really stood out to me. What do you guys think?