Of course I have heard of Bruce Lee, but I didn’t exactly know about his life. I am so glad I picked up Polly’s book, which is an impressive, definitive, 500-page biography of Bruce Lee. With deep research and thorough interviews, Polly sheds a light on Lee’s short, accomplished life and the cause of his death. As a kung fu practitioner himself, Polly explains Lee’s contemporary techniques, which combined kung fu with street fighting, with engaging details. If you want to learn the comprehensive story of Lee’s life, this book is the one to read.

Nicholas Bakalar writes in The New York Times:

Breast-feeding for longer than six months may lead to a smaller waist size for the mother, researchers report, and the effect persists for as long as a decade.

Now I understand how my wife has managed to keep her sexy waist without exercise.

Hôm qua là ngày làm cuối cùng của năm 2018. Tưởng đâu công việc bị dở dang nhưng rồi cũng hoàn tất đẹp đẽ. Hai tuần tới tôi tự hứa là không check email trường.

Những ngày lễ cuối năm không gì quý báu hơn là dành thời gian cho gia đình, người thân, và một mớ sách đang chờ tôi đọc. Tôi không mong muốn gì ngoài những giây phút được thư giãn nhẹ nhàng. Chỉ có thế khi những ngày lễ trôi qua tôi không bị hoang mang. Tôi không còn expectations như ngày xưa nữa. Hy vọng càng nhiều thất vọng càng cao.

Tôi muốn dành chút thời gian để viết blog. Dạo này ít viết gì vì bận rộn trong công việc và tốt đẹp trong gia đình. Tôi và bà xã không có chiến tranh nên ngôi nhà được hòa bình và êm ấm. Đám con thì cũng tạm ổn. Vương càng lớn càng dễ thương càng đen. Ba tháng tuổi nó thích được trò chuyện và được bế. Anh Đán thương em lắm nên anh bế em nhiều nhất.

If you’re reading this in an RSS reader, visit the homepage, which featured a holiday message and snow. The falling snow is courtesy of CSSnowflakes. I love this simple, fun animation to add some spirit for the holidays.

After 15 years, Ellen returns to the stage for a Netflix stand-up special. She is calm, confidence, and satirically relatable. From poor to celebrity, Christian Scientist to coming out, drugs to words, she covers everyday life with her own perspective. As a good storyteller and dancer, Ellen makes her special light and entertaining.

Gabriel J.X. Dance, Michael LaForgia and Nicholas Confessore writes in the New York Times:

Facebook has never sold its user data, fearful of user backlash and wary of handing would-be competitors a way to duplicate its most prized asset. Instead, internal documents show, it did the next best thing: granting other companies access to parts of the social network in ways that advanced its own interests.

Facebook is still a convenient place to connect with family members and close friends; therefore, it is so hard to pull the plug. I am, however, deeply concern with all of these privacy issues, especially my kids’ photos. I am seriously considering leaving Facebook by the end of this year. Leaving Facebook is difficult but doable. Google, on the other hand, is much harder. From Gmail to photos to Pixel, Google has me locked in. I guess, I can’t keep anything private as long as I am on the web.

Photographer Hoài Nam released not one but two stunning calendars this year. His work is consistently beautiful. You should definitely get them to support orphanages in Việt Nam.

He also launched a new, responsive website. Disappointedly, the new design is templated by Squarespace, but it makes sense. Áo Trắng is a charitable project with limited resource.

I wish him all the best and thank him for all the work he has done to give back to his homeland.

Dad: Congratulations! Today is your…
Xuân: day.
Dad: You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and…
Xuân: away!
Dad: You have brains in your…
Xuân: shoes.

I’ve always learned something new every time I read with my kids.

Mai Lynn Miller Nguyễn writes in Elle:

If the Trump administration succeeds, thousands of people could become eligible for deportation to Vietnam, a country where they may not have lived for decades. Trump’s move puts at risk those who either never got permanent legal status or citizenship or those who were convicted of a criminal offense. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security has said that removing “criminal aliens” from Vietnam to their “home country” is a priority.

The problem is that the home country of these people is now the United States. After enduring the incredible trauma of war and flight, they built new lives and created new families, both biological and metaphorical. They may still long for the homeland they lost in 1975, but the Vietnam of today is not their country. They are American, in spirit, even if not on paper. They were promised residency in this country, an acknowledgment of the U.S. role in the brutal conflict that pushed so many Vietnamese to seek safety on other shores. And, once again, many will live in fear of being forced from their home.

When I read Vietnamese-American media, they all showed their support of him. They argued that voting for him will save Vietnam from the communist. This is absurd beyond fake news, yet most Vietnamese American believed the media. They supported him. In return, he deports our fellow Vietnamese Americans. Let that sink in for a minute. I hope they learn their lesson.

Daniel A. Gross writes in The New Yorker:

Sear Un, a forty-one-year-old father who has lived in California since he was seven, was arrested by immigration authorities in September. Twenty years ago, he was convicted of felony residential burglary.

Sad!