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Great Teacher and Great Message!
Review Date: July 20, 2010
Course rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
"This is a good course from TTC. Here are my positives and one area for the course to improve on:
Positives:
+ Prof Judith Grabiner is very clear and passionate - on par with other top professors from TTC. She can make tough topics v easy to understand - mark of a great teacher!
+ She gave good real-life examples for her arguments/ideas (e.g., Ford Pinto case (in lecture 3) and correlation examples (lecture 4))
+ I love her summaries at the end of some lectures (she provided key questions/checklists as well as summary bullet points)
+ I love it when answers to some numerical / technical questions are provided at the end of some lectures (other TTC courses should aim to do this as well)
+ I love it how she explained key mathematics from first principles (e.g., permutation and combination) - i.e., providing the WHY rather than just giving the HOW (or giving the formulae)
+ Good use of diagrams, slides and examples
+ I particularly love her simple and clear description of non-Euclidian geometry (including Einstein's application of it in General Theory of Relativity) and its impact on philosophy, culture and art
+ I also particularly liked her message that the application of mathematics should be balanced between certainty/precision and probabilistic/statistical(individual-by-individual) thinking. Particularly, I like her message that, at the end of the day, humans are "humans" (i.e., need to consider the moral, emotional and ethical implications of life and mathematics - can't be completely rational)
Area to improve on:
- I feel that some of the lectures are too slow / too easy. I recommend packing more insights per lecture (e.g., some of the Euclidian lectures could perhaps be combined into one or two lectures; Plato's Republic and Meno messages that are relevant to the course could have been combined into one or two lectures, etc.)
Overall, it's a good course presented by a great teacher."
Enjoyed this course!
Review Date: July 18, 2010
Overall Review: 5 stars (out of 5)
"This is another great course from the TTC. I really learnt a lot from it.
Here are the positives, negatives and summary of key insights/enjoyed that I particularly enjoyed.
Positives:
+ Prof William Cook is enthusiastic and passionate - he certainly loves the subject
+ He is a great story teller; very engaging
+ He presents varieties of Christian characters from various eras, Christian denominations and geographies
+ He provides a balanced view of the Christian characters (i.e., including their more 'negative' aspects)
+ He provides the backdrop of the history of Christianity to create context for the lives of the Christians discussed
+ Great summary at the end (final chapter) summarising what the great Christians have in common
Negatives: Can't find any; perhaps could cover more great Christians (e.g., St Padre Pio in the 20th century) but this would make the course too long perhaps. 24 lectures I think is just the right length for this course
Some key insights/ideas which I enjoyed:
1. The Christian maxim (expressed by 17th-century Lutheran Johann Arndt): "At the Judgment, God will not ask people what they know but, rather, how they have loved"
2. St Antony of Egypt argued that anyone who knows himself / herself knows God (i.e., he emphasised the importance of the 'inward journey')
3. St Antony of Egypt recommends the acceptance of criticism as well as praise with equality
4. Monk Evagrius of Pontus wrote a work on prayer:
- Any desire for vengeance blocks people when they try to pray
- The state of prayer is one of imperturbable calm
5. Amma Syncletica said that it is possible to be a solitary while living in a crowd and that a solitary might, in fact, live in the crowd of his own thoughts
6. St Augustine: Despite the fact and the sins we commit throughout our lives, we are nevertheless made to praise God, and we cannot find peace until we do so
7. St Benedict: "Idleness is the enemy of the soul"
8. Bernard of Clairvaux described God as a lover in his meditative reading on the Song of Songs
9. Clare of Assisi: Christ is the mirror into which we must gaze
10. Catherine of Siena wrote, "We always become one with the object of our love"
11. Bernardino of Siena defined how one can both be a successful merchant and a good Christian. He believed that the only Christian justification for being wealthy was that the rich had the means to be generous to the poor
12. St Thomas More made the case for a life of "rolling up one's sleeves" and try to make the world a little better (in an imperfect world)
13. John Wesley urged Christians to aim for a life of "Christian perfection" (as per Matthew 5:48)
14. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died in a Nazi concentration camp, in the middle of suffering, learnt the necessity to live a life of trust (faith) on God
15. Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to die in place of a stranger in Auschwitz in 1944
16. Mother Teresa: "The only way to conquer the world is through love", and that holiness begins with people divesting themselves of their own wills and surrendering to God
17. The final chapter summarised the commonality of the diverse Christians outlined in this course: All were rooted in scripture (Old and New Testaments), all were fully committed, all balanced prayer (contemplative) and active (serving) life, all practiced humility (in the sense of recognising one's place in the universe, which is, far from the center of it), and all were great lovers (of God and of people)."
Could be presented in a much, much better way
Review Date: July 4, 2010
Overall Review: 2 stars (out of 5)
"Compared to other TTC course that I have finished, this one took me the longest by far. It was difficult for this course to hold my attention from one lecture to the next. Here are some positives (including good insights) and negatives of this course:
Positives:
+ There are some good insights / examples offered - I will summarize some of them at the end of this review.
Negatives (most or all refer to presentation rather than content):
- Prof's Stevens' presentation is often too slow in certain easy parts (e.g., explaining the hawk and dove game in the first 8-10 mins in Lecture 18 is way too long) and too fast for difficult 'please explain' parts (e.g., in the beginning of Lecture 9, he came up with the mixed strategies of 3x3 matrix (Stephen and Maude) too fast (in less than 30 seconds) - I asked myself: How did you come up with that?)
- Within each 30-min lecture, the presentation often lacks structure. Sometime it's difficult to follow where Prof Stevens is at in his arguments, and where he's going next
- At frequent points in the lectures, Prof Stevens relied too much on his jokes / styles to engage - often he just needs to 'get to the point' much faster!
- I recommend Prof Stevens to put the tables together with the video of his lecturing (side by side). This is done sometime - but not often enough. Often it's difficult to follow him otherwise
- I recommend Prof Stevens move from using 'you and I' to Parties 'A and B' (for example) - using 'you and I' is confusing (because 'you and I' parties change a lot as I think about it to myself (vs him saying it))
- Need answers to the questions provided at the back of the guidebook. I think (particularly for the more technical courses like this one) it defeats the purpose of having these questions if the answers are not provided
- Soccer penalty kicker & goalkeeper example in Lecture 8 - Prof Stevens saying that the statistics are replicated closely in real life is really 'circular' in thinking. The probabilities are obtained from the real-life data, so saying that the real life data agrees with the probabilities obtained is obviously circular.
Some of the useful insights and examples from this course include (not in any order):
1. Signalling (quality firm offering 'introductory offer')
2. Signalling (Coke doing a WOW ad - to signal they are strong financially; companies having lavish offices)
3. Threats (blanket threats can work if we individually identify / number threatees)
4. Incentive (Buffett example - if proposal fails, pay money to the minority group - i.e., make the proposal less likely to fail)
5. Sections on Oligopoly and Monopoly - interesting; e.g., it pays to pay a potential competitor to stay of a market
6. (Success of) Robert Campeau's two-tiered bid (vs Macy's) for Federated Stores (eg of prisoners' dilemma for shareholders)
7. Gov't ban on cigarette advertising - boon for cigarette companies (solving their prisoner's dilemma!)
8. How to make strategic moves credible (e.g., Peoplesoft use 'Doomsday Device' in response to hostile takeover; using 'agents' in negotiations)
9. Anonymous players (increasing social distance) reduce cooperation
10. Axelrod's winning Tit for tat strategy suggests: be Nice, Provokable, Forgiving & Straightforward
11. Bounded rationality in people (people only think 2 - 3 steps ahead; not more)
12. Evolutionary game theory (lecture 18) - the best phenotypes' Evolutionary Stable Strategies (ESS) or 'fitness' occur (even without the necessity of 'rationality')
13. Auctions: If people are risk averse, 'Dutch' beat 'English' auctions, and 1st price sealed bids beat Vickrey (2nd price) sealed bids.
14. Auctions in the internet: 'Dutch' beat 'English' auctions (people don't want to waste time (say in e-bay)), and vice versa in real (physical) auctions ('English' beat 'Dutch')
15. Auctions: Watch out for 'collusions' of buyers
16. Splitting the pie: Use Shapley value or Nash cooperative bargaining solution (basically you get the value you can get yourself (without the other party(ies)), and everything else gets shared equitably)
17. Coopetition - good examples (e.g., Nintendo in the 1980s (lots of bargaining power!))
18. Business - changing rules in contracts can be useful (e.g., most favoured customer, meet the competition, everyday low prices, and take-or-pay clauses)."
This review is also available here: http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1260
One of the very best in TTC!
"In short, this is one of the very best courses in the TTC.
I have written a few commendations and recommendations below.
Commendations:
1. Prof Richard Wolfson is excellent: Clear and enthusiastic.
2. The course is well structured (into six modules).
3. Plenty of insights per lecture.
4. Plenty of practical examples and demonstrations (which makes the concepts very easy to understand).
5. Shows the 'big picture' synthesis of physics topics. Although I learnt physics in high school and university, some of them were 'too detailed', and I find Prof Wolfson's lectures to be clearer with the overall 'big picture' (e.g., centrifugal motion (lecture 9); rotational motion (lecture 32)).
6. Some of the specific lectures, modules and topics that I really love are:
- The semiconductor-to-computer module (fantastic! I never knew I can learn all of this in less than 6 lectures (in the module));
- The logic gates AND, XOR, NOR, NAND explanations etc make perfect sense in less than one lecture (lecture 22);
- Gyroscope example (lecture 32) - never knew how this works before!;
- Phase diagram of water (explained simply) - (lecture 27); and
- Nuclear fusion and the curve of binding energy (lecture 34).
Recommendation - only one:
- I think it is okay to have more maths to make us really understand various physics phenomena deeper.
Overall conclusion: One of the best courses I have purchased from TTC and listened to."
This review is also available here: http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=740
5 out of 5 stars.
Brilliant!
Date: May 21, 2010
"Although my wife is an opera singer, I have little background in opera. I really enjoyed this course - I think Prof. Greenberg is one of the best professors in TTC! He is very clear, very enthusiastic about his subject and very comprehensive (without 'dragging' the subject(s)).
The course is organised time-chronologically, from vocal expression during the middle ages until the early 20th century (Puccini, Strauss etc.). It also covers the various regional opera style developments in Europe - starting with Italy, and then French, Germany and Russia.
I tremendously enjoyed the opera period covering the bel canto style (Rossini - e.g., 'The Barber of Seville') and the operas by Mozart (including opera buffa 'The Marriage of Figaro').
Even my wife, who is an opera singer and was educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London, enjoyed this course as well. She said many times that Prof Greenberg is very good and very 'spot on'.
The only area I would recommend Prof Greenberg to edit / modify is the early lectures when he was covering the vocal expression during the middle ages (plainchant, polyphony etc) in 2 lectures. I felt these two lectures 'dragged' too much, and I actually stopped listening to the lectures for a few weeks at this point in the course. But once I hit Opera Seria and Opera Buffa (from around lecture 9), I can't stop listening to this course until the end!
Overall, this is a brilliant course. I learnt a lot from it and have really gained a lot of understanding on different styles and composers of opera. Well done, Prof Greenberg and TTC!"
This review is also here: http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/CourseDescLong2.aspx?cid=1423
3 out of 5 stars.
A little disjointed and need to be faster
Date: April 25, 2010
"Although this course has some interesting insights and examples, I only give it a three star rating.
Here are some insights and examples from the course that I found interesting:
1. Fibonacci patterns in nature: Pineapples, cone flower and daisy.
2. The existence of 5 platonic solids (and no more than 5).
3. The representation of fourth dimension in the third dimension.
4. Probability trivia: Door number 2 or 3 --> contemplating extreme value & how our intuition may not be accurate.
5. Non-transitive dice.
6. St Peterburg's paradox - how an infinite expected value may not mean that it's a good idea to bet any large $ amount.
7. Experiment with 2 decks of cards - withdrawing each card simultaneously and figuring out the probability we find the exact same card in the same sequence, and
8. The birthday probability trivia.
But why the three star rating? Several reasons:
a. Too slow & not enough insights per lecture: I define whether a course is good or not from how many new, insightful ideas I can learn from each lecture. This one here doesn't provide as many new, insightful ideas as it could have. In comparison, the course "The Art and Craft of Mathematical Problem Solving" by Prof Paul Zeits (which I have also reviewed) have many new insightful ('AHA') ideas packed (too heavily in fact! - I had to 'pause' a lot) into each lecture. I recommend faster delivery for most of the lectures in this course.
b. The lectures are somewhat disjointed / too random: e.g., talking about Mobius Band and Klein Bottle --> so what? how does it link to the rest of the lectures? or how does it link to the 'geometry' section? what's the implication to the real world?
c. Some typo (typing error): For e.g., in the DVD in lecture 20, the probability of winning the car by switching the first guess (in a 1 billion door example) is written on the DVD as 1 / 999,999,999 --> this is wrong! (the lecturer said it correctly - but it was written wrongly).
d. I feel Prof Ed Burger is better than Prof Michael Starbird in explaining the lectures' examples, although both are enthusiastic.
e. Awkward camera perspectives/angles - for instance, when Prof Michael Starbird was explaining the cones and ellipses, the camera moved from the schematics to the closed-up real example (i.e., cone held by Prof Starbird) too much that it confused me. I figured out the insight myself through my own experimentation but this could have been explained clearer by just having the camera sticking to the schematics only.
f. Not enough mathematics. For instance, in lecture 22 (on randomness), Prof Ed Burger noted that the probability that the needle in Buffon's needle will cross a line is exactly equal to 2 / pi. But how was this answer arrived at?? Prof Paul Zeits, in contrast, will go through this in detail.
Another example is: In lecture 23, there's a very interesting probability problem where Prof Ed Burger talked about two decks of cards and withdrawing the cards simultaneously. He said that the probability of flipping over two of the exact same cards at the same time = two thirds (66.7%). But how did he arrive at this conclusion? Out of curiosity, I googled it and couldn't find it. So I calculated this myself and found that the answer is actually 63.9% (but I could be wrong). I wish Prof Burger explained this more!
g. Need answers to the questions at the back.
h. Advice/life lessons too vague and basic, and most can be grouped together."
Here is my latest review of the course: "The Art and Craft of Mathematical Problem Solving" by Professor Paul Zeits from The Teaching Course. I have posted my review here as well:http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1483
Here it is below:
Fantastic topics and presentation
Date: April 10, 2010
"Around two lectures into this course, I couldn't help but saying to myself "WOW". This course is fantastic for several reasons:- It uses plenty of pictures, animations and graphs. This really helped the understandings of the problems and their solutions. This is my fifth or sixth TTC course, and I really love the presentation of this course (through the use of the animations, pictures etc.) compared to the DVD versions of the other courses I have seen (which relied too much on the lecturers' verbal commentaries).
- Every lecture always has at least one problem to be solved - i.e., practical.
- Prof Zeits also almost always explains WHY the problems are solved in such ways, rather than just the HOWs.
- Some of the mathematical problems are very interesting and fun.
Overall though, most parts of this course are quite (mathematically) hard-core and require mastery of at least most of high school geometry, algebra, trigonometry and calculus to fully appreciate the courses' nuances. I have loved maths from a very young age, and there were around 3 - 5% of the problems/examples i did not fully get.
One recommendation I would like to make to Prof Zeits and TTC is that I noticed small / a few typos in the notes as well as in the written texts on the DVD, which occurred (I noticed) around where the problem's climax is at! (which could get annoying). But these are very minor in frequency. For instance, on page 27 of the course guidebook, point I.B.3 should end with "8Tn + 1" instead of "8Tn".
Personally, I loved the following problems (& the strategies and tactics to solve them) - not in any order:- The pill problem (in lecture 1).
- "Determine, with proof, the largest number that is the product of positive integers whose sum is 1976" - using 2s and 3s - amazing! (and the importance of e) (in lecture 16).
- The pigeonhole (and intermediate pigeonhole) tactics (in lecture 14). I think it has great applications - for instance, problem 2 on page 60 of guidebook.
- Handshake problem (in lecture 10) - contemplate extreme values.
- Wythoff's Nim or "puppies and kittens" problem (in lecture 9) - solved by plotting positions and contemplating symmetries.
- And lastly, the problem in lecture 20: "What is the probability that a randomly chosen number in Pascal's triangle is even?" I love the process of answering this and the final patterns and answer!
Overall, this is a superb superb course and I highly recommend it, but only for the hard-core math enthusiasts."
Dear all,
Warren Buffett’s latest Annual Letter just came out yesterday. The key points he discussed this year are:
- Berkshire’s gain in net worth during 2009 was US$21.8 billion: This represents a 19.8% increase in the per-share book value of both Class A and Class B stock. Over the last 45 years, “the book value has grown from $19 to $84,487, a rate of 20.3% compounded annually.”
- On businesses (and business habits) Berkshire likes and dislikes:
o “Charlie and I avoid businesses whose futures we can’t evaluate, no matter how exciting their products may be. In the past, it required no brilliance for people to foresee the fabulous growth that awaited such industries as autos (in 1910), aircraft (in 1930) and television sets (in 1950). But the future then also included competitive dynamics that would decimate almost all of the companies entering those industries. Even survivors tended to come away bleeding.”
o “Just because Charlie and I can see dramatic growth ahead for an industry does not mean we can judge what its profit margins and returns on capital will be as a host of competitors battle for supremacy. At Berkshire we will stick with businesses whose profit picture for decades to come seem reasonably predictable. Even then, we will make plenty of mistakes.”
- On shunning debt / leverage:
o “We will never become dependent on the kindness of strangers. Too-big-to-fail is not a fallback position at Berkshire. Instead, we will arrange our affairs so that any requirements for cash we may conceivably have will be dwarved by our own liquidity... We pay a steep price to maintain our premium financial strength. The $20 billion-plus of cash-equivalent assets that we customarily hold is earning a pittance at present. But we sleep well.”
- On his practices of delegating operational management control (& its pros/cons):
o “We tend to let our many subsidiaries operate on their own, without our supervising and monitoring them to any degree. That means we are sometime late in spotting management problems and that both operating and capital decisions are occasionally made with which Charlie and I would have disagreed had we been consulted.”
o “We would rather suffer the visible costs of a few bad decisions than incur the many invisible costs that come from decisions made too slowly – or not at all – because of a stifling bureaucracy.... we will never allow Berkshire to become some monolith that is overrun by committees, budget presentations and multiple layers of management.”
o “Charlie and I will limit ourselves to allocating capital, controlling enterprise risk, choosing managers and setting compensations.”
- On Berkshire moving into capital intensive businesses as it grows larger:
o “In earlier days, Charlie and I shunned capital-intensive businesses such as public utilities. Indeed, the best businesses by far for owners continue to be those that have high returns on capital and that require little incremental investment to grow. We are fortunate to own a number of such businesses, and we would love to buy more. Anticipating, however, that Berkshire will generate ever-increasing amounts of cash, we are today quite willing to enter businesses that regularly require large capital expenditures. [e.g., Berkshire’s regulated utilities subsidiaries and the railway business (BNSF)]”
- On 2009 being a tough year on Berkshire’s Manufacturing, Service and Retailing Operations (although Berkshire’s insurance operations and investments performed well in 2009):
o “Almost all of the many and widely-diverse operations in this sector suffered to one degree or another from 2009’s severe recession.”
o “We had a number of companies at which profits improve even as sales contracted, always an exceptional managerial achievement.”
o “Every business we own that is connected to residential and commercial construction sufferred severely in 2009.”
- On deploying significant cash in 2008 and 2009 for investments:
o “We’ve put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. It’s been an ideal period for investors: A climate of fear is their best friend. Those who invest only when commentators are upbeat end up paying a heavy price for meaningless reassurance.”
o “In the end, what counts in investing is what you pay for a business – through the purchase of a small piece of it in the stock market – and what that business earns in the succeeding decade or two.”
- On CEO’s role with regards to risk:
o “Charlie and I believe that a CEO must not delegate risk control. It’s simply too important.”
o “If Berkshire ever gets in trouble, it will be my fault. It will not be because of misjudgments made by a Risk Committe or Chief Risk Officer.”
- On the need for tougher measures on underperforming CEOs (and directors):
o “Collectively, they [the shareholders/owners] have lost more than $500 billion in just the four largest financial fiascos of the last two years. To say these owners have been “bailed-out” is to make a mockery of the term.”
o “The CEOs and directors of the failed companies, however, have largely gone unscathed. Their fortunes may have been diminished by the disasters they oversaw, but they still live in grand style.... they should pay a hefty price – one not reimbursable by the companies they’ve damaged nor by insurance. CEOs and, in many cases, directors have long benefited from oversized financial carrots; some meaningful sticks now need to be part of their employment picture as well.”
- On his disdain for paying for acquisitions using stocks (particularly undervalued stocks):
o “When stock is the currency being contemplated in an acquisition and when directors are hearing from an advisor, it appears to me that there is only one way to get a rational and balanced discussion. Directors should hire a second advisor to make a case against the proposed acquisition, with its fee contingent on the deal not going through. Absent this drastic remedy, our recommendation in respect to the use of advisor remains: “Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.” "
Regards
Tri
Some people ask me, "Tri, how do you differentiate good staff from bad staff in your team?" I find the single most important determinant of a successful person is that he/she always overdelivers on promises. This is the type of staff and team member that I will always reward and cherish.
What does OVERDELIVERING mean? You have to overdeliver in both the 'what' and the 'when' - no matter what! So for instance, if you tell your boss or your team or your clients, "Oh, I am going to finish so and so by next Tuesday", then you'd better finish the whole job superbly by, for example, one day before. This is what overdelivering means: In both the 'what' and the 'when'.
I see a lot of young people these days, particularly those born and raised in a relatively rich family, to lack this characteristic. They tend to be 'spoiled' (or what Indonesians call 'manja') in this department. They are more interested in the instant money ('what have you done for me lately' syndrome) before they overdeliver continuously over a sustained period of time. They usually have various excuses (and often self-pity!) to explain why they can't follow through on what they promised. Frankly, a lot of this come from upbringing. My parents always taught me to focus on overdelivering on what I promised, again and again and again and again, and when I deserved it, the reward would eventually come.
Overdelivering is a special skill - it takes persistence, strong will, discipline, hustle and just sheer 'bulldog' ness! It doesn't matter if you 'feel like it' or 'don't feel like it', 'in the mood' or 'not in the mood', you still have to follow through and overdeliver.
There's one other key test which is related to the above which I recommend you use to see if your team members are good or not. Just see if they follow through when 'no one is watching'. Will they follow through on their promises to you or not? Do they only perform when you stand next to them waiting for the tasks to get done? And when you are not watching, does it get done? This can be observed and discerned. Successful people are self-driven: they continue to perform with fierce resolve even when no one is watching.
I hope this would be helpful in your lives as well. Or perhaps if you or someone close to you fall in the category of the 'underdeliverers', then remember this tip: Make sure you always OVERDELIVER on your promises to others, and to yourselves, even if no one is watching!
I read this wonderful Psalm tonight - I was so inspired that I want to write the whole Psalm here and share it with you.
Regards
Tri
PSALM 139: The Inescapable God
- A Psalm of David -
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God?
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them - they are more than the sand;
I come to the end - I am still with you.
O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me -
those who speak of you maliciously,
and lift themselves up against you for evil!
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
