Triscribe

Month: February 2004

  • Observations

    On the Apprentice, Donald Trump’s right-hand man and general counsel George “Determinator” Ross is a ’53 grad of my law school. What a great, but high pressure GC gig that must be? My DVR failed to record this week’s episode because it recorded the competing Enterprise. Have to say I rather watch the Apprentice this time.

    Mega Millions is now up to $222 million. That’s an extra $7 million from what it was when we passed the billboard on the BQE. I took the $2 that I won last time and reinvested it for Friday’s drawing. The odds of winning the jackpot are greater than 1 in 143 million; however, the odds of winning something is better than 1 in 43, which isn’t so bad.

    Gage and Tollner, Brooklyn’s oldest restaurant, closed down on Saturday. It was counting on business from Ratner’s MetroTech to roll over and support a higher end market, but it never happened. The campus atmosphere encouraged companies to fund their own cafeterias so employees wouldn’t ever have to leave their buildings. The she-crab soup was really something, not to mention the landmark gas lit interior. I’d like to express my gratitude to all of the expense account meals that others have treated me there.

    OnFocus briefly linked to us due to a few book mentions, such as The Tipping Point (note to everyone else writing — link your book reviews to Amazon) . The ultra-summary on the Tipping Point: there are three types of influencial people in the world: Connectors (know a lot of people), Salespeople (know how to be convincing), and Mavens (know how to find the info). The most powerful people are those that have 2 or more of these characteristics. It isn’t necessary to work on convincing a majority of the people. The actual tipping point that starts a chain reaction, or “epidemic”, turns out to be between 5% and 20%, if those “tipped” are composed of these influencial people. Growth occurs exponentially after that point. The author could have said that, and left it at that, but his book contract must have been similar to Charles Dickens — by the word. The thesis is rather simple and profound, but he repeats examples and concepts in the same way that one does to make a page limit for a term paper.

    I’m booked for 2 trips to California with P– in March: 4-7 in San Francisco to catch the San Francisco International Asian Film Festival and see Napa, and 27-30 in San Diego to drive around Orange County and see Tiajuana, Mexico. That should net 10K miles, plus 5K + 1K mile bonuses, plus a free American Airlines ticket. Let’s see how that goes; I hope to see you there if you are in the area.

    In the same vein, someone is trying to make a mega mileage run — he’s going to spend $7,000 to accumulate 500K miles within three months. That’s crazy!

    YC just one step closer to Malaysian nuptials; leaving in his wake the SF gay marriage showdown. Would like to see him at the airport…

  • It’s almost the end of the week…

    I’ve been quite busy; you’d think that with the President’s day holiday on Monday that a short week wouldn’t be so busy.

    NY Times’ Quotation of the Day:

    “We are not going away. We are staying together, unified, all of us.” – Howard Dean, M.D.

    Nice words, Governor; easier said than done, of course. I’ll give Dr. Dean credit for giving us a real strange ride in the 21st century’s first presidential campaign (putting aside the question of whether the year 2000 counts as “21st century” and considering how the Internet had such an influence on the Deaniacs). Otherwise, let’s see how a political veteran like Kerry (and how a smooth litigator like Edwards) will pull it off…

    NBC’s Tom Brokaw had an interesting op-ed piece in the Times today – raising the question of whether the American homefront should sacrifice more in the war effort. Our interesting times are not like the wartime experiences of the “Greatest Generation” that Brokaw has long profiled – wherein the Victory gardens and the huge recycling efforts made WWII a unified struggle (and the one and only “good” war, putting aside whether we view the War Against Terrorism as a “good” war, one usually defined as clear Good v. clear Evil).

    Law.com has an interesting article on lawyers who blog (usually on substantive stuff, of course), in “It’s a Blog World After All.”

    Last night’s “Angel” was good and hilarious – due to a mystical mishap, Angel is turned into a… muppet? (puppet would have to be the correct term, since “Muppet” is a trademark, I suppose). It’s strangely funny to see a sword wielding vampire in fuzzy felt fabric form. Meanwhile, the sidekick Charles Gunn’s mystically-empowered brain is losing his mystically-gained (and arguably endowed by the powers of evil) legal skills and education. He (probably wrongfully) recharges himself with more (evil-influenced) mysticism to regain his competency as a (probably shouldn’t be practicing) lawyer. Hehehe. And, WB is cancelling this series? Ugh!

    Perhaps “Star Trek: Enterprise” should wither away, so to let the Powers that Be behind the Star Trek universe recharge their creative juices? (considering that I’m of the few of my acquaintances who has managed to last this long – since most lost their interest due to the inconsistencies of “Star Trek: Voyager” – I’m amazed that I have finally weaned myself (sort of) off my Trekkiness. “Enterprise” is sort of like 12-step program for old Trekkies/Trekkers – not that I want to insult the current Powers behind Star Trek, but the current show just lacks a certain panache). So it goes. Can’t wait for Friday.

  • Taiwan the end is near

    Well, only a couple more days left in Taiwan. It’s been a really great trip. Very busy all around. Met a lot of people, business associates of AJ’s as well as family members I didn’t know I had until about 2 weeks ago. More or less recovered from my stomach problems and back to eating well again.

    Done shopping for Malaysia and soon to be getting ready for it.

    =YC

  • Roses Recap

    He shoots, he scores! I got the roses from James Weir Florist in Brooklyn Heights instead of at Chelsea Market. Turns out that I got the roses for the same price that I would have gotten from Chelsea Market. These were no bodega flowers — these were the real thing, a dozen long stems in a box.

    As an interesting historical aside, James Weir started this florist shop in 1859. He is the guy responsible for changing the name of the area called Yellow Hook into what is now known as Bay Ridge.

    As a gag, I dressed in typical Chinese delivery guy attire: black slacks, blue shirt, baseball cap and, the piece de resistance, a turquoise blue parka. I took one of the business cards and wrote P–‘s name and address on it and proceeded to take the subway. I had my hood on all the time on the train. It’s kind of interesting — nobody thought it was my roses on the train.

    Getting off near Hunter College, I kept up the facade. I got up to the guards at P–‘s workplace, mumbled “delivery” and handled over the card. They called her up to the front, and I sprung it on her. Boy did I get everyone! We went to East for sushi for lunch, and went happily ever after.

    I’m over her place right now, and the roses are holding up pretty well!

  • Picking vice presidents? and other things

    Today’s NY Times’ Quotation of the Day:

    “If anybody tells you they wouldn’t be interested in being vice president, they’re not telling you the truth.”
    – SENATOR JOHN BREAUX, Democrat of Louisiana.

    Nice thought, Senator Breaux. Be sure to check out the fascinating corresponding article too.

    See, there are reasons why I try to avoid on-line spoilers about tv shows. “Angel” may or may not have its last season (which WB almost sprang on people last season), with more emphasis on the more-likely-than-not. WB, like so many other networks, finds ways to frustrate me. Heck, just to sound like a conspiracy theorist, I ask, “Are they all trying to make me go to cable??”

    CBS, as much as I’ve long wanted to avoid it (because I never did forgive it for cancelling a show I liked, and for being serious hypocrites with the whole Reagan movie and Super Bowl halftime nonsense), has done nicely with “Joan of Arcadia.” I enjoyed this article about this nice show.

    Enjoy the rest of this V-Day night.

  • More outsourcing

    Jobs Lost Abroad: Host of New Causes for an Old Problem

    Mr. Neustrup a Silicon Valley worker is quoted: “It’s great for these developing countries to move up and adopt this technology,” he said. “The trouble for us in the U.S. is that we’re at the top of the ladder getting squeezed. And I’m not sure there is a good answer.”

    That’s the crux of the matter. The people at the top are squeezed and there’s no way to go but down. The room at the top is too small and unachievable for most people at a certain age level. You think that after X many years of formal education, continuing education and other professional schooling, you can be relatively safe of your career and financial path but that’s not possible any longer. The US worker is left more and more to her own devices. No support by way of benefits or job training by companies and no retirement support by the federal government (i.e. Social Security being privatized). So Kristof’s view that education is the answer is belied by the types of professional’s losing their jobs, the highly educated ones who have little room for maneuver. So, with “creative destruction” occuring in the workplace, highly educated individuals need to find their place elsewhere to make their fortunes elsewhere (i.e. entrepreneurship)

    In the short term, the economic power of these highly educated (and paid) professional workforce will be felt. It’s just so happens that the interest rate is low and it must be low because that’s what’s floating the country since people are so highly leveraged. But this debt must be financed by overseas money and that’s a fickle situation. We live in interesting times and I’m sure a study of history would shed a better light of what may happen.

    =YC

  • Asian Americans and Politics 2004

    Asian-Americans Note Issues Central to Them for Elections

    So what are they?

    =YC

  • Friday the 13th…

    The day before V-Day…

    Some ABA E-Journal referred articles that I thought were interesting:

    – should the so-called professionals be exempt from consumer protection laws, because they’re self-regulated? NJ says yes, and sent the issue back to the legislature to say otherwise?

    – “ABA Says States Should Decide Who Can Marry” – seems like the ABA is aware that the reality of federalism, as the Founding Fathers knew, is about balancing the states’ rights and the federal government’s roles: while the ABA has postponed deciding its actual position on gay marriage (not an easy issue), it clearly holds that states have jurisdiction over marriage. Plus, ABA is sure that states shouldn’t rough up immigrants, because that’s the feds’ job.

    I thought the political scene currently is eerie; besides the whole What Did George W. Do During the 1970’s?/What’s John Kerry Doing in That Photo Behind Jane Fonda During his Anti-Vietname Phase? (and why can’t we leave both guys alone with what they did or didn’t do during the 1970’s?), the Wesley Clark quip to John Kerry was amusing. According to the NY Times today, Clark headed to Wisconsin to endorse Kerry and the remark:

    “‘Request permission to come aboard, the Army’s here,’ a smiling General Clark said as he and Mr. Kerry appeared at a rally here, four days before the Wisconsin primary.

    “Mr. Kerry, a Navy lieutenant during the Vietnam War, said, ‘This is the first time in my life I’ve ever had the privilege of saying ‘Welcome aboard’ to a four-star general.’”

    Plus, the NY Times article closes with an amusing moment for other remaining Democratic party candidate John Edwards: “Mr. Edwards took questions from the crowd in Racine [WI], which included dozens of high school students, but his drive to reach voters was apparent. Before he began answering, he whispered to an aide, ‘Are they old enough to vote?’”

    Yes, and that’s the way the world is…

  • Comments on cellphones and stereotypes

    Blog referenced: http://www.triscribe.com/wp/b2trackback.php/175

    Cellphone story, …. reminds me of the day in high school where 2 cars dragged down the main stretch of road at 3am in the morning. Drivers were drunk and the cars bumped each other and went careening off into the big massive oak trees lining the road. Heads were decapitated, brains splattered on the road, and bodies impaled. It was an utter mess. Popular kids. My reaction was of true Darwinian fashion…. If you’re that stupid….

    As for stereotypes, it’s a fine line to tread. I think it depends on whether the characteristics are used “positively” or “negatively” and on the writer’s agenda. When engaged in historical, social analysis, people’s characteristics is important to understand. You do so from analyzing a variety of data, ranging from political institutions, other social institutions and practices, cultural texts, books, philosophy, wars, land, weather etc to get a picture of “what kind of people” were X? To some that’s an exercise in stereotyping carried to its furthest. That’s typical social and anthropological analysis in which I was trained. People do this all the time, very naturally and it’s not taken as a negative in many parts of the world. Even in great China, the Chinese are very different people and each have differing opinions of what “type” they are. All interesting and useful information when used as one of many data points.

    People like Kristof in my view are more like anthropological-journalists. His work is important but I’ve not always agreed with his conclusions. Kristof should have expanded more on his view and perhaps he will in an essay, where-as an op-ed piece must be short. The whole outsourcing business is traumatic upheaval for many people and I am living in it. What will happen next is not clear. Now many of my colleagues and myself would bristle at his suggestion that we, the white collar professional class are not educated enough. We are highly educated, highly credentialed and extremely experienced in business and our industry. Yet, despite this, we are losing out to lower cost providers in India, China, Eastern Europe etc.

    My belief is that it’s not the problem of the American workers, but rather the business environment (less government assistance, more capitalistic) and business mismanagement that’s the root of the problem. US human resources are not used optimally. The US work force is mostly highly educated and flexible as compared to many nations. Educationally, the gap is narrowingly and has always been and that’s no surprise and not enough to explain away this trend. With the advent of the Internet, the world literally has no walls or barriers. The only wall is language and that is being assailed everyday in every way possible.

    Is it a matter of the US education improving K-12 to compete with the rest of the world? That’s hard to say, depends on what you’re educating for? If it’s educating as a training to be a productive workforce, it’s something that I don’t think the US should be doing. You see, it’s the US competitive advantage with its current educational system that breeds creativity which no country can match. If you want to understand why the US in merely 250 yrs of history is the world’s only superpower, you need to understand it’s characteristic of creativity and renewal, where old is improved, altered, changed to be better than what it was before. This is both good and bad, but what it does is continuously propels the US forward, not looking backward. (See Arnold Toynbee’s view of historical progress). Other countries and nations are held back by their historical roots that act as anchors.

    Kristof suggests the Asian method is one which the US should aim for and I’m not sure about that. The Asian educational system does not allow for creativity because there is no room for dissent, discussion or difference. What you do get are people who take orders very well, extremely suitable for assembly line work. And, no mistake that today’s assembly line worker is the software developer, analagous to the factory worker of the early 20th century, that built steel, cars, and other large manufactured goods used to build the infrastructure of the world. The software developer is creating the infrastructure of the 21st century where all his work is used to help run the machines that make our daily lives go. In this case, then yes, other workers are probably more adept at that sort of work than the US worker who’s primary strength is not brute force repetitive work type but knowledge work type, creativity-based.

    What is needed to be competitive for the US worker is a combination of discipline (Asian) and creativity (US). Without a doubt, Asian education is more difficult from K-12 than in the US, but the US graduate education system is still far superior than the world’s. The US secondary education does not help prepare students for the rigors of college as well as other nations. On the other hand, many of the education in other nations tend to be from the elite class leaving behind many many disenfranchised. At least in the US, where there is parity, no one will be left behind if they don’t want to be left behind.

    I go back to efficient use of human resources and I fall back to Peter Drucker who decades ago, predicted the rise of the knowledge worker. He has the answers and the US businesses have done very little to heed his words. The American worker is paying for those sins. Who knows what is going to happen. If a person with 2 degrees and multiple certifications and licenses can’t make a honest living, then what is really required to succeed, let alone survive?

    =YC

  • This & That, Platanos & Collard Greens

    Catchup blog:
    Saw the off-Bway play Platanos & Collard Greens yesterday. One of my friends is in it from law school, and was a lot more complex than I expected. Recommended.

    The teams were reshuffled into co-ed teams on the Apprentice after 4 successive losses by the boy’s team. The two companies were each given $1,000 to buy stuff to be sold at a flea market; the team with the most profit wins. Getting a heads-up on future sleezyness, $200 is “lost” (aka embezzled) by one of the teams and they lose.

    I find out that YC’s ex lives directly above P–‘s apartment. Major world wide disbelief ensues. Everyone’s ok about this, though, I think.

    Read The Passport, reading The Tipping Point. Titles of books nowadays tend to be physical nouns rather than verbs or gerunds. Why is that?

    Mission impossible: I’m going to run to Chelsea Market, buy a dozen roses, and deliver them to P– before 10 am. Let’s see if this can happen.