Thang Nguyen 555

Out of the top ten on NASDAQ, which hit 5,000 – the last time was during the dot.com era – only Microsoft, IBM and Cisco remain. Newly emerged players are in intersecting spaces such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook.

Yahoo was supposed to be a tech company. Now it’s a portal, aggregated news site, neither social nor service (chat?).

Recent NYT article touched on the uneasy tug of war between tech and telecom.

Both rely on each other to reach their intended target. Both spill over to the other’s turf (Google phone, Apple TV).

At times, it’s worse. With big war chests, tech companies venture into traditionally unrelated turf e.g. Google Compare (auto insurance).

I remembered the pervasive influence of Microsoft at Telecom Trade shows back in the dot.com era.

Nowt it’s Google which is the 800-pound gorilla.

But the NASDAQ portfolio is now a more balanced and mature one.

Still with irrational exuberance albeit more tamed.

More “social”.

More intersecting.

And of course, more relevant.

We can now upload, and discuss the Internet of Things (and hopefully the Intelligence of People).

I am both optimistic and skeptical. Hope it stays that way. We need capitalization for clearer air and cleaner water, to fight disease and poverty (One world, not Second and Third world). It takes a lot to stay King of the Hill. In the top ten list of NASDAQ, with 15 years in between, where is Yahoo?

Years later, how would we be remembered? If there is any consolation for us, and there soon will be 9 billion of us, our friends will speak good and not ill of us. One enduring quality that stood the test of time: congeniality.

First impressions aside. Character witness stood. We pick that someone out of the crowd, for that quality: easy to relate to. More Main Street than Wall Street. Someone to share a train ride with. Talking about life in general, kids in particular. Work is a very important aspect of life. But it is not life (ask all those college students and retirees).

In case you haven’t noticed. More detective roles in the movies are now assigned to a female protagonist Brain, brawn and beauty, a locked in combination. Julianne Moore has just won an Oscar (playing a forgetful woman… perhaps in trying to forget, she is remembered).

When we meet up with old-time families and friends, say, over the holidays, we look in a mirror and.see ourselves travel in time. Yes, Speed landed Sandra onto the world stage. But some day far into the future, perhaps, Miss Congeniality will still grace us, not so much with her beauty, but with her empathy. How can you stop opening up your life when those pair of eyes look at you in a way that says ” I am all ears”. Yes, there will be 9 billion ways to please, since every customer is a King/Queen. Makes those of us in the service sector humble and restless in search for the ideal formula to please. Thankfully, we have some templates to work on, among them, our Miss Congeniality. That prize is not and should not be looked at as consolation prize, not in the long-term.

When Moses came down from the mountain, he said “Let my people go”. Mandela said something like “Let my people be”. And now Tesla and Apple decided to tell the oil rich countries to un-shackle drivers. That’s leadership. Whether it takes 40 years in the wilderness or a hundred year to sell electric vehicle, people will find a way, and leadership will emerge. It’s in the DNAs of homo sapiens. Leadership makes the right call, a gutsy one. No pain, no gain. Infrastructure overhaul: messy? yes. But necessary. Let’s do it. Fighting terrorism? drawn out war, but not you then who. Emergency preparedness? Burdensome, but if not, what’s the alternative (Dubai tower inferno). Each generation seeks out the right kind of leadership. It’s embedded and wired in our DNAs to lead and be led. When we can’t decide whether to flight or fight, someone somewhere needs to say “good, we will fight in the shade then” (in 300, that’s how the pack’s leader responded to spy’s warning – that the Egyptian arrows would block out the sun). Conversely, all it takes for Evil to triumph is for good men to turn a blind eye. Some day in the future, we will all know names like TIm Cook of Apple and Elon Musk of Tesla. Leaders are visionaries, thought influencers, doers and risk-takers, all roll into one. The late theologian, Teilhard de Chardin, once said that – we need to start with a way of seeing. Leaders see both threats and opportunities. In fact, since when don’t they come in a package, called Life. We all know the Chinese word for crisis. To see opportunity, all we need is to comb through today’s news: better fire alarms, more comprehensive Emergency Preparedness and Response. Isolation or incarceration, Moses or Mandela, it’s the worst that brings out the best.

Pressing matters demand our top attention. But important matters cannot be set aside either: eat right, think right and do the right thing. These matters constitute our cores, with silent cry for outlets.

On an average day, we react to pressing matters while our inner core longs for connections and commitment, things with staying power.

When the dust settles, we will find out which is more important: grey hair or a gripping tale from the past.

The world of commerce and cultures collide each day, with new ranking and rating (30 under 30 as found in Forbes).

Then before you know, Valentine’s is coming. What do you have for me this year? (and the boss asks, “what have you done for me lately”).

People like Joe Paterno (of Penn State) and Brian Williams (of NBC) got suspended, for ignoring the obvious. Call it a hand slap. Important matters remain important regardless. Only when it’s “too big to fail” that we cannot afford the important over the urgent. When the dust (recession) settles, we then revisit our core values. Rule 1: survive. Rule 2: please revert to rule 1. Courtesy of Warren Buffet (on never to lose money, his own or investors’). Money is definitely an urgent matter, since it works well toward observing the all important Rule 1.

On an average day, multiple texts, tweets and talks compete for our top attention. Recently, to make matters more pressing, militant organizations slit throats and burned their captives alive.

The (throat) slit that’s seen around the world! Not that killing is new. It’s killing in broad day light and broadcasted.

Dead bodies speak. The medium is the message (of supremacy and superiority).

While we may view these acts as barbaric and medieval, they achieved their political aims: striking fear and gaining attention (Prime Minister of Japan loosened his country’s purse and pitched in).

Hollywood would certainly take notice: the costume (orange clothes and black hood), the prop ( sharp knife) and the set (plain back drop). I suspect there will be as many viewers of the Japanese hostage-execution as the Super Bowl’s.

Patriots and Seahawks will fade out but the fight against terrorism remains. It side tracks us and strikes fear (consumers saving at the gas pumps hasn’t translated into December strong spending).

Meanwhile, the Fed keeps interest rates at zero still. It too sends out a signal: the patient hasn’t yet out of the woods. The US alone cannot carry ROW’s burden, nor can it retaliate by going backward (American sniper isn’t trained for low-tech combat).

Video to demand trumps video on demand. Our world keeps moving forward while looking backward, distracting us and nudging us forward at the same time. Too deep in the woods to backtrack. Gotta find 21-century solutions for 21-century problems. By the way, it’s been 15 years since Y2K, in case you haven’t noticed. Matters are more pressing now than then.

56 minutes into the game, the Seahawks had a turnaround that sent them on to the Super Bowl.

Have faith.

Stay away from the Approval Rating screen.

Public opinion sways. It does so often.

Hail to the King, one day. Down with the thief, next day.

From Rome to Reich, powers change hand. Man of the mass then himself becomes a mess.

American Sniper is doing well. Clint Eastwood got a Midas touch. It’s his Dirty Harry’s “Go ahead, make my day” comeback.

Sniper against sniper. It’s personal. One-shot, one-on-one.

How can we not make it personal, when it’s our limbs and legs!

Like alchemists, people in power mix the elements for new combinations: yesterday’s Swiss francs down, oil down, popularity up. The French demonstrated then got counter-demonstrated in Russia-friendly Chechnya.

The Yin and Yan.

When down, stay not down. Just stay humble. When up, stay humble. Not for approval rating but for longevity.

The world loves a good narrative: hero got shot down, hero recovered and made a comeback. Hero cheered and not jeered. The real-life American sniper got a State-wide salute. Their Vietnam counterparts got insulted and injured.

Jane Fonda said last week ” I made a huge, huge mistake” (for coming across as against the troop). In retrospect.

From Rome to Reich, we should have known. Everything comes in full circle (except for our time line). Smart fans wait til minute 56 knowing it’s not over until it’s truly over. Abandon not your coveted front-row seats. Life rewards those who are patient.

Last year, a bunch of Nigerian school girls were kidnapped.

Possible motives: forced prostitution and/or hostage-for-hostage exchange.

Now Boko Haram and his gangs got creative: they turned young girls into bomb-strapped terrorists.

They probably watched “Naked Weapons”, a Hong Kong made movie with Nigerian dubs.

Modernity is threatened and modern men are terrorized in public places.

So, the French are marching, like The Network (movie version) with French subtitles “We won’t take it anymore”.

And we shouldn’t when humanity, through these acts, sinks to new lows.

We can’t be polite and engage in a public discourse with these people, whose only rule is no rule.

No empathy, no right or wrong.

When the France public square begins to look like Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” march, we do have hope.

Somehow, the scenes in Paris were transformed, from A Moveable Feast to a Movement for terrorist-free living.

It has to be that way, if we are to continue with our way of life.

Our collective wisdom should lead the way and show us out of this mess. Not blowing up innocent people with bombs strapped around kidnapped school girls, but by educating them the best way we know how.

For those who bought into Rousseau’s Social Contract, a joke can be taken lightly, and expected.

In the 80’s, Culture Wars were a way out for economic woes in the West (Salman Rushdie). Now it’s back in Paris, overshadowing The Interview (last year news already!). The difference between then (80’s) and now (2015) lies in the degree of violence and viral spread. I have just viewed those French cartoons on Huff Post (and one on Washington Post). Am I to be fearful for what could happen to me? It could have been safer just to view pornographic materials.

These are some of the counter-productive things I can think of:

– religion and its malpractices turns me off ( to the point of throwing the baby out with the bathwater)

– the cartoonist has turned martyr, elevating Paris threat level and standing as world’s champion of la liberte

– even with all those manhunt frenzies, things tend to die down and fade out quickly

– we project our hopes and fears on the cave’s wall, calling them gods and their reps (from Jim Jones to Myung Moon)

– sex, violence and religion, in that order, will continue to fascinate and dominate the news. Hollywood will always be the first to get this.

Not sure who has the last laugh. But this version of Culture Wars, guns seem to have a stronger say than mere rhetoric.

Both sides are now armed, not with plowshares, but with swords.

Sur le pont d’ Avignon, we see not Rousseau’s romance but religious rage which further incites men’s hatred, mistrust and fear. Rousseau would need to come up with Social Contract 2.0 to appease all sides. And while at it, it’s best to use Google’s translation to clear up any misunderstanding and misreading of the text.

If we can crowd-source all the New Year Resolutions, we can certainly do some good. New Year Resolutions are like sacrificial lambs to appease the gods of time and cycles. Here is my diet sacrifice, there is my spending thrift. People join a gym, open a savings account or look for Cyber Monday deals.

Disparate and unsustainable efforts! Like a ritual i.e. countdown to the New Year, then auto-pilot Resolutions, to finally fade out. Until someone somewhere think of a way to aggregate and monetize those well-intentional good wills.

Kickstarter and other crowd-funding sites make philanthropy and social consciousness seem doable and risk-free.

Help fund an idea, a start-up and/or a movement.

Do it together. Share the risks and rejoice in its harvest.

An equivalent of 21st-century “barn raising”. Something we must and should do together.

More is better than one. Live together and die alone. Loose a pound and save a penny. If only we had a crowd-resolution site so we can all “kickstart” this New Year to resolve the ill-sustained Resolutions issue. Thus far, we have capitalized on past giants’ invention to build faster and simpler technology. Now is the time to learn on past New Year Resolutions’ failure. Make use of those un-used gym fees, and unrealistic diet programs. THINK!

Xiaomi: 45 BIllion.

Air Asia stocks: tanking

You and I: questionable.

We are living in an Age of instant and constant valuation of anything and everything, thanks to Big Data.

A speech is now a one-liner.

A log book a blog.

And what’s real is now virtual (people stay single more, perhaps due to porn).

We are not required to dwell deep on anything for time will undo everything (remember Rome?).

But you can stretch your perceived values: Taken, Taken 2, Taken 3. As long as the public memory still fades (and it does so often), you can redress and re-release the merchandise (in some instances, slashing on a higher price might help push the goods).

If we can graphically depict wealth distribution, it would take on a sperm-like shape with those 1-per-centers constituting the head, and the Rest (which include Ebola-ridden countries, Nigerian war lords, ISIS, Air Asia and the usual misfortune and miserable).

That’s the world we are living in, sharing resources with and celebrating New Year together (the US is bidding for the Olympics which other nations said “No Thanks”).

Perceived Values.

It used to be honorable and valuable to have won an Olympic bid. It purportedly brings tourist dollars to the town.

Now, even that is questionable, after Brazil.

Tourists are looking out for themselves and their pocket books.

Cheaper destinations: Eastern Europe in the 90’s, Vietnam in the 2000’s, and perhaps Cuba in the coming decade.

Because you can’t control others’ perception, you would need to work at branding one strand at a time. Waiting for the right moment for re-release.. China, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, Mid-East, and then Cuba. Destinations formerly perceived as negative , now common household words. Maybe there is hope for Nixon, for torture, for citizen surveillance and cyber-attacks.

They were after all tactics. Tactics can change. Just as values, can be re-perceived, by design. Keep those antiques. They might come in handy some day, when their perceived values go up. You and I, friendship and its associated costs: still questionable. We are just doing time on Spaceship Earth. Up to us to assign a value to our sojourning. In fact, the actuaries were already hard at work to “price” it out: Xiaomi – 45B, for now. Air Asia, tanking.