Tag: Earth

Redemptive rain

Our own Duc Huy, along with Dylan, during the 80’s, sang about “the hope of redemption” and how “the heart found joy once again”.

The 80’s was the time of culture war: right vs left, straight vs gay, East vs West, secular vs conservative.

Thirty years on, we are faced with a different set of challenges. Small potatoes now grow dominant, so do small apps.

BRICS finally emerged, while incumbents are now worried about social disparity and other larger trends i.e. gay marriage. It rained here last night in Saigon. Free wash! Free Aircon!

One cannot ignore the sound of heavy rain pounding on tin roofs. It was also redemptive: one wash sweeps all dirt.

Duc Huy resonates the longing for faith and trust.

His thoughts flow, from morning coffee to evening pavement ( that leads to the girl’s home) and display universal longing for permanence instead of temporal, eternal instead of fleeting.

Duc Huy wishes for more rain to tie down his love, for time to stand still.

That moment in time, we all experience at times, is called Kairos.

It is a mark, an event that is more significant than any others.

It reveals who we are to us.

Then, perhaps,  there is hope for redemption.

“Toi hy vong duoc on cuu roi” (I might  hope for redemptive love).

I started my opening chapters of Monte Christo.

We all know the story line. But its author first paints the perfect picture of a young sea Captain reunited with young wife, before he is betrayed, and imprisoned.

Of course, the plot will switch to revenge instead of redemption.

But that is human drama unfolded.

That is how much “dirt” we manage to produce.

Then came the rain. Redemptive rain.

One wash, all gone.

Begin anew. Hope again, trust again, love again.

Like smokers who will get a new lung after 7 years of quitting, we all are getting another shot at life. Just don’t use the same script again. It will only produce the same result. Try the opposite. From bottom and up. Outside in. Be creative. Be redeemed. Be rain makers.

Moon Alley

Last night, when I got back to my alley, I thought they had turned on extra lighting.

Turned out I did not notice that it was full moon. No wonder people were going to the Temple, buying and selling fake dollars for the dead.

It was supposed to be the second important date on the Buddhist calendar, second to his birthday.

Here in Vietnam, the consumer confidence index is on the rise.

You thought I must be kidding!

A war-torn country with a higher consumer index in the midst of a global recession?

Don’t take my word for it. Check out Nielsen data source.

College students are back from Tet holidays: dictionaries, backpacks, Samsung phones, and facemasks.

Ready to roll!

The old (money for the dead) and the new (studying a foreign language, preferably certified by an European  Language center) co-exist.

I also noticed all sorts of snack items: hot-dogs of all types, fish balls, fertilized eggs (in the Philippines, they call “Ba-Lut”), chips, corns etc.. The young demographics are poised for the likes of KFC.

Fast food on the fast lane.

If they can redesign the stores to accommodate ride-in (scooters nation)

In fact, some sandwich stores located at street corners are doing just that.

Nearby you will also find hamburgers on wheels (xe-lam) or food carts at the curb.

Living in a dead-end alley affords me some peace and quiet.

It’s also safer, although not well-lit.

Until last night, with full-moon.

Moon Alley.

Where children learn to walk and the old do exercise.

Neighbors turned on their karaoke machines… so loud it took over my reading concentration.

Still I love my Moon Alley. I know no one is waiting for me, except my parents’ pictures on the altar.

Felt like a kid every time, walking in the door.

Still, for me, there is no need for food offering and burning of fake money.

Their memories are well-preserved in my mind, and their advice well-heeded.

i.e. Just be a good kid. Bring honors to the dead and the living.

And remember to floss your teeth.

Moon Alley.

The more the merrier

Next week, we welcome Earth’s 7 Billionth baby into our human family.

When I was born, relatives came to the hospital to visit (as commonly observed even today, in Vietnam). B/W photos were taken and sent up North for our extended families to “take notes”. The more the merrier. Nobody cared who Malthus was. If you showed up, one more bowl and a pair of chopsticks were all you need. In fact, the most common greeting was “have you eaten yet”. Memories of those early days came to me, often because of large family gatherings, with meals on the altar, and meals on the table.

We commemorated ancestors’ anniversary more than celebrated newcomers’ birthday.

In fact, I found out that my grandfather used to share lunch with more than a dozen people at a time. Obviously, he didn’t need “Never eat alone” advice.

Fast forward to our digital era with Siri apps and Google unmanned vehicles, we find a world obsessed with pharma instead of farming.

Instead of taking vitamin pills (whose latest studies have shown to be ineffectual), people are taking pain-relieving pills, sleeping pills and birth-control pills.

The Boeing 787 flight between Tokyo and Hong Kong inaugurated the Pacific Century, as much as Lindbergh’s American Century.

Population growth tilts toward BRIC countries. Yet in the US, there is a shortage of skilled workers since the babyboomers are retiring en mass.

BTW, to give credits where they deserve, trusted Sales Representatives are still in demand, despite recent push in productivity and automation.

People still buy from people and have lunch (connecting) with people.

Yet Sales has been and still is considered non-academic, hence it is excluded from the curriculum ( per latest issue of  theEconomist).

Back to 7 Billion of us whose life expectancy will be in the 70’s (hint, larger fonts and slower driving).

Besides strength in numbers, we live in the most open-minded global society ever. Even the cash-rich Kennedys had to face “religion” issue when campaigning back in the 60’s. Now, you can be openly gay, happily married and run for public office. What used to be “alternative” has become “conventional”.

And the new China’s middle class. Boy oh boy! When they shop, they shop till they drop. I happened to witness their Japanese counterparts in the late 80’s half-way to Las Vegas, at an outlet stop. I wonder how much more aggressive Mainland shoppers will act after their wins at the table.

Back in the late 70’s, after the Oil Embargo, many thought we had reached the “limits to growth”.  Somehow, we managed to clean up Alaska and Louisiana, Hiroshima and Fukushima .

The MIT and the MITI, Korean and Vietnamese, all work hard in a race against the Machine. When Malthus predicted that we had reached Earth’s limits, he did not foresee the coming of the Machine. German software engineers help VW propel  pass Toyota, while Samsung pass Sony and Apple in tablet sales. Bring it on, globally.

Long ago, when we commemorated our grandmother’s anniversary, my mom  always planned extra bowls and chopsticks . The more, the merrier; but I can now put away the extra bowl and chopsticks, since proponents of automation argue that machines don’t sleep and eat. Win-win. Will see.

My 555 plan

Get back to your roots.

Eliminate waste and accessories.

Differentiate and make it relevant.

Actually, 555 is just a self-branding attempt, after a cigarette a friend of mine used to smoke.

I had to attach a numeric code to differentiate (sticky and trans-cultural)  my Yahoo log-on ID.

Now we hear of 999 plan etc…

It’s hard to stand out among Earth’s 7 Billion.

During a town hall meeting on LinkedIn, its CEO was ambitious to convey its vision i.e. to connect people to people, and people to opportunities.

Now we have the way (technology that connects millions at 2nd and 3rd degree separation), but we lack the will.

I heard of a new book entitled “Lean Start-ups”. The author mentioned “rentorship” of the means of production (Google Adwords, Amazon rack space etc…).

Even when the barriers to entry (means of production) are lowered, new entrants still get cold feet (catch 22: low consumer confidence leads to low spending, hence reduces the size of the pie, in turn, weakens the pull factor).

Even our Greek demi-gods need bail-out.

In education, we heard of “Waiting for Superman“.

Now, it’s waiting for Superman everywhere from EU zone to the O zone.

No, I don’t have a 555 plan to come to the rescue. It’s all in the unwinding.

And this takes time and belt-tightening (the 60’s protest was a rage against the machine i.e. inhumane,

now Occupy WS couldn’t articulate its distress i.e. wanting things back to the way it used to be in).

One thing is clear: we are in this together (dark side of globalization).

Vacationers from Europe couldn’t afford to travel to Hawaii. A resort in Hawaii got shut down (Michael Dell lost a lot of money there along with his Santa Monica hotels).

A Chinaman decided to shop in France (instead of Florida).  A Filipino street vendor just got flooded and went under. A Korean caterer LA tweets about his lunch site. And a Vietnamese man tweaks his latest app to share photos (Color) while Japan nuclear power plants striked a deal for two more reactors along the Vietnam coasts (this time, with Fukushima lessons learned).

There will be a lot of sorting out inside our hot and crowded sandbox.

The age of oligarchy has just dawned, not only in broadband, but in all sectors.

We can’t remember and choose among too many offerings (as BRIC countries export themselves e.g Tata in England, Huawei in TX).

Consumers always say they want more choices, while in reality, they pick the default option (organ donors in Europe were too lazy to opt out ).

So we are back to our roots (As of this writing re-shoring is on the rise with Albany getting $4 B pledge for chip facilities, and Pitts a huge endowment).  After all, America got talent, right!

I read somewhere that Youtoo is doing just that: to offer everyone a chance to submit their own video and to broadcast their 15-seconds of fame.

There will be enough bandwidth for everyone. Everyone is a star, because each has lived a wonderful life. Irreplaceable and invincible.

When your heart still beats, the cursor still blinks, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. There are zillion of stars in the Universe whose 7 Billion are here on Spaceship Earth, wading water to school, landing a plane at near miss, or coding all night to finish version n.0.

There is no better time to live, to invent and to round people out of their slumber. Victim no longer. Victor all the way. Brain bubble is the kind that never bursts. What’s your 555 plan?

Inertia and urge

In business parlance, we call them “entrenchment” and “creative destruction”. Find a niche, dig in. By the time you crossed “valley of death”, someone had already elbowed in to eat your lunch.

As Venture Capitalists scour the globe looking for “the” deal, they find new energy and risk-taking in places like Rwanda, Indonesia and Israel, the new “BRICS“. Emerged out of the ash of the Great Recession, these countries offer a unique proposition: invest in us for we got talent, nerve and market.

Since history can only be understood backward and not forward (a need for spices and to dispel “Earth-is-square” theory drove Columbus to stumble upon America), we can’t manufacture another version of post WWII American Dream. Whatever shape it will take, post-recession wise, one will likely find “gems” in the most unlikely places (GE and MSN in India, or “frankenfish” farmed in China bio-lab).

After reading Sarah Lacy‘s book about start-ups in emerging countries (Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky), I felt as if “Independence Day” were celebrated else where, and not in the US.

Web eco-sphere and capital flow (as in the case of hyper-Brazil) are tilted to smaller countries: lower barriers to entry, greater access to broadband and micro-funding.

To jump-start a project, one needs more than an urge to get rich. In most cases illustrated in the book, it has a cause or personal narrative to underline the efforts. Innovator’s dilemma implies a balancing act between preserving the status quo and feeding the creative urge.

If not, someone else will and will do you in.

It’s called Progress. It’s called evolution. Climbing the pyramid of need and innovation. Unplug the respirator and move into the “incubator”. I have lived on both sides of the world, one more risk-taking, and the other,  safety. It’s as if we have reached a plateau in “subduing the Earth”. Columbus, welcome to America, now go home. Take another lesson in adventure and entrepreneurship elsewhere. Maybe we haven’t failed enough. But it’s time to finish the race. Inertia and urge. Let the urge overtake the inertia.

The genius of LinkedIn

Verifiable profiles.

Matching up people of similar professional stature and standing.

Enlarging the network beyond geographical boundaries.

Crowdsourcing that creates valuable content and demographics.

Most solid Who’s Who list on Earth.

In and of itself, LinkedIn could be the greatest company on the planet, if all members contribute their wisdom and help second degree connection connect. The content from various discussion boards by itself invaluable since these were experience from the trenches.

Personally, due to the volatility nature of my post dot.com telecom career, LinkedIn helps me stay in touch with past colleagues who themselves moved around in or outside of telecom.

LinkedIn is poised to grow into one of the biggest online professional continuing education sites , if it wants to. A gold mine for HR and talent management.

Even in this 8% unemployment environment, it still commands decent IPO. Wait until the next convergence i.e. rise of the rest, then we will see the true value of “first to the field” advantage of LinkedIn.

Remember, when President Clinton was dancing at his inaugural ball (Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow),

there were only 50 web pages in the world. Now, LinkedIn itself has millions and counting (and each of us tends to our own as if it were our “FarmVille” garden). It’s our personal WikiMEdia, since each of us has a narrative worth telling, a horn worth tooting, a puzzle yet to emerge and a life worth connecting to.

Random thoughts on Earth Day

An urban restaurant “closed the loop” by planting its own vegetables on roof-top garden, using bio-waste from its kitchen. Welcome to post-industrialized environment. A gym owner powered most of his appliances using energy generated from their Stairsmasters. Finally, the emergence of sharing-a-couch and sharing-a-ride economy (rule of thumb: if sharing stuff, they must be above $100 and small enough to be shipped around).

In Cognitive Surplus, the author listed the means, the motive and the way of sharing.

We have surplus and demand since day one. We just don’t have a way to match the two.

Now we do. It’s like stores who place wet towels at the entrance, so shoppers can wipe the carts.

Same with cities who have trash cans conveniently placed on the sidewalk litter bag for dog walkers.

Take care of nature, and in turn, nature will take care of us.

One consistent element from cradle to the grave, is Mother Nature.

You might shop at a supermarket, an open market or eating out, the chain might merge or be bought out, but the produce still came from the ground, fertilized or organic.

Whether your expressed wish is to be buried or cremated, it’s the Earth which will eventually welcome us home.

My brother called me the other day while visiting our parents’ graves. He must be moved  by their side to remember his youngest brother. Earth has always been tolerant of human many attempts to cultivate it, dig a hole in it, or bomb it. Until it trembles to remind us who has the last say.

I am no animist (although back in Vietnam, people tend to brand their products using Bee – for phone, Cat- for cigarette, Tiger – for beer, Elephant – for rice; see my Vietnam brands blog), but I root for CricKet, after learning that my former boss is now working at that company. CricKet tries to do community projects besides selling phones. At some point in life, we must realize we are inter-connected. And that the Native American did have a good philosophy: nurture nature, nature nurtures you. I promise not to use water bottle or plastic bag today, and if I have to, it’s for picking up the trash with my daughter who has Earth Day off from school.

Joy of the season

If you haven’t discovered it by now, then let me remind you that children are the joy of the season.  Each day is a gift, and it is gift-wrapped with giggles and songs. I felt rejuvenated because of teenage tunes that I would otherwise have not known (Firework, Teen- age dream, The only one in the world).

The adult world forces us to take the “play” aspect out of the equation. But “play” is the main ingredient for innovation. It engages us, to spend time instead of “doing” time. Successful people, when interviewed about their secret sauce, always recommend us to follow our passion, then money will come.

Tell that to the Venture Capitalist near you (especially in this post-Recession era).

I admire film makers. These are people who won’t settle for second best. “Just one more take for my mom”.

They kept at it, until it’s perfect.

During post-editing, with the right sound track and cut-aways, they can evoke emotions, and yes, get us teary.

We did, at the closing scene of 24 hour, where Jack Bauer reminded Cloe when they first met (and what a journey they had taken together at CTU).

It’s not the journey, it’s the joy of travel.

If you don’t feel mad then you probably won’t feel happy. They are two sides of the same coin.

Even when our kids drive us crazy sometimes, I’d rather hear my kids singing along to the radio than any other sound on Earth. You bet I did not have to travel far to Concert Hall to feel moved. It’s here at home.

It’s here in my heart. It’s here in me, or to be exact, the extension of myself.

Each day is a gift. Sing it, share it and savor it. When you like something, time goes by fast. I know full well, I will only hear “teenage dream” long enough before another hit  comes along. But it’s OK, every song will have to make space for the one behind it. So is our life, enriched but then replaced by young ones’.

Mars or marble

Have you submitted your name to be shuttled up to Mars?  Space and sea travel or your names on Mars and not marble. This is to show our preference for progress over permanence  – technology over religion.

While it’s good to sit on one of the benches with our parent’s names “in memory of…”, it’s better still for our grandchildren to travel in space to look for ours on Mars.

I found my parent’s graves without a hitch. Right here on spaceship Earth.

In the Far East, people want to travel back to where their ancestors were buried (as of this edit, I have just stepped on a bunch of fake dollars, burnt during an early morning funeral).

Thus, “the Last Train Home” documentary about Chinese factory laborers trying to get home for New Year via train, plane or automobile (their version of White Christmas).

Modernity forces huge displacement. South-South movement will be next, not Earth to Outer space (Indian mobile phone companies are buying up Middle Eastern phone companies to cater to fast growing African markets, while Vietel engineers are rebuilding Haitian and Myanmar telecom infrastructure).

When you are uprooted, your sense of identity suffers. One used to be known by his/her relationship in a communal network. Now, with new “ID“, he/she is known by an employee number. Welcome to KFC, how may I take your order.

With industrialization comes frustration (discontent): who is going to move in those Shanghai towers , and who will have to relocate to make room for the 5th-ring highway?

Uprooted dreamers.

No place to go back to. No bragging rights for aging parents e.g. “my son went to the city and came back a millionaire”.  Bentley in Russia, Ford in China. Wealth shift. G-20+ (make sure Brazil is included, since they know how to party).

For years, we saw a steady rise of “emerging countries”, but we still resort to yesterday’s play book. (Remember the Yugo joke?).

The poor was materially poor, but not in spirit or intelligence. From a near-zero base, the only way for emerging countries to go is to “emerge” i.e. create better-paying jobs, while union and progress in the West , once a blessing, now a hindrance in this post-Recession recovery.

Darwin was right: survival favors the most adaptive. Instead of fighting for a seat on “the Last Train”, those smart entrepreneurs already built alternate-energy bullet trains. It’s not your names on Mars, it’s the challenge to think beyond the marble which for centuries was the last stop for even the most famous of names. A Roman Emperor once hired an assistant, whose main job is to remind him every so often that: “Your Majesty, you will die soon”.  Memento mori.

Rare Earth beats

If you want to set the tone for the whole day, pop in Rare Earth collection which opens with a 22-minute long Get Ready followed by I Just Want to Celebrate. The name has nothing to do with current dispute between China and Japan for those planned-scarcity elements.

Get ready to celebrate.

Dream, dream, dream.

Back in the early 70’s, amidst America’s recession, oil crisis, Watergate and Vietnam, at least we got the beat (while pushing those huge Detroit automobiles inch by inch in gas line) and all sorts of movement for change (women rights, civil rights and rare species rights).

Those dudes got hair. And a slight mistrust of government conduct in world affairs (Iranian hostage crisis 1.0).

Fast forward to today’s early voting at the poll. (BTW, they are re-releasing Back to the Future series on Blu-Ray). It is said that France’s protest and Britain’s austerity foreshadow America’s future. Or worse off, Japan’s lost decade. Frantically, policy makers such as Chairman of the Fed are crunching numbers (consumer spending dropped below 70 per cent, hum, not good. What can we do to stimulate Christmas spending? Confidence index at 50, hum! We need to get it to 90) Well, we need those rare earth elements to make electronic components).

In case people forget, America has always moved forward despite setbacks. Just because it is based on checks-and-balances doesn’t mean paralysis of analysis. There is an Opinion piece in the NYT  about our corroded water system. Out of sight, out of mind.

The water department is going to shut down our neighborhood water today. It is advised that we boil our water after it is back on.

There it is. I get ready to celebrate, another day of living (with or without water in America) in Third World America (Huffington).

If I remember correctly, the Obama administration said they were opened to wiki-ideas on how to reduce unemployment (job creation).

And people have opined left and right about clean tech, smart appliances, infrastructure upgrade etc…

Nothing seems to be working. Meanwhile, large companies such as GE, IBM and COke continue to shift their workload overseas where tax incentives are irresistible. According to some accounts, GE paid zero tax for its operation in the US a few years back. I am sure it paid a lot for tax lawyers to figure that out.

So the dudes keep pushing the automobiles, except this time, it’s 40 yrs since our favorite band debut its Rare Earth collection. Get ready, I just want to celebrate. Back to the Future. Selective past is always best

when the future is uncertain. Then I understood the luring smell of a Thanksgiving turkey. It’s like mom’s cooking when you come home after being away in college. It’s the only constant in a not too favorably changing world. You know what CD I am going to play to celebrate another day of living in Amerika. Dream, dream, dream. A portrait of America Before and After Recession could be used for weight loss advertisement. People and cars both get slimmed down. Surprisingly, Rare Earth stood the test of time especially the drum solo part. It serves as a benchmark. That’s the America I first learned to admire, similar to the way Fareed described his version of America when still in India. Maybe it can still be for millions, if we can figure out the beat.