Beijing Traffic Jam

You've probably left a concert and been stuck in traffic so awful it took you hours to get out, and maybe when you were just leaving there was no one to direct the flow of traffic. Compounded by the fact that the shirt you just bought starts to look like a rip off since you probably paid about 30 dollars for something you could have ordered custom made and much better quality; you might start to get upset. More frustrating yet is that nobody really observes the rules of the road on a grass field when more often than not there's still a hundred drunk sheep and no shepherd. Think of how frustrated you were. Or how far back you left your car on the highway at the first last Phish concert and how little of that show you actually enjoyed because you actually left your car unattended in the company of presumably thousands of drug addicts who might not realize that they still can't fly. But they probably tried to.

That's what driving in China is like more less. But a lot more crowded. They have lines on the road and signs indicating speed limits and dangers, but really it's every driver for themselves. Driving is just an extension of proper self cultivation so if you get into an accident it's probably because you weren't paying attention. If you think traffic is bad in New York, or LA, or DC, think again. I've seen my cab driver turn a three lane highway into a four lane highway and I've seen congestion circumvented by drivers using the sidewalk. That's generally against the law, but more people seem to think they can get away with it there. I can't imagine what would happen after being stuck there for nine days but I can imagine paying for a bottled water what I might pay for a small cup of beer at Yankees' stadium. Check out the source article at Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/23/china-traffic-jam-enters-_n_690742.html

The Digital Revolution in Publishing

Lots of dark wood, tall ceilings, book shelves that require a ladder on a track to reach the top shelf, a desk with one of those desk calenders, some kind of expensive pen, and a ping pong table. This is where I see myself in the prime of my professional life. I don't need too big a home, but I sure would like to help build it with my own two hands, and that one room is all I really care about. When I read consumer reports and look at trends in the economy, with particular focus on Ipads and Kindles, my personal library/study/ping pong room seems a little old-fashioned and frankly kind of obnoxious. I still want it though, and maybe it's self-aggrandizing, or maybe I'm just looking for a more personal experience with my books, one that allows me to organize them in some auto-biographical manner that nobody else gets. Can't a guy have a study? Aren't we all entitled to some sanctuary where the only chaos that exists is the kind we allow?

Maybe not, but I think it's the logical next step to the CD collection I built in college. I'm proud to go through the physical copies of my favorite CDs and I look forward to continue building that collection as well. The truth is however, that the market likes the digital revolution. I was among an interesting group of kids in college who either had the first kind of Ipod or outright rejected them as obnoxious. We screamed cries of "My Ipod..." in the same vein that Milhaus might have screamed about losing his glasses in the Simpsons. I was the latter, my side lost, and now I see the same thing happening to books. Of course not till i started to build a collection of books that far exceeds that of the CDs I had in college. There is a difference now though. I look forward to embracing the Ipad and getting all my books online when it isn't so revolutionary anymore, and I think there are people throughout history who would agree with me. I'll site two figures who I've been studying up on lately.

The first is Benjamin Franklin, a founding father, inventor, the first secretary of state, and a self-made man. The ultimate American. The first American according to UT Austin professor H.W. Brands. A man who probably electrocuted himself a ton back in the day, and a man who made his career as a printer. It was new territory, a transitional period of course, and one with infinite possibilities. Franklin started his career in printing as a young man and was able to use his profession to propel himself to international fame. He was sardonic, witty, and very creative.

One of the products of this side of Franklin was a whole cast of fictional characters with back stories, the characters of course providing social commentary on American culture. Franklin also drew up a political cartoon in the mid 18th century with perhaps the first reference of the American colonies as being autonomous in the press. Ironically, he hoped to remain part of Britain for the majority of his life. He only supported revolution right before it happened. Look up "Join, or Die" and you'll see the image. It's hard to imagine that if Ben Franklin were alive today he would reject the movement of social media, and the accessibility of it in favor of the hard copy which immediately adds a number of costs including production and distribution. I would think Franklin might like to save his money.

Another figure who might have embraced the digital revolution already is the man to whom we owe our economic foundation to, Adam Smith. Some men value gold and some men letters. Of the men of letters, Smith wrote in Wealth of Nations published in 1776, "Before the invention of the art of printing, the only employment by which a man of letters could make anything by his talents, was that of a public or private teacher, or by communicating to other people the curious and useful knowledge which he had acquired himself: And this is still surely a more honourable, a more useful, and in general even a more profitable employment than that other of writing for a bookseller, to which the art of printing has given occasion."

Smith clearly thought printing would open a world of possibilities for these men of letters and would no doubt see opportunity with sites like facebook, twitter, youtube, and he might even have a blog if he were around today. Now that libraries of books and music might render my personal study/library/ping pong room 2/3 irrelevant, I wonder if I might just be happy with an Ipad and a ping pong table. I don't know exactly how the digital revolution is going to effect the future of America, or how the landscape might change because of it, but I remember hearing from my parents when I was a kid how lucky I was to have a school bus to take me to school and that they had to"walk a mile to and from school in a snowstorm". I created my own image of snow shoes and a blizzard that made it hard to see 3 feet ahead, and now I wonder if I'll tell my kids about how "I had to carry a bag full of books all day that weighed almost 40 pounds, so you're lucky to have that Ipad". I probably will when they ask me why I need to build shelves for the study. And I'll probably exaggerate. Give me a break. Can't a guy have a study?

The Return of the Middle Kingdom

China Daily has touched on a reality the United States should've started preparing for under the Nixon Administration. Instead the American public dismisses Nixon's Presidency citing the Watergate Scandal and maybe justly placing Richard Nixon's Presidency in the Hall of Mediocrity with a big asterisk. A really big asterisk. Ironically, Nixon knew what he was doing with China. Sort of. The logic behind opening relations with the Middle Kingdom was sound. At the time, they only had 750 million people which is about half of what they have today. They had developed and tested a nuclear bomb and the PRC had replaced the Republic of China on the United Nations Security Council. Since then, US-Sino relationship development has been shelved and ignored so long it would make Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seem premature.

We had fought one direct war with China in North Korea and then an indirect war with them in Vietnam. The cold war didn't end with the Vietnam War and it didn't end with the collapse of the Soviet Union, it got colder. Nixon knew that opening relationships with China was only the first step in courting a stable relationship with them. Ping-pong and pandas marked the beginning of a cultural exchange in the 1970s and then an exchange of scholars and businesses tightened our bond. The governments however remain at odds over territorial issues like Taiwan even though our opening of relationships with the PRC was dependent on the United States acknowledging that the conflict over Taiwan should remain an internal Chinese issue. They would not accept anything other than a direct acknowledgment of this and Nixon gave it to them.

So what's different about our relationship with China today? Technologically, the landscape has changed with companies like Google and Microsoft but since Google has proven itself to be incompatible with what the Chinese believe to be acceptable media practices, like preserving the strength of the government, the relationship suffers. In fact, between Google and the rising power of social media including blogging websites, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter, China might appear to be technologically irrelevant.

Then there's the issue with Taiwan. Most Americans don't think twice about calling Taiwan an independent nation but you'd have a hard time making friends with that kind of talk in Beijing. In fact, if you went to Tiananmen Square to talk about that with the Chinese you'd probably end up getting into an argument with someone who celebrated reunification as a holiday. Maybe. So then what else is new?

How about the economic "collapse" that's plummeted the United States' economy into the act between "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back". Not only is our economy doing less than stellar, the Chinese own a sizable portion of our debt. I'm not an economist but I think that means that if we start to pay it off the Chinese are going to benefit too. Should we be worried? Will there be a war? The Chinese are less devious than they're made out to be in the media. The nuclear bombs they developed were only made because we wouldn't take them seriously. The Chinese put on a good show, just think of the Olympics, and the extravagant 60th Anniversary of the PRC in 2009.

So where does the relationship go from here? It depends on how much our leaders know about the history of US-Sino relations. There is a logical progression which appears to be growing economic and educational and cultural ties, but don't expect that the governments should embrace each other because of those ties. Check out what the Chinese are saying in the English version of their People's Daily article.

The NBA needs more players like Lebron James.

If you're a New Yorker and you grew up with a poster of Patrick Ewing on your wall, you're probably pissed off, and for good reason. Lebron is among the greatest players in the NBA and he's not even in his prime yet. I prided myself on being a fan of Lebron simply because of his superior athleticism. After his decision on Thursday, I'd be compelled to say I think he's brilliant. There's no undoing it. He's leaving Cleveland, he's going to the Heat, not to Chicago where he'd probably have to change his number, and not New York the greatest stage in the world.

The Cavs owner called James' decision a "cowardly betrayal". Several fans have attacked James for leaving a team where he could be Jordan, and joining a team where he was Pippin, but this is in fact what the NBA needs. The past decade in the NBA has seen a new generation of players with baggier shorts, shorter tempers, and inflated egos. Lebron has shown humility, that he could be a part of something bigger and longer lasting than his own legacy. His home town might be "hurt" but it's resulted in a promise from the Cavs owner that should if nothing else incite all the other teams in the NBA to want to keep the 2010-2011 season interesting. Probably the boldest statement made in the NBA after a team has lost its star player just before his prime, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert said "I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING' WINS ONE."

This promise has me asking, why didn't you guarantee a victory when you had James? Instead of hoping and praying that he would stay just because it was his hometown. Maybe the NBA will wake up and maybe it'll be worth watching again now that everyone is out to make the trio of James, Wade, and Bosh a waste of Miami's money. Maybe.

Impending economic woes for the Middle Kingdom

China has a booming economy now. They are a world power, and they will be for quite a while. But not like people think. Having seen China's 60th anniversary firsthand while studying abroad I can tell you that the image they have in the media is carefully constructed. For the uninformed, 2009 was China's 60th birthday under the PRC. I saw the ceremony on tv from my dorm at Tsinghua University. Lot's of tanks, lots of soldiers, and lots of pleased leaders. At night, I joined many local Beijingers standing outside the south gate of the Forbidden City as fireworks lit up the sky above. Anyone who caught the Olympics saw how extravagant their show was but it's nothing more than that. China's economy is nothing to be afraid of. The bubble is about to burst. Check this out.

Video Gaming: Left For Dead?

Hobbies I never took up include: Pogs, Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Tomagachi, and Pokemon. These phenomena captivated many of my peers growing up and in some way I'm sure there's a reason each one became more successful than the last. I was never interested however, and the only thing that I may have in common with all the kids who were interested in those activities is that I play video games. I wasn't interested in acquiring slammers, or magic cards, or catching all of the pokemon. I just wanted to play games to pass my time and I found out that there were several different types of games that I was interested in playing over the course of 20 years. I never equated the above to video games because to me, these were fads, and they would die out.

I recently talked to a banker based out of San Antonio who made the assertion that video games would die out. The conversation started when I suggested that the gaming industry's growth over the years was phenomenal and that they were a sure investment for the future. He seemed to think otherwise and I couldn't understand. I looked at myself as a point of reference for the success of the video game industry. I am after all a 20 year customer, and I don't see any reason why I would stop buying games unless there were none left to buy. I would go so far as to guarantee myself as a lifetime customer for anyone doing market research on gamers.

I passed off the banker's comment as ridiculous until I read an article about one of the most important game creators today. Hideo Kojima, the creator of the "Metal Gear Solid" series, predicted the death of the console last week in Japan. As our society continues to grow in mobility with cell phones, and portable computers, and mobile internet service grows, Kojima predicts people are going to want to play their games whenever, and wherever, and not be restricted to the stationary console.

Personally, I like my consoles. I'll be putting them in my game room when I get one. A huge plasma screen television with all the available gaming consoles, a pool table, ping pong table, a dart board, poker table, and a fridge. Most likely I will not be bringing any kind of mobile phone with me to this mindless sanctuary either. Who would want to ruin a good thing like that? For the source article, click here.

Most Expensive Cities To Live In Updated

The economist has come out with the new list for most expensive cities to live in and having not seen this list in a few years, I'm a bit shocked at the results. The last time I checked was in 2005 when my geography professor cited a 2002 or so Economist in which Moscow topped off the list. Not that I plan on moving to any of these top ten cities anytime in the near future, except maybe Tokyo, but it's still interesting to see that Chicago and New York are the two most expensive cities in the United States not even making it into the top 35.

Beijing came in at #57 not surprisingly having moved up a single spot from the previous year. Where Beijing will be a decade from now it seems unlikely to speculate, but it would be a shock if it were to break into the top 35 on the list unless it begins to look more like Shanghai. With the World Expo going to Shanghai starting May 1st and ending October 31st it would seem that Shanghai would be higher on the list for tourists and visitors to China than its capital. If we assume a similar bounce to Beijing's Olympic bounce then Shanghai will most certainly be the place to be this summer, and considering the breeze that comes off the water, it would make for the perfect summer destination. And with the exotic image of its skyline, it could make you feel worlds apart from the rest of China.

Those with spoken Chinese skills should be advised, Shanghai has its own dialect of Chinese which isn't necessarily intelligible to Mandarin.

The Economist's List of Most Expensive Cities to Live In