Shopping for furniture lately. Stumbled across the term “conversation set”. The conversation set consist of two chairs and a small table. Plenty are available online and in the stores. I’m looking and thinking that we need more conversations than conversation sets in this country.
I would call my Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV “the ultimate driving machine” if the slogan was not taken by BMW. The engine, the drive-train, the electrical motor, the suspension work in perfect sync to deliver very powerful and smooth ride at an excellent mpg (about 25 on average). There is one flaw tough that my 14 y.o. daughter Tina discovered in a natural and innocent way in the conversation below one morning when I was driving her to school.
Me: I ‘m very nervous driving today.
T: Why is that?
Me: Your Mom left a light on and drained the battery last night.
T: So…
Me: I recharged the battery this morning, however the car turns itself off at every red light and needs battery power to restart. I don’t know if the slightly recharged battery will last after so many restarts.
T: Why would the car turn itself off at every red light.
Me: The car turns itself off to save gas and protect the environment, because it is hybrid and because it is intelligent.
T: If it is so “intelligent” why wouldn’t it prevent the battery from draining overnight in the first place ?
The moral of the story is that no one can be brilliant in everything. Toyota produced brilliant driving machine, but the intelligence and human interface is something others are doing better.
Money is like knowledge. One doesn’t know what he is missing when he has too little and the one who has a lot realizes that much more is needed.
Our whole world will turn into chaos and dust according to the physical principle of entropy. Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, Michelangelo’s David, Homer’s Odyssey and the paper describing the very theory of entropy among many other things will disappear. It takes energy to keep things in order. As time goes the energy of the Sun depletes and we are getting closer to the moment when there will be no energy left to keep atoms and molecules together and everything will turn into chaos and space dust. One may argue that this time is very far in the future. I think that the process has started looking at my kids’ rooms.
I’m chopping tomatoes for a salad today. Not from the store. Straight from the garden. We like diversity so we have all kinds – large , small, red, pink, purple and even black tomatoes. Some are nice looking like coming from a ketchup ad and others are ugly with lumps and warts. I’ve noticed that those that look best on the outside are not always good inside and the ugly ones sometimes are wonderful inside. Like people are.
I quote by memory here “…for every product there will be someone who will find a way to make it cheaper and of lesser quality…” . It is the favorite of businesses that sell expensive stuff.
While I agree, I think that I see a trend in the marketplace that calls for a modification to this quote “For every product there will be someone who will manage to find a way to make it cheaper, of lesser quality and to charge more for it. “
I was rebelling against the establishment when I was young. I am the establishment now.
Producers Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom make money by producing a sure-fire flop in the Broadway show “The Producers”
Microsoft generated billions in profits by selling the “flop” OS called Vista. Than even more billions with Windows 7 that allegedly fixes the Vista problems. It is called a “recall” in the auto industry but not in the software industry obviously.
O tempora! O mores!
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite
Pardon my French. It doesn’t work. Take it from someone like me who lived for 40 years in a Communist Country that heavily promoted this slogan of the French Revolution, meaning “Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood”.
Capitalism is unfair, ferocious, brutal, grim, cruel but it seems that it is the only thing we have that works somehow.
Why not turn to the basic principles of capitalism when talking healthcare reform.
1. Demand and supply.
More supply cheaper product. It’s that simple. I am yet to hear a proposal to increase the number of doctors and nurses from all those debates over the healthcare reform . Invest in education, provide scholarships and grants, make it more affordable, reduce the dreaded 12 years of schooling and produce more doctors and nurses. Do what Google, Cisco and Microsoft did in technology – import talent. Break the establishment, that has no interest of more doctors. Get more doctors and nurses in this country and see the cost of the healthcare go down. As far as quality goes a doctor doesn’t need to be a fat corrupt cat to be a good doctor. Read “The Citadel” by Archibald Cronin for more on the subject.
2. Market economy
see above
3. Promote competition
see above
4. Moderate regulations
No doubt regulation is needed. However keep in mind that simple things work, complex don’t. Come up with 10 pages of regulations not 2,000. You can’t cover every possible aspect of it with 2,000 or 20,000 pages. Set up the frame and let the state and local authorities and the courts finish up the picture.
Imagine that Mr. Obama needs to sell the health reform to investors to raise money. No way with 2,000 pages reform plan Mr. President. Ask the venture capitalists and they will tell you to come back with 10 pages business plan.
5. Law enforcement
Just heard on TV that IRS is offering up to $10M rewards for information on tax cheats. How many nurses and administrators will report health system abuse if offered a reward? Many, many I think. Put some doctors in jail and keep the rest honest.
6. Reduce legal expense in the system
see my Blog posting “Cherche la attorney” below
Disclaimer. I am computer engineer, entrepreneur, CEO and investor so I might be the last person who needs to voice opinion about the health reform. However the health care like the computer is made for the people. I will gladly hear doctor’s opinion about computers so that we built better ones.
Everyone comments on iPad nowadays, so why not me.
iPad is a giant iPhone. Many are disappointed, they expected more. Apple stock is down. Gloomy predictions abound. Excuse me. What did you expect? You don’t know, do you.
Yes, iPad is a giant iPhone and this is exactly what I want. I am using Fujitsu tablet since the 90-ies and I am not impressed at all. It gets really hot , the battery lasts couple of hours at best and the screen is hard to see in daylight. Now bear in mind that Fujitsu is one of the best out there. I tried the Kindle and I didn’t like it mostly for the restriction to be a book reader only. On the other hand my iPhone delivers on all my expectations and it is the device of choice for most of my activities that do not need large screen and convenient keyboard. It seems that iPad fills those voids.
iPad provides (allegedly) versatility, lightweight, long battery life and most important – all the applications one may ever need. Equipped with G3, WiFi, GPS, BlueTooth, accelerator sensor and a touch screen, it creates the perfect platform for millions developers worldwide to create the application you need. Believe me they will create that application you need so badly.
I am very bullish on iPad and I predict a great success. It will set the standard for the tablet and portable computing and many will follow in iPad’s steps. The “pure” e-readers like Kindle will be pushed out by the versatility of the new standard set by iPad.
While there is nothing revolutionary in the iPad as far as technology goes, the revolution already happened and it is called third party applications. Apple is far ahead of everyone else in this regard, which is most important.
My comments are based on information in the media about iPad. I have never touched one. I am very interested to see the screen and the virtual keyboard and than I will comment more.
Meanwhile mark my predictions and the date. Let’s revisit it one year from now.
Disclaimer. I do not own Apple stock at the time of this publication nor do I have any other vested interest direct or indirect in Apple.