One in the Spirit

Baptism from February (sorry, no good pics from today)

The baptismal parties of the two candidates were a cross-section of the local community: Filipino, Caucasian, Indian and Hispanic. The congregation that gathered to witness the sacrament comprised a half-dozen additional groups that the classifiers and categorizers painstakingly enumerate to track societal health. Such distinctions fell away before the baptismal font.

During the sermon the priest spoke about the trial of George Zimmerman and the death of Trayvon Martin. Both men acted out of fear, he said, and saw what the other represented, not who they were in their entirety. Perfect love casteth out fear, say the Scriptures (1 John 4:18). Easy to say, but very, very difficult to put into practice.

Three Rules of Exceptional Companies

Exceptional companies "think different" from others. According to Deloitte researchers, they follow three rules:

1. Better before cheaper: Compete on differentiators other than price.
2. Revenue before cost: Drive superior profitability with higher prices or higher volumes, not lower cost.
3. There are no other rules: Change anything/everything in order to abide by the first two rules.

A modern spin on Emerson's aphorism:

Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.

Keep making the mousetrap better, and don't raise prices too much while you're doing it.

Neither Man Could be "Guilty"

Univ. of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse:

All the uproar about race is overwhelmed by the more mundane criminal process matter of burden of proof. I hope the general public understands that to acquit Zimmerman is not to say that Trayvon Martin is guilty — or even that he did anything wrong. It could be that each man misperceived the other and felt that his life was threatened. I understand the feeling that since Martin paid with his life for that mistake that Zimmerman should also pay, just to square it up. But that feeling can't rule the criminal process.

To Greater Heights

Technology turns mediocre and non-talents into decent performers across a broad range of human activities (athletics, music, architecture, medicine, and analytics, to name but a few examples). But what about those at the top? If they fail to adapt, like some silent movie stars when talkies were introduced, they'll be left behind.

The top talents who do embrace the new technologies raise their chosen profession to greater heights. We are now used to listening to singers who record both melody and harmony in one song by using basic audio technology; and we have seen musicians show off their versatility by playing several instruments in a band and mashing the sound together in the studio.

We must confess that we are in awe of the "live loopers"---those who merge various sound tracks in real time. Below is a quiet, but brilliant example performed by Hilo-born ukulele artist Brittni Paiva.

Pake Is as Pake Does

Pake: pronounced "pah-kay".

1. This word is only commonly known in Hawaii. Person who is frugal. Someone who will not make a purchase at an excessive price. A person reluctant to spend money.

2. Word used as a sort of ethnic slur in Hawaii to describe a Chinese person.

Local beer that ended up costing $15.

The driver thought that it would be a good idea to cruise down Kalakaua Avenue at night to check out Waikiki. When they approached a famous hotel, one of the passengers said that she wanted to go into the gift shop to use a hotel gift card that she had been carrying around for months.

The driver offered to drop off the passengers and return in an hour.

Just leave the car with the valet; we'll be done in a few minutes.

After they disembarked, the driver gawked at the fee schedule (excluding tips) on the valet claim check:

With restaurant validation $6
Hotel Guests w/ no validation $15
Non-guests w/ no validation $50

The whole exercise appeared especially useless when it was discovered that the gift card ($42 remaining balance) could only be used at the restaurant or bar. And so it was that, in true pake fashion, the tired passengers and driver sat down to have a drink that they didn't really want or need in order to get the claim check validated.

The tab, including parking and tips, was $30.

The evening wasn't a total loss, however, because they did get to use the gift card. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

A Rising Tide in San Mateo County

Residents in our home County of San Mateo had the highest average salary in the nation during the fourth quarter of 2012. [bold added]

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics last week reported that the average weekly wage in San Mateo County, California in the fourth quarter of 2012 rose an astounding 107% from a year earlier, to $3,240. That’s the equivalent of $168,000 a year, and more than more than [sic] 50% higher than the next highest county, New York County (better known as Manhattan), which came in at $2,107 a week, or roughly $110,000 a year.

According to the WSJ the county's stellar performance was driven by an average $1.1 million paid to 6,200 "computer systems design services" workers. The $1.1 million average in turn was skewed by Facebook employees recognizing stock-option income.

San Mateo County's top rank is temporary. In 2013, absent IPO income, our wage levels will settle down to normal; nevertheless they may crack the top-ten list. That's still impressive, considering that there are 3,140 counties in the United States.

Bay Area counties San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Francisco are all in the top ten (source: BLS)

Free Apps

Ten free apps at iTunes

On most birthdays the honorees receive gifts, but on the App Store's fifth anniversary (has it been only five years?) Apple is giving away ten of its most popular paid Apps. Your humble observer couldn't resist downloading two games, Badland and Infinity Blade 2, plus Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. Unlike supposedly "free" games that force the player to buy upgrades, weapons, chips, etc. with real money in order to advance ("in-app purchases"), these games don't have that feature.

I was going to hit the ground running at the beginning of 2013's second half, but I guess I'll have to put that off for another week....