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Showing posts from 2011

An experience of a lifetime

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Antha naal gnabakam ....

Memories of those days, goes the title of this post in Tamil. Alumni reunions are an American tradition. It was not very common in India, until recent years. You passed out of school and college - and that was that. You went your own way , kept in touch with a  few, lost touch with most and lived your own life.  Rarely did you return. But that trend is changing. A week ago, the 1961 batch from Madras Medical College held their 50th year reunion. Everybody was 70 plus in age, obviously. Some 60 odd batchmates attended, it is reported. They came from far and wide. They went back to their old classrooms . They went back to their labs. They sang the songs of their days. Including this one (sorry its in Tamil) which was actually released in their year in college.  They ribbed their mates as they used to do so long ago. In short, they had a whale of a time. What is it that attracts people to reunions. After all they have gone so far a distance that they may not even be able to relate to the

The beginning of the end ?

It was a long time coming. In retrospect its actually surprising that the backlash is starting only now. The backlash against email, I mean. A few days ago Atos Origin, a French IT company, started the ball rolling by announcing that it would ban email in the company by 2014. Now Volkswagen unions have struck a deal with the company that emails to their unionised employees would be switched off after office hours. This had to happen. E Mail addiction is an extremely serious epidemic as this blogger observed here . It is a global pandemic of epic proportions. Walk into any office or meeting - you would see rows and rows of people peering into their screens or thumbing away at their Blackberries. Eerie scenes more suited for George Orwell's 1984. Its well known that more than half the emails you get are completely useless. And you get a LOT of emails. For some reason your genes are so programmed that you have to see each and every one of them 15 nanoseconds after they arrive. The

Books For Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Throughout my life, I never like reading book of any kind. The only type of book that I read was text book so that I can get through Singapore education system. However, there are two books that caught my attention. Who Moved My Cheese? When I started the 'new' family business, my brother and I were the executive directors and my father was the 'adviser'. As our business grew each year, I had to deal with more employees and managed everybody problems, needs and expectations. I was stressed out minding everyone business and making sure that the business ran smoothly. Through one of my friend's recommendation, I bought the book 'Who Moved My Cheese?'. You may ask why this book as I am the one moving the cheeses around in the company. To make a business successful, we need to understand that the most important asset is the people. Without happy and committed employees, the company will not be successful. This book actually provided me some insights on the chang

A classy speech

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Rahul Dravid, India's elder statesman of cricket, delivered the Bradman Oration at Canberra last week. If you want to hear a classy, graceful, charming, stylish speech, look no further. Class, grace, charm and style define the man and perhaps it is but natural, that his speech was all of that.  It is about cricket, of course, but even if you are not a cricket fan, listen to it if you have the time - this is how a speech should be made. Its 40 mts long, but I really wished it wouldn't end. Rahul's speech follows in the lines of another classic speech - from Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka, when  he delivered the Cowdrey lecture in July. Another gem, you can listen to here . English oration is alive and well in the colonies, atleast in the sporting world !

What I did with my new found wealth (2010)

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Another year flew past and I am glad that the company I am managing grew its sales by another 15% again in 2009. Fulfilling our profit obligation to the business buyer, I was paid in full the second installment from the escrow account in Jan 2010. With the second payout, my target for 20K passive income seem to be in my sight. Feeling comfortable with my bonds investment, I decided to load up a few more bonds issues. The following are the bonds that I had chosen for 2010: Temasek Bond (10yrs, 4.3%) DBS Preference Share (perpetual, 4.7%) Olam Bond (3yrs, 4.1%) Olam USD Bond (10yrs, 7.5%) Hyflux Bond (5yrs, 5%) Sembcorp Ind Bonds (5yrs, 3.73%) Arief (3yrs, 4.75%) I started experimenting with equity linked notes (ELN) and I was sold the following benefits: get interest yield of about 7% to 10% if equity price on redemption day is above strike price.  get the underlining equity at a price that I am comfortable with if the price is below strike price + interest I was quite comfortable with

The Business December 14th 2011, "Nato Green and Friends" Edition

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This Wednesday, we welcome back one of our most beloved and most frequent visitors, Nato Green, along with two brand-new guests! Nato Green is the creator of Iron Comic, the co-founder of Laughter Against the Machine, a prolific HuffPo blogger, and a Jew who cures his own bacon. He's such a regular friend to the show that he's earned the coveted moniker of "The Fifth Businessman," a title previously shared by Stu Sutcliffe and Brian Epstein. We also welcome Sammy Obeid, a UC Berkeley graduate and nationally-touring comedian who was the first comedian to ever appear on the Food Network telling jokes. He placed third in the SF International Comedy Competition and won Best of the Fest at both the Arab-American Comedy Festival and the Out Of Bounds Festival in Austin. Though Sammy does five sets a night, every night, this is somehow his first visit to The Business. It's long overdue, but we are glad to have him.   Finally, all the way from the City of

One small step for Huawei, one giant leap for China

As is often the case, the seemingly trivial turns out to be a giant event. I suspect this is the case with Huawei's announcement , buried in the back pages of financial newspapers that it would no longer pursue new business in Iran. So what , you might ask.  Read on. One of the fundamental principles in China is the total separation of politics  & economics. It has one of the freest of capitalist systems (at least for Chinese) and one of the most controlled of political systems. In foreign affairs, China has diligently pursued a policy of complete non interference in political matters. Its policy in Africa is unique in history. It is rapidly colonising economically, but scrupulously keeping away from interference in local politics. It will do business with anybody - God, Archangel Gabriel, Satan, Devil whoever, as long as there is business to be done. Before you denounce it, consider that there is some merit in this approach - the Chinese say political matters are for the citiz

Bucket list & Dream List

When I travel, there are nothing to do on a plane except watching all the movies on Kris World entertainment. One of the movie I like was the Bucket List. This show set me thinking what are the things in life that I hope to do or experience before we leave this world. I drafted my bucket list about 4 years ago: buy a sports car (porsche would be nice) :) travel with my family and parents at least twice a year :) built my dream house (semi-d, land area > 4K sq ft) :) retire at 40 with passive income of at least 20K / month :) plan my will and probate just in case I kick the bucket for whatever reason :) get my 2A/B bike licence :( travel to all the exotic places in Asia (e.g. Cambodia (Ankor Wat), Lombok, Myanmar, Nepal (Kathmandu), Vietnam (HCM, Hanoi...) :( learn to dance (never been on the dance floor) ;) Learn scuba diving :( start a business which I enjoy (must break even) :( provide guidance and support to my children if they want to be a tow kay :( I am fortune to achieved som

What I did with my new found wealth (2009)

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I was very STUPID to promised a growth of 10% every year for the next four years when we sold our company in early 2008. Any short fall will deducted from our payout held in an escrow account.  Having work real hard in 2008, I managed to grow our company (or rather their company) sales by more than 15% in both the top and bottom line. It was a great relief to me as my payout will be deducted if the company missed the targets. Having hit our targets, I received my first installment from the escrow account. 2009 is the year I started to subscribe to Business Times and I started to pay attention to what was happening in the global financial world. Engineer by training and entrepreneur by circumstances, I had totally no experience in financial investment. To overcome this weakness, I decided to engage the service of the private bank for my financial planning. With my new bank account, I suddenly become a 'accredited investor'. It is still a joke to me today as I still do not unders

What I did with my new found wealth (2008)

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What to do with my new found wealth? I am used to running a business operation and managing risk when I was a entrepreneur but I have zero experience in managing my new found asset, CASH. This is what I did in 2008. bought myself a piece of land and build my dream house bought my wife a car paid up all loans, big and small and achieve loan free status opened a fixed deposit account bought some bonds for passive income Portfolio : 2008 In 2008, I had a contractual obligation to work and guarantee the top and bottom line for the buyer. As I have a full time job commitment, I was unable to paid much attention to my portfolio. Thus I placed the bulk of my bet on corporate bonds like DBS 5.75% preference share, Capital Mall notes and JP Morgan Asia Confidence notes. My passive income was about $11K/mth by end 2008 and the following is my investment portfolio in December 2010.  My target was to build up a passive income of 20K/mth before 2012. 2008 is considered one of the darkest period for

The Business December 7th 2011, "Miles QUE?!?" Edition

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Who's gonna be at the Dark Room Wednesday? Miles K! Miles QUE?!? Who's a witty comic comin' up in the Bay? Miles K! Miles QUE?!? Who's website is http:// cleverthingstosay.com/ Miles K! Miles QUE?!? Miles K. Stenehjem, that's que! To quote East Bay artist Kaitlin McSweeny: "Miles K. Stenehjem is an elegant satirist with a wit born of sensitive desperation and fearless experience, in my opinion a sort of Oscar Wilde of this time, if Oscar Wilde could lay down some pretty sweet freestyle rhymes and deliver stand-up performances that make even today's recession-depressed audiences gasp and guffaw." Miles has also recently opened for Andy Kindler, has a show of his own called "Everything Jamboree" and now joins us on our humble show. Sean is taking a well deserved victory lap around Los Angeles this week, but Chris, Bucky and the newly returned Alex will be on hand to stoke your hot comedy giggly-fire. As always we

Convoluted Views about Media Ownership Inhibit Effective Policy

I was recently reviewing the effectiveness of media ownership policies and regulations and was struck by the limited success they have achieved during the past 50 years in Western nations. There seem to be two central problems with ownership regulation efforts: ownership really is not the issue that we are trying to address through policy and we have convoluted views of ownership. Media ownership is not really what concerns us, but is a proxy of other concerns. What we are really worried about is interference with democratic processes, manipulation of the flow of news and information, powerful interests controlling public conversation, exclusion of voices from public debate, and the use of market power to mistreat consumers. It is thus the behavior of some of those who own media rather than the ownership form or extent of ownership that really concerns us. This is compounded because media practitioners, scholars, and social critics have highly convoluted views about ownership and mos

Of adjectives that don't apply

What's common to beautiful, popular, controversial, helpful, successful, deserving and proud ? Besides being adjectives ? What's common is that they don't apply to this blog. Nothing here is beautiful, popular ......; you get the drift. When you are tagged to apply those adjectives to your blog, you have to really scratch your head. Tagging used to be a rage three years ago when blogging itself was a rage. Blogging is now in a steep and precipitous decline. The ladies who started deeply intellectual tags that asked "What are you wearing" have all disappeared. Tags have naturally vanished. But Reflections , a star blogger started this tag and Preeti , a master blogger has tagged me with extremely affectionate words that have gone straight into my head. I was also tagged by a blogger I deeply respect and admire, and since she did me the honour of not linking my blog but simply saying incredibly kind words, I am doing so likewise. So I have force fitted the adjective

Too Young to Retire at 39?

What is the ideal age for retirement? For me, the ideal age is when we achieve financial freedom. The next question will be how much is enough for retirement? I define financial freedom as follow: yearly passive income > yearly expenses having emergency fund for unforeseen situations sufficient insurance for any critical illness or disability having sufficient fund for the children education ability to maintain current lifestyle I had done my due diligence on my check list and I had met all my conditions for retirement. All these conditions were met before I hit 40 years old. In fact, I had been planning my for my retirement for nearly four years before I decided to truly retire.  The the big day came when I 'lost' my day job in Nov 2011. My day job was a contractual obligation when my father, brother and I sold away our business in 2008. Although I am excited about my life turning point, I was never prepared for the following situation: What to fill in on the application fo

About myself

This is the first time I am blogging and it will basically tell my life story in achieving my dream life style. I was born into a fairly rich family and stayed in a semi-detach most of my life.  My father was a businessman and he owned a hardware distribution business with his business partner (my uncle). Business was successful and my younger brother and I never tasted hardship. My father was a businessman most of his life and he always provide us the best life he can afford. I still remembered him buying me a car just after I passed my driving license when I was just 19 yrs old. At that time, I was one of the very few JC students driving to school. I was enjoying life in JC1 and I nearly failed my promotional examination. One fine day, my father asked about my study and instead of giving me a scolding, he asked me to quit JC and help him in his business. I was a little shocked as he seldom talk to me or show concern about my study. Deep down in my heart, I knew I can easily get into

Toothbrushes and mobile phones

There are more people in the world today who own a mobile phone than a toothbrush. This may startle you, but its true, at least according to 60secondmarketer.com . There are 4 bn mobile phone users in the world. The annual sales of toothbrushes is 3.5 bn. This won't surprise you if you read the excellent book, Poor Economics , by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. My good friend Ravi, who often comments on this blog, very kindly gifted it to me and it makes fascinating reading.  It was named as the Financial Times Business book of the year . As the byline says, its a book about rethinking poverty and the ways to end it. The book destroys many myths about poverty and provides fascinating insights into the behaviour of the poor. Its no surprise then that they would rather own a mobile phone than a toothbrush. One of the big insights is that things that make life less boring are a priority for the poor. The  quote from Oucha Mbarbk, a poor Moroccan villager sums it all up "Oh, bu

The Business November 30th 2011, "Sylvan Spectacular!" Edition

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Tuesday night, Sylvan Productions has their final open improv show at the Dark Room. Wednesday, they're the guest of honor at The Business, as we say goodbye to our Dark Roommates, and say hello to a new era of SF comedy. If that weren't enough, we've also got comedians M att Gubser and O.J. Patterson - plus regular Businessmen Sean and Bucky. Sylvan Productions has done a wildly popular Open Improv show at the Dark Room every Tuesday, which moves to the SUB/Mission starting in December. They also produce a five-hour comedy show every Wednesday at the Dirty Trix Saloon, and this Friday, their Producers Show comes to Dirty Trix as well. Their shows may be heavily improv'ed, but they could hardly be improved. Matt Gubser is an SF comedian with the hair of a handsomer Jesus Christ and the wit of a sassier Judas Iscariot. He performs at all the finest clubs and showcases in the Bay Area, and he's also a potter, as if that's fair at all. O.J. Patterson

Ramamritham rules

Alas, Ramamritham is alive , well and strong and he rules upon all that he surveys (pun intended).  The Indian Government will announce today in parliament that it would open up the retail sector to foreign investment. No doubt the Left will organise some bandhs, yell at 10,000 decibels in the Lok Sabha, and then this law will be passed while the opposition will walk out en masse. Ostensibly, this is economic reform. Its a pathetic, 15cms of reform after a decade of nothing happening, but we'll reserve that criticism for another day. What has got my goat is Ramamritham's dirty footprint all across this move. Firstly foreign investment of 100% will be allowed in Single Brand Retail, but only 51% in multi brand retail. Therefore a Marks & Spencer store can be 100% foreign owned, but Carrefour can't. Even though they may both sell precisely the same things (M&S does sell a lot of food). Pray why ?? Secondly Ramamritham has excelled himself in drafting a series of condi

Why this kolaveri di

The title of the post is simply to substantiate to Gils , Zeno and other  experts that I am "tuned in" ! In case you are still flummoxed, then that is clear proof that you simply aren't up to date with the "in thing" !! Why this kolaveri di is a completely nonsensical song that for reasons totally baffling has become a massive rage and has gone viral in the last four days. Since world success these days is measured in terms of number of views in YouTube (1.8 million in 4 days and rising by the minute) and insane numbers of Tweets,  Facebook mentions and likes ; it can be conclusively established as a massive hit. I am reliably told that it is competing with another equally baffling entity called Lady Gaga for global leadership. The song is in "Tanglish" - the curious mixture of Tamil and English which is widely spoken in Madras. It is from a forthcoming movie called 3 (zero marks for creativity in naming a movie). The lyrics are complete nonsense an

The Business November 23rd 2011, "Thanksgiving Plymouth Rockin' Eve!" Edition

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Twas the night before Thanksgiving And all through the Mission Everyone came to the Dark Room Because our show was so bitchin' It is an All Thanksgivinged Eve to remember at the Dark Room this week, as we welcome a cornucopia of guests to the Business. From Los Angeles, we have Aparna Nancherla and SF native Emily Maya Mills, and from New York City, we have Alameda's own Emily Heller! Holy shit, if the Wampanoag had brought this kind of lineup to the Pilgrims back in 1621, they all would have died of laughter! And probably scurvy or rickets, because medicine was very primitive back then. Aparna Nancherla is a Washington D.C. native who now entertains Los Angeles with her absurdist wit. She's performed all over the place. including Last Comic Standing, the Bentzen Ball, the Bridgetown Festival, WTF with Marc Maron, and, most importantly, The Business LA. I yam excited to hear her stuff! Emily Maya Mills - "the Edward James Olmos of comedy" - is an

The Business November 16th 2011, "Occupy Swan Street" Edition

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Whose Dark Room? Our Dark Room! No Alex this week, but The Business has two exciting guest stars this week. We welcome two of our favorite journalists, Rachel Swan and Hiya Swanhuyser, to discuss the Occupy movement, journalism, the Black Bloc, and whether Occupy Oakland is hipper and less gentrified than Occupy SF.  Rachel Swan is the music editor of the East Bay Express, who made her standup comedy debut at The Business last year. Hiya Swanhuyser is a former culture writer and blogger for the SF Weekly who recently produced the Occupy SF Art & Performance series. They're both in the top 1% of journalists in our book. Our corporate overlords still demand a capitalist admission fee, but it's only five dollars, dollars that sadly still bear the mark of the Federal Reserve bank. We still offer a bring-your-own-burrito program, in defiance of the authorities, but you might need a gas mask afterward.

The awfulness of Benetton

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Benetton, the clothing company, has been struggling of late. So they've gone back to  their horrible old formula to promote their brand - make shocking advertisements. Their campaign is called "UNhate" - whatever that means. These are some of their abominations. The last one elicited an irritated objection from the Vatican for the depiction of the Holy Father in this manner and that too for a commercial purpose. Benetton has reportedly withdrawn this ad. Benetton is known for outrageous advertising in the past. I won't dignify their earlier indecencies with  reproducing those photographs. They have included a man dying of AIDS, a new born with its umbilical cord still connected to the mother, a soldier holding a human bone, and the like. Sure, there is clutter in advertising and you need to break through it. But there must be a sense of decency in business, just as the same as in all walks of life.  Anything that is legally OK, is not OK. Making money by shocking peop

Three cheers for Shiv

Running a marathon is usually a huge superhuman effort; Right ? Well, lots of people run marathons every year, but for the non professionals, it is usually a major milestone. They train very hard for it, suffer through the race, but ultimately make it.  It's an achievement to be very proud of. What then do you say of the ultra marathoners ?? The marathon, as you may know is 42 kms and a bit. Anything more than this is an ultra marathon. What can you say about the guys and gals who run 50km, 75km and , yes, 100 km ?? They are not professionals. They are ordinary guys and gals like you and me. They hold a day job and run only for pleasure. Men, women of all ages.  This isn't for money - there is no money. This isn't for fame - did any of you hear about the Bangalore Ultra before this post ? This is simply for achievement. This post is a tribute to my good friend, and long ago classmate, Shiv, who ran the 75km race in the Bangalore Ultra Marathon yesterday. Yes; seventy five

The Business November 9th 2011, "Double Stuff" Edition

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This week The Business welcomes not one, not two, not three, but FOUR special guests, effectively doubling the base number of comics guaranteed by our standard Wednesday fare. Along with our factory installed four Businessmen, you will also receive Ivan Hernandez, Colleen Watson, Mike Recine and Erin Lennox. It's like when Oreo took the work out of assembling two cookies and smartly debuted the now legendary Double Stuff cooki e. What kind of laughs will you find in our creamy center this week? Let me pull this sweet baby apart for you... Ivan Hernandez is self described as "nerd gent comic jerk" That's right, no need for punctuation. When not forcing individual panels of comic books on the internet's population for proper acknowledgment of their radness, Ivan tells jokes all over San Francisco. I think it's his birthday this Wednesday too, so buy him a burrito and wrap it in a page from a Hellboy novella. Colleen Watson is an idiot, accor

A letter to a certain Chief Minister in India

Dear Madam, We are concerned about the state of your vocal chords, after your recent exertions of that organ protesting against the nth rise in the price of petrol that the Indian government announced a few days ago. While we are well aware of your superhuman powers in that sphere of activity, I am nevertheless concerned enough to give you some advice on the amelioration of  stress on your voice box. I am not one of your subjects, not living in your state at the moment, but have lived there in the past and therefore have a certain affinity. What has aroused your ire is the increase in price of petrol by Rs 1.80 per litre a few days ago. You have accused the Central government of total insensitivity to the plight of the common man and have threatened to withdraw your support to the government. With inflation running so high in India, you are justly concerned with adding fuel to the fire, if you'll pardon the pun.I totally agree with your sentiments, but my ire is not necessarily dir

Without Comment

Brilliant article in the Financial Times today. Dripping with sarcasm and wit. Alas its a bit technical and you'll enjoy it immensely if you have a bit of background in finance, but even otherwise its a good read.  For those not in touch with American politics or high finance - John Corzine is a former head of Goldman Sachs. He was deposed by Henk Paulson.  Corzine then became a Senator from New Jersey and then Governor. He got defeated in the election in 2010, by Chris Christie who is the current Governor of New Jersey. After his defeat in the election, Corzine became Chairman of MF Global which has just declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Business November 2nd 2011, "Featuring Anna Seregina and Saurabh Kikani" Edition

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We've got a full lineup of regular Businessmen this week, plus two exciting guests - Anna Seregina and Saurabh Kikani! Ms. Seregina is a talented actress and improviser who recently turned her focus to the world of stand-up comedy. She was born in Moscow, which she credits for her sharp, cynical wit, but also means that if all goes well, she should have very her own theater in Branson, Missouri in twenty years. Also, she works just down the street from at the Beauty Bar, where she tends bar beautifully. Mr. Kikani visits us from Los Angeles, where he is a regular at the Comedy Store and the world-famous Improv. Also, he has a law degree, so if you don't laugh your ass off, he'll sue your pants off! Just kidding. Please put your pants back on. All this plus Alex, Bucky, Chris, and Sean, a one-eyed dog, unlimited in-and-out privileges, and Six Hours In A Car, and it's just five bucks! Though for an extra dollar, you can also feel Bucky's biceps. Just kid

A dog saves the day

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A dog might prove to be the unlikeliest saviour of Formula 1, a sport that is direly in need of saving . Bravo India, for unwittingly pointing the way ahead for the sport. Today is the first ever Indian Grand Prix - held at Noida, at the Buddh circuit, just off Delhi. Why it has come up in Delhi is a mystery - the racing capital (of whatever racing there is) of India is Chennai or Coimbatore. But Delhi it is. This is the fag end of the Formula 1 season; the championship is already decided and there is very little to drive for. But then Bernie Eccleston, the boss of F1, has grasped that the future of the sport  depends on the growing audience in Asia - that's why in the last three or four years, new Grand Prixs have come up in Beijing, Singapore, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul (almost Asia !), Yeongam (Korea) ; to add to the more traditional Asian venues Suzuka (Japan) and Sepang (Malaysia). Now India. Formula 1 has become a bore. The results are completely predictable; superb safety

The Business October 26th 2011, "Maximum Fun" Edition

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The Business returns triumphantly from Los Angeles this week, and welcomes a special guest - comedian and broadcaster Jordan Morris! Jordan is the co-host of MaximumFun.org's "Jordan, Jesse, Go!" and was an original co-host of "The Sound of Young America." You can also see him on Fuel TV's "The Daily Habit" and at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles. See the face attached to the voice you love! We've also got all of your favorite regular Businessmen, making this a veritable "Jordan, Alex, Bucky, Chris, Sean, Go!" event. Tickets are still just five dollars, and we enable, nay, encourage the bringing of one's own burrito.

China searches for its soul

If you are a Sinophile, this is old news and you don't want to read about this anymore; if you are not, this may be new to you. Little Wang Yue, affectionately called Yueyue is dead. She was only 2. Yueyue, a toddler, wandered on to a road in Foshan, a southern Chinese city and was hit by a vehicle. A security camera filmed the whole scene. 18 passerbys saw her lying in a pool of blood, but walked on and did nothing to help her. The driver who hit her, drove on. Yet another vehicle hit her as she was lying injured. Finally a noble lady, a rag picker, Chen Xianmei, came to help her. Yueyue was taken to hospital. But she slipped into a coma and died. China is going through a bout of soul searching. The security video that filmed the whole grisly thing has gone on the Net. Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter (Twitter is still banned in China), has millions of messages bemoaning what happened. China is asking itself the question - has materialism and money become so domineering th