Balance has long been a good thing in life to pursue.
As I reflect in the hyper-fast world of the blogosphere – meaning about an hour or so after one entry - I realize that my recent posts about the state of Washington economic meeting on Friday might be, well, a bit of a downer.
True, I think they are informative and interesting.
But man, there’s gotta be a silver lining somewhere in these reports.
Right?
So what was the most positive economic news from the meeting?
Of all the charts that I kept looking at during Friday’s state of Washington economic symposium, the one I kept studying the most was a multi-color bar chart on Page 27 of the presentation guide.
There it was, on the lower half of the page, before any viewer, with the title, “Months Needed to Recover Job Losses: After Recession Ends.”
Of the biggest bars on the chart was a burgundy one that referred to Snohomish and King counties for the post-2001 recession period. The bar towered between the 45-to-50 month marker.Â
Translation: It took these two counties about 47 months or so to recover the jobs that were lost during that economic downturn.
I immediately thought: Does this mean that it will take these two counties this long to recover the jobs that have evaporated during this most recession?
I just returned from the state of Washington’s economic symposium near Olympia. I’m juggling a few things now. I’ll try and get to more details when I have time.
But here’s a quick look at jobs that are in demand and ones that have suffered in the state, on average, so far during the recession this year.
Google recently opened its new campus in Kirkland, Wash. and invited Seattle-area journalists for a tour. At the campus, there’s a Google logo made out of LEGOs.
In the past, LEGO artist Sean Kenney has made one, noting that the Google co-founders are fans of the plastic bricks.
Todd Bishop, a former colleague who works at TechFlash, captures some great nuance in his video report of the suburban Seattle campus.
The Seattle Times sent videographer Genevieve Alvarez to capture this moment in regional and technological history.
If that link doesn’t work, you can watch the video by visiting The Seattle Times and looking for the footage in its video section, which is on the homepage.
What emerged was an illuminating quote – noted in its entirety from the video - from Amanda Camp, a company software engineer:
I think a lot of the stuff you look at, that Google does a lot of, are perks, are basically these ideas that, there are certain annoying things throughout the day that might distract you from the really hard, really exciting problems you’re working on in engineering. Things like having to go to the doctor or having to go to the gym. And so, Google is trying with all these perks, being hungry, to solve these problems for you to make it easier so you can focus on the really exciting problems that are going to change the world.
Enough people sent me The New York Times story about the changing face - or shift from Cantonese to Mandarin - in New York Chinatown and other places in the United States with large ethnic Chinese populations.
So, I thought I’d use English to join the conversation.
My uncle, Bill Wong, provided thoughtful analysis based on his experience of growing up in Oakland Chinatown – where historically Cantonese (Guangzhouhua) or the Taishan dialect (Taishanhua) can be heard.
Interestingly, given what I’ve learned while studying at Chinese universities, I’m using the Mandarin pinyin spellings for the Cantonese and the Taishan dialects.
Really, given my ancestral ties to Guangdong province, I should be using different spellings. Something similar to: Kwangtung or Toisan.
So, why the rise of Mandarin in places in the world - which largely had Cantonese because immigrants from Guangdong province were some of the first to leave?
It’s safe to say: My wife, son and I are fans of Sesame Street.
So, too, is my brother in law, a medical student in China. In fact, all three watched the show online from China, when my wife and son recently visited relatives.
The Tokyo Motor Show apparently has lost some of its prestige as Asia’s best, as the number of companies participating this year has dropped by more than 50 percent, The Los Angeles Times reported.
In fact, reporter Yuriko Nagano notes that it’s become more of a domestic auto show, as more automobile manufacturers have flocked to present at Auto Shanghai.
From a business perspective, that makes sense. China is the world’s largest automobile market.
But two vehicles this year in Tokyo caught my attention – in addition to the ones I’ve noted a few weeks ago, including a solar-powered car and a personal mobility device.
The Phiaro P70t Conch, a three-person concept car, is powered by electricity and can be started by a mobile phone, the company noted.
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