I’ve often talked about appreciating the old, especially when it comes to people and learning.
I suppose the same can be said of machines. In my family, we always joke that my dad rarely throws anything out – he just stashes it in the garage.
When I walked in there recently, I was not disappointed. Actually, he was the one who found our trusty old Barrett adding machine – which helped us calculate addition and subtraction back in the day. I mean it when I say that.
Smart Design in New York City came up with this new concept for surgery gowns - the company used breathable material. Photo source: Smart Design
As a kid, I remember watching television shows in which a surgeon would stand over a patient in the operating room and, well, seem just a tad nervous.
I don’t know if it was a nod to reality – the pressure of performing an operation – or just a made-for-television dramatic moment. But there would be another person next to the surgeon, ready to dab any perspiration when needed.
I’ve joked about this before but if a robot can ever make delicious, hot, chili-laden mapo tofu – the way the cook at Old Sichuan in Kent, Wash. can dish it up – I’ll truly be impressed.
And of course, a bit perplexed.
But hey, who can complain when a dish of garlicky, spicy tofu sits before you on a blustery, stormy day with winds whipping in the sky and temperatures dropping?
Whether it’s done by ASIMO, the Honda robot, or humans, the successful making of mouthwatering mapo tofu reminds me of that saying by Deng Xiaoping, the late Chinese paramount leader:
It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white,” he was fond of saying, “as long as it catches mice.
I typically don’t focus on crime issues - I prefer edible items such as tofu skin (also called yuba). I also covered enough criminal justice issues at my previous job.
But ShotSpotter, a Silicon Valley-based company which uses sensor technology to alert police to gunshots, gave me reason to pause.
As in: Huh?
The reason the sensors apparently are needed – at least in Richmond, Calif. – is that residents reportedly hear gunfire on such a regular basis that they no longer feel it’s imperative to call for help.
As in (for rational thinkers):Â No need to dial. The computer will get it.
While two branches of the federal government have embraced social media, it looks like the Supreme Court is doing what it does best: Hearing cases and issuing opinions. Photo source: Supreme Court of the United States
As I was scanning The New York Times article about President Obama’s State of the Union speech, I came across the part in which Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito apparently disagreed with something that the chief executive said.
The Times reported that Alito, as he was sitting on the House floor, appeared to have mouthed the words, “No, it’s not true.”
Based on the judicial branch’s Web site – which has a blue background, simple navigational buttons and a photo of the Supreme Court – the justices seem to be a pretty sober-minded group of intellectuals.
Which is fine. Being a sober-minded group of people is part of the duty of representing the judicial branch of the federal government.
But isn’t the 21st century about digital transparency and being a hipster, tech geek in the United States?
Where are the Twitter, Facebook and flickr icons? Where’s the YouTube introduction of the justices, say, enjoying a barbecue on the Potomac?
The Apple Lisa was bulky but had a great, spongy keyboard. Photo source: oldcomputers.net
I’ll admit that the hype and hoopla surrounding Apple’s iPad tablet computer turned my head.
I was reading online updates on my BlackBerry as I was shopping at a store.
You can read all you want about it since journalists flocked to Cupertino, Calif. San Francisco to see Steve Jobs introduce the company’s latest creation.
But I am proud to say that I once used the Apple Lisa – my dad brought one home in the 1980s – and it still holds a soft spot for me in the history of computers.
I don’t know whether all the online copy moving about Google’s possible exit from China is good - meaning that there’s plenty to read – or somewhere else on the charts – meaning that there’s plenty to read.
But a quick visit to the People’s Daily revealed an article about Google investigating whether its own employees in China had participated in what executives have described as sophisticated attacks on the Internet giant, including hacked Gmail accounts of activists critical of senior leaders in Beijing.
This graphic illustration was part of a U.S. art show last year about design changes in China. It also captures business change, too. Image source: Portland Art Museum
I thought that kicking off 2010 with a video of California jellyfish moving gracefully in the water would be a colorful, neutral and fun way to begin the New Year.
Well, the sound you heard emanating from China in recent days, including Monday, was the popping cork from the Google-Chinese government brouhaha getting louder and more dramatic – in numeric terms, words being used and ensuing actions.
There is a real – and sad – possibility that U.S.-China relations this year might become tenser.
Tensions have been lurking about for years on a variety of issues, including trade and currency valuation. The Google news this week – announcing that the company wanted an unfiltered search engine in China and sophisticated cyber attacks against Gmail – marks the first cork to pop for 2010.
For the most part, China - including its economy and the nation as a whole – is ascending. Its leaders are using their new economic, political and global clout in many noticeable ways.
I remember a time, in the 1990s or so, when Chinese leaders looked at successful Western companies and said: We must learn from you.
This was done in the context of China’s economic trajectory, from moving from a developing status to a more developed one.
Many Western business leaders were treated like superstars in Beijing and Shanghai in ways they never imagined at home.
There were face-giving banquets, motorcades with black sedans, five-star hotels and business cards with big titles.
In television interviews, hosts asked Western business leaders how they became so successful and lobbed easy-to-answer questions. There were speeches packed with many adoring audience members who looked at the leaders as if they literally had invented the Internet.
The word “friendship” must have popped up numerous times in these conversations that used translators.
I’m Chinese American. I’ve always argued for strong, cooperative long-term relations between the United States and China.
I think it’s time that we in the West, if we have not done so already, say to Chinese leaders: It’s time we learn from you.
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