Tebow the Christian Fed to the Lions

On Sunday, avowed and very high-profile Christian Tim Tebow was fed to the Detroit Lions.  Tebow plays quarterback for a very bad Denver Bronco team; the Detroit game was supposedly the game he would prove he was a legit NFL franchise QB. The Lions ate him and the Broncos alive in front of a home Denver crowd. This scenario of savior player not exactly measuring up to the demands of the role is nothing new in the NFL, and will certainly be repeated again. So what's the big deal?

Well, Tebow's being fed to the Lions was intriguing precisely because of his religious beliefs. A couple of Detroit players reportedly made fun of a fallen Tebow on the field, specifically mocking his public Christian gestures. What's strange is that Tebow has become a focal point for religious resentment. Other openly Christian players, notably Kurt Warner and the late Reggie White, never ever got the same treatment as Tebow did on Sunday. Further, former coach Tony Dungy, the de facto head of the NFL's God Squad, was never chastised, villified, or humiliated for his quite public religious stance. Nor has out-front Christian, Indianapolis Colt owner Bob Irsay, who at NFL owner meetings is definitely a lone saint in a room full of sinners.

Tebow's college career, for better or worse, put a big bull's eye on his football career back. He was arguably the best collegiate player to come along in a decade. His leadership, athletic ability, and guts were unquestioned at the University of Florida. Of course, the pro game is vastly different and substantially harsher than the collegiate one. While both are businesses (despite what the hypocritical NCAA maintains), the pro version is not for the faint of heart.

Tebow walked into a lion's den in Denver. The Broncos were a troubled franchise, with out of control players, a supremely egotistical coach who enabled their behavior, and a devious owner. A new coach was imported from the league's flagship franchise (New England) with what I had concluded was an unspoken agenda: clean up the team. Denver's problems included the murder of two players, one of the incidents involving a drive-by shooting and local gang members. The NFL, which is terrified of gang influence among its players, quite possibly sent the Bronco franchise a warning to clean up its act. The offer was probably one Broncos owner Pat Bowlen could not refuse.

Players were traded in thinly disguised fire sales. (They have notably performed well below expectations for their new teams.) Tebow was drafted -- the new clean face of the franchise. However, it takes time to scrub a franchise. Unluckily for Tebow, his game needed a lot of work. Force feeding him into a bad starting lineup was the worst possible thing to do. Any wide receiver who could catch was traded away. In effect, Tebow was fed to the lions long before a up-and-coming Detroit team devoured him.

The new Denver management clearly wants Tebow off the team. They'll do their level best to diminish Tebow in the eyes of hopeful Denver fans and Tebow's national following (Tebow's uniform is among the league's top selling items.) It will give Denver exec John Elway and his hand-picked coach John Fox the excuse to deal him out of town.

Elway, coincidentally, went to Stanford University, the same school as current "can't miss" QB Andrew Luck. I would not be surprised if Elway whispered some advice, through friends, to the Luck camp: "Do what I did." For those who don't remember, when Elway entered the NFL draft, he was selected by Indianapolis. He told Indy to drop dead, and the Colts were strong armed into dealing the rights to Elway to where he wanted to play -- Denver.

Ironically, the likely franchise who will get the rights to drafting Andrew Luck is (drumroll) Indianapolis, the franchise with the Christian owner. Denver will probably have a top five pick in the draft. Andrew Luck may very well be the reincarnation of John Elway, in more ways than one. As for Tim Tebow, if he's traded to Indy, he'll be breaking bread with another college great -- Peyton Manning, whose father arranged for son Eli to force San Diego to trade him to the New York Giants.

An Indian Holiday Dinner

It was our friend's birthday today, and my wife and I decided to take her to dinner. In a rather absent minded way, we took her to an Indian restaurant in a New Jersey community highlighted in Joel Garreau's excellent book Edge City (no, not the comic strip). What we didn't realize was that we were in the midst of Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights.

For an evening, we were in the midst of Indian family dinner. It was great fun, and the alcohol-free environment was a pleasant change of pace. Our birthday guest enjoyed herself, and realized she had walked into something a little special. While we don't know much more about Diwali now than when we did earlier this evening, all three of us left the restaurant curious about this warm Indian celebration.

What's Up With NPR's "All Things Considered" Michele Norris' Leave Announcement?

Earlier this week, NPR's highly visible Sunday morning TV face, Michele Norris. announced she was taking a leave from her position as a host for the network's "All Things Considered" program. Norris felt she had to step back from "All Things Considered" as her husband, Broderick Johnson, will join the Obama re-election campaign as a senior advisor. Norris will manage to keep herself busy during her "leave" with creating segments and features for National Public Radio.

If it were up to Norris, the story would end there. Most major media outlets tried it best to report the announcement in vanilla terms, as if this were just a detour along a golden career path. After all, doesn't this happen to other District power couples? (The Washington Post stories on Norris' announcement are characteristic of this perspective.)

In particular, Johnson's background was spun as the tale of the occupational hazards of a high-level Democratic Party operative's occupational hazards. However, the LA Times and TheHill.com bothered to report how Johnson's been making a living in recent years. Until this spring, he worked as a lobbyist, notably for TransCanada, the firm behind the environmentally controversial (make that highly controversial) Keystone XL oil pipeline. (The attempted denials of Johnson's lobbying role, quoted in the Times and TheHill.com's stories, are priceless.)

Among Johnson's other clients were Microsoft and (drumroll please) Comcast.

Do you think Johnson's lobbying efforts would merit a segment on "All Things Considered"? Somehow, I don't imagine that question came up during Michele Norris' editorial meetings.

Wreck of 13th Century Mongol Ship Found Off Japan

A 36-foot section of a ship believed to have been part of Asia's version of the Spanish Armada was found recently off the Japanese coast, according to the BBC.

The BBC report noted the rarity of the well-preserved 13th Century artifact. It is associated with a Mongol invasion fleet that intended to invade Japan, but was blown to pieces in a typhoon. The episode is the source of the kamikaze legend that the Japanese military leveraged during the Second World War.

The illustration shows a Chinese ship from roughly eight centuries ago that resembles those vessels in the doomed invasion fleet.

Chinese Government Grants Operating License to Silicon Valley Bank

With trumpets blaring, today's tech news focused on gossip about the late Steve Jobs, Netflix's jump off the equity value cliff, and who's zoomin' who at Yahoo, slipping quietly through the noise was by far the day's most important Silicon Valley story: the Chinese government granted Silicon Valley Bank a license to operate in the PRC.

This is a big deal. As reported in today's siliconvalley.com (the tech pages of the San Jose Mercury News), Silicon Valley Bank is the first foreign bank to be granted a license to operate inside China in nearly 15 years. Business in the country known as the Middle Kingdom is challenging enough with local connections, and virtually impossible without them. The official seal of approval probably means the bank will be a significant player in startup funding for Chinese tech firms. It also suggests the bank could serve as a useful bridge for backdoor communications between Chinese and US officials in this area of national security.

The bank is part of the SVB Financial Group, which is listed on NASDAQ with the call letters SVBI. Interestingly, according to records in Yahoo Finance, insiders have done some significant selling in the past few months. However, don't worry too much: the bank's major shareholders include some of finance's heaviest mutual fund hitters. They're not leaving SVBI anytime soon.

October 2001 Anthrax Attacks to be Recalled During DC Event

Maibox Sealed to Prevent Anthrax Spread, 2001

In October 2001, anthrax attacks killed postal workers in New York City and Washington, DC. The episodes led to an FBI investigation that provided more doubt than certainty.

The anthrax affair will be noted, at least in the District, this Friday during commemorative services at an area church. The US Postmaster General and others will speak at the event, according to a story in the Washington Post.

California Approves Trade-And-Cap Regulations

In recent days, the state of California quietly took a significant step forward toward implementing progressive environmental policy. According to an LA Times report, the state's Air Resources Board approved the first state-run cap-and-trade program.

The policy "paves the way for the carbon trading market," the Times article noted. That 21st Century agora essentially encourages industrial firms to reduce air pollution. In extremely simplified terms, this is accomplished through the trading of financial credits for documented carbon emissions.

It's a scheme currently used in Western Europe, and according the Union of Concerned Scientists and others, offers a way forward in the worthwhile effort to reduce air pollution in developed countries.

The California Air Resources Board chairwoman, Mary D. Nichols, said "We've done something important." She's right.

A Walk on the Art Side in Montclair

My wife and I drove to Montclair, New Jersey, this evening to check out "A Little Night Art, Gallery Walk VIII." A number of galleries and storefronts participated in the event, but the supposedly art-oriented Montclairians largely stayed away. It's too bad, as some of the displayed work was strong and worthy of a stroll on a crisp autumn evening. The best of the lot was by Dan Fenelon at 73 See Gallery.

Fenelon's work, such as Petro Graf, appears at times to combine Meso-American motifs with the spirit of graffiti. That he's able to sustain that vision and style borders on the amazing. And Dan's warm, engaging personality is the perfect foil to his art. He's what my wife would characterize as a mensch, and would unhesitatingly call an artist.

(Petro Graf appears here with permission of Dan Fenelon.)

Rare South Texas Earthquake Spooks Some Residents

Photo Taken Near Quake Epicenter
from San Antonio Express-News

South Texas is as far away from an active seismic zone as one can imagine. Well, our knowledge of what's under the earth's crust is (pardon the pun) still pretty thin. So when the earth moves in South Texas, as it did today, the event can shake people up. The LA Times ran a brief story on the 4.8 earthquake.

Damage was minimal, but South Texans were wondering what was going on, as the East Coast similarly wondered during its own surprise quake.

Silicon Valley's TriplePoint Capital Raises $1 Billion For Venture Debt Fund

TriplePoint Capital CEO Jim Labe

Bambi Francisco Roizen reported in vator.tv that TriplePoint Capital and its CEO Jim Labe have raised one billion dollars to invest in a venture debt fund. The money comes mainly from private and institutional investors, and is seen as a sign of a slowdown in VC fund raising. For startups and second-tier firms, those are very unwelcome storm clouds, and implies a sense of financial caution in the world of so-called "smart money."

Maybe that is so. However, venture debt is far from a form of investor's despair. From an investment perspective, there are some advantages to debt over equity. Some investors prefer debt issues, as they provide an income stream. Significantly, the debt is not simply a vanilla bond-style investment; some debt holders obtain warrants as well. The warrants can dramatically add to the value of the investors' stakes.

Part of the game here is the opportunity for investors to get into what Roizen's article characterized as "top-tier" investment opportunities. That's something of an insider's game, with the belief that there's gold at the end of the VC investment rainbow.

There's gold at the beginning and middle, too.

Spike in Number of Californians Entering Foreclosure

Every time the toms-toms are beaten to declare that the US economy is wonderful again, an unwelcome guest appears. This week's entrant comes from the Golden State. According to an LA Times report, the number of Californians receiving a notice of default -- the first step in the foreclosure process -- increased roughly 25% over the previous quarter. That's not good news, as filings had reached a three-year low earlier this year.

Beyond the percentages, the actual number of foreclosures is daunting. Over 70,000 notices were sent out to delinquent mortgage holders in the past three months. Some home owners have more than one mortgage, which would suggest they are profoundly underwater.

At some point, the country (not only politicians) will have to wake up and smell this unpleasant brand of coffee. The US economy, with the housing market at its core, cannot advance until the foreclosure catastrophe is honestly faced. That event has not yet happened, and few have possessed the will to address the housing disaster in a sensible way. It's a financial time bomb that keeps on ticking.

LA Internet Radio Collective Dublab Celebrates 12th Anniversary

In 1999, a couple of USC students founded Dublab, an Internet radio station featuring inventive popular music. Now, over a decade ago, Internet radio was a rare event. At that time, one had to be a little crazy, a little indifferent to making money quickly, and very willing to let word-of-mouth build the listener community.

Well, the audience for Dublab has grown, and the station celebrated its 12th anniversary over this past weekend.

The LA Times ran an interesting, and all too short, article about Dublab. It's fun to read, and even more fun to listen to. The team picture follows below.

Amy Becker's Photos at Hunterdon Art Museum

My wife, Amy Becker, had four of her photos included in the Hunterdon Art Museum's recent group show. Included here are the four works, both as they appear in the museum space, and individually. She also won the Juror's Prize, signifying the event's best work, for Viking.

The show's official opening was today, and we attended in our best New York black outfits. Also worth noting is the statement from the show's juror, Trong G. Nguyen. His thoughtful statement thankfully avoided art world jargon.

I am interested, Nguyen wrote, in the completeness of an artwork. During the jurying process, and when I visit exhibitions in general, I ask myself

one simple question that initially determines whether an artwork will have the chance to resonate with me -- "Is this a complete work of art?" If I find myself at pause or unable to immediately answer this question then that answers a lot for me. However, if I find myself engaged and intrigued, with both my mind and eye, then this says something quite different....Works of art are inquiries into the curiosities of the artist, as well as a subsequent interrogation of these interests. While interrogation is routinely seen as a necessary tactic of law enforcement, in the realm of art the exhaustion of such a strategy is often sought and revered as insight into the mind of the working artist. Harsh interrogative techniques may be a form of extremity, but works that go out on a limb and make me question them usually earn my full respect.

(From left to right: Tunnel Girl, Four on a Bench, Happy Hour.)

 

Hemingway's Cuban Finca Restored

Finca Vigia/Interior, from a BBC segment
on Hemingway's Cuban residence

In a very rare case of a Cuban-US partnership, architects and preservationists have acted in concert to preserve Ernest Hemingway's Cuban residence, Finca Vigia. The story, while not exactly something Papa would have written, is a fascinating one. By the way, reading about "Lookout Farm," as the finca is known in English, is probably the only way the politically unconnected can visit the structure. Most visitors can't get inside the finca, located outside Havana. Author Michael Connors and photographer Brent Winebrenner, however, were given tremendous access to "Lookout Farm"; their new book, The Splendor of Cuba: 450 Years of Architecture and Interiors includes photographs of the finca.

Today's Washington Post has the details of the authors' access, the architectural cooperation, and the condition of Hemingway's beloved getaway. Meanwhile, for a window into Hemingway's way of thinking, George Plimpton's Paris Review inteview of Papa is a good place to start.

Dennis Ritchie, Unix Co-Developer and C Programming Language Developer -- RIP

Dennis Ritchie
1941-2011

Dennis Ritchie isn't a household name outside of the tech world. However, inside the scientific realms where Bell Labs once reigned supreme, he was a profound force. A Harvard and MIT grad whose work shaped generations of technology, Ritchie died this week in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, just a few miles from the former Bell Labs campus. His obit appeared in today's New York Times.

Ritchie was unique among the nation's tech elite in that he was a rare, second generation Bell Labs scientist. His work included designing the C computer programming language and sharing in the development of the Unix operating system. Not bad. Ritchie's passing is also a reminder that the United States, for all the current hysteria over education, has managed over the past couple of generations to produce some damn bright men and women. Ritchie was one of them. He lived more or less in obscurity, except in the tech world, where he was a giant.

The blog from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University offers some interesting observations about Ritchie. (You have to scroll a bit to find the relevant entries.) The most striking one claims that it was on Ritchie's strong shoulders that others, including Apple and Google, were able to stand tall.

Verizon Wireless Joins Web Tracking, App Usage Party

A Server Room

According to a report in today's LA Times Technology blog, Verizon Wireless has changed its privacy policy so that users have precious little privacy remaining.

The revised Verizon Wireless guidelines enable the carrier to track a customer's "Web surfing, location, app usage, and other data-consuming behaviors...." This was done, according to Verizon Wireless, with people like you in mind. Uh-huh.

The stated rationale was that the data sharing would help Verizon Wireless (and presumably other advertisers) make "'mobile ads you see more relevant.'" Subscribers are automatically included in the "all ads, all the time" scheme; it's possible to opt-out.

Clearly, that should be the other way around, with opt-out as the default choice. I don't know about you, but my principal interest in my mobile devices is not the reception of "more relevant" ads. Of course, the behavioral information Verizon Wireless gathers is pure gold. The phone carrier isn't alone in this pursuit: data-driven firms such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon are profoundly skilled at creating algorithmically-based information gathering.

It makes me appreciate a postal letter, and its still-active privacy protections.

Study Finds Popular Websites Share User Info, E-Mail Addresses Despite Privacy Promises

The integrity of online privacy always feels wobbly. Assertions that your data is "anonymous" sounds like the cliched line "I'll respect you in the morning." Little wonder data gold miners, such as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, can publicly maintain that privacy is a quaint, largely obsolete concept.

However, in this era of the data-driven nightmare, it's tough to obtain facts to substantiate anecdotal evidence or intuitive "hunches" about online privacy invasion. That's why a recent Stanford University study on the topic offers some useful, disturbing, and frankly unsurprising, findings.

The study was released at an online privacy forum in Washington today, and was covered by the San Jose Mercury News.

Among the sites noted in the study were Home Depot, NBC's main site, and Bleacher Report. Are you surprised that I didn't hot link or label those sites for my post?

Nixon Tapes, Documents Ready for Public Release

Former president Richard Nixon, who has the ghoulish habit of returning from the dead, has again returned among the living. This time, according to the Washington Post, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Archives will release recordings and documents long sealed and kept from the public. Among them is the transcript of Tricky Dick's grand jury testimony during the Watergate probe.

With Halloween only a couple of weeks away, Americans may feel inspired to get their Nixon masks out of the attic, knock on some doors, and do scary things to get a gift. Just like the 37th president of the United States did nearly forty years ago.

Scientists Doubt US Anthrax Probe Findings

Mailbox covered during the 2001 anthrax scare

In the days following "nine eleven," a series of fatal incidents involving anthrax occurred in the northeastern United States and in Florida. The government's dreadful response to the episodes provided a deeply disturbing look at the nation's lack of preparation for an attack using biological agents as the weapon of choice. At one point, a New York post office annex which experienced an anthrax episode was demarcated by yellow crime-scene style tape. On one side -- anthrax; the other side -- clean. Let's just say that unenlightened approach did not inspire confidence.

The subsequent probe of the anthrax incidents has been a murky, clumsily handled affair. The federal government and its principal investigative arms concluded that a lone, rogue scientist was the perpetrator. Some concerned scientists did not buy the feds' New Millenium equivalent of Lee Harvey Oswald. They researched the unclassified documents related to the case and questioned significant aspects of the investigation.

The story noting the scientists' skepticism originally appeared in the October 9th The New York Times. It details the most important objections the scientists raised, and the government's response to them.

Al Davis, Oakland Raider Owner and Football Innovator -- RIP

Al Davis (right, holding the Lombardi Trophy) with John Madden

When an iconic figure passes away, as we recently witnessed with Steve Jobs, time seems to slow down. We take a measure of the person, the events he or she influenced, the people impacted by the deceased. Sometimes, the emotions expressed about the late individual are heartfelt; some feelings are carefully calibrated or entirely insincere.

This scenario is the case with the recent passing of the National Football League's Oakland Raiders owner, Al Davis. His life story offers fascinating events, vivid personalities, dramatic clashes, dark sides, quiet acts of mercy, even brushes with social history. (The LA Times' obit is among the best at relaying some of the texture of Davis' life.) As one who more or less grew up and went well into adulthood during Davis' nearly half-century Raider reign, his biographical arc embraces various sports enthusiasms I had, and in some cases, still have.

Sid Gillman

Davis is fairly and accurately cited as an innovator of football tactics, putting him into the rarefied realm shared by Paul Brown, Tom Landry, Sid Gillman (for whom Davis was once an assistant coach), and Davis' good friend Bill Walsh. The Oakland numero uno worked every angle for competitive advantage, which led him to hire the NFL's first modern era African-American head coach (Art Shell), draft an African-American starting quarterback with a first-round pick (Eldridge Dickey), hire the NFL's first Hispanic coach (Tom Flores, whose remarks appearing in sfgate.com are worth reading), and hire and groom the league's first female C-level staffer. From that perspective, Davis' approach resembled that of Brooklyn Dodger and Pittsburgh Pirate GM Branch Rickey.

NFL insiders, such as former Dallas Cowboy VP of Player Personnel Gil Brandt, raved about Davis' eye for talent and his vast, detailed knowledge of players and teams. Brandt and Davis appreciated each others' skills, partly as both built franchises with national followings from the ground up. Both Brandt and Davis thoroughly explored small colleges for gold, and were particularly active in the African-American college circuit. Intriguingly, the league, throughout the Raider franchise's best years, did its best to ensure Dallas and Oakland rarely competed against each other in a regular season game. Brandt gracefully notes in his excellent blog post on Davis that the Cowboys were 1-3 against the Silver and Black during Brandt's 29 years with Big D.

When it came to competition, Davis was a purist. He wanted to win, didn't give a damn about anyone else, and would do just about anything within or outside the rules to accomplish that end. Those are reasons why Davis hated parity. In that way, it made perfect sense that Davis was quite friendly with the late George Steinbrenner, for whom parity was absolute anathema. (For the record, I can't stand parity.)

Davis' principal rivals hated his guts and hated his teams. And "hate" is not too strong a word. The feelings were, and remain, visceral. That sensibility is best captured in articles from Denver and Kansas City, franchises from the former American Football League (along with the Raiders). The worst thing the NFL ever did was terminate the New York Jets-Oakland Raiders rivalry during the Joe Namath era. Even today's hot rivalries, such as Patriots-Jets, don't have the same heat as Raider Week does in KC and Denver (Packers-Bears comes close, though.)

Mean Joe Greene

Interestingly, one of the most interesting tributes to Davis came from a very unlikely source: Mean Joe Greene. He tells the story as it really happened, and doesn't mask how the Steelers and Raiders just basically wanted to beat the crap out of each other and "dominate" their opponent. (Keep in mind a Raiders player once initiated a lawsuit against Steeler coach Chuck Noll; it's hard to believe Davis didn't encourage the action.) Raider players generally appreciated Davis: Nmandi Asomugha's post is revealing and typical of this sentiment. The All-Pro cornerback recalls how he was a first-round Raider pick and how he became a great player with Oakland -- a magic notably missing with his current team, the Philadelphia Eagles. Ironically, the former Raider player least likely to have warm feelings for Davis -- Marcus Allen -- tweeted condolences.

Marcus Allen was associated with the Raider's LA years. I think the Raiders' move to Southern California marked their psychic decline. LA seemed more show biz, less down and dirty (a word always associated with the Raiders) than Oakland. Raider players such as Howie Long had one eye toward a media career, and while they played well, the teams lacked their predecessors' profound sense of menace and deceit, traits that started with and were cultivated by the boss.

To get a feel for Davis' personality, read a raw transcript of a 2006 interview Bay Area sports reporter Cam Inman had with the Raider owner. It's terrific, and refreshingly absent of handlers and PR managers. Another personal insight comes from Jerry Magee's engaging remembrance of Davis in signonsandiego.com.

In all interviews and encouters with Davis, it was clear he commanded full control of his enterprise, cherished innovation, and was certain he was the smartest person in the room -- any room. In those ways, he was very much akin to his neighbor across San Francisco Bay -- the late Steve Jobs.

As Dave Anderson said in his adieu to Davis in The New York Times, Davis would "Do or say whatever it took to get what he wanted.  The Raiders coaching job. The Raiders general manager job. The (NFL) merger. Control of the Raiders. Three Super Bowl rings. And the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where he's 'the only person....

The one and only."

Steve Jobs Passing and Impact on Twitter, Google Search Traffic Flow, Info Management

It's no secret that the Internet was awash with activity in the minutes, hours, and days after the announcement of Steve Jobs' passing. The interesting firm searchengineland.com has provided a useful, interesting summary of that online action, and their summaries of Twitter and Google Search traffic are worth reading. (Thanks to Bambi Francisco Roizen's vator.tv for linking the information to its membership.)

A few takeaways from searchengineland.com's posts will whet your appetite for further exploration:
1. Twitter: Jobs' passing did result in a traffic spike (no surprise). More amazing are the other, mostly celebrity and sports related announcements that drew more tweets per second than Jobs' RIP announcement.
2. Google Search: how Google (and Yahoo) handled the trending is very fascinating, as it reveals both firms' ability to "manage" information awareness. It also highlights search's dark side as a means for the unscrupulous to distribute spam and malware.

In essence, Danny Sullivan and the searchengineland.com gang offer an unusual look behind the tech curtain. The links to the stories I noted go to searchengineland.com's free site; the company also offers a "premium" site restricted to paid subscribers. (Full disclosure: I don't work for the firm, I have no business relationship with them, and I'm not a subscriber to their paid service.)

Chinese Shadow Banking System Crisis, Post-Steve Jobs US Leadership Chasm Indicate Storms Ahead

Shadow banking systems don't like the light shining their way. When someone cares about the handshake deal market, it's generally a sign that trouble is brewing. That's why a recent Financial Times post about a storm developing in China's shadow banking world is worth noting.

Kate Mackenzie's piece essentially reports on a Societe Generale report on the fragile state of the real Chinese economy. Essentially, according to Soc Gen economist Wei Yao, it's in tough shape, torn between stunting credit growth to "unworthy" companies while continuing to lend to the stronger firms. The analogy used in Soc Gen's report was fish vs. dragons. The ancient Romans might have characterized the distinction as between Christians and lions.

Telephone Booth, 3 a.m. Rahway, NJ
Photo by George Tice

Why should we care about this report? The Chinese economy is largely viewed as a key driver to lift the developed world from either its ongoing or upcoming recession. The Soc Gen report effectively throws cold water on Chinese businesses running into phone booths and collectively emerging as an economic Superman. Any other suggestions for growth? Europe? Russia? India? Brazil? Mars?

Of course, the American mainstream media have either referred to recession in the past tense or the future perfect tense. Right now, everything in the US has returned to a sort of false financial grooviness. If you're prosperous and don't have to sweat tepid business growth realities, then, yeah baby, the recession was a passing headache. For most Americans, however, contemporary truth is grimmer. The number of Americans on food stamps is at an historically high level. Small businesses in the Land of the Free are largely excluded from the credit markets. The housing market, outside of a handful of desirable, insanely expensive areas, seems reminiscent of shipwreck survivors hopefully clinging to floating debris. The feeling is "things will get better, won't they?"

The bewilderment at the heart of this economic conundrum has produced something of a "deer in the headlights" feeling at high fiscal and political policy levels in the United States. Now that we understand China won't -- and can't -- ride to the rescue, the lack of ideas at the top becomes an even greater cause for profound concern.

David Packard (left) and Bill Hewlett

Well, an obvious "way out" of the predicament is for American firms to make products people around the world want. The most prominent example of this path is Apple. I think that's one reason why so many people felt an emotional sense of loss at Steve Jobs' passing. He created things people wanted. The buzz about Apple had always been "what happens after Jobs?" In a larger sense, who in Silicon Valley, or anywhere else, would be able to hold the torch of tech innovation after Jobs died?  This was an issue that mattered to Jobs, as Wired noted in a recent piece on Apple's former CEO. He particularly admired the sensibilities of Bill Hewlett and David Packard. Jobs regarded HP as the standard bearer for tech firms, their standards and their values; his tenure at HP unquestionably shaped Jobs' own keen interest in developing Apple's corporate culture.

No one really knows who will take the torch Jobs held and in many ways inherited from Hewlett and Packard. That feeling of uncertainty informs part of the post-Jobs tech world and the uniquely American sense of optimism it embodies. That uneasy sensibility underpins much of the sentiment expressed about Jobs in the aftermath of his passing.

The ascent of dogmatic American political ideology, the moral bankruptcy of US business leadership, a diminishing zeal for invention, and the rise in the nearly unquestioned belief that the achievement of "comfort" is the greatest possible good, are all symptoms of an America in decline. The coming financial storm in China will impact the United States, and leave America with few options to address its own crisis.

Fasten your seat belts: it's going to be a bumpy ride.

California Ends Food Stamp Fingerprint Requirement

Registering for food stamps is a tough step for many people. For some, pride trumps need, and they don't register. Others prefer to stay away from the law's reach. That does not necessarily mean they are illegally requesting assistance, but they just have a bad feeling about governmental institutions, especially those that require fingerprints as the psychic price of admission. (Surely right-wingers would sympathize with this sentiment!) And yes, some applicants have something illegal in their records that would red flag them.

However, fingerprinting does little to prevent the determined from scheming to commit fraud. My strictly uninformed guess is that fraud costs a tiny fraction of the overall food stamp budget. What's left are the needy who are too shy or uptight to act on their legal rights to assistance. It is an absolute scandal and shame that any American citizen should go hungry.

California governor Jerry Brown

That's why California governor Jerry Brown did a good and right thing today, by signing into law the termination of the state's requirement that food stamp applicants submit to fingerprinting. Brown's action is a human triumph at a time when the poor and powerless are experiencing escalating malice from misguided ideologues and the simply callous. The story didn't get much play outside the Golden State, but it deserves greater attention. (The San Jose Mercury News covered this story and other legislative actions Brown recently enacted.) So does the governor who shows he cares about his weakest fellow Californians, even though it's not the political stance du jour.

Bill Gates on Steve Jobs

Gates' remarks, noted in the LA Times' Technology blog, originally appeared in his personal blog Gates Notes. And yes, I'm writing this on a Macintosh computer.

Thanks, Steve, for all you have done.

Michael Jackson: His Doctor's Trial and Cirque du Soleil's New Tribute to the "King of Pop"

Just when you think Michael Jackson no longer fascinates, the public keeps him alive in ways both lurid and entertaining. The current court case involving the "King of Pop's" physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is a case in point. The trial, dutifully reported in the LA Times, is a pointless proceeding. Of course, La La Land's criminal court system has the knack for producing such events; in fact, over the years, we have witnessed a parade of unflattering legal spectacles. The O.J. Simpson trial, which Ishmael Reed lampooned in his 2011 novel Juice!, comes to mind. The trial of Dr. Murray does not nothing to improve these sordid endeavors.

Meanwhile, Cirque du Soleil channeled the singer's musical sensibility for its new production Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour. The show just began its world tour, with the Canadian-based entertainment juggernaut launching its opening in its home base, Montreal, and loonie land's principal commercial city, Toronto. The Globe and Mail, Canada's leading English-language newspaper, recently reviewed the MJ show. I haven't seen the show, but the review explores some of what it asserts are the performance's odd choices and chilly feeling.

Well, eventually Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour will come to the United States. In the interim, we'll just have to settle listening to recordings of the Gloved One. Some of his songs, such as P.Y.T. and Human Nature, are wonderful and I still enjoy listening to them. There's life in Jackson's recordings, a lot more life than in an absurd court case or what appears to be a painful stage show leveraging his life without genuinely understanding it.

High-Tech Eyeglasses, Complete with Microprocessors

Electronic eyeglasses

Once upon a time, eyeglasses were a simple affair to obtain. You went to an optometrist, got an exam, thanked the man in the white coat for the prescription, and bought a pair of glasses. You could choose new frames from what was generally a dull collection. Now, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News, high-tech glasses are now available, starting around $1,200 or so.

The combination of transparent liquid crystals and traditional lenses makes these forward-looking specs unique (pun intended). A microprocessor that can either be automatically or manually activated also gets in the act. There are many more details that are fun to read, so check the story out and have fun.

Univision, Senator Marco Rubio, and Alleged Media Muscle

Media outlets have their ways of trying to get what they want. Generally, if there is any reporting of episodes involving media muscle, it's subdued. So, when an exception to the media's "look no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" approach to its peers' actions, it's a noteworthy event.

Senator Marco Rubio

That's what makes today's Miami Herald's story about Univision's  dance with US Senator Marco Rubio so fascinating. The newspaper's report carefully noted how a Univision news executive contacted Rubio's office with a deal he might not want to refuse. The Herald article alleges that, in exchange for a personal appearance by Rubio on a Univision national program, an unflattering story about a Rubio relative would "be softened or might not run at all."

Now, it's possible that interests opposed to Univision, or aligned with Rubio, provided useful details about this story. It's also entirely conceivable that the Herald published the article with good journalism as its sole rationale. What's much more interesting is Univision's motivation.

The Univision ploy, if the facts, inferential details, and likely conclusions hold water, is a vivid demonstration of a major media firm attempting to coerce an elected federal official for corporate gain. We've seen this scenario over the years in the business of celebrity journalism, in which extortion, blackmail, and other unsavory tactics are among the media's darker arts. Of course, politics is no stranger to these schemes. For the layperson, the Herald's story opens a fascinating window into how things really happen from the inside out.

Dept of Justice: Cellphone Companies Storing User Data For Years

According to a report in TheHill.com's Hillicon Valley technology blog, a Department of Justice (DOJ) report has noted that US-based cellphone carriers retain personal usage data for at least one year, and in most cases, for a far longer time.

The report was brought to light thanks to a Freedom of Information Act inquiry initiated by the American Civil Liberties Union. Ironically, the DOJ document notes that those consumers who pay their cell bills on a monthly basis have their records held longer than those who use pre-paid cards.

One reason to care about this report is the potential for hush-hush government privacy invasion via data mining. Also, cell phone providers can sell retained geographic location information to firms that base advertising on positioning patterns of individuals and defined groups. Yes, your data is very valuable. So is your privacy.

American Caste System Reaches Silicon Valley

Columnist Scott Herhold wrote an article in today's edition of The San Jose Mercury News which really struck a nerve. The piece notes that our nation's de facto caste system, using Hollywood and the Hamptons as its avatars, has come full force to Silicon Valley. The provocative story notes how Silicon Valley's stars, such as Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg (who, according to a report in Fortune, recently killed a bison on a hunting trip), have made a fetish of exclusivity. One form this takes is the cultivation of "cool," as defined by the interests and passions of elite, uber-wealthy geeks.

Herhold contrasts this off-putting behavior with Bill Hewlett and Steve Wozniak, both of whom had their phone numbers listed in local phone books. However, such self-effacing behavior just won't do for Silicon Valley's current crop of new, instant zillionaires. That just wouldn't be cool.

The image shows an old edition of Castes Old & New by Indian sociologist Andre Beteille.