Is it fair to say that Puerto Rico has a self-destructive streak?
On the surface, My first answer (and that of most of Us) would be to say "No, no more than any other country." For all intents and purposes, this question is as intangible as an imaginary soap bubble, but within that intangibility there lies a rock-solid observation: We hurt Ourselves too often.
This conclusion is entirely subjective, for each of Us has a different point of perceiving how much hurt is too much. You may even argue that a society such as Ours, that isn't war-torn, drug-addled, tyrant-controlled and/or unnaturally-devastated cannot really be "self-destructive." But even within the subjective mode, even with the overall condition of "functionality" that We tend to exhibit, We can still see an alarming tendency to self-destructive behavior. And the fact is indisputable: It's getting worse.
People flee Our island for northern climes. Not the poor and thus desperate, but the marginally well-to-do and the oft-proclaimed "highly-educated."
Violent deaths remain high, but the overall pattern of these deaths is spreading beyond its concentrated nucleus of drugs to encompass a larger segment of Our society.
The Fools are increasingly vicious in their utter incapacity to simply focus on Our most pressing problems. They spend more time and energy on fancy clothes, internal squabbling and name-calling than on education, health care and security. As for the economy, they are criminals, outright de facto criminals acting against Our best interests and Our properties.
And the criminality pervades Our police force, as it does Our unions, Our medical profession, Our legal system and even Our churches.
Our unions are led by hypocritical hyenas who shred their constituents with howling pleasure.
Our medical profession is gutted by greed, supervised by thieves, managed by morons and subjected to increasing pressure in salvaging a desperate situation created by the profession...up in the U.S.
Our legal system works for money and for no other reason.
And Our churches spend more time butting into politics and political issues--with some barging headlong into bedrooms where they never belong--instead of striking a path that rises above the mundane.
Is this the behavior of self-growth? Are these observations overly-harsh?
Nearly every major union in Puerto Rico (teachers, electrical workers, aqueduct and sewer employees, government employees) is run by a pack of extremely well-paid, long-ruling hyenas. The only subjective word in that previous sentence was "pack." (The correct term is cackle. Haha.)
The local medical profession is increasingly built on sub-par performers who can't make the leap to the U.S., following those who often do to chase dollars. The trapped ones remain in an addle-pated government-shat system that undercuts their authority, forces them to under-treat or ignore patients with the cronyism of insurance companies and yet everybody involved expects the local galenos to somehow fix what was broken decades ago in the U.S. of part of A.
That Our legal system works for money--and nothing else--is not an original or incisive observation. It is a merely a "no clothes"-level remark about a system that cannot dispense justice because it lacks any viable mechanism for either recognizing or defining it. It's like asking a whore for love while she does you: If you got money, you'll get "love." And a disease.
And lastly, Our churches, chasing dollars, huddling up with Fools, splitting hairs to the point of micrografting and making such a racket that the quiet lessons of Truth are simply buried under fetid noise. Funny how the churches are often against so much and yet stand for so little. Seems that the positive messages of love, charity and tolerance that are part of every major religion in the world have become in Our island forgotten seeds in the hands of mud-slinging frauds.
Overly-harsh? Not at all. If anything is over the top here it's the sheer consistency of Our path to self-harm. If anything is overwhelming here it's the sad empty answer to the question "What are We doing to overcome it?"
The Jenius Has Spoken.
28 September 2007
DCA On The Way
Thanks to My Special Friend, María, good news landed in My inbox: The clinical trials for dichloracetate (DCA) are beginning in Canada.
I wrote about this back in January, 2007, about how researchers at the University of Alberta discovered that DCA was extremely effective at "de-zombifying" the mitochondria of cancer cells, in effect, making them very vulnerable to radio- and chemotherapy. Basically, DCA makes cancer cells "live" so that treatment can kill them much more easily.
The repercussions are staggering on three levels:
1) Enhanced treatment of a wide range of cancers, including those cases where tumors are too close to delicate tissues for surgery.
2) Substantial decreases in medical costs and side-effects for patients.
3) DCA is so inexpensive it can be produced for as little as $2.00 a dose; it is a generic chemical that is very easy to manufacture to medical quality.
And as explained before, therein lies the rub: No pharmaceutical company would touch DCA because there's no true profit margin in developing it. I postulated that Puerto Rico could offer to put up the $600-$700 million needed to run the clinical trials, making of it Our version of the U.S.'s Lunar Landing project. A gift to the world, I called it.
A gift We never even bothered to consider giving.
My voice was too small, too insignificant to make this gift a reality. But think of this: The Canadian researchers are moving ahead although their entire budget so far is a little over $800,000. In other words, they are proceeding despite having barely 0.1% of the needed funding.
One-tenth of one percent.
Many people say scientists lack faith, but what other concept applies to this kind of effort? In their journey of a thousand miles, they have decidedly taken a first step. And there is no doubt--there can be no doubt--that they are doing so because they absolutely believe the DCA clinical trials are the right thing to do.
Conviction. Faith. Belief. Determination. Courage. Inspiration.
How I wish those words were about Us, rather than Canada. Maybe they still can be. I sure hope they can be.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Postscript: I encountered this story on how private citizens in the Alberta area are giving money to help the funding of these clinical trials. Nothing We couldn't do if We chose to.
I wrote about this back in January, 2007, about how researchers at the University of Alberta discovered that DCA was extremely effective at "de-zombifying" the mitochondria of cancer cells, in effect, making them very vulnerable to radio- and chemotherapy. Basically, DCA makes cancer cells "live" so that treatment can kill them much more easily.
The repercussions are staggering on three levels:
1) Enhanced treatment of a wide range of cancers, including those cases where tumors are too close to delicate tissues for surgery.
2) Substantial decreases in medical costs and side-effects for patients.
3) DCA is so inexpensive it can be produced for as little as $2.00 a dose; it is a generic chemical that is very easy to manufacture to medical quality.
And as explained before, therein lies the rub: No pharmaceutical company would touch DCA because there's no true profit margin in developing it. I postulated that Puerto Rico could offer to put up the $600-$700 million needed to run the clinical trials, making of it Our version of the U.S.'s Lunar Landing project. A gift to the world, I called it.
A gift We never even bothered to consider giving.
My voice was too small, too insignificant to make this gift a reality. But think of this: The Canadian researchers are moving ahead although their entire budget so far is a little over $800,000. In other words, they are proceeding despite having barely 0.1% of the needed funding.
One-tenth of one percent.
Many people say scientists lack faith, but what other concept applies to this kind of effort? In their journey of a thousand miles, they have decidedly taken a first step. And there is no doubt--there can be no doubt--that they are doing so because they absolutely believe the DCA clinical trials are the right thing to do.
Conviction. Faith. Belief. Determination. Courage. Inspiration.
How I wish those words were about Us, rather than Canada. Maybe they still can be. I sure hope they can be.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Postscript: I encountered this story on how private citizens in the Alberta area are giving money to help the funding of these clinical trials. Nothing We couldn't do if We chose to.
24 September 2007
Survey This
A survey reveals that 75% of Us don't trust Our police.
And the other 25%? They're either lying or don't want the police to hear their truth.
Now here's My objection to all this: Why the hell is a survey being done and trumpeted in the first place?
Given the hideous run of police-related events in the past year, is a survey really needed to tell Us what We already know or can figure out? Doesn't the survey serve only one purpose: To kick the downtrodden police image further into the gutter? Isn't the survey, in fact, salt in a wound rather than even a pale shadow of what passes for journalism here?
The survey follows a long line of similar such moronic fare, such as the ones done when gas prices shot up (We were against the high prices), when taxes were imposed (We didn't like it) and when the government shut down (We blamed the politicians.) The intent is never to inform, but to inflame; never to reveal, but to revel. It's not journalism, it's business; the difference is the difference between probity and profit.
But why complain? It's not like I run or work for the pissy rag that does these surveys. It's not like I do the stupid surveys or even participate in them. Why complain when it really has nothing to do with Me?
I complain because these stupid surveys are more often than not the only mirrors We think We have to see Ourselves in. When the mirror is simply distorted--manipulated, even--it doesn't matter how many times We look into it for the image We get will always be of falsehood. The reductio ad absurdum of these surveys is an injury to Our soul, and the insult to the injury comes when such lies are coated in the guise of truth, as in "what Puerto Ricans think and feel."
No, these surveys don't really reveal what We think and feel: They only reveal what We say when confronted with a particular question, a feeble, biased and incomplete question that purports to encompass a complex issue. To do this is a demagogue's game, a politician's trick foisted from what should be the respectable bastion of the Fourth Estate. Demagoguery and political shenanigans are a Fool's Paradise that journalism--responsible, professional, ethical journalism--never engages in.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
And the other 25%? They're either lying or don't want the police to hear their truth.
Now here's My objection to all this: Why the hell is a survey being done and trumpeted in the first place?
Given the hideous run of police-related events in the past year, is a survey really needed to tell Us what We already know or can figure out? Doesn't the survey serve only one purpose: To kick the downtrodden police image further into the gutter? Isn't the survey, in fact, salt in a wound rather than even a pale shadow of what passes for journalism here?
The survey follows a long line of similar such moronic fare, such as the ones done when gas prices shot up (We were against the high prices), when taxes were imposed (We didn't like it) and when the government shut down (We blamed the politicians.) The intent is never to inform, but to inflame; never to reveal, but to revel. It's not journalism, it's business; the difference is the difference between probity and profit.
But why complain? It's not like I run or work for the pissy rag that does these surveys. It's not like I do the stupid surveys or even participate in them. Why complain when it really has nothing to do with Me?
I complain because these stupid surveys are more often than not the only mirrors We think We have to see Ourselves in. When the mirror is simply distorted--manipulated, even--it doesn't matter how many times We look into it for the image We get will always be of falsehood. The reductio ad absurdum of these surveys is an injury to Our soul, and the insult to the injury comes when such lies are coated in the guise of truth, as in "what Puerto Ricans think and feel."
No, these surveys don't really reveal what We think and feel: They only reveal what We say when confronted with a particular question, a feeble, biased and incomplete question that purports to encompass a complex issue. To do this is a demagogue's game, a politician's trick foisted from what should be the respectable bastion of the Fourth Estate. Demagoguery and political shenanigans are a Fool's Paradise that journalism--responsible, professional, ethical journalism--never engages in.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
21 September 2007
Writer, Not Waiter
Lately I've been writing fiction again. (No, not here.) Despite some success in creating stories others are willing to read, I'd abandoned that practice in favor of more remunerative work. In other words, I wrote primarily to get paid. (No, not here.)
Writing is a solitary effort; it can be nothing else. Yes, ideas can be discussed, drafts can be bandied back and forth between writers, editors and readers, but in the end, one person will sit down--alone--and produce words leading to a finality. And unless those words receive some form of return, whether it's money, fame, notoriety, gratitude or criticism, there's an emptiness that exacerbates the void created in the effort.
Blogs are a form of immediate feedback, a way of reducing the writer's solitude because the very act of blogging implies an ever-present audience. Unlike other forms of writing--say a magazine article or a book--the blogger's audience is merely a "Post this" click away. I have stories written almost 20 years ago that have never been read by anyone but Me, but I am certain that every post in Jenius and GCSPrank has been read dozens, if not hundreds of times. In that sense, these pieces here may have been more "successful" than My stories.
But is that why I stopped writing stories? Because I wanted or needed an immediate audience? No, not really. I stopped writing stories because My time required a better investment. And yet, I continued to write here, where the investment return is certainly not money. Why?
Because writing here is how I manage to assuage the need to write. It's been said that people who wait to write are waiters, not writers. Even on My days of rest, I write, even if it's a short note or some potential ideas for posts, columns, articles or stories. I need to write like I need to eat: I seldom have to do it right this minute, but I have to it every day.
Some of My best writing, I think, has come in letters, or e-mails. Because the audience is there, is often well-known and sometimes well-loved, the act of writing becomes free, spontaneous and pleasurable. Other forms of writing lack that sense of connection, and in fact, may suffer from trying to make it happen. "Writing to the reader" is often the sign of a bad writer, but unless the writer can create a meaningful connection to the reader, his/her work will go unread.
The trick of course, is to not focus on the reader so much as to be aware of the reader and let the act of writing find its own voice and pace. To achieve that without feedback is so hard that maybe blogging is a way of "exercising the writing muscles" with less risk than a short story or a novel.
I obviously speak of bloggers who are writers and not just exhibitionists, the difference being evident in the quality and tone of the posts. Unfortunately, it is the latter who seem to garner the most attention and smudge the image of the rest of Us.
As to why someone would continue to labor in solitude, writing an ever-growing number of words about a topic near and dear to the heart, with little hope of fame or fortune, then one must look a little deeper, beyond a simple to need to write to a more significant source. In My case, it's the need to at least make the effort to bring about change. And though I feel it's My unique motivation, I think it's far more common than I would allow Myself to imagine.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Writing is a solitary effort; it can be nothing else. Yes, ideas can be discussed, drafts can be bandied back and forth between writers, editors and readers, but in the end, one person will sit down--alone--and produce words leading to a finality. And unless those words receive some form of return, whether it's money, fame, notoriety, gratitude or criticism, there's an emptiness that exacerbates the void created in the effort.
Blogs are a form of immediate feedback, a way of reducing the writer's solitude because the very act of blogging implies an ever-present audience. Unlike other forms of writing--say a magazine article or a book--the blogger's audience is merely a "Post this" click away. I have stories written almost 20 years ago that have never been read by anyone but Me, but I am certain that every post in Jenius and GCSPrank has been read dozens, if not hundreds of times. In that sense, these pieces here may have been more "successful" than My stories.
But is that why I stopped writing stories? Because I wanted or needed an immediate audience? No, not really. I stopped writing stories because My time required a better investment. And yet, I continued to write here, where the investment return is certainly not money. Why?
Because writing here is how I manage to assuage the need to write. It's been said that people who wait to write are waiters, not writers. Even on My days of rest, I write, even if it's a short note or some potential ideas for posts, columns, articles or stories. I need to write like I need to eat: I seldom have to do it right this minute, but I have to it every day.
Some of My best writing, I think, has come in letters, or e-mails. Because the audience is there, is often well-known and sometimes well-loved, the act of writing becomes free, spontaneous and pleasurable. Other forms of writing lack that sense of connection, and in fact, may suffer from trying to make it happen. "Writing to the reader" is often the sign of a bad writer, but unless the writer can create a meaningful connection to the reader, his/her work will go unread.
The trick of course, is to not focus on the reader so much as to be aware of the reader and let the act of writing find its own voice and pace. To achieve that without feedback is so hard that maybe blogging is a way of "exercising the writing muscles" with less risk than a short story or a novel.
I obviously speak of bloggers who are writers and not just exhibitionists, the difference being evident in the quality and tone of the posts. Unfortunately, it is the latter who seem to garner the most attention and smudge the image of the rest of Us.
As to why someone would continue to labor in solitude, writing an ever-growing number of words about a topic near and dear to the heart, with little hope of fame or fortune, then one must look a little deeper, beyond a simple to need to write to a more significant source. In My case, it's the need to at least make the effort to bring about change. And though I feel it's My unique motivation, I think it's far more common than I would allow Myself to imagine.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
19 September 2007
Ay Bendito's Real Meaning
A policeman, with a Complaints Lodged Against record dating back almost 11 years, frequent incidents of explosive rage and a noted tendency to personalize confrontations, shoots and kills his immediate superior. While at work.
And rumors spread that policemen in other precincts cheered.
I wrote about this unseemly, dangerous tolerance that sullies the men in blue and as much as I'd like to say it's their problem, it's obvious that it is, in fact, Our problem.
What We see in the police, with its frequent killings and corruption, is nothing more than an extension of what We are as a society. If by that I'm saying We're violent and corrupt, then so be it: What We tolerate so extensively must be what We are willing to be. And Our primary signal of tolerance is the often-feckless "Ay bendito."
I seldom refer to the ay bendito syndrome, the Puerto Rican "oh well" that slashes Our throats more often than it tightens them, simply because it's been mentioned so often that I feel I have nothing to add.
Except now.
Ay bendito--in ideal form--stems from a deeply-held empathic sense and thus is a shining aspect of Our nature. What has happened in Our history is that this heart-felt empathy has evolved into a more complex, darker set of feelings, one that races away from empathy to embrace schadenfreude, that inimitable German noun for "taking pleasure in another's misfortune."
Ay bendito is just as untranslatable as schadenfreude, but for different reasons. Ay bendito depends greatly on mood and situation for its meaning, from tender concern to frustration to tired acceptance. In that complex range of expression lies its capacity to reveal...and hide. For if it reveals a state of mind or mood, it can also hide a multitude of unseemly feelings, allowing for the secret delight in another's woe.
We live in a society that also espouses the phrase Pena es hermana de "Jódete"--Pity is the sister of "Screw you." We're not entirely blind to Our faults; We just do the normal thing and try to keep them hidden as often as possible.
And why should We be surprised at this attitude? Aren't We convinced that Life is a zero-sum game, where your loss is My gain? When societal politesse clashes with inner celebration, what better way to comply publicly and enjoy privately than a well-expressed Ay bendito?
But sometimes, We forget or don't care to comply with being polite. Instead, We cheer a man's wrongful death...or make up rumors to that effect. We express sympathy for the painful defeats of others while Our guts whoop it up in visceral happiness. We're not evil, not really: We're just...people.
For you see, the ay bendito syndrome is Our version of schadenfreude, which is the German version of "Dancing on the grave." We're not unique, those of Us who live here in the boggy swamp error of zero-sum thinking and secret delight. We just cloak it differently, placing a blanket of pseudo-empathy over what is--and always has been--an ugly joy. The Germans gave it a name: We simply gave it an alias.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
And rumors spread that policemen in other precincts cheered.
I wrote about this unseemly, dangerous tolerance that sullies the men in blue and as much as I'd like to say it's their problem, it's obvious that it is, in fact, Our problem.
What We see in the police, with its frequent killings and corruption, is nothing more than an extension of what We are as a society. If by that I'm saying We're violent and corrupt, then so be it: What We tolerate so extensively must be what We are willing to be. And Our primary signal of tolerance is the often-feckless "Ay bendito."
I seldom refer to the ay bendito syndrome, the Puerto Rican "oh well" that slashes Our throats more often than it tightens them, simply because it's been mentioned so often that I feel I have nothing to add.
Except now.
Ay bendito--in ideal form--stems from a deeply-held empathic sense and thus is a shining aspect of Our nature. What has happened in Our history is that this heart-felt empathy has evolved into a more complex, darker set of feelings, one that races away from empathy to embrace schadenfreude, that inimitable German noun for "taking pleasure in another's misfortune."
Ay bendito is just as untranslatable as schadenfreude, but for different reasons. Ay bendito depends greatly on mood and situation for its meaning, from tender concern to frustration to tired acceptance. In that complex range of expression lies its capacity to reveal...and hide. For if it reveals a state of mind or mood, it can also hide a multitude of unseemly feelings, allowing for the secret delight in another's woe.
We live in a society that also espouses the phrase Pena es hermana de "Jódete"--Pity is the sister of "Screw you." We're not entirely blind to Our faults; We just do the normal thing and try to keep them hidden as often as possible.
And why should We be surprised at this attitude? Aren't We convinced that Life is a zero-sum game, where your loss is My gain? When societal politesse clashes with inner celebration, what better way to comply publicly and enjoy privately than a well-expressed Ay bendito?
But sometimes, We forget or don't care to comply with being polite. Instead, We cheer a man's wrongful death...or make up rumors to that effect. We express sympathy for the painful defeats of others while Our guts whoop it up in visceral happiness. We're not evil, not really: We're just...people.
For you see, the ay bendito syndrome is Our version of schadenfreude, which is the German version of "Dancing on the grave." We're not unique, those of Us who live here in the boggy swamp error of zero-sum thinking and secret delight. We just cloak it differently, placing a blanket of pseudo-empathy over what is--and always has been--an ugly joy. The Germans gave it a name: We simply gave it an alias.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
17 September 2007
Congroined
The banking cabal has asked the government to "Separate politics and the economy" for the good of Puerto Rico.
Tee. Hee.
That's like Judas decrying the use of silver for coins or Enron complaining about lackluster accounting procedures. Banking and the government are so entwined that they are virtually Siamese twins joined at the groin. And they are incestuous.
Remember, this is a country with a dominant central bank--Banco Popular--and lesser lights joining it because it has the muscle to make things happen. Doubt that? Okay, check and see who spearheaded the following banking changes: insurance sales, high-rate personal loans and maximum mortgage consolidation. Yep, Banco Popular. And who benefited most from these changes? Go ahead: Guess. Wait! Another hint: They practically own the personal loan and mortgage markets locally. Okay, now guess.
Now, check out who dominates ATM processing, credit cards, construction loans and small business loans. Uh-huh: Banco Popular. Now add to this the related item of holding the largest total of former Section 936 funds (tax break profits that fueled Puerto Rico for decades) and you have an 800-pound gorilla leading a pack of baboons into a massive den of squirrely monkeys. The end result: Some serious shit is gonna fly.
And guess who's the "fan" being hit in this mon(k)ey pit?
When the local economy is running at 30 mph, very few of Us give a tinker's damn if banks are making money or treating Us like cattle. But let the economy drop to its current 15 mph slowdown and you get all sorts of complaints, many of them aimed at banks. And though some people have tried to convince Me otherwise, the complaints against the banking industry are entirely justified.
Three indisputable points have kept My conclusion intact:
1) Most banking industry monies in Puerto Rico are invested outside of Puerto Rico. There's a dual cause here: Major corporate funds using Puerto Rico as a conduit back to Company Headquarters and the limited local investment panorama when compared to U.S. or international markets. I don't criticize banks for making this latter decision: Their job is to make money for shareholders. What I do criticize is that they (the banks) make no effort to truly develop the local investment panorama, using their political influence almost entirely for shareholder profit. Here's a tip, banking baboons: Shareholder profit AND local development are a high effort-high gain combination and only you can keep it from being high-risk.
2) When one bank dominates consumer, construction and government fiscal processes, you have a Third World--dependent--economy and the ideal framework for corruptive practices. Banco Popular or its subsidiary/partner network dominate all three. Our government is corrupt. By extension, so is the banking industry. It's simply the natural result of being congroined (conjoined at the groin.)
3) If We are not a Third World economy because of a central dominant bank, then what makes Us a Second World or even First World economy? More specifically what economic sector drives Us to have a functional economy? And the answer isn't manufacturing or pharmaceuticals or Miss Universe pageants: It's the underground economy. A gray market said to equal or even surpass the "legal" economy is what--WITHOUT A DOUBT--keeps Our economy from crashing. Now I ask you this: Does an underground economy this vast happen if government and banking are working together for the people? Argue all you want, but you know the answer: It wouldn't happen because it wouldn't need to happen.
Separate banking and politics? Puh-leeze. Bankers, shut up. If you're miffed that the flow of green is down from torrent to stream, be adults and thrash it out in house, instead of being a whiny bunch of ass-kissing simians prancing in the media. You're definitely--WITHOUT A DOUBT--part of the problem. The dare is to see if you can ever become part of the solution.
Tee. Hee.
That's like Judas decrying the use of silver for coins or Enron complaining about lackluster accounting procedures. Banking and the government are so entwined that they are virtually Siamese twins joined at the groin. And they are incestuous.
Remember, this is a country with a dominant central bank--Banco Popular--and lesser lights joining it because it has the muscle to make things happen. Doubt that? Okay, check and see who spearheaded the following banking changes: insurance sales, high-rate personal loans and maximum mortgage consolidation. Yep, Banco Popular. And who benefited most from these changes? Go ahead: Guess. Wait! Another hint: They practically own the personal loan and mortgage markets locally. Okay, now guess.
Now, check out who dominates ATM processing, credit cards, construction loans and small business loans. Uh-huh: Banco Popular. Now add to this the related item of holding the largest total of former Section 936 funds (tax break profits that fueled Puerto Rico for decades) and you have an 800-pound gorilla leading a pack of baboons into a massive den of squirrely monkeys. The end result: Some serious shit is gonna fly.
And guess who's the "fan" being hit in this mon(k)ey pit?
When the local economy is running at 30 mph, very few of Us give a tinker's damn if banks are making money or treating Us like cattle. But let the economy drop to its current 15 mph slowdown and you get all sorts of complaints, many of them aimed at banks. And though some people have tried to convince Me otherwise, the complaints against the banking industry are entirely justified.
Three indisputable points have kept My conclusion intact:
1) Most banking industry monies in Puerto Rico are invested outside of Puerto Rico. There's a dual cause here: Major corporate funds using Puerto Rico as a conduit back to Company Headquarters and the limited local investment panorama when compared to U.S. or international markets. I don't criticize banks for making this latter decision: Their job is to make money for shareholders. What I do criticize is that they (the banks) make no effort to truly develop the local investment panorama, using their political influence almost entirely for shareholder profit. Here's a tip, banking baboons: Shareholder profit AND local development are a high effort-high gain combination and only you can keep it from being high-risk.
2) When one bank dominates consumer, construction and government fiscal processes, you have a Third World--dependent--economy and the ideal framework for corruptive practices. Banco Popular or its subsidiary/partner network dominate all three. Our government is corrupt. By extension, so is the banking industry. It's simply the natural result of being congroined (conjoined at the groin.)
3) If We are not a Third World economy because of a central dominant bank, then what makes Us a Second World or even First World economy? More specifically what economic sector drives Us to have a functional economy? And the answer isn't manufacturing or pharmaceuticals or Miss Universe pageants: It's the underground economy. A gray market said to equal or even surpass the "legal" economy is what--WITHOUT A DOUBT--keeps Our economy from crashing. Now I ask you this: Does an underground economy this vast happen if government and banking are working together for the people? Argue all you want, but you know the answer: It wouldn't happen because it wouldn't need to happen.
Separate banking and politics? Puh-leeze. Bankers, shut up. If you're miffed that the flow of green is down from torrent to stream, be adults and thrash it out in house, instead of being a whiny bunch of ass-kissing simians prancing in the media. You're definitely--WITHOUT A DOUBT--part of the problem. The dare is to see if you can ever become part of the solution.
14 September 2007
Hell Yeah I Waved
On the expressway, just leaving Ponce. It's a straightaway, with a slight curve to the right. A dozen cars are bunched behind a Walgreen's truck and somebody who thinks 60 is the sound barrier.
A white Porsche darts out into the emergency lane and zips forward three cars, tucking itself behind the truck. I'm thinking about the $250 fine and the odds of anyone being caught in that place at that hour. Quick look up and My rearview mirror tells Me there's a cop just coming up in the distance. A matter of seconds...
Roll another fifteen seconds and the cluster starts breaking down as slowpoke up ahead decides that maybe 58 won't kill. Going slightly downhill, with about a kilometer of road easily visible ahead, I see a brown SUV slide right, then right again--into the emergency lane.
Up ahead, a short bridge. Two cars. Five people on the bridge. A tire being changed.
The SUV is too close.
Dust kicks as the SUV speeds up, the people on the bridge unaware how close they are to disaster. With less than a hundred feet to go, the SUV cuts left and only as it passes do the people on the bridge notice what happened.
I felt the soft glow of anger against stupidity. Didn't bother to feed it: What's the point? Some idiot breaks the law, risks lives and since nothing happened, what's going to happen?
A sudden braaap answers that question. The police car has moved up behind Me and before I can switch lanes, he does. A burly policeman, easily in the 260-280 weight range, passes Me, his fingers jabbing at the dashboard.
He. Is. Pissed.
Braaaps and quick driving get him through the now-broken cluster. I look down the road and see the brown SUV, in traffic, within the speed limit, rolling along. I can't hear the final braaap, but I see the patrol car's lights flash. They look pissed, too.
The SUV pulls over and stops quickly. The policeman is pissed, as he breaks protocol and doesn't angle his car behind the SUV. Instead, he brakes hard, straight behind the other car, a visual alert that this isn't going to be a warning.
Busted.
I drove by a few seconds later.
Honked My horn. Twice.
Hell yeah, I waved. One part raspberry, one part kudos.
Let them sort it out. I know what I meant.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
A white Porsche darts out into the emergency lane and zips forward three cars, tucking itself behind the truck. I'm thinking about the $250 fine and the odds of anyone being caught in that place at that hour. Quick look up and My rearview mirror tells Me there's a cop just coming up in the distance. A matter of seconds...
Roll another fifteen seconds and the cluster starts breaking down as slowpoke up ahead decides that maybe 58 won't kill. Going slightly downhill, with about a kilometer of road easily visible ahead, I see a brown SUV slide right, then right again--into the emergency lane.
Up ahead, a short bridge. Two cars. Five people on the bridge. A tire being changed.
The SUV is too close.
Dust kicks as the SUV speeds up, the people on the bridge unaware how close they are to disaster. With less than a hundred feet to go, the SUV cuts left and only as it passes do the people on the bridge notice what happened.
I felt the soft glow of anger against stupidity. Didn't bother to feed it: What's the point? Some idiot breaks the law, risks lives and since nothing happened, what's going to happen?
A sudden braaap answers that question. The police car has moved up behind Me and before I can switch lanes, he does. A burly policeman, easily in the 260-280 weight range, passes Me, his fingers jabbing at the dashboard.
He. Is. Pissed.
Braaaps and quick driving get him through the now-broken cluster. I look down the road and see the brown SUV, in traffic, within the speed limit, rolling along. I can't hear the final braaap, but I see the patrol car's lights flash. They look pissed, too.
The SUV pulls over and stops quickly. The policeman is pissed, as he breaks protocol and doesn't angle his car behind the SUV. Instead, he brakes hard, straight behind the other car, a visual alert that this isn't going to be a warning.
Busted.
I drove by a few seconds later.
Honked My horn. Twice.
Hell yeah, I waved. One part raspberry, one part kudos.
Let them sort it out. I know what I meant.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
12 September 2007
Scandalous
A man at the bank was lauding the "great leadership" displayed by a former (as in dead) local mayor saying "There was a never a scandal around him."
I hope the bank is profiting from this idiot's feeble-mindedness.
Great leaders and scandals are not--read My lips, not--mutually exclusive. Let's examine this:
The man in the bank sees "no scandals" as evidence of great leadership. In olden days, one could reasonably equate a lack of scandal with moral rectitude and this could, in some cases. be construed as great leadership. Jump forward to the late 20th century, when media and multimedia pry into every corner and you find that Gandhi slept (as in snoring) with nubile girls, F.D.R. had a mistress, J.F.K. had numerous affairs and both Churchill and Lincoln were manic-depressives who sought to end their lives. Scandals? Maybe. Revealed in their day? No way.
Did great leaders of the past have scandals in their lives? Yes, almost all did. Does this make them less great as leaders? No. It simply makes them human.
So why are We lacking great leaders now? Is it, as the befuddled man in the bank believes, because of the enormous propensity and range of scandals We see and hear about almost daily, from fraud to corruption to sex crimes to outright criminal activity? Partially. But there's much more that that.
As for scandals and great leadership, here's the bottom line: Scandals arise from improper decisions and behavior and from the attention others place on that activity. That last bit is italicized for a reason: It makes all the difference in the world. Man A drops his pants in an airport bathroom and implies a desire for a connection (I'm smirking right now) and nobody gives a damn. Let Man A be called--oh, I don't know, say...Larry Craig--and suddenly it's a scandal. It's not just the action, it's also the reaction. And where there's more attention, there's more chance for somebody, somewhere to cry "Scandal!"
In many cases, the cry is legitimate; in many others, it is not. The ratio depends on your point of view in each case. But here's where scandal and great leadership do collide: Great leaders may have personal scandals, but stay above-board in their roles as leaders. And there's a world of difference between a personal scandal and one that involves the country at large. The first are opprobious, but seldom criminal: The second are almost always both.
For example, great leaders don't lie to benefit a few and harm the many, as in the case of the current war in Iraq. The murderous moron earned his moniker with that one.
Great leaders don't rely on polls, surveys or vox populi to make the difficult decisions, for those who do are listening only to what they want to hear.
Great leaders don't excuse their incompetence with "History will judge me" vapidity: History is now and great leaders always know that.
Great leaders take responsibility, and in the this new age of "I'm a victim," leaders who play this card simply cannot--cannot--be great.
In a perfect world, a great leader would be without scandal. But We don't live in a perfect world, and where one man's hobby is another man's scandal, avoiding scandal is a slippery ledge. No scandals in a career? Rah. But great leadership depends on what the person has done beyond that. So when I asked the man what great works the "great" mayor had done, he couldn't come up with any. Just that: No scandals.
So a man was elected to a position of ostensible leadership, spent nearly 7 seven years there and left no true mark, good or bad. That is great leadership?
Obviously not. My standards, unlike that of the Department of Education, do not "come down" in order to preserve some image of excellence. The standards remain high: What has come down is the quality of those who pursue leadership, seduced by the empty fate of media hyperattention and enslaved to their id(iocy.)
Come to think of it, that is the perfect formula for... more scandals.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
I hope the bank is profiting from this idiot's feeble-mindedness.
Great leaders and scandals are not--read My lips, not--mutually exclusive. Let's examine this:
The man in the bank sees "no scandals" as evidence of great leadership. In olden days, one could reasonably equate a lack of scandal with moral rectitude and this could, in some cases. be construed as great leadership. Jump forward to the late 20th century, when media and multimedia pry into every corner and you find that Gandhi slept (as in snoring) with nubile girls, F.D.R. had a mistress, J.F.K. had numerous affairs and both Churchill and Lincoln were manic-depressives who sought to end their lives. Scandals? Maybe. Revealed in their day? No way.
Did great leaders of the past have scandals in their lives? Yes, almost all did. Does this make them less great as leaders? No. It simply makes them human.
So why are We lacking great leaders now? Is it, as the befuddled man in the bank believes, because of the enormous propensity and range of scandals We see and hear about almost daily, from fraud to corruption to sex crimes to outright criminal activity? Partially. But there's much more that that.
As for scandals and great leadership, here's the bottom line: Scandals arise from improper decisions and behavior and from the attention others place on that activity. That last bit is italicized for a reason: It makes all the difference in the world. Man A drops his pants in an airport bathroom and implies a desire for a connection (I'm smirking right now) and nobody gives a damn. Let Man A be called--oh, I don't know, say...Larry Craig--and suddenly it's a scandal. It's not just the action, it's also the reaction. And where there's more attention, there's more chance for somebody, somewhere to cry "Scandal!"
In many cases, the cry is legitimate; in many others, it is not. The ratio depends on your point of view in each case. But here's where scandal and great leadership do collide: Great leaders may have personal scandals, but stay above-board in their roles as leaders. And there's a world of difference between a personal scandal and one that involves the country at large. The first are opprobious, but seldom criminal: The second are almost always both.
For example, great leaders don't lie to benefit a few and harm the many, as in the case of the current war in Iraq. The murderous moron earned his moniker with that one.
Great leaders don't rely on polls, surveys or vox populi to make the difficult decisions, for those who do are listening only to what they want to hear.
Great leaders don't excuse their incompetence with "History will judge me" vapidity: History is now and great leaders always know that.
Great leaders take responsibility, and in the this new age of "I'm a victim," leaders who play this card simply cannot--cannot--be great.
In a perfect world, a great leader would be without scandal. But We don't live in a perfect world, and where one man's hobby is another man's scandal, avoiding scandal is a slippery ledge. No scandals in a career? Rah. But great leadership depends on what the person has done beyond that. So when I asked the man what great works the "great" mayor had done, he couldn't come up with any. Just that: No scandals.
So a man was elected to a position of ostensible leadership, spent nearly 7 seven years there and left no true mark, good or bad. That is great leadership?
Obviously not. My standards, unlike that of the Department of Education, do not "come down" in order to preserve some image of excellence. The standards remain high: What has come down is the quality of those who pursue leadership, seduced by the empty fate of media hyperattention and enslaved to their id(iocy.)
Come to think of it, that is the perfect formula for... more scandals.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
10 September 2007
Caught Myself
I just did something I've never done before: Erase an entire post.
I'd written the whole thing, verbal darts and snarky asides galore, aimed at government workers. Then, as I re-read it to sharpen a dart or two, I realized I was...gasp...wrong.
I know!
My tirade was against those government workers who drop by The Jenius, always during working hours, to spend 20-30 seconds looking around. You see, I was going to rail against them--a full 20% of My visitors--for being cowardly, because they never leave a comment or otherwise make themselves known.
Then it dawned on Me: They don't want to because they don't have to.
Yes, they're "wasting" time and tax dollars by surfing The Jenius instead of doing their jobs, but are We talking about the average government worker? Instead of slamming blindly, it occurred to Me that the government employee who visits/reads The Jenius is definitely not average. For one, s/he has a decent if not excellent grasp of English. That right there eliminates some 50-70% of all government employees.
For another, The Jenius reader working in government is aware of the deep flaws in the system and doesn't mind My pointing them out. Said reader would also have to be politically neutral or indifferent, for I take on all parties as The Fools. In essence, I could see their visits, not as cowardly escapes from drudgery, but as excursions to an oasis.
Am I being egotistical? Look at the title of this blog: Of course I tend towards ego. But from that stance, it is just as easy to lambaste these visitors as it is to laud them; the only thing that changes is My initial thought that this group was a tiny, terrified troop. Now I see that they are, in fact, a large percentage of a dedicated coterie.
Maybe they are neither. But in the end, I walk away with a different feeling: Instead of the sour emptiness of an angry putdown, I walk away with the idea of hopeful progress. For in the end, it's all about Me, right?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
I'd written the whole thing, verbal darts and snarky asides galore, aimed at government workers. Then, as I re-read it to sharpen a dart or two, I realized I was...gasp...wrong.
I know!
My tirade was against those government workers who drop by The Jenius, always during working hours, to spend 20-30 seconds looking around. You see, I was going to rail against them--a full 20% of My visitors--for being cowardly, because they never leave a comment or otherwise make themselves known.
Then it dawned on Me: They don't want to because they don't have to.
Yes, they're "wasting" time and tax dollars by surfing The Jenius instead of doing their jobs, but are We talking about the average government worker? Instead of slamming blindly, it occurred to Me that the government employee who visits/reads The Jenius is definitely not average. For one, s/he has a decent if not excellent grasp of English. That right there eliminates some 50-70% of all government employees.
For another, The Jenius reader working in government is aware of the deep flaws in the system and doesn't mind My pointing them out. Said reader would also have to be politically neutral or indifferent, for I take on all parties as The Fools. In essence, I could see their visits, not as cowardly escapes from drudgery, but as excursions to an oasis.
Am I being egotistical? Look at the title of this blog: Of course I tend towards ego. But from that stance, it is just as easy to lambaste these visitors as it is to laud them; the only thing that changes is My initial thought that this group was a tiny, terrified troop. Now I see that they are, in fact, a large percentage of a dedicated coterie.
Maybe they are neither. But in the end, I walk away with a different feeling: Instead of the sour emptiness of an angry putdown, I walk away with the idea of hopeful progress. For in the end, it's all about Me, right?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
07 September 2007
Sometimes You Surf...
...and then sometimes you crash, heart and soul: The stories of children left in vehicles and how justice is not served, not once, not twice, not three times, but four...and counting.
Upper middle-class woman leaves her baby girl--not for the first time--in a sun-exposed vehicle. The girl dies. No charges. Strike one.
A doctor and her husband--on the same day as the above death--also leave their child in a vehicle and the child dies. No charges. Strike two.
A daycare owner leaves a child in the back seat of a parked van, is immediately arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, losing her daycare license as a result. The child suffered no harm, and in fact, was never outside of the woman's sight until the arrest. Strike three.
The same prosecutor in the same city of the first case pressed charges against a family whose daughter died after a prolonged stay in a sun-exposed car. This family is poor, so of course, the legal system "works." Strike four.
We're not doing any better here, what with three similar "forgetful" deaths in the past 24 months and nobody really knows how many other children endangered or outright harmed.
I'm turning off My computer for today--and tomorrow--and I'm simply going to play with My son and two nephews. And count My blessings, for a change.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Upper middle-class woman leaves her baby girl--not for the first time--in a sun-exposed vehicle. The girl dies. No charges. Strike one.
A doctor and her husband--on the same day as the above death--also leave their child in a vehicle and the child dies. No charges. Strike two.
A daycare owner leaves a child in the back seat of a parked van, is immediately arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, losing her daycare license as a result. The child suffered no harm, and in fact, was never outside of the woman's sight until the arrest. Strike three.
The same prosecutor in the same city of the first case pressed charges against a family whose daughter died after a prolonged stay in a sun-exposed car. This family is poor, so of course, the legal system "works." Strike four.
We're not doing any better here, what with three similar "forgetful" deaths in the past 24 months and nobody really knows how many other children endangered or outright harmed.
I'm turning off My computer for today--and tomorrow--and I'm simply going to play with My son and two nephews. And count My blessings, for a change.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
05 September 2007
Off My Chest
---I've said this before, but here it is in writing: On October 24th, 2011, all Our computer screens will go blank except for an unerasable message that says: We have turned off the Internet. We will turn it back on when you pay us $1,000,000,000,000. Signed, Google.
---The Fools, in their insatiable lust to worship at the Altar of Idiocy, are exploring the use of electronic voting machines, or as the murderous moron calls them "reality checks" (because they block reality when you touch them.) Seeing as how the U.S. presidency was swindled twice through electronic "voting," what possible reason could The Fools have for using them? (I'm not näive: I'm stressing the point.) Take it from an expert programmer, Giles Bowkett:
Every story you see on the news about (electronic) voter fraud is an instance of corruption at work. There are no exceptions. The only way systems which handle such incredibly simple problems can malfunction so consistently and spectacularly is if they are designed to do so. It's like putting square wheels on a car. Fucking up something that simple is harder than getting it right. It takes effort. It can only happen deliberately.
Every single time a voting machine malfunctions, somebody has ripped you off. Manufacturing fradulently "malfunctioning" voting machines has become the new method of choice for undermining democracy. Every time it happens, you should put somebody in jail.
---Speaking of worshiping at the Altar of Idiocy, The Economist did its annual Democracy Index for 2007 and the U.S ranked 17th overall. (For the murderous moron in the Whitewash House and statehooders, that means 16 countries ranked better than the U.S. of part of A.) In two of the five categories--Electoral Process & Pluralism and Civil Liberties--the U.S. ranked dead last. amongst "Full Democracies." Dead. Last. Here's a hint, Fools: If you want to imitate a role model, pick a paladin, not a prevaricator. (F.t.m.m.i.t.W.H.a.s.: A hero, not a liar.)
---After dropping My "weekly" surf sites to less than 30 a week, I went on an Internet binge this week and added 31 new sites...and subscribed to 11 new e-zines. I can either look at this as "falling off the wagon" or "exploring new horizons." Hmmm...Wagon or Horizons? Horizons.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
---The Fools, in their insatiable lust to worship at the Altar of Idiocy, are exploring the use of electronic voting machines, or as the murderous moron calls them "reality checks" (because they block reality when you touch them.) Seeing as how the U.S. presidency was swindled twice through electronic "voting," what possible reason could The Fools have for using them? (I'm not näive: I'm stressing the point.) Take it from an expert programmer, Giles Bowkett:
Every story you see on the news about (electronic) voter fraud is an instance of corruption at work. There are no exceptions. The only way systems which handle such incredibly simple problems can malfunction so consistently and spectacularly is if they are designed to do so. It's like putting square wheels on a car. Fucking up something that simple is harder than getting it right. It takes effort. It can only happen deliberately.
Every single time a voting machine malfunctions, somebody has ripped you off. Manufacturing fradulently "malfunctioning" voting machines has become the new method of choice for undermining democracy. Every time it happens, you should put somebody in jail.
---Speaking of worshiping at the Altar of Idiocy, The Economist did its annual Democracy Index for 2007 and the U.S ranked 17th overall. (For the murderous moron in the Whitewash House and statehooders, that means 16 countries ranked better than the U.S. of part of A.) In two of the five categories--Electoral Process & Pluralism and Civil Liberties--the U.S. ranked dead last. amongst "Full Democracies." Dead. Last. Here's a hint, Fools: If you want to imitate a role model, pick a paladin, not a prevaricator. (F.t.m.m.i.t.W.H.a.s.: A hero, not a liar.)
---After dropping My "weekly" surf sites to less than 30 a week, I went on an Internet binge this week and added 31 new sites...and subscribed to 11 new e-zines. I can either look at this as "falling off the wagon" or "exploring new horizons." Hmmm...Wagon or Horizons? Horizons.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
03 September 2007
Blogging Self-Analysis
Three lists about blogging and how I stack up against them.
The first two are common mistakes made by bloggers. The first list, from Kevin at Blogging Tips, refers to newbie bloggers. That ain't Me, but let's check it out:
· Repeating what other bloggers are saying - MAYBE. I quote, but My rants are unique.
· No Opinion / Scared to rock the boat - NOPE. No point doing this unless you take a clear stand.
· Link Trains - NOPE. Hate them.
· Spamming other blogs with comments - NOPE. They're on their own.
· Spending more time commentating that writing posts - NOPE. See above.
· Promoting their blog before its ready - NOPE. I don't promote it much. As for "ready"....
· Blogging about too many subjects - MAYBE. "Puerto Rico" is a broad subject.
· Erratic posting frequency - MAYBE. I stick to M-W-F, but write any day of the week.
· Trying to make money instead of just concentrating on running a good blog - NOPE!
· Expecting to have a successful blog within 3 months - NOPE!
Then over at Goal Success Blog, Brad Isaac adds these other 10 mistakes. Grading Me yields:
+ Getting into the mindset that a post should be a certain length and never exceeding or going below that length. -- NOPE. But size does matter...
+ Not spending adequate time proofing for errors and readability. -- MAYBE. The Picky Grammar Lady catches Me...and should help out Brad, too.
+ Giving up the first month. -- HA!
+ Not building a community by responding to comments. -- NOPE. I answer almost all.
+ Not writing every day (notice I didn't say posting) writing - this blogging stuff takes practice. -- NOPE. I write 6 days a week and sometimes I even read it.
+ Writing in a dry tone, no personality. You need to sell yourself baby! -- NOPE. But then again, I'm a Jenius! I don't need no stinkin' selling job!
+ Making the blog's subject too broad: Welcome to the Food blog. -- YEAH. But I try to stay within My self-defined "Puerto Rico" boundaries. Not successful all the time...
+ Not seeking out similar blogs to market to. -- YEAH. Don't care to.
+ Blogging negatively about the company they workED for. -- N/A. Unless you count a couple of My recent posts...
+ Not thinking through what they want from their blog before they begin it. -- MAYBE. I wanted a place to explore, discuss and vent My thoughts. I got the "explore" and "vent" parts right.
Finally, Robin Good weighs in on professional bloggers, often self-proclaimed blowhards who think they are in some way superior to the rest of you poor slobs. Here's his list in How I Recognize a Professional Blogger:
--Open-minded: CHECK. I'll listen to anybody's stupid opinion.
--Curious: CHECK. I don't know enough yet. Maybe by tomorrow.
--Humble: HA!
--Perseverant: CHECK. I prefer "Determined," but it ain't My list.
--Responsible: CHECK. I'm not perfect, but I do step up.
--Picky: CHECK. And from a blogging perspective, I have a Picky Grammar Lady, too!
--Committed: CHECK. I am, and many feel I should be. (hahahahahahahamental)
--Passionate: CHECK. You can't say you're aware of the world and remain indifferent.
--Professional: CHECK. I work freelance: I'd better be.
--Skilled real-time collaborator: CHECK. See above.
--Honest: CHECK. But I'd like to be more open about several things...
--Open to listen: CHECK. Sometimes I'm all ears, at others I'm a mouth on Pause; could improve.
So here's a question to other bloggers: How would you do on these lists?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
The first two are common mistakes made by bloggers. The first list, from Kevin at Blogging Tips, refers to newbie bloggers. That ain't Me, but let's check it out:
· Repeating what other bloggers are saying - MAYBE. I quote, but My rants are unique.
· No Opinion / Scared to rock the boat - NOPE. No point doing this unless you take a clear stand.
· Link Trains - NOPE. Hate them.
· Spamming other blogs with comments - NOPE. They're on their own.
· Spending more time commentating that writing posts - NOPE. See above.
· Promoting their blog before its ready - NOPE. I don't promote it much. As for "ready"....
· Blogging about too many subjects - MAYBE. "Puerto Rico" is a broad subject.
· Erratic posting frequency - MAYBE. I stick to M-W-F, but write any day of the week.
· Trying to make money instead of just concentrating on running a good blog - NOPE!
· Expecting to have a successful blog within 3 months - NOPE!
Then over at Goal Success Blog, Brad Isaac adds these other 10 mistakes. Grading Me yields:
+ Getting into the mindset that a post should be a certain length and never exceeding or going below that length. -- NOPE. But size does matter...
+ Not spending adequate time proofing for errors and readability. -- MAYBE. The Picky Grammar Lady catches Me...and should help out Brad, too.
+ Giving up the first month. -- HA!
+ Not building a community by responding to comments. -- NOPE. I answer almost all.
+ Not writing every day (notice I didn't say posting) writing - this blogging stuff takes practice. -- NOPE. I write 6 days a week and sometimes I even read it.
+ Writing in a dry tone, no personality. You need to sell yourself baby! -- NOPE. But then again, I'm a Jenius! I don't need no stinkin' selling job!
+ Making the blog's subject too broad: Welcome to the Food blog. -- YEAH. But I try to stay within My self-defined "Puerto Rico" boundaries. Not successful all the time...
+ Not seeking out similar blogs to market to. -- YEAH. Don't care to.
+ Blogging negatively about the company they workED for. -- N/A. Unless you count a couple of My recent posts...
+ Not thinking through what they want from their blog before they begin it. -- MAYBE. I wanted a place to explore, discuss and vent My thoughts. I got the "explore" and "vent" parts right.
Finally, Robin Good weighs in on professional bloggers, often self-proclaimed blowhards who think they are in some way superior to the rest of you poor slobs. Here's his list in How I Recognize a Professional Blogger:
--Open-minded: CHECK. I'll listen to anybody's stupid opinion.
--Curious: CHECK. I don't know enough yet. Maybe by tomorrow.
--Humble: HA!
--Perseverant: CHECK. I prefer "Determined," but it ain't My list.
--Responsible: CHECK. I'm not perfect, but I do step up.
--Picky: CHECK. And from a blogging perspective, I have a Picky Grammar Lady, too!
--Committed: CHECK. I am, and many feel I should be. (hahahahahahahamental)
--Passionate: CHECK. You can't say you're aware of the world and remain indifferent.
--Professional: CHECK. I work freelance: I'd better be.
--Skilled real-time collaborator: CHECK. See above.
--Honest: CHECK. But I'd like to be more open about several things...
--Open to listen: CHECK. Sometimes I'm all ears, at others I'm a mouth on Pause; could improve.
So here's a question to other bloggers: How would you do on these lists?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
31 August 2007
Net Notes
Five years ago, I was surfing an average of 70 websites a day and receiving 63 e-zines a week. I was spending about 6 hours a day reading web-based material, snipping, clipping and filing digitally, racking up bookmarks by the dozens, My interests ranging from e-commerce to sports to technology, writing, politics, literature, philosophy, web trends, games, history, cooking and trivia.
That was then. Just yesterday I reduced my e-zine subscriptions to only 3 and My Opera Speed Dial start page has only 7 windows filled (of 9.) My weekly reading is down to 20-25 sites once or twice a week and though I websurf every day, it's down to an hour, maybe two, 4-5 times a week.
Given where I was five years ago, the dropoff is understandable: I didn't have a life. I went at everything through the Internet in maniacal frenzy because I didn't feel I had anything else to sustain Me. Sad, but ruefully true.
Now I have a better balance and what's more, less need to prove I am "aware" of all things Internet. So imagine My surprise when I encounter a couple of items square in the middle of My much-narrowed focus:
---The U.S. is preparing to invade Iran shortly after September 11th, and
---A major stock market collapse is expected at roughly the same time.
Okay.
The Internet is perfect for conspiracy theorists, but except for the occasional stop at El Nuevo Día's website, I don't mingle with the lunatic fringe. What strikes Me as off this time is that, given the level of involvement I now have Internet-wise, these two predictions are smack-dab in the middle of My tunnel vision.
That's a likely possibility if My tunnel vision were aimed at politics or at the murderous moron defecating the Oval Office. But it isn't. My tunnel vision is...eclectic, for lack of a better word. I meander mostly through Metafilter, Madville, Fark and BoingBoing, all excellent sites but not exactly The Economist, Foreign Policy and The New York Times. So what's going on?
The sense that something big is about to blow. And like with all conspiracy theories--or spot-on predictions--once you "see" it, you can pick out the threads that weave up to the moment.
Do I think the U.S will invade Iran in the coming month? Maybe. I wouldn't put it past the military shirker and political smirker with the highly-deserved low approval rating. He's practically wiped his ass with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, so why not take another criminal action against humanity?
As for a stock market collapse, hell yeah it's coming. Artificial or just part of the natural cycle of the economy, somebody's gonna take a bath and a few are gonna rake it in.
Of course, the true conspiracy theory is that those who push for the war and those who rake in riches when the bubble bursts are one and the same. My new tunnel vision doesn't follow that rabbit down any holes, nor do I care to. I have enough to keep Me occupied elsewhere on the Web, and more importantly, in My Life.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
That was then. Just yesterday I reduced my e-zine subscriptions to only 3 and My Opera Speed Dial start page has only 7 windows filled (of 9.) My weekly reading is down to 20-25 sites once or twice a week and though I websurf every day, it's down to an hour, maybe two, 4-5 times a week.
Given where I was five years ago, the dropoff is understandable: I didn't have a life. I went at everything through the Internet in maniacal frenzy because I didn't feel I had anything else to sustain Me. Sad, but ruefully true.
Now I have a better balance and what's more, less need to prove I am "aware" of all things Internet. So imagine My surprise when I encounter a couple of items square in the middle of My much-narrowed focus:
---The U.S. is preparing to invade Iran shortly after September 11th, and
---A major stock market collapse is expected at roughly the same time.
Okay.
The Internet is perfect for conspiracy theorists, but except for the occasional stop at El Nuevo Día's website, I don't mingle with the lunatic fringe. What strikes Me as off this time is that, given the level of involvement I now have Internet-wise, these two predictions are smack-dab in the middle of My tunnel vision.
That's a likely possibility if My tunnel vision were aimed at politics or at the murderous moron defecating the Oval Office. But it isn't. My tunnel vision is...eclectic, for lack of a better word. I meander mostly through Metafilter, Madville, Fark and BoingBoing, all excellent sites but not exactly The Economist, Foreign Policy and The New York Times. So what's going on?
The sense that something big is about to blow. And like with all conspiracy theories--or spot-on predictions--once you "see" it, you can pick out the threads that weave up to the moment.
Do I think the U.S will invade Iran in the coming month? Maybe. I wouldn't put it past the military shirker and political smirker with the highly-deserved low approval rating. He's practically wiped his ass with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, so why not take another criminal action against humanity?
As for a stock market collapse, hell yeah it's coming. Artificial or just part of the natural cycle of the economy, somebody's gonna take a bath and a few are gonna rake it in.
Of course, the true conspiracy theory is that those who push for the war and those who rake in riches when the bubble bursts are one and the same. My new tunnel vision doesn't follow that rabbit down any holes, nor do I care to. I have enough to keep Me occupied elsewhere on the Web, and more importantly, in My Life.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
28 August 2007
E(lsewhere)-Loan
This won't take long...
Those of you sitting in the Continental 48 and Pacific-touching 2 can access a lil ol' website called E-Loan. Been around a while, has developed a schizoid reputation for excellence in service and screw-the-pooch heavy-handedness. (Do your own research: You'll see.)
The basic premise of E-Loan is that of its myriad competitors: Invert the bank-client relationship for common loans. The usual, traditional, historical bank loan relationship is that of powerful overlord versus hat-in-hand petitioner. Banks acting like they own the world and the little people sweating out the bank's carnivalesque profiteering. All legally proscribed, of course.
Then comes this thing called the Internet and power shifts to the client, the consumer, the click-to-leave user who can cross borders in an instant. Suddenly, banks find it useful to compete for clients anywhere. Theoretically, consumers benefit when "banks compete for your business," as an E-Loan rival sloganeers.
Back in 2005, who buys E-Loan for about $300 million? Popular, Inc. Based in Illinois.
But if you clicked on the link, you're way ahead of Me... because Popular, Inc. is none other than Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, the largest local bank and a steaming pile of offal blocking the parkway of progress of Our people. Long story short: They make Our economy a virtually-centralized, one-bank-to-rule-them, Third World sumphole.
Ya think E-Loan was bought to offer the power of the people to Us? By a bank that has majority or near-majority control locally of mortgages, car loans, construction loans, personal loans, high-interest loans, credit cards and ATM transactions, as well as government transactions?
Ya think?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
Those of you sitting in the Continental 48 and Pacific-touching 2 can access a lil ol' website called E-Loan. Been around a while, has developed a schizoid reputation for excellence in service and screw-the-pooch heavy-handedness. (Do your own research: You'll see.)
The basic premise of E-Loan is that of its myriad competitors: Invert the bank-client relationship for common loans. The usual, traditional, historical bank loan relationship is that of powerful overlord versus hat-in-hand petitioner. Banks acting like they own the world and the little people sweating out the bank's carnivalesque profiteering. All legally proscribed, of course.
Then comes this thing called the Internet and power shifts to the client, the consumer, the click-to-leave user who can cross borders in an instant. Suddenly, banks find it useful to compete for clients anywhere. Theoretically, consumers benefit when "banks compete for your business," as an E-Loan rival sloganeers.
Back in 2005, who buys E-Loan for about $300 million? Popular, Inc. Based in Illinois.
But if you clicked on the link, you're way ahead of Me... because Popular, Inc. is none other than Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, the largest local bank and a steaming pile of offal blocking the parkway of progress of Our people. Long story short: They make Our economy a virtually-centralized, one-bank-to-rule-them, Third World sumphole.
Ya think E-Loan was bought to offer the power of the people to Us? By a bank that has majority or near-majority control locally of mortgages, car loans, construction loans, personal loans, high-interest loans, credit cards and ATM transactions, as well as government transactions?
Ya think?
The Jenius Has Spoken.
24 August 2007
The Art of (Business) War
Local supermarket chain Pueblo, dominant for over a decade in the grocery industry, has been largely sold to Econo, a local chain of cooperative supermarkets. A couple of ironies stand out in this transition.
One is that Pueblo was often regarded as a "mega-chain", similar to Walgreen's or Wal-mart and thus subject to visceral rejection by some business organizations and, of course, its competitors. Local chains Grande and Amigo were amongst the loudest voices of protest against Pueblo's ham-fisted expansion strategy, not only because it threatened to create a virtual supermarket monopoly in San Juan, but because it was fueled by Venezuelan--outsider--money.
Funny how Amigo, the self-proclaimed "voice of the small market" folded like a cheap shirt when Wal-mart came with open checkbook and bought them lock, stock and pickle barrel. That finally made Amigo a truly major player in the grocery industry...because of mega-chain outsider money.
The second irony is that Econo is not really a chain, it's a co-op. Recognizing that the power of small markets was being eroded rapidly by big-box chains--primarily Pueblo--Econo was formed and stepped up its efforts to create a better playing field for its members. it took a pro-active stance and took to the field with it. And look what happened: Econo won. The unity of the small toppled the giant. I wonder what Gulliver would say.
True, Pueblo shot itself in the foot by trying to expand into everything (Blockbuster, cafeterias, even in-store pharmacies), but it shot itself in the head by being a lousy partner to its suppliers. For years, Pueblo acted like a venomous constrictor, apparently in imitation of Wal-mart, squeezing lower prices and increasingly-favorable terms to bolster its bottom line. But Pueblo failed to grasp the simple logic of "increasing value": If you don't make business better for those you squeeze, you create an army of insiders working against you.
Pueblo lurched and staggered and in the end, most of it has died with empty shelves, quiet stores and tepid interest in what's to come. Meanwhile, Econo's success is another slap in the face of the whiny attitude that sniffles "We can't compete against the big guys!"
Yes, businesses fail when a larger competitor comes to town. However, local businesses can and do win simply by focusing on three basic principles:
1) Know Us better than they do: If someone comes to My town and knows more about what My customers want than I do, then it's My fault if I can't compete.
2) Find allies and help them succeed: We have a tendency to combine two stupid attitudes into one major idiocy. We criticize Cubans and Dominicans for coming here and (a) working their asses off to get ahead and (b) giving each other a hand to foster growth. We act like they're cheating and scoff at their "clannish, idiotic overexertion," while at the same time We bitch about how they came here with nothing and now have successful businesses, with the house and car and lifestyle that go with that. Here's a newsflash, people: We're the clannish idiots.
3) Plan and execute with focus: Yes, We plan, but generally in the way children select their occupations as adults. In other words, We dream, fantasize or just think wishfully. Yes, We plan, but unless that plan is backed by focused execution--and by focused execution I mean having a large component of #2 above--it will increase its chances of failure. We often act like it's all "Little old Us against Big Meanie Them," but then ignore the "Us" in favor of "Little old Me." (Yes, I mean you, Centro (Des)Unido de Detallistas.) Instead of seeing the power of unity, We perpetuate the negative power of self-pity.
Is the battle against often larger and better-funded "commercial armies" easy? No. But Sun Tzu pointed out some interesting ideas some 2,400 years ago:
To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself...Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.
One can look at business as commercial warfare. If a person does--and in this mega-chain vs. local businesses We do--then We have to be the skillful fighters instead of the sniveling whiners. (Yes, I mean you, Centro (Des)Unido de Detallistas.)
The Jenius Has Spoken.
One is that Pueblo was often regarded as a "mega-chain", similar to Walgreen's or Wal-mart and thus subject to visceral rejection by some business organizations and, of course, its competitors. Local chains Grande and Amigo were amongst the loudest voices of protest against Pueblo's ham-fisted expansion strategy, not only because it threatened to create a virtual supermarket monopoly in San Juan, but because it was fueled by Venezuelan--outsider--money.
Funny how Amigo, the self-proclaimed "voice of the small market" folded like a cheap shirt when Wal-mart came with open checkbook and bought them lock, stock and pickle barrel. That finally made Amigo a truly major player in the grocery industry...because of mega-chain outsider money.
The second irony is that Econo is not really a chain, it's a co-op. Recognizing that the power of small markets was being eroded rapidly by big-box chains--primarily Pueblo--Econo was formed and stepped up its efforts to create a better playing field for its members. it took a pro-active stance and took to the field with it. And look what happened: Econo won. The unity of the small toppled the giant. I wonder what Gulliver would say.
True, Pueblo shot itself in the foot by trying to expand into everything (Blockbuster, cafeterias, even in-store pharmacies), but it shot itself in the head by being a lousy partner to its suppliers. For years, Pueblo acted like a venomous constrictor, apparently in imitation of Wal-mart, squeezing lower prices and increasingly-favorable terms to bolster its bottom line. But Pueblo failed to grasp the simple logic of "increasing value": If you don't make business better for those you squeeze, you create an army of insiders working against you.
Pueblo lurched and staggered and in the end, most of it has died with empty shelves, quiet stores and tepid interest in what's to come. Meanwhile, Econo's success is another slap in the face of the whiny attitude that sniffles "We can't compete against the big guys!"
Yes, businesses fail when a larger competitor comes to town. However, local businesses can and do win simply by focusing on three basic principles:
1) Know Us better than they do: If someone comes to My town and knows more about what My customers want than I do, then it's My fault if I can't compete.
2) Find allies and help them succeed: We have a tendency to combine two stupid attitudes into one major idiocy. We criticize Cubans and Dominicans for coming here and (a) working their asses off to get ahead and (b) giving each other a hand to foster growth. We act like they're cheating and scoff at their "clannish, idiotic overexertion," while at the same time We bitch about how they came here with nothing and now have successful businesses, with the house and car and lifestyle that go with that. Here's a newsflash, people: We're the clannish idiots.
3) Plan and execute with focus: Yes, We plan, but generally in the way children select their occupations as adults. In other words, We dream, fantasize or just think wishfully. Yes, We plan, but unless that plan is backed by focused execution--and by focused execution I mean having a large component of #2 above--it will increase its chances of failure. We often act like it's all "Little old Us against Big Meanie Them," but then ignore the "Us" in favor of "Little old Me." (Yes, I mean you, Centro (Des)Unido de Detallistas.) Instead of seeing the power of unity, We perpetuate the negative power of self-pity.
Is the battle against often larger and better-funded "commercial armies" easy? No. But Sun Tzu pointed out some interesting ideas some 2,400 years ago:
To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself...Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.
One can look at business as commercial warfare. If a person does--and in this mega-chain vs. local businesses We do--then We have to be the skillful fighters instead of the sniveling whiners. (Yes, I mean you, Centro (Des)Unido de Detallistas.)
The Jenius Has Spoken.
22 August 2007
Points of View
If you want to make a rose garden, a field the size of baseball park is huge. If you want to build a city, a field the size of a baseball park is ludicrously small.
This analogy came from a conversation I had recently about Puerto Rico's infrastructure. The woman I was speaking to--with 15+ years of experience writing and researching telecommunications in Puerto Rico--was criticizing the people who say that We lack infrastructure. From My point of view, the people I hear saying that are the ones who live, breathe, eat and stake their livelihoods on that infrastructure...and they are right: We do lack infrastructure.
For one, We have a cultural bias, if not outright fear/disdain, for technology. I've said it before: We are "magical realism" where the U.S. and Europe are "science fiction." Ghosts and spirits don't have any use for computers.
In second place, We never had a technology boom, fueled by cash, cash and more cash, both as investment and reward. We'd LOVE to have one, but Our model is Silicon Valley and Our reality is Swamp Village.
Third, We place so much emphasis on the government to lead the way (because We are whiny children who want to be taken care of) that We then get upset when that government--operating with the carte blanche of Our vapid indifference-- screws things up royally. The case in point: Technology for education. We have done so poorly in this regard that the Federal government is withdrawing over $250 million in funding for education technology, basing the decision (rightly) on the premise that throwing good money after bad is stupid.
Imagine losing a quarter of a billion dollars in future investments when what you have at present is decidedly sub-par. How's that for leadership and performance?
Yes, We have more cell phones per capita than any other country than Italy. Is Italy a world powerhouse in economic growth?
Yes, We have a high percentage of people subscribing to cable TV and satellite access. But is that productive? Is that the technology infrastructure engine We really need?
Sadly, We still have a de facto telephone monopoly, now in the hands of a Mexican conglomerate. Will this mark the opening of affordable high-level Internet access along the lines of South Korea's almost 100% broadband access? Don't hold your breath. This same conglomerate has been largely responsible for Mexico's sub-par telecom development, though there as well as here, government corruption has played a significantly negative role.
Like I told the well-read writer, it's a matter of viewpoint. As an end-user of technology, she sees a huge field of play and wonders why it isn't enough. She is right: From her point of view, the infrastructure beyond her needs is huge. But from Our point of view, those of Us who look to propel Puerto Rico into a key-player presence on the global stage, based on Our needs, the current infrastructure is like a water can to a raging forest fire.
That same water can is perfect for a rose garden. It's a matter of point of view. But from where I stand, from where We the quixotic charge at distant windmills, there simply isn't enough. And We'd appreciate it if those who can't do anything right to help Us build what We deserve would get the hell out of the way and let Us do it.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
This analogy came from a conversation I had recently about Puerto Rico's infrastructure. The woman I was speaking to--with 15+ years of experience writing and researching telecommunications in Puerto Rico--was criticizing the people who say that We lack infrastructure. From My point of view, the people I hear saying that are the ones who live, breathe, eat and stake their livelihoods on that infrastructure...and they are right: We do lack infrastructure.
For one, We have a cultural bias, if not outright fear/disdain, for technology. I've said it before: We are "magical realism" where the U.S. and Europe are "science fiction." Ghosts and spirits don't have any use for computers.
In second place, We never had a technology boom, fueled by cash, cash and more cash, both as investment and reward. We'd LOVE to have one, but Our model is Silicon Valley and Our reality is Swamp Village.
Third, We place so much emphasis on the government to lead the way (because We are whiny children who want to be taken care of) that We then get upset when that government--operating with the carte blanche of Our vapid indifference-- screws things up royally. The case in point: Technology for education. We have done so poorly in this regard that the Federal government is withdrawing over $250 million in funding for education technology, basing the decision (rightly) on the premise that throwing good money after bad is stupid.
Imagine losing a quarter of a billion dollars in future investments when what you have at present is decidedly sub-par. How's that for leadership and performance?
Yes, We have more cell phones per capita than any other country than Italy. Is Italy a world powerhouse in economic growth?
Yes, We have a high percentage of people subscribing to cable TV and satellite access. But is that productive? Is that the technology infrastructure engine We really need?
Sadly, We still have a de facto telephone monopoly, now in the hands of a Mexican conglomerate. Will this mark the opening of affordable high-level Internet access along the lines of South Korea's almost 100% broadband access? Don't hold your breath. This same conglomerate has been largely responsible for Mexico's sub-par telecom development, though there as well as here, government corruption has played a significantly negative role.
Like I told the well-read writer, it's a matter of viewpoint. As an end-user of technology, she sees a huge field of play and wonders why it isn't enough. She is right: From her point of view, the infrastructure beyond her needs is huge. But from Our point of view, those of Us who look to propel Puerto Rico into a key-player presence on the global stage, based on Our needs, the current infrastructure is like a water can to a raging forest fire.
That same water can is perfect for a rose garden. It's a matter of point of view. But from where I stand, from where We the quixotic charge at distant windmills, there simply isn't enough. And We'd appreciate it if those who can't do anything right to help Us build what We deserve would get the hell out of the way and let Us do it.
The Jenius Has Spoken.
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