Coloring the roofs of the world

Why should solar panels all be the same color? Nayiye Hwang, the President of LOF Solar Corp. (which won a 2013 Taiwan Excellence Award), thinks that there is room for change. LOF Solar panels come in a variety of colors to match a variety of environments, or even a client's whims. For example, red panels are popular in Italy, where tiled roofs are common. The green panels have been used in German domestic architectural designs, and LOF panels formed a decorative mosaic to help power the China Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010. Hwang admits the price is higher than that of conventional solar technology, but the versatility is prized by architects and planners who wish their creations to present a distinctive appearance.  (Bloomberg Businessweek November 11 - November 17, 2013 Page S2)

Choose someone who is hyperspecialized

A growing number of companies are using freelance MBAs to access the same brain power they might find at a top-tier consulting firm. The demand has given rise to online marketplaces that are a cross between executive search agencies and freelance job sites - where the featured contractors are skilled at financial modeling, competitive analysis, and marketing.  (Bloomberg Businessweek October 28 - November 3, 2013 P.60)

Google buys Waze, keeping map service out of rivals' hands

Google is buying online mapping service Waze in a $1.03 billion deal that keeps a potentially valuable tool away from its rivals while allowing it to gain technology that could improve the accuracy and usefulness of its own popular navigation system.

The acquisition announced Tuesday, June 11, 2013, ends several months of speculation as Waze flirted with potential buyers interested in its rapidly growing service. Waze blends elements of a social network into its maps to produce more precise directions and more reliable information about local traffic conditions.

Google Inc. is believed to have trumped two of its fiercest foes, Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc., in the bidding for Waze, which is based in Israel but also maintains a Palo Alto, California, office near all three of the Silicon Valley giants.

Waze ranks as the fourth most expensive acquisition among the more then 240 deals that Google has completed in its nearly 15-year history. The only bigger purchases are Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.4 billion last year, DoubleClick for $3.2 billion in 2008 and YouTube for $1.76 billion in 2006. (AP, June 13, 2013)

Credit Card in Myanmar

A year ago, Myanmar had no automated teller machines linked to international networks and not a single hotel or restaurant able to swipe credit cards. The throngs of foreigners arriving in the newly opened country had to bring crisp U.S. dollars to pay for everything. Today, Myanmar has 2,500 machines that process credit card payments, known as payment terminals, and 450 ATMs, including at least three at the gates of Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda, a popular tourist attraction, according to Kanbawza Bank, the largest privately owned bank in Myanmar. There's a long way to go. While "the absolute need to carry bags of cash is declining, Myanmar remains a cash economy," says Matt Davies, the International Monetary Fund's mission chief to the country. "It takes time for practices to change." (Bloomberg Businessweek October 28 - November 3, 2013 P.46-47)

Driving from California into Mexico

A human hellhole lies under the noses of American tourists driving from California into Mexico. Below the bridge leading into Tijuana is a dry canal strewn with heroin syringes that is home to countless migrants and vagrants, most of them thrown out of the United States for not having the right papers. Jesus Alberto Capella, Tijuana's chief of police, says their numbers have included about 10,000 ex-convicts turfed out of American jails this year. They live under tarpaulins and in foxholes dug into the side of the canal. The place is a cauldron of violence. It is also a focal point for President Enrique Pena Nieto's strategy of applying what officials call "social acupuncture" to some of the most dangerous parts of Mexico.  (The Economist October 19th-25th 2013 P.39)

Patent claims

When a tech company gets hit with a patent infringement lawsuit, the odds are high it will settle. So-called patent trolls - businesses or individuals who buy older patents, then sue infringing companies in search of big payouts - win more than half of cases that go to trial. a White House report says more than 100,000 companies were threatened with infringement suits last year by businesses whose sole mission is to extract royalty revenue, and the Government Accountability Office says those outfits files 19 percent of all patent lawsuits from 2007 to 2011. In  cases that went to trial in 2012, licensors were awarded a median $11.2 million per case, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study. (Bloomberg Businessweek October 28 - November 3, 2013 P.41)

憲法９０条と９６条

（石原）どうせまた、憲法の話を聞くんでしょう？　僕は、９０条も直せと言っているんです。みなさん念頭にないでしょうけれど、９０条は、「国の収入支出の決算は、すべて毎年会計検査院がこれを検査し、内閣は、次の年度に、その検査報告とともに、これを国会に提出しなければならない」というもので、会計検査院が国の決算を検査して報告することを定めている。ところが会計検査院というのは、役人の集まりですよ。役人が役人を調べたって、ボロが出てくるわけはない。だから日本の特別会計なんぞは、今も藪の中にある。亀井静香が金融担当大臣をやっていたとき、「特別会計に手を入れたら、何兆も無駄な金が出てくる」と言っていた。確かにそうだと思いますね。それなのに、なぜ外部監査を入れないのか。
・・・・・中略・・・・・
（石原）どうしてやらないのか聞きたいね。僕が公認会計士と相談して東京都の会計制度を変えたとき、「石原さん、国に外部監査を入れるのは当然だけれど、入れさせない壁があるんだ。会計検査院に外部監査を入れても、報告するだけで国会の決算委員会で決議しない。決議させるためには、９０条を変えなければならない。」とアドバイスされてね。
・・・・・中略・・・・・
（池上）となれば、憲法はまず９０条からと。９６条はどうしますか。
（石原）いや。９６条が変わらないと、９０条も変わりません。
（文藝春秋　2013年8月号 P.132～134より）

Lawyers

Though fewer than one in 200 Americans has a law licence, the profession can lay claim to a third of the current House of Representatives and to more than half the seats in the Senate. For comparison, in both Britain's House of Commons and its Canadian counterpart just one in seven members is a lawyer, and one in 15 deputies in the French Assemblee Nationale. A Lexington's Law suggests itself: just as Britain should limit its cabinet to two old-Etonians, Congress should try to rub along with no more than two dozen Harvard or Yale Law graduates at a time.  (The Economist October 19th-25th 2013 P.38)

After Sandy, New Jersey "Stronger than the Storm" campaign, the devastation still continues.

The Jersey Shore was hit hard, but by the beginning of the summer most of the huge sandy beaches had reopened and boardwalks had been repaired. Chris Christie, New Jersey's governor, launched his "Stronger than the Storm" campaign to encourage visitors to go the shore. Tourism is a $40 billion industry in the state and employs 500,000 people. Unfortunately, business was sharply down in many beach towns. According to a recent poll, 38% of New Jerseyans spent less time at the beach this summer. And many are still not back in their homes; in Ocean Country, 26,000 people have yet to return. Seaside Heights and Seaside Park were dealt another bad hand last month, when a huge fire razed the newly restored boardwalk and destroyed dozens of businesses. Mr Christie is certain that Sandy contributed to the fire by damaging the electric cables underneath the boardwalk. The storm's devastation continues. (The Economist October 19th-25th 2013 P.37)

US Department of Defence (DOD) announced in May

The DOD announced in May that reported incidents of sexual assault in all branches of the armed forces rose almost 6% in 2012, to 3,374. Based on responses to anonymous surveys carried out by the DOD among all members of the services, however, it estimates that there were 26,000 cases of sexual assault last year, up from an estimated 19,000 cases in 2010. Of the 3,374 incidents reported, just 302 went to trial, leading to 238 convictions. (The Economist October 19th-25th 2013 P.36)

US Oregon want to tax motorists for miles driven, not petrol burned.

The state invented the petrol tax in 1919., but officials now want to replace it with a vehicle-miles-travelled (VMT) fee. Under it, drivers would be charged for the distance they consume. GPS-equipped gizmos would track journeys, ensuring that motorists were not charged for driving on private roads or out of state. Those who preferred to keep their whereabouts secret could opt to be charged on odometer readings, or simply to pay a flat fee. A bill that would have applied a VMT fee to all new vehicles doing 55 miles per gallon (mpg) and above died in the last legislative session; instead, 5000 volunteers will join a new VMT scheme in July 2015. They will be charged at 1.5 cents per mile rather than paying the state petrol tax (30 cents per gallon). (The Economist October 19th-25th 2013 P.32)

US style of government by torture

When the two sides failed to strike a budget deal in 2011 they devised a punishment that would hurt each of them if negotiations were to fail again. When they duly failed, the "sequester"- a package of spending cuts to things cherished by both parties - took effect. As a result defence spending is projected to be reduced by 10% this year, while federal funding for research and development will fall by 5%. In September, faced with a similar choice between agreeing on a budget deal or stopping discretionary spending (the government shutdown), the parties opted for a shutdown. Among other things, this meant that most staff at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks the spread of infectious diseases, were sent home for nearly three weeks. Once again, accepting something previously considered appalling proved preferable to compromise. (The Economist October 19th-25th 2013 P.31)

日本社会の価値観が急変した時期について

９０年代初頭の日本では、バブル崩壊後の不況下においても、ほぼ横ばいか若干のプラスの経済成長率を記録していた。しかし、９７年から９８年にかけて北海道拓殖銀行、山一証券、日本長期信用銀行、日本債券信用銀行と大手の金融機関が続けざまに破綻した。これはいわば４回続けてリーマンショックを経験したことと同じである。ジェームズ教授（プリンストン大学のハロルド・ジェームズ教授）の説に拠れば、まさに日本社会の価値観が変わったはずである。指標をみると、確かにこの時期を境に大きな変動が読み取れる。よく言われていることだが、自殺者の数は、９７年までの２万人台から一気に３万人台に跳ね上がった。消費者物価指数は９８年から７年連続マイナスを記録。非正規労働者の割合は２１％前後から最近は３５％前後、生活保護実数世帯数や生涯未婚率の急増、若者の勤勉さに対する意識の変化など、日常生活にもその影響が及んでいる。（文藝春秋２０１３年８月号Ｐ８０より）