Ingenuity

One of the things that energizes me is seeing examples of ingenuity within everyday life. 

I felt that way after seeing this Wall Street Journal video highlighting a relatively simple but brilliant way to cost-effectively expand mass transit along congested highways.

Think about that: Without building new highways, subways or elevated tracks, someone curious — and that's a key word — peered into thin air, imagined for a long time and ... shazam! ... envisioned a commuter train that moves above existing highways. Genius! You can bet that China, a nation with global aspirations and massive gridlock, will take this idea to fruition. 

Minutes later, I watched this Wall Street Journal video, which carried a similar theme: 

Again, we have an example of someone curious taking a long look at the status quo and giving it a sharp twist. This electromagnetic gun is fascinating in that it may revolutionize relatively ancient technology — while still using old technology! 

Both are examples of ingenuity and curiosity at its best. Bright minds often do their best work by daydreaming first, sorting through hundreds and thousands of crazy ideas, then winnowing down to the few that might be magic. And, if need be, repeating that process over and over. 

Sadly, too few of us take make the time for strategic daydreaming, thinking it's wasteful when there is money to be made now, numbers to hit now, others to please now. You could say we're no different than the Chinese commuters stuck in congestion. At some point — now, tomorrow or next year — an offramp to somewhere else may be the more rewarding path. 

WSJ Plus and the power of community

This is long delayed but will post anyway because 1) the warm feeling still is with me more than two months later and 2) I haven’t had made the time time to post until now. 

On Oct. 16, I attended a special event for Wall Street Journal subscribers at The Petersen automotive museum in Los Angeles titled “Visions of Glamour, Automotive Design and Style.” This three-hour “WSJ Plus” event was part of the Journal’s new “membership” rewards program and featured: 

1. An hourlong roundtable with WSJ auto columnist Dan Neil (who is so good he earned a Pulitzer Prize for his work); Ian Callum, chief stylist for Jaguar; and Stuart Reed, chair of the transportation design department at the Art Center College of Design. 

Click to read more ...

Help me with my math

We all know the financial markets are crazy, but if you want proof even serious investors can be distracted by shiny objects, try this on for size.

Smart Money magazine reported this month that Twitter's $8 billion valuation means each of the 51 billion Tweets you and I and everyone else send annually is worth 16 cents. Seriously? My Tweets are genius, but I wouldn't pay 16 cents for them. That 16 cents should make every serious investor stop and take notice and stay far away from any IPO until Twitter shows signs it can earn consistent and sizable revenue. For those who don't know, the company is losing millions of dollars, and has since it launched and is still struggling to find any sizable revenue stream to pay its enormous serving costs, let alone investors. An IPO is simply a way to get others to pay for the party.

Then The Wall Street Journal reports that Tumblr is on the verge of raising up to $100 million in outside investment, giving the blogging company a value of $800 million. This for a company that, while very cool and growing in popularity, generates almost no revenue and has no clear concept of how to make money.

Hmmm ... reminds me of Pets.com, a flash-in-the-pan company whose business strategy was to lose money on every sale.

Click to read more ...