Solar Power Goodness

December 1st, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

Been doing research on Zero Energy, Solar power, natural heat pumps, and sustainable systems.

The function/ economy matrix is one that would deterine the adoptablility and feasibility of these systems integrated into a housing system.

ModuFab is a new project in  efficient construction based on the ideaology of Dwell in prefab, sustainable moderistic designed housing.  A massive movement right now.

That aside, my other pet project for  passport visa extension service is starting to test next week. Hopefully, it will be tweaked fast and promoted enough.

My last project is to get industrial professional associations online for learning, interaction, jobs, and work order platform. The criterias for it has been formed, and programmers briefed, but, we are just starting to do the design and process. I foresee a huge amount of tweaking to be done for that. In fact so much so, that I may recruit and educate staff to take over the building supervision of this site so I can concentrate on the BD aspect of the business network.

After six month, I am fully out of APNCGROUP, but as always will be redirecting any BD to the guys in the office. Diesel was pretty damn good.

For now, these concept projects keep me busy,  glued to my home office, and sticking to my post age 31 resolution of no commute, no suits, online, efficient, and investment & startup oriented business.

For some reason, TV is no longer an escape because it’s too close in my home, but I have seen some interesting movies. Revolver, and Happy Ending are thought provoking ones. Comments on these anyone?

Not to be a green nut, with a construction hat on. But……… check this out.

Shanghai   first to go with sustainable city?

Some of the world’s most polluted cities are
in China, so it’s no surprise that clean energy sources are one of the country’s
­research-and-development priorities.

The Solar Energy Institute at Shanghai
Jiaotong University, for instance, has built a one-story, 245-square-meter
prototype house that relies on multiple forms of ­renewable energy, supplemented
with ­energy from conventional sources. The house’s power system includes an
array of photovoltaic cells that generates 1,700 watts of electricity under peak
sunlight conditions, and three sets of 300-watt wind turbines. The system can
generate about 3,000 kilowatt-hours of electrical power each year, mainly for
lighting, household electrical appliances, and water pumps.

Outside the house stands a street lamp
with its own independent solar-power system. Twenty square meters of
solar-energy panels and 2,000-watt terrestrial heat pumps provide heat for both
the rooms of the house and the water supply. Twenty people a day can bathe in
summer, or 10 in winter, and still leave enough hot water for routine use. The
same heat pumps work in reverse during the summer to cool about one-quarter of
the house, an area of 60 square meters. Based on the average amount of annual
sunlight in Shanghai, the system could provide 10,700 kilowatt-hours of heat per
year. The goal is for the house to draw 70 percent of its needed energy from the
sun.

A solar-energy collecting tube invented
by a professor at Tsinghua University could make solar power more practical. The
glass vacuum heat collector has an aluminum nitride coating that absorbs solar
energy. Each of the coating’s multiple layers absorbs a different wavelength of
light, turning it into heat. The collector can capture 50 to 60 percent of
incoming solar energy, which can then be used to heat water or air. Tsinghua has
applied for more than 30 patents on the device, which is already offered
commercially in China, Switzerland, Japan, and Germany.

Woman on girls.

November 19th, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh
Comments on my last discourse on why man likes younger woman.

Shows, how little I actually know about woman in general.
Fuck it, I am staying single.

Any comments?

[Typically, a woman will want to own her man.
Train, nag and make him into her version of a
better man.
A younger woman will not do that.]

Typically, the younger a woman is, and/or the less
educated and independent a woman is, the more
she is likely to "want to own, train, nag and make
the man into her version of a better man."

Naturally, relationship of any kind is a type of
owning itself. If you are familiar with "Le Petit
Prince," you’d know that once we start to look
forward to see/hear from/meet with someone, we
are already tempted to own this person, either for
friendship or love affair. This is a very basic human
behavior. However, the older we get, the more self-
control we must keep for ourselves. Hence more
mature women tend to better control her desires,
and knowing that "nag/train/mold her man" will not
make him into a "better man." Infact from her
personal experiences, she knows too well that it
will only make him "a man who tries to run away."

Whereas younger women who are lack of such
experiences and realization, will keep trying it.
until she fails enough to realize that it’s
impossible. she then gives up.

[It's easier to impress a younger woman, one
doesn't have to own 2 mortgages, a suv, and have
a fat 401K plan, before being considered to have a
casual relationship. Having funny things to say is
enough.]

it’s an urban myth to believe that it’s easier to
impress a younger woman because you don’t have
to have all that much material things. but the fact
is, the more mature a woman is, the more likely it
is for her to be financially independent herself.
Therefore at that point, all she really appreciates is
someone who tells a decent joke. she doesn’t care
much if her man owns 2 mortgages, asuv, and
having a fat retirement plan, because she probably
has all of those herself. It’s still easier to impress a
younger woman because we should say, that’s all
you need. all you need is material things to
impress her. cuz she probably cannot see beyond
that. It’s more difficult to impress a mature woman
because you need something that aint skin deep.

[Younger woman have tighter bodies.]

this, I agree. However, they don’t seem to know
how to take care of their tighter bodies and thats
when they age very fast! Slap on that sunscreen
and anti age, young chickas!

[They won't get mad at you if you don't consider
marriage as a proper topic after 4 months of dating.
Dating them for 4 weeks and realizing it's not
working out and staying friends is not considered
wasting her love life.]

in this section, let’s disect a woman’s life in three
parts: young/unexperienced - middle/mediocre -
older/mature and experienced
mediocre women tend to nag about marriage,
typically when we are passed the age of 28, all
that doesn;’t seem to maek much difference to us
anyway. we’ve come a long way to realize that
there’s no use to rush. sure we still wanna get
married, but we are  more open to other
options now. as long as we have regular sex and
we appreciate the more personal things that
surround us. hence we believe this:
"men come and go, but a good mascara is forever"

and older women are just more bitter,

Young gals

November 18th, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

 The
ENTJ needs to consciously work on recognizing the value of other people’s
opinions, as well as the value of being sensitive towards people’s feelings. In
the absence of this awareness, the ENTJ will be a forceful, intimidating and
overbearing individual. If this is not the reason why some people call me
insensitive, and some other calls me big T, I don’t know what.

So, Jess from BJ, asks "Why do older man like younger woman?" ,
"Because they are prettier?"

Reply:

No.
Well, some man just wants to be in more control.
Typically, a woman will want to own her man.
Train, nag and make him into her version of a better man.
A younger woman will not do that.
It’s easier to impress a younger woman, one doesn’t have to own 2 mortgages, a
suv, and have a fat 401K plan, before being considered to have a casual
relationship. Having funny things to say is enough.
Younger woman have tighter bodies.
They won’t get mad at you if you don’t consider marriage as a proper topic
after 4 months of dating.
Dating them for 4 weeks and realizing it’s not working out and staying friends
is not considered wasting her love life.
The concept of biological clock is only referred to in terms of jetlag.
They are actually excited about getting a job, and not faking having a career
but secretly wish their Dad was still willing to take care of them again, and
wish you would turn into their Dad.

Her answer was "Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, guess you can’t blame
them"

And they haven’t been fucked whichever way from Sunday. (I crudely added)

"Oh my…." she says.

Right, Jess is 24.

If I was talking to a 28 year old, she would have gone Bridget Jones
internally, while hoping to be Mrs Smith on the outside, but appearing more
like Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, or Miranda. (Take your pick)

Until the younger girl dump your ass for a non testrostrone decreasing male.
That is.

Take your pick, chose your poison baby.

Anyways the formula  is half your age  +  7.  Nobody can blame you. 31/2 + 7 = 22.5.  Noone born after 1983.

If you go below that, you best be ready for the usual ‘Cradle Robbing,  Jail  bait,  DOB,   grandpa, balls down to your knee, she call you daddy? " comments.

Reserve that for when you are old, divorced, rich, and eccentric. Don’t root the younglings, hogs.


The mind.

November 13th, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

I remember talking about this 3 years ago in the EAC office, about guilt, conscious, and following the rules of the society. People who cannot contain their urges to
harm (or kill) people repeatedly for no apparent reason are assumed to suffer from some mental
illness. However, they may be more cruel than crazy, they may be choosing not to control
their urges, they know right from wrong, they know exactly what they’re doing,
and they are definitely NOT insane, at least according to the consensus of most
scholars (Samenow 2004).  In
such cases, they usually fall into one of three types that are typically considered
aggravating circumstances in addition to their legal guilt — antisocial
personality disorder (APD), sociopath, or psychopath — none of which are the
same as insanity or psychosis.  APD is the most common type, afflicting about 4% of the
general population.  Sociopaths are the second most common type, with the American Psychiatric Association estimating that 3% of
all males in our society are sociopaths and Stout (2005) estimating 4% of the
population.  Psychopaths are rare, found in perhaps
1% of the population.

    Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)
is practically synonymous with criminal behavior. It’s so synonymous, in fact,
that practically all convicted criminals (65-75%) have it, with criminologists
often referring to it as a "wastebasket" category.  Antisocials
come is all shapes and sizes, but psychologists
consider the juvenile version of it to be a juvenile conduct disorder. The main
characteristic of it is a complete and utter disregard for the rights of others
and the rules of society. They seldom show anxiety and don’t feel guilt. There’s
really no effective treatment for them other than locking them up in a secure
facility with such rigid rules that they cannot talk their way out.

Profile of a Sociopath Religion of the mind, and the destoryers. 

One of the most provocative ideas about business in this decade so far
surfaced in a most unlikely place. The forum wasn’t the Harvard
Business School or one of those $4,000-a-head conferences where Silicon
Valley’s venture capitalists search for the next big thing. It was a
convention of Canadian cops in the far-flung province of Newfoundland.
The speaker, a 71-year-old professor emeritus from the University of
British Columbia, remains virtually unknown in the business realm. But
he’s renowned in his own field: criminal psychology. Robert Hare is the
creator of the Psychopathy Checklist. The 20-item personality
evaluation has exerted enormous influence in its quarter-century
history. It’s the standard tool for making clinical diagnoses of
psychopaths — the 1% of the general population that isn’t burdened by
conscience. Psychopaths have a profound lack of empathy. They use other
people callously and remorselessly for their own ends. They seduce
victims with a hypnotic charm that masks their true nature as
pathological liars, master con artists, and heartless manipulators.
Easily bored, they crave constant stimulation, so they seek thrills
from real-life "games" they can win — and take pleasure from their
power over other people.

On that August day in 2002, Hare gave a talk on psychopathy to
about 150 police and law-enforcement officials. He was a legendary
figure to that crowd. The FBI and the British justice system have long
relied on his advice. He created the P-Scan, a test widely used by
police departments to screen new recruits for psychopathy, and his
ideas have inspired the testing of firefighters, teachers, and
operators of nuclear power plants.

According to the Canadian Press and Toronto Sun
reporters who rescued the moment from obscurity, Hare began by talking
about Mafia hit men and sex offenders, whose photos were projected on a
large screen behind him. But then those images were replaced by
pictures of top executives from WorldCom, which had just declared
bankruptcy, and Enron, which imploded only months earlier. The
securities frauds would eventually lead to long prison sentences for
WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers and Enron CFO Andrew Fastow.

Scientific consensus says that only about 50% of personality is
influenced by genetics, so psychopaths are molded by our culture just
as much as they are born among us.

But wait, you say: Don’t bona fide psychopaths become serial
killers or other kinds of violent criminals, rather than the guys in
the next cubicle or the corner office? That was the conventional
wisdom. Indeed, Hare began his work by studying men in prison. Granted,
that’s still an unusually good place to look for the
conscience-impaired. The average Psychopathy Checklist score for
incarcerated male offenders in North America is 23.3, out of a possible
40. A score of around 20 qualifies as "moderately psychopathic." Only
1% of the general population would score 30 or above, which is "highly
psychopathic," the range for the most violent offenders. Hare has said
that the typical citizen would score a 3 or 4, while anything below
that is "sliding into sainthood."

On the broad continuum between the ethical everyman and the
predatory killer, there’s plenty of room for people who are ruthless
but not violent. This is where you’re likely to find such people as
Ebbers, Fastow, ImClone CEO Sam Waksal, and hotelier Leona Helmsley. We
put several big-name CEOs through the checklist, and they scored as
"moderately psychopathic"; our quiz on page 48 lets you try a similar
exercise with your favorite boss. And this summer, together with New
York industrial psychologist Paul Babiak, Hare begins marketing the
B-Scan, a personality test that companies can use to spot job
candidates who may have an MBA but lack a conscience. "I always said
that if I wasn’t studying psychopaths in prison, I’d do it at the stock
exchange," Hare told Fast Company. "There are certainly more people in
the business world who would score high in the psychopathic dimension
than in the general population. You’ll find them in any organization
where, by the nature of one’s position, you have power and control over
other people and the opportunity to get something."

But how can we recognize psychopathic types? Hare has revised his
Psychopathy Checklist (known as the PCL-R, or simply "the Hare") to
make it easier to identify so-called subcriminal or corporate
psychopaths. He has broken down the 20 personality characteristics into
two subsets, or "factors." Corporate psychopaths score high on Factor
1, the "selfish, callous, and remorseless use of others" category. It
includes eight traits: glibness and superficial charm; grandiose sense
of self-worth; pathological lying; conning and manipulativeness; lack
of remorse or guilt; shallow affect (i.e., a coldness covered up by
dramatic emotional displays that are actually playacting); callousness
and lack of empathy; and the failure to accept responsibility for one’s
own actions. Sound like anyone you know? (Corporate psychopaths score
only low to moderate on Factor 2, which pinpoints "chronically
unstable, antisocial, and socially deviant lifestyle," the hallmarks of
people who wind up in jail for rougher crimes than creative
accounting.)

This view is supported by research by psychologists Belinda Board
and Katarina Fritzon at the University of Surrey, who interviewed and
gave personality tests to 39 high-level British executives and compared
their profiles with those of criminals and psychiatric patients. The
executives were even more likely to be superficially charming,
egocentric, insincere, and manipulative, and just as likely to be
grandiose, exploitative, and lacking in empathy. Board and Fritzon
concluded that the businesspeople they studied might be called
"successful psychopaths." In contrast, the criminals — the
"unsuccessful psychopaths" — were more impulsive and physically
aggressive.

The Factor 1 psychopathic traits seem like the playbook of many
corporate power brokers through the decades. Manipulative? Louis B.
Mayer was said to be a better actor than any of the stars he employed
at MGM, able to turn on the tears at will to evoke sympathy during
salary negotiations with his actors. Callous? Henry Ford hired thugs to
crush union organizers, deployed machine guns at his plants, and
stockpiled tear gas. He cheated on his wife with his teenage personal
assistant and then had the younger woman marry his chauffeur as a
cover. Lacking empathy? Hotel magnate Leona Helmsley shouted
profanities at and summarily fired hundreds of employees allegedly for
trivialities, like a maid missing a piece of lint. Remorseless? Soon
after Martin Davis ascended to the top position at Gulf & Western,
a visitor asked why half the offices were empty on the top floor of the
company’s Manhattan skyscraper. "Those were my enemies," Davis said. "I
got rid of them." Deceitful? Oil baron Armand Hammer laundered money to
pay for Soviet espionage. Grandiosity? Thy name is Trump.

In the most recent wave of scandals, Enron’s Fastow displayed many
of the corporate psychopath’s traits. He pressured his bosses for a
promotion to CFO even though he had a shaky grasp of the position’s
basic responsibilities, such as accounting and treasury operations.
Suffering delusions of grandeur after just a little time on the job,
Fastow ordered Enron’s PR people to lobby CFO magazine to make him its
CFO of the Year. But Fastow’s master manipulation was a scheme to loot
Enron. He set up separate partnerships, secretly run by himself, to
engage in deals with Enron. The deals quickly made tens of millions of
dollars for Fastow — and prettified Enron’s financials in the short
run by taking unwanted assets off its books. But they left Enron with
time bombs that would ultimately cause the company’s total implosion –
and lose shareholders billions. When Enron’s scandals were exposed,
Fastow pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to pay back nearly
$24 million and serve 10 years in prison.

1% of the world population are screened to become hitman, snipers, and perhaps now corporate execs. Even screening mayer briggs / Jung typo is not going to get these out of the way.

However, it’s extremely important to identify early on, if your partner, investor, go to man, client, is or have one of these personalities especially in entrepreniural projects. At the same time, one also don’t want Sainthood, unless you operate an nonprofit NGO.

Rome

November 10th, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

HBO produced a dramatic series based on ROME. A sort of "Gladiator" extended.

Every episode is produced as if it was an one hour movie. For males it’s absolutely amusing.

I doubt females relate as well, for almost all females within the show are either scheming nobles, slaves or scorn woman. It was a man’s society back then. However, although the males are imperfect, at least as a male one can relate to their failings. The females, one just find meddling.

The other shows Lost and Prison Break have lost some of their appeal, as the never ending stories. There is almost no story development. West wing and Everybody hates Chris on the other hand are most watchable. Hurray for torrent downloads. The entertainment industry needs to figure out how to buy out the torrent engines and charge download fees, or else the DSL Tevo/ mininova growing users will eventually overtake regular cable subscribers.

Been out less and less of late, and have observed new group dynamics forming. It is again changes in the young expat social structures are new people arrive and other leave. The successfuls stay, and the disheartened leave. The new gen arrives and will soon step up to the business arena as this gen step into the investment arena. It’s almost time for couples to move to engagement. Each wave is pushed by the next wave. Even apnc now have a second generation.

Commented perhaps  only  by someone who have been here long  enough to observe  the changing of the tides again and again. The last wave to come is the final departure. A move to another city, or country, as transients do during their youth as well as settle down, once part of their wonder lust has been satisfied.

Almost everytime I meet younger females and sometimes males, my friend jokingly warn against making them mai mai. For the last 16 years, I have accuulated quite a number of siblings who now no longer need advise and care, but offer a hug whenever I see them. I have often said that to have even the slightest influence on a younger generation search for their path is by far the easist way to leave a small mark in our lifetime. The act of caring although still driven by self centered sense of being looked up to and useful is still appreciated. I have a tendency to look after sisters and brothers, perhaps because I was born the youngest with a misleading body of the oldest in the family, yet have always craved to have younger siblings.

Perfectly sassy and independent people seem to revert to younger versions of themself with me. I suppose when I have kids this need of mine will go away.

In the mean time, my subconscious separates the would be potential partners from the possible siblings. For this winter I will forgo a new sibling for a potential partner to watch downloads and have popcorn with.

Still the best way to keep track of everyone is to use friendster. You find that being here 9 years, many of your friends tend to have left Shanghai, and after 6 month write less and less. I tend to always have the browser on in the back ground.

2 things to note.

1. Great love of food can be seen Joyce’s blog
2. The Shanghai stock market will tank again next year.

It’s unbelievable to have been up 6% in the last 2 month, only to have the last remaining stock dip 20% even after double tripling up to average a lower stock price. China stockmarket really sucks. Perhaps the wise thing is to cut my loses now, and get in on the tank next year.

Whats worse? SNDA Shanda tanked from 38 to 20 in the last couple of month. Today especially because a competitors home entertainment system developed by AMD and Microsoft released before Shanda’s. I am just waiting for one console to play not only, online games, surf web, watch dvd, play x-box and playstation knock off games all for 5000 rmb. Only in China can something this drastic happen.

Interactive content and IPTV on flatscreen TV in HD will be the next speed leap.

Time to snore. Its almost sunrise and I am finally feeling sleepy.

Really

November 9th, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

"Really", that’s the comment I get when I tell people of my stomach problem. Run to the WC 7-9 times a day. Still getting cramps. To which, a friendster friend from OC tells me that I am better now to understand the plight of female menstrations. "Put a warm water bottle on it" she says.
"Great" , Old Faithful and Emasculation. 
Hopefully, stomach bug is all it is, because if there is anything else wrong, I would hate to have to go to the hospital. Sigh, we wait and see my consistency tomorrow.

There is some traction on my concept businesses, and 2 of the websites are 75% from being finished. One business have the potential of picking up traction in the next 3 month. It’s almost time for the core-team to sit down and talk about structure and setup. I dislike getting funding, but for the building materials industry it may have to be done.

Always the weird thing with my attention span and business. The moment business potential increases, my interest in ladies with future potential decreases. Hopefully this inversely propotional drives will balance itself out as financial growth and health increases.

My passion and problem at the same time, is my need to start new projects. When the projects get to be a certain level, I stop being interested and want to start new ones. Unfortunately this means, these companies only get to the first growth curve. I think, for my next couple of projects I will have to plot realistic exit strategies even before finishing with the growth curve, so I will have my impetus to push to the next peak.

Just finished watching the "Lord of War". An interesting narration is that " US, UK, Russia, France and China are the 5 largest weapon suppliers in the world. More interesting is that all 5 countries are the 5 seats on the UN Security Council" based on actual events, free lance gun runners are used to supply the enemy of their enemies when these countries can’t be involved, and that is how these free lance guy runners make a living.

When asked why he won’t stop running guns, because it makes lots of money? the answer was simply "because I am good at it".

A spoke in the gears of this machine we call the human society.

How do you want to contribute to society? (when we are not partying, or playing football that is, lets keep it real) and no, kids you don’t know about is not a valid contribution.

Seems I need to find a deal maker, accumulator or lord of sorts to complete my flow wheel. As far as I can tell, that’s a sales person/ lawyer, a banker/ ISTJ, or a financial manager.  Better yet, females with SF and Greater China heritage. 

The eduation necessary means that they will usually be in school until they are 25 or 28. Perhapes I should be getting loans with banks more and using more associate lawyers for deals.

Hmmmmmmmm, more impetus for business.

Okay, so it works now.

November 5th, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

So, not to continue my diatribe, but  at least update of my "web experience" discourse and come to terms with my personal  uproar , below is how it played itself out.

The reason why I was so worked up about it , was because the website warned on the login page if we weren’t looking at a security site picture, or 3 personal questions, most likely the page was a trojan hacker, and Marshell was trying to use it to steal my bank id and passcode.

now, since I wasn’t able to log in, and everytime I tried, no site picture or questions poped up, I was paranoid that I was REALLY login in to a trojan site, and someone IS performing a "mission impossible/ Alias" hack on my ass. You gotta remember that everytime I logged in, I DID put in my ID and Passcode, and everytime it did tell me that my passcode was too long, and  like a rat trapped in a  revolving  maze, Catch 22 is the last thing that you want to realize. So this was  the reason that I spent 4 frustrating hours trying. Which lead to my diatribe, and my hex on BOA.

So, yesterday, I call the hotline (again long distance) in California, and the dude, was like, OH>>>> delete your existing cookies, and try to log in again. Thanks for banking with BOA.

I tried it and IT WORKED!

Now, why there wasn’t a FAQ online, or even a phone contact listed online I have no idea. The information is listed AFTER getting pass the password, but that’s a catch 22!

For my frustration, perhapes my financial guardian angels were feeling bad for me, but on Friday, I was offered some nominal shares to be an advisor, a loan introduction for a local bank, and 20 million USD to invest in.

No free lunch if you are thinking this is. Nominal shares have no value, but the advisor role can help push the company up, loan offered is just the bank way of saying, "I think you can make some money for me, how about 7% compounded?", and the 20 million USD is even more so. 25% equity stake, 18 % return, and annuality considerations.

The vote of confidence is flattering I must say, but except for the advisor roles, I’m definitely not carrying a burden unless I have a huge upside and low risk.

Played football yesterday, and have aching joints today. I will definitely need to take some joint care supplements so, I don’t grind anything down, and be effect by cold weather in my old age.

The physical aspect of playing with teams, was just as fun as the constant shit talking.  Plus, a couple of nice gals came out to hang so the males won’t turn into complete ball scratching macho muscle heads.

One of the gals, who happen to be partying with this group I was with on Friday night, asked the eternal question of why Tony does not dance.

Let me just set the record straight.

1. Man don’t dance.
2. Russian circus bear dancing is not a good image.
3. I grind in private.
4. I like to have a mental connection first.
5. I actually consider the club environment to be like watching the Discovery documentary on chimp mating rituals, or even tribal mating dance. Now, if dancing good meant that you were THE ALPHA MALE, and only you are allowed to mate with an entire group of females upon winning, I would find Mormon sense in this and do the proper latter day saints duty and perform the grind till you drop, Stiffler trot.

Yes, tapping asses is fun, but turning 31 going on 32,  oats have been sowed,  and  now  playing football is much more fun than drinking or dancing at clubs.

A note about  reaching the testosterone peak at age 20, and then from age 30, a decline happens.

As we all know, testosterone in adult males, feeds libido, builds muscle mass and helps maintain energy levels, explains WebMD. Testosterone levels
              begin to drop by about one percent each year. In the short-term,
              this might not sound like much. However I can definitely tell the difference between age 18 and 31.

If there is such a thing as a bodily substance more fabled
than blood, it’s testosterone, the hormone that we understand and misunderstand as
the essence of manhood. Testosterone has been offered as the symbolic (and sometimes
literal) explanation for all the glories and infamies of men, for why they start
street fights and civil wars, for why they channel surf, explore, prevail, sleep
around, drive too fast, plunder, bellow, joust, plot corporate takeovers and paint
their bare torsos blue during the Final Four. Hey, what’s not to like?

Testosterone is a hormone that’s also very important for people
              wanting to shed fat while preserving (or even gaining) lean muscle.
              In fact, hormones such as testosterone are one reason why you can
              lose weight on the scales without being able to shift the fat that
              seems to be glued to your stomach.

Think of a hormone like the remote control for your television.
              In much the same way that you change the channel using the remote
              control, hormones can change the way your fat cells respond to the
              food you eat.
            

Your body has billions of these tiny fat cells. They expand to
              many times their original size in order to store fat. They also
              shrink when they release stored fat. Fat cells respond to hormones
              in one of two ways, depending on whether the signal is lipogenic
              or lipolytic.

            

The term lipo means fat, while lysis means breakdown.
              So, a lipolytic (pronounced lip-o-lit-ik) hormone increases the
              number of fat calories burned for energy. Hormones that promote
              fat storage, on the other hand, are known as lipogenic (pronounced
              lie-po-jen-ik). In other words, lipogenic hormones promote fat storage.


              The parts of a fat cell that accelerate the release of fat are called
              beta-receptors. The parts of a fat cell that put the brakes
              on fat loss are known as alpha- receptors.If a fat cell has more beta-receptors, it will release stored fat
              more quickly than one with fewer beta-receptors. That’s where testosterone
              appears to help. By increasing the number of beta-receptors, testosterone
              makes it easier to lose stored fat.

One way to keep weight off, is to gain about 2kg of muscle mass a year. This will keep energy burn higher, and keep the fat mass off. Naturally, the body will lose muscle mass as Testosterone levels decrease, but a healthy balance can keep a male body strong. Winning keeps testosterone levels high, and explains why sports is good post age 30.

For more information on it’s effect see the link below.

T Levels to Performance and Social Standing

The Gladiator Diet. [paragraph] Stress, inactivity and smoking can
all lead to low T levels, but eating the wrong foods is testosterone’s
No. 1 enemy. Bottom line: Eat the following 10 foods to boost your
testosterone, and your muscles will grow bigger and harder. It’s that
simple.

  1) OYSTERS

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Protein, magnesium, lots of zinc

THE FACTS: Along with increasing your physical endurance, oysters
pack more zinc than almost any other food source–just six gives you
almost seven times the RDA–and zinc plays a key role in muscle growth
and testosterone levels.

  HOW TO GET IT: Eat a serving of oysters once a week, raw, cooked or canned–but preferably not fried.

  2) LEAN BEEF

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Protein, iron, magnesium, zinc, saturated fat

THE FACTS: "Few things have as positive an impact on testosterone
levels as lean meats," says Gillespie. Beef specifically offers the
added benefit of high protein and zinc–two nutrients key to optimizing
testosterone and muscle-building potential–in one source. And while
you don’t want too much saturated fat in your diet, you require some to
produce testosterone.

  HOW TO GET IT: Grill or broil a lean cut of steak a few times a week.

  3) BEANS

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Protein, fiber, zinc

THE FACTS: Beans are indeed the magical fruit … but not for that
reason. Beans pack a bigger shot of zinc than any other member of the
veggie family; some (like baked beans) even rival the zinc content of
red meat. Add that to a food that’s high in protein and fiber and low
in fat, and you have a winning combo.

HOW TO GET IT: Baked beans, lima beans, navy beans and kidney beans
are all good choices. Canned versions are as nutritious as dry.

  4) POULTRY

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Protein and little fat

THE FACTS: "High-protein diets have a positive impact on muscle
mass and thus testosterone levels," says John E. Morley, director of
the Division of Geriatric Medicine at St. Louis University. "And high
fat seems to have the opposite effect." So while chicken and turkey
lack high zinc levels, their protein-to-fat ratios make them important
to your diet.

HOW TO GET IT: Roast or grill skinless, boneless portions of turkey
or chicken several times a week. Or choose chicken and turkey cold cuts
for lunch.

  5) EGGS

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Protein and cholesterol

THE FACTS: "Testosterone is synthesized from cholesterol, and as
such, food containing cholesterol is a good source of building blocks
for testosterone," says Robert S. Tan, MD, an associate professor of
geriatric medicine and an andrologist at the University of Texas in
Houston. Eggs are a source of pure, unadulterated cholesterol, and one
recent study showed that the excess cholesterol in eggs isn’t as
harmful as previously thought. So stock up on whole eggs (unless
otherwise instructed by your physician).

  HOW TO GET IT: Start your day with 3-4 whole eggs cooked in olive oil or fat-free cooking spray.

  6) COTTAGE CHEESE (1% MILK FAT)

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Protein with very little fat

THE FACTS: One cup of 1% cottage cheese has more protein and less
fat than a serving of lean beef or chicken. Have it as a snack or with
a meal for testosterone-boosting potential.

  HOW TO GET IT: Eat 1 cup of cottage cheese each day.

  7) BROCCOLI

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Indole-3-carbinol, fiber

THE FACTS: "Elevated estrogen levels lead to fat accumulation and
can interfere with muscle growth," says M & F contributor Chris
Aceto, author of Championship Bodybuilding. In a clinical study,
indole-3-carbinol cut the largely female hormone estradiol in half for
men. "Broccoli contains high levels of indoles, food compounds that
help reduce bad estrogen," adds Aceto.

  HOW TO GET IT: Eat as many servings of broccoli as you can stomach.

  8) CABBAGE

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Indole-3-carbinol, fiber

THE FACTS: In addition to exhibiting the same estradiol-restricting
properties as other cruciferous vegetables, cabbage is high in fiber.
"Fiber is great for controlling weight, as it prevents the consumption
of fattier foods," says Gillespie. "Keeping weight down has an
anti-estrogen impact."

  HOW TO GET IT: Load up that fat-free brat with sauerkraut and have a side of slaw–just go easy on the mayo.

  9) RUSSELS SPROUTS

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Indole-3-carbinol, fiber

THE FACTS: You should have listened to your mom: Brussels sprouts
do help you grow up big and strong. Like the other vegetables on our
list, these specifically target bad estrogen and pack just as much
fiber.

  HOW TO GET IT: Hold your nose and power them down.

  10) GARLIC

  WHAT’S INSIDE: Allicin

THE FACTS: In clinical studies, garlic’s active ingredient enhances
testosterone levels and inhibits cortisol, a hormone that competes with
testosterone, limiting its actions and breaking down muscle tissue.

  HOW TO GET IT: Season other foods with garlic when you can, but eating whole cloves provides the most direct benefit.

  RELATED ARTICLE: Checking Your TESTOSTERONE

Gillespie explains that the best way to keep your testosterone
level up is to get it checked every year. "If possible, start before
age 30 to establish a baseline," he explains. "Then you’ll know where
you want it to stay as you get older."

  Total testosterone is just one of the three important numbers to know. The three key components to testosterone level are:

  * Total testosterone: 400-600 ng/dL

  * Free (unbound) testosterone: 25-30 pg/mL

  * Estradiol: No more than 15-20 ng/dL

* Stick to the ratio. According to Gillespie, "Men should aim for
45% of calories from protein, 35% from carbs and 20% from fats." As you
put daily menus together, these numbers will help you maintain this
diet.

* Avoid high-glycemic carbs. Gillespie notes that carb-rich foods
high on the glycemic index can negatively affect your testosterone
level.

* Think protein and fats. High-protein and moderate-fat foods are
crucial for enhancing testosterone and, as a result, building muscle.
Make these foods the building blocks of your diet.

* Eat oysters when you can. This may be the hardest food on the
list to obtain but, as Aceto puts it, "Oysters are the original
testosterone booster." Many restaurants and grocery stores have them
available.

* Pick the right main courses. Keep this in mind, and the road to
sound meal planning should be clear: Choose protein over carb-loaded
dishes.

* Add the right sides and snacks. Select snacks and side dishes the
same way you would main courses. For example, pick beans and broccoli
over carrots. Changes like these are simple and easy to make.

  * Avoid cigarettes and go easy on alcohol.

How hard is that?

Online Banking Security? a user repellant more like it.

November 1st, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

 

I’ve been creating
multiple websites for my new concept projects the last few months. One of the
things they keep on telling me is the Metcalf Law and Reeds Law.

Anyways, net users
are much less forgiving now a days, and will take their business elsewhere if
the website do not provide the super efficient functionality that internet has
spoiled us with.

For instance, Bank
of America is using a sitekey to prevent identity theft, but it did not give
notice for those of us who had NO idea that they were changing security
systems. On top of that, Sun Micro is having trouble with the sitekey, and no
passcode and ID will log on for the next 6 hours.

But, they failed to
inform us of this, and I ended up spending the last 5 hours trying to log on to
my bank acct. The f*cked up thing, is that I actually did log on once, without
the sitekey, and then it told me I couldn’t anymore. So I called their 1800
number from

China

,
and they told me I would be paying long distance fee. (automatic prompt), and
on top of that after waiting for 10 minutes ( the connection broke the first
time when I waited for 3 minutes), the nice lady got on the phone and told me
they were having tech difficulties.

The thing is,
earlier last night, I even wrote them an email about this problem, and the AI
form letter answering bot sent back a letter telling me that there were no
problems. For some reason, I was blocked with sitekey security on Firefox, BUT
not with Internet Explorer until 1pm tonight. Can you imagine my confusion? I
thought a virus or spyware had majorily hacked into my online bank acct, and
either my credit rating just went into the toilet, or they added a couple of
zeros to my acct. either way, I couldn’t tell, because I couldn’t get access!

Now, couldn’t the
website tell me that it was having tech difficulties when it was having tech difficulties?
I wasted last 5 hours + long distance mobile call from

China

and spent
frustration?  I could have spent that time sleeping or at least using the
internet for its real purpose, PORN! Instead, constant rejection from my own
online banking service.

Now, in this day
and age with instant gratification, would I ever ever ever want to come back to
this site again, if not for the fact that I freaking banked with them?

You guys feel me?

This goes back to
my thoughts on the principles of designing a website. If it’s not easy to use,
don’t launching the f**king thing because, it will pick up negative word of
mouth instead of referrals. And that’s really F*cked up, especially with the
amount of detail planning that goes into a community user/ function based site.

Below are the basic
applications and principles of Reed’s Law. An integral of Metcalf’s Law
equation turning into Reed’s Law.

The
Four C’s: Steps to Reed’s Law

Having read our
research note Business
Platforms: Profiting From Networks
and thought about the overview of the
different classes of social networks and how they differ in the way the value
of the network increases with the number of members in the network, one person
was wondering how Amazon would go about moving its business up in the network
classes.

To very briefly
recap the discussion in the research paper, we identify three distinct classes
of networks and the way their value grows with the number of actors in the
network. Three laws are named: Sarnoff’s Law holds true for broadcast network
(e.g. television) and says that the value of the network is proportional to the
number of actors (so, to stick with the example, advertising costs on
television networks are roughly proportional to the expected number of
viewers). In contrast, Metcalfe’s Law is good for networks that allow paired
connections (e.g. the telephone network) and predicts that the value grows with
the square of the number of actors and Reed’s Law says that when the network
allow communities to form (e.g. most real-life social networks) then the value
grows exponentially with the number of actors.

 
   

      

      

      

      

   

   

      

      

      

      

   

   

      

      

      

      

   

   

      

      

      

      

   

   

      

      

      

      

Law: Sarnoff Metcalfe GFN
        (Reed)
Optional
        Transactions
Tune In
        Broadcast
Connect
        Peers
Join/Create
        Groups
Examples OnSale,
        Remote Access
Yahoo!
        Classifieds, EMail
eBay,
        Chat Rooms
Value
        of N member net
N N2 2N
Combined
        Value of N, M member nets
N + M N2
        + M2 + 2NM
2N
        x 2

.

For many platforms we can
identify four stages in the development of the network effects.

  1. Content: In order to attract people to your platform
         in the first instance, content is king. Content can be either information
         or transactions. It is current, frequently updated, and relevant to the
         visitors you wish to attract. Examples abound in the online world where
         almost every web site has some form of content to attract visitors:
         CNN.com (news), Yahoo.com (sites), Amazon.com (books) etc. Newspapers,
         commercial radio and television are examples outside the web. In this
         stage you are publishing and Sarnoff’s Law applies.
  2. Connectivity:
         The next stage is about connecting people. Companies move from content to
         connectivity by adding user identification and features like "add
         comments" functionality, reading circles, or classified ads. An
         example is the financial section on Yahoo where everybody can add comments
         about companies. Some businesses skip the content stage and start at this
         level; examples include mobile networks and dating sites. You are now
         connecting people, and Metcalfe’s Law begins to take effect.
  3. Collaboration: Actors—whether customers,
         suppliers, investors, or casual visitors—can now author content, thereby
         achieving scalability and attracting new networks. A wonderful example is
         the Dutch Smulweb that
         brings together some 300,000 people who share information and experiences
         related to food and drink. Programming interfaces, of which the Amazon Web
         Services that we discussed in the research paper, is another interesting
         example where the connectivity is to a large extent happening off-site but
         in a way where the business retains profits. Some of the elements of the
         Amazon.com web site including user reviews and reading lists are pointing toward
         collaboration. At this stage, your network value still follows a power
         law, but you are now able to grow and scale in a way that was impossible
         with a central author. For the programming examples, this is Sarnoff
         times Metcalfe
    where you are able to broadcast the ability to connect
         networks, and we expect a value that grows with the cube (or higher) of
         the number of actors. (There doesn’t seem to be a name for this law in the
         literature.)
  4. Communities:
         At this stage, actors are not only able to author content but are able to
         group together and form sub-communities. The classic example on the
         internet is Usenet: the hierarchy of discussion forums that pre-dates the
         World Wide Web considerably. (You can browse and search the discussions at
         groups.google.com
         and other sites.) Most real-world social networks are at this stage, and
         follow Reed’s Law.

As suggested in the descriptions,
many business platforms develop through these four C’s in order, gradually
increasing the value of their networks.

Back to Amazon as the example and
to a beginning of an answer to the question. Communities are the key, and
providing the infrastructure to build communities.

At the moment, Amazon.com allows
communities to form at the individual book level. That is probably too narrow a
base. One of my favorite thriller writers at the moment is Lee Child who has a
nice community web site at LeeChild.com. There
is no reason why those discussions should not take place on Amazon.com and be
fully extended through the web services program. Similarly, Amazon has a
classification of products known as browse nodes (an example of the
classification as you may see it on Amazon.com is Books > Subjects >
Mystery & Thrillers > General), and again there is a good place to
introduce communities.

Extending all of these
collaboration and community features through the web services program is
important to ensure rapid growth and scalability (level 3+ in the list above).

But making the features available
through the web services program is also essential to ensure profits. That the
network has value is all well and good, but unless Amazon ultimately profits
from building and connecting the networks there is no reason to embark on this
effort. The API exposed through the web services program ties everything
together and back to the Amazon platform.

Looking forward we can imagine a
meta-site providing a "plug-in" platform for new Amazon features.
Perhaps you’d like to browse books and search for them at Google at the same
time? Or would you like to have weblog (blog) comments about the book added to
the reviews at Amazon.com? Maybe display a graph of how the book has been
selling over the last few months?

All of these features are
existing solutions but implemented on different web sites with different
interfaces. Wouldn’t if be nice if you could log on to a single site, check the
boxes for the features you want and then browse the way you want it? There are
some technical infrastructures challenges that we would need to solve, but this
is certainly possible. Such a site probably wouldn’t be an Amazon-owned site,
but that is OK: the value is, as we have argued, in the platform.

Technical: blubbering.
Read on at your own risk of boredom.

Both laws give a
powerful bonus to interconnection; mergers and partnerships of networked
companies should be able to extract a premium resulting from these laws. When
we combine two networks together so that users of one network can connect
seamlessly to users of the other, Metcalfe’s Law tells us already that
substantial new value is created: (M+N)² = M² +N²+2MN. This bonus term, 2MN,
is substantial-up to 100% of the value in the original unconnected networks.
Thus there is an enormous incentive to find ways to interconnect networks,
since the members of each network can access a much larger set of potential
transaction partners. With the GFN law, interconnection is even more powerful,
creating many new potential groups that span the two networks: 2M+N
= 2M2N
. The GFN interconnection bonus percentage
itself grows exponentially with the size of the smaller network.

What we see, then,
is that there are really at least three categories of value that networks can
provide: the linear value of services that are aimed at individual users, the
"square" value from facilitating transactions, and exponential value
from facilitating group affiliations. What’s important is that the dominant
value in a typical network tends to shift from one category to another as the
scale of the network increases
. Whether the growth is by incremental
customer additions, or by transparent interconnection, scale growth tends to
support new categories of killer apps, and thus new competitive games. See
figure 3
.

 

We can see this
scale-driven value shift in the history of the Internet. The earliest usage of
the Internet was dominated by its role as a terminal network, allowing many
terminals to selectively access a small number of costly timesharing hosts. As
the Internet grew, much more of the usage and value of the Internet became
focused on pair wise exchanges of email messages, files, etc. following
Metcalfe’s Law. And as the Internet started to take off in the early ‘ 90’s,
traffic started to be dominated by "newsgroups" (Internet discussion
groups), user created mailing lists, special interest websites, etc., following
the exponential GFN law. Though the previously dominant functions did not lose
value or decline as the scale of the Internet grew, the value and usage of
services that scaled by newly dominant scaling laws grew faster. Thus many
kinds of transactions and collaboration that had been conducted outside the
Internet became absorbed into the growth of the Internet’s functions, and these
become the new competitive playing field.

What’s important in
a network changes as the network scale shifts. In a network dominated by linear
connectivity value growth, "content is king." That is, in such
networks, there are a small number of sources (publishers or makers) of content
that every user selects from. The sources compete for users based on the value
of their content (published stories, published images, standardized consumer
goods). Where Metcalfe’s Law dominates, transactions become central. The stuff
that is traded in transactions (be it email or voice mail, money, securities,
contracted services, or whatnot) are king. And where the GFN law dominates, the
central role is filled by jointly constructed value (such as specialized
newsgroups, joint responses to RFPs, gossip, etc.).

In "real"
networks, it is important to note that although the total value of optional
transactions that involve pairs and groups grows faster than linearly, the
total price that can be paid cannot grow that fast. Typically, the consumers of
the value have money and attention resources that scale linearly with N.
So the law of supply and demand will kick in, lowering prices until the
available resources (dollars and attention) are saturated. What’s interesting
is that this saturation process affects all types of optional transactions-so
GFN value, peer transaction value, and broadcast content value all competes for
the same resources. Once N grows sufficiently large, GFN transactions
create more value per unit of network investment than peer transactions, and
peer transactions create more value per unit of network investment than do
broadcast transactions. So what tends to happen is that as networks grow, peer
transactions out-compete broadcast content in the arena of attention and return
on investment. And remarkably, once N gets sufficiently large, GFN
transactions will out-compete both of the other categories.

Now please excuse
me for quoting so much technical explanation, but if facilitation produces the
must number of transactions, BOA fucked up majorly with their sitekey, and lack
luster performance of informing members of their in-efficiencies, resulting in
a loyal user now actively looking for a better internet experience.

And that’s a
negatively decreasing value graph if I ever saw one. It will end up looking
like this! Straight fucking down.
 

Clip_image001

And yes, this is
the most rambling, a disgruntle man at 5:17 in the morning without sleep has ever
laid on anyone. I apologize if you kept on reading through this blog. This was
not meant to bore you, but for me to vent.

Anyways, don’t
throw this back on me if while you friends who test my new site out find me
calling the pot black, at least you guys aren’t banking with me.  The key
is testing, and more testing prior to launch. No rushing.

Funny thing, both
Anglophilic Joyce and Little Ann are online with me at the moment and it is
5:30 in the morning.  I need to get some sleep.

Peace out.

Religion of living

October 30th, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

I been getting really good feedback for my blog. I appreciate all the old friends, who keep updated with this blog. I will probably turn off the update email notice function for a few weeks, for my own reflections, and turn it back on when I have a life update I feel important enough to share. Most of the time, it’s just my own ramblings.

Today: Watching, Discovery Channel’s Travel and Living "Vacation Homes" show, I came across a concept similiar to what I’ve looking at/working on/and testing out. www.ModuFab.net (Site still under construction)

This one is a vacation home kit designed by Rocio Romero and put up on a great green area in Missuri. Real Nice y’all.

Anyways, it’s modernist prefab, which means the design comes with the material kit with instructions on assembly, but assembles like a loft, has green features, floor to ceiling windows,  and costs about 30K USD. When done it’s suppose to cost about 100K without the land.

We are working on getting it down lower here in China (Including furnishing), with green features, seismic 8 proof, hurrianne 3 catagory tested, solar panels, zero energy, modernistic modular format that cost less than 30K, fits in a 40 feet container, and assembles in 50 days. The wiring and piping and furnishing may cost another 40 if you are not careful, but, that stuff also costs low amounts here.

Affordable modernist homes that assemble in 45 days and comes in a 40 feet container. Time to buy land!!!!
Rocio_romero_lv_home_kitnew_2

http://www.rocioromero.com

When did Marmol Radziner + Associates start planning a prefab product line?
MRP          
Ron Radziner, AIA and Leo Marmol, AIA
For nearly a decade the firm has been using prefabricated steel structures in our institutional projects, most notably in the LAX First Flight child care center and The Accelerated School in South Los Angeles. In both cases, prefab modules offered simple, quick and affordable solutions that still matched the modern aesthetic of the buildings.

Then in 2002, we were invited to be part of the Dwell Home competition, and for the first time we applied apply prefab technologies to a residential project. We were so enthusiastic about the potentials of prefab homes, that soon after we began designing a prefab prototype. Building the prototype, which we call the Desert House, helped us learn more about the realities of prefabricating homes, and the three models we currently offer are based on what we discovered with the Desert House.

fpf           MR+A has a reputation for high-end projects and attention to detail. Can you tell us how the values of your firm might be reflected in your new products?
MRP          
Marmol Radziner Prefab is a natural extension of our firm’s long-standing approach that combines design and construction to produce modern spaces that are designed and built with exacting detail. We are architects first and foremost, and we see construction and fabrication as the work that supports our designs because it allows us to bring the rigor that we used in designing a project and to apply it to the construction process. Because we fabricate and handle all aspects of our work, we are responsible for everything we build and can ensure a high level of detail and quality for the homes. Our custom site-built homes have always focused on indoor/outdoor living, and we have carried that ideal into our prefab homes as well. The material selection, open floor plans, and floor-to-ceiling windows all reinforce this modern ideal.

fpf         Design-build architecture firms seem well placed to undertake a prefab business. What advantages does MR+A have in entering this market?
MRP           As a design-build architecture firm, we have years of experience in designing buildings that are very suitable for construction, and at the same time, understanding how construction demands can strengthen our designs. We are skilled at dealing with the challenges that arise in the reality of building single family homes, and our in-house capabilities from our metal and cabinet shops directly translate to the fabrication of our prefab homes. From this past experience that specifically blends design and fabrication, we believe we can provide beautifully designed prefab homes with detail-oriented and efficient manufacturing capabilities.

fpf           Your homes use steel frame modules. What do you like about steel?
MRP          
Our steel-framed prefab homes are unique in both their strength and design since traditionally the house-building industry supports the construction of timber-framed homes. Steel-frame construction allows for superior durability both during transportation and over the lifetime of the house. In addition to structural strength, large structural spans give us more flexibility to facilitate seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces through features such as wide expanses of glass and airy floor plans. We also use recycled steel, which is a more sustainable building material than wood framing

fpf           Can you tell us about some of the other materials you have chosen and why?
MRP          
Many of the materials in our prefab houses are the same as what we use in our custom-built home and reflect a mix of practicality and beauty. The cabinetry is all teak and walnut, which we admire for its rich, natural colors, and the countertops are made from Caesarstone, which has high heat and scratch resistance. We have also taken care to use environmentally-sensitive materials in both the structures and interiors. For example, we offer the option to use solar panels as the energy supply for the houses, and we use EcoTimber flooring, which is FSC certified to ensure the wood is grown and harvested in a way that protects forests for the long term.

fpf         What can you tell us about the fabrication facility you are developing in Los Angeles? (WE HAVE OURS IN CHINA)
MRP          

Our factory occupies a 60,000 square foot space in Vernon, California, close to downtown Los Angeles. The building is large enough to accommodate three assembly lines of prefab modules, as well as to hold our cabinet, metal, and window shops. Our staff has the training and experience to complete all aspects of the fabrication, ranging from creating sheet metal flashings to welding structural steel, so we are able to centralized operations and oversee every stage of production.

fpf           What geographic markets will you be serving?
MRP           Our prefab models are pre-approved for use in California. Our goal is to secure pre-approvals in the majority of US states. At the moment, we can work with out-of-state potential homeowners in securing permits on a case-by-case basis.

fpf           Is MRP going to undertake all of the site work in addition to the fabrication of the modules, or will you be working with contractors?
MRP          
We have four installation options to help potential homeowners with securing permits, preparing the foundation, and installing the prefab modules. On one end of the spectrum, the homeowner can take care of everything, including delivery and installation, and on the other end, if the homeowner selects our Deluxe Installation Plan, we can care of essentially all technical and planning aspects involved in getting a prefab home. It is worth noting that Marmol Radziner Prefab homes are not a “kit of parts,” which still require the home to be assembled and constructed on site and often face the same issues of scheduling contractors and sub contractors as standard site-built homes. Our modules are entirely prefabricated in our factory, including preinstalled electrical circuits, plumbing and flooring, so they are delivered to the site move in ready.

Ours is still in development! But exciting. Developing our own mirrored modernistic design right now, based on all the good features of previous prefab designed fused with some Asian features and Zero Engergy Solar Panel features.

winning is one of those things money can’t buy

October 29th, 2005 by bigtonyhsieh

Just more rambling………… The feeling of winning can’t be bought.

To go through trial by fire, and walk away winning. It is a matter of expectation and relativity of expectations.

Winning in business, life, or sports. The little things in life even.

It’s not something to prove, or is it?   

A man judged by the number of times he wins, is someone who needs new friends/peers, or a chill pill. A man should only be judged by how he lives his life and treats others. But it’s not an easy thing to do.

The body is a funny thing. Feed it a little bit of team work, some pig skin, an afternoon running around on the grass, and the endophines kick in, and it’s a great feeling. Feel like you are 18 again. Until the kick dies, and you realize your knee hurts, and you are still 31. Reality.

Come to realize, starting businesses, is as much about gambling odds as it is about winning. Padding odds, as in creating advantages, and leveraging resourses.  not throw good money after bad? Diversify the bets, start more than one at the same time, and see which one takes off. Keep it simple. Does it always work? no. It just means, you can lose 3 x as much, so try to keep the investment low, so you can’t lose so much. Buy insurance where possible. Sports booker strategies apply.

Startups, is it about winning? about bank acct numbers? or about retiring early? or is it the process? It maybe all of that.

Most of the time, all the trials and tribulations, are forgotten when you win. But what happens when you lose? obviously getting up and trying again is the right answer, but it needs to be done for all the right reasons.   

Winning for winning sake is not the right reason. Watch "Two for the money"

But I guess you can’t really lose if you enjoy the process, of playing, of starting something or having accomplishing something.  It’s not about who has the upper hand, or who you know, or who you are seen with. Vanity, Face, and Ego are just excess baggage that inflates what is considered a win. Instead of breaking even, now you feel like you have to make 1 mil, party with the stars and have everyone kiss your ass.

The higher it gets inflated, the further one can fall and sadly it’s all in your head.

The only certainty is the rocking chair test. When you are 80, and sitting on a porch in a rocking chair. Will you be able to say, I have enjoyed living, and have regretted nothing,

because everything else is just hype.

I have been told that I seem to see through everything. Alot of times, I write this blog to formulate my own thoughts and priorities into words, as the mission statement on the business plan of my life. 

I wonder if it will change now that I am over the 30 hump. It would be interesting to look back and see if I have lived by my own creedo.