kaiyen: pepper

kaiyen: pepper

the life and times of Allan Chen

Latest Posts

How to become a SCUMBAG in 2 years

First – a SCUMBAG is a Santa Clara University MBA Graduate.  It’s also an acronym that I really don’t like, but it’s catchy for a blog post title.  Works at the twitter-size level.

When I first entered the SCU evening MBA program, I was provided two options for how to get through the program in either 2 or 3 years.  The former included taking 3 classes per quarter in the Fall, Winter, and Spring, and then 2 in the summers.  It was pretty intense, and I realized that I was likely to come much closer to 3 than 2.

Well, it turns out I could have finished in 2, despite a far less taxing schedule.  Before you go onto “more,” I will say that I have slowed down my course progress a bit to time my enrollment in the ultimate “Capstone” course with a large group of others that increase my chances of being on a good team.  And so that I can use Santa Clara’s employee tuition program to take a few classes out of pure interest, rather than only those required and needed to graduate.  So I am looking at 2.75 years.  But somehow I could have finished in 2… (more…)

June 19, 2009 Biz School 0 Read more >

On-site photo printing: lessons learned

At a wedding this past weekend, I was hired to set up a backdrop, take photos of guests, and print them on site.  I had never done this before (the client knew that) but put together and tested a setup of having a computer control the camera, automatically feeding the image into an editing and printing program, and bought a printer that produces “ready to go,” fully dry and archival prints in about 30-45 seconds.

The couple set out “tickets” at each seat which were good for 1 print (multiple photos could be taken for the benefit of the couple, but only 1 print per ticket).  The couple also wanted the guests to be able to choose from the photos and pick the one they wanted to have printed.

Needless to say, I learned quite a few things.

First, it is borderline impossible to do this alone.  An assistant is almost a requirement.  I think that, if I laid everything out in a very tight arrangement right around the camera, I might have been able to do it.  I would probably mount the camera and computer on a single multi-mount tripod accessory, then have the printer on a table right next to me.

Second, letting the guests choose from multiple photos is a bad idea.  It just clogs up that part of the process.  It should be highly controlled – guests get one photo, the photo is printed.  I can do that with a few clicks after each shot.  Now, we could still use the tickets so that guests could have barter tickets and get multiple photos taken, but only 1 photo per ticket, and that photo gets printed, period.

Third, I need either 2 or 3 of these consumer dye-sublimation printers or shell out the $2000+ for a professional grade one.  30 seconds seems fine when working out a workflow in one’s living room, but is way too long when people start hovering over you wanting 1 more print, 1 more print, or if they start queueing up and we have to close up shop early just to make sure all the prints come out.  The consumer printers also can’t handle the prolonged generation of heat that well.

Finally, and on a good note, small, hot-shoe strobes worked just fine for this situation.  I did not have to bring in big professional lights, though I would have if I had the chance.  Battery packs for faster recycling is a must, though.

June 16, 2009 photography 0 Read more >

The “let them fall” concept of macroeconomics

Last night, on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Peter Schiff was interviewed.  Schiff is an “economic commentator” (as compared to an economist?) and the head of a brokerage firm.  Stewart showed a number of clips of Schiff on CNBC prior to the current economic crisis warning of the dangers of the housing bubble, sub-prime mortgages, and over-leveraged companies and individuals.  These comments were made well in advance of the actual recognition of the situation and there is audio of people actually laughing while he is talking (I got the impression they were other guests of panel shows, not the moderators or CNBC folks themselves, but I cannot be sure).

At any rate, the gist of Schiff’s argument is that

  1. The government should have let companies fail.  No company is too big to fail.
  2. The market will dictate how things will fall out in the end, even if it means massive recession for now.  The market is strong.
  3. This is all because of how messed up things were, so let’s let the bad die out
  4. The government is just making things worse by intervening, and we might have hyperinflation.

In some ways, I find this very dangerous.  In others, thought-provoking.

(more…)

June 10, 2009 2008 Economic Crisis, Musings, Rants, and Random Thoughts, , , , , , , , 1 Read more >

BBC NEWS | Business | Obama pledges 600,000 summer jobs

BBC NEWS | Business | Obama pledges 600,000 summer jobs.

One thing I know is that there is a lag when it comes to fiscal policy.  The government spends the money, but creation of jobs takes a bit of time as projects are identified, and certainly hiring into those jobs takes time, then income, then willingness to spend, then GDP rise.  

But I wonder how long the lag usually is.  This is something we never studied really in my macroeconomics classes.

I also wonder whether the fear of spending for the sake of spending (which is actually kind of okay when the goal is to SPEND above all else) made selection of “shovel-ready” projects a lot more difficult.  So even if a project was ready to go there was still more scrutiny, so it took longer to get going, so jobs are still falling.

June 8, 2009 2008 Economic Crisis, Articles from the Web 0 Read more >

Smart move: Feds refuse to buy troubled assets with TARP – Jun. 8, 2009

Smart move: Feds refuse to buy troubled assets with TARP – Jun. 8, 2009 .

I am usually not one to question Allan Sloan (but who am I to say I do or do not question person X or Y – I’m kinda nobody), but this is kind of a strange argument.

Okay, in our 20/20 hindsight, maybe, just maybe, the Treasury’s switch-a-roo with TARP to invest in bank equity instead of buying off troubled assets wasn’t so terrible.  I still think it’s lousy to have done that, but maybe Sloan has a point that the obstacles of figuring out exactly how to value those troubled assets might have killed the effort in the first place.

But we knew about those obstacles.  And I think the folks running TARP had a pretty good amount of leverage they could wield.  And, finally, Sloan’s use of the problems other, quasi-similar programs have faced as reasons why TARP would have been just have difficult to implement is a weird way around.  Just because another program has had problems doesn’t mean TARP would have had such problems.

And those assets are still sitting on bank balance sheets.  Massive recapitalization is still needed.  Hm.

June 8, 2009 2008 Economic Crisis, Articles from the Web, 0 Read more >

The stagflation myth – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com

The stagflation myth – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com.

The whole thing about stagflation is kind of weird.  The term refers to the economic situation of the 1970’s, where one had high unemployment and inflation.  Usually you don’t have both.

First, there is a misconception about inflation.  It’s not that we print all this money and it’s now worth less.  It’s more that prices go up and a loaf of bread that cost $1.50 yesterday now costs $2.  So the money is worth less but because of prices, not the actual number of bills out there.  In fact, in terms of real money supply, over time the rise in prices brings everything back to a steady state.  

So, usually, as unemployment goes down…i.e. people get jobs and have salaries and start buying things, they tolerate higher prices more and more, and we have inflation.  So you don’t usually have both at the same time.

Economists fall into two general categories when it comes to macroeconomic policies – those that control and influence the overall, national economy.  The first comes from “neoclassical” or “conservative” angles, where government involvement should be small or is useless, and that it’s all about the central bank (The Fed) moving interest rates around to keep everything stable.  In theory, that should work.

The other group follows roughly those ideas put forth by John Maynard Keynes in 19…36, I think.  He basically said that we can affect demand through government spending.  Moving demand moves prices, output, etc, and we can pull ourselves out of recessions and other problems.  Of course, the ideal scenario is a combination of fiscal (gov’t) and monetary (Fed) policies that work together.  

Many conservatives point to stagflation as proof that the Keynesian economists had it all wrong.  However, it’s not that they were wrong, it’s more that since their theories targeted demand and stagflation couldn’t be solved by moving demand around, then Keynesian policies were wrong.  But that’s like saying…just because I can’t make a car go faster with higher octane gas, then high octane gas is useless or “wrong” or something.

June 5, 2009 2008 Economic Crisis, Articles from the Web 0 Read more >

TiVo Wins Round 2 Against EchoStar – BusinessWeek

TiVo Wins Round 2 Against EchoStar – BusinessWeek.

Considering all that TiVo has done wrong in trying to build up its subscriber base (I mean, it’s a great service, but they never really reacted to DVR’s from Comcast and other cable providers, etc, and that market just went away…), it’s great to know that they have been successful in defending their idea.

And seriously, EchoStar should just suck it up like they did before and pay a licensing fee to TiVo.  They get all of these other perks of the TiVo service, too. You lose the original case and an appeal, along with $209 million?  Sheesh.

June 5, 2009 Articles from the Web, 0 Read more >

GM: A View from the Back Seat – BusinessWeek

GM: A View from the Back Seat – BusinessWeek.

Read the article for the real meat, but this comes from someone that has covered GM, specifically, for quite some time for Business Week.  David Welch, the author, handles the multitude of issues – from GM’s basic structure, strategy, the UAW, and for what former CEO Wagoner did and did not deserve blame in the end – quite well and very evenly.  

What I find especially interesting is the comment about GroupThink at the beginning.  The article doesn’t really return to it, but it paints a classic picture of this kind of problem.  Everyone thinks that things are okay.  Because they all tell each other things are okay and that they know what is going on (trucks are good!  We’ll outlast our workforce!), there is a reinforcing cycle of presumption and bad decisions.  No one really thinks beyond what has always been done, or those that do are ignored and/or ostracized.

June 2, 2009 Articles from the Web, , , 0 Read more >

stamen




stamen

Originally uploaded by kaiyen

I recently acquired a new macro lens, the Sigma 150mm 2.8. A macro lens is one that is able to reproduce the subject at a “life size” ratio. This means that the object in real life is the same size as it is on the film or digital sensor. This means REALLY BIG. It also tends to mean up close, though that is a side-effect, not a requirement.

There are many zoom lenses out there that claim to have “macro” capability but that really means it can focus closer than perhaps others, but can only produce something that is 1/4 or 1/5 of life size. Not true macro.

The thing about this new lens is that I get more “working distance.” Shorter macro lenses put one almost right on top of the subject – literally inches away. I can be almost a foot away (maybe 8-10″) and still be at or near life size. This gives me a lot more freedom, to say the least, and gives me more natural lighting (I am less likely to block the light myself, etc).

This also means that standing at any normal distance from a subject is getting really close to life size, which means focusing is really tough. This is one of maybe 25 photos of this flower that came out with reasonable sharpness. And as you can see, while that petal on the right side is probably not more than 5mm in front of the stamen, it’s blurry and out of focus.

I am extremely happy with this lens, though it will take some getting used to. It is extremely sharp, easy to handle, and produces very rich colors with nice saturation and contrast. It opens up new options as far as macro photography, which is a wonderful thing to have.

June 2, 2009 Uncategorized 0 Read more >