Why make billions when we can make... millions?

Here are the largest numbers I have been able to imagine at various ages:

Age 5: "OK class, I want you to count down from 100" (Mrs Millner)
Age 6: "There are tens of thousands of people in America. It is one of the biggest countries in the World" (Mrs Lardner)
Age 7: "I've got millions of stickers at home" (Norman Benezra)
Age 8: "A Rolls Royce is what millionaires drive" (my mother)
Age 9: "China has one thousand million people, it will soon be a superpower. The World has four thousand million people" (my grandfather)
Age 10: "A billion is a million million, but in America they call a thousand million a "billion" (my grandfather)
1990: "The Savings and Loans crisis is likely to cost the American taxpayer over $100 billion" (Time Magazine)
1998: It's called "Google". I think it means 10 to the power of 24 or something (Alberto)
1999: Yahoo! is bigger than British Airways! (Poster at LHR December 1999 - YHOO market cap at $120bn)
1999: Dot Com billionaires
2008: The Zimbabwe government is now circulating a Z$ 100 trillion bank note
2009: "What if I had a Googol pennies?" (Ria - age 5)
"Well, you know your school, you could buy that with all that money"
"Really!?"
"And I'll ask you for a job!"
"Why?"

2009: The healthcare plan is estimated as costing $800 billion, bringing the total US debt to over $10 trillion... (Reuters)

Will we have Clean Energy Trillionaires?
or
Nanotech Googlites?

I believe

That people are good
That heart disease can be reversed
That we have much to learn from children
That sunrise is an auspicious gift
That laughter is the best medicine
That the financially poor have as much to give
That a smile is a priceless gift
That cynics live in the present
That there’s nothing that you can do that can’t be done
That love never dies: it is kept alive by a pilot flame

What is mankind's greatest achievement?

Flight

Something's not right...

While protecting the residents of Afghanistan against terrorists whose only aim was to conduct suicide missions to the United States and terrorize innocent Afghanis along the way, we happened to stumble upon $1 trillion worth of Lithium. What hope for the people of Afghanistan! This could put an end to all their suffering!

Chick Magnet

Tino: That's one Chick Magnet of a car your brother has!
Anje: Yeah, I was just about to say that!
Mateo (4): Hey, what's a chick magnet? [ Mateo's favorite movie is Pixar's "Cars", and his favorite character in it happens to be "Chick Hicks"]
Me: Ask your father!
Anje (to the rescue): It's a car that both girls and boys can share


Life doesn't get much better than this...

Not Hip Enough

Wanting to understand the current wave of affection (or rather affliction) for the new Hipster culture, I decided to do some reading and also talk to some friends who're self-pronounced hipsters (or otherwise in denial).

What I noticed is that "hipsters" reject the pressures of modern consumerism, sometimes resorting to inconvencience (unconsciously or otherwise) to make a statement on their sophistication.

Furthermore, they are disillusioned by the advertising culture (why so many work for Google and Ad Networks up in the City, I don't know :), can explain the difference between Mitt Romney and Pete Wilson, have an understanding of fine art, are good at mental arithmetic, are good at improv, can tell the difference between a '94 and '96 wine, can move large planets out of orbit and can whoop my a** at sports. Except for, of course, my favorite sport: sleeping.

I've also been introduced to the Hipster toolkit:

- Karman Ghia
- 1984 IBM PC Keyboard
- Hemp shirts and
- Gaulois cigarettes in shirt pocket
- Vans sneakers
- A degree from Oberlin College
- Distinctive glasses that don't really have any optical power
- Loyalty card at an organic sushi restaurant (where they don't use Carbon Monoxide to keep the Toro bright red)
- MUNI pass
and finally:
- Esoteric iTunes playlist


I am no biking expert, but I wouldn't want to bike in San Carlos on a fixed-gear bike. Though a fixed gear bike is cool in its simplicity and design, it's just not made for hills.

I almost jumped out of my skin when one of my best friend accused me of having hipster aspirations:

- Old car
- iPhone 2G
- Bike rather than drive
- Vegetarian
- Grungy clothes

I can safely protest that my current image is all out of necessity, and let's face it, I'll never be cool enough!

(Written on Caltrain Northbound in a Mac OS X terminal using "vi". There. I'm no hipster)