Man, Clinton is good! On hostile ground no less.

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I had an email exchange with a friend based in Thailand. Got his permission to repost part of his email

The King has openly showed his distaste for Taksin for some time. I think the King–or really Prem–gave the “go” signal for the coup. For months now, bank employees, toll collectors–any organization that wanted to show its
“devotion”–have had their employees wear polo shirts colored bright yellow
(a symbol of the Monarchy). More voluntarily, much of the Bangkok middle
class has also been wearing these shirts as an indirect slap at Taksin’s
face–one that he couldn’t complain about–so that the area around, say, the
Silom financial district has become a fiesta of color. Less so upcountry,
because Taksin was “their” man, but 1000 baht at election time only buys so
much loyalty.

That makes me think of my neighbor Thomas Fuller, who ended an article in
the IHT quite a while back about vote buying up-country with a cute
interchange with a humble old lady–a broom seller as I recall–who got a
cagey gleam in her eye when she misinterpreted being interviewed about
bribery in general and thought she was being canvassed for a bribe. . .

Fuller has been writing some interesting background articles around the coup
for the IHT–don’t know whether they bleed over to the NYT or not. . .But
yes, the fact that Sonthi is a Muslim helps in the South, and it’s also good
for national unity in general that he wasn’t really in the anti-Taksin camp
before the coup–another reason to think that he was put up to it by the
Monarchy.

Now the match-making begins, with the junta looking for a properly
credentialed, “democratic” PM. The paper I had an article in yesterday, THE
NATION, which is pretty unabashed about its political stance, has been
playing yenta, announcing rumors about one candidate or another almost as
fact, I think in order to get the whole process going.

The military, for their part, would like to get somebody “like” Anand
Panyarachun (times, and politics, have changed, but I mean someone
well-reputed who would prove equally successful) to give them some
legitimacy. Or maybe the military will even step away as fast as they say
they’re going to do. But I’d be surprised if that happened–read Paul
Handley’s book if you want to understand why.

Just learn that FCC is going to issue a Notice of Inquire on Network Neutrality from (via Kevin Werbach). Went digging around at FCC site but couldnt find any yet and definitely not on the FCC open forum.

Kevin said, “I actually think the FCC would be the better place to address Net Neutrality issues, but I’m skeptical this proceeding will go anywhere with the current FCC leadership.”

Like Kevin, I am skeptical with the current FCC leadership under Kevin Martin. I am also not certain Congress will do a better job either especially Congressional Election is a few weeks away.

It would be an interesting excerise to dig through the congressional electrion donations and see which companies have donated to who however.

On the left is my old shoes. I brought them when I first left school many years ago. It brought me to US, and I wore them to see my first VC, and the same shoes I wore at the lunch when the deal was signed in Singapore. I wore them through out the little startup, going through every airports, every hotels and I wore them when I hand in my resignation. I went to the interview with IDA with them and I continue to wear them everyday in IDA, till the very last day.

This is the shoes that brought me to the pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, Eifiel Tower in Paris, the Fuji mountains in Japan and the beautiful JiuJiaGuo. Its also the shoe I wore during my wedding and the same shoes I wore when I first become dad.

It is comfortable and it has bought me to many places and see me through many part of my life. My wife nagged non-stop about the silly old shoes. I never give it up, saying it is still fine.

But alas, it is not fine. It is old, it has white scratches all over and it is hardly presentable anymore. Old time IBMers would faint at the sight of my shoes. I have meetings with folks who raise their eyebrow at the sight of my shoes but too polite to tell me otherwise.

So I got a new pairs of shoes (right). New and shiny replacing the old and ragged one.

I know it is silly to rant on an old shoes but I love my old shoes. And I already missed it :-(

Was sorting out my photos and thought I should share this. It is a CV from an operator employee that reads: “Lead a team in various business functions to address the regulatory environment with the telecommunications regulator and telecommunications ministry to optimitise “X’s” position through lobbying – delayed implementation of potentially adverse regulatory stipulations by one year”

He sure is proud of that achievement.

… “Parents”.

Childrens (particularly your own) will turn a liberal into a moderate, and a conservative into unreasonable extremist.

Before Children: “Porn? Whats the big deal?”
After Children: “Porn? What the F*** is the government doing!?”

If you think Mee Siam Mai Hum is bad, try this:

Got to be the strangest news I hear today: Philanthropy Google’s Way: Not the Usual. The story on Google.org a for-profit philanthropy arm of Google.

Yea, read it again, it is a for-profit non-profit arm. They have to pay taxes but it also give them the flexiblity to work with VCs like a commercial company. Totally werid but hey, they are afterall the one who started their IPO letter with “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.”

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Got this on my way back from South Africa. I am lost for words…