Since Then……..XIII
A vacuum appears in the New World Order
Time moves fast, these days. US Government shutdown, a false bomb threat loomed over Hawaii for 38 min., & Trump pays an ex-porn star to keep her mouth unopened.
Jacob Zuma resigns as South African president, Myanmar president Htin Kyaw steps down, ex-French president Nicolas Sarokzy faces corruption trial, Ex-Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is detained in Germany, Venezuela delays elections to May, Italy votes for Populism, Russia re-elects Putin, while President Xi removes terms limits altogether.
Microprocessor bug ‘Spectre’ reveals backdoor threat to all computers with a chip, Russia reveals Mach 10 missile that can evade ABM Defense, and a 3x spy and his daughter are exposed to a nerve agent in London.
Trump inner circles replaced, from his Generals to communication staff.
New Fed Chair Jerome Powell is in, US impose trade tariffs 25% Steel & 10% Aluminum, while Kim Jung Un reaches out for lateral discussions with US & South Korea, and 44 Heads of State in the African Continent signs a free-trade agreement (AfCFTA).
Business
Ø Oil – On 3.26.2018, China released Oil Futures in RMB on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) challenging the dominance of the commodity trade in USD.
Ø Gold – holds, providing it strongest run in 7 years – and remains a safe haven for 2018
Ø Disney – launch of an ESPN style streaming service has investors predicting a rise to $130/stock.
Ø CBS – in a time of largescale media consolidation, they are considering a bid for Viacom.
Ø SpaceX – Falcon Heavy launched; capable lifting 64,000kg per future load (NASDAQ:GOOG owns 7.5%).
Ø Facebook – data breaches by Cambridge Analytics suggest FBs API security to external vendors exposed personal data of it users – creating the biggest blowback for FB to date.
Conversate
“Show me the QR code, Jerry!”
Spring Cleaning Banter
> Could the strength of the G7 of the West be replaced by Belt & Road and CPPCC Charter in the East?
> Is Snap fucked? – a change in platform and blowback from Kylie and Rihanna
> Spotify lists for IPO, without underwriters and 19B evaluation.
Mobile Pay and Instant Payment Technology
Arriving in Shanghai China, foreigners need to prepare for how the city has structured their economy – in a sense, leaving foreigners out of the loop on how to pay for basic services. Roughly 85% of day to day currency exchanges are done through Mobile Apps (WeChat – Wallet or AliPay) through an exchange using QR (Quick Response) codes. The exchanges remove the need for a Fapiao (Government receipt) and limit the exchange of money or change.
Children even request money for charity on the subway via mobile QR code exchanges
To create an account, a user has to have a Chinese bank account, leaving foreigners out of this option.
The secondary markets is Cash Transaction, which can annoy vendors big and small.
The tertiary markets are Credit Cards like UnionPay, Mastercard, AMEX and Visa but this is not accepted at all establishments due to transaction costs.
In the Western Markets, the mobile push for this model comes from the 18-24’s market and the Chinese equivalents Facebook (to WeChat) and Amazon (to AliPay) aren’t as integrated. There are comparable exchanges like Venmo, but nothing is omni-present. The western banks seem to be dominant the market with Tap Payment Technology and email wire transfers.
The use and market have been proven, so who will inherit the idea on the western world? Amazon, has partnered with Canadian company, Shopify for the point of sale model, and in turn toying with walk-in/walk-out store models, and Apple has proved successful with the Square Credit Card technology.
In Latin America and India, the likely player to take over this platform will be WhatsApp, the Facebook owned platform, which is already recognized as the social and business platform. The payment function is in Beta stage in India, just at a time when the local banks are playing with a Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for prompt bank to bank exchanges for users.
The next tech player that takes the West, could eventually take over the banks.
Politics & Religion
Who is the Panchen-Lama?
Buddhism is the world’s 4th largest religion, with 520M followers, and it originated in 1st Century in India, and migrated throughout Asia. As the religion travelled it branched into varying teachings of Buddha, with variances on the relationship to the cycle of rebirth, Samsara.
A new discovery of an image of Buddha, a Purang Stele, has been found dating back to 830 revealing Buddhism was being practiced in Tubo period in Ngari. The discovery reveals that Vajrayana Buddhism grew in the Tibetan region earlier than originally thought
Buddha, born Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini Nepal, had led a life that grew from Vedic teachings into a new form of enlightenment. In Kushinagar, India, he died at age 80 teaching his understanding of Dharma.
As Buddhist’s teaching developed in Tibet, the Tantric Practices grew into 4 primary schools Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya & Gelug. The Gelug school is led by the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. The latter, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was kidnapped in 1995, and replaced with Chokyi Gyalpo by the Chinese Government.
Thus the current and 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, could be the last in the lineage. When his holiness passes, the search for the incarnate spirit will be completed by a Chinese state placed Panchen-Lama, The Tibetan future will be dictated by the Chinese Communist Party. If China can chose the next leader, they can also influence the 6M Tibetans to come into the fold of Greater China.
Sport & Combat
West v. East (North)
2018 is the 72nd year of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Championship Finals.
The best-of-seven elimination tournament starts with 16 teams from two conferences, East and West, and the best of each conference will face off in The Finals.
On April 14th 2018, the Playoffs will kick off and this year the regular season was defined by 4 teams above all others. From the West the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors blew away the rest of the conference, similarly the Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics defined their conference.
Although the elimination playoff structure do not dictate the outcome, Basketball has a strong history of seeing the conference leaders end up in the Conference finals and in turn league finals.
If the Playoffs, play out like the regular season, then this be a historic Finals as it could be the first year an International team makes it into the Finals for the year. However, the result could be poor viewing ratings, if the US Networks and audience do not have the interest to watch a foreign team take a championship.
VIII
Mixtapes
New Tunes but Old Sounds
Top Five
1. Now You Got Me Hooked – Against All Logic (Other People)
2. Toy – Young Fathers (Ninja Tune)
3. Voyage Libre – Thievery Corporation (ESL Music)
4. Make Me Feel – Janelle Monae (Bad Boy / WEA)
5. Back from the 80’s – Lil Wayne (Young Money Entertainment)
Best Movie Soundtrack
> Black Panther Curated by Kendrick Lamar
Best Music Video
> Welcome Home– Dir. Spike Jonze
Song is ‘Til It’s Over’ by Anderson Paak
Playlists
> Deep into the Night Sky – African Roots meets American Black Culture
> Red Pop – what the Chinese play in H&M (surprise the best is Korean)
> Burn the US Dollar, with Oil – Sounds from the Indie Fringe and Electronic Edge
President Barack Obama - Kehinde Wiley (2018) – Oil on Canvas
Michelle Obama - Amy Sherald (2018) Oil on Canvas
Artscape
Robert Xavier Burden’s Burden
The Holy Batman – Oil on Canvas (2013) – Artist Note: Took 1,200 hours over 7 months.
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An artist with an interest in 1980’s toys and realism painting, also with an inferiority complex about his station and time it takes to justify a value of his piece.
Burden feels in a weird place amongst in the art world, as his work is lost amongst the audience. It is too fanboy for high brow elites, too slow for social media, too large for commercial galleries. His art has taken a toll on his life, with no time off and no time to leave his warehouse to start a family in his mid-thirties.
His process requires diligence and a commitment to prolonged hours of solitude when he creates his pieces. “Beginning his under-paintings with bright blue, which he chooses for the rich value range that supports the strong colors pulsating his universe, he creates grand epics.” (Juxtapoz, 2016)
Thundera - Oil on Canvas (2011)