Beneath the Peak

Posting’s been light nonexistent recently because –  after months of interviews, reading, and research — I’m now actually writing my second book. As of yesterday, I had 24,250 words about the process of buying property in Japan.

Unlike my first effort, which was based on first-hand experience here in Hong Kong, the new book is research based. That’s resulted in a lot of tangents, covering everything from termites and agricultural policy to universal design and archeology, all of which are relevant to Japan’s distinctive real estate market.

I’m off to Japan again in a couple of weeks for what should be a final round of research and interviews.

With a little luck, the book will be on shelves by year-end.

There was an interesting piece in the IHT/NY Times today about credit card companies in the US charging user fees to customers (like me) who pay their balance off in full each month. The story also mentions the possibility of customers being charged interest immediately, from the date of purchase.

If either happens here in Hong Kong, the card issuers can have my cards back, and I’ll start using a debit card instead.

This isn’t just the straight subsidy the card companies are pretending it is. Even if you pay your balance every month, the card company makes money from merchant fees.They also benefit from the float  — the time between when they collect money from me and pay the merchant — which can be substantial.

If enough people stop using cards, the issuers will lose the benefit of volume and, ultimately, ubiquitous merchant acceptance.  And that could be very good news for PayPal and debit card issuers.

I was a little bit surprised to read the following in this story on bank competition from The Economist:

“Your correspondent is now paying more for his credit-card debt than he was two years ago.”

It’s bad that someone writing for this esteemed publication is paying interest on his credit card. It’s worse that they’ve been doing it for two years. But to admit it in print?

… and was disappointed to discover that “Barrington’s Smuj” doesn’t exist.

Smuj, which was featured in the Patent Pending column in yesterday’s How to Spend It magazine from the Financial Times, was billed as a biodegradable, non-greasy moisturizer that prevents your face from being captured by CCTV cameras.

There’s an idea whose time has come.

Last night I saw Adolf, a one-man play starring Pip Utton that was staged as part of Hong Kong Microfest.

Set in the Führer’s bunker in 1945 as Berlin was about to fall, Adolf is intense. The McAulay Studio in the Hong Kong Arts Centre was the perfect setting, because it put the audience within a few feet of Utton, who was frighteningly believable.

If you get a chance to see it, Adolf is powerful and well worth a look. And with luck Microfest will be back again next year.

Closer to home, following up on a piece in this morning’s Sunday Morning Post,  I downloaded One Nation Under Lee, a documentary about Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew, his career and civil rights in Singapore.

One Nation Under Lee starts out as an interesting idea but gets lost along the way. There’s a lot of historical footage and interviews with local politicians and activists that, as a non-Singaporean, I found interesting.

There are also a number of assertions that undoubtedly made the Singaporean authorities more than a bit uncomfortable.

But halfway through, the film degenerates into a series of still images of protests and marches without explaining their significance. If you were a Singaporean, you might understand. But as an outsider, they’re meaningless without context.

Ultimately, it’s a worthwhile project that could have benefitted from a clearer focus and a better editor.

Pork producers (and other interested parties) have petitioned the World Heath Organization to refer to the swine flu by a different name.

Thailand has suggested that it be called Mexican flu. Maybe the WHO should follow Janet Napolitano’s lead and call it a pig-caused disaster.

On a slightly more serious note, here’s a piece about crisis communications during epidemics from Peter Sandman of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Sandman makes a powerful case for ignoring concerns about panicking the population and being honest with people:

But if you ask yourself which was a bigger problem in New Orleans, people so frightened they couldn’t think straight, or people insufficiently frightened who didn’t get out of town, I think you can make a very strong argument that the latter was a bigger problem than the former.

One thing the article misses, I think, is the power of social norms. When all of your neighbours are acting rationally — like stockpiling supplies or taking other precautions — you’re more likely to do so, too.

H/T for the Sandman piece to Instapundit.

After two years, Conde Nast Publications has decided to close Portfolio magazine.

Which is too bad. Like Conde Nast stablemate The New Yorker, Portfolio published a lot of interesting, insighful work by writers like Michael Lewis. It was never going to put The Economist out of business, but it was definitely worth a read.

In a related note, a new Audit Bureau of Circulation survey shows the largest US newspapers are losing readers at a record pace. Circulation is down 7% for the six months ended March 31, 2009, with the Wall Street Journal managing a small increase and the Boston Globe losing over 13%. Ouch.

On Thursday, April 16, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style turns 50.

It’s a handy book, especially if you’re learning how to write. Preferring the active voice and writing economically remain good ideas. Geoffrey Pullum at the Chronicle of Higher Education has a more critical look at TES and its flaws.

On related note, last week I discovered that The Chicago Manual of Style is available online though a paid subscription. Useful information is also available in the free part of the site.

I write material for other people and businesses.

Along the way, I’ve encountered every euphemism and other form of intellectual dishonesty imaginable — from “resigned to spend more time with his family” to “experienced a negative patient care outcome.”*

Here’s a new one to add to the list: “man-caused disaster.”

When I first saw this expression, I thought it might refer to a tragic accident, like Chernobyl. Or perhaps a crime against good taste, like disco or karaoke.

Nope.

A man-caused disaster is, in fact, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s nuanced euphemism for terrorism.

I wonder what Napolitano would call the actions of someone like female Palestinian suicide bomber Reem Riyashi?

* These abominations are widely used, with over 7 million Google hits each.

Here are some random photos from today’s festivities at the Rugby Sevens.

My favorite shot of the day — that must have hurt!

Can I have this dance?

South African fans try to pull down the French flag near the end of the day.