Renewing the Winter Tradition of Reading the Classics and Other Matters

(An Oldie but Goodie)

As mentioned before, being mindfully aware is the key to succeeding in any endeavor. Sometimes it does not hurt to re-read the classics (super text of know-how) to remind us of the various fundamentals of life. 

Recommended Classics
In a previous post, we discussed the topic of taking one quiet weekend to re-read the classics (The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Dao De Jing, Zhuang Zi, etc.) during the winter season while standing.

One of the following weekends, some of the group will be re-reading some of the following books:

• Against the Gods (The Remarkable Story of Risk);
• Sherlock Holmes Detective Stories;
• The Protracted Game;
•  The Thirty-six Stratagems Applied to Go;
• The Tao of Physics; 
• Strategies for the Human Realm;
• The Tao of Deception;
• 100 Unorthodox Strategies;
• Dao De Jing;
• Zhuang Zi;
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms; and
• other unique strategic classics.

Here is an abridged list of the past "hot" books that we have read:

• Anti-Fragile; 
• Made to Stick;
• The Physics of Wall Street;
• The Signal and The Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail- but Some Don't 
• Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe

For those who are audio listeners, we recommended the following books:

• Sawyer's translation of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China
• Sawyer's translation of Sunzi's The Art of War

The rest of us will also be working on our Tangible Vision and our Compass Script while drinking hot tea.

This specific tradition and the use of the standing table have also enabled us  to hone our strategic and tactical skills.

Other Traditions and Suggestions
Following are other interesting yearly traditions that some of our strategic associates have always abide by:

• Renewing one's yearly subscription of Business Week, Psychology Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist;
• Reviewing and updating one's tactical playbook;
• Reviewing and updating one's contacts notebook;
• Backing up the data bank. 
• Upgrading one's own technological infrastructure;  and 
• Updating one's own security practices.

Our friends at Cook Ding Kitchen and other strategic groups have always reminded us to abide the subsequent list of suggestions that would help the underdogs:

• Donating some cash or books to your local libraries;  
• Donating some cash and/or food to your local charities; and 
• Offering strategic advice to your local non-profit charities.

Comment From the Compass Desk
Practicing the process of reading the configuration of a situation, reflecting on the pluses and the minuses and adjusting to the  situation, is the daily proclivity of a good strategic implementer.

In our case, we preferred the practice of assessing, positioning and influencing.  We will discuss about that specific practice in a future post. 

# # #
...

The Yin and Yang of The Dao

Source:  brtu.com

Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. 
- Sunzi  (Lionel Giles translation)

Is the Value of Lego is Greater Than Gold ? (An Interesting Investment for the Long Term Thinkers)

According to an analysis by the UK Telegraph, the building-block toys are a better investment than gold or the stock market.

The FTSE 100 (an index of 100 companies on the London Stock Exchange -- similar to the S&P 500 on the New York Stock Exchange) has increased in value an average of 4.1 percent since February 2000, according to the Telegraph analysis. By comparison, Lego sets kept in perfect condition have increased in value 12 percent each year during the same period. If you invested in gold, you received a 9.6 percent annual increase in value, according to the Telegraph.

The secondary market for Lego sets, especially ones that are no longer in production, is the reason why Legos are better than gold. For instance, the value of the Cafe Corner Lego set, which originally sold for $139.99 in 2007, can fetch as much as $1,600 on sites such as BrickPicker.com, as long as the box is unopened. But where's the fun in that?

Source:  SF Gate

• Original Source: UK Telegraph

Side Notes 
Lego Mindstorms and Lego Mindstorms NXT are great learning tools for those who have kids who wanted to learn how to program robots.  This tool teaches the implementer how to think and visualize their objective and their tactical approach in a three-dimensional mode.

A Defensive Pointer for Surviving in The Cyber Economy: Using Panopticlick

To protect oneself from non-consensual Web tracking, check out panoticlick.  Also, click here for more information on this nice defensive tool  and click here on other security tools.

Click here for three good rules for online safety and click here for the 10 immutable laws of cyber security.

As we enter into 2016, it is advisable for each one of us to be mindfully aware of our surroundings and beyond.

Some More Food For Thought: A Pragmatic Idea for December 25

Comments From The Compass Desk
On this holy day, many people will pursue the historical strategic approach of eating Chinese food .

Click here on the Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas Day.  

A few of our associates favorite Americanized Chinese food is  the General Tso Chicken.
While it is an slightly over-rated dish, some people consider it as comfort food. Click here for a quick history lesson on this "fun" dish.

#
The late and great Red Auerbach the former coach of the Boston Celtics (a professional basketball team) , always had Chinese food for dinner regardless whether his Boston Celtics team won or lost a game.   ... He always insisted that his team consumed Chinese food for dinner, especially before a game. 

The presumption was that good Chinese food should never create the feeling of "heavy" with the eater.  Whether Coach Auerbach and his team have ever completed a Chinese "nine course" banquet, is a different story.   

"Being light is right" is the basic principle of consumption.  ...   The state of lightness enables one to be agile and mobile.  Conclusively, this state causes one to feel balanced. 

In our case,  some of us have always followed the Compass Principle of being balanced. 

Chinese Food + Netflix = A Good Day

Be  safe. 

Suggestions of Strategy Books for The Desktop Strategic Thinker

(updated on 12.25.15  5:55 am)

"A desk (or a conference room) is a dangerous place to view (or manage) the world." 
- Our version of a John Le Carre quote.

Suggestion

To succeed in the information economy, one must understand the "connective configuration" behind The Big Tangible Picture that operates within our information economy.  We highly recommend the following two books

Click here on our perspective 
of The Tao of Spycraft book.

Click here on our review on the 
Strategies for the Human Realm book.

Final Thoughts 
Once the Sunzi's essay and Jiang Tai Gong's classic are understood, it is time for the serious strategic thinkers to advance to those two books.

Both books are quite dry read for most amateurs unless one is seriously interested in enhancing their strategic analysis skill.

# # #

Some More IPTV Trends (Autumn 2015)

IPTV Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends ...
Digital Journal
Growth of the IPTV market is also driven by factors such as the rising demand for video on demand, high-definition channels and hybrid services along with IPTV ...

Research and Markets: SAARC IPTV Market Q2 2015 - Total Active ...
Business Wire (press release)
India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the three countries with active IPTV subscriber base in the SAARC region. IPTV is still evolving and is not widely accepted as a ...


Multi-screen content discovery engines market - global industry ...
WhaTech
The application segment consists of televisions, tablets, personal computers, internet and smart phones, while the platform segment includes IPTV, OTT, and ...

eSports forecast to be almost as big as Formula 1 by 2020
IPTV News
New data from Juniper Research has found that online eSports services, such as Twitch, will grow to over 310 million by 2020, increasing from 133 million this ...

#

Telcos take a fifth of pay-TV market
informitv
“While the flurry of M&A activity has boosted numbers of Telco TV connections over cable and satellite, IPTV is also still growing, both organically and via ...

Pay-TV market slows in Western Europe
Advanced Television
In particular, the report highlights the growth of IPTV (and broadband TV), which became the second subscription-based platform after satellite, surpassing cable ...

Q3 pay-TV losses slow in the US
Rapid tv news
Verizon once again made the greatest gains , adding 42,000 FiOS video customers. IPTV compatriot AT&T, however, lost 92,000 U-verse television subscribers.

#
 #  #

Research and Markets: Global Video on Demand Market by ...
SYS-CON Media (press release)
Whereas as per platform the market has been segmented into IPTV, Pay DTT, OTT video and others. Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction. 2. Executive Summary.

Global Video on Demand Market 2015-2020 - $74 Billion Revenue ...
IT Business Net
Whereas as per platform the market has been segmented into IPTV, Pay DTT, OTT video and others. Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction. 2. Executive Summary.

Telcos take a hold of the pay-TV market
Rapid tv news
The growing power of IPTV has been revealed in research from Ovum that shows telecoms operators now own around a fifth of the world's pay-TV subscriptions.


Global Video on Demand Market by Revenue Model, Platform ...
MarketWatch
... market has been segment into SVOD, TVOD and NVOD. Whereas as per platform the market has been segmented into IPTV, Pay DTT, OTT video and others.


US pay TV down almost 400000 in Q3
TBI Vision-20 hours ago
“IPTV operators, which had offered the only bright spot in the US pay TV market, seem to be heading for a fall,” Ampere said in a blog post. “The rate of growth for ...

Canadians opt for IPTV over cable, satellite
Cartt.ca (subscription)
“The ongoing trend of the cable companies losing customers to the IPTV companies continued with the latest subscriber results,” said Boon Dog partner Mario
...

Canada: Record TV subs loss
Advanced Television
“The ongoing trend of the cable companies losing customers to the IPTV companies continued with the latest subscriber results,” notes Boon Dog Partner Mario ...


Cord-Cutting In Canada 7 Times Faster Than Last Year, But Telcos ...
Huffington Post Canada
Bell has been losing satellite customers, but has been gaining IPTV (Bell Fibe) customers, enough to be named recently Canada's largest TV provider, taking the ...

Pay-TV market slows in Western Europe
Advanced Television
In particular, the report highlights the growth of IPTV (and broadband TV), which became the second subscription-based platform after satellite, surpassing cable ...

Q3 pay-TV losses slow in the US
Rapid tv news
Verizon once again made the greatest gains , adding 42,000 FiOS video customers. IPTV compatriot AT&T, however, lost 92,000 U-verse television subscribers.

#

Survey: 17% of Australians watched SVOD in last 6 months
IPTV News
Subscription video on demand (SVOD) is growing rapidly in Australia, according to a new ACMA survey of 1,505 Australian adults. From January to March this ...

Streaming subscribers to reach 4.7m in Australia by 2019: Ovum
ZDNet
Service guarantees are limited, and service quality cannot reach the same levels as pay TV and IPTV unless OTT providers convert themselves into IPTV ...

UHD specs with broadcasters by 2017 says DVB Project
Rethink Research (subscription)
... approach to UHD could happen, and Laven eventually conceded that the internet and IPTV would be important for delivering UHDTV, and that leads to access ...

Global IPTV Market to be Propelled by Mounting Demand for High ...
Industry Today (press release)
IPTV refers to internet protocol television.Any user with an IP device such as a laptop, tablet, or smartphone can avail the IP service at any point of time and in ...

Global Digital Video Content Market 2015-2019 - Key Vendors are ...
PR Newswire (press release)
The report includes digital video content in the following segments: digital cable TV, IPTV, online video, and VOD. The VOD segment considers revenue ...

#

Digital Video Recorder Market Sees 14.82% CAGR Growth to 2019
Digital Journal
To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales of DVR through cable, DTH, IPTV, and DTT. The global DVR market is ...

1/5 instantly abandon poor streaming experiences forever
IPTV News
One in five viewers will abandon poor experiences immediately, regardless of genre. Furthermore, following a poor experience, one in five will never return to ...

9/10 demand single app experience for TV
IPTV News
9 out of 10 US pay-TV subscribers (86%) want a single app for all of their video watching, according to new data released today from Altman Vilandrie ...

DVR market to grow at 15% CAGR to 2019
Advanced Television
To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales of DVR through cable, DTH, IPTV, and DTT. The market research analyst ...

Increased Broadband Penetration Driving Growth of Global IPTV ...
Digital Journal
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/27/2015 -- Integration of advanced technologies with current Internet Protocol television (IPTV) systems is anticipated to boost the ...

More on The Latest IPTV Trends (Autumn 2015)

Leading in a World of Disruption
Huffington Post
For example, if you were a cable television company, you would have to look at IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and ask yourself, "How are young people ...

The Number Game 
Global pay-TV market to exceed one billion by 2017
TVBEurope
Some of the largest cable TV/IPTV operators are in China — including the largest of any kind, the IPTV operator China Telecom with more than 29 million subs.

Research and Markets: Canada TV Market Report 2015 - How will ...
Business Wire (press release)
Marginal decline is expected across cable TV, but this will be compensated by growth in IPTV services. Rival OTT video services present a challenge to the ...

4 Stocks to Watch For - Regions Financial (RF), Marvell Technology ...
Techsonian (press release)
... data services comprising broadband services; mobile value added services; and Pay TV services through direct to home satellite technology, IPTV, and cable.

Research and Markets: UAE TV Market Report 2015 - Who are the ...
Business Wire (press release)
Highlights: Despite IPTV penetration being on the rise, pay-DTH still remains the preferred option for consumers to watch TV in the UAE. Features and Benefits:.

Tablets sales looking good for resumed growth in 2016
IPTV News
There is the potential for reversing a 4% decline in tablet shipments in 2015 into 7% growth in 2016, according to the new report from Strategy Analytics' Tablet ...

Digital Video Content Market – Technavio Publishes Global Trends ...
Yahoo Finance UK
The report includes the digital video content in the digital cable TV, IPTV, online video, and VOD segments. The market size has been calculated on the basis of ...


Study: millennials go linear at weekdays, VOD at weekends
IPTV News
In an exclusive, pre-Content Delivery World interview, Arqiva's David Crawford offered IP&TV News a foretaste of some new Arqiva research he will be unveiling ...

#
Analyzing Video Quality for Multiscreen Delivery: Why It's Important ...
CED
Whether it's real-time TV channels delivered through cable IPTV or satellite, file-based delivery of VOD content, or streaming content over the Internet, it's critical ...


Streaming device owners watch 4 hours more video a week
IPTV News
According to new Parks Associates research, US broadband households with a streaming media device watch more video on the television on average than ...

IPTV Market Stimulated by Increased Broadband Penetration ...
Digital Journal
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/07/2015 -- Transparency Market Research announces the release of a new publication titled "IPTV Market - Global Industry ...



Growing IPTV demand to boost the global residential gateway market
Rapid tv news
The report predicts that the residential gateway market will grow at a CAGR of nearly 8% from 2015-2019, propped up by IPTV which itself is expected to grow at ...

Internet protocol telEVision (IPTV) CDN market set to grow ...
WhaTech
Research Beam adds a report titled “Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) CDN Market Research Report” is professional and in-depth market research report.


Western Europe OTT revenue to hit $13.72 billion by 2020
IPTV News
OTT TV and video revenues in Western Europe (encompassing15 countries) will reach $13.72 billion in 2020; up from the $894 million recorded in 2010 and the ...

Research and Markets: Global Residential Gateway Market 2015 ...
Business Wire (press release)
According to the report, the rise in demand for Internet protocol television (IPTV) will drive the market in the forecast period. IPTV delivers TV services to ... 

Conditional Access Systems Market Expected to Reach US $4.73 ...
Digital Journal
With high adoption of advanced services such as high definition (HD) television service, internet protocol television (IPTV) and others, North America is expected ...

The Change of "Pay" Economy
Half of Viewers Under 32 Won't Pay for TV by 2025
Multichannel News
Some MVPDs have been taking heed, or at least aren't standing still. Comcast is beta-testing Stream, a $15/month IPTV service that features broadcast networks ...

65% of US adults use social media
IPTV News
According to new research from Pew, 65% of US adults now use social networking sites – a nearly tenfold jump in the past decade. The figure has leapt 7% from ...

Global Demand
VoD, HD demand propels global IPTV market
Advanced Television
Increased demand for HD channels and VoD has fuelled the growth of the global IPTV market, according to a report from Transparency Market Research.


45% of Western European broadband homes have smart TVs
IPTV News
45% of European broadband households own a smart TV, according to new research from Parks Associates. According to the study, the highest percentage of ...

Global set-top-box market to grow at 1% CAGR by 2019 scrutinized ...
WhaTech
There are four main types of STBs: cable, satellite, IPTV, and hybrid. STBs can be used to improve picture quality and store videos. The digital format provides ...

Brazil's set-top box market to grow at a CAGR of 37.01% to 2019 ...
WhaTech-9 hours ago
IPTV lets the user to view streaming media over the packet-switched network using Internet Protocol. The report, Set-Top Box Market in Brazil 2015-2019, has ...

VoD, HD Channels Demand Propels Global IPTV Market ...
Business Wire (press release)
ALBANY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The global IPTV market is expected to display an 18.10% CAGR from 2014 to 2020. The market's 2013 value of US$24.94 ...

Global Pay TV Operator Forecasts
PR Newswire (press release)
Following China Radio & TV, IPTV operators China Telecom and BesTV will add 14.7 million and 13.2 million subs respectively. In fact, 12 operators from China ...

New report shares details about the global standard based ...
WhaTech
... the several equipment for applications such as IPTV, wireless broadband and other IP multimedia subsystems. These servers are based on managed industry ...

Video infrastructure market quarterly increase
Advanced Television
Set-Top Box Worldwide Market Shares, which includes IPTV STBs, Cable STBs, and DTAs, declined 1.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 17.1 per cent ...

#
European TV Production: Market Profile and Forecast 2014
PR Newswire (press release)
New TV viewing platforms, such as IPTV have emerged alongside other forms of entertainment using tablets, smartphones and other fast-growing platforms.
Multi-Screen Content Discovery Engines Market - Global Industry ...
Digital Journal
The application segment consists of televisions, tablets, personal computers, internet and smart phones, while the platform segment includes IPTV, OTT, and ...

New report sheds light on the Global IPTV market industry analysis ...
WhaTech
It also examines the statistics and current state of the global IPTV market, including the drivers and restraints and their impact on the demand from the global ...

Research delivers insight into the pay TV video encoders market
WhaTech
Cable represents the most dominant form of pay TV services in most countries. Cable operators are facing tough competition from satellite and IPTV services.

The Latest IPTV Trends (For Autumn 2015)

The Ascension 

Report: Streaming consumption doubles in four years
IPTV News
Time spent watching on-demand TV series, programs, and movies has more than doubled since 2011, with consumers now spending six hours per week ...

Mobile telephony subscriptions up 2.7% since end June 2014
MaltaToday
“On the other hand, the number of IPTV subscriptions was up by 6,221 (almost 67%), reaching 15,510 from 9,289 at the end of June 2014. According to data, the ...
Video and TV Services Market: 38 Countries, 10 Regions and World ...
PR Newswire (press release)
2015 market research report titled World TV & Video Services Markets - Terrestrial - Satellite - Cable - IPTV - DVD - Blu-Ray - Video on demand is by experts that ...

Pay TV and OTT: Partners or Competitors
DigitalTVEurope.net
While pay TV operators and OTT content and app providers still in many cases see each other as competitors, cable and IPTV providers are increasingly looking ...

Analysis: 61% of TV sales will be Ultra HD by 2020
IPTV News
Falling prices, increased retailer support and strong customer satisfaction are the main reasons for Ultra HD TV's success. The analyst firm also predicts that ...

Global IPTV Industry 2015 Size, Shares, Trends, Demands, Growth ...
Digital Journal
'IPTV Market Research Report 2015' is an analytical study of the global IPTV market, comprising an in-depth analysis of the regional breakdown of the market ...
Television subscriptions increase

informitv
3) KT IPTV includes OTV and OTS but not Skylife satellite subscribers. 4) AT&T acquired DIRECTV on 24 July 2015. 5) Rostelecom cable figures exclude ...

Better VOD Services Can Help TV Channel Growth
MediaPost Communications
The survey included over 140 senior industry participants from 48 countries, including OTT service providers, pay TV channel providers, IPTV service providers, ...

Detachable tablet market set to grow 91% in next five years
IPTV News
While the overall tablet market contracts in 2015, 2-in-1 so-called 'detachable tablets' are taking off. According to a new Strategy Analytics' Tablet & Touchscreen ...

8K TV shipments to approach 1M by 2019

IPTV News

The advent of 8K broadcasting in Japan for the 2020 Olympics is expected to spur a new round of resolution increases, even though shipments have not yet ...

Smart TV market to grow 2015 at a CAGR of 20.37% by 2019
Mobile Commerce Press
This TV allows users to install and run advanced applications based on specific platforms, but should not be confused with an IPTV that only provides access to ...

Tripleplay IPTV platform proves precious to Chinova Resources
AV Magazine
He added; “We needed a seamless IPTV solution that allowed us to deliver entertainment to all of our sites that was scalable and high quality; as the camp grew ...

Internet set-tops in 21% of US broadband homes
IPTV News
According to a new analysis from TDG, Internet set-top boxes (iSTBs) such as Apple TV and Roku are now present in 21% of US broadband households, ...

Rising 4K STB market set to aid pay-TV operators
Rapid tv news
Across the Atlantic, French broadband and IPTV service provider Free has turned to Broadcom to deploy a 4K/Ultra HD Android TV STB. The new device is ...

Consumer Electronics Market Top 10 Trends and 2019 Forecasts ...
PR Newswire (press release)
... Satellite STBs: growth sustained mainly by Asia-Pacific, Terrestrial STBs: a growing market and IPTV STBs: 8.6% average annual growth between 2015 and ...

Global iPaaS Market (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and BPaaS) to 2019 ...
SYS-CON Media (press release)
The report includes digital video content in the following segments: digital cable TV, IPTV, online video, and VOD. The VOD segment considers revenue ...

Global Video on Demand (VoD) Market Projected to Be Worth ...
Digital Journal
However, IPTV is anticipated to emerge as a fastest growing sub-segment over the forecast period, followed by digital cable TV. In addition, digital cable TV ...

Global Digital Video Content Market to Grow at a CAGR of 15.43 ...
Digital Journal
Digital video content can be broadcasted as digital cable TV, IPTV, online videos, and VOD. The popularity of smartphones, tablets, and laptops, along with ...

The Descendancy  

IHS: Cord Cutting on the Rise

Multichannel News

In its study -- State of the U.S. Pay TV Operator Market – IHS said that IPTV, which includes telcos AT&T and Verizon – reported video customer growth of less ...

Cord cutting all talk? Study says only 3% have had 'the snip'
IPTV News
According to a new study by Rovi, while over 57% claim to have given cord cutting either “a lot of” thought or “some” thought – a meager 3% have actually ...

Total US pay-TV homes fall 4%
IPTV News
New consumer research from Leichtman finds that about 83% of all households nationwide subscribe to some form of pay-TV service – which is down from 87% ...

Cord-cutting of pay TV may continue to intensify
USA TODAY
And it marked the first time that satellite and telecom-delivered Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) providers had lost video subscribers. IHS' figures are higher even than ...

Pay-TV Industry is Seriously Losing Customers as 'Cord-Cutting ...
eCreditDaily.com
However, IHS says it is the first time that non-cable pay-TV operators, meaning satellite and streaming services, also known as Internet-protocol television (IPTV) ...

Top US pay-TV providers lose big in Q2 – again
Rapid tv news
As for telcos, they added 4,000 IPTV subscribers in 2Q 2015 - compared to 284,000 net additions in 2Q 2014. Telco net adds in 2Q 2015 were the fewest in any ...

US pay-TV subs down, ARPU up

Advanced Television
“The subscriber losses in the second quarter were across all of the pay-TV platforms, including cable, satellite, and IPTV. However, going forward, we believe ...

Signs of the times? Cable and satellite companies lost nearly half a ...
Digital Trends
In addition, Digital TV subscriptions from Internet Protocol TV services (IPTV) also fell 62,000 in the US and 9,000 in Canada in the second quarter. Related: ...

Signs of the times? Cable and satellite companies lost nearly half a ...

Digital Trends

In addition, Digital TV subscriptions from Internet Protocol TV services (IPTV) also fell 62,000 in the US and 9,000 in Canada in the second quarter. Related: ...

Viewer choices, reviews, ratings affect streaming media
Examiner.com
Over the Top (OTT) delievers video, television and other services over the internet rather than via a service provider's own dedicated, managed IPTV (Internet ...

Subs may have drained, but Q2 pay-TV ARPU rises
Rapid tv news
"The subscriber losses in the second quarter were across all of the pay-TV platforms, including cable, satellite and IPTV,” said Jason Blackwell, director of the ...

The First Key to Becoming a Successful Strategist: Gaining Guidance from Reading the Right Books

If you are interested in amplifying the scope of your strategic expertise, we highly recommended the reading of the following books:

• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
• The Physics of Wall Street
• The Effective Executive (This is a great book for business management conscious strategist by Peter Drucker.)
• Seven Military Classics of Ancient China (Sawyer's translation)
• The Art of War (Sawyer's translation)
• Six Secret Teachings (Sawyer's translation)
• The Tao of Deception
• Strategies For The Human Realm  (Sawyer's translation on Li Quan's Tai-Pai Yin Ching)
• Sun Tzu The Art of Warfare (Ames translation)
• Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare (Ames translation)
• Military Methods  (Sawyer's translation of Sun Bin's essay on warfare)
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
• The Water Margin
• Cook Ding's Kitchen's books on martial art philosophy
• The Protracted Game (Understanding the gist of Chinese military mindset) 
• Basketball for the Player, the Fan and the Coach (by Red Auerbach)
• Yi Jing ( The Chinese Oracle)
• Li Chi Ching 
• Dao De Jing (The gist of Daoism)
• Zhuang Zi (Another view of Daoism)
• My 60 Memorable Games (Robert James Fischer)
• The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (Roger Penrose)
• Perl Best Practices (for old school programmers)

• ...

More to come,  ..

An Interesting Book to Read

(updated at 17:17 hrs)

Roger Penrose is one of those science geniuses who can transform the complexity of physics to a comprehensive overview for the general audience.   

Understanding the laws of physics is another way of assessing the grand terrain that is beyond your settings.

You can read more about this book by clicking here.

How to Compete in the Information Economy (The AT&T Approach)

When one major business entity tells the public that they are not concerned with the change of the marketplace, do you think that they are really concerned?

During a Feb 2013 onstage interview between AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and Phil Weiser, dean of the University of Colorado's Law School and director of the Silicon Flatirons group, Stephenson said the following, "If the world moves to the OTT video model, that doesn't keep me awake at night, ... Our money is made off the broadband product … The consumer who acquires video off our broadband is not a bad model for us. "

Since that interview, AT&T has done the following:

• Agreed with The Chernin Group agreed to build OTT Video Services in April 2014.
• Click here on why AT&T is entering into the OTT market and streaming video business in Aug 2014.
• Hinted at an over-the-top mobile video service and made a deal with Hulu to bring OTT Video to Mobile and Broadband in 2015.

Through good research and great resource, they capitalized on a niche opportunity in the Over-the-Top Market by acquiring DirectTV.

Summary

One should remember the competitiveness of a compressed economy. 

Assess everything that your competition say in reference to the tangibility of their perspective.   Estimate the value of the factors  before implementing the "count" process. (That count process is mentioned in the first chapter of Sunzi's essay on strategy.)

Beside doing that, focus on identifying their motive, their method and their timeline before devising your strategy.

- More to come. -

Questions for the Hardcore Strategists Who Wanted to Succeed

Q #1: Do you know what are the situational configurations for choosing any of the 36 Strategems? 

Q#2: Do you know what are the situational configurations for choosing any of the 100 Unorthodox Strategies?

Q#3: To make the proper choice that saves time and cost, are you able to 
assess a complex situation in terms of levels and factors? 

Q#4: After assessing the complex situation,  how many strategic moves can you think ahead?

Q#5: After assessing the configuration of a technical situation, do you ever connect it to the next seasonal cycle of marketplace?

More to come. 

A Strategic Perspective of College Football Rivalry Week

campus press box

Televised sport rivalry is like a pseudo war without the many dead bodies. But it is filled with tons of over-hypes.

While injured bodies occur,  egos are bruised.  No field players are killed.

Psychology is Strategy
The curious observers could use technical patterns from previous games to assess the possibility of surprised plays.

He or she could observe the trust and the unity of each competing teams by reading the web-zines and visiting their fan forums.

During the game, they could observe the speculator's moods and behaviors while ignoring the fanatic's perspective that their traditions drive superior performance.

The Endgame
After the game, those on losing side tell themselves that there is always next season.

Regardless of which rivalry game you choose to watch, after it is over, some of the masses usually returned to their home and pontificate the next day of their empty lives.  

The Reality of Life
Choose your game.  Watch it.  Enjoy the experience. ...

The Darwin Award Goes to Some of the Drug-induced Silicon Valley Techies

(updated on 11.29.2015)

Some of the Silicon Valley geniuses have believed that they can either be super problem solvers or become ultra-innovative through the intake of LSD. Interestingly others preferred the choice of Adderol.

Without ever understand the medium to long risk consequences of their decision, this unique group of geniuses could have a lifetime of bizarre behavior.  ...   Smoking an abyss of joints might relieve the anxiety, will not going to consistently enhance one's creativity.

Regardless of the pseudo moment of pleasure, the grand attribute of ambition, drive and focus will be quite seriously reduced.  Creativity will be minimized and unrepeatable. ... Frying the brain over a futile job is not a good decision.  ... Once the brain adapted to the effects of the drug, the drug becomes useless. Now the physical being of the user becomes addicted to the "feel" of the drug.

The Big Tangible Picture
Smart creativity occurs from one's own current comprehension of the configuration that operates within their goal and the Big Tangible Picture that connects to their goal.

Prediction or Guess-timation 
Those who enjoyed the act of projecting the possible outcome of their pre-executed decision,must be able to identify the strategic factors that could lead to success or failure.

Following is an abridged listing of the strategic measures that are significant to the chief decision makers who wanted to the validity of their choices:

• the tangibility of the projected benefits; 
• the actuality of the potential challenges; and 
• the reality of the possible drawbacks. 

This grand measure of strategic overview-ing usually enables the chief decision makers to understand the expected veracity that would originated from their decision.

As long as the positive after-effects of their choice are greater than the negative after-effects, the choice is valid. 

Suggested Solution 
Learn to center yourself and getting more sleep are quite beneficial.  Also, concentrate on learning how to view the configuration on one's Big Tangible Picture through the act of assessing, positioning and influencing.

Final Point

Regardless of the industries and the levels within it, there are always "drugged out" professionals.