Random thoughts: cassettes and calculus

I’m in a diner along a dusty desert highway. I’ll order another cup of coffee and share some random thoughts:

1) The Saipan network
Although Saipan’s business heyday is long past, there were so many friendships and associations made in the good days that the Saipan network was still alive and well. I’m not talking about the network of the political operatives, although that sure does exist. By contrast, I’m talking about the association of professionals such as business owners, engineers, doctors, pilots, and such.

Many, probably most, of these pros long ago left the island, but, paradoxically, this strengthened the Saipan network because it pushed its elements to take root in other places. Some of my old pals are now working in the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, mainland China, South Korea, New Zealand, Japan, the Caribbean, and just about anywhere in the mainland you care to name.

I recently crossed paths with a couple of helicopters I had flown on Saipan almost 25 years ago. They’re in the U.S heartland, and we converged during a work assignment. The copters, and their exotic, Micronesian origins, drew in a few aviation enthusiasts for a bit of a powwow and flight-story swapping.

I was surprised at how many people had been to Saipan, including pilots, mechanics, ex-military members, and a business owner or two.

One of these guys wound up exporting finished goods to Japan based on his association with a mechanic who had gone from Saipan to Japan to inspect an aircraft. The mechanic was impressed with Japan, and saw that there was a lot of opportunity there. One thing leads to another, as they say.

That’s what makes networks so powerful in the long run, and what made, and makes, Saipan so special to so many people.

2) Cassettes
You can file this under old fuddy-duddy: I bought some cassettes today.

Yeah, yeah, I know how great CDs and MP3s are. But I’ve always had a weak spot for cassettes. For me, in terms of utility, the leap from pre-cassette days to cassettes was a lot bigger than the leap from cassettes to CDs.

One reason for my allegiance is the good engineering on some of the old “AM/FM/Cassette” car stereos. Ford, in particular, had designs that you could operate by touch, without taking your eyes off the road. One of my casual ambitions is to convert an old car radio into tabletop device.

As for now, my old car radios are still in my cars. Most of my cars are so old they don’t even have CD players.

The new wave group Bow Wow Wow sang a paean to cassettes in a 1980 song called “C30 C60 C90 Go!”

CD’s came along shortly after that song did; the first audio CD hit the market in 1982.

The biggest change in all this stuff isn’t technical. It’s social. Electronic devices used to be merely peripheral parts of daily life but, now, for many people, they are the center of life.

3) The HSK
I’ve been asked if there’s a standard test of Chinese-language proficiency for foreigners. I’m sure there are all sorts of those tests, but the best known is called the “HSK” exam, which comes from the Mandarin words for “Chinese Level Test” (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi).

The HSK comes in six levels: I through VI. The higher the level, the more advanced the test. Most people I’ve talked to about it regard Level IV as a good marker of having basic, street-level ability for most common situations, but I’m just passing on their informal consensus. I don’t have any opinion on the matter.

I haven’t sat for the HSK yet, but I’ll get around to it eventually.

4) Leibniz
I just found an old pocket calendar in which I had scribbled the following quote from a book by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1649-1716), the mathematician who, along with Isaac Newton, is credited for inventing calculus. Well, I didn’t mean “along” as in “collaboration.” I meant as in “also.”

Anyway, here’s the riff from the book Knowledge and Metaphysics: “There is always hiding in things a principle of determination which is based on consideration of maximum and minimum, such that the greatest effect is obtained with the least, so to speak, expenditure.”

In other words, nature doesn’t waste effort.

There’s a lot to that, I think, but for now I figured I’d just share the quote before I lose that calendar again. Nature might not waste effort, but I sure do.

Well, I’ve finished my coffee. The open road beckons, so I’m going to pop a cassette into the Ford’s player and hit the highway.