New Media – Page 3 – Go Lean…Caribbean

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ENCORE: State of the Caribbean Union

Posted on January 12, 2016 in Government, Planning

Miami, Florida – The below constitutes a re-distribution of the blog-commentary on the US President’s formal address to his Congress, the State of the Union for 2015. The occasion now is the State of the Union address for 2016. This time is monumental in that it is the final address for the current President, Barack Obama; due to term restrictions in the US Constitution, he can no longer serve as President after this year. The election for his successor is slated for November 2016.

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Go Lean Commentary

You are invited to watch the State of the Union address that President Barack Obama delivered to the US Congress on Tuesday night (January 20, 2015). You are urged to listen carefully and count the number of times the Caribbean is referred to. The answer:

Once!

The reference to the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

That’s it!

(The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is a perpetual leased US territory; so it will not count as Caribbean-specific).

No reference to the US Territories (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands); no reference to the Dutch Caribbean; nor to the French Caribbean; and especially not to the English-speaking Caribbean member-states.

The truth of the matter is that the Caribbean is out-of-scope for Obama. It was the State of the Union of the United States of America. Not the State of the Caribbean Union. Even the US territories have to be concerned. They have a voice in the US Congress, but no vote. (A lesson in American Civics teaches that territories have Congressional representation that can vote in committees, but not vote in full Congress).

So all the President’s focus on job creation, energy independence, growing the economy, controlling healthcare costs, securing the homeland, and optimizing government was directed to his American constituency and not to the Caribbean member-states.

VIDEO Title: The State of the Union (SOTU) 2015 – http://youtu.be/cse5cCGuHmE
Watch President Obama’s 1-hour remarks during his 6^th SOTU address and learn more below.

Published on Jan 20, 2015
President Barack Obama delivers his sixth State of the Union address, at the United States Capitol, January 20, 2015.

We, the Caribbean, are required to focus on the State of our own Union.

The people, the 320 million Americans, elect a President to pursue their best interest, not the world’s best interest. Though the US tries to be a Good Neighbor, there may be times when the priorities of the US conflict with the priorities of the Caribbean, or the rest of the world. In those scenarios, the President is under charge to pursue the American best option.

The 42 million people of the Caribbean homeland are not in his scope!

The foregoing VIDEO and this commentary is being brought into focus in a consideration of the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean book (Page 3) makes a simple assertion regarding the State of our Union: the Caribbean is in crisis. The book details that there is something wrong in the homeland, that while it is the greatest address in the world, instead of the world “beating a path” to these doors, the people of the Caribbean have “beat down their doors” to get out.

Why do people leave? The book identifies a numberof reasons, classified as “push-and-pull”. There are economic (jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities), security and governance issues.

One mission of the Go Lean roadmap is to minimize these “push-and-pull” factors that contribute to this alarmingly high abandonment rate of Caribbean citizens – one report reflects a 70% brain drain rate.

Considering “pull” factors, the roadmap posits that the United States of America should not be viewed as the panacea for Caribbean ailments; that when the choice of any challenge is “fight or flight” that Caribbean society must now consider anew, the “fight” options. (No violence is implied, but rather a strenuous effort, heavy-lifting, to compete and win economic battles). One strong reason for cautioning Caribbean emigrants is that America is not so welcoming a society for the “Black and Brown” populations from the Caribbean. This was not addressed by Obama; he has to address the needs of all Americans – not just “Black and Brown” – racial discrimination have not been as high a priority among his initiatives, to the chagrin of many in the African-American communities, including the Caribbean Diaspora.

On the other hand, the Go Lean book does not ignore the “push” factors that cause many Caribbean people to flee. The book stresses (early at Pages 12 – 13) the need to be on-guard for “push” factors in these pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

This commentary previously related details of Caribbean emigration and their experiences (Diaspora), the “push-and-pull” factors in the US, and our region’s own job-creation efforts – State of Our Own Union. Here is a sample of earlier blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3780	National Sacrifice: The Missing Ingredient – Caribbean people not willing to die or live in sacrifice to their homeland
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3694	Jamaica-Canada employment program pumps millions into local economy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3662	Migrant flow into US from Caribbean spikes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3446	Forecast for higher unemployment in Caribbean in 2015
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3050	Obama’s immigration tweaks – Bad for the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2547	Miami’s Success versus Caribbean Failure
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2251	What’s In A Name? Plight of “Black and Brown” in the US
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1896	American “Pull” Factors – Crisis in Black Homeownership
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	American “Pull” Factors – STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1596	Book Review: ‘Prosper Where You Are Planted’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433	Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to Brain-Drain
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1296	Remittances to Caribbean Increased By 3 Percent in 2013
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1256	Traditional 4-year College Degree are Terrible Investments for the Caribbean Region Due to Brain-Drain

The Go Lean book and accompanying blogs posit that for the Caribbean Diaspora, fleeing from their homelands to reside in the US is akin to “jumping from the frying pan into the fire” in terms of effort to succeed and thrive in a community. The message of the Go Lean movement is that it takes less effort to remediate the Caribbean than to fix a new adopted homeland. While the Go Lean planners may not be able to change American society, we can – no, we must – impact our own society. This is the charge of the Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap, to do the heavy-lifting, to implement the organization dynamics to impact Caribbean society here and now. The following are the community ethos, strategies, tactics and operational advocacies to effectuate this goal:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influences Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – The Consequences of Choice Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Make the Caribbean the Best Address on Planet	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Repatriate Diaspora	Page 46
Strategy – Mission – Dissuade Human Flight/“Brain Drain”	Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Union versus Member-States	Page 71
Implementation – Assemble CariCom, Dutch, French, Cuba and US Territories	Page 95
Implementation – Enact Territorial Compacts for PR & the Virgin Islands	Page 96
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up	Page 102
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence	Page 120
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Lessons from the US Constitution	Page 145
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Cuba	Page 236
Advocacy – Ways to Impact US Territories	Page 244
Appendix – Interstate Compacts	Page 278

This Go Lean book accepts that the current State of Our Own Union is not a permanent disposition. We can do better. This roadmap is a 5-year plan to effect change, to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. From Day One/Step One, positive change emerges. The roadmap therefore serves as turn-by-turn directions for what-how-when-where-why to apply the needed remediation, mitigations and empowerments.

The scope of this roadmap is change for the Caribbean, not change for American society – though there is the need for some lobbying of American authorities for Interstate/Foreign Compacts (Page 278).

That’s lobbying, not begging…

As for the Caribbean US territories – the great American Empire – having a voice, but no vote is disadvantageous. A Congressman from Nebraska would not negotiate with a Congressman from Puerto Rico because there is no vote to offer, compromise or “horse-trade”. American territories are therefore just traditional colonies, parasites and subjective to their imperial masters.

The Caribbean strives to be protégés, no parasites! We can be the world’s best address. How glorious the day when we can declare that as the State of the Caribbean Union!

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in to this Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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A Meteorologist’s View On Climate Change

Posted on November 10, 2015 in Ethos, Government, Implementation, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The Americans “got it bad!” They appear to be willing to ignore facts and deny science to continue their environmental unsound way of life, their eco-system. While Americans may have the right to their own opinions, they do not have the right to their own facts.

This is the summary from the below AUDIO PODCAST, that even the weather scientists, the meteorologists, are pressured to ignore the science or not sound the warning. This is their rationale for their non-stance:

The political climate is too heated.
Corporate ownership of TV stations don’t want to deal with Climate Change.

This is a bad model … for the rest of the world. According to the PODCAST, other countries – i.e. France – are not yielding to this American pressure; they recognize the need to sound a more accurate alarm. Listen to the PODCAST here/now (or read the transcript in the Appendix below):

AUDIO: Why Are Meteorologists Reluctant To Talk About Climate Change? http://cpa.ds.npr.org/wunc/audio/2015/10/NDD1029.mp3

Dave DeWitt reports on what North Carolina TV meteorologists think of climate change, and how one of them became a “convert.”
North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC 91.5 – Posted Sunday October 29, 2015; retrieved November 5, 2015
http://wunc.org/post/meteorolgists-view-climate-change#stream/0

This silencing of the truth is troubling … for the Caribbean and the rest of the world. People turn to weather forecasters to forecast the weather. They need to be respected for announcing the truth: short-term, mid-term and long-term.

Theirs is a weighty responsibility!

This is remindful of the charge to the Watchman in the Holy Scriptures, in the Bible Book of Ezekiel (Chapter 33 verses 2 – 7); see here:

² “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people, and say to them, “‘Suppose that I bring a sword upon a land, and all the people of that land take a man and make him their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the horn and warns the people. ⁴If someone hears the sound of the horn but does not heed the warning and a sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵He heard the sound of the horn, but he did not heed the warning. His blood will be upon himself. If he had heeded the warning, his life would have been saved.
⁶ “‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and he does not blow the horn and the people receive no warning and a sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that person will die for his own error, but I will ask his blood back from the watchman.’
⁷“As for you, son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman …
(New World Translation)

Yes, there are climate change deniers. It is a pity that these ones may hold positions of power and authority so as to subdue the proclamation of appropriate warnings.

This Climate Change is an important issue! It is conveyed in the book Go Lean … Caribbean as if a crisis. But the book goes on to declare that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”, calling for the establishment of a regional administration to monitor, mitigate and manage the threats of Climate Change. The Go Lean book posits that the Caribbean region is at the frontline of the battleground of Climate Change, that we do not have the luxury of denying the facts. (As this commentary is written, there is a tropical storm – Kate – threatening danger for the Bahamas). We need to commission a “watchman” to give fair warning of the imminent danger. The same as conveyed in the foregoing scriptural reference: blood is at stake for this issue of Climate Change: there is the need to save life-and-limb due to increased occurrences of devastating hurricanes, flooding, forest fires, droughts, rising sea levels, and even alterations in fish stock.

What could be the motivation for the denial of the warnings of the actuality of climate change? Only one factor: Profit.

This issue has previously been detailed in the following blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4673	Merchants of Doubt … to Preserve Profits
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2465	Book Review: ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate’

This commentary therefore asserts that the Caribbean needs to not follow the American leadership in this regards; that we must forge our own future, seeing how pervasive the Crony-Capitalism elements are in the American eco-system. This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The prime directives of this agency are described as:

Optimize the economic engines of the Caribbean to elevate the regional economy to grow to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establish a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean roadmap calls for the CU to serve as the regional administration to optimize economy, homeland security and governance engines for the Caribbean, especially in flight of Climate Change battleground frontline status. This is the first pronouncement (Page 11) of the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

i. Whereas the earth’s climate has undeniably changed resulting in more severe tropical weather storms, it is necessary to prepare to insure the safety and security of life, property and systems of commerce in our geographical region. As nature recognizes no borders in the target of its destruction, we also must set aside border considerations in the preparation and response to these weather challenges.

The Go Lean roadmap fully details the reality of Climate Change in the region. There are many aspect of Caribbean life that will be affected; that have already been affected. These issues have also been repeatedly addressed and further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6016	‘Hotter than July’ – Reality in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2276	Climate Change May Affect Food Supply Within a Decade
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2119	Cooling Effect – Oceans and the Climate
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1883	Climate Change May Bring More Kidney Stones
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1817	Caribbean grapples with intense new cycles of flooding & drought
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1516	Floods in Minnesota, Drought in California – Why Not Share?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=926	Conservative heavyweights have solar industry in their sights
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=915	Go ‘Green’ … Caribbean

This Go Lean book declares that we must adopt the community ethos (the appropriate attitude/spirit), to forge change in our region; then details the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to better impact the region’s resources and eco-systems, in considering the preparations and responses for Climate Change. The following is a sample list:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices / Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating 30 Member-States into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Vision – Foster Local Economic Engines for Basic Needs	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Prepare for Natural Disasters	Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Separation of Powers – Emergency Management	Page 76
Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration	Page 79
Separation of Powers – Meteorological & Geological Service	Page 79
Implementation – Assemble Regional Organs into a Single Market Economy	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up – Unified Command & Control	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Fisheries	Page 210
Appendix – History of Puerto Rican Migration to US & Effects of Hurricanes	Page 303
Appendix – US Virgin Islands Economic Timeline with Hurricane Impacts	Page 305

The foregoing AUDIO PODCAST sounds the alarm of the threats of Climate Change on the planet and declares that the Caribbean may not want to depend on American Media reporting of the Climate Change threats. But, we have encountered this issue before in our interaction with the American eco-system – we have previously discussed how the European Weather Forecasting Models may be better suited for the Caribbean Greater Good, because of the lesser Crony-Capitalistic influences, and lesser corporate ownership of media companies.

The Caribbean is on the frontlines of this battle! This is not just a preference for us, this may be life-and-death. We have no option to exit from any of these discussions; whether we want to or not.

Change must come to our region as more devastating effects of Climate Change are imminent. The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that this “Agent of Change” is too big for just any one member-state to tackle alone, that there must be a regional solution. This multi-state technocratic administration of the CU is presented as that solution.

The people and institutions of the region are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap, and heed the warnings from this Caribbean “Watchman”. Too much is at stake – the blood of the people. Despite the threats of Climate Change, we can still make the Caribbean a better homeland to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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APPENDIX – Transcript: A Meteorolgist’s View On Climate Change

By: Dave DeWitt
Broadcast meteorologists on local television have one job. It’s simple to express but difficult to do well. Predict the future, a few days at a time.

To be an effective forecaster, a broadcast meteorologist has to be a scientist. And because it’s TV, she or he also has to be likable and trustworthy.

Greg Fishel of WRAL is all of those things. He also used to be a global warming denier. Now, he admits he was wrong.

“I don’t see being wrong as being a scarlet letter,” Fishel says. “I think all of us have experiences in our life where we are wrong and we realize it was a good thing and we learn something from it.”

Fishel changed his mind about climate change after putting aside his politics and examining the science. Now, he’s an equally passionate convert, and recently expressed it again on Facebook.

Fishel is in a unique position among his colleagues in the weather forecasting business. He was one of the first broadcast meteorologists to push for certification in his profession. He’s also wildly popular and has worked for arguably the most successful family-owned local TV station in the country since 1981.

And that matters in the so-called climate change “debate.”

“Any time you have someone of high stature, high standing in the market, with a lot of credibility, it does speak volumes and it shows how important that the topic is,” says Sean Sublette, a former TV meteorologist in Roanoke who currently works forClimate Central in Princeton, New Jersey.

Not all broadcast meteorologists are in the same position—or think the same way.

WUNC Radio surveyed TV meteorologists in North Carolina. About three-quarters of those who responded agree or strongly agree that the planet is warming due to human activity. But fewer than half agreed it was part of their job to inform viewers about climate change.

Several expressed that the political debate was too heated or that corporate ownership of stations didn’t want to deal with the controversy.

Sublette says those results are not surprising.

“I know some that are very interested in the science, and I know some that are just not,” says Sublette. “They are just not as interested in talking about it, for whatever reason they may have.”

One of Climate Central’s missions is to provide research and graphics that local TV meteorologists can use in broadcasts.

Even with the help, it can be very difficult to get climate information into a forecast. Lee Ringer at Time Warner Cable News does “Weather On The Ones,” so, six weathercasts an hour.

“And even though it seems like a lot of time, it’s limited what we can talk about,” Ringer says. “So our traditional weathercasts are really just going to be limited to the forecast for today and up through the next week.”

Ringer does do climate change stories online. And he says he has another important, if unseen role.

“I’m the scientist here at the station, along with our other team of meteorologists,” he says. “So we’re the folks a lot of our news reporters come to when there’s some type of science story, whether it’s directly related to the weather, whether it’s related to the environment, or related to meteorology.”

At WRAL, Fishel has taken that role as station scientist to a higher level. Earlier this year, he traveled to Alaska and Colorado to produce special climate change reportsand has brought leading scientists to town for discussions.

The other night, he says he got a call from a longtime friend and die-hard conservative. That friend said he is re-thinking his position on climate change because of Fishel’s reporting and social media outreach.

“If I had done this six months after I moved here and I was 22 years old and wet behind the ears, then people would have said ‘get that liberal out of here’,” says Fishel, laughing. “So it gets back to the whole thing, if there was ever a time when I could engage in this discussion, I feel like this is it.”

Fishel says he’ll keep engaging in that discussion—on-air and online—in the hope he can lead the conversation for viewers and fellow weather professionals.

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Sports Role Model – ‘WWE Network’

Posted on September 20, 2015 in Economics, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The revolution will be televised.^*

The book Go Lean … Caribbean advocates change for the Caribbean region that is so radical that it might be considered revolutionary!

So be it! The book clearly posits that the region is in crisis, and radical change must now be implemented, but it clearly asserts non-violent, non-military change; see quotation here (Page 8):

… this is not a call for a revolt against the governments, agencies or institutions of the Caribbean region, but rather a petition for a peaceful transition and optimization of the economic, security and governing engines in the region.

This revolution to elevate the Caribbean eco-systems will be executed in the open, with full transparency and accountability. Television cameras are welcome … and encouraged!

The phrase – ‘revolution will ~~not~~ be televised’ – was coined at a time (1970) when television was the dominant visual medium. Today, there is the ubiquity of the internet, with its many video streaming services.

So the new catch-phrase can be: “the revolution will be televised, mobilized and streamed”.

This is better! (Every mobile/smart-phone owner walks around with an advanced digital video camera in their pocket). We are now able to have a network without the “network”. Many models abound on the world-wide-web. Previously, this commentary identified one such network (ESPN-W); now the focus is on another, the WWE Network, associated with the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. This network is delivered via the internet-streaming only (and On-Demand with limited Cable TV systems). See details here, considering the “World” reference in the “WWE” branding:

WWE Network is a subscription-based video streaming service owned by WWE, using the infrastructure of Major League Baseball Advanced Media.^[2] The concept was originally announced in 2011. On January 8, 2014, WWE announced the network would launch on February 24 in the United States. The company stated on July 31 that the service was expected to go live in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Spain, Turkey and the Nordics [countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden)], among other countries starting on August 17.^[3] It was unexpectedly made available in the UK and Ireland a week earlier than planned, on January 13, 2015, after a delay from the previous October,^[4] and is also expected to arrive in Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Japan, India, China, Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia at a future date.^[5] The WWE Network consists of both a 24-hour linear streaming channel and on-demand programming from WWE’s library.
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Network retrieved September 20, 2014).

———

After months of anticipation, WWE Network finally launched today at precisely 9 a.m. ET, becoming the first-ever 24/7 live streaming network. As a part of this historic offering, WWE fans will now have access to all live pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania, as well as groundbreaking original programming, reality shows, documentaries, classic matches and more than 1,500 hours of video on demand. And for a limited time, our fans can get a one-week free trial of this fully immersive WWE experience.

WWE Network is delivered directly to fans through over-the-top digital distribution, and will be available on desktops and laptops, as well as through the WWE App on: Amazon’s Kindle Fire devices; Android devices such as Samsung Galaxy; iOS devices such as Apple iPad and iPhone; Apple TV; Roku streaming devices; Sony PlayStation® 3 and Sony PlayStation® 4; and Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

“Today is a historic day for WWE as we transform and reimagine how we deliver our premium live content and 24/7 programming directly to our fans around the world,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & Chief Executive Officer. “WWE Network will provide transformative growth for our company and unprecedented value for our fans.”

WWE Network will also offer fans a revolutionary second screen experience for all original programming and live events via the WWE App, similar to the interactive fan experience currently available for flagship TV programs Raw and SmackDown. Tune in tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET to experience the all-new second screen during the first-ever Raw Pre-Show and RawBackstagePass, following Raw.

Live outside the U.S.? WWE Network is scheduled to launch in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Nordics by the end of 2014/early 2015.
Source: WWE Network – Official Website; posted February 24, 2014; retrieved September 20, 2015 from http://www.wwe.com/inside/wwe-network-launches

Wow, the lesser sports-entertainment activity of wrestling is bigger and more magnanimous than initial appearances. In North America, the major sports are Football, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer and Hockey. Other sport-entertainment higher in profile than wrestling include Auto-Racing (NASCAR & IndyCar), Golf and Tennis. Wrestling is grouped with the these other minor sporting activities: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Olympic Sports (Track & Field, Gymnastics, Figure-skating, Swimming, etc.), Rodeo, Bowling, and others.

These five major team sports are popular with fans and widely watched on television, have a fully professional league, are played by millions of Americans, enjoy varsity status at many Division 1 colleges, and are played in high schools throughout the country. See chart here from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_the_United_States#Overview:

Sport Favorite Sport^[5] TV viewing
record (mil)
(since 2000)¹ Professional League Participants^[6] Professional Average
Attendance

American football 38.8% 111.5m National Football League 8.9 million 67,604

Basketball 15.3% 39.1m National Basketball Association 24.4 million 17,347

Baseball/Softball 14.8% 35.9m Major League Baseball 23.3 million 30,451

Soccer 8.2% 27.3m Major League Soccer 13.6 million 19,148

Ice Hockey 3.8% 27.6m National Hockey League 3.1 million 17,720

TV viewing record measures the game with the most TV viewers in the U.S. since 2000.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

Sport	Favorite Sport^[5]	TV viewing record (mil) (since 2000)¹	Professional League	Participants^[6]	Professional Average Attendance
American football	38.8%	111.5m	National Football League	8.9 million	67,604
Basketball	15.3%	39.1m	National Basketball Association	24.4 million	17,347
Baseball/Softball	14.8%	35.9m	Major League Baseball	23.3 million	30,451
Soccer	8.2%	27.3m	Major League Soccer	13.6 million	19,148
Ice Hockey	3.8%	27.6m	National Hockey League	3.1 million	17,720

In truth, professional wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a spectator sport (even more so back in the 1990s). However, it is a scripted and choreographed show, wholly unrelated to the amateur competitive sport. So there are a lot of lessons from this WWE Network model for us in the Caribbean; these lessons demonstrate how we can elevate our eco-systems of ICT (Internet & Communications Technology), sports, entertainment, television, and economics .

This role model examination is a big deal for the Caribbean, as the region does not currently have an eco-system for sports business for Caribbean participants in the Caribbean – a lot of infrastructure is missing. There is no viable sporting enterprises – other than baseball development/winter leagues in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Communist Cuba, where the hope is to be scouted and signed for Major League Baseball in the US. There is absolutely no intercollegiate athletics arrangements. Only amateur athletics abound in the region.

This commentary asserts that the Caribbean region can emulate this WWE model, and “simply” launch as a streaming option.

According to the foregoing article, “simply” isn’t so simple; there was a lot of heavy-lifting for this innovative move for WWE to launch this endeavor. That fact too, is a lesson for the Caribbean; there is heavy-lifting required to transform society, in general and specifically for sport enterprises.

While so much of the sports business infrastructure is missing in the region, the Caribbean is awash in the underlying assets: the athletes. The Caribbean supplies the world with the best-of-the-best in the sports genres of basketball, track-and-field, soccer-FIFA-football and other endeavors. This athletic supply applies equally to men and women.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government to administer and optimize the economic/security/governing engines of the region’s 30 member-states. The roadmap recognizes and fosters the genius qualifiers of many Caribbean athletes. The goal now is foster the local eco-system in the homeland so that those with talent would not have to flee the region to garner the business returns on their athletic investments.

This Go Lean economic empowerment roadmap strategizes to create a Single Media Market to leverage the value of broadcast rights for the entire region, utilizing all the advantages of cutting edge ICT offerings. The result: an audience of 42 million people across 30 member-states and 4 languages. The WWE Network therefore provides a great role model for the CU‘s execution, facilitating television, cable, satellite and internet streaming wherever economically viable.

At the outset, the roadmap recognizes the value of sports in the roadmap with these statements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13 & 14):

xxvi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxviii. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxxi. Whereas sports have been a source of great pride for the Caribbean region, the economic returns from these ventures have not been evenly distributed as in other societies. The Federation must therefore facilitate the eco-systems and vertical industries of sports as a business, recreation, national pastime and even sports tourism – modeling the Olympics.

In the Go Lean book and previous blogs, the Go Lean movement asserted that the market organizations and community investments to garner economic benefits of sports is within reach, with the proper technocracy. The biggest contribution the CU will make is the facilitation of sports venues: arenas and stadia. Sports will then be a big business for the athletes, promoters, vendors and landlords. Still, even fans get great benefits: image, national pride, and entertainment. (Again, the E in WWE means Entertainment – see Appendix VIDEO below). The eco-system of sports is therefore inclusive in the roadmap’s quest to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean to lean-in to the following community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies detailed in the book Go Lean…Caribbean to deliver the solutions to elevate the Caribbean region through sports:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategic – Vision – Consolidating the Region in to a Single Market	Page 45
Strategic – Staffing – Sporting Events at Fairgrounds	Page 55
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Sports & Culture Administration	Page 81
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Fairgrounds Administration	Page 83
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities (Fairgrounds)	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #5 Four Languages in Unison / #8 Cyber Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Reduce Brain Drain	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Local Government – Parks & Recreation	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds	Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Intellectual Property Protections	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women	Page 226
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth	Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Sports	Page 229
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Sports Leagues	Page 234

The Go Lean book asserts that the region can be a better place to live, work and play; that the economy can be grown methodically by embracing progressive strategies in sports and sports broadcasting/streaming at all levels: professional, amateur and intercollegiate. This point was further detailed in these previous blogs:

This cause was detailed in these previous blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5921	Socio-Economic Impact of Sports Arenas & Stadia
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4019	Melding of Sports & Technology; the Business of the Super Bowl
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3414	Levi’s® Stadium: A Team Effort
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244	Sports Role Model – espnW.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2222	Sports Role Model – Playing For Pride … And More
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171	Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2152	Sports Role Model – US versus the World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1715	Lebronomy – Economic Impact of the Return of the NBA Great
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1446	Caribbean Players in the 2014 World Cup
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1341	College World Series Time – Lessons from Omaha
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1214	Landlord of Temporary Stadiums
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1148	Sports Bubble – Franchise values in basketball
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=498	Book Review: ‘The Sports Gene’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=318	Collegiate Sports in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=60	Could the Caribbean Host the Olympic Games?

This Go Lean roadmap is committed to availing the economic opportunities of sports but the roadmap is bigger than just sports; its a concerted effort to elevate all of Caribbean society. The CU is the vehicle for this goal, this is detailed by the following 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs (21,000 direct jobs at fairgrounds and sport venues).
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

This roadmap adheres to economic principles and related best-practices; therefore the laws of supply-and-demand are duly respected. Similar to the foregoing WWE Network article, the roadmap looks for the opportunities to foster interest that may exists in specific endeavors, and then explore the business opportunities around servicing that demand. (This roadmap is not specifically advocating wrestling activities for Caribbean stakeholders but rather the business modeling of the WWE).

This is heavy-lifting. This is the quest of Go Lean/CU, to do the heavy-lifting for the Caribbean region, above and beyond what individual member-states maybe able to accomplish on their own. All the stakeholders in the region – athletes, participants, spectators, coaches, promoters, and officials – are hereby urged to lean-in to this roadmap.

We need to just do it! 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

Appendix* – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

This phrase in pop culture originated as a a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron first recorded it for his 1970 album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, on which he recited the lyrics, accompanied by congas and bongo drums. Heron (1949 –2011) was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and 1980s.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised

AUDIO: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – https://youtu.be/QnJFhuOWgXg

This is a sound sample from a song, that is currently copyrighted. The copyright for it may be owned by the author or his designate (heirs, company, etc.).

————

Appendix VIDEO – WWE Network Promo – http://youtu.be/MyeZ16IOz90

The insane leaping ability of Rob Van Dam, Eddie Guerrero and other Superstars and Legends is on display in this spring-loaded edition of WWE Fury. More ACTION on the WWE NETWORK.

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POTUS and the Internet

Posted on May 19, 2015 in Government, Implementation, Social

Go Lean Commentary

What is the requirement for the Office of the President of the United States; and why is this important to the Caribbean?

A candidate must be at least 35 years old; natural born citizen of the country (could not have been naturalized); must win the majority of votes (270) of the 538 total in the American Electoral College.

One more requirement: the candidate must have a “thick skin” and the uncanny ability to choose his/her battles. The President cannot pick a fight with just anyone that lobs unkind words, no matter how denigrating the insult.

This is not easy! Considering the free-for-all that is the internet; freedom of speech … is not free!

This actuality was dynamically illustrated in the past week; first with a number of 2016 potential candidates (Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton) in their quest to secure their own web domains (xxxxxxxxxx.com, xxxxxxxxxx.net, xxxxxxxxxx.org, etc.) and lastly with the current president’s first foray with the social media site Twitter. See stories here:

Title #1: U.S. presidential candidate Fiorina spins web around interviewer
By: Bill Trott, Reuters, May 10, 2015

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina apparently has learned something about registering website domain names.

Shortly after the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive announced her campaign last week, she found out that a cybersquatter had bought the rights to carlyfiorina.org and was using it to criticize her record.

Chuck Todd of NBC News brought up the issue while interviewing Fiorina on “Meet the Press” and showed the website, which features row after row of frowny-face emoticons representing 30,000 people laid off during her Hewlett-Packard tenure from 1999 to 2005.

Fiorina defended her record and after the interview sent a tweet thanking Todd for having her on the show and saying, “Btw, checkout chucktodd.org.” Her campaign had registered that domain and clicking on the link redirected traffic to her official campaign site, carlyforpresident.com.

Fiorina had done the same thing last week with sethmeyers.org when she appeared on NBC’s “The Late Show with Seth Meyers.”

Fiorina has acknowledged she made a mistake in not registering carlyfiorina.org first, but she is not the only 2016 presidential candidate bedeviled by cybersquatters.

Republican Ted Cruz must endure a rogue tedcruz.com site that says only “Support President Obama. Immigration Reform now”, while jebbushforpresident.com is being used by supporters of gay rights, not Jeb Bush.

The site hillaryclinton.org is not the work of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and cyber security experts say it contains malicious software.

—————-

Title # 2: VIDEO – President Obama @POTUS – http://wapo.st/1FkwKrX

May 19, 2015 (Reuters) – President Obama started his own Twitter account on Monday. Within 45 minutes of sending his first tweet, Obama gained more than 217,000 followers.

—————-

Title #3: ‘Welcome To Twitter, N*gger’: Righties Go FULL RACIST On POTUS Twitter Account (TWEETS)

Well, President Obama finally has his own twitter account, and conservatives didn’t waste any time showing just how racist they really are.

While the president was having fun posting about how his tweets would be his own words to the American people, righties were busy hurling racial slurs in @replies at the POTUS twitter account. For your viewing disgust, here are just a few of the so-called “welcome” messages President Obama received on his newly-created personal account (yes, these are screenshots and not actual tweets, in the event these trolls decide to delete their words like the cowards they are):

As if those initial messages weren’t bad enough, one person tweeted to the sitting President that he should be lynched, completed with image:

… I could go on, but you get the idea. If this doesn’t tell you that Barack Obama has handled the unprecedented disrespect and outright hatred directed at him from right-wing racists with the utmost grace and dignity, I don’t know what will. …

The entire article is here: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/05/18/welcome-to-twitter-ngger-righties-go-full-racist-potus-twitter-account-tweets/; retrieved May 19, 2015.

—————-

Title #4: Uh, you probably don’t want to tweet to @POTUS, actually
By: Caitlin Dewey

Twitter, at first glance, is a magical fantasy land — a utopia where any old egg can freely converse with presidents, pop stars and kings. It is the great democratizer; the global water cooler; the one place where you can say anything to anyone and know it’ll be okay.

Consider this your monthly reminder that this is actually NOT the case: On the modern Internet, impressions of anonymity and ephemerality are, well … usually fake.

But the joke’s actually on them: Not only does the Secret Service already monitor Twitter for threats, but the White House is archiving each and every thing @POTUS tweeters say. Ashley Feinberg flagged this relevant piece of the White House Online Privacy Policy …

… when you tweet “leave Michelle for me @POTUS,” or something even more inappropriate/creepy, that lives in an official White House Archive for eternity (slash, for potential future scrutiny).

To be clear, this isn’t just a White House thing: The principle applies, in one form or another, to most types of social networking …

Find the whole article at the Washington Post Online site – The Capital’s Daily Newspaper (Posted 05-19-2015) –

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/05/19/uh-you-probably-dont-want-to-tweet-to-potus-actually/

The President of the United States (POTUS) is considered the most powerful Commander-in-Chief in the world; this is due to the fact that the US is the only remaining Super Power with the world’s largest Single Market economy and world’s largest military establishment. This country is the Caribbean largest trading partner. POTUS also has direct oversight over the US Federal Government functionalities in the 2 US Territories in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands).

This subject is a pivotal theme in the book Go Lean…Caribbean, which asserts that Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT) are critical for elevating Caribbean society. The art and science of this field is slated to impact the economic, security and governing engines. The internet makes things easy; it makes benevolent endeavors easier and malevolent endeavors easier. There must be the constant oversight.

The challenges of politicians and the Internet clearly demonstrate the need for technocratic oversight for the Caribbean’s foray into garnering more respect and benefits for intellectual property. There is the need for “Grievance Officers” to settle disputes related to cyber-squatting for Caribbean domains and the proposed Caribbean Cloud branded: www.myCaribbean.gov.

Change has come to the world of politicking and elections. The ubiquity of the internet cannot be ignored.

This book, Go Lean… Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU/Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion GDP and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the societal engines and marshal against human and civil rights abuses.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, plus facilitate a smooth transparent election process.

Early in the book, the benefits of optimizing governance through technology empowerments are pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 14), with these statements:

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law…

xxvi. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxvii. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

The Go Lean book details the community ethos to adapt to the changed ICT landscape, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies:

Community Ethos – Economic Principle – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments (ROI)	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Strategy – Vision – Integrate 30 Caribbean member-states into a Single Market Economy	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Fix the broken systems of governance in our region	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy – *Book:* Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776)	Page 70
Separation of Powers – Department of State – Federal Elections Administrators	Page 70
Separation of Powers – Federal/Caribbean Police – Elections/Candidate Security	Page 77
Separation of Powers – Film Promotion and Administration	Page 78
Separation of Powers – Intellectual Property (Copyrights & Domains) Administration	Page 78
Separation of Powers – Communications and Media Authority	Page 79
Separation of Powers – Federal Legislature & Electoral Seats	Page 91
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Impact Elections	Page 116
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Contact Centers – Ideal for Pre-Election Polling	Page 212
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Appendix – Puerto Rico Diaspora distribution in the mainland United States	Page 304

This commentary is about the Caribbean, not about the United States. It is important for leaders in the US to be concerned with the Caribbean’s well-being. This point has been explicitly acknowledged by Caribbean stakeholders and relevant subjects have recently been extolled in these previous Go Lean…Caribbean blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5183	Mexico Model – May 5th – US too occupied during Civil War to defend neighbor
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5088	Caribbean Migrants among the accounting of 1 in 11 Black population in USA
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4935	A Lesson in History – Grand Old Party – the Republicans – must be cuddled
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4897	US Backs LNG Distribution Base in Jamaica as Caribbean Regional Hub
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4793	Yelp.com Review Site – Model of CU Social Media Grievance Regulators
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4551	US Territories – currently Between a ‘rock and a hard place’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the American ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4294	US Ambassadors to Caribbean push US Energy and Security Policies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3834	State of Caribbean Union compared to the State of the American Union
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3662	Caribbean Migrants desperate to get to US as Promised Land destination
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965	America’s Navy – Protector for Caribbean waters and the World’s

Other interactions related to US government-to-Caribbean population have also been blogged in Go Lean commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4058	New York Times Maledictions on The Bahamas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3473	Haiti to Get $70 Million from US-AID to Expand Caracol Industrial Park
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3455	Restoration of US Diplomatic Relations with Cuba
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2907	Miami Haitian-American leaders protest Bahamian immigration policy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341	US slams human rights practices among Caribbean nations

The CU seeks to re-boot the relationship with the US to an elevated “protégé” status, as opposed to the parasite status currently being maintained. For the Caribbean member-states, the CU will oversee the radio spectrum used for internet, radio, television and satellite communications in the region. (This radio spectrum must be regulated “by us and for us” … on a regional level due to the close-proximity of member-states). So the CU‘s coordination must be arranged in the manner of a Common Pool Resource, as the radio spectrum is limited. This oversight must also extend to internet broadband (wireless & wire-line) governance.

Also, the CU must conduct its own federal elections for all 30 member-states. This CU election process, detailed in the Go Lean roadmap, is a direct parallel to the election process in the US, alluded to at the start of this commentary. The US system defines 538 “electors”. This corresponds to the 435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 senators, and the three additional electors for the nation’s non-State capital city, Washington, DC. The same Electoral College design is proposed for the CU – so as to not trivialize the region’s Small Island States – where 250 House seats, and 60 Senate seats, amounts to a total 310 (Page 91). With the requirement of 156 electoral votes to win the CU presidency, no candidate can be elected without the inclusion of some Small Island States. This is logical; an effective application for the CU legal structure bred from the US model.

For the CU, ICT must also come into play more and more to facilitate efficient federal campaigns. We can do this!

We can apply best-practices – as communicated in the foregoing articles – so as to mitigate election-campaign abuses and remediate slanderous communication from “bad actors” who try to bully elected officials; these ones will become more active as election passions intensify.

“Out with the old; in with the new” – the US President Obama has less than 2 years remaining in his constitutionally-mandated term-limit. The candidates vying for Mr. Obama’s job for 2016 will have to feature many of the same qualifications as Mr. Obama; these ones, in particular, must be thick-skinned in tolerating scathing insults and cyber-bullying. They would do best to remember that there will always be a loud minority … and quiet majority. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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A Picture is worth a thousand words; a video … a million

Posted on April 9, 2015 in Ethos, Government

Go Lean Commentary

The penalty for a broken taillight should not be “Death by Firing Squad”.

Welcome to America!

Though this declaration is not the law-of-the-land, it is the anecdotal experience for the Black-and-Brown populations, far too often.

The subsequent news commentary – by British Expatriate Piers Morgan (former host on American news network CNN) – is ripped from the headlines of “Cop-on-Black” crime in the US. For much of the latter half of 2014, this type of headline was prevalent in places like Ferguson, Missouri, but in truth, it appears that the law enforcement community appears to have “Bulls-eye” targets on African-American males throughout the country, more so than any other ethnic group. This statement would have appeared to be only indicative of “conspiracy theories”, if not for the following pictures and VIDEO.

By: Piers Morgan
Title: After seeing South Carolina police nearly get away with murder, I won’t feel safe until every cop who carries a gun, wears a camera too

This morning, I watched Walter Scott die.

I didn’t think I’d ever see a piece of video footage that made me feel as physically sick and angry as that disgusting ISIS snuff movie of a Jordanian pilot being burned alive.

But the last few seconds of Scott’s life, captured by a passer-by on a camera phone, provoked similar nausea-fuelled emotions of blind rage.

Why? Because they exposed the shocking truth behind a sickening lie.

Scott, a 50-year-old American father-of-four, had been stopped in North Charleston, South Carolina, for having a broken taillight on his Mercedes car.

A vehicular misdemeanor so minor in its importance that it’s usually dealt with by a verbal police warning, no fine and no points on your license.

But Scott, fearful of arrest because he owed child support, ran away.

The police officer who had stopped him, Patrolman Michael Slager, gave chase into a small grassy lot.

Minutes later, unarmed Scott was dead. Needlessly, senselessly, murderously riddled with bullets in the back from trigger-happy Officer Slager’s handgun.

Walter Scott’s death is outrageous enough.

But the disgraceful cover-up that followed makes the stomach churn.

Officer Slager told his bosses that Scott had taken his taser gun in a violent struggle, and he had shot him because he feared for his life.

To support this, the taser had been found next to Scott’s body – suggesting he had run off with it.

His bosses preferred to just take his word for it then properly investigate.

And presumably, the word of a second officer who arrived at the scene shortly afterwards.

So the official statement released to the media backed Officer Slager’s claim that he had acted entirely within his rights after Scott tried to grab his taser.

The Supreme Court ruled that an officer may use deadly force against a fleeing suspect only when there is probable cause that the suspect ‘poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.’

By Officer Slager’s account, that criteria was met.

And there it would have ended.

Walter Scott’s death would be blamed on Walter Scott.

Another reckless violent aggressor who forced a terrified cop to shoot him.

Case closed.

But then came the video.

It turned out that someone walking nearby had secretly filmed the whole thing on his camera phone.

So now we could actually see for ourselves what happened.

Mr. Scott never grabbed Officer Slager’s taser.

In fact, Officer Slager tasers Scott, who then runs off.

Scott is more than 20 feet away and clearly fleeing when Officer Slager stands and fires eight shots at him.

When Scott finally falls, after the last of the eight shots, Officer Slager runs back toward where the initial scuffle occurred and picks something up of the ground. Moments later, he drops it near Scott’s body.

It’s believed to be the taser.

After the video appeared, Officer Slager was promptly charged with murder.

Which is all very well, but if the video hadn’t appeared, he would have GOT AWAY with murder.

Isn’t that just utterly shameful?

The South Carolina police department failed Walter Scott on every single level. Doesn’t the simple fact alone that he was shot five times in the BACK demand a serious analysis of forensics, autopsy and witness statements?

Instead, they chose to do nothing but stand by their lying, cold-blooded executioner.

At this point, I should mention that Walter Scott was black and Officer Slager is white.

I’m wary of casting racial aspersions on Officer Slager’s actions.

There’s nothing to unequivocally suggest it was a racially motivated incident.

And indeed, the Scott family attorney, L. Chris Stewart, offered a different explanation:

‘It’s not about race, it’s about power. The officer thought he could just shoot this man. He thought Mr Scott was expendable. He just casually shot a man in the back many times. That speaks to the value of human life, which is a bigger issue than trying to just make this a small issue of race. When people start respecting that more, it won’t matter what colour you are.’

I think he’s right.

When American cops shoot dead someone who is black, it garners huge headlines because people rush to assume it’s racial.

And sometimes it is. Perhaps Officer Slager racially profiled Walter Scott, we’ll probably never know.

But the truth is that American cops shoot everyone, regardless of colour or creed.

They kill many more whites than blacks, though the percentage of blacks who get killed as part of the U.S. black population is three times higher than the same percentage for whites.

And they do it because they can.

Guns empower some of them to behave like trigger-happy John Waynes and it is, frankly, terrifying.

I received my first ever traffic ticket recently, after performing an illegal U-turn in Beverly Hills – right in front of a policeman on a motorbike.

He signalled for me to pull over, which I did.

But as he walked towards me, loaded gun glistening in his hip holster, I began to slightly panic. Especially as just two days before, a man was shot dead by cops a few blocks away on the famed Rodeo Drive.

What were the rules again?

Do I put my hands on the steering wheel or by my side?

Do I wind down the window, or leave it up?

Do I turn the ignition off or keep it on?

Do I reach for my papers, or wait to be instructed?

Do I call him ‘Officer’, ‘Sir’ or what?

None of these questions would be significant in somewhere like Britain, because nobody fears they might be shot by a policeman.

The vast majority of British cops don’t carry guns, mainly because they know the vast majority of civilians don’t carry them either.

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, it is worth repeating once more that fewer Brits die a YEAR from guns than get shot dead every single DAY in America.

So there is no expectation, fear or paranoia on either side that a simple traffic violation may suddenly erupt into a deadly shooting match.

In America, everyone now has to assume that everyone else may be armed.

It’s the exact same mentality that existed in the Wild West.

One false move in the wrong place, one dumb comment in a bar, one heated exchange of words with a law enforcement official and BANG!!!!

Someone dies.

The justice system rarely supports those who get shot dead by cops.

We can see from this horrific incident how the police protect themselves.

But there is, as we can also see from this incident – and the death of Eric Garner in New York – one truly effective weapon at our disposal: a video camera.

Which is why I want every single U.S. cop to now be compelled by law to carry them at all times, right next to their guns.

The technology exists for them to do so without any restrictions on their ability to function as normal.

What it would also do is restrict any rogue gun-toting policeman’s ability to lie after he casually, indiscriminately shoots dead an unarmed human being, black or white.
Retrieved from: The Daily Mail – London Daily Newspaper – Posted April 9, 2015 –
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3030442/PIERS-MORGAN-seeing-South-Carolina-police-nearly-away-murder-won-t-feel-safe-cop-carries-gun-wears-camera-too.html?ito=social-facebook

VIDEO: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3030442/PIERS-MORGAN-seeing-South-Carolina-police-nearly-away-murder-won-t-feel-safe-cop-carries-gun-wears-camera-too.html#v-4159293374001

There is no way to defend this Police Officer, Michael Slager. The US Justice System will have to deal with him. Our focus can only be on the mitigation, in this case body cameras; and how to apply the lessons in the re-boot of the Caribbean societal engines: economic, security and governance.

The events of this small suburban town of Charleston, South Carolina now have huge bearing on the acceptable standards for community policing through-out the US and other countries, including the Caribbean. There is a direct impact between the two communities: many in the Caribbean Diaspora living in the US face these same dynamics, because of their Black-and-Brown status. (Even the bystander – Feiden Santana – capturing the VIDEO in this case is of Caribbean – Dominican Republic – heritage).

The book Go Lean…Caribbean seeks to assess (identify and qualify) the issues that drive so many of the Caribbean youth to flee their homelands to take up residence in the US. The book posits that this is not a wise course of action, that it is better to “prosper where planted” in the Caribbean than to risk the interactions of American life. This book portrays that there are “push-and-pull” factors that contribute to so much societal abandonment in these Caribbean member-states. The purpose of the book is to serve as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to elevate the region’s economic engines, and optimize the security (public safety) issues as well. These are among the prime directives for this societal elevation. The declarative statements are as follow:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The assertion of the Go Lean book is that the Caribbean region must prepare a better security apparatus and justice institution than our northern neighbor is able to boast. Based of the dual “scales of justice” in the US, one for Whites and another for Black-and-Brown, this goal should not be so difficult to pursue. For this reason, the Go Lean roadmap spuns American leadership for security and justice, and proposes homegrown solutions. According to the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12), our region is urged to take the lead for our own solutions and appoint our own “guardians” with our self-interest in mind; prioritizing the community ethos for the Greater Good. The actual declaration is pronounced as follows:

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

The Caribbean appointing “new guards” or a security pact to ensure public safety calls for permanent justice institutions sanctioned by all 30 CU member-states. The CU Federation or federal justice’s institutions must operate differently than the US versions; we must do so judiciously and with proper regard for human and civil rights. The Go Lean roadmap calls for a separation-of-powers between the CU and the Caribbean member-states. So many of the community policing will not be under federal jurisdiction, but the CU will furnish a lot of funding and outfitting, with a lot of “strings attached”. The book calls for dashboard and body cameras (Page 178); as part of the edict for transparency and accountability.

The US does not currently have this default disposition.

The forgoing news article teaches some powerful lessons for Caribbean consideration.

Before the eye-witness (Feiden Santana) VIDEO came out on Tuesday (April 7), the assumption and benefit-of-doubt in the shooting of Walter Scott would have sided with the Police Officer Michael Slager. But having a photo/picture speaks a thousand words as to what really happened there in North Charleston, South Carolina. Having a VIDEO speaks a millions words. Now all previous allegations of police brutality and evidence planting suddenly have new merit. In addition, the “Blue Line” between Police Officers and the public is blatantly exposed – the VIDEO depicted another officer, an African-American Officer, aiding Michael Slager cover-up. This relates that the loyalty among law enforcement officers trumps any other interrelation in the criminal justice system. It can be concluded that intra-department oversight of their own law enforcement activities may never yield true justice; there must be outside compliance review.

The Go Lean roadmap leads with economic empowerments in the quest to elevate Caribbean society. But security and governance dynamics must be coupled with this effort. As we learn in the foregoing article, “bad actors” can emerge in society, even in the form of law enforcement officers; these individuals can also have sinister intent.

No justice; no peace.

This Go Lean roadmap relates a heightened level of economic-security-government engagement. These prime directives of the CU calls for a Homeland Security focus related to threats that may imperil the region’s economic engines, and crime remediation and mitigation: Public Safety. The CU is an entity to serve as a deputy for law enforcement agencies for each Caribbean member-state, empowered by an international treaty – a Status of Forces Agreement – for all Caribbean member-states to confederate the Homeland Security and Anti-Crime forces to execute a limited scope on the region’s sovereign territories.

To ensure justice – and peace – the Go Lean roadmap calls for a lot of proactive activities to remediate and mitigate crime. Like crime intelligence, surveillance videos and data analysis. The need for transparency and accountability was strongly urged in the same opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12), as follows:

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

The Go Lean book details the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to provide increased public safety and security in the Caribbean region, and to ensure the right attitudes of law enforcement officers to serve-and-protect their Caribbean communities:

Economic Principle – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy –vs- Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Witness Security & Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Tactical – Confederating a non-sovereign union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – CariPol	Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Federal Courts – Court of Justice	Page 90
Implementation – Assemble “Organs” into a Security Apparatus	Page 96
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives	Page 103
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 134
Planning – Lessons from the American West	Page 142
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice – Police Internal Affairs Up-line	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Gun Control	Page 179
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering/Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Prison Industrial Complex	Page 211
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220
Appendix – CariCom Organs: IMPACS & Court of Justice	Page 244

Other subjects related to crime remediation and fair human/civil rights protections for the region have been detailed in prior Go Lean…Caribbean commentaries; as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4447	Probe of Ferguson-Missouri finds bias from cops, courts
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the American ‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881	Intelligence Agencies to Up Cyber Security Cooperation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2782	Red Light Traffic Cameras, other CCTV Deployments can Impact Crime
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2684	Role Model for Justice, Anti-Crime & Security: The Pinkertons
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1674	Obama’s $3.7 Billion Immigration Crisis Funds – A Homeland Security Fix
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1554	Status of Forces Agreement = Security Pact
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487	Here come the Drones … and the Concerns
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=960	NSA records all phone calls in Bahamas, according to Snowden
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=546	Book Review: ‘The Divide: American Injustice In the Age of the Wealth Gap’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535	Remembering and learning from Boston
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392	Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341	American Hypocritical Human Rights Leadership Slams Caribbean

The foregoing article and VIDEO depicts that the community ethos for community policing will change imminently. There is now the need for law enforcement officers, at all levels, to employ dashboard cameras and body cameras; especially when deadly force is used. This is a valid need in the United States of America; in North Charleston – South Carolina, Ferguson – Missouri and every village, town, city, county, state and federal jurisdiction.

There is no longer the benefit of any doubt to police officers who shoot an unarmed Black Man. No more!

The published photos have now spoken thousands of words; the videos now speak millions.

The Caribbean must learn from these American mistakes and do better. We can forge an even better homeland, a better place to live, work and play – even more so than our American counterpart.

America should not be considered the land of destination for the Caribbean people to emigrate to. Income inequality and racial inequality persists in American society. Race still matters in the US; there is different treatments for Black-and-Brown, compared to the rest of the population.

Here at home, we must do better!

We know that “bad actors” will emerge in all situations, and we want to be prepared with the proper mitigations. We also know that police officers can also be “bad actors”, so we must appoint “new guards” to ensure the integrity of the “old guards”. Everyone, the people, institutions and government officials are encouraged to lean-in to this roadmap to ensure transparency, accountability and a commitment to due-process and the rule-of-law. Yes, we can … do better. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Net Neutrality: It Matters Here …

Posted on March 1, 2015 in Government, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

The world has changed! Much of the world’s media content is now being delivered via internet protocols (IP). In 1999, the telephone company Qwest Communications* ran a television commercial depicting that soon every movie ever made would be available on the internet for easy retrieval – see VIDEO below in Appendix A. The world is not at this point … just yet. But it will be for our children.

This commentary is a melding of ICT (Internet & Communications Technology), media, television, economics, competition and future forecasting – this is a big deal for the US … and the Caribbean. With the internet as the delivery vehicle, there must now be oversight of the information super-highway. Too much – as in the future for our children – is at stake.

One aspect of that oversight is the principle of net neutrality, allowing all internet traffic to be managed uniformly; (see Appendix B below). This has been the standard since the emergence of the commercial internet. The possibility of abolishing net neutrality has been of great debate as of late, with the American authorities – the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – ruling on the continuation of the net neutrality policy. The ruling demonstrates that the two decades of laissez-faire policy by the FCC is now being supplanted with a more broad authority over the Internet.

Title: US Internet providers hit with tougher rules, plan challenges
By: Alina Selyukh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators on Thursday approved the strictest-ever rules on Internet providers, who in turn pledged to battle the new restrictions in the courts and Congress, saying they would discourage investment and stifle innovation.

The rules, which will go into effect in coming weeks, are expected to face legal challenges from multiple parties such as wireless, cable and other broadband companies and trade groups that represent them.

Experts expect the industry to seek a stay of the rules, first at the FCC and then in courts, though the chances for success of such an appeal is unclear.

The new regulations come after a year of jostling between cable and telecom companies and net neutrality advocates, which included web startups. It culminated in the FCC receiving a record 4 million comments and a call from President Barack Obama to adopt the strongest rules possible.

The agency’s new policy, approved as expected along party lines, reclassifies broadband, both fixed and mobile, as a more heavily regulated “telecommunications service,” more like a traditional telephone service.

In the past, broadband was classified as a more lightly regulated “information service,” which factored into a federal court’s rejection of the FCC’s previous set of rules in January 2014.

The shift gives the FCC more authority to police various types of deals between providers such as Comcast Corp and content companies such as Netflix Inc to ensure they are just and reasonable for consumers and competitors.

Internet providers will be banned from blocking or slowing any traffic and from striking deals with content companies, known as paid prioritization, for smoother delivery of traffic to consumers.

The FCC also expands its oversight power to so-called interconnection deals, in which content companies pay broadband providers to connect with their networks. The FCC would review complaints on a case-by-case basis.

Republican FCC commissioners, who see the new rules as a government power grab, delivered lengthy dissents. Their colleagues in Congress hope to counter the new rules with legislation. All five FCC members are expected to testify in the Senate on March 18.

Large Internet providers say they support the no-blocking and no-discrimination principles of the new rules but that the FCC’s regulatory path will discourage investment by lowering returns and limiting experimentation with services and business plans.

Some smaller telecoms, such as Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US Inc , have argued new rules will have little impact on investments. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Thursday agreed.

“The (Internet service providers’) revenue stream will be the same tomorrow as it was yesterday,” he said at the FCC meeting.

“I have spent a lot of time in public policy, and today is the proudest day of my public policy life,” he later told reporters.

Legal experts and industry lobbyists say corporate lawyers are waiting for the FCC to publish the specifics of the rules, a document more than 300 pages long. Lawsuits can be filed after the rules are recorded in the Federal Register, likely days later.

Wheeler sought to address in the new rules some Internet providers’ concerns, proposing no price regulations, tariffs or requirements to give competitors access to networks.

Cable and telecom shares saw muted reactions on Thursday. They had jumped earlier this month when Wheeler confirmed long-bubbling expectations that he would seek a tougher regulatory regime, with some adjustments to the network needs.

(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Additional reporting by Malathi Nayak and Andrew Chung; Editing by Christian Plumb and Ken Wills)
Source: Reuters News Wire Service – Retrieved February 26, 2015 from:
http://news.yahoo.com/tougher-internet-rules-hit-cable-telecoms-companies-060527764–finance.html

Related Stories

Broadband Investors Should Wake Up to Net Neutrality – The Wall Street Journal

In landmark decision, US plan bans two-speed Internet – AFP

Net Fix: 8 burning questions about Net neutrality – CNET

VIDEO: Net Neutrality: How Open-Internet Activists Won Big – http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/net-neutrality-how-open-internet-activists-won-big-n313406

This article aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean. We learn a lot of lessons from this discussion. It reflects the regional oversight that the book envisions for the Caribbean region. Will there be the need for net neutrality discussions and reform for the Caribbean? Will competition policy be set to cater to private or corporate special interests? The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to navigate issues like these for the Greater Good. This CU roadmap is designed to elevate Caribbean society by these three prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines; growing the regional economy to $800 Billion and creating 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, utilizing a separation-of-powers with member-states.

All 3 of these directives of the Go Lean roadmap have deliveries on the internet, as this covers telephone, cable, broadband, Wifi and satellite. Offering some of these services to a regional market would garner extended competition, better pricing and more offerings. This is why the book posits that some issues are too big for any one member-state to manage alone – especially with such close proximities – there are times when there must be a cross-border, multilateral coordination. Such an important attribute affects our youth, more so than any other stakeholders. This vision is defined early in the book (Pages 11 – 14) with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

viii. Whereas the population size is too small to foster good negotiations for products and commodities from international vendors, the Federation must allow the unification of the region as one purchasing agent, thereby garnering better terms and discounts.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law…

xxvi.  Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxvii.  Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxx.   Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

The Go Lean roadmap calls for the market organizations and community investments to garner economic benefits from the single market that could not be derived otherwise. The roadmap posits that having a larger market allows more leverage and more impetus to facilitate the roadmap’s quest to make the Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play.

One tenant of a free market economy is the emergence of a “better mousetrap”. This idiom asserts that the world would beat a path to the door of that mousetrap. But if the cable companies get their way, they would be able to enter the “room of business opportunity”, then “lock the door behind them” to ensure no one else could enter. This paradox would be unproductive for future growth with the internet and the attendant functions of electronic commerce.

The subject of net neutrality in the US is just another example of American crony-capitalism where public policy is often hijacked to benefit private parties. Consider this chart of well-documented cases of bad corporate behavior:

Big Media	Cable companies conspire to keep rates high; textbook publishers practice price gouging; Hollywood insists on big tax breaks/ subsidies for on-location shooting.
Big Oil	While lobbying for continuous tax subsidies, the industry have colluded to artificially keep prices high and garner rocket profits ($38+ Billion every quarter).
Big Box	Retail chains impoverish small merchants on Main Street with Antitrust-like tactics, thusly impacting community jobs.
Big Pharma	Chemo-therapy cost $20,000+/month; and the War against Cancer is imperiled due to industry profit insistence.
Big Tobacco	Cigarettes are not natural tobacco but rather latent with chemicals to spruce addiction.
Big Agra	Agribusiness concerns bully family farmers and crowd out the market; plus fight common sense food labeling efforts.
Big Data	Brokers for internet and demographic data clearly have no regards to privacy concerns.
Big Banks	Wall Street’s damage to housing and student loans are incontrovertible.
Big Weather	Overblown hype of “Weather Forecasts” to dictate commercial transactions.
Big Real Estate	Preserving MLS for Real Estate brokers only, forcing 6% commission rates, when the buyers and sellers can meet without them.

The Go Lean roadmap places a lot of focus on ICT, electronic commerce, and the landscape to incentivize youth participation in a Caribbean future.

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Confederate into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Embrace the Advances of Technology	Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Communications and Media Authority	Page 79
Implementation – Foreign Policies at Start-up	Page 102
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization – Technology Equalization	Page 119
Planning – Big Ideas – 10 Big Ideas – #8 Cyber Caribbean	Page 127
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Promotion of e-Learning	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance – e-Government & e-Delivery Deployments	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Technology/Efficiencies	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications – Regulate Media Industrial Complex	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Intellectual Property Protections	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce – e-Payments & Wifi Facilitations	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street – Wifi & Mobile Apps: Time and Place	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Monopolies – Utilities to Oversee ICT/New Media	Page 202
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Youth – Foster Work Ethic for ICT	Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Broadband for Work-at-Home	Page 234
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living – e-Learning to Mitigate Relocations	Page 235
Appendix – Copyright Infringement – Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights	Page 351

The book Go Lean…Caribbean, and aligning blog-commentaries assert that the region can be a better homeland, improving on economic, security and governing engines. The region can be elevated by embracing ICT and forging more industrial development in cyber-space. This is essential to project to the Caribbean youth that they can prosper where they are planted here at home, because of the regional, technocratic efforts/successes.

Previous blogs/commentaries also exclaimed societal benefits from pursuits in regional coordination; consider this sample of previous blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4308	Regional Coordination for Emergency Telephone Number, like “911”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3974	Model for Regional Internet Excellence: Google
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3881	Regional Coordination for Cyber Security
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3090	Model of Regionalism: Europe – All Grown Up
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2887	Caribbean Region Must Work Together to Address Rum Subsidies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171	Regional Sports Role Model for Broadcast Networks
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=888	e-Government: Taking the Town Square Digital to Reinvent Government
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	CARCIP – Regional Effort Foster Technology Innovations

The Go Lean book posits that the internet can level the playing field (Page 119), allowing small institutions to compete with larger ones; and small states to compete with larger ones. The assertion is that ICT must be regulated – as a utility- at the regional level for the Caribbean Greater Good, as there are too many instances with overlapping radio spectrum. Instead of managing this process with bilateral treaties – the status quo – the Go Lean approach is a confederation treaty with all 30 member-states; the CU would regulate internet broadband providers as public utilities in a separation-of-power structure with the federal agency versus member-states.

The region needs the delivery of this Go Lean roadmap. More innovation will emerge with the internet; and we need some of that innovation locally in the Caribbean. Without the equalizing effects of technology/ICT, we will be rendered even more inconsequential for the future. Then our youth will not be inspired to invest in their homeland. This is sad for the youth and even more sad for the homeland.

The quest of Go Lean/CU is to do the heavy-lifting to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. This is conceivable, believable and achievable!

🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

APPENDICES:

A. VIDEO: Qwest TV Commercial 1999 – http://youtu.be/xAxtxPAUcwQ

Uploaded on January 30, 2012 – Remember how absurd this seemed in 1999 before the internet really took off? When the weary traveler asked the front desk what entertainment was available, the response was: “all rooms have every movie ever made in any language anytime, day or night.”

* Qwest Communications International, Inc. is now superseded as a corporate entity; it was acquired in 2010 and continues as CenturyLink, Inc.

———–

B. Net Neutrality

This is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication. The term was coined by Columbia University media law professor Tim Wu in 2003 as an extension of the longstanding concept of a common carrier.^[1][2][3][4]

There has been extensive debate about whether net neutrality should be required by law, particularly in the United States. Debate over the issue of net neutrality predates the coining of the term. Advocates of net neutrality such as Lawrence Lessig have raised concerns about the ability of broadband providers to use their last mile infrastructure to block Internet applications and content (e.g. websites, services, and protocols), and even to block out competitors.^[5] On the contrary, opponents claim net neutrality regulations would deter investment into improving broadband infrastructure and try to fix something that isn’t broken.^[6][7]

Net neutrality proponents claim that telecom companies seek to impose a tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise noncompetitive services.^[8] Many believe net neutrality to be primarily important for the preservation of current internet freedoms; a lack of net neutrality would allow Internet service providers, such as Comcast, to extract payment from content providers like Netflix, and these charges would ultimately be passed on to consumers.^[9][10] Prominent supporters of net neutrality include Vinton Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the Web, law professor Tim Wu, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Tumblr founder David Karp, and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver.^{[11][12][13][14]} (See John Oliver VIDEO in Appendix C). Organizations and companies that support net neutrality include the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Greenpeace, Tumblr, Kickstarter, Vimeo, Wikia, and others.^[8][15][16]

Net neutrality opponents from the likes of IBM, Intel, Juniper, Qualcomm, and Cisco claim that net neutrality would deter investment into broadband infrastructure, saying that “shifting to Title II means that instead of billions of broadband investment driving other sectors of the economy forward, any reduction in this spending will stifle growth across the entire economy. Title II is going to lead to a slowdown, if not a hold, in broadband build out, because if you don’t know that you can recover on your investment, you won’t make it.” ^[17][18] Prominent opponents also include Netscape founder and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, co-inventor of the Internet Protocol Bob Kahn, PayPal founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel, Internet engineer and former Chief Technologist for the FCC David Farber, Broadcast.com founder Mark Cuban, and Nobel Prize economist Gary Becker.^{[19][20][21][22][23]}

Examples of net neutrality violations include when the Internet service provider Comcast intentionally slowed peer-to-peer communications.^[27]

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality)

————

C. VIDEO – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Net Neutrality (HBO) – http://youtu.be/fpbOEoRrHyU

Published on June 1, 2014 – Cable companies are trying to create an unequal playing field for internet speeds, but they’re doing it so boringly that most news outlets aren’t covering it.
John Oliver explains the controversy and lets viewers know how they can voice their displeasure to the FCC. (Content warning: Some profanity!)

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Daktronics – Keeping score on the world’s largest video displays

Posted on February 6, 2015 in Ethos, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts (Page 20) that elevating Caribbean society has to be a total commitment, involving “Head, Heart, Hands”, in full measure. Head refers to visions, roadmaps and strategies; heart refers to the community ethos, the motivation and spirit that drives the community; hands refer to the industrious energy to do the heavy-lifting to make progress.

The Go Lean book, and accompanying blog/commentaries, frequently focuses on the subject of models and lessons from companies and institutions that exemplify these above values.

One such company stemmed from humble beginnings, in a small town, with the motive to retain local talent in the local area; to give people the opportunity to prosper where they are planted. The firm is Daktronics, founded in 1968 by Drs. Aelred Kurtenbach and Duane Sander, professors of electrical engineering at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. The company began with the design and manufacture of electronic voting systems for state legislatures.

In 1971, Daktronics developed the patented Matside® wrestling scoreboard, the first product in the company’s growing and evolving line. Then in 1994, Daktronics continued growth allowed them to become a publicly traded company, offering shares under the symbol DAKT on the NASDAQ National Market Exchange.

Today, Daktronics has grown from a small company operating out of a garage to the world leader, offering the most complete product lineup in the display industry. The company’s vision is to be the world leader at informing and entertaining audiences through dynamic audio-visual communications systems. Their mission statement details a commitment to:

Deliver industry leading value to customers
Engage employees through challenging and rewarding opportunities
Develop strategic partnerships with suppliers
Leverage their strengths in product innovation, manufacturing, and service
Contribute to the betterment of their communities
Generate an attractive return for investors

The book Go Lean…Caribbean boasts a similar vision and mission for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), to impact the Caribbean region. The book describes initiatives from top-to-bottom in the Information Technology/ICT industry space, asserting that the region should not only consume, but should create, develop and produce as well. So Daktronics is a good role model for Caribbean initiatives. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic CU. This CU roadmap is designed to elevate the economic, security and governing engines of Caribbean society; this vision is defined early in the book (Page 14) with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to … implement the good examples learned from developments/communities like New York City, Germany, Japan, Canada, the old American West and tenants of the US Constitution.

Daktronics has found its niche, especially in the market of giant scoreboards at sports stadiums; consider their activities as highlighted in the following VIDEO; (or the written narrative below):

VIDEO: Daktronics Featured on CBS Sunday Morning – http://youtu.be/KY9SS2jMVUo –

Published on February 1, 2015 – How did a small Midwest company, Daktronics of Brookings-South Dakota, operating out of a garage end up as the leading provider of professional sports scoreboards? CBS News national correspondent Lee Cowan spent three days at company headquarters to find out.

These Go Lean blogs have previously detailed the economic and civic advantages of sports enterprises. Now we can consider how opportunities have been exploited in the attendant functions of sports, scoreboard systems (then spinning-off to Main Street):

The Daktronics difference is obvious from local high school scoreboards to “giant-esque” video systems in major league stadiums; from roadside LED signs to “Gee-Whiz” digital signage in iconic sites like Times Square (New York) and Piccadilly Circus (London) – see sample of non-sports installations in the Appendix below. There is a good chance one can see Daktronics products every day as their range of products make them the most experienced digital display manufacturer in the industry.

From the “comfy confines” of rural South Dakota, this electronics company (Dak + tronics) has shocked the world; proving that change can emerge from anywhere, even remote locales. This provides great inspiration for any island in the Caribbean! Daktronics’ contribution to the world is their focus on efficiency, quality and agility. This is what the Go Lean book refers to as “lean”.

The concept of “lean” is very prominent in the book (and movement), even adapting the title, Go Lean, for the quest for excellence in Caribbean economic empowerment and governing efforts. The label “lean” is indicative of this quest; the word is used as a noun, a verb and an adjective. This point is pronounced early in the book (Page 4) with these statements:

The CU will lean on, lean in, lean over backwards, and then lean towards…
The CU will embrace lean, agile, efficient organizational structures – more virtual, less physical, more systems, less payroll.

The Daktronics experience lends confidence to the viability of the revolutionary changes being proposed by the Go Lean roadmap, that we can succeed in transforming our society through innovative technology. Previous blogs/commentaries also exclaimed societal benefits from pursuits in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Consider this sample of previous blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3974	Google and Mobile Phones – Here comes Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3915	Microsoft Holograms Transforming How We See the World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3889	RBC EZPay and other Banking Automations – Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3490	How One STEM Entrepreneurial Start-up Can Rally a Whole Community
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3276	STEM/Medical Role Model Shaking Up the World of Cancer
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3187	Robots help Amazon tackle and dominate Cyber Monday
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2488	Role Model Jack Ma brings Alibaba to America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1743	Google and Novartis to develop ‘smart’ contact lens
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1277	The need for highway safety innovations – here comes Google
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=888	Book Review: ‘Citizenville – Take the Town Square Digital & Reinvent Govt’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=554	Cuban cancer medication registered in 28 countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	CARCIP Urges Greater Innovation

The Go Lean book posits that technology and ICT can level the playing field of competition and trade with the rest of the world. Surely this entire Daktronics commentary demonstrates the advantage of leading with technological innovations. We do not have to be in Silicon Valley to have an impact. Daktronics was foundered and remains based in a Midwest rural city (Brookings, SD) of only 22,000 people. Yes, an innovator can also be on a beach in the Caribbean homeland, with a great idea and support of his community.

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster great contributions from Caribbean technology innovators. The list is as follows:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Exploit Globalization – Producers & Consumers	Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing to $800 Billion GDP – East Asian Tigers Lesson	Page 69
Tactical – Separation of Powers	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Planning – Big Ideas – Cyber Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – STEM Promotion	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth	Page 227
Appendix – CU Job Creations	Page 257
Appendix – Copyright Infringement – Protecting Intellectual Businesses	Page 351

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean to lean-in for the empowerments in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is a big deal for the region. The benefits are simply too alluring to not commit to this cause:

Optimization of the economic engines; growing the regional economy to $800 Billion & creating 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The region needs this delivery. Without the equalizing effects of technology/ICT, we will continue to be rendered inconsequential on the world scene. This was the motivation of Drs. Aelred Kurtenbach and Duane Sander, founders of Daktronics. We can channel their resolve and commitment to retain our young people to remain in their homeland. We can do for the Caribbean what they have done for rural South Dakota.

Now is the time to deliver the Caribbean as a better place to live, work and play… for today and for the future. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———-

Appendix – Daktronics Sample Non-Sports Client Installations

———-
Appendix VIDEO Narrative:

Title: Keeping score on the world’s largest video displays
By: Lee Cowan, CBS News National Correspondent; Posted February 1, 2015 from:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/keeping-score-on-the-worlds-largest-video-displays/

Here on the plains of South Dakota, being a football fan can be a bit lonely. The closest NFL team is a four-hour drive from here.

And yet, the town of Brookings, South Dakota, has a big stake in tonight’s Super Bowl — because this is where the NFL goes up in lights.

The town is the home of a company called Daktronics, which, in the late 1990s, entered what’s become an arms race to build the biggest and most vivid video scoreboards in football … including one that will be used at tonight’s big game in Arizona.

If you’re surprised that something that big comes from such a small place, don’t worry — Daktronics CEO Reece Kurtenbach is pretty used to that. He says it’s one of the “mental hurdles” they’ve had to overcome: “We’re here in South Dakota, we have a high-tech company – ‘Where’s South Dakota?'” he laughed. “And you have to kind of position it on the map for some people, even in the U.S.!”

It all started back in 1968 on the campus of South Dakota State University with two friendly engineering professors.

Al Kurtenbach (Reece’s father) and fellow professor Duane Sander were looking for a way to help their students find local jobs.

“We were seeing our students leaving the state and thought we should try to do something to keep our students here,” said Sander.

They rented space in a tire repair shop just off Main Street in Brookings, and never really planned to leave.

“When you talk to startup companies, talk to venture capitalists, those kind of people, they always talk about the exit strategy — ‘What’s your exit strategy?'” said Al Kurtenbach. “And my exit strategy for the company was no exit!”

His first hire was a graduate student named Jim Morgan. He went on to become Daktronics’ CEO years later, but back in those days he didn’t even know what the company was supposed to make.

“Basically, we really didn’t have a product when we started,” said Morgan, “so every accomplishment you celebrated in those days!”

They finally put their engineering minds together to build a scoreboard for wrestling matches. It may look simple, but at the time it was revolutionary.

And they’ve never looked back since.

“If somebody was interested in having us build another scoreboard, we were willing to do that,” said Sander.

They were soon building scoreboards for high schools, colleges, you name it.

In 1980 Daktronics was even asked to ply their trade at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. It was a turning point for them, to have a worldwide audience for what they were building in Brookings. “Yeah, it was fairly good advertising!” laughed Sander.

Back then, they were timing world records. Today, they’re making them. Daktronics holds the distinction of building the largest video displays in sports, installed at the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Each is bigger than the field the Jags plays on — 362 feet long, six stories high.

And with a price-tag to match. The scoreboards come in at nearly $9 million a piece.

To really appreciate their size, you’ve got to see them in person. There’s almost 22,000 square feet of screen. With Cowan’s face displayed, that makes Lee’s face big enough to be on Mount Rushmore. His eyeballs are about 11 feet across.

The NFL is counting on bigger being better, a way to entice fans off their comfy couches to buy tickets to see the spectacle in person.

“You have many great reasons to stay home,” said Larry Rosen, executive producer of the Jaguars’ big screen entertainment. “You have your 62-inch HD in your man cave or whatever. Those are great reasons to stay home. I need to provide you with a different kind of experience that you can only get in a venue.”

The resolution is four times better than what one could get at home. The screens are a constellation of millions of LEDs — about the size of a small thumb tack — spaced about a half an inch apart. Standing near them, it’s hard to actually picture a picture; all your eyes focus on are clusters of red, blue and green lights.

But back away . . . and those clusters miraculously blend together into a portrait in vivid detail.

The panels undergo brutal testing to make sure they can withstand the elements — everything from the steamy heat of Sun Life Stadium in Miami, to the pounding rain and snow of Chicago’s Soldier Field. Some are even submerged in water.

But perhaps the biggest test for Daktronics has been the students at SDSU, where Al Kurtenbach — long since retired as a professor — still rarely misses a Jackrabbits game (under HIS scoreboard, of course).

In the early ’80s, only 22 percent of Engineering graduates here actually found work near Brookings, S.D. Today, that number is closer to 62 percent. Many of Daktronics’ would-be employees now attend class in the university’s Daktronics Engineering Hall.

“I felt we always had to show them exciting work, demonstrate that there was exciting work right here in Brookings,” said Kurtenbach.

Daktronics, of course, isn’t the only manufacturer of stadium big screens. Mitsubishi turned heads years ago with a massive display at the home of the Dallas Cowboys.

But it’s Daktronics that has just been awarded the contract to build the biggest scoreboard to date. Called a “Halo Board,” it will ring the top of the new Atlanta Stadium. The only way for this screen to get any bigger is for the stadium itself to grow.

“How big can these displays get?” asked Cowan. “I mean, are we approaching sort of the biggest they’re gonna be?”

“I think it depends on how large the checkbook is,” said Kurtenbach. “That would certainly be a factor. If the checkbook is larger, we’ll sure try to build it!”

And we, undoubtedly, will watch.

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Watch the Super Bowl … Commercials

Posted on January 29, 2015 in Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean encourages you to watch the Big Game on Sunday (February 1, 2015), Super Bowl XLIX from Phoenix –area, Arizona, between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Pull for your favorite team and enjoy the half-time show (Katy Perry). It’s all free! It’s being paid for by the advertisers.

So as to complete the full economic cycle, be sure to watch the commercials; because this is Big Money; Big Stakes and a Big Deal. The 2014 version, Super Bowl XLVIII on FOX Broadcast Network was the most watched television program in US history with 111.5 million viewers.^[15][16] The Super Bowl half-time show featuring Bruno Mars was the most watched ever with 115.3 million viewers.^[15][16] Now, it’s not just TV, but “second- screen” (computers, tablets & mobile devices) as well; this is now tweet-along-with-us programming; notice the #BestBuds Twitter identifier in the following Ad:

VIDEO – http://youtu.be/EIUSkKTUftU – 2015 Budweiser Clydesdale Beer Run

Published on Jan 23, 2015 – It’s time for your Super Bowl beer run. Don’t disappoint a Clydesdale. Choose Budweiser for you and your #BestBuds on epic Super Bowl weekend!

For $4.5 million per 30 second ad, an advertiser had better get the “maximum bang for the buck”; but 30 seconds is still only 30 seconds. Enter the “second-screen”; now advertisers can stretch the attention of their audience by directing them to internet websites, Twitter followings and even YouTube videos and Facebook videos.

See these related stories, (sourced mostly from Variety.com – Hollywood & Entertainment Business Magazine; (retrieved 01-29-2015):

1. WATCH: Super Bowl 2015 Commercials

Audiences no longer need to wait until the Big Game to watch Super Bowl commercials, with an increasing number of marketers opting to release their spots days before kickoff. This year is no different, with Budweiser, Budweiser, Bud Light, Kia, Mercedes-Benz USA, T-Mobile, Victoria’s Secret, BMW, even Paramount with “Hot Tub Time Machine 2,” among those having already posted their ads online [on sites like YouTube].

The reason? The high cost to play the Super Bowl promo blitz is one. At around $4.5 million per 30 second ad, buying time during the match up between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots is at record levels. NBC is airing the game February 1.

2. Super Bowl Ads: NBC Turns to Tumblr to Post Spots After They Air on TV

NBC Sports has launched a new Super Bowl page on Yahoo’s [social media site] Tumblr that the programmer will use to feature Super Bowl XLIX’s TV ads immediately after they air on NBC on Sunday, February 1.

The new NBC Sports Tumblr page, accessible via NBCSports.com/Ads, will be populated with original content ahead of Super Bowl Sunday created by the NBC Sports’ marketing media team, as well as from re-blogging NFL-related Tumblr posts. On game day, the page will convert into a hub for Super Bowl TV ads.

3. NBCU Will Use Super Bowl XLIX Free Live-Stream to Promote Pay-TV Online Services

NBCUniversal will launch an 11-hour free digital video stream — centered around live coverage of this year’s Super Bowl — in a bid to get users to log in to its “TV Everywhere” (TVE) services across its broadcast and cable portfolio the rest of the year.

The Peacock’s “Super Stream Sunday” event will include NBC’s presentation of the Super Bowl, as well as the halftime show toplined by Katy Perry. The live-stream will kick off at 12 p.m. ET on Feb. 1 with NBC’s pregame coverage and concludes with an airing of a new episode of primetime drama “The Blacklist” at approximately 10 p.m. ET.

Ordinarily, access to the NBC Sports Live Extra and NBC.com content requires users to log in using credentials from participating [Pay] TV providers. The free promo is aimed at driving usage of TVE, to ensure those subscribers keep paying for television service.

“We are leveraging the massive digital reach of the Super Bowl to help raise overall awareness of TV Everywhere by allowing consumers to explore our vast TVE offering with this special one-day-only access,” said Alison Moore, GM and Exec VP of TV Everywhere for NBCU.

NBC does not have NFL live-streaming rights on smartphone devices, which the league has granted exclusively to Verizon Wireless. As such, the “Super Stream Sunday” content will be available on tablets and desktop computers.

4. Facebook may be the big winner of this year’s Super Bowl

For retailer Freshpet, a new ad campaign video was released to both YouTube and Facebook this past December. It quickly went viral. That wasn’t that surprising. The surprising part was the disparity between views on YouTube compared to Facebook. On YouTube, the video has racked up around 7.5 million views so far. On Facebook, the figure is 20 million. “It was fairly eye-opening,” he says. “Things are evolving really quickly.”

With stats like that, this might be the first year in which views of Super Bowl ads on Facebook eclipse those of YouTube.

No wonder then that many advertisers in the big game are looking to go Facebook native.

Show-business has changed. Sports has changed. TV has changed…

… there is now time-shifted viewing (DVR) and on-demand platforms offering an alphabetical menu of shows.

These changes are where this commentary relates to the Caribbean. The changing TV landscape affects the Caribbean region as well, or at least it should. This book Go Lean… Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The roadmap has 3 prime directives:

Optimization of economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and marshal against economic crimes.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The roadmap recognizes and fosters more sports business in the region. The genius qualifiers – athletic talent – of many Caribbean men and women are already heightened. The goal now is foster the local eco-system in the homeland so that those with talent would not have to flee the region to garner the business returns on their athletic investments. This Go Lean economic empowerment roadmap strategizes to create a Single Media Market to leverage the value of broadcast rights for the entire region, utilizing all the advantages of cutting edge ICT offerings. The result: an audience of 42 million people across 30 member-states and 4 languages, facilitating television, cable, satellite and internet streaming wherever economically viable.

Early in the book, the benefits of sports and technology empowerment is pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13 & 14), with these opening statements:

xiii.      Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xiv.      Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xv.      Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxxi.      Whereas sports have been a source of great pride for the Caribbean region, the economic returns from these ventures have not been evenly distributed as in other societies. The Federation must therefore facilitate the eco-systems and vertical industries of sports as a business, recreation, national pastime and even sports tourism – modeling the Olympics.

The region has the eco-system of free broadcast television, and the infrastructure for internet streaming. So the issues being tracked for this year’s Super Bowl have bearing in the execution of this roadmap.

The Go Lean roadmap was developed with the community ethos in mind to forge change and build up the communities around the sports world, plus the execution of related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to make the change permanent. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategic – Vision – Consolidating the Region in to a Single Market	Page 45
Strategic – Staffing – Sporting Events at Fairgrounds	Page 55
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Sports & Culture Administration	Page 81
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Fairgrounds Administration	Page 83
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities – Fairgrounds	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – #5 Four Languages in Unison / #8 Cyber Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Sports Academies to Foster Talent	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Local Government – Parks & Recreation	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds	Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Intellectual Property Protections	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women	Page 226
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth	Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Sports	Page 229
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Sports Leagues	Page 234

This commentary previously featured subjects related to developing the eco-systems of the sports business, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3999	Breaking New Ground in the Changing Show-business Eco-System
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3641	‘We Built This City on ‘ …Show-business
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3414	Levi’s® Stadium: A Team Effort for the Big Business of Sports
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244	Sports Role Model – Broadcasting / Internet Streaming: espnW.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2222	Sports Role Model – Playing For Pride … And More
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2171	Sports Role Model – Turn On the SEC Network
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2152	Sports Role Model – US versus the World
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1446	Caribbean Players in the 2014 World Cup
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1341	Sports Role Model – College World Series Time
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1148	Sports Bubble – Franchise values in basketball
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1092	Aereo – Model for the Future of TV Blending with the Internet
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1020	Sports Revolutionary: Advocate Jeffrey Webb
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=318	Collegiate Sports in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Want from the US – # 10: Sports Professionalism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=60	Could the Caribbean Host the Olympic Games?

The Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, but it recognizes that sports and its attendant functions can build up a community, nation and region. But the quest to re-build, re-boot and re-tool the Caribbean will be more than just kids-play, it must model the Super Bowl and act like a Big Business.

The Go Lean roadmap describes the heavy-lifting activities for the many people, organizations and governments to accomplish this goal. But the goal is conceivable, believable and achievable. We can make the region a better place to live, work and play.

🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Events, ICT, Model, New Media, Play, Sports

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Google and Mobile Phones – Here comes Change

Posted on January 27, 2015 in Ethos, Industries, Locations

Go Lean Commentary

The American company Google Inc. is shaking up the telecommunication industry … again. Whereas their structure originated as a software/Search Engine/ICT* company, they have since branched out into wireless/networking and mobile hardware.

This is not surprising! Google has been a maverick from the beginning.

Their mission statement from the outset, according to Wikipedia, was …

“to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,”^[11] and its unofficial slogan was: “Don’t be evil.”^[12][13] Rapid growth since incorporation in 1998 (as of January 2014, the market capitalization had grown to $397 billion^[60]) has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond Google’s core search engine. It offers online productivity software including email (Gmail), a cloud storage service (Google Drive), YouTube video-sharing, an office suite (Google Docs) and a social networking service (Google+). Desktop products include applications for web browsing, organizing and editing photos, and instant messaging. The company leads the development of the Android mobile operating system and the browser-only Chrome OS^[15] for a netbook known as a Chromebook. Google has moved increasingly into communications hardware: it partners with major electronics manufacturers ^[16] in the production of its “high-quality low-cost”^[17] Nexus devices and acquired Motorola Mobility in May 2012.^[18] Also in 2012, a fiber-optic infrastructure was installed in Kansas City to facilitate a Google Fiber broadband service.^[19]

Despite American incorporation, headquarters and funding, Google has a R&D/QA^# presence in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico). This is a good start for what the book Go Lean…Caribbean envisions for the Caribbean region. The book describes initiatives from top-to-bottom in the Information Technology/ICT industry space, asserting that the region cannot only consume, but must create, develop and produce as well. So Google is a good role model for the future – yet undefined – industrial expressions in this industry. The book Go Lean…Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU roadmap is designed to elevate the economic, security and governing engines of Caribbean society; this vision is defined early in the book (Page 14) with the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

The Google QA activity is highlighted in the following news article:

Title #1: Google Is Testing Its New Modular Smartphone on this Caribbean Island
By: Caribbean Journal staff – Caribbean Journal – Regional News Site (Posted 01/14/2015; Retrieved 01/27/2015) – http://www.caribjournal.com/2015/01/14/google-is-testing-its-new-modular-smartphone-on-this-caribbean-island/#

Google’s revolutionary new smartphone project is getting its first test in the Caribbean.

The global tech giant will be launching the pilot test of its Project Ara smartphone in the Puerto Rico market, the company announced Wednesday.

Project Ara is a modular smartphone, which allows users to swap out individual components of the phone, from the camera to the speaker to the lights.

The aim is a totally customizable phone — almost turning the phone into a collection of “physical” apps.

“A phone is part of it. Part of it is a phone,” is how Project Ara describes it.

Project Ara is part of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects Group. The phone will run the Android operating system.

Pricing is not yet known.

See more in the video below:

VIDEO: Project Ara: Part of it – http://youtu.be/intua_p4kE0 – Published on Jan 14, 2015

There is an obvious advantage to testing a revolutionary product in a place like Puerto Rico: it is homogenous. Everyone on the island meets a certain consistent profile, an adequate educational accomplishment, American cultural assimilation, bilingual efficiency. If the Google test is successful here, then the product will be proven for the entire Western Hemispheric market. This Google Ara phone should emerge from these tests as a “lean”-mean consumer machine, ready to shock the world of mobile communications – here comes change!

The concept of “lean” is very prominent in the Go Lean book (and movement), even adapting the title, Go Lean, for the quest for excellence in Caribbean economic empowerment and governing efforts. The label “lean” is indicative of this quest; the word is used as a noun, a verb and an adjective. This point is pronounced early in the book (Page 4) with these statements:

The CU will lean on, lean in, lean over backwards, and then lean towards…

The CU will embrace lean, agile, efficient organization structures – more virtual, less physical, more systems, less payroll.

This following news article demonstrates Google’s next strategic step, establishing more of a footprint in the North American mobile communications market. See story here:

Title # 2: Google Inc Could Wreak Havoc on Its New Wireless Partners
By: Adam Levy, January 27, 2015

If you’re looking to switch wireless carriers, you may soon have another option.

Google is reportedly working on a mobile virtual private network, or MVNO, that uses access to the Sprint (NYSE: S ) and T-Mobile (NYSE: TMUS ) wireless networks. While the agreement with Google will generate additional revenue for the wireless carriers, it represents a serious threat to their core businesses.

With a price war already in full swing among the major industry players and the cost of airwave spectrum rising well above expectations, Google could cause more headaches for Sprint and T-Mobile than it’s worth.

Selling excess capacity
MVNO agreements are typically very valuable for carriers, as they can sell excess capacity and achieve high margins without the need to do any sales or marketing work — this Google deal is no exception. Macquarie Securities analyst Kevin Smithen believes the search giant could pay out $1 billion in service fees to the carriers in 2018.

Both companies have plenty of spare capacity, too. T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray told investors earlier this month that it has more spectrum per subscriber than both of its largest rivals. Sprint, however, has even more excess capacity, which leads Smithen to predict it will take about three-fourths of Google’s MVNO business.

Those revenues will allow Sprint and T-Mobile to reinvest in their networks, which will help attract new customers and prevent current customers from leaving. On the flip side, any improvements to their networks will also improve the Google service making it even more attractive.

And there lies the big risk
While Google’s plans are still extremely vague, it seems like the biggest goal is to make wireless data networks fast and cheap. To that end, it makes sense for Google to offer a high-value option through its MVNO, similar to what it has accomplished with the rollout of Google Fiber.

Google can afford to offer things like unlimited high-speed data at near cost — the company is expected to pay $2 per GB — because it makes money almost any time a smartphone user accesses the Web. Google took an estimated 37% of total mobile ad spending last year, so it stands to gain from making data access as inexpensive as possible.

While Sprint and T-Mobile have done a good job undercutting the competition on price, Google could do so even further.

The risk seems greater for Sprint, which appears to have little to compete on besides price. T-Mobile is more focused on providing a valuable customer experience for its subscribers with the Un-Carrier initiatives to differentiate itself. Of course, there is little holding Google back from offering similar perks as the Un-Carrier (potentially with a focus on Google services like YouTube and Google Play).

The Wall Street Journal reports that Sprint has put limits in place to prevent the Google MVNO from growing too large. That should be a smart move considering the carrier is likely to lose at least some customers to the new service. There is no indication, however, that such a stipulation exists in the T-Mobile agreement.

Still, if Google hits that volume trigger, there is little stopping the company from licensing capacity from another network. And there is no guarantee that if Google’s network coverage suffers, customers will leave for Sprint — the company is best off renegotiating at the best rate it can get at that point.

A prisoner’s dilemma
With significant risk involved in allowing Google into the wireless market, the only explanation for why Sprint or T-Mobile would agree to license their capacities is that Google played one off the other. Thinking it would be better to at least get something out of the deal than to just lose customers to another Google upstart, both companies agreed to a deal. The fact that Google will rely on their networks should neutralize most of the potential impact from the new service.

Source: Motley Fool Investor Advisory Site (Retrieved 01/27/2015) –
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/27/google-inc-could-wreak-havoc-on-its-new-wireless-p.aspx

From being non-existent 20 years ago to now executing a strategy to dominate the mobile communication eco-system, shows how quickly a well-executed roadmap can impact the world.

This lends confidence to the viability of the revolutionary changes being proposed by the Go Lean roadmap. We can succeed in transforming our society in short order; the roadmap is a 5 year plan. Previous blogs/commentaries also exclaimed societal benefits from pursuits in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Consider this sample of previous blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3915	‘Change the way you see the world; you change the world you see’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3889	RBC EZPay and other Banking Automations – Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3490	How One STEM Entrepreneurial Start-up Can Rally a Whole Community
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3276	STEM/Medical Role Model Shaking Up the World of Cancer
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3187	Robots help Amazon tackle and dominate Cyber Monday
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2488	Role Model Jack Ma brings Alibaba to America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1743	Google and Novartis to develop ‘smart’ contact lens
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1277	The need for highway safety innovations – here comes Google
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=888	Book Review: ‘Citizenville – Take the Town Square Digital & Reinvent Govt’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=554	Cuban cancer medication registered in 28 countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	CARCIP Urges Greater Innovation

The Go Lean book posits that technology and ICT can level the playing field of competition and trade with the rest of the world. Surely this entire Google commentary demonstrates the advantage of leading with technological innovations. We do not have to be in Silicon Valley to have an impact. No, an innovator can be on a beach in the Caribbean homeland, with a great idea and support of his community. “Lightning in a bottle” is a valid analogy.

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Exploit Globalization – Producers & Consumers	Page 46
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Planning – Big Ideas – Cyber Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – STEM Promotion	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street – Mobile Apps: Time and Place	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth	Page 227
Appendix – CU Job Creations	Page 257
Appendix – Copyright Infringement – Protecting Intellectual Businesses	Page 351

Optimization of the economic engines; growing the regional economy to $800 Billion & creating 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The region needs this delivery. Without the equalizing effects of technology/ICT, we will be rendered inconsequential on the world scene. No wait: we are already! For this reason, we cannot and have not been able to retain our young people to commit to their Caribbean homeland, but rather we are only “fattening frogs for snake”.

This roadmap declares: Enough already – time for a change!

Now is the time to deliver the Caribbean as a better place to live, work and play… for today and for the future. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————

Source References:

* ICT = Internet Communications Technologies

^# QA = Quality Assurance – the cycles and processing to testing the quality on hardware, software and services.

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‘Change the way you see the world; you change the world you see’

Posted on January 24, 2015 in Ethos, Industries, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

Drawing reference to this quotation:

“No flying cars, no dinners in a pill, and certainly no cool rocketing off to space cities in the required outfit of the future. We seem to have failed the expectations of the most wild-eyed seers from the past – futurologists who were for the most part in love with a supercharged, technologically sexy future where science would free us from the daily grind, for holidays on the moon or underseas. But here we remain, plodding along … in a familiar world that is neither utopia nor dystopia.” – Go Lean…Caribbean (Page 26)

As evident in the above quotation, the Go Lean book focuses heavily on the future. But now that it is 2015, many people are disappointed that the future they had envisioned has not materialized. “The future ain’t what it used to be” – the book quotes this phrase as originating from Yogi Berra, the iconic Baseball Hall-of-Famer known for his eclectic phraseology.

There are many organizations that are focusing on future innovations, one of them is computer software giant Microsoft. As follows is a VIDEO featuring the company’s new hologram offering. This will change the way we see the world and with it we can change the world we see.

This quest aligns with the Go Lean book, in its mission to change the Caribbean, to elevate its society by optimizing the economic, security and governing engines. See this related VIDEO:

VIDEO – Microsoft HoloLens Review, mind blowing Augmented Reality! – https://youtu.be/ihKUoZxNClA

Published on Jul 21, 2016 – Microsoft HoloLens review, AR- mind blowing! By James Mackey!

My expectations were already high, but when I tried the HoloLens, my mind was blown at how outrageously good it is.

I show you Microsoft Office 365 running through my HoloLens, accessing Excel and Word as Holograms. I then access Microsoft Edge for web browsing plus YouTube, just incredible; AR for business.

I run some extremely cool HoloLens apps such as LSrD (wow, imagine the DMT trips you could simulate on this!) and then Galaxy Explorer to see our Solar System including the Sun and Saturn at very close up range.

I then run a Beta 3D simulation of a shark, once again, absolutely incredible. I zoom into the shark hologram whilst it’s swimming around my living room.

It’s without doubt the hand gestures need some work as it’s hard to manipulate objects when at a distance. The only other problem is the field of view is small, but once this has been resolved through future iterations of the HoloLens, AR is set to change the world.

Then, to go a step further with my futurist hat on, consider the Softcell Lens (AR in a contact Lens) and the EyeTap and the future really looks exciting, I see AR impacting every part of our lives. If we want it to of course.

I also link to my blog in the video where I discuss AR street dating, volumetrically captured video conferencing, AR shopping, facial and emotion recognition, and much more; http://www.mackie.xyz/james-mackie-pu…

I discuss emails, text messages and phone calls delivered through AR, the replacement / death of mobile phones and the personal computer. Death of the mouse & keyboard, eye-tracking, field of view, Adaptive Focus (Magic Leap) and even, imaginary friends!

AR | HoloLens | Microsoft HoloLens | Augmented Reality | futurist

Category: Science & Technology

License: Standard YouTube License

The book Go Lean…Caribbean champions the cause of building and optimizing the Caribbean eco-system. There are a lot of expectations for technology in the region, to aid and assist with all aspects of the Go Lean prime directives, defined as follows:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government to administer and optimize the economic/security/governing engines in the homeland of the region’s 30 member-states. The CU strives to elevate all of Caribbean society and culture. The Go Lean…Caribbean clearly recognizes that holograms will contribute to cultural development of any society. The Caribbean does not only want to be on the consuming end of these developments; we want to create, develop and contribute to the innovations. This starts by fostering genius in Caribbean stakeholders who demonstrate competence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This may apply more to the youth markets.

At the outset, the Go Lean roadmap recognizes the value of harnessing STEM career options. This intent was pronounced early in the book with these statements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14):

xiii. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxviii. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

The hologram system in the foregoing VIDEO is a combination of hardware and software, an appliance from Microsoft. But according to their press release, Independent Software Vendors will be partnering with Microsoft to develop and deploy software solutions. The Go Lean roadmap posits that the Caribbean must contribute software solutions for applications in this industry space. We cannot only consume; so a recommended community ethos for the region to adapt, “Return on Investments” (Page 24), calls for embedding incentives and inducements to encourage students and apprenticeships in this field. Imagine forgive-able student loans, on-the-job training employment contracts, paid internships, signing bonuses, etc. This ethos also translates into governing principles for federally sponsored business incubators, R&D initiatives, grants, entrepreneurship programs and the regional implementation of Self-Governing Entities (SGE).

The book estimates 64,000 new direct and indirect technology/software jobs in the Caribbean marketplace.

The Go Lean roadmap was constructed with the community ethos in mind to forge change and build up communities, plus the execution of related strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to make the change permanent. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Around	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Vision – Invite Diaspora Back to the Caribbean Homeland	Page 46
Strategy – Mission – Exploit the benefits and opportunities of globalization	Page 46
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Trends in Implementing Data Centers – Creating the ‘Cloud’	Page 106
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media – Caribbean Cloud	Page 111
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean	Page 118
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Cyber-Caribbean	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – STEM Promotion	Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance – e-Government & e-Delivery	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism – Internet Marketing	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth	Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Appendix – CU Job Creations	Page 257
Appendix – Copyright Infringement – Protecting Intellectual Businesses	Page 351

This Go Lean roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting to build-up Caribbean communities, to shepherd important aspects of Caribbean life, so as to better prepare for the future, dissuade emigration and encourage repatriation.

These goals were previously featured in Go Lean blogs/commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3641	‘We Built This City … on Music, Entertainment and Leisure Businesses’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3490	How One Internet Entrepreneur Can Rally a Whole Community
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3384	Plea to Detroit: Less Tech, Please
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3187	Robots help Amazon tackle Cyber Monday
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2953	Funding Caribbean Entrepreneurs – The ‘Crowdfunding’ Way
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487	Here come the Drones … and the Concerns
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416	Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1277	The need for highway safety innovations – here comes Google
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673	Ghost Ships Emergence – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=308	CARCIP Urges Greater Innovation

The Go Lean book focuses primarily on economic issues, and it recognizes that computer hardware, software and appliances, like the hologram system in the foregoing VIDEO, is the future direction for industrial developments. This is where the jobs are to be found. The Go Lean roadmap describes the heavy-lifting for people, organizations and governments to forge these innovations here at home in the Caribbean. The Caribbean is no Silicon Valley nor Silicon Beach, but a nascent industry can still be fostered and nurtured into fruition.

A Big Dream? No, this is a conceivable, believable and achievable business plan. The Go Lean book offers the turn-by-turn directions for strategies, tactics and implementations. With the right commitment of time, talent and treasuries, we can make the region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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