In 1985, controversial French sociologist Michel Maffesoli created the term “urban tribe” to describe groups of people who share common interests. The current issue of The Economist has a fascinating article about the subdivisions of urban China into various improbably named tribes (or zu in Mandarin).

These include:

• Yi zu, or ant tribe—recent graduates from outside the main cities who move to urban areas, live cheaply, work hard, often in low-paid jobs. This term was term coined by Chinese sociologist Lian Si in his 2009 book, Ant Tribe. He says “They share every similarity with ants. They live in colonies in cramped areas. They’re intelligent and hardworking, yet anonymous and underpaid.”
• Ken lao zu, the bite-the-old tribe, those between 25 and 35 who are underemployed or out of work, still at home and sponging off their parents.
• Jia wan zu, the marry-the-bowl tribe. These are young women searching for that most stable of husbands, the one who holds a government (or “iron rice bowl”) job.
• Yin hun zu, the hidden-marriage tribe. Women in their 20s who hide the fact that they are married, knowing they will not be hired or promoted in paternalistic Chinese companies unwilling to grant maternity leave.
• Wo ju zu, the snail-house tribe who can only afford a postage stamp of an apartment.
• Ben ben zu, the rush-rush tribe, to which, in fact, most urban Chinese belong.

and last, but not least:

• Nie nie zu, the crush-crush tribe, so named because they go into supermarkets and take out their frustrations with urban life by standing in the aisles crushing packets of instant noodles. Well, why not? It beats going postal.

I download podcasts and listen to them on my drive to work. Today, driving my 16-year-old car which has any number of replacement auto parts keeping it on the road, listening to a 3-year-old Apple iPod, I heard two stories which described how electronics and auto parts are manufactured in China and America. Apart a clearer understanding about where the things I use in my daily life are made, I was struck by the diametrically opposed nature of Chinese and American manufacturing. Really, it was night and day. Click on the links below and listen to the podcasts for yourself. Both stories make for very compelling listening.

This American Life: Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory

Mike Daisey was a self-described “worshiper in the cult of Mac.” Then he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made. Mike wondered: Who makes all my crap? He traveled to China to find out.

He visited the Foxconn assembly plant in Shenzhen, a city of 14 million that did not exist 30 years ago, the third largest city in China that almost no-one in the West has heard of. It’s where, Daisey says, “all our electronic crap comes from … Shenzen looks like Blade Runner threw up on itself.”

What he found there was the “back to the future” nature of Dickensian-style labor-intensive assembly plants where all the PCs, laptops, cell phones, tablets and MP3 players come from. These vast assembly plants employ tens of thousands of people in each building:

… a creature of the first world, I expect a factory making complex electronics will have the sound of machinery. But in a place where the cost of labor is effectively zero, anything that can be made by hand is made by hand. No matter how complex your electronics are, they are assembled by thousands and thousands of tiny little fingers working in concert. And in those vast spaces the only sound is the sound of bodies in constant, unending motion.

Daisey concludes:

How often do we wish more things were hand-made? We talk about that all the time, don’t we? “I wish it was like the old days, I wish things had that human touch…” But that’s not true. There are more hand-made things now than there have ever been in the history of the world. Everything is hand-made. I know, I have been there, I have seen the workers laying in parts thinner than human hair, one after another after another. Everything is hand-made.

NPR Planet Money: The Transformation Of American Factory Jobs

In American factories nothing is hand-made. Lacking cadres of rural migrants willing to work 16 hour days and sleep in cramped dorms, companies that are still manufacturing Stateside have replaced people with machines.

A decade ago, life in Greenville, South Carolina was organized around the cotton mills. Each mill had its own village, its own church, its own bar. These places were abandoned over the past decade as mill after mill went out of business. In the old Greenville the mills ran three shifts a day, and, as in China today, people with minimal education could work in a factory and make a living.

That was then, this is now.

There are still factories in Greenville, such as the Standard Motor Products plant that makes replacement parts for car engines. NPR reporter Adam Davidson expected to find a motor parts factory filled with big, noisy machines stamping out parts and spewing oil. Instead he saw workers hunched over microscopes. It looked more like a science lab than an assembly line.

The workers need an encyclopedic knowledge of metals and microscopes, gauges and plugs. They manage machine tools that create items like fuel injectors, which require precision engineering.

The few unskilled workers, in contrast, are trained to run the automated machines in minutes and can be replaced if the cost of “human capital” exceeds the capital cost of the machine.

The question is, can the 11 million unskilled manufacturing workers in the U.S. acquire the training they need, or will they have to take a slow boat to China to find work?

Adam Davidson explores life in Greenville in more depth in The Atlantic magazine.

Alexandra Watkins is the Founder & Chief Innovation Officer at Eat My Words, a San Francisco based creative naming agency known for creating unforgettable brand names. The following post originally appeared in her blog and is reposted here with her express permission.

Announcing the most frightful brand name of 2011… the Head Scratcher of the Year goes to…

Ironically, the global search for Eat My Words’ annual Head Scratcher of the Year winner produced the disastrous mash-up of those very two words global + search: Glearch. This trainwreck of two perfectly good words is without a doubt, the worst brand name of 2011. Honorable mention goes to Qwikster (died a quik death), Helishopter (what the heli were they thinking?), and Fooducate (so similar to fornicate, it sounds like something you could be arrested for if you did it in the aisle of your local Safeway).

The unanimous response to Glearch is it conjures up terrifying images of Lurch, the freakishly tall and ghoulish manservant from the Addam’s Family, who never spoke, using only grunts, sighs, or simple gesticulations. This is never a good thing. Glearch also reminds people of the word, lurch, which has many unfortunate definitions. And it’s hard to spell… Glerch, Glurch, Glurruch… you shouldn’t need a search engine to find Glearch. Duh.

We admit that Glearch is actually a pretty cool tool. It lets you search by country, language, and/or by search engine. Clearly someone very smart created it. Unfortunately they were not as skilled when it came to creating the name. As with past Head Scratcher winners, including Xobni, Speesees, Shwowp, and Shryk, we suspect Glearch was the result of a drunken Scrabble game. Tip: Just because a domain name is available on GoDaddy for $9.95 does not mean that is what you should name your company.

As the winner of Eat My Words’ 2011 Head Scratcher of the Year award, Glearch will receive a freakishly tall gold plated trophy. (We’re also happy to give them some complimentary name consulting should they decide to glearch for a new name.)

Special props go to super sleuth Charles Knight, of AltSearchEngines, who tipped us off to the name Glearch, along with dozens of others clunkers, over the past few months. Charles suggested a new definition for Glearch: a verb meaning, to turn something wonderful into something terrible. We submitted “glearch” and its new definition to the Urban Dictionary, where you can now find it listed.

Please continue to send us bad names for our 2012 Head Scratcher contest. And if you want to make sure the next brand name you come up with doesn’t win that freakishly tall trophy, take the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH name evaluation test to see if your name sucks. Of course, please contact us right away if your name does indeed suck. Operators are standing by.

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy Holiday with the sincere wish that clients or managers at work don’t try your patience in the ways shown in these two hilarious videos.

Do either of these creative challenges resonate with you?

Viewpoint Creative – Holiday Card from Viewpoint Creative on Vimeo.

I help edit SPEAKER Magazine for the National Speakers Association (NSA). Each month I curate the Relevant Resources column – a list of time-saving tools and technologies.

The December edition listed a variety of gifts suitable for clients, speakers’ bureau contacts, colleagues, friends and loved ones. Whether the recipient is a foodie, science geek, chocolate lover, adventure seeker or bookworm, this selection is sure to get your gift-giving wheels turning.

Get a Life

Give the gift of nostalgia with a copy of the actual LIFE magazine published the week your recipient was born or during a key event that took place in their lifetime. Pick a date from 1936 to 2000 and add a beautiful easy access hinged wood display frame for $35. Prices vary by date of issue.

Achieve Stardom

There are billions of stars in the sky, but only one with your (or your loved one’s) name on it. The Name a Star gift box is a unique and romantic gift that comes with naming instructions, a wall map, astronomy booklet and personalize pen. Once the recipient submits a name, he or she will receive a certificate, unique information about the star and a guide to locate it in the night sky. $40.

Keep It Classic

They say all professional speakers should have a book. U Star Novels let’s you star in a personalized edition of your favorite classic alongside your friends, family members or colleagues. The plot remains the same, but you choose the cast and decide who follows the White Rabbit down the hall in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and who gets to be Tom Sawyer in the Mark Twain classic. $24.95.

Rev’d Up

Give your adventure junkie friend the ultimate adrenaline boost with a Race Car Driving Experience gift from Cloud9 Living. Choose from locations nationwide and numerous racing packages, including stockcar racing, Indy car racing, formula racing and dragster racing. Whatever you choose, it is sure to fulfill the need for speed. Prices vary.

Choc-o-Lot

Everyone knows a chocolate lover or two. Give them the ultimate gift that keeps on giving-membership with the Chocolate of the Month Club from Amazing Clubs. Each month, they’ll receive a one pound selection of premium chocolate made by leading chocolatiers across the nation. Membership plans are offered in three-, six-, and 12-month periods. Prices vary.

It Figures

Surprise clients or loved ones with a fully customized figurine from Sculpteo. Simply upload a headshot and profile picture, describe the clothes and accessories you want your figurine to have, approve the model and receive it in the mail in just 10 days! Go conventional or eccentric, and select from a variety of themes and careers including fireman, pilot, doctor, sports aficionado. $75.

Spell It Out

Like to D-I-Y? Letter Perspectives lets you design your own unique framed letter art using a name, unique phrase or word that is special to the recipient. Create a masterpiece by entering letters, choosing your theme ( nature, sports or rustic), selecting from black and white or sepia photo tones, and picking the perfect mat and frame to match. Starting at $160.

Feelin’ Hot Hot Hot

Spice things up in the New Year with a personalized gallon jug of Tabasco – everyone’s favorite hot sauce. Nothing says “I’m a TABASCO lover” like one of these sitting on the kitchen counter. Available in all the flavors you love: Original Red, Green, Chipotle, Garlic, Habanero, and SWEET & Spicy. $44.95.

As You Wish

Need a little R&R after the holidays? SpaWish gift certificates and cards can be used at thousands of day spas and beauty salons across the country for services like manicures, pedicures, haircuts, hot stone massages and tanning. Print a personalized gift certificate at home, have it delivered via e-mail or shipped in a gift box for as low as $4.99. Prices vary.

Next to Napa

Dinner at Thomas Keller’s famed Napa Valley gourmet restaurant (voted one of the top 10 restaurants in the world) costs around $300 a head, and reservations need to be made six months ahead. Why wait? Treat someone to The French Laundry Cookbook and dine in style over the holidays. $30.

Help Haiti

Give a gift with meaning, purpose and passion. The Lambi Fund of Haiti provides boats, fishing equipment, pigs, goats, honeybees, tree seedlings and irrigation canals that can be purchased in a friend or family member’s name. With these special gifts of life, families in Haiti are provided with numerous opportunities to grow and generate income. Prices vary.

You can subscribe to SPEAKER magazine on the NSA website.

I’ve blogged about ways to represent large numbers that uses images of a trillion dollars stacked on pallets. Now, thanks to Kostas, my financial adviser, here’s a fascinating chart that’s all about money.

To view, be sure to click on the ‘+’ symbol in the upper left of the screen a few times until you can see the chart detail. There’s graphical representation of the value of dollars, thousands, millions, billions and trillions. It’s all here, from the cost of buying the world a Coke – and teaching the world to sing – to the value of $1000 invested at 5% over time:

Given the focus on the 1% that the Occupy movement has, this part of the chart shows that they might want to narrow the focus to the top 1/500th percent:

Elsewhere in the chart it shows that the 1.6 million US households which make up the top 1% claim a fifth of all household wealth ($2 trillion) while the next 9 million households share the next $2 trillion, down to the 63 million households making up the bottom 50% who earn below $55,000 annually. That, together with the chart showing the hourly income of CEOs today compared to production line workers, makes for some compelling infographics to paper the walls of your tent in Zuccotti Park.

Round and round it goes
Round and round it goes
- Spandau Ballet

I recently heard a startling NPR report on Roundabouts in the USA.

The report highlights that, over the past decade, the number of roundabouts in the U.S. has increased dramatically, from the low hundreds up to the thousands. Traffic circles (as roundabouts are known Stateside) clearly cut down on commute time and pollution.

Traffic engineers in Los Angeles estimate that at just one intersection

…more than 100 hours of cars just sitting there wasting gas will be saved every day after the retrofit. That calculates to a reduction in tens of thousands of pounds of greenhouse gases every year.

So, with improved traffic flow equaling less wasted time and less pollution, what’s not to like about roundabouts?

Plenty, it seems to some.

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt

NPR reports that roundabout projects have been defeated all over the U.S. by people who think they’re dangerous. LA resident Isabella McNeil’s comments are typical:

“Oh my gosh, I see people literally like, there’s nothing there, they just keep going, and I’m stuck going, ‘Uh, I think it was your turn to yield?’ ”

An educational campaign that communicates the advantages of roundabouts seems key to overcoming American resistance to changing their approach to intersections from stop and go to going with the flow.

I’ve blogged before about the peculiar aversion to clotheslines exhibited by many Americans. Add an aversion to roundabouts together with a love of green jelly as a side dish to a Turkey Dinner at Thanksgiving and you have a unique trifecta of likes and dislikes in the Land of the Free.

On Sunday I invited my daughter to the Shattuck Cinema in Berkeley for the opening weekend of Tiffany Shlain’s latest film Connected. Since we both work at Cisco, and the movie trailer promised a discussion of internet and connectivity, I thought we’d both find it interesting and relevant to our day jobs. “It’ll be a nice Father-Daughter afternoon out,” I mentioned to Emily.

I had no idea.

Tiffany Shlain is the daughter of Dr. Leonard Shlain, a Renaissance man who was a surgeon, inventor and author. In May 2009 he passed away after a two-year battle with brain cancer. This film is an emotionally raw account of her father’s life and death; of his influence on her and the ideas on language and the brain he developed in his book The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image; of
her own struggle to conceive a second child and of her eldest child’s brush with a life-threatening medical emergency.

She started work on the film five years ago, at that time her Dad was one of her principal advisers on the script. His passing both challenged her ability to complete the film and offered an opportunity to make her autobiography a point of departure for a wide-ranging consideration of the effect of the internet, connectivity and collaboration on society today.

Tiffany has been involved in the promotion of the web as the founder of the “Webby Awards” as well as an early proponent of distance learning.

The film uses animated timelines to span developments in science, technology and innovation from the Big Bang to the present day. She focuses on historical figures such as Einstein, Marie Curie and James Lovelock to detail the evolution of ideas from the era of the printing press to the web. The decline of the honeybee is seen as a leitmotif for the many threats to the planet that patriarchal, left-brained thinking has led to.

However, Tiffany takes an optimistic view of the potential for the interconnected world we inhabit to discover a way out of the crisis. By focusing less on linear text and more on pattern recognition and images, she suggests the Web might begin to undo the centuries exaltation of the masculine, left-brained approach to problems.

As Adi Da Samraj has written in Not-Two Is Peace, Only everybody-all-at-once can change the current chaos. Tiffany’s stunning autobiographical film holds hope that the interconnectivity made possible by the network will indeed become a platform for a sensible resolution to the challenges we all face.

Coming to Theaters

Connected is currently playing at selected theaters in San Francisco, Berkeley and Mill Valley, CA. Over the next six weeks it opens in Portland, OR; Monterey, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA; New York, NY and Denver, CO.

Speechwriters are the coming thing. In fact, this is a profession that is more talked about, and more written about, than ever.

Want proof?

According to the Google Ngrams database of millions of terms from their vast collection of digitized books in American English, “speechwriter” is an increasingly common word. Here’s the results for the the period 1950 to 2008:

(Click here to enlarge.)

The Financial Times marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, in May 1611, with a review of a wide range of books on the topic.

This King James Bible is clearly, to date, the most read book in the English language. It was translated from prior Latin, Greek and Hebrew versions by a committee of scholars meeting in London.

What I find remarkable is the impact of language of this version of the Bible on common English. Phrases which originated in the King James translation include:

• apple of his eye
• clear as crystal
• how are the mighty fallen
• fat of the land
• fell flat on his face
• fly in the ointment
• lick the dust
• man after his own heart
• rise and shine
• rod of iron
• signs of the times
• sour grapes
• sweat of his brow
• wheels within wheels

Public speakers from the 17th to mid-20th Century drew on people’s intimate familiarity with the King James Bible and similar sources (Shakespeare’s plays, hymns) to create a bond through commonly accepted touchstones that matched their assumptions with those of their audience. Modern speechwriters, lacking audiences who would respond to overt Biblical references, nevertheless might find some of the phrases listed resonate unconsciously as they echo down the centuries.