My Musings...

School 1957 vs 2010

2010-09-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

I read this as a reader comment to a story in WSJ.

Thought it was quite thought provoking. Read on.

SCHOOL - 1957 vs. 2010

Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.

2010 - Police called, arrests Johnny and Mark.. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. Both children go to anger management programs for 3 months. School board hold meeting to implement bullying prevention programmes

Scenario:
Robbie won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1957 - Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2010 - Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADHD. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and School gets extra funding from government because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2010 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.

Scenario :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with.

2010 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario :
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Guy Fawkes, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a bull ant nest.

1957 - Ants die.

2010- Police & Anti-Terrorism Squad called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario :
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary . Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2010 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

When the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts!

2010-06-01T15:57:00.001-07:00

Over the past two months, reading numerous blogs and articles on the highly anticipated and newly introduced Apple iPad, I have rarely, if ever, observed a product so polarizing. People have been divided into to very distinct and vocal camps of haters and lovers (aka "fanboys"). Why is this so?

The haters talk about which OS it runs (or does not), the frequency of the processor, lack of flash support, or lack of a camera and such. They passionately question why someone would ever need such a device and if it is really a new category of device or just a large iPhone. They focus on the ingredients and endlessly debate the specs of that particular feature.

The other camp, the lovers (and I admit to be part of this camp) describe the new user experience enabled by the device, the new apps, and a new way to access endless amounts of information enabled on their very fingertips.

It ultimately boils down to those who focus on the ingredients and those who focus on the product. Given I am such I foodie, I cannot resist comparing this to any good dish.

The objective there is to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts i.e. To make a fantastic dish, its not that a new ingredient has to be invented - just the right ones discovered, chosen, mixed together in just the right amounts, and cooked with love and care resulting in something fantastic.

With an iPad, as previously with the iPhone, the whole is clearly greater than the sum of the parts!

Sent from my iPad

I totally agree with item 1 ;-)

2010-04-29T21:25:00.001-07:00

The Man Rules
At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

Finally , the guys' side of the story.
We always hear "the rules"
From the female side....

Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered "1 "
ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.
( FIRST & FOREMOST RULE)

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.
You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.
We need it up, you need it down.
You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports, It's like the full moon
or the changing of the tides.
Let it be.

1.. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are.
Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something
Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it , just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials..

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched.
We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle..

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really .

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as Football
or Hockey.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this.
Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;

But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Trouble with Phones

2010-04-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that phones (especially those which are internet enabled) allow you to be everywhere at once but at the same time be really nowhere?

I myself have been guilty of this phenomenon where I chose to ignore (and possibly annoy) those I am sitting next to by immersing myself into my phone - checking email, texting, browsing, and commenting on social networks, etc. at somewhat unpredictable but frequent intervals.

We have clearly been enabled to do many things at the same time (multi-task) by these new breed of gadgets, but are we doing the right thing? Thoughts?

Sent from my iPhone (during a conversation with someone ;-)

Food Exhibitionism

2010-04-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

After being inspired by an interesting article in the New York Times titled, First Click, Then Fork (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/dining/07camera.html), I decided to photograph and record every meal I ate. My hypothesis was that since I was so publicly displaying what I ate, it would make me more accountable for my food choices (and quantities). This task was made easier by the fact that I was just heading out for a spring break with the family and expected to have some "free" time on my hand.

Photographing everything I ate certainly made me much more conscious about what I ate, how much I ate, and pretty much eliminated snacking (except for a few bites I snuck in here and there). All good things in my [recipe]book ;-)

However, it made me (and seem, according to some) a tad bit obsessed with food. I started to compulsively think about what was going to eat next and even plan to a certain degree rather than be impulsive and seek out things when I was hungry. I started eating all meals at regular times rather than skip an occasional meal as I normally do.

But the thing that bothered me the most (and many of my dear friends judging from their feedback) was looking at the photos of the food I ate. Just looking at the pictures reminded me of the delicious things I had eaten and that somehow created an unstoppable urge to seek out and conquer new food both with my camera (iPhone) and my stomach. This had to stop!

I put this experiment to rest within a short few days of starting (thankfully), and I am left to wonder if I had continued this experiment, would it have made me gain or loose weight (and possibly friends ;-) ?

Restart Blogging

2010-04-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

This blog has been gathering dust for quite some time now.

I am hoping to change that and start writing at least once a week.

To new beginnings.

People & Things

2008-09-29T10:55:00.001-07:00

"Things are to be used and people are to be loved,

But the problem in today's world is that people are
used and things are loved."

Capitalism Exposed

2008-09-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

When the pillars of capitalism - banks, blue blooded investment houses and the likes make bad bets, capitalism takes a surprising turn. Instead of the eat or be eaten "mantra" that purist in capitalism normally preach, the capitalists run with their tails between their legs to get rescued by the Federal regulators. Instead of getting slaughtered, CEOs of large financial institutions (eg. Fannie and Freddie) get multi-million dollar exit packages, while billions of dollars in bad debts are taken over by the Fed (code: written off to the taxpayer). Ultimately sticking it to the average person no matter what. Is this really capitalism?

Moral of the story - make crazy bets, take absurd risks, get caught with your pants down, and all this is fine as long as you are on top of the capitalism food chain! Yes indeed, a week that truly changed American capitalism, by exposing its true colors.

Stupidity and numbers?

2008-08-26T08:48:00.001-07:00

Do two people who don't know what they are talking about know more or
less than one person who does not know what he is talking about?
--
Sent from my iPhone

What is a Brand?

2008-08-22T10:29:00.001-07:00

The Brand Gap

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design brand)

Mastering Language Skills.

2008-08-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Heard this a couple of days ago. Pretty simple but profound on mastering language skills.

"Learn how to speak what you mean, else people will not know what you mean when you speak."

Ford Strikes Back!

2008-08-07T06:44:00.001-07:00

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Andrea Pininfarina, chief executive officer ofPininfarina SpA, a designer of sports cars including Ferrari Testarossas andFiat SpA's Alfa Spider, died in an accident today. He was 51.

Pininfarina died instantly after his Vespa scooter collided with a Ford Fiesta about 8:15 a.m. in Trofarello near the northern city of Turin, Italy, said police official Luigi Semenzato.

Strange thing about the future

2008-07-19T07:50:00.001-07:00

Heard today - If you can see the future, then you have no future.

TGIF - Thank God its Friday!

2008-07-18T22:18:00.001-07:00

Another interesting anecdote from the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Prof. Pausch received tenure one year earlier than most professors at Carnegie Mellon University. This is clearly considered quite a major achievement. When asked how he achieved that, Prof. Pausch replied, "Call me any Friday at 10pm in my office and I will tell you about it."

Pretty self explanatory! Hopefully that's why I am blogging at 10:18pm Friday night ;-)

Enemies speak the truth!

2008-07-17T22:21:00.001-07:00

Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty. -Stephen King, novelist (b. 1947)

Think

2008-07-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

I was reading Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture, a NY Times bestseller and came across the following: "Weather you think you can or you can't, you're right!"

This reminded me of the poster which my Dad gave me in high school, and I have to this day (picture posted on the left). Its one of the only things I have kept so dearly for so long and has been priceless.

Thanks Dad!

Speed at which we move...

2008-07-01T15:07:00.001-07:00

Wow - They just finally figured it out, just in time for his 90th B'day! Bush Removes Nelson Mandela from Terror Watch List
By VOA News 01 July 2008

Nelson Mandela (file photo)

U.S. President George Bush Tuesday signed a bill that allows Nelson Mandela to enter the United States without special clearance.

The measure officially removes Mr. Mandela and his African National Congress from a U.S. terror watch list.

The former South African president may now visit the United States without the U.S. secretary of state having to certify that he is not a terrorist.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner turns 90 on July 18.

Some information for this report provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Average, People & Stupidity

2008-06-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

I overheard someone complaining how stupid average people are! They added, by definition, half the people are stupider than that and that was the really scary or funny part ;-)

I felt that I should comment on the ignorance about the meaning of average by the average person. To to mathematically correct, numerically half would be stupider from the median not average.

Iron Banana - By Ajay

2008-06-24T22:39:00.001-07:00

What can I say? Go Iron Banana in his Lair!

Dream - Dr. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India

2008-06-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

Dogs and Electricity

2008-05-22T19:23:00.001-07:00

Thomas Edison (famous inventor) wrote to the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) that he was looking into the exact quantity of electricity required to kill dogs, work that would incidentally help to safeguard the lives of lineman in the electric power business. Would the SPCA be so kind as to supply some "good sized" animals as soon as possible?

Late 1880s!

The Last Lecture

2008-05-19T12:58:00.001-07:00

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."
--Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

Sophistication

2008-05-17T08:10:00.001-07:00

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
-Leonard da Vinci

Mice and Intelligence

2008-05-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

Scientists, after a lengthy study, have discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail "or blogs" with their hand on the mouse.

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late.

Why Not?

2008-05-13T06:40:00.001-07:00

Asking "Why?" can lead to understanding.
Asking "Why not?" can lead to breakthroughs.

Why not try that?

Moral of the Story

2008-05-11T06:50:00.000-07:00

All the kids are required a write a story for Navi and give it to him Monday morning when he picks them up for school. The number of words depends on their grade level i.e. 100 words for 1st graders, 200 words for 2nd grader, and so on. Navi either provides the topic, for example "if cars could fly", or the starting few words, for example "it was a dark and stormy night ..." The kids are supposed to used their imagination and complete the rest of the story.

Our rapid writer, Ajay, consistently plows through the writing in a matter of a few minutes. His stories usually follow a similar pattern - The main character, usually a small sized creature, begins a long and arduous journey; he crosses large bodies of water (typically oceans), he climbs mountains (typically snow peaked), crosses polar regions, etc. etc. I suppose you get the idea.

Last weekend he wrote about a "french fry" who began the usual journey, crossed oceans, mountains, etc. till he reached a river. To cross the river he had to solicit the help of a turtle who did offer to take the "french fry" across. However the Turtle ended up eating the "french fry" half way down the river!

To force him to "think different" I told Ajay that each story must finish with a moral or he has to write the story again. I was not sure what moral could even be for such a unconnected, and fictitious story. Ajay's came back with the following response after giving it a couple of minutes of thought "If you are yummy, you should watch out else you will be eaten!"

I was speechless.

Think Different - Corporate Culture

2008-05-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Leap Years

2008-05-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

Guru and Nina had a sleepover at our place Saturday night. On Sunday morning I took them and the boyz for breakfast at McDonalds which is very near their school. When Guru asked me where I was going, my evil answer was of course school!

"But its Sunday!", cried Guru. I told him that it was Monday and it was time for school. I also added that it was too bad that he was still in his PJs and I was very sorry for allowing him to oversleep so he did not get a chance to change up. Fortunately, for Vijay and Ajay, they were lazy enough to not have changed before going to sleep so they were in their day clothes. "But today is Sunday!", said Guru and so did the rest of the gang - Nina, Vijay and Ajay.

I asked them if they knew about leap years? They all replied, yes! I continued, is 2008 a leap year? They all said, yes. "We do you know happens in leap years?", I inquired. There was silence. "Leap years, leap over Sundays." You go from Saturday to Monday.

For a brief moment the look of fear in their faces was priceless ;-) Yes, I am bad.

Think, but wisely.

2008-05-04T08:35:00.001-07:00

1600AD Descartes: I think, therefore I am
400BC Buddha: What we think, we become.

Hence, do think, but wisely.

Life is beautiful!

2008-05-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

Be Choosy

2008-05-04T06:54:00.001-07:00

Choose things in your life that will endure, that are a pleasure to use. Choose things because they delight you, not because they impress others. And never let things be more important than your friends, family, and your own spirit.
-Marney Morris, Animatrix, & Stanford.

Someone I know well (withholding names to protect the innocent) is delighted in impressing others and seems to make choices about things based on that. Clearly they are making choices that delight them, but in a weird sort of way. What should I make of that?

Trash Talk

2008-05-03T21:34:00.001-07:00

The United States spends more on trash bags than ninety other countries spend on everything! In other words the receptacles of our waste cost more than all the goods consumed by nearly half of the worlds nations.
- Polly LaBarre, Fast Company March 2003

Adding anything more to this fact would be such a waste.

Dogs reduce allergies in kids! - Could they?

2008-04-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

German researchers have apparently confirmed that keeping a dog as a family pet will reduce the chance that kids will develop allergies - a finding which backs a theory that having a mutt about the house "trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever".

A team from the National Research Centre for Environmental Health in Munich, led by Joachim Heinrich, carried out a six-year study of 9,000 kids, Reuters explains. Heinrich confirmed: "Our results show clearly that the presence of a dog in the home during subjects' infancy is associated with a significantly low level of sensitization to pollens and inhaled allergens."

Significantly, children who had frequent contact with dogs but didn't have one at home lacked the same protective effect. The reason is unclear, but it's suggested youngsters may get "beneficial early exposure to germs carried into the house on the animal's fur".

-Lester Haines/European Respiratory Journal.

Now I have a convincing argument to allow Cookie (our yellow lab) in the house rather than outside - and funnily enough, the dirtier she is, the better it is :-)

Startup 101

2007-11-28T06:42:00.000-08:00

Use technology to effectively implement a idea which makes money. Do not expect to make money using technology.

Judgement

2007-11-12T15:13:00.002-08:00

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."
-Henry Wadsworth Longsfellow

Aristotle

2007-11-12T15:13:00.001-08:00

We are what we repeatedly do.

President with a Single Tooth?

2007-10-26T12:30:00.001-07:00

In 1789 when George Washington was elected President, he had only one tooth, a lower bicuspid.
-Poster in my dentist's office :-)

Monkey Business

2007-10-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

Wild monkeys assaulted the deputy mayor of New Delhi on Saturday as he sat on his terrace, reading the morning paper. In the scuffle, S.S. Bajwa lost his balance, tumbled from his building, and died the next day from injuries sustained in the fall.

Adam Scott's (Dilbert) Analysis:
Devout Hindus often feed nuts and bananas to the monkeys. So it should come as no surprise that monkeys will occasionally jump on your balcony, grab your nuts, and try to get their paws on your banana. This is why the phrase “had it coming” was invented.

Simplicity and other Thoughts - Albert Einstein

2007-10-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

"If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."

Clarity - Alan Greenspan

2007-10-01T17:42:00.001-07:00

"I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said."
-Alan Greenspan

Producing Good Work - Vincent van Gogh

2007-10-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh had a simple philosophy for producing good work -- "you have to eat well, be well housed, have a screw from time to time, smoke your pipe and drink your coffee in peace."
-Reuters

I knew, I was limiting myself by not smoking. Van Gogh agrees.