Confused, Dazed, Oblivious, Out of Reach and In Too Deep

The end of a decade, my Twenties

2010-02-02T01:13:00.005-05:00

As I look back at the past decade, my twenties, I can remember every incident that molded me and made me the person I am today. I did not enjoy my twenties at all. In fact, I have grown to hate so many years of the last ten that there seems to be more despair than happiness. I have resolved to make it my mission to take charge of the next decade, to make it my own, to grow as a person in a multi faceted way. I am bursting with ideas and philosophies that I will elucidate in another post. In that post, I'll to write about what I learnt from this era, what I plan to do and how I will try to shape the next ten years.

I have left out a few experiences and have only obtusely referenced others. But the ones I have cited suffice to acknowledge the various influences in these years.

Without further ado, a tribute to the decade that was -

2000 - mid 2002:

I thoroughly enjoyed my undergraduate days. People often speak of their "halcyon days" when looking at their past, these days were my halcyon days. I played hard, studied hard and formed lasting friendships, Myriad Maiden (of course!) and Nazgul. I also chanced upon what I knew to be my career. These were defining years, every which way.

mid 2002 - early 2005:

The world had its dark ages before its renaissance. This was mine. Darkness was my companion and friend. The only saving grace during this period was that I had LonelyPlanet and heavy metal in my life. I lived in poverty during these times, abject poverty at that. I experienced shame, a burning shame that I couldn't share with anyone. I learnt disappointment, bitter disappointment at my own naivety, the ways of the world and my inability to shape it, at my helplessness to help my parents. The list goes on.

Some of the highlights:

I lived on one pretzel and a cup of coffee for more than a year.

To eke out a living, I cleaned restrooms, folded clothes, lifted crates and operated a fork lift.

I worked free for a long long time. This was in addition to the afore mentioned manual labor.

My preconceived notions of a masters came crashing down. Drexel had its way of grinding your dreams into dust.

Huge mood swings between misery and sadness to manic happiness.

What made it all worthwhile:

LonelyPlanet - we shared some good times!

Awesome room mates - Hejmady, Setlur and Giri.

Heavy metal - I did stupid things to save money and go to these shows, but did it make life that much easier! If there is anything I underestimate, it is the influence that this music and these shows have had on my morale.

early 2004:

I lost my father. May his soul rest in peace. If there was one incident in the past decade that I still haven't made peace with, this is it. The circumstances around this incident crushed my spirit. I still have many unresolved issues, too many demons to conquer. I hope to put them all to sleep in the next decade.

mid 2004 - early 2005:

This was another period in my life where I dreaded waking up every morning. I woke up everyday and through elevated stress levels, counted the hours till sunset. This was the period I was job hunting. The job market wasn't in good shape. Software jobs, through consultants, were available but were not exactly my first choice. I didn't go through hell for the last two and half years to quit this easily. I was constantly preparing for interviews for jobs in my field of choice but my need to get a H1 was more pressing than my preference in the type of job. I went down the rabbit hole that is consultancy - this was akin to living in the movie "Nightmare on Elm's street". I lied about myself and faced constant humiliation when I fell short. I was miserable that I was lying about myself and my confidence was at an all time low. This is as lightly as I can describe my sense of self worth at the time. My attempt at filing an H1 application was met with a 4 page RFE - I had all but both legs on a flight home, a flight that would have been my crowning defeat.

But the sun did rise on my plight - I got, what in retrospect I consider to be, a wonderful first job.

early 2005 - mid 2007:

I thoroughly enjoyed this period. I loved my job and the people I worked with. I had little time for a social life but I learnt, worked and accomplished a lot. Some rough patches, socially speaking, but I am glad nothing fell apart. A significant highlight of this period - I fell in love.

late 2005:

I must mention an absolutely wonderful trip I took with my mother and brother to Cambodia and Thailand. This was the first international vacation my family was taking. My mother was absolutely thrilled on seeing Cambodia. This was one of the best vacations I've taken.

mid 2007 to late 2009:

This period was a bit of both - happiness and despair. It's no secret that I did not like what I was doing. I had a host of problems with people at work. After what I had tasted previously, in terms of work, I was left very unsatisfied with my current responsibilities. It was a culture shock that took me a while to get over. I bit the bullet and tried to stay the course as my H1 was on its second term and I needed stability to board the immigration train before it left the station for good. There were some shining moments at work that did leave me with a good feeling but these were few and far between.

But I was in a city that I came to love quickly, I had great friends and an active social life. Looking back, I think it was these non-career-but-equally-important-for-your-well-being activities that lulled me into a sense of complacency. I hoped to overcome any and all reservations I had just to keep a good thing going. But that wasn't meant to last and in yet another twist in the saga, I found myself in a very familiar place - a place that I hadn't been in since mid 2007.

I had a mid-life crisis (or whatever you want to call it) at the total lack of direction in my life. Time flowed and took me along with it but I was going no where particular. This lack of a sense of purpose and direction caused me great concern.

I also lost love. It broke my heart.

mid 2008 - late 2008:

My mother's visit to the USA. I had been away from home since 2002 and I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with her. Since she wasn't keen on seeing cities or monuments, I planned an elaborate vacation spanning the course of her 6 month stay to visit and more importantly, experience as many national parks as possible. Much to her delight, we covered an impressive list of parks. I am so proud that she held up without any fuss. She is a fighter! I was really sorry to see her go, but she was mentally done with her visit. She needed to be back in her environs, where she was lord and master of all that she surveyed.

early 2010:

I am happy with where I am now. I am wiser. The experiences of the last few years have been invaluable in making me the person I am now. I know myself, my motivations, my strengths, my weaknesses - I have understood myself by living life with its ups and downs. Even though I did not enjoy long stretches of my formative years, I am glad it gave me an opportunity to examine and understand myself in great depth. This had given me great strength in planning for the future, a future that I can make my own, a future which isn't just shaped by my floating along with the tide of time.

[end of part 1/2]

Avatar

2009-12-19T01:38:00.006-05:00

Yes, I just saw the new James Cameron opus "Avatar".

Some quick thoughts on:

The visual experience:
in 3D, its visually stunning! Its magnificent! The boundaries of imagination of what an alien planet blessed with rich flora and fauna will look like have been challenged, no, have been assailed resulting in a world that has been painstakingly crafted in all its exquisite detail. I was impressed by the diversity of fictional biological life. Creatures, though very dinosaur and prehistoric Earth like, have wonderful design detail and flawless rendering. There is no doubt that Avatar is a visual tour de force!

The cast: (in order of my preference)
Zoe Saldana
Stephen Lang
Sam Worthington
Sigourney Weaver

Zoe Saldana or her character Neytiri, a princess of the Na'vi tribe, is my favorite character of the movie. She is feminine, beautiful (character wise), elegant, tender and at the same time is aggressive, loyal and trustworthy. Her emotions ring true and the manner of display, honest.

Stephen Lang, as always is the case, is a battled hardened commander whose dedication to the mission is so personal that there are no distinctions between failure and death, between success and life. His absolute apathy to the plight of the Na'vi serves as the face of unrelenting oppression. His character is designed to be so hard and unlikeable that the viewer's sensitivities swing the other way to associate and sympathize with the Na'vi.

Sam Worthington's character Jake Sully is the typical Hollywood character who dusts off bullets, plays a game of chicken with death and wins, one who walks on water and can eat fire. He, in the face of great adversity, overcomes tremendous internal conflict and saves the world just to uphold and save what is worth saving - truth, love, and loyalty. His character development is the most interesting though as we learn about him only through his avatar.

Sigourney Weaver is back as an all out, ballsy, 'I take no shit from nobody' researcher except this time her character is rather matronly. She oversees Jake's induction and continued interaction with the Na'vi. She is the resident expert on all things biological on Pandora and on the social mores of the Na'vi. Her conscience is a razor sharp knife - things fall on one side pretty quickly - her side or on Stephen Lang's.

Honorable mentions must be made of Michele Rodriguez as a marine pilot and Dileep as a lackey on Sigourney Weaver's team (except that his name is spelled wrong :))

Some viewer reactions:
Most people who watched Avatar focused on its pace - it is a rather long movie. The character development and the exploration of the visuals (mainly of the forest and of the creatures that inhabit Pandora) contributed to the pace and totally escaped many viewers. Its akin to Peter Jackson's "Return of the King" taking all the credit over "The Fellowship of the Ring" because it leverages all the elements of an excellent action fantasy movie but is based of an entire movie's worth of character development.

Even though it masquerades as an intelligent character driven movie, it suffers from annoying cliches. The dialogues, at most times, are frustrating. They are predictable, mundane and appear to have been written in a hurry while in the bathroom.

Overall this movie has many moments where cliches and banalities threaten to engulf and drown the experience but there is always something developing, be it characters, visuals or action sequences to redeem this movie.

My reactions:

Pros:
Action and visualization - incredible stereo camera angles takes you into the skies to fly with the Na'vi warriors. The incredible detail in the jungle and the lush landscapes is worthy of the master Peter Jackson. The creatures on the other hand were a little simplistic and too earth like. They were not fundamentally different in any way from creatures we are familiar with. The attempt at being ever so different falls short by a mile and then some! All they could do was strap on two more legs to a horse? and give it a snout?

Symbolism - Jake Sully's avatar swatting away the seeds of the tree of life - he doesn't understand it so he fears it and thinks of destroying them. Once he is saved, his playfulness with the forest betrays an inquisitiveness, he is now very keen to open his eyes, ears and heart and let the sights, sounds and spirit of the forest get in.

Love - their love was simple and honest. I am thankful it wasn't more involved. Cameron sets up the stage with a few subtle clues in scenes leading up to the one in the tree of souls.

The larger human condition - Man is afraid of the dark, of things he doesn't understand and once this fear sets in - there is a high resistance to learn and understand and is replaced by a yearning to destroy this unknown, poorly understood horror.

Cons:
Character development - Though an attempt is made to be patient and textured, the development of various characters was too simplistic and episodic with some characters reduced to mere statements. This is frustrating as I feel certain aspects of various characters could have been explored in a little more detail. Maybe the real issue I have here is the line between stating characters as fact and developing them consistently fell on the wrong side.

Dialogues - This department single-handedly ruined the experience with gems like "I see you", "You have a good heart". It really does seem that Cameron downloaded a Hollywood phrase generator, clicked on it a thousand times and paid someone minimum wage to stitch these together to form dialogues.

Some home truths

2009-09-23T00:47:00.002-04:00

of the average human life.

Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree sings -

"And pride is just another way
Of trying to live with my mistakes
Denial is a better way
Of getting through another day
And silence is another way
Of saying what I wanna say
And lying is another way
Of hoping it will go away"

Response to a comment on "My mid life crisis"

2009-08-10T22:58:00.003-04:00

Anonymous posted "You will feel alive when - you get out of your comfort zone ready to set new expectations and change."

I thought I addressed this in the post but let me elaborate a little -

Setting new expectations for yourself outside the norm and striving to meet it is, as I've pointed out, what will satisfy most people. Personally, being out of my comfort zone and challenging myself is currently in my comfort zone. So much so, that I fear that these challenges, in order to be satisfying and enriching, are going to have to get taller and come at intervals way more frequent than they are right now.

All this talk of setting new expectations and change usually refers to your personal life and your view of your personal self. I want to extend that to your professional life too. I see no point in attempting to re-define yourself in your non-professional life but go back to an existence where all you strive for is the corner window office, better pay, better benefits, aspire to become a manager or any equivalent of this whatever your domain maybe. Couple that with buying a house with a yard, getting a dog and raising a family then you get a life awash with the gray of mundanity. Think about everything that is the norm of your life - from going to the mall to check out the latest sale to drinking coffee from your favorite barrista - I hate the ordinariness of it all - it closets and stifles the possibilities of enriching life beyond keeping up with the joneses.

Following this pattern of life gets you what exactly? A facade of happiness? A facade of stability?

Not that there is anything wrong with this - this is exactly what floats many a boat. Just not mine.

I don't know what I want of and from life instead but the possibility of living this shell of a life just because I did not try to break out and redefine my life is positively terrifying. I feel trapped by this life - the only life I've known.

[Some other random thoughts]
Can I, at this stage of my life, be, say for example, a musician? *Maybe* Why exactly is it this hard? Because I've been following the harder/faster/better routine all my life (I haven't even gotten anywhere doing that). Staying in this rut has precluded so many possibilities, one of them being a life as a musician.

The point I make here is that the longer I stay in a lifestyle governed by these norms and accepted ways, the harder it becomes to break out and change your life in a fundamental way. You may compensate by launching onto themes that are finely nuanced to differentiate you from the rest of the herd but that is as far as you are going to get with this exclusivity. Even though this drive to be different and exclusive is not what drives the initial desire to be fundamentally different, this is the only resort available when you no longer are able to enrich your life in a fundamental way. This is why, I think, you see people in their 40s and 50s suddenly going berserk and going "out of their comfort zone" by going sky diving, buying a swanky new Porsche etc. What is the point of it all?

Category: IAmAlive

2009-08-05T23:09:00.005-04:00

Following up on my last post, I am creating a new category of posts on this blog - "IAmAlive" - in this category, I plan to include posts on people that have seemingly broken out of their mold, turned their seemingly normal lives around and achieved something that is close to their heart.

Though I dislike self referential links, I present "The Torture Garden"

A bunch of Indian guys hook up with a few others online. Huh? where is the adventure in that you ask? Well, they are taking part in the 2009 edition of the Mongol Rally - 12,000 km, 16 countries, 6 weeks.

How about the Plymouth-Banjul challenge?

Feeling alive yet? More to follow.

My mid life crisis

2009-08-02T23:32:00.009-04:00

[Warning]
I wrote this post in a hurry. The sentences might seem rather long and my thought process rather choppy. Be warned. Proceed with low expectations on clarity of thought and expression.
[/Warning]

I have, for some time now, been disillusioned with the road map of a normal life. You grow up doing the things most normal children do - you go to college with dreams of a successful career and comfortable life, you want to fulfill all your parental obligations and keep them happy. You try and reach higher for better colleges, better jobs, higher pay, better comforts etc. In my opinion, the ultimate worth of being a lead rat in this rat race is really nothing. Nada. Zip. You still, despite your best efforts, go through life much along the same lines as a lesser accomplished individual except that the degree of refinement in your life is higher.

Don't read this the wrong way - this is not to say that ambition is bad. In fact, I think it is the very essence of what makes us better individuals. People without any ambition are the worst offenders from the perspective of this post.

My point is that despite all the fruits of your ambition, your life is fundamentally no different and hence, no richer, texturally speaking, than a life confined and stifled by normalcy. Let me lay it out for y'all - this grand plan that governs just about everyone's life (including mine)

go to school-> (harder/faster/better routine) -> good college -> (continue to follow harder/faster/better routine) -> good high paying job -> higher studies (abroad) -> (you know the words - harder/faster/better) -> get into a job -> start worrying about immigration.

Meanwhile, your personal life follows this routine -
you hit 25 or something nearby -> you've already been dating or been in a few relationships -> look to get married -> get into this "save, save, save for your future" mentality -> get married (either because it's the right time or you've to fulfill parental obligations or your girlfriend/boyfriend is yanking your chain or maybe you really want to(!)) -> move into plush apartment -> furnish apartment with the latest and greatest that your combined salary can afford -> have elaborate parties, hob nob with sheeple and discuss politics and economics.

Aren't you already disgusted with the pointlessness of a life awash with the gray of boredom and accepted norms?

Depending on the green card situation, your job stability and the pressure from back home you (along with your spouse) decide to start a family. -> buy a house (this can take a long time and significant investment) -> deck up your house in the usual way - game room (with attendant giant screen TV), living room also with large flat screen TV, plush leather furniture etc etc -> pop babies -> green card approved (it could very well be that your green card is approved before you decide on a baby).

I hope you see where this is going - other individuals, whom you left on the wayside of accomplishment as you sped past them on wings of ambition, have, I'm sorry to say, a life that is darned similar to yours. In some cases, way better than yours.

Coming full circle, the ultimate worth of running this rat race? NOTHING. A life time of effort and sacrifice and yet, no sense of fulfillment, no real improvement in your sense of self worth.

Have you really thought of what makes you content in life? I am not talking about the happiness you get from taking that adventurous vacation or going sky diving or hand gliding or whatever is the current rage amongst sheeple trying to be different from the rest of the sheep and hence, exclusive. I am talking about happiness that can only come from being contented in and with life.

Most people over compensate for the abundance of boredom/discontentment/disillusionment that is a direct consequence of the stifling grip that a plain ol' vanilla life has on your life and future. I do too.

The following thoughts run quite tangentially to the point I was trying to make all this while.

Have you ever stopped and wondered what really separates you from a kid, any kid, growing up in a slum somewhere in the world? just pure chance. I'll repeat, just pure chance. I do not subscribe to the argument that one should be grateful for what one has and all that jazz. My point is more along the lines of what are you doing with it? Just living it as is? Just going through it with a mindlessness of a drone that wakes up periodically to the reality of its meaningless existence but by the sheer inertia of a lifetime of laziness, just sinks back to the torpor that has been the hallmark of its life?

The sheeple that most people are, end up pissing away their infinitely more valuable lives, one day at a time just by pursuing their fascination with self gratification through living life in the trenches of accepted norms. A normal life that guarantees them a secure, safe life peppered with episodes (often lengthy ones at that) of escapism when each tries to mold himself/herself into something exclusive in a vain attempt at being different from the herd. From what I've been told, being a normal sheep is highly over rated.

Some people are actually somewhat satisfied with their lives(!!!) and ever so often indulge themselves in some form of escapism to compensate for the boredom in their life. They feel renewed anew after an episode of escapism and feel like they can go through the drudgery they think is life for a little longer before they need another break. I think I am in this stage now. And if you are anything like me, this feels like exactly a drug habit - you need fixes faster than before and each with a bigger/better high than the last. You know where that story is going to end don't you?

Sigh! I sometimes find my cynicism too cynical.

But, my question is just this - What is the point of it all? Is there any? Is there meant to be any? Is terminal boredom a fact of life, a way of life even?

What does one have to do to BE alive? to FEEL alive?

The final bell....

2009-07-18T10:41:00.002-04:00

Did you imagine the final sound as a gun?
Or the smashing windscreen of a car?
Did you ever imagine the last thing you'd hear as you're fading out...
Was a song? A lament?

All my designs, simplified
All my plans, compromised
All my dreams, sacrificed

Collapse the light......

2009-06-15T23:24:00.004-04:00

I'll probably shiver in the cold
I'll probably let the shadows take their toll
I'll probably cover my head in the dark
But I won't forget you when we part

Collapse the Light Into Earth

I won't heal given time
I won't try to change your mind
I won't feel better in the cold light of day
but I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to leave

Collapse the Light Into Earth.......

Miss Ida B

2009-06-14T22:24:00.008-04:00

Hello world
Have you seen Miss Ida B?
Hello world, yeah
Have you seen Miss Ida B?

She's a coffee colored brown
And she looked something like an Indienne

I love you, Miss Ida B, yeah
And I just can't, I just can't hardly keep it in

I'm in love with you, Miss Ida B, baby
Ever since, ever since time stood still on the iron hill.

Baby, when I'm gone
Watcha goin to do?
When you're gone, baby yeah
Watcha man to do?

I hate to even think about it, yeah

Deliverance........

2009-05-03T01:01:00.003-04:00

is alone well worth the price of admission.

Tonight I was in attendance in yet another Opeth concert - never has another band, apart from Iron Maiden, evoked such a string emotional response from me. I've seen them every year starting in Philadelphia from when I scrounged around for a few months to be able to afford the ticket. Their live shows are just pure destruction - they do not use any stage gimmicks, no eye candy, no lasers, no video shows on LCD screens etc but just on the strenght of their mighty music, they draw in the legions. Opeth is the fucking best!!!

Tonight's set was blistering!!! From the opening heavy (and I mean fucking heavy!) brooding "Heir Apparent" to the slower, softer "Hope Leaves" to the hypnotic, psychedelic "Closure" concluding in the staple "Deliverance", Opeth was absolutely the greatest! They played some old songs that I haven't heard them play before - "Godhead's Lament", "The Night and the Silent Water".

The mosh pits were insane - there were two roiling pits of hair, flesh and blood. I managed to survive 30 minutes in one of them but not without some collateral damage - a sore, swollen knee from when a behemoth tackled me, bringing me to the ground and a massive red purple bruise in the small of my back where someone headbutted me. I did some damage of my own too, as they always say at the end of a fight, "You should have seen the other guy!". As far as I could tell, 15 people succumbed to the insanity and intensity of the mosh pit. They were escorted away with bleeding noses and other injuries.

Opeth was absolute dynamite tonight and I was honored to have been part of this ritual.

Ek Lau.....

2009-04-13T23:20:00.003-04:00

I can't get this song out of my head. It's been a really long time since a hindi song has made itself home in my head and refuses to leave. Find it and download it!!

As far as I can gather, this is a song from the movie "Aamir" and Amit Trivedi is the music director.

Lyrics:

Gardishon Mein Rehthi,
Rehthi Guzar Thi
Zindagi Aahein Kithni
In Mein Se Ek Hai,
Teri Meri Aakhari
Koi Ek Jaisi Apni..

Par Khuda Kheir Kar Aisaa Anjaam Kisi Rooh Ko Na De Kabi Yahaan..
Gujha Muskuratha Hai Kyun Waqth Se Pehle Kyun Chodd Chala Tera Ye Jahaan

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

[ Ek Lau Is Tarah Kyun Song Lyrics @http://www.hindilyrix.com ]

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

Dhoop Ke Ujaale Si, Puns Ki Pyaale Si, Khushiyan Mile Humko..
Zyada Manga Hai Kahaan, Sarhadein Na Ho Jahaan, Duniya Mile Humko..
Par Khudha Kheir Kar, Uske Armaan Mein Kyun Bewaja Ho Koi Kurbaan..
Gujha Muskuratha Hai Kyun Waqth Se Pehle Kyun Chodd Chala Tera Ye Jahaan

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

[ Ek Lau Is Tarah Kyun Song Lyrics @http://www.hindilyrix.com ]

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula..

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

What do you do?

2009-04-08T11:18:00.001-04:00

I still haven't figured out an answer to this question. The answer to life seems so much simpler.

Random thoughts for a snowy Sunday

2009-03-01T12:48:00.004-05:00

No one is really free of the ideological inheritance which he carries within himself as a child of a given generation. This, in essence, is his conformal "world view". What are yours?

Do not equate unawareness with non-existence. Everyone is, at some point, guilty of this depending on the degree of their hubris on how well read they think they are on any given subject.

If all/most of your personal heroes are iconoclasts of this or past generations, does that make you one? Isn't this self-contradictory - that you have personal icons but still consider yourself an iconoclast?

When does 'belief' turn into 'faith'?

Feel free to answer any of these questions or post more of your own.

Headbanger's Paradise

2009-01-12T00:44:00.004-05:00

I haven't gone to a concert in such a long time and have been longing, no, yearning for it off late. Each concert, for me, is a ritual - it cleanses me off all my earthly attachments for a few hours and gives me a fresh start at life's burdens for when I return. The energy of the pit can be rejuvenating, it is an out of body and mind experience for me. For a while now, the concert landscape has been a veritable desert. But, an oasis of shows have lined up for the year and have put a spring in my step.

January 16th: Cradle of Filth, Satyricon @ The Palladium, Worcester, MA
I haven't been excited about a Cradle of Filth album in a while (the last two were a little too Gothic/electronic for me) but the latest one "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder" had me jumping on my feet all excited. It's an aural orgy of razor sharp melodies over a bed of blistering drums bound together with crunching rhythms. Harmonious guitar solos are an exciting addition to the Filth song structure. And what are Filth songs without the atmosphere and keyboards? Not to be worried, the atmosphere of haunting keys sets the tone for every song in this album. This album is not as hard edged as earlier opuses such as Dusk and Her Embrace, Midian, Cruelty and the Beast but is more than compensated for with melody.

I am a huge fan of Nordic black metal of which Satyricon are pioneers. I confess I haven't had time to listen to their latest album, The Age of Nero but their earlier albums have really struck a chord with my inner insanity. I intend to spin The Age of Nero a few times in my mp3 player before January 16th.

January 30th: AC/DC @ The FedEx Forum, Memphis
Second row floor tickets! For those about to rock, we salute you! I am so excited about this gig that words fail me.

February 22nd: B.B. King and Buddy Guy @ The House of Blues, Boston, MA
The giants of the blues together! What else can I say but "The thrill is.." ON.

March 6th: Destruction, Krisiun @ The Palladium, Worcester, MA
Thrash metal titans Destruction and fast, furious, blistering death metal maniacs Krisiun (is there something in the water down in Brazil?) are going to amp up the intensity till the insanity blows away the building rafter by rafter. I am re-considering being anywhere near the pit at this concert.

April 10th: Kreator, Exodus, Belphegor @ The Palladium, Worcester, MA
THRASH till death! That is the theme for this orgy of bone crunching riffs and supersonic solos destined to snap your neck. Whiplash is on the menu and is being force fed to everyone. You won't see me complaining!

Home.......

2009-01-03T01:54:00.003-05:00

"When you go home it always looks the same, smells the same and feels the same. You realize that what's changed is you." -- I came across this poignant thought in the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". There are many wonderful situations, circumstances and people that I am sure you'll connect with on an emotional level in this movie.

About home, I always feel exactly like this when I go back home - everything is exactly where it was when I left. Sure, a few things have been moved around, some things have been added and some are missing but there all mostly there and where they've always been. Yet, I feel different - an eerie feeling of being a stranger in your own home. When I used to live there, my immediate habitat had an air of my individuality. Ever since I flew the coup, even though most of the things I left behind are still there I find the essence of my past habitation and the warmth of the comfort I had in my immediate surroundings missing. Every corner of the house, every thing in the house down to the towels and sheets evoke memories of my past. But even though I sleep in the same bed that I slept in for 22 years and use sheets and pillows that I recognize from 6 years ago, I essentially live out of a suitcase (symbolic of a guy just passing through) and don't spend enough time in the house (and in the country) to make it all my own again. And this, in my opinion, makes me feel strangely unfamiliar in my own home and why my past visits have not left me with memories that evoke the same emotional response as pillows and sheets from 6 years ago - I just don't have the time to make it all my own again, to stamp my individuality on the ways of the house.

And yes, I will always call it home. It is, as they say, where the heart is.

2009....

2009-01-02T01:18:00.002-05:00

is here. I've a feeling that 2009 is going to be a big year for me. Top on the list of priorities that I just have to accomplish if I am to avoid spending time on a certain couch and paying exorbitantly, I might add, for it is for me to get peace - peace of mind and being, within and without, make peace with myself, my life (past and present) and with all the people in it.

The only other thing that is on this list concerns something I am guilty of and I must admit, quite ashamed of - not keeping in touch with people that matter to me. I pledge to them and to myself that I will do a better job this year.

May your God go with you and 2009 bring you what you desire.

Add tired and cynical to Confused, Dazed,.....

2008-12-01T13:03:00.002-05:00

I'm

*) tired and an order of magnitude more cynical than usual.

*) waiting to talk to a couple of friends who attempted to contact me this past weekend.

*) waiting to hear back from a friend who I attempted to contact this past weekend.

*) reading cynical "business as usual" articles from just about everyone on the response to the Mumbai attacks.

I shook the hand of.....

2008-11-16T20:04:00.005-05:00

A 93 yr old blues legend, David "Honeyboy" Edwards. It was a once in a lifetime experience!

The Venue: Regatta Jazz Bar
Thoughts : A very intimate setting - a smallish stage designed to accommodate a trio (most jazz bands are a trio). Ironically, the audience which was mostly corporate, rich, white American paid good money to see a wizened old black man who at many points in his life lived outside "normal" society as either a slave or in dire poverty in the infamous projects of Chicago. This wizened old black man sang songs about being poor, about cotton picking, about having the "white man" blues and rich corporate white Americans and one brown, relatively poor man paid good money to be there. Figure that one out!

Disclaimer: I do have a romanticized view of the delta blues. So, read the rest taking into account this bias. Also, account for the positive bias coming from witnessing something from another era, something that I probably will not see again anyway.

The Music:
What can I say that hasn't already been said before in better prose that I can ever muster? Delta blues speaks in rustic, earthy tones about a hard life, about the problems of the African American (as they are known now) in a by gone era. Lyrics aside, the simplistic (only to the ear) rhythms and leads of the guitar, the pace and style of vocals are to say the least, endearing. The rhythm, to my ear, sounds identical in all the songs but what rides on it - the vocals and finger picking style guitar - is absolutely fantastic. Closing your eyes and listening to the simple chugging rhythm, heart soaring with woeful vocals or the wails of the harmonica (did I mention that Honeyboy's manager was blowing the horn with absolute mastery?) took me to an altogether different place.

This was a refreshing change from contemporary blues/rock where production (over) emphasizes the music producing a wall of sound. Though this in itself is an absolute art producing "layers" of music that have been the forte of many bands, one of my favorites being Porcupine Tree, Honeyboy's "return to the roots" acoustic music was a very mellowing and peaceful experience.

The wine of life.....and I'm drinking deep

2008-10-13T23:14:00.003-04:00

Concert updates:

Iced Earth, 15th Oct 2008, The Palladium, Worcester MA

Blackest of the Black Tour - Danzig, Dummu Borgir, Moonspell, 17th Oct 2008, The Palladium, Worcester MA

Twilight of the Thunder God Tour - Amon Amarth, Belphegor, Ensiferum, 18th Oct 2008, The Palladium, Worcester MA

Bang that head that doesn't bang!!

Life?

2008-10-10T19:26:00.003-04:00

"A 21st century cocktail of MTV, sex, prescription drugs, video games, the internet, terminal boredom, and subsequent escape."

I think I am past the MTV stage, somehow missed the sex and prescription drugs and am currently somewhere in a combination of stages involving video games, the internet and terminal boredom.

Escape? Its a long drawn out process of life and is present every minute of it.

A fresh start destined to go wrong.

2008-10-08T16:36:00.004-04:00

People are prejudiced and opinionated. That's the plain truth of it. They have their set views of the world, a world view, a colored looking glass through which they view the world, interpret it and most importantly, make peace with it. This world view is a strong anchor and helps people maintain order in their otherwise meaningless lives. It is a means for people to band together and to belong, to love and be loved. It is a cocoon, a shelter that people will pay the highest price to defend.

with this preamble, let us examine how new born babies - a chance at something completely new, fresh, with absolutely no allegiances to anything but pure innocence - are molded to have the same prejudices (or worse), the same world view (or worse) as their parents. These parents, drunk with the arrogance of their hubris, their infallibility, willfully choose to paint on this canvas with their palette of vile colors. Presuming that they are the absolute best role models for something that can be enticed, cajoled, taught, schooled into learning anything, they butcher this innocence with their own insecurities, their opinions, their likes and dislikes, narrowing forever the possibilities of hope for something fresh and new. These forced indoctrinations sometimes go awry and lead children to develop their own personality with their own tortured world view which they in turn pass onto their children perpetuating a cycle that only mutates.

For the reader who must already be indignant, I must make haste to add that I do not include what has become basic civil behavior (please, thank you etc) and a whole host of other generalities in this mutable parent-child world view transfers.

Please observe the children around you and how they absorb their parents' behavior, their insecurities, their attitudes and turn out to be a chip of the old block, if you will. Its largely a necessary evil.

Pithy thought for the day

2008-09-21T10:02:00.004-04:00

When everything in your life - your job, your daily routine, your so called hobbies - is seemingly dead and does not enhance your sense of fulfillment then no price is too small to pay for that particular cause, idea or thing that makes you feel alive.

You will cling on to it even at great personal cost just because it makes you feel alive.

When and how you pick your battle is a great test of character and judgment. More often than not, great potential is frittered away just because deadened people make wrong choices and decisions of the battles that they decide to fight to the end.

Goodbye Hingis and good......

2007-11-02T14:13:00.000-04:00

And now to resume programming, an insidious commentary on Martina Hingis' departure from professional tennis following allegations of cocaine drug (ab)use. [link]

Now, lets dissect this denial of sorts and try to detect a pattern in all denials of this nature -

"Hingis, a five-time Grand Slam champion and former Wimbledon winner, denied using cocaine."
Of course, who wouldn't? I don't get it, do I have to pretend to be surprised or what? Tom, Dick, Harry and his left ball wouldn't be surprised, why should I be?

"I find this accusation so horrendous, so monstrous that I've decided to confront it head on by talking to the press," she said.
Yes, a very logical strategy - after being accused meet the allegations head on by talking to the press. Not that talking to the press doesn't help,, but how does that count as confronting the allegations head on? Maybe my brains aren't fried enough to get it.

Her voice broke as she fought back tears in reading the statement. At the end, she took no questions and left the news conference. Oh! you poor poor girl!! my heart goes out for her, doesn't yours?

Hingis said the positive test, which could lead to a doping suspension of up to two years, led to her retirement because she doesn't want to spend years fighting the case.
Wow! this kind of logic could rid the world of poverty and disease!! After burdening the cogs of her addled brain she came up with this? hmmmm...... how does one confront allegations head on? apparently, its to meet the press and quit not only trying to fight the allegations but also your profession!! Flawless eh?

"They say that cocaine increases self-confidence and creates a type of euphoria," she said in a statement. "I don't know. I only know that if I were to try to hit the ball while in any state of euphoria, it simply wouldn't work. I would think that it would be impossible for anyone to maintain the coordination required to play top class tennis while under the influence of drugs. And I know one other thing — I would personally be terrified of taking drugs."
This is the clincher! List the effects of drug abuse and speculate on it in a manner indicating that you don't have the first clue as to what that they mean - as though it lived in a realm well outside your sphere of comprehension. And then, get on firm ground (good psychological ploy mind you) on what you can talk as - a tennis player. Start to discredit some (most people will not notice that some aspects are left unaddressed) of these ill effects and say with authority that any tennis player will not be able to cope with tennis if playing under the influence. She says that while feeling euphoric one cannot be that coordinated and perform at peak efficieny to play professional tennis - now, while this sounds definitely plausible she has left out the 'self confidence' effect of drug use. Even if our rationality tells us that this feeling of self confidence is only faux, for the sake of argument can I not argue that while feeling euphoric might not be the best for your ATP rankings, doesn't self confidence count for anything while playing? Aren't self confident players better at the game than doubting thomases who might be a shade better in terms of playing ability?

The swiss miss, keeping up the image of an innocent school girl, seems to be talking of recreational drugs (the ones that don't help athletes but are the forte of party animals). Come on Martina, don't pretend you've never heard of performance enhancing drugs - the ones that do a lot more for your performance and ranking than just giving you an ego boost.

Hingis said she later underwent a privately arranged hair test which came back negative for cocaine. The official backup "B" sample test on her Wimbledon urine sample, however, tested positive for the drug.
Again, like the first paragraph who would be surprised at this "independent" verification. Definitely not Tom, Dick, Harry and his left ball!! To aid in constructing a pattern - this constitutes an attempt to create 'reasonable doubt' against the official position, a sort of scientific vindication to her (as yet) moral arguments.

Hingis said she hired an attorney who found "various inconsistencies" with the urine sample taken during Wimbledon.
Now, the pattern is getting so banal that even Harry's right ball wouldn't be surprised! Of course, the attorney found something. Its his job to find 'inconsistencies' isn't it? Why would you pay him money if he looked at it and said "Sorry, you are doomed. The case is air tight in their favor".

"He is also convinced that the doping officials mishandled the process and would not be able to prove that the urine that was tested for cocaine actually came from me," she said.
I don't know what else to say about self serving lawyers who are 'convinced' about 'various inconsistencies' in the process. From a viewpoint of gleaning a pattern, an attempt to further strengthen the 'reasonable doubt' argument.

Hingis said it could take years to fight her case. "I have no desire to spend the next several years of my life reduced to fighting against the doping officials," she said. "The fact is that it is more and more difficult for me, physically, to keep playing at the top of the game.And frankly, accusations such as these don't exactly provide me with motivation to even make another attempt to do so."
Perhaps a kernel of truth there?

WTA Tour chief executive Larry Scott said the tour had not received any official information about a positive test and "as a result we are not in a position to comment on the matter. However, it is important to remember that in the area of anti-doping, all players are presumed innocent until proven otherwise," Scott said.
This is bizarre!! WTA hasn't received any confirmation of a failed dope test and our precious school girl quits in a huff and tries to discredit Wimbledon and the redressal process? Her approach to this allegation puzzles me a great deal especially when the WTA hasn't received anything official yet. All I see is her guilt (relatively speaking) plastered all over her loosely pieced together arguments and moral rhetoric.

Now, if you've been following the pattern of her arguments -
Firstly, moral shock and outrage at the allegations. Next, remind everyone of her moral credibility and then speculate about the 'what if' aspect. Get some 'independent' voice to cast aspersions on the other side and create grounds for reasonable doubt in the minds of the readers/fans/general members of the audience. Quit well in advance citing flaws in the system that make it look like she has already been handicapped even without anything taking flight. A quit while you are ahead strategy except make it look like the decision to quit was forced on you because of the faulty system. Its not me, its the system!

This pattern reminds me of oft adopted approaches to allegations by disgraced public figures. Et tu Brutus?

I miss you..........

2007-11-02T14:03:00.000-04:00

and really wish I could talk to you more often.

When it rains it pours

2007-08-25T16:46:00.001-04:00

My protracted absence on this blog, an oft repeated occurrence, this time was a consequence of a refreshing information diet - a blog/internet free diet to be exact. At the expense of my new found ignorance and stupidity, I suddenly found so much time to invest in delightful activities - concerts, drama, dance performances and yoga. In no particular order, let me introduce you to each one of them -

Concerts: Dream Theater, Ozzy Osbourne, Nile, Cthonic, Daath, Slayer, Marilyn Manson and Immortal.
Drama: Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
Dance: Riverdance
Yoga: Yogamala

I'll share my thoughts on each one of them.

Though Dream Theater have sort of been pushed to the edge of my current likes, I always jump at a chance to see the live as they are such great musicians. As always, they did not disappoint - they churned out 2 hours of perfectly executed music. In the four times I've seen them, I've always been a little put off with the vocalist but this I was totally surprised by his tight performance. They mostly played songs off their latest album but it was a great concert on the whole.

Coming to the prince of darkness, Ozzy Osbourne - I realized that I've never seen Ozzy perform his solo career songs (I think the first Ozzfest I attended back in 2002, he performed from his catalog as a solo artist but I have no real recollection of the performance). I've always seen him perform with Black Sabbath. That coupled with Ozzfest being free this year, I decided to go in the last minute. I was totally blown away with the tour de force that was his performance that night - yes his voice is mostly off key, it cracks every now and then but his incredible exuberance and the crowd pleaser that he is, he blew away everyone in the audience. Of course having such a splendid band - Zakk Wylde and Bob Blasko - makes not having your heart leap in joy a very hard thing to do. It took me back to my engineering days when Ozzy was a major part of my music collection. All the lyrics that I used to marvel at while singing along with Ozzy came back to me in a rush and singing it aloud with the rest of the crowd was a real treat!

Nile - what can I say about one of my favorite death metal bands. They absolutely blew me away. Of course, joined by totally crazy headbangers and standing in the first row made it a no brainer. I've seen Nile about 4 times and each and every time, I am so impressed by the intensity of their performances. Though they have added more orchestration in their music, the quality and intensity have stayed right up at the top. The venue was a small rock club and I was able to meet everyone in the band. Its the umpteenth time that I wished I had a camera. A last thought - if you want to watch just one death metal band in your life, make it Nile.

Cthonic is a band that reminds me early Cradle of Filth and they hail from Taiwan, an atypical country of origin for a black metal band. Their music has elements of Taiwanese culture and it makes it so appealing. I highly recommend listening to the two LPs they have out. The lead vocalist is an asian version of Danni Filth, I kid you not. I really enjoyed their performance. Top shelf black metal - there is something appealing about buzz saw guitars over a base blastbeat drum pattern tempered with searing vocals and embellished with folk instruments such as the violin.

Daath - supported Nile on their outing - they are a death thrash metal band from Atlanta. Though they have some elements of melodic death metal - some synths and industrial rhythms, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Slayer - thrash metal at its absolute best! razor riffs blasting away at break neck pace, headbanging and mayhem everywhere you look - this was an awesome concert, Slayer slays!

Marilyn Manson - though I am not totally into his music, I like quite a few songs and not to mention his style and his showmanship! I quite liked his performance.

Immortal - what can I say that hasn't already been said by more capable individuals - this concert ranks very high in my list of all time favorites. Blistering black metal tempered with very rhythmic heavy metal patterns brought the entire crowd to a frenzy! We even met with the band later, took some photographs and had them sign a poster.

Moving on the Shakespeare's play - A midsummer's night dream - this was part of a series called "Shakespeare in the park" where a professional theater company stages a production of Shakespeare's plays in the park. This event was the quintessential picnic - sitting the shade of lovely broad trees drinking wine with cheese and crackers. The production was a contemporary adaptation and was staged with a lot of pomp. My only grouse was that it was a long to hold everyone's attention in an outdoor setting.

Riverdance - I attended a performance that I've been wanting to attend ever since I saw a telecast of the show 6 years ago on Star World in India. Riverdance - <--begin clichéd adjectives--> an awe inspiring, mellifluously refreshing, foot tapping ensemble <--end clichéd adjectives--> that fuses elements from Celtic-Irish tap dancing, Russian ballet, flamenco and urban street dancing. Diverse as they might seem, their adaptations to a unifying musical score of Celtic music with instruments such as the violin and other traditional instruments. Check out youtube to get an idea of what a show this is. I highly recommend this as a tonic for a soul that is weighed down by the banality of life.

One of the best things I've done is to join yoga in the iyengar tradition. For the last two months, I've been religiously at it and the benefits on my sense of physical and mental well being have been phenomenal. I feel wonderfully light and supple - my back and spine do not seem like they are a gnarled tree trunk, my body itself does not feel like that of a whale (on land mind you). The instructor is part of a lineage of disciples of the original iyengar tradition that spends decades in the tutelage of BKS Iyengar himself along with his son. My mind always goes back to school days where yoga was forced on us and I can't recall anyone who gave a damn about it and here I am harping about how great it makes me feel.

Well, enough about me now. I trust you had a great time as well. Do tell me about it.

wtf comment of the day!

2007-07-24T20:26:00.000-04:00

IndiaUncut reports a comment worthy of a vicious wtf!!

"Through this arduous struggle and till his last breath, Comrade Shibdas Ghosh resolutely fought against all shades of bourgeois, petty-bourgeois social democratic and modern revisionist ideology while he carried on at the same time a tireless inner-party struggle for elevation of the proletarian ethical, moral and cultural standard of the cadres and leaders as against the vile influence of vulgar bourgeois individualism." [Source]

I am not sure what all that verbose embellishment means but I do know crap when I see it and this is a prime example of a putrid pile of feces. Amidst all the blah blah, the sentence ends with something like Comrade X fought against individualism and that too bourgeois individualism (?). Being an ardent fan of individualism, I find this claim repulsive and fit for ridicule.

Follow the "source" link and you are presented with more commie crap - "The SUCI vows to uphold the banner of socialist revolution and proletarian internationalism with every drop of blood of its leaders and cadres.". Adorning such sentiments are the photos of its stalwarts - Lenin, Stalin and chairman Mao. After I saw these photos, I couldn't read anymore as my tolerance limit had been breached.

All the best to you brave ones out there.

The Philosophy Of Progress

2007-07-06T21:13:00.000-04:00

"Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." - Robert A. Heinlein

"Progress is made by men who have a healthy disrespect for established structures and processes and are looking for a way out" - Emperor Frost

The wise Emperor hastens to add that only those men who understand, value and cherish the rules are the ones who know which ones to break - paradoxical as that might sound, it is but an indication of the zen of the emperor.

Killing The Messenger

2007-07-05T23:15:00.000-04:00

I rue the state of Indian women.

All the punditry on India's exploding economic growth is superfluous and in my opinion, a great myth until the day society is truly free. All of India's social indicators languish at abysmal depths - education, health, emancipation of women to mention a few. Without education, the citizenry cannot shake off the feudal grip that politicians have over society (this is a huge problem in itself), women continue to be oppressed with the patriarchal slant of society reinforcing the over lordship of male apes (this constitutes another major impediment). It also has been the forte of Indian society to shoot the messenger who runs into town with the torch of liberation. The darkness just doesn't let go.

What else can you say about this -

A woman is continually harassed for dowry with increasing intensity by her husband and his parents. It peaks when she gives birth to a daughter. At this point, unable to bear the mental anguish (physical (?)) she leaves home and decides to rear her daughter as a single mother. She continues to protest her victimization and in one incident walks semi nude to the police commissioner's office via a busy road. I am assuming that none of her previous efforts have raised such a dust storm. And what exactly do the mindless jackasses who are part of this society do? take up her cause? think again. This is India and we are proud of our tradition of shooting the messenger - we character assassinate this woman and push the real issue of dowry and torture into the background (is it even an issue?) and debate the credibility and character of the victim. How many times hasn't the suspicion for rape fallen on the victim?

IBN has a [report], please make sure you read the comments. They illuminate the intellect of the cretins that infest Indian society. I shall reproduce a couple of them - I nominate these characters for the Indian edition of Hostel.

"Posted By Monit -

Despite being so many biased laws for females, she has resorted to such indecent ways."

"Posted By Ash

A girl with such daring could do anything, absolutely anything. So much so that she can threaten husband and in-laws."

Education will set free people's minds from the shackles of superstition and (I hope) break down traditional power structures that are designed to suppress different sections of society (women as a class, the poor and backward as a class etc).

That is my fervent prayer and I hope to see some of it in my lifetime.

Edit: Churmuri has another [report]

Edit 2: Both the pictures are disturbing - I am referring to the street trash that you can see in the photo on churmuri . They seem amused and are following her around to get maximum mileage out of it akin to the tamasha that attracts crowds on every street.

The Gulmohar

2007-07-05T22:26:00.000-04:00

William Wordsworth had his daffodils to think of in his mind's eye -

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

I grew up in Jayanagar in a Bangalore where the emotional equivalent of Wordsworth's daffodil was the Gulmohar - every street and avenue was lined with these trees, including parts of the Lal Bagh garden that I used to frequent. So, it came as a very rude shock to me when I could not remember the Gulmohar in bloom even though I've spent many years climbing many a tree and playing a kind of kiddie game with their buds. I was sure they were yellow and in my "inward eye" "flashed" images of avenues of yellow Gulmohars. I was pleased as punch to have remembered those halcyon days of yore. All until I looked up Google for images of the Gulmohar and to my bitter disappointment I found them to be a deep red. I was so convinced that they were yellow (if you prefer Freudian symbology - my ego tried to protect my id by actually conjuring up images that would satisfy/placate the id's drive) that when they turned out to be not so, the distance between my home, my past, my memories and the present seems like an uncrossable and unfathomable chasm - a schism that makes me unsure of where I am going because I've forgotten where I came from.

The flowers are but the tip of the iceberg - there have been many such instances.

I am depressed.

And if you are too, then allow me to "flash upon that inward eye" images of the Gulmohar.

P.S: The same goes for a hundred other flowers like jasmine, marigold etc etc. Images of Gandhi Bazaar and 4th block jayanagar flash!!

The King Of Good Times

2007-07-04T14:25:00.000-04:00

[from churmuri.com]

On the historic occasion of the 150th anniversary that most Indians celebrate every night with tears in their eyes, and few historians remember—the setting up of United Breweries in 1857

***

After an international beer conference in London, all the world’s top brewery bosses decide to go out for a beer together.

The chairman of Budweiser says, “I’d like the most refreshing beer in the world, ‘The King of Beers’: give me a Budweiser.”

The bartender takes a bottle from the shelf and opens it for him.

The Chairman of Guinness says, “I’d like the only beer in the world worth really, truly waiting for: give me a Guinness.” The bartender serves him.

The Chairman of Carlsberg says, ” I would like the world’s best beer, drunk in more countries than any other: give me a Carlsberg.” He gets one.

Vijay Mallya sits down, looks around and says, “just give me a Coke.”

The bartender looks at him, shrugs, and serves him.

The other brewery bosses laugh loudly and say, “Hey Vijay, how come you aren’t drinking a Kingfisher?”

“Listen,” says Mallya, “If you guys aren’t drinking beer, neither will I.”

***
Like Upendra so eloquently said "Cool drink yaake?"

Price Theory

2007-06-07T11:10:00.001-04:00

Cafe Hayek's, one of my favorite economic blogs, Russ Roberts has another fantastic piece on how prices of commodities come to be. He explains supply and demand in a 'naked economics' fashion and also has a more rigorous approach for the interested reader. If you don't already have Cafe Hayek in your reader, I urge you to subscribe.

Hungry Planet

2007-06-07T10:41:00.000-04:00

TIME has a wonderful photo essay titled "What the world eats". [hat tip: The India Uncut Blog] The type of food preferred, the quantity and the cost incurred by families from around the world are quite contrasting that its moving. What is really interesting is to see how much of their diet is culturally local and how much do they owe to globalization.

Photos and text are courtesy of TIME Magazine.

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

There is nothing like a tragedy to put things in perspective is there?

Nation States

2007-06-07T00:35:00.000-04:00

Sidane in a comment in response to this post has raised an important point of nation states and how it impedes progress.
In response to this comment, I submit that the notion of a nation state creates a false sense of identity when the nation is culturally heterogenous like in the case of India. In such a case, national pride even when rigorously taught can easily be dampened or forgotten as regional pride and clannish behaviour takes precedence. Isn't this the case with India too? Actually, I think its a feature of all countries with a heterogenous cultural fabric. It is this proclivity to regionalism (states, county, village, tribe) and its attendant suspiscion and insecurity that impedes progress as it impedes cooperation, trade and exchange of ideas. This also causes one clan, tribe, region to progress at the expense of another thus contributing to unequal distribution of the fruits of progress. In countries where the cultural fabric is homogenous (most european countries), national pride is highly integrated into their identity as a people and hence comes across more strongly. The lack of petty regionalism sets up societies in which all equality is a basic tenet and all its people have equal access to opportunites (socialist states try to ensure equality of outcome and thus fail). Such societies do not hold back progress and the distribution of the returns of progress are also likely to be on equitable terms.

Destination: Boston

2007-06-07T00:23:00.001-04:00

I apologize yet again for the break in blogging though this one was prompted not by boredom but by a change of coordinates.

For the past two years, home and work has been in one of two small towns in central PA - State College and Bellefonte, now work takes me and home to the metro west area of greater Boston. I was in this area a couple of weeks ago to fix up the various things that are an integral part of mundane life in America and to my chagrin I found myself in a typical strip mall town except that this strip mall extended for about 15 miles along just one long car packed road. This made me think of all the wonderful things that I was leaving behind - the beautiful, serene valley in the Appalachian in which State College is situated, its narrow mountain roads that wind in and out of forests that inspire me to test the traction control on my car every single time, the numerous lakes and creeks along which many a mile I have hiked. But a significant bump in the work department calls for such sacrifices don't they? That is what I have been telling myself.

The experiences - you can even go so far as to call them a culture shock - I've had in Boston have so far left a lot to be desired. Businesses with narrow operating margins fighting to get your business - a delight to the libertarian in me - fight dirty (obviously) and try to entice the customer using questionable tactics. In short, they try to con unsuspecting people into becoming unwilling customers. They are not in the game for building a loyal customer base - if you are a realtor even one transaction (a one year lease) keeps afloat your margins. Also, since real estate is in high demand, its really a realtor market. Time for some anecdotes - a guy with an apartment overlooking a reservoir had an advertisement that touted "stunning views of the reservoir". While taking a look at it, I could not see any water body at all. I only saw trees and made it a point to ask him about it. With a straight face he replied that in the winter the trees lost their leaves and then (voila!!) I would have been presented with "stunning views of the reservoir". Needless to say, I thanked him (yes, these social norms do seem to get in the way) for his time, walked out and thanked myself that for having remembered that particular detail. I realized that this schmuck knew that "stunning views of the reservoir" will catch people's attention and will get him calls. Once actually in the apartment, most people are more interested in the condition of the apartment, the kind of neighbors, amenities etc. Not to mention the realtor's salesmanship usually guides the talk away from troubling questions and increases the odds in his favor. I faced this on more than occasion and even walked out on a deal at the last second. I faced truck loads of inconvenience but at least I had my dignity - there is nothing more humiliating in the world than being stupid and being aware of it.

Massachusetts is a blue state and its stalwart social democrat politicians in the name of helping its people (sounds a lot like the govt. of India doesn't it?) have created socialist infrastructure with all its attendant regulatory structures. Auto insurance - their terms, their rates - is so heavily regulated that there is absolutely no competition amongst themselves and one is no better than the other. The overhead of complying with all this regulation drives out all but the big players. Companies like Geico, Progressive etc have all been driven out just because regulatory overheads hurt their bottom line so much so that it does not make any business sense to continue their operations. So, there isn't any real choice for customers - one company is as bad as the other. Since there is no competition amongst the companies, there is no incentive for them to innovate and provide greater benefits at lower costs to customers. The regulatory compliance costs are all passed onto the customer in the end. So, who is hurt? The customer obviously. But that is not what the intention was it? There is another downside to all this - the damping effect - all customers get fleeced to pretty much the same degree as the differences in their driving skills as reflected by their driving records (the assumption here being that their record is a direct indication of their skill) is not reflected in their premiums. This causes them to drive with a certain flair that motorists from other states find very shocking. I am sure everyone has heard of the infamous bostonian driver. The streets are less safe on account of rash drivers who probably were not rash drivers to begin with but turned into one in response to the incentives. Not in line with the intentions of the government eh? What do they say about the best of intentions? - the road to hell is paved with them. Consider for a second that all this regulation disappears outright. What do you think will happen? Driving loosely on the edge is so ingrained in the local populace that if and when they are subjected to standards of rates and terms that everyone else in the country are subjected to, the premiums they will pay will in all probability not be any different from their current ones. So, there is no incentive to improve their driving and become more safe on the roads. I do concede that a part of the population will take the opportunity to drive safer and (hopefully) pay lesser premiums but to most it has already become a way of life and its too much effort to change. A most unfortunate outcome wouldn't you say?

A feature of socialist thinking and planning is that it sets up, through unintended consequences, many a vicious circle. This was reinforced in the way my relocation from State College was planned and executed. Most self respecting companies have relocation packages that work in one of two ways - they either have a cash out policy meaning that they give the new employee a budget to work with and let the employee worry and fret about who to call, how to plan, how to schedule etc etc - to moving families, the effort and work involved can be quite daunting. To be fair to the company, giving full control to the moving employee without a budget provides an incentive to be prodigal. The alternative is to let the company select your mover, schedule your move out, add or modify your moving options with the mover, set up direct billing (service providers directly bill the company for services provided without the customers ever seeing a bill) with hotels, car rentals etc etc. Though on the surface the latter option seems like one that offers peace of mind and one that might make a move less stressful, it is often not the case and the acute reader most likely can already see why. This option sets up a dependency on the contact at the company. Since the finances come directly from the company, all service providers will provide a standard one size fits all service (obviously as defined by someone at the company). Customizable services are highly desirable as the circumstances of each moving family are very different (it is not unreasonable to assume that). The cost of customizing these services is high and involves repeated calls to the company's representative even for the most mundane things - the company turns into a great micro manager even though that was not the intention. Also, since at any given time during the hiring season a great many families are planning their move, the stress on the representative greatly increases as he/she plans out and coordinates the most minute details according to each moving family's preferences. They obviously have little time and patience to deal with each case. This has the obvious consequence that the turn around time for communicating with the representative and receiving confirmations greatly increases causing the cost of changing ones preference or even adapting to changing circumstances extremely difficult. Since the frequency reduces, the bandwidth of each missive has to increase making the workload that much higher. This has the unintended consequence (don't you all just love these by now?) that the whole move just does not proceed to the employee's exact preferences, they tend to compromise and just go with whatever the representative can do for them (which on account of them being so busy, surely is not something that the moving family really cares for). So, in the end the move does not turn out to be this worry free, comfortable move that was the intention before instituting such a relocation scheme. Why so you still ask? Because the people actually moving do not have any freedom in choosing and budgeting their options.

There must be some common ground between a cash out with its attendant work load and stress and direct billed socialist structure with its attendant stress and frustration. How about providing a list of vendors who are all set up to talk to the customers directly thus making customization easy. Direct billing can also be set up with budgetary constraints set sufficiently large so as not to cause most people to shoot over and reducing the exercise to what it was earlier. If the customer's prefered vendor is not amongst the list, then you provide a cash out and let the customer worry about budgeting his move options. I know the idea of one person at the company charged with making up a list of vendors and a list of budgeted services is socialist in itself but I am sure it can be beneficial as long as the customer has all choices and ultimate decision capability.

I am sure there are many ways of fleshing out a middle ground. Interested readers can leave suggestions, flaws etc etc in the comments. Its late, I am tired and need to hit the sack.

Regular programming will commence.

1857 Sepoy Mutiny

2007-05-10T10:17:00.000-04:00

State sponsored celebrations of the "First war of Independence" are already in full swing with general cheer passing around in good measure by all ministers. A celebration of such pomposity is out of sync with the spirit of remembrance which is the pertinent sentiment in my opinion. Celebrating it as though it were a festive occasion with politicians stirring up nationalistic fervor for a little mileage is distasteful. Echoing the same sentiment but with a different approach - that the event in question is too violent to celebrate - is historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee in his column titled "Kill the white man". Peter Foster, a British journalist residing in Delhi, was in Meerut - the birthplace of the rebellion/war - and his impressions are in his column "Textbook Nationalism". Before you get the idea that this post is being dismissive and condescending of Indians and their sense of national pride, read it and be drawn down a different path - that of the pathetic state of the education system. Check out other articles on his blog - there some pretty good ones in the archives.

Blues All Around My Head

2007-05-03T02:16:00.000-04:00

I've been taking a well deserved break from listening to metal, have been on a literal 18 hour blues trip over the last month or so. From haunting Louisiana swamp blues to the devilish Mississippi delta blues to the searing Chicago blues all the way to the Texas country blues, the blues has taken a hold of my soul. Even modern rock/guitar driven blues has so much feel to it that it makes my soul sing. Blues is not new to me but as with all other genres of music, I periodically go out of touch with it, catch up with later and treasure all my new re-discoveries. This time around I have devoted more time to the acoustic blues that are home to the Mississippi delta and have discovered sheer joy in the wail of the harmonica. Of course, the Chicago blues are never far behind when it comes to the harmonica and I've enjoyed many a Chicago master too.

So, here is a short blues primer that I found somewhere on the net (can't remember where though). If you are familiar with songs from Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee (just to name a few), the following primer will bring a smile of recognition -

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes...sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, And she weighs 500 pounds."

4. The Blues is not about choice. You're stuck in a ditch, you're stuck in a ditch - ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train, blues NEVER go on the northbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause an alligator be chomping on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10.Good places for the Blues: a. highway b. jailhouse Bad places for the Blues: a. Nordstrom b. gallery openings c. Ivy League institutions d. golf courses

11.No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old person, and you slept in it for the last 6 months.

12.Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if: a. you're older than dirt b. you're blind c. you shot a man in Memphis Not if: a. you have all your teeth b. you were once blind but can see c. the man in Memphis lived d. you have a 401K or trust fund now

13.Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got leg up on the blues.

14.If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are: a. muddy water b. nasty black coffee

The following are NOT Blues beverages: a. Perrier b. Chardonnay c. Snapple d. Slim Fast

15.If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.

16.Some Blues names for women: a. Sadie b. Big Mama c. Bessie d. Fat River Dumpling

17.Some Blues names for men: a. Joe b. Willie c. Little Willie d. Big Willie

18.Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19."Make your own Blues Name" Starter Kit: a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.) c. last name of a President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Pegleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")

20.I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even one computer, you cannot sing the blues. If you are reading this on a computer - maybe you cannot sing the Blues - but you sure can listen to it…

American History X

2007-04-25T02:09:00.000-04:00

I just finished watching "American History X" and I really liked the movie and the sentiments and thoughts it raises. For those of you who have not watched this movie, Ed Norton plays a skin head who in the process of doing time in prison for a racially motivated crime, sees the error of his ways and tries to keep his younger brother clean.

Some quick cons - the movie's screenplay is way too rushed and this hurry to cover so much ground in so little time leaves many rather crucial areas with little or no attention or time. Though the characters are well defined, their development seems jumpy and choppy for the same reason. The lack of character development forces you to take for granted Ed Norton's hate for blacks and for his white supremacist tendencies while a sense of how this came about would have set the nuances of what comes later in the movie in better light. Yes, we are presented with factual account of two such incidents and are left to ourselves to make the connections, if there is one. Norton's character comes across as being high intelligent and one who makes compelling arguments about immigrants and their impact on the crime rate in a manner that would make Lou Dobbs proud. I am not sure if this was intentional on the part of the directors but he never meets an adversary who counters his arguments with sound logic eschewing a centrist or even slightly liberal position. The reasons for this might be many and might also be intended to explain Norton's long association with far right supremacists. The film is emotional and suggests that hate is just extra baggage - it wears you down and brings none of the change that you hoped for. It also depicts how hate divides society on racial lines simply because of how society is structured to think about race and how this hate in combination with racial leanings result in horrific hate crimes with violence being a constant theme. In the end, people commit crimes because of who they are as persons - their personal character traits, their circumstances and their psychological makeup and not because they belong to a particular race or class of people. Though this membership has some affect, however little, on how that person thinks and behaves (hence, racial stereo typing), it is hardly reflective of the common characteristics of the entire race of people.

Another interesting aspect of the movie is its abuse of Nazi symbols to keep up an undercurrent of white supremacy. I do not know if this a peculiarity of the movie or if this is a characteristic of white power groups, but Hitler's shadow is all over this movie. I am not sure if white power groups realize that Hitler's race theories were not solely about white power. In fact, how many of his victims were black, brown or yellow specifically because they were black, brown or yellow? After being assuaged with various posters, memorabilia and music throughout the movie I was left to ponder on whether Hitler was really understood or was just being used as a seed for racially stereotyping white supremacists.

All in all, a powerfully emotional movie. Please do watch if you get a chance.

P.S - did I forget to mention that the kid from the Terminator 2 movie plays Ed Norton's brother?

Update: I was intrigued by the adoption of Hitler as the poster child for white power when he hardly stood for it, though in his plans non-whites shared the same fate as other groups that he targeted. Well given that he did not particularly target non-white races, I find it astonishing that eastern Europe particularly Poland and the Slavic states are hotbeds for neo-nazism. These were the people who were one of the most severely oppressed by Hitler and now they adopt him as their savior and have somehow converted his ideology to that of white supremacy. What gives?

Things That Move

2007-04-22T17:34:00.000-04:00

After a really long break, I think I am ready to do some blogging. I think I will open with something sublime - Barcelona's Lionel Messi's (Argentina) goal that bears an uncanny resemblance to Maradona's goal against England in the 1986 world cup.

I think Maradona's goal, featured here, was a couple of minutes after his legendary 'Hand of God' goal, anybody wants to confirm?

If that got your blood pumping, here is something that will move you to the other end of the spectrum - the Pulitzer prize for feature photography was recently awarded to Renée C. Byer for her photo essay on the last few days of a 10 year old with terminal blood cancer.
[Link]Life ephemeral.

The Delusion That is God

2006-11-30T01:03:00.000-05:00

Richard Dawkins in Lynchburg, VA promoting his latest book, "The God Delusion".

You guessed right, the next couple of posts are all going to pertain to organized religion, faith (blind at that) and morality and the evolution, if you will, of religion itself. And along the way maybe I'll discover a thing or two about my religious conviction or the lack thereof. I have a large essay brewing but don't hold your breath just yet.

As a precursor, just so that you can familiarize yourselves with arguments that are popularly made on both sides of "The God Delusion" debate, please do read this rather elaborate [email exchange] between an atheist, Sam Harris and a theist, Dennis Prager. You can also read about it [here].

Now, onto the master himself Richard Dawkins.

Part 1: Book Reading

Part 2: Questions and Answer session

Bill O'Reilly Googly

2006-11-07T02:20:00.000-05:00

Another one of many clips of O'Reilly spewing forth his lies as factual truths - this one exposed by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. His language sure is caustic but very worthy of O'Reilly I am sure

Watch David Letterman splay Bill O'Reilly's guts. This is hilarious!!

Bill O'Reilly - The Spin Zone

2006-11-05T00:33:00.000-05:00

I have a special soft corner for Fox's Bill O'Reilly. I am one of his biggest "fans". And with fans like me, who needs critics?

Bill O'Reilly thinks he matters because he thinks he represents objective public opinion in this country. His patronizing paternalism is absolutely insulting (to me atleast). He is the self appointed (annointed is more like it) savior of american culture and "The American Way" of life. Anything that remotely offends him is an attack on the country's values and morals and must be dealt with severity. He denounces all action/opinion that he doesn't approve of as a far-leftist conspiracy. He invites people over to supposedly debate topics but he talks 80% of the time and abusively interrupts his guest's talk time either by calling them names or in an effort to turn around their point (which they haven't had the time to make) to suit his agenda.

O'Reilly's modus operandi

Steven Colbert has a different word on every show. O'Reilly just has one - "Shut Up"

O'Reilly's attitude of self appointed guardian of morals and ethics - in this [clip] he rants on movies like Hostel, Saw franchise etc. O'Reilly - if you don't like it, do not watch it. But do NOT presume to tell me what to watch and what not to.

David Letterman pawns O'Reilly on his show.

and with regards to O'Reilly's journalistic integrity, you can make up your mind after watching this.

Watch O'Reilly try to play his usual game on his guests, but what do we have here? educated, articulate and in your face guests? something O'reilly was not prepared for. gives you a sense of his agenda.

Bottomline: see "The Best Of O'Reilly" and you will begin to understand his pseudo, self appointed authority and his infuriating paternalism on culture, politics and everything in between

Part III:

Part II:

Part I:

O'Reilly also has a problem that all the late night comedians are left leaning and thinks that there ought to be a conservative comedy show. Well, Mr. O'Reilly if you want to see one, either do it yourself or pay/support someone who wants to. You cannot make a call on their (current crop of comedians) persuasion and mandate/require that they have a conservative on board. What he wants is legislated/arbitratred comedians on air - much like Kamal Nath wants reservations for the OBC, SC/ST!! And for what its worth, its a comedy show. The last time I checked, comedy shows don't spew political theories/opinions for mass consumption. More of O'Reilly's infuriating paternalism.

Requiem For A Dream

2006-10-26T01:15:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite movies - how dreams can be all consuming - body, soul and life. Actually, words fail me when I try to describe the absolute desperation of these blighted lives, lives so desolate, so bleak, so hopeless that it scares the living daylights out of me. The dread and barrenness of life is only exacerbated by the haunting background melodies and masterful direction by Darren Aronofsky.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, a MUST see

Warning: may contain a few spoilers

Trailer 1:

Trailer 2:

Rukawat Ke Liye Khed He

2006-10-17T09:23:00.000-04:00

Regular programming will resume soon!

Music of the Gods

2006-10-04T00:39:00.000-04:00

Iron Maiden- The Metal Gods

I know of atleast 2 readers who are going to jump with joy ;-) Up the Irons! you know who you are. To the uninitiated - if at the end of watching all these videos, your soul does not wish to jump, dance and sing in tune with the scores you see in the videos then absolutely no one, not even the God you believe in, will be able to save it, your soul that is.

I will be seeing them in 10 days and I am salivating in anticipation!

Fear Of The Dark (Rock In Rio)

Hallowed Be Thy Name - I have included videos from shows that are separated by 13 years - 1992's Live At Donnington and 2005's Rock In Rio. Bruce has aged like fine wine - he sounds better now than ever before.

1992 Live at Donnington Castle, England

2006 Live At Ullevi Stadium, Sweden

Running Free (Ullevi Stadium, Sweden)

Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (Maiden England)

Infinite Dreams (Maiden England Video)

A few videos from Bruce's solo career:

Tears Of The Dragon

Accident of Birth

Tears Of The Dragon (Unplugged) - goes out of key a couple of times, but hey its Bruce!

Google Reader, Phlat and rants on software

2006-09-29T01:40:00.000-04:00

I am a product of the web 2.0 generation - I want to not only choose what I consume but I also want to choose the manner in which I consume it. RSS is a big part of my day and I really don't respect any website/service that does not let me syndicate material. Take for example, an RSS enabled website say, a camera review website. They have loads of categories but I am interested only in one/some of them. But the dingbats have only RSS feed to every headline that ever makes it to their website. It leaves me to sort out (from amongst a vast sea of other websites doing the same thing) the wheat from the chaff. Sometimes thats all I do, throw the trash out and mark the posts that interest me but I don't have any time left over and these posts backup. Soon, they loose significance and I may as well delete them. I just wish that every website that categorizes their material has customizable RSS feeds for visitors to subscribe to. Just imagine if you could take a look at the categories I had on this blog (hypothetically speaking of course, since this is blogger and it doesn't have ANY such feature) and specify the categories you would like to read (assuming that you want read any at all) and your syndicator just picks up only those feeds. Take it one step further, the reader specifies tags and ONLY those posts tagged with the user's choice of tags get syndicated. Technorati tags are a start. Wouldn't this be nice to have? I would be thrilled!

Google announced its reader and I imported my opml into it in a flash to try it out. On Scoble's advice they actually made a video and had one of their engineers do the talking. Lamest video ever! Between deciding to focus on the engineer or on the computer screen, the script falls apart. Even if he didn't have a script, the whole point of making a video is to showcase the reader's USP features. Instead, it just wastes my time. That apart, the reader itself is excruciatingly slow in displaying posts from feeds and if you want to try changing the views around, your hair might even gray a bit! Another gripe is that they have all these buttons for the various operations I might want to do with each post right at the end. If I happen to be reading a very long post I would have to scroll ALL the way to the bottom and then click to share, tag etc. Why can't they just put these things at the top too? Its the same with their gmail - the reply, forward etc are right the end. Even the delete was at the bottom before someone had the sence to put a button right up on top. But, what I do love - tags (this is my new mantra), discoverability via their "share" feature and simple UI (its Google!). I haven't figured out this one yet, only some of my feeds are able to retrieve posts from the target site for as long as I kept scrolling down - a sort of infinite scroll bar. This is an awesome feature. I totally loved the scrolling and tags. The infinite scroll bar was a HUGE success for Microsoft (yes, I am afraid they were the first to do it. They do innovate there you know) on their live search.

Coming back to tags, wouldn't you like to tag (if you choose to, of course) the things that you want to visit later on your hard drive(s)? You remember them the way you want to and search for them using your own semantics. You have been unencumbered from remembering on which drive, under which folder your documents, music, videos sit awaiting your exalted return. Fixed, organized directories are a thing of the past! Tags are in, rigid categories/directories are out. Introducing Phlat, it turns your hard drive into a relational database. You specify your tags for how you want to remember anything on your drive. Key in your tags in the search box and voila! Of course, since its from Microsoft it runs on Microsoft desktop search (MDS). For another time - another rant on the lack of inter-operability and the division of the market by walled garden policies. But MDS is a pretty good product so one generally need not be too averse to installing it. I found it totally awesome - I have 300GB of songs/documents/emails/rss feeds/movies. I cannot manually look for anything, in fact I refuse to! Do try it out, I totally loved it. [download link]

I think I am going to start a new series on how stupid and frustrating the software we use today are. Let me start with Blogger - it is riddled with spammers and to take care of spam, the wise ones over at the plex decided to have word verification to prevent bots from trolling. They flipped the switch and all was well with the world once again. But, hang on, whats this? even the owner(s) of the blog HAVE to go through this word verification to reply to comments on their blog even when they are already signed in.

Dumpkoff! can't you see they might spam their own blog.
Yes, that must be it then.

More on its way.

Update [10/02/06]: Google reader has an infinite scroll bar for all my feeds and not just for a few as I had previously noted. I really love this feature, now I can scroll as far back as I like to retrieve much older posts without having to go to the target website and search through their archives.

Lights! Action! Camera!

2006-09-28T00:31:00.000-04:00

Photokina 2006 is on and all the beauties have been revealed! I have been wanting to buy a DSLR for ever and this year feels right. The usual contenders are Canon (traditional favorite), Nikon (another traditionalist and favorite), Sony (this year's wildcard), Olympus (very strong contender) and finally, Sigma (another favorite).

The rumor mills have been chugging away the past couple of months. Canon, Nikon and Sony threw out their offerings before Photokina itself. I just had to see what Sigma was going to throw up and boy did they kick up a dust storm!

Canon EOS 400D/Digital Rebel XTi
reviews: DPReview, LetsGoDigital (EOS 350D, EOS 400D), Imaging-Resource, CameraLabs

Nikon D80
reviews: DPReview, LetsGoDigital, Imaging-Resource, CameraLabs

Sony Alpha 100
reviews: DPReview, LetsGoDigital, Imaging-Resource, CameraLabs

Sigma SD14 (just released, no reviews yet just specs)
reviews: Photokina Report, Official website, DPReview, LetsGoDigital

And for the sake of completeness,

Olympus E400 DSLR
reviews: LetsGoDigital, DPReview, Imaging-Resource (E330, E500), CameraLabs (E500, E400)

If someone wants to yell Panasonic! I suggest you poke around these wonderful sites and you will find reviews for them too.

These are my contenders. I am drooling over the Sigma but the price isn't out yet and I do not want to refinance my car just so that I can own one and I am not going to work any harder either. so there!

Update: the D70's kid brother (and the D50's younger brother) - the D40, is here. The D40 is an entry level DSLR that is surely up against the E400.
Reviews: LetsGoDigital, DPReview, Imaging-Resource, Megapixel.net

The Underground Man

2006-09-26T20:32:00.000-04:00

I am done with reading Dostoevsky's "Notes From The Underground" and it is as much a classic (contradictory as it sounds, existentially speaking of course) as Kaufman says it is. It was eye-opening - after reading Nietzsche (my favorite existentialist) not everything that comes your way impresses you. You sit back with an enlightened, heightened consciousness trying to come to terms with this, for the lack of a better word, education. After the initial excitement of reading and comprehending (atleast partly and with repeated reading) one of the seminal works in existentialism, you actually think and apply your own filters to this lode. There are some themes - of alienation, torment and hatred - which I will explore in another post. I urge those who can and want to read it.

The next existentialist in Kaufman's taxonomy is Kierkegaard. I have no immediate wish to read up on Kierkegaard's works, so I will stick to Kaufman's expose on Kierkegaard's flavor of existentialism. Watch this space for more.

Abou Ben Adhem

2006-09-24T18:19:00.000-04:00

I was flipping through my book of poems when I chanced upon a poem I had read during my school days - its relevance to the present world scenario can hardly be ignored.

Without further ado, James Leigh Hunt's "Abou Ben Adhem"

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,,
An angel writing in a book of gold -
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the prescence in the room he said,
'What writest thou' - the vision rais'd its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answer'd, 'The names of those who love the Lord'
'And is mine one?' said Abou. 'Nay, not so,'
replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, 'I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men.'
The angel wrote, and vanish'd. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And show'd the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

Sunrise at the Angkor Wat

2006-09-14T01:19:00.000-04:00

I was in Cambodia last winter and shot the sunrise at the serene and majestic Angkor Wat, I definitely thought that many of the smaller and lesser known temples far exceeded the Angkor in elegance and beauty but then the Angkor was never about intricate beauty. Majesty and scale are its hallmarks.

Click on the image to see the picture in its actual size (2544 x 1696). If anyone is interested in the EXIF data, I will put that up too.

Word Play

2006-09-11T19:44:00.000-04:00

Chris Anderson, author of "The Long Tail", in his blog introduces a fascinating (atleast to me) idea of the interplay of words, their frequency of occurance as opposed to their length, their contextual meaning and juxtaposition.

To quickly summarize his thesis, Chris cites Zipf's Law which states that the frequency distribution of words as a function of their length has an exponential distribution and the rank of these words shares a power law relationship with their frequency of occurance/usage. This was based on analyzing James Joyce's opus Ulysses and was stated, at the time, to hold true for the english language. Chris then cites Wentian Li who proves that this is the case for all languages including imaginary ones that constitute words banged out on keyboards by monkeys. Chris then concludes that Zipf's Law is more of a mathematical law in total rather than one governing and explaining linguistic features of a particular, or for that matter any, language.

Just thinking about this, one can already see that certain words (like "I") are more likely than certain others with the same length (I can't think of any right now but you are free to fill in the blanks). And this, I am sure, is a feature of the english language. There might be different relationships in different languages but there is enough evidence to suggest that all languages (real and inventented) do not follow the power law blindly. Rules of linguistic construction are the anamolies and these rules, in my opinion, were first formalized by years of talking/speaking before they were codified into a written language system. I am no linguist and certainly no expert on the evolution of languages and am shooting from the hip here but Li, in my opinion, has over generalized Zipf's Law.

Edit: A fun way to learn about the Long Tail phenomenon

The Heart Of Existentialism Pt. 1

2006-09-06T00:18:00.000-04:00

I have been reading (yes reading. You can stop laughing now) Walter Kaufman's "Existentialism - From Dostoevsky To Sartre", a wonderful thought provoking book on the philosophy of existentialism. Why I sought out this book and what I think of it is irrelevant to this post. What is relevant, is his scholarly insight into the stalwarts of the existentialist movement, the essence of their philosophy - its evolution and impact, and unmatched clarity of thought and presentation. I have distilled some passages from the afore mentioned book for the interested reader. All text in (bold) italics constitutes passages from the book while my fillers are in plain text. I urge the reader to chew on the general philosophy, savor the ideas and themes, relish it and bask in all its glory.

Kaufman introduces Existentialism with - "Existentialism is not a philosophy but a label for several widely different revolts against traditional philosophy. Existentialism is not a school of thought nor reducable to any set of tenets." He presents various passages, essays and letters from philosophers and litterateurs who, in his opinion, influenced and shaped this movement. Of these scholars, he says "The three writers who appear invariably on every list of "existentialists" - Jaspers, Heidegger and Sartre - are not in agreement on the essentials. Such alleged precursors as Pascal and Kierkegaard differed from all three men by being dedicated Christians...If, as is often done, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky are included in the fold then we must make room for an impassioned anti-Christian and an even more fanatical Greek-Orthodox Russian imperialist. By the time we consider adding Rilke, Kafka, and Camus, it becomes plain that one essential feature shared by all these men is their perfervid individualism."

"The refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs, and especially of systems, and a marked dissatisfaction with traditional philosophy as superficial, academic and remote from life - that is the heart of existentialism."

Though Kaufman has extensively translated, in his book, many essays from each of the philosophers he mentions, I am going to cull out, modifying the tone if the need arises and present excerpts to paint you, my interested reader, a pseudo-indivdualistic landscape of existentialism. I again urge the reader to savor and relish the myriad textures and hues of individuality that Kaufman, through the philosophy of existentialist giants, paints.

Of Dostoevsky's "Notes From Underground", Kaufman opines "is the best overture for existentialism ever written. With inimitable vigor and finesse the major themes are stated here....." He goes on to say "...the drama of the mind that is sufficient to itself, yet conscious of its every weakness and determined to exploit it. What we perceive is an unheard of song of songs on individuality: not classical, not Biblical and not at all romantic. No, individuality is not re-touched, idolized or holy; it is wretched and revolting, and yet, for all its misery, the highest good." He points out an important trait of romanticism that contrasts itself sharply with core of existentialism - the celebration of the self, the individual with all its faults and shortcomings. "Romanticism is flight from the present, whether into the past, the future, or another world, dreams, or, most often, a vague fog. It is self deception. Romanticism yearns for deliverance from the cross of Here and Now; it is willing to face anything but the facts. No prize, however great, can justify an ounce of self deception or a small departure from the ugly facts. ....... Man's inner life, his moods, anxieties and decisions are moved into the center until, as it were, no scenery at all remains.... he [sic, the man whom Dostoevsky has created] believes neither in the original sin nor in God. For him, man's self will is not depravity; it is only perverse from the point of view of rationalists and others who value neat schemes above the rich texture of individuality.

I am sure the astute reader already sees a pattern emerging here - celebration of the self, the overlordship of individuality, atheist in nature, lengthy self observation and understanding and above all absolutely no self deception - the dark, grimy underside of human nature is celebrated with much the same gusto as love and happiness. In any celebration of individuality, the differences are stressed, studied and exphasized over the similarities. Also, interestingly, lengthy self observation and understanding oneself without any self deception affirms psychology as another concurrent theme in existentialism. Keep in mind Kaufman's words that existentialism cannot be reduced to some tenets. I leave you to contemplate these points. Their import will sink in only, in my opinion, with some inrospection. I will return to post more nuggets from the other existentialists that highlight other themes in existentialism, hopefully, broadening and pushing the boundaries of your consciousness.

Over and Over and Over

2006-08-15T12:08:00.000-04:00

Dio's powerful vocals, Iommi's plodding doomy riffs and trippy leads and cryptic/philosophical lyrics - the very makings of many a Sabbath song. Ponder over these lyrics for a while till I am back with some worthwhile to write.

Sometimes I feel like I'm dying at dawn
and sometimes I'm warm as fire
But lately I feel like I'm just gonna rain
and it goes over, and over, and over again, yeah

Too many flames, with too much to burn
and life's only made of paper
Oh, how I need to be free of this pain
but it goes over, and over, and over, and over again

Yeah, sometimes I cry for the lost and alone
and for their dreams that will all be ashes
But lately I feel like I'm just gonna rain

but it goes over, and over, and over, and over again

Motörhead: I Ain't No Nice Guy Anymore

2006-07-30T16:54:00.000-04:00

When I was young, I was the nicest guy I knew
I thought I was the chosen one
But time went by and I found out a thing or two
My shine wore off as time wore on
I thought that I was living out the perfect life
But in the lonely hours when the truth begins to bite
I thought about the times when I turned my back & stalled

I ain't no nice guy after all

When I was young, I was the only game in town
I thought I had it down for sure,
But time went by and I was lost in what I found
The reasons blurred, the way unsure
I thought that I was living life the only way
But as I saw, that life was more than day to day
I turned around, I read the writing on the wall

I ain't no nice guy after all
I ain't no nice guy after all

In all the years you spend between your birth and death
You find there's lots of times you should have saved your breath
It comes as quite a shock when that trip leads to a fall

I ain't no nice guy after all
I ain't no nice guy after all

Downtown Philadelphia

2006-07-29T17:02:00.000-04:00

Canon S2 IS in night mode. It was still twilight outside and the prolonged exposure has over exposed the horizon. That apart, the city and the Schuylkill river have come out in striking contrast - deep blue/black as opposed to the lights of the city

The fury of the maker's hand

2006-07-14T18:41:00.000-04:00

I am infuriated.

Let me repeat.

I am infuriated -

1. at the incompetence and the pig headedness of the people I am surrounded by.
2. because I am dependant on these nincompoops.
3. because the outcome of my actions involve many people and as is the case, most of them are clueless cretins and do not comprehend that their dispirited existence will cost me dear.

I am infuriated.

Period.

All That Glitters is not Gold Pt. 2

2006-06-27T13:42:00.000-04:00

This definitely seems like a comparison that has far exceeded a reasonably valid scope - Chennai being a threat to Detroit. The article talks about the infrastructural revolution taking place in Chennai and how it is fast becoming a center for automotive and manufacturing excellence, how government has reformed policy to make all this happen and how the doors are opening but not open yet amd how ever increasing international recognition is transforming the manufacturing landscape in Chennai.It is here that this comparison (with Detroit's might) takes flight. The tone and the comparison with Detroit and the suggestion that Detroit's auto manufacturers are shaking in their boots because Chennai exports engine valves seems a little far fetched (though I am not excluding this future possibility) and designed just to fill the Indian balloon with more hot air. As always, a comparison with China follows suit.

[Warning! ONLY interested readers and insomniacs proceed]
In September 2005, I had linked to a tangible statistical comparison between China and India vis a vis their trade volumes as percentage of GDP, sectors that contribute most to trade (export and import) and finally a look at social indices such as literacy rate (adult and more importantly, women), poverty rates etc. The numbers speak for themselves.
[Link] to my earlier post and to save you, my assiduous reader, the trouble of an extra mouse click I will reproduce all the relevant links in this post. [Link] article by Shankar Acharya, the Chief Economic Advisor to the Govt. of India. He rules this as a no contest in favor of China. Not to worry though, James Waterton says the future is indeed colored saffron. His a case against China is [here] and one for India is [here]. As the adage goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind as these numbers are visually pie charted in this [report] by Deutsche Bank. [hat tip: New Economist]. I urge the reader to take some time out to carefully read these documents and as a thought experiment, introspect on the state of India's society and economy. Read this Deutsche Bank [report] on their thoughts on India becoming a major economic powerhouse. Though all this reading is quite involved, it will lend some form and structure to the opinions you may have formed while going through Shankar Acharya's column and Deutsche Bank's visual comparison of the two economies.

The sad state of the much lauded "world's largest democracy" is on full display - The hindu [reports] that the DMK government in Tamil Nadu is actually making good on its poll promise of dishing out free color TVs. The "beneficiaries" have also been identified. I cant think of which is worse - the DMK actually fulfilling their promise or that the next time around the shrewd public will want more thereby raising the ante for electorate sellouts. Since this largesse comes at the expense of tax payers, maybe I should be thankful that the AIADMK wasnt elected - they had free computers as part of their electoral bribe, I mean promise. The immaturity of our democracy is reminiscent of cargo cults in the Pacific says Atanu Dey. To learn more, visit these links [1] and [2]

[Update: Atanu's blog seems to acting all of a sudden, will let you know when it behaves]

[Update 07/05/06: Atanu informs us that his blog is back up!]

All that glitters is not gold Pt. 1

2006-06-24T11:46:00.000-04:00

I am, quite frankly, tired of reading and hearing about how India and China are the next global economic superpowers - the cliched contrasts of abject poverty juxtaposed to astounding wealth, how inspite of the education and health sectors being in disarray India churns out "world class" graduates who are spearheading this breakout. But what exactly are these graduates good for? For joining the workforce as customer service agents? For seemingly to shine as part of technical support? Thats the impression I get from reading all thats out there on India's economic boom. I know better than to believe everything I read but in order to improve the abysmal signal to noise ratio I have decided to link to articles/commentary/essays/blogs of eminent scholars who call it like it is.

Tomes have been written about their socio-economic growth and scholars have endlessly exchanged letters and written countless books opining what they see about their (India and China) future. Though all this makes for fascinating reading, most of the recent ones have become rather cliched and often just regurgigate thoughts and ideas that have long since been accepted as the state of affairs. Of course, once an objective effort is made into investigating the claims to superior economic status of the two nations, social indices and a whole lot of other measures of development in industrial and allied areas follow suit. It is in these numbers and their interpretations that the truth lies. Hope follows closely.

In response to Smitha's comment and before I introduce commentary on developmental policies, I reiterate the importance of hanging back a second to take a closer look at various indices of social and economic development will give us a better picture than just outrightly denouncing India's apparent economic advances (whether it is as notable as it is made out to be is a matter to be seen). India is a nation that houses most of the world's poor people, life in India is stained with poverty but when a country makes rapid strides (India's growth being a documented 7% - 8%) it is important that this growth be reflected in all sections of society. Policies that try to ensure that this growth be reflected more or less equally across social strata rein in the growth rates of forward sections and invest more resources (effort, money and time) in trying to improve the lot of the lower classes.But there exist certain drawbacks of equality centric policies as they aim to improve the lot of the masses under the working assumption that the masses can be banded together as a collective. It is my personal opinion that there are deepset inherent inequalities in Indian society that preclude any attempt to address the society as though it was one. Also judging by the sheer mass of Indian society, lifting them collectively out of poverty is a monumental task both effort and time wise. As opposed to equality centric policies there exist progressive policies that recognize that rapid growth first benefits only certain sections of society and only certain regions of the country but they aim to share this growth and wealth by allowing it percolate down to the lowest classes. These policies work on the assumption that no section of sociey is denied access to this growth or denied partaking in it. The reservation I have about these policies is that by ensuring that all sections partake in the nation's growth they might be able to lift the lower sections out of poverty (poverty as defined by world bodies), but since they don't ensure equal access to growth/wealth the more progressive sections, on account of their greater accessibilty to wealth and resources pull away much faster from other poorer sections resulting in greater inequality - greater inequality even though the masses are progressively moving out of poverty. A little irony eh?

[hat tip: The Middle Stage, Pankaj Mishra's resistance to temptation]
With that I introduce few links to some excellent commentary on the very same topic. To coincide with the release of his book "Temptations of the West : How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond", Pankaj Mishra argues that the value system of the free market model that heralds us as emerging economic powers is a western one that assumes that the end result of economic growth is a western lifestyle with its attendant consumerism. Though his arguments get a little less convincing as he progresses, The Middle Stage attributes this to the difficulty of a comprehensive analysis of a topic of this magnitude. In reponse to Mishra's column, Salil Tripathi replies with his own piece arguing for a progressive economic policy. Mishra replies and Tripathi counters. I urge everyone to carefully read these essays/letters and follow up on most if not all embedded links so that you are aware of the complete picture. These essays are instructional to the novice (like me) and showcase opposing theories of India's (and China's) economic explosion.
More articles by Pankaj Mishra and Salil Tripathi.

[cross posted on Frost Bite]

The free market economics of "justice"

2006-06-21T19:21:00.000-04:00

I've read enough free market 101 books to understand and appreciate its (free markets') philosophy and do lean towards a liberal view that the government is responsible for maintaining an atmosphere condusive to engaging in trade, one can consider this atmosphere as consequence of maintaining law and order. I have a few misgivings, unlike true free market liberals, of the morality of totally free markets and their apparent self correcting nature. I do believe that the government, as part of its responsibility in maintaining law and order, ought to protect the interests of the minorities without, I repeat for emphsasis, without getting regulatory in nature. Though the government represents the majority, the rights and interests of the minority have to be protected keeping in mind that policies framed by the majority can be very well done at the expense of minorities. Just because the majority wants it doesn't make it right. Though I have used the example of policy framing in order to make a point, the analogy can be easily extended to protecting (without getting protectionist) minorities (economically speaking) in a free market that potentially could get immoral. This fine line within which a government must confine itself is transgressed so often that it doesnt exist anymore, much like the case of many a socialist Indian government. It is when the government's policy becomes regulatory and when the markets march to the beat set by the government that everything starts to fall apart. There has been so much said about the detrimental nature of socialist indian policies that nothing I say can add any fresh perspective nor can I say it any better.

Yazad Jal presents us with a free market look at how justice will prevail in a true free market.[Link] The central idea of this post comes from the ideas proposed in "The Market For Liberty" by Linda and Morris Tannehill. The authors being true libertarians re-think the role of government in a revoultionary way and in the book, deal with "private arbitration agencies in managing with disputes and criminality, the role of insurers in providing profitable incentives for security, and private agencies in their capacity as protection services." [book review]

Though I tend to be liberal, being a total libertarian and actually believe heart and soul in the spirit of the said post is a little hard for me. Maybe reading the book and thinking of counter arguments will give me a better perspective and a convert I may become. Time (and the markets) will tell.

Long live Dr. Raj's memory

2006-05-24T12:07:00.000-04:00

the viral "If you come today video"

the next "if you come today" -
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and childen of all ages, presenting the anthemic "Love me or hate me"!

"Love me or hate me,
Kiss me or kill me,
Oh darling, do something to me"

well, love it or hate it is what I say. After watching it a few times, I think some of the late 60s and 70s hindi films have equally good (or bad, depending on your point of view) music scores. I think this video just got famous on account of Dr.Raj's popularity with the viral hit "If you come today". Of course, "If you come today" is altogether in another league.

The Torture Garden

2006-03-17T16:56:00.000-05:00

After a couple of months of silence, I am back with a worthwhile post.

What would you expect from a 25 yr old with a PhD in Bioinformatics, a Masters degree in Applied Math and Computational Biology and Bachelors in Physics?

Sounds like a poster child for someone destined for the hallowed halls of MIT, a National Lab, meritorious awards exhorting research skills and academic excellence? You wouldn't be too wrong if you did decide that it was so. But Asya Schween, the 25yr old in question, did something out of the expected. She seemingly "threw it all away" and turned into a very unique photographer. Even this turn around might fail to register high enough on the 'sit up and take notice scale', if there was ever one. But one glance, even if it were fleeting, at her work is guaranteed to do that. She creates self-portraits - creates a setting with the right lighting, takes a picture of herself, spends hours on photoshop and other manipulation software and produces masterpieces - each serving as a looking glass into the human psyche often coughing up raw human emotions in their undistorted, dusturbing form. Each portrait offers layers of intrigue and insight into the human psyche. Peel off one and understand the emotion attached to it and you are presented with another that betters the previous layer.

[Here] is link to an article about her in Bending Light magazine. In it you will also find poster child behaviour for Freudian psychology at work. It is almost fascinating to see his theories take to life.She is a troubled soul and from this "torture garden", the darkest of flowers mirror the grim underside of the human psyche.
Check out her landing page on the devianART community [here]

"Mother, Look!"

I will leave you to ponder Asya, her work and more importantly, her mind with this quote [used in her interview in Bending Light] -
"Either way, I would hope that my work, the thing I make so many sacrifices for, would outshine my dull, uninteresting, predictable, petty, small-minded personality. In other words, I hope my work is much more interesting than me."

Links for today

2006-01-30T15:45:00.000-05:00

Steve Jobs is the new [mickey mouse]

of bubbles and [2.0] - Web, Publishing, Media. [Top notch article!]

Since I work in a small cash strapped company, the "VC" always looms over us. Should we look for venture funding, trade freedom to set policy over having liquid capital? [Here] is a good discussion and/or call to reform the VC industry. Scoble chips in with some of his demands of VC 2.0 [here]

The power of Math

2006-01-23T14:23:00.000-05:00

"Math Will Rock your world" declares this Business week [article]. Not a revelatory declaration if you ask me, but does present an interesting set of companies as evidence. If you didnt already know this God only help you.

GOOG or GAAG?

2006-01-19T18:38:00.000-05:00

check these links out -

Google stocks [hit] a low of $445 after topping a whopping $475.xx a week ago. Read what this forbodes for the industry. Very interesting read.

The Dubya administration subpoenas Google for refusing to comply with their demand that Google turns over search records - it is their intention to find out how many kids are searching for porn by looking at data that is totally disconnected to the age/sex of the user. Go figure! head over to the Search Engine Blog for this masterful [article] on the whole issue. It gives a lot of insight on what this sort of legal action actually means and hopes to achieve. Interestingly, MSN and Yahoo were also asked to turn over data and the statements that they have provided do not say "No. We have not provided any data". Well, if they didn't provide data, they would be in court now. They aren't. Meaning that they did comply and turned over records to the Dubya administration. This is being touted all across [Memeorandum]. Google will suddenly become the cynosure of all privacy groups, the poster child for freedom and privacy groups many of whom are already sueing Dubya. Is there a stock resurgence in this for Google?

Important stock tip: Buy into hype. Sell before reality crashes the party!

Am baaaaaaaaaaack in the saddle again!

2006-01-06T07:02:00.000-05:00

after a long work related hiatus and a vacation, I am back to spam the 2-3 people who read my blog. Woe betide them!

ideas for old unfinished posts and for swanky new ones galore!

Whats Up?

2005-11-15T15:47:00.000-05:00

Thats what you can ask at this [webpage] and get answers to almost everything thats interesting AND happening in and around Bangalore. Whats more, if you are miffed that your event isn't listed, all you have to do is send the mods an email.

I tried to subscribe to the newletter so that I can see for myself the wonderful exciting things I am missing while I am away from home and what do I see, a yahoo group subscription box?!! have they never heard of RSS? Inspite of the *loud* colors and lack of RSS support, the content speaks for itself.

Viva Bangalore!

Time: The beginning and the end

2005-11-08T19:30:00.000-05:00

I haven't found the time to do anything of note besides work. I have loads of non-work work left over and hardly any time to do any of it. I need a secretary! and a cute one at that. I am behind on many posts including my pet project on the Lemons model. All in good time, my good sirs.

Over the weekend, I did make time to go to an awesome Opeth concert. Come on, please tell me you know who Opeth are. For those of you who don't have a clue, they are a "bunch of jaded swedish c****s who are out to make money". Melodic death metal bliss - thats what it was. These guys are some of the most awesome musicians you can ever see! One does recognize class when one is hit in the face by it and Opeth comes at you with a sledgehammer!

Head over to Venus's blog for a note [here]

Quote for today

2005-11-03T09:39:00.000-05:00

"Its hard to be religious when certain people aren't incinerated by bolts of lightning"

Who dya think said this?

The Desi Dream

2005-11-01T17:39:00.000-05:00

Riya Introductory article here.

Course Cafe Introductory article here.

Speak With Me Introductory article here.

Desi startups that are making the grapevines buzzzzz. These are totally awesome, inline with the latest business models integrating "user generated content", user interfaces and the web. I think companies of this kind are said to be ushering in the age of web 2.0.

Its snowing!

2005-10-25T10:36:00.000-04:00

Its snowing! Thick, fast and heavy and its only the end of October. I love watching snowfall but it is distracting me from work.

Beauty

2005-10-23T23:33:00.000-04:00

Where beauty is worshipped for beauty's sake as a goddess, independent of and superior to morality and philosophy, the most horrible putrefaction is apt to set in. The lives of the aesthetes are the far from edifying commentary on the religion of beauty.

Aldous Huxley

I am still trying to think this through.

Thought: Beauty is inextricably tied to morality and philosophy. If we consider this as an assumption then the next sentence just serves the same idea by saying that the lives of those sentient to beauty are far from instructive on the religion of beauty. The crux of this, I am not sure what to call it - argument, statement lies obviously in the idea put forth initially that (if simplistically put) beauty without brains does not last and withers away. If beauty is worshipped for beauty's sake, i.e., worshipped just as an art form without being embellished with philosophy and morality then its akin to a cat's meow but without a cat. I am still having trouble crossing the chasm on this bridge of 'morality and philosophy'. I definitely see that beauty by itself just as a pure art form cannot and will not last for all to see and revel for a long time. It has to be associated with an 'edifying commentary'. I am having a little trouble associating beauty with morality.

I am still going to mull this over.

Any thoughts? Anybody?

Update 2:
Let me draw a simple analogy to religion and add in the same breath that I am not religious.

When the Gods are worshipped for worshipping sake, most probably because one has always been told to worship God (whatever the reason, it falls outside the scope of the argument that I am trying to present), people (at least people like me) start to question the givens in this religion. With unanswered questions comes doubt. With doubt comes decay in the once strong belief system. With decay and an absence of an equally strong second set of beliefs, putrefaction sets in. It is the same in the case of beauty - it is not lasting, it is not captivating enough when seen and appreciated just for what it is in the present frame of reference. For eg., when you watch a beautiful sunset at a beach, your eyes might pop out at the sight of it. When you try and describe it to your friend and try to tell him/her about the wondrous riot of colors, the streaks of motley hues of red in the sky, gold shimmering on the waves - what do you think happens? They might excited for the first time. What about the second time? and the third? How long do you think they are going to share, in their mind's eye, this wonderful image of a sunset at the beach?

Back to the religion analogy, the aesthetes in this case are high priests involved in worship. Do their lives, in any manner, serve as an edifying commentary on religion? In my opinion, not at all. So what is it what keeps me interested in religion, continue to foster my belief in God? Theology? Maybe. Why? because it is the philosophy of religion. It rationalizes, tries to explain and answer your queries. It puts religion and its underlying foundation of a system of beliefs in a different perspective. The change in perspective is what makes it self-sustainable and not the aesthetes themselves. Would you remain interested in God and religion and recite the same prayers over and over because the priests (aesthetes) do? or would you be interested in religion if you were to read vedic texts, upanishads?

Back to the sunset at the beach example, if you distill the essence of nature's beauty into lets say, a poem (or an essay) wouldn't that be more self-contained and sustainable than all your explanations? - the functional being a change in the frame of reference, "philosophizing" beauty. Or would the fact that you are sentient to nature's beauty generate continued, sustained interest on the part of your friends.

I rest my case.

Quality, Uncertainty and Market Mechanism - Part 2

2005-10-21T00:50:00.000-04:00

The Model with Automobiles as an Example:
Suppose (for the sake of clarity rather than reality) that there are only four types of cars – new and used cars, good cars (creampuff) and bad cars (lemons). A new car may either be a good one or a bad one and the same is true for used cars too. The individuals in this market buy new cars without knowing whether the car they will buy is a creampuff or a lemon. Let us say that the probability of buying a new car that is also good is “q” and that of landing up with a lemon is “1-q”. “q” by assumption is the proportion of good cars produced and “1-q” is the proportion of lemons. After owing a specific car for certain duration of time, the owner has a good idea of its quality and assigns new probability to the event that the car is a lemon. Note that this estimate is more accurate than the previous one. An asymmetry in available information has now developed for the sellers have more information about the quality of the car than do the buyers. It is also clear that a used car cannot have the same valuation as that of a new car – if it did, it would be clearly advantageous to trade a lemon at the price of a new car and buy another new car, at a higher probability q of being good and a lower probability of being bad. Thus the owner of a good car is locked in and not only cannot he receive the true value of his car but cannot even obtain the expected value of a new car.
Thus, the bad cars drive out the good cars as most traded cars are lemons. This is analogous to the way “bad money drives out the good” as stated by Gresham’s law. Gresham’s Law is explained in simple terms over at the Wikipedia. For those Indians who are reading without clicking through to Wikipedia, let me give you a quick analogy to illustrate Gresham’s law – remember the times when all the currency notes that exchanged hands were soiled, torn notes and everybody, in spite of possessing good clean bills preferred to trade in the soiled ones? As this practice continued, all the notes that were traded in the market were soiled torn ones that actually had a lower value (on account of being torn, when one exchanges these notes at the bank one is left a little short of the face value of the turned in bill) but were traded at the same exchange rate as good clean bills were. If the picture is still not clear, then I advise you to click through to Wikipedia and go through the explanation.

Utility Theory: A Brief Introduction
[Source: Wikipedia]
In economics, utility is a measure of the happiness or satisfaction gained from a good or service. There are mainly two kinds of measurement of utility implemented by economists: cardinal utility and ordinal utility. Utility was originally viewed as a measurable quantity, so that it would be possible to measure the utility of each individual in the society with respect to each good available in the society, and to add these together to yield the total utility of all people with respect to all goods in the society. Society could then aim to maximize the total utility of all people in society, or equivalently the average utility per person. This conception of utility as a measurable quantity that could be aggregated across individuals is called cardinal utility. Cardinal utility quantitatively measures the preference of an individual towards a certain commodity. Numbers assigned to different goods or services can be compared. I would assign a utility of 100 to a glass of chilled beer in summer and desire it twice as much as a cup of steaming coca which I would assign a utility of 50. There is already an obvious disadvantage – that of comparing cardinal utilities across people. The concept of cardinal utility suffers from the absence of an objective measure of utility when comparing the utility gained from consumption of a particular good by one individual as opposed to another individual.
Another approach is based on preferences - an individual is observed to prefer one choice to another. Preferences can be ordered from most satisfying to least satisfying. Only the ordering is important: the magnitudes of the numerical values are not important except in as much as they establish the order. It is nonetheless possible, given a set of preferences which satisfy certain criteria of reasonableness, to find a utility function that will explain these preferences. Such a utility function takes on higher values for choices that the individual prefers. With this approach to utility, known as ordinal utility it is not possible to compare utility between individuals.
Let X be the consumption set, the set of all packages the consumer could conceivably consume. The consumer's utility function u: X-> R assigns a happiness score to each package in the consumption set. If u(x) > u(y), then the consumer strictly prefers x to y. In microeconomics models, there are usually a finite set of L commodities, and a consumer may consume an arbitrary amount of each commodity. This gives a consumption set of R_L and each package x Є R_L is a vector containing the amounts of each commodity. For u to be a utility function on X, it must be defined for every package in X. A von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function u: X -> R assigns a real number to every element of the outcome space in a way that captures the individual's preferences over both simple and compound events. The individual will prefer a lottery L1 to a lottery L2 if and only if the expected utility (iterated over compound lotteries if necessary) of L1 is greater than the expected utility of L2.

I’ll give you guys a couple of days for all this to sink in – it is a little heavy on the digestive system

Quality, Uncertainty and Market Mechanism - Part 1

2005-10-16T20:38:00.000-04:00

     A seminal paper by this title published by George A. Akerlof in 1970 was so influential in helping analysts analyze quality and uncertainty in markets under conditions of asymmetrical information flow that in 2001, George A. Akerlof was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. His paper has been singular in analyzing markets ranging from the used car market to health insurance markets. After being awarded the Nobel Prize, Akerlof penned an interpretive essay on this paper and it can be found [here].

     I have since read his 1970 paper and would like to share the wonderful and thought provoking points he makes by reviewing his paper. In the next section, I will try to give the interested reader a brief run through of the philosophy of Akerlof’s theory. Most of the subsequent sections will be taken right out of his paper simplified, expanded and presented. Of course, he does assume (and so will I) that his readers have been blessed with some exposure to basic economic verbiage. I will provide the necessary information and references to background wherever necessary. I must bring to your notice that most of the language will be his but I will provide explanations/analogies to make things (seemingly) simpler.

A Brief Run Through:
     In the seminal paper on markets with asymmetric information, George Akerlof strives to provide “a structure for determining the economic costs of dishonesty”. He points out two possible outcomes that may occur where sellers have better information about the quality of products than do buyers. There are many markets in which buyers use some market statistic to judge the quality of prospective purchases. In these cases, there is incentive for sellers to market poor quality merchandise - if buyers cannot distinguish the quality until after the purchase is made, there is no incentive for the sellers to provide good quality products and the average quality of traded goods will decline below the socially optimal level. This is often referred to as “bad driving out the good”. The explanation for this course of events is fairly logical – if all sellers, despite having the information advantage, traded only in high quality goods then average quality of goods in the market will go up, prizes will stabilize leaving a small operating and profit margin. If under these conditions, a seller makes use of his informational advantage to sell a poor quality product – his profits are much higher and the buyer in his position has no way of determining the quality until after the sale has been made. In Akerlof’s own language – “…. the returns for good quality accrue mainly to the entire group whose statistic is affected rather than to the individual seller.” Akerlof cited the used car market as an example for his findings – in the case of used cars, buyers who find out much to their chagrin that they are now the proud new owners of a “lemon” will now attempt to sell it to an unsuspecting buyer (such as themselves) in the used car market. As this continues, more lemons make their way to the market and not only does the quality decline but the market itself is threatened as all buyers are wary and there exists a huge disparity between the number of sellers and buyers. Contributing to the declining quality of this market are owners of “creampuff”(s) who do not sell their cars as they are indistinguishable from lemons and the price is dictated by the demand for cars which the buyers suspect to be primarily lemons. Thus, this information asymmetry leads to quality uncertainty which in turn leads to reduced volume of transactions thereby threatening the very survival of the market itself.
     A second possibility as suggested by Akerlof is that institutions may develop to counteract the effects of quality uncertainty. Warranties and brand names can be used to give the buyer an assurance of quality. These institutions may prevent good products from being driven out of the market but will not necessarily eliminate the inefficiency. These institutions may be costly to set up, run and sellers may over invest in signaling the quality of their product to buyers.
     Stabilization (not necessarily efficient) of the market can be attributed to the development of counteracting institutions. The provision of warranties and the seller’s concern for his reputation may prevent sellers from supplying inferior quality products. Another possibility is that the buyer has somehow stabilized the initial information asymmetry by obtaining additional information enabling him to use a more global market statistic to evaluate the quality of the product prior to sale. The market is still deemed inefficient if this stabilization is achieved through costly counteracting institutions or through expensive information search by buyers. In the context of the used car market, this explains the existence of “information stabilizers” such as Kelly’s Blue Book, Car Fax etc.

     I hope everyone appreciates the theory so far. If you have ever bought a used car, you can analyze for yourselves why you did what you did – paid to go through car fax reports, paid mechanics to give a prospective car a once over to ease your fears – all in your attempt to equalize the information flow in the market.

I will post more technical details in upcoming posts.

Announcing my link blog

2005-10-05T19:16:00.000-04:00

“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.”
—Samuel Johnson quoted in Boswell’s “Life of Johnson.”

In the spirit of that quote, I have decided to link to all the blogs/posts/webpages that interest me on my MSN Spaces blog.

Toodle doo!

update: Mike Tyson Vs. Keshto Mukherjee

2005-10-04T00:38:00.000-04:00

I have updated this [post] with a couple of links and a rather short rue on the state of India's development. Worth checking it out.

Black Metal Silliness

2005-10-02T17:09:00.000-04:00

Those who know me know that I am a huge black metal fan and even I found this funny. This is just a take on the awe and shock promoted by black metallers in their photo shoots in an attempt to create this dark atmosphere replete with pagan imagery. The intention is to remain 'true' to the cause - corpse paint, bleak winters in the mountains, old forests, primitive wicca/occult rituals and medieval weapons. Of course, some of them carry it off very well but at some point of time the charade just turns out to be that - a charade. To see exactly what I mean, visit this page.

Of Lovecraft and Spiritual Anamolies

2005-10-01T17:46:00.000-04:00

Though cthulu and the necronomicon of the mad arab Abdul are more often associated with any tale from Lovecraft's stable, there are a couple of astounding nuggets to be found in his short stories that have an undercurrent of the morbid and macabre.

One such story is called "The Shunned House" - a typical theme of a supposedly haunted house replete with a history of unexplained deaths, now dilapidated but yet draws our protagonists into a lengthy and costly investigation into its macabre past. After reading quite a few Lovecraft stories, I see that most movies have popularized his dark psychological terror theme. So a movie buff may not find a twist to the tale so to speak but has found a treasure trove of good old story telling, not to mention a very dark evil brooding terror that waits in the dark recesses of your mind, biding its time to unleash its numbing horror on your psyche.

This is THE best attempt at a rational explanation for the existence of parasites at a spiritual level. One can be anal and argue some points from a technical and scientific standpoint but I urge you to gloss over them and appreciate the entireity of the argument - its language and the poetic way in which Lovecraft crafts his terror.

"Scientific study and reflection has taught us that the known universe of three dimensions embraces the merest fraction of the whole cosmos of substance and energy. In this case an overwhelming preponderence of evidence from numerous authentic sources points to the tenacious existence of certain forces of great power, and so far as the human point of view is concerned, of great malignancy. To say that we believed in vampires or werewolves would be a carelessly inclusive statement. Rather it must be said that we were not prepared to deny the possibility of certain unfamiliar and unclassified modifications of vital force and attenuated matter; existing very infrequently in three dimensional space because of its more intimate connection with other spatial units, yet close enough to the boundary of our own to furnish us occasional manifestations which we, for lack of a proper vantage point, may never hope to understand.
Such a thing was surely not a physical or biochemical impossibility in the light of a newer science which includes the theory of relativity and intra-atomic action. One might easily imagine an alien nucleus of substance or energy, formless or otherwise, kept alive by imperceptible or immaterial subtractions from the life force or bodily tissue and fluids of other more palpably living things into which it penetrates and wth whose fabric it sometimes completely merges itself. It might be actively hostile or may be dictated merely by blind motives of self preservation. In any case such a monster must be in our scheme of things, an anamoly, an intruder whose extirpation forms the primary duty of every man not an enemy of the world's life, health and sanity.
It might be pure energy - a form ethereal and outside the realm of substance - or it might be partly material; some unknown and equivocal mass of plasticity, capable of changing at will to nebulous approximations of solid, liquid, gaseous or tenuously unparticled states."

Mike Tyson Vs. Keshto Mukherjee

2005-09-29T00:20:00.000-04:00

Yes, thats what Amit Varma has likened has likened the much hyped China Vs. India economic duel and refers to a [column] penned by Shankar Acharya, the chief economic adviser to the Indian govt. Pay special attention to the table.

But, not to worry - the future is indeed colored saffron! James Waterton has made a case against China [here] and for India's cause [here].

Venus has an interesting post [here] on competing oil interests and how their lopsided economic status and differing foreign policies affect their run ins.

Atanu Dey, an economist who runs a fantastic blog on India's development, labels the Indian democracy a cargo cult democracy. To see what he means, go [here] and [here].

This ties in with the table you saw in Shankar Acharya's column that documents India's miserable socio-economic indices. Without carrying the people along, no country can make any progress, atleast progress that can be called progress. Flashy malls, booming IT sector are leaps but eventually they all are drawn back and move on an average with the slowest link - social development. Without progress in education, health care and other primary concerns India's development is largely still on paper. Atanu is bang on target when he writes "Democracy cannot work when the electorate is nearly totally uninformed, where there are strong vested interests, where the notion of accountability is non-existent, where voters can be intimidated and bribed, where the culture is steeped in feudalism, and where illiteracy, superstition and corruption is the norm."

I urge you all to subscribe to Atanu's feed, he writes with clarity, perspective and passion for India's development.

Catch 'em, Kill 'em Pt.2 - Kill 'em

2005-09-28T23:44:00.000-04:00

After the overwhelming response of all the code warriors out there, I decided to put the answers up. I could have provided alternate answers, but I just chose to provide the ones that the author provided.

the original posts can be found at Michael Howard's Web Log

// Example #1 (code prior to this verifies pszSrc is <= 50 chars) #define MAX (50) char *pszDest = malloc(sizeof(pszSrc)); strncpy(pszDest,pszSrc,MAX); The code is allocating the size of a pointer, 4-bytes on a 32-bit CPU, and then trying to copy 40 bytes.

// Example #2
#define MAX (50)
char szDest[MAX];
strncpy(szDest,pszSrc,MAX);
If the length of the string pointed to by pszSrc is exactly MAX, then strncpy does NOT null-terminate szDest.

// Example #3
#define MAX (50)
char szDest[MAX];
strncpy(szDest,pszSrc,MAX);
pszDest[MAX] = '\0';
Oooops - we just whacked element 51, not 50!

// Example #4
#define MAX (50)
char szDest[MAX];
strncpy(szDest,pszSrc,MAX-1);
strncat(szDest,pszSrc,MAX-1);
The last arg to strncat is not the total length of szDest, it's how much space REMAINS!

// Example #5
char szDest[50];
_snprintf(szDest, strlen(szDest), "%s",szSrc);
szDest hasn't been initialized yet, so strlen(szDest) could return any value!

// Example #6
#define MAX (50)
void func(char *p) {
char szDest[MAX];
strncpy(szDest,p,MAX);
szDest[MAX-1] = '\0';
}
If p == NULL, your app just died!

Legal Case Study of iTunes' business model

2005-09-27T09:28:00.000-04:00

Ars Technica (In my opinion this is one of the best tech sites out there, top notch and very authoritative) has links to a Harvard Law School legal case study of the iTunes business model. Now, most people who know me also know that I dislike the iTunes store inspite of all its perceived "coolness". I will over the course of the next few days go through the paper and write up my own summary (of course, the underlying premise being that I can understand the legalities). Until then, you can browse through Ars Technica and read the official report and/or the official summary.

Explore the Ars Technica treasure trove of tech articles [here]

The Ars Technica page hosting the report on the Harvard Law School study can be found [here]

The full 100 page study can be found [here] and a summary can be found [here].

teaser -
"The paper looks at a number of interesting issues, including the convergence of copyright and contract, the legal cushioning that props up Digital Rights Management Technologies (e.g., the DMCA), and fair use. The paper begins by outlining how contracts are being used to restrict the normal freedom given to users by copyright law in general. Contract trumps copyright, at least in the United States and Europe, which means the courts will typically arbitrate disputes based on contract and not intellectual property law per se. This is already an interesting development because of what we tend to call the shrink-wrap phenomenon: digital content is being sold in a manner more akin to software than tangible content, although even there, software buyers typically have more rights. One of the biggest legal questions to arise out of the DMCA and DRM-efforts relates to how these technologies conspire to essentially shut down or make exceedingly difficult the right of second sale of protected content.The paper rightly notes that the US and Europe, acting in order to fulfill the demands of the WIPO, are drafting and enforcing laws designed to trump fair use by making it illegal to circumvent DRM. The chain works loosely as follows: copyright is trumped by contractual law, which seeks to restrict fair use in legal terms, which then backs up that by requiring adherence to the rules that are technologically enforced by DRM, which itself is protected by laws such as the DMCA in the US and the EU Copyright Directive in Europe."

Carnival of Computing

2005-09-26T11:00:00.000-04:00

Andrew Hughes is running a "Carnival of Computing" theme and has collected loads of very interesting tech blogs to catch up on. Check them out.

Catch 'em, Kill 'em Pt.1 - Catch 'em

2005-09-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

aaaaah yes, the code developers out there - find the bugs in these simple code samples involving just strncat and strncpy (n byte copy and concatenating). Of course, I didn't make up these questions. I shall provide the necessary back track to the source after I provide (his) answers. I got most of them, so that should be very encouraging for all of you. You can close your mouth now (in case its still open with shock that I managed to get even one).

// Example #1 (code prior to this verifies pszSrc is <= 50 chars)
#define MAX (50)
char *pszDest = malloc(sizeof(pszSrc));
strncpy(pszDest,pszSrc,MAX);

// Example #2
#define MAX (50)
char szDest[MAX];
strncpy(szDest,pszSrc,MAX);

// Example #3
#define MAX (50)
char szDest[MAX];
strncpy(szDest,pszSrc,MAX);
pszDest[MAX] = '\0';

// Example #4
#define MAX (50)
char szDest[MAX];
strncpy(szDest,pszSrc,MAX-1);
strncat(szDest,pszSrc,MAX-1);

// Example #5
char szDest[50];
_snprintf(szDest, strlen(szDest), "%s",szSrc);

// Example #6
#define MAX (50)
void func(char *p) {
char szDest[MAX];
strncpy(szDest,p,MAX);
szDest[MAX-1] = '\0';
}

What you thought you knew about Economics

2005-09-25T15:30:00.000-04:00

Starting a discussion of the supply curve or price elasticity of demand can be a good way to clear out a crowded room. But does tuning out economics come at a cost?

For most Americans, a mandatory high school or college introductory course constitutes the extent of their economic training. However, though we may choose to leave economics alone after we have left the classroom, economic forces don't stop exerting a powerful influence on our daily lives.

The Wall Street Journal Online asked bloggers Russell Roberts, a professor of economics at George Mason University, and William Polley, an economics professor at Western Illinois University, to discuss what the public doesn't know about economics, and whether and how that knowledge gap might hurt.

Here is a link to the discussion titled "Knowledge Deficit"

Russell Roberts is professor of economics at George Mason University and he regularly blogs over at "Cafe Hayek" with his colleague Don Boudreaux.
William Poley is an assistant professor of economics at Western Illinois University. He dishes out economic commentary over at his blog "William J. Polley".

The strange liaison of Sartre and Beauvoir

2005-09-25T15:16:00.000-04:00

Who hasn't heard of these two philosophers, thinkers and foremost proponents of existentialism. My brush with them started with reading one of the best psychological profiles of the Marquis de Sade ever written - written by Simone de Beauvoir as an introduction to the (in)famous 120 Days of Sodom. On the other hand, I have only heard and read titbits about Sartre and his philosphy of existentialism. Though I am in the process of learning more about the man and his philosophy through one of this books rather than news clippings, the book whose review I want to take you to is a careful documentary of the platonic relationship the two shared. One can get a view into the minds of these two philosophers/existentialists through their correspondences with each other, correspondences which their individual estates have been kind enough to provide. Some of their libertinous experiences and their candid assessment of their explorations, their contempt of the people who were used as a medium to explore these emotions will shock a few existentialists too.

Read all about it here -

"Stand By Your Man."
by Louis Menand

How stupid can one get?

2005-09-05T15:56:00.000-04:00

A man walked into the downtown Bank of America and on the back of a deposit slip wrote, "this iz a stikkup. Put all your muny in this bag." While standing in line, waiting to give his note to the teller, the man began to worry that someone may have seen him write the note and might call the police before he could reach the teller.

So, the criminal left the Bank of America and walked across to the street to Wells Fargo. After waiting in line for several minutes there, he handed his note to a teller. After reading it, the teller determined that this robber was perhaps a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

She told him that because his note was written on a Bank of America deposit slip, she could not honor his demand. He would either have to fill out a Wells Fargo withdrawal slip or go back to the Bank of America.

Feeling defeated, the man said he understood and left. The Wells Fargo teller promptly called the police, who arrested the man a few minutes later--still waiting in line at the Bank of America.

Of Deepak Chopra, tsunami's, New Orleans

2005-09-02T20:16:00.000-04:00

[Link] Follow the link to Deepak Chopra's post on the New Orleans tragedy. He makes a lot of comments that I had problems with. I have reproduced his entire post here for convenience along with my comments.

The blog "Intent Blog" is great source for 'food for thought' kind of posts with Deepak Chopra making bulk of the contributions along with many other celebrities such as Shekar kapur, nandita Das, Anil Dash etc. Check it out!

Deepak Chopra says -
New Orleans is a monumental and heart wrenching tragedy which maybe impossible to comprehend and come to terms with.

Our hearts go out to all those that suffer while life goes on as normal for the rest of us. Let us do everything to help those in need in whatever way we can, because the immediate need in the face of a disaster like the New Orleans flood is to offer every form of aid and compassion that can be mustered. But in the back of many people's minds is a lurking apprehension that grows larger every year.

The annual floods in Bangladesh have always seemed far away, as did the torrential monsoon last month in Bombay that crippled the city and killed hundreds. Hurricanes come closer to home, and the destruction wrought by Katrina is almost beyond comprehension, for it occurred with the same fury as the South Asian tsunami. Whole communities have been wiped out of existence, and the prospect of a major American city being under water for weeks or months feels as if Third World calamity, like those faraway Turkish and Iranian earthquakes that kill thousands without causing a ripple in America, has suddenly arrived here.

Both Katrina and the tsunami are forcing us to globalize our thinking under crisis conditions. Instead of approaching global warming positively, we are facing it the hard way, by enduring droughts, floods, and extreme natural disasters in general. No one knows to what extent any of these events is connected to human activity. It seems that global warming is playing its part in the increased force of hurricanes; one cannot find a similar connection to tsunamis, which are more like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but devout believers in the Gaia hypothesis have conjectured that perhaps our war against Nature is causing these responses from the planet.

I have no interest in metaphysical explanations here, and I would never join those religionists who will inevitably begin to mutter about God's retribution and premonitions of the End Time. But the fact that we are at war against Nature seems undeniable.

Katrina, we are told, would have been less devastating if local developers had not been destroying the marshlands that protect New Orleans from the fury of storms. But this ecological barrier was deemed unnecessary, and wetlands have been disappearing around the city at a rate of an acre every 24 minutes.

The war against Nature has been launched on many fronts:

--Abolishing native plant species in favor of overplanting the same few crops: wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans.

--Exploiting fossil fuels without regard for their environmental effects.

--Polluting the ocean to the extent that half the world's coral reefs are immediately in danger.

--Diverting and damming rivers without regard to the ecology or human needs downstream.

--Eliminating wild lands and forests by stripping them of all vegetation.

When Thoreau made his famous comment, "In wildness is the preservation of the world," he had no idea of the alarming rate at which human beings would mistake short-term gratification for successful living. The environmental argument has been well addressed in hundreds of places, and perhaps the stridency of ecological alarmists has numbed the public to what's going on, leaving an opening for President Bush and other anti-environmentalists to deliver the reassuring message, "Nothing's wrong. Go back to whatever you were doing."

I think New Orleans will stick indelibly in our national consciousness as stark evidence that the war against Nature has to be ended. The choice is more clear cut than ever, and one only hopes that international cooperation is in the offing, since we are no longer apart from the so-called Third World in enduring intolerable calamity.

My comments are below -

1. we, as you have, extend our heartfelt wishes to the affected families.

2. maybe I didn't catch your drift when you talked about "third world disasters" but it seemed to me that you did so with an air of a "we are a developed nation, we are above all the riff raff and nothing can touch us, better than the best" attitude that makes small of hundreds of people dying elsewhere as it doesn't mean anything to american interests. And now, disaster of such colossal magnitude (as the tsunami) has brought home death and destruction akin to the afflictions of the "third world" and you feel victimized by it? I disagree with the whole tone of your argument - "the prospect of a major American city being under water for weeks or months feels as if Third World calamity, like those faraway Turkish and Iranian earthquakes that kill thousands without causing a ripple in America, has suddenly arrived here.". Your closing argument is more humble but I still find an elitist element to it - "The choice is more clear cut than ever, and one only hopes that international cooperation is in the offing, since we are no longer apart from the so-called Third World in enduring intolerable calamity". I am confused and would like you to explain yourself better. As I said, maybe I misread you here but I would live to have this sorted out.

3. Though I agree with you and note with appreciation the thought that disasters are forcing us to globalize our crisis management, I fail to see the validity/applicability of the sudden inclusion of global warming into your case for war against nature especially when global warming is not the only consequence of unbridled human expansion and exploration.

4. "Instead of approaching global warming positively, we are facing it the hard way, by enduring droughts, floods, and extreme natural disasters in general." By approach positively you must mean corrective measures to counteract eons of our destructive way of life? Even in the case that we go about our lives destroying nature's fabric with impunity, your argument seems to suggest that we are running into hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis etc as a matter of choice between being good or face hardships if not. Then you go on to say that you will never take up rank with dooms day religionists (a view that I share) and the rest of your argument seems to suggest that you subscribe to the viewpoint of the Gaia principle though you haven't explicitly sided with that school of thought

5. I second your notion that the general public has been numbed by the continuity of dire predictions by environmentalists and may not fully appreciate our destructive way of life.

Feed on me!

2005-07-17T12:39:00.000-04:00

I'm back here! Spaces is great but I amback here to try my hand at some coding for customization that I can only do here at blogger! I've added the atom feed icon in the navigation panel on the left. I am trying to get my blogmap up next on the right. And, just in case you missed it, click on the "Atom Feed" icon. I've just included the icon in the post, if you want to subscribe to this feed, click on the icon in the nav panel!

I also fixed the grammar in the # of comments that my good readers have left. Earlier, irrespcetive of whether the number of comments were 0, 1 or more than 1 it always read 'comments'. I fixed it to say 'No comments', '1 comment' or '2 comments'. Yeah, I know its pretty anal but I was just trying it out.

I am moving!

2005-06-16T19:19:00.000-04:00

I checked out MSN Spaces and it rocks! Its all that I wanted from Blogger and much more. Its awesome and I am moving my blog out there.

These are the new coordinates for my brand of paranoia on the web.

The Great (fire)Wall of China

2005-06-15T19:57:00.000-04:00

The blogging world has been turned upside down over reports that Microsoft and Google (amongst many other companies, for a list look here) have bowed to the Chinese government in their effort to curtail free speech and post only 'appropriate' content on their blogs on MSN spaces and are treated to only those news pages that have been stripped off sensitive content. It has been reported that sensitive words such as "democracy" or "human rights" result in error messages and do not show up in posts (I am not sure if this is in the title of the post or in the body, reports vary) on the chinese version of MSN Spaces. Google too has suitably altered their news pages so that they do not provide the 'dissident' chinese with 'inflammatory and incidiary' content. They have joined hands with the Chinese government in their effort to build the The Great (fire)Wall of China.

Robert Scoble, numero uno blogger of Microsoft defends his company here
Rebecca MacKinnon rips apart his arguments here and makes many valid points about Chinese culture and is sort of inline with a point that I made many posts ago of the lack of effort in understanding foreign cultures. Read this, its very interesting. There is also an update clarifying a few issues [here].
Dan Gillmor asks - "Microsoft and Google, like so many others, rose to enormous wealth and influence by leveraging the freedom they enjoy in the United States. They may be serving their shareholders' interests. But what they're doing is not honorable. Why does money trump honor? Is this really the American way?". Listen to his post here

Given that "MSN Spaces is not exactly my idea of a new form of journalism that will set the world free and change the geopolitical landscape for decades to come" (from the comments section in Dan's blog) - I agree with this point but one should look at the bigger picture of cencorship of speech and access rights to any and all information and that of corporations siding with this form of oppression and making money in the process.

Meanwhile, Rick Segal sighs and says, "Its hard to be an American"

To end it all, a very nice wrap up by Shelley Powers [here]

Some people have started to test how free is speech on the web here in the US and have discovered that MSN spaces also clamps down on usage of certain words, words that are synonymous with the porn industry. Certain combinations are allowed and certain others aren't. People who want to get around will always will. Scoble asks if its cencosrship if I can still get my point across without using sensitive words. I think banning certain words (I am talking about the US MSN Spaces) is okay given that the words deal mostly with the porn industry and MSN spaces have no age verification scheme in place and is accessible even my pre-teens and kids. If innocent looking combinations are not allowed to pass through, then I guess one better swallow the pill and re-write your post title - its the intention matters here - a scammer can have a perfectly innocent title and banned content in the body while normal bloggers can use 'dangerous' titles for socially sensitive topics such as "Prostitution and the Law".

I also am of the opinion that MSFT took a monetary decision that allowed them to do business in a new country - they are not in the business of revoltion but in that of computer technology which they want to push into an emerging market. Operating in a different country means that you obey the law of the land or just pack up and go home. First amendment activists often forget that the same oppression makes it possible for Chinese goods to be half the price of US produced goods and americans have embraced these goods making Wal-mart, Apple and dozens of other companies very profitable in the process. Three guesses why US trade deficit with China is so high.

You can't oppress them in one way and balk at oppressing them in an other way. And wondering whether the average citizen is truly free on account of whether he can include certain combinations of words on MSN spaces blog posts and using that as being representative of his right to free speech is rather lame.

Go here to read Dare Obssanjo's (he works for MSN Spaces) post on this issue. It clarifies what content they are exactly monitoring and what it means to operate a common platform for users of all ages across countries and languages when each one's definitions of appropriateness is defined by prevalent local culture.

I am going to put an end to this topic. Enough said!

The Eastern Front: World War II

2005-06-14T21:29:00.000-04:00

I have been reading this awesome memoir of Germany's greatest generals on the Eastern Front - General Ehard Raus, its called "Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 1941-1945" and is compiled and translated by Steven H. Newton, a professor of history at the Delaware State University. By war's end, Raus had earned a reputation as one of Germany's foremost tacticians of armored warfare and was considered a prized catch when he was captured by the U.S. He wrote this detailed memoir in US captivity. The book is all about armored military strategy and is recommended for all who are interested in strategic warfare.

What I like about this book:
very analytical, paints a complete picture of both armies at each battle - right from the number of men, artillery pieces, tanks, reserves etc (this means remembering who is who and where they came from. For eg., 320th infantry division, 6th panzer division etc.). Before you start to groan, this book is replete with analysis, both pre and post. He gives a lot of credit to refining soviet tactics as the war progressed. He makes an analysis of what it means to invade a country and one as unique and immensely huge as the Soviet Union. He analyzes the socio-political situation in soviet Russia during those years and even comments on the economic might of the Soviet Union - its massive collosal army, the never ending tank production lines - its almost limitless industrial capapcity far outdoing Germany's resources that were stretched thin between Africa, Western Europe and Russia. He gives very good insights into how the Soviets fought and made use of the fact that they outnumbered the Germans in all modes of combat. You should read the book to appreciate this lopsided battle and how the Soviet Union rallied around and started to push the Wehrmacht out of Russian soil. Raus gives credit where its due to the Russians. He also gives you some sense of the number of soldiers required to fight and maintain a line that at one time was along the entire breadth of Russia. No commentary of the Eastern Front is complete without tales of the winter war and its telling effect on German soldiers. Raus camped 26 miles out of Moscow in the winter with his unit being hit with 800 casualties every day owing to the cold. At that rate, he estimates, that his division would have been reduced to a 'band of brothers' within 7 days! His analysis of the Russian winter counter offensives are admirable and he points out that the Wehrmacht retreat from Russia was at no time a rout. Germans inflicted huge and heavy losses on the Russians even while on the retreat but they themselves were so dimished in strength that making a stand was not a viable option.

What I don't like about the book:
Maps - a severe paucity of them renders the book very dry and leaves to the imagination of the reader battles that were fought at different cities with nothing to differentiate or identify them but general directions such as to the south of Stalingrad. You will have to read certain battles more than once to truly appreciate them.
Advice: stick to it and try to imagine it and you'll be plesantly surprised as to the wealth of information you will get.
This general obviously did not fight in all the battles and therefore some battles like those for Stalingrad and Leningrad are absent. He does make references to them of course to cite the magnitude of German losses (an entire army of around 300,000 men. I am not sure of the losses in equipment). You will find more than enough information in many other battles like those of Kharkov, Kursk (Operation Zitadelle), battles for the Ukraine, the Kiev salient, Lvov and finally Pomerania (in these battles, german panzer divisions fought at tank ratios 1:20 in favor of the russians).

Just to give you an idea of the lopsided nature of most Russian battles: consider Operation Zitadelle (the battle of Kursk). Here are the numbers for each of the armies that clashed for this city that was the industrial and economical heart of the Ukraine.
Germany:In total they assembled some 2,700 tanks and assault guns, 1,800 aircraft and 800,000 men.
Russia: The Red Army laid over 400,000 landmines and dug about 5,000 kilometers of trenches, with positions as far back as 175km from the front line. In addition they massed a huge army of their own, including some 1,300,000 men, 3,600 tanks, 20,000 artillery pieces and 2,400 aircraft.

Operation Zitadelle did not achieve the outlined objectives and is generally considered a german tactical loss.

Casuality figures: Just from the battle of Kursk, the Soviets lost 322 tanks (more than half of them beyond repair), had more than 1000 dead and an additional 2500 missing or wounded. German losses reached less than 20% of that.
Of the total casulaties from the entire operation, the losses sort of looked the same - 60,000 dead and missing (germany) and 70,330 for Russia. But what these figures don't tell you is that the Germans didn't have manpower left after taking losses that ran at roughly 3:5 in their favor. The soviets through the lend-lease program and owing to their advantage in numbers were able to bounce back.

More later. I really should change the template to include categories so that I can open one just for the Eastern Front. Anybody want to help me out on this one?

Jackson to Change Lifestyle

2005-06-14T15:28:00.000-04:00

Read my previous post [here]
In my previous Jackson post, I completely left out the pornography and sex toys that he let the children come into contact with. Pretty abnormal eh?

Read story [here]

Jackson, now says that he is going to change his lifestyle and refrain from sharing his bed with young boys so as not to be vulnerable again. Whoa! hold on a second. Who is the victim here - Jackson or Gavin Arvizo, the 13 year old who accused Jackson of molestation. It sounds like the kid is a gold digger and Jackson is an innocent victim whose senisitive, caring nature has been irrepairably hurt by these baseless accusations against his moral character. With reference to my previous post, atleast kids are most probably not going to sleep with Jackson anymore. Thats a great development if you ask me.

I also looked at the lead that I left open - the british journalist who started it all. His name is Martin Bashir and he was sued by Jackson for 'breach of contract and breach of confidence over the film'. Jackson, in an attempt to offset the huge legal costs he has accrued, is all set to re-open his legal battle with Bashir.
Learn more about the original film 'Living with Michael Jackson' and other Martin Bashir news here.

He is apparently rumored to be performing at the Live 8 concert either at London or at Philadelphia and is also considering a world tour aptly called 'Framed'. Jackson's debts and legal costs must be quite high for him to affect a miraculously quick recovery from his recurrent back problem and mount a world tour. Its all in the image - the sensitive, caring, children loving benevolent pop star crushed under these accusations suffers from moral scarring and even leaves him in poor physical health. A pretty picture of innocence don't you think?

And life goes on....

Seeing Is Believing

2005-06-14T00:03:00.000-04:00

1. Click on the image to view it in a better resolution. Save it on your computer.
2. Open it in any photo editor that gives you the RGB values at a particular mouse position (like IrfanView)
3. You can also open it in MSPaint and use the ink dropper tool to see what color is a particular region.
4. Using either of the two tools, observe the RGB value of the sqare marked B is exactly the same as that of the square marked A. yet, 'B' looks a lot lighter than 'A'.

Can you explain why?

Answer will be up in two days. Its an interesting question. I am sure people googling it will find the answers but this is not about testing Google but your ability to come up with convincing answers.

Jackson hobbles away a free man

2005-06-13T22:49:00.000-04:00

[story here]

Michael Jackson, accused of molestation and attempting to seduce a boy by providing him with alcohol - a total of 10 different charges were filed against him, hobbled away a free man. For 14 weeks, the two sides presented their arguments and listened to testimonials and the jury of 8 women and 4 men took 7 days to set him free on all ten counts. He apparently was motionless as the 'not guilty' was handed out for each of the ten counts and in a restrained manner hobbled out of the court room, huggled his family and close escort, got into his motorcade and drove away - completely free.

This is what I find so shameful in this verdict -
assuming that Jackson was 'truly' innocent and with God as his witness, did not touch the children, ply them with alcohol or take advantage of them in any manner that may be deemed inappropriate - he still solicited mothers to send their kids to his ranch so that they can spend the nights with him in his bedroom. This was proven and is as undisputable as the fact that he took a bath with some of them (of course, with the best of itentions). The jury might have taken this as a sign of his 'love' towards children and in light of the character tainting his lawyers indulged in (this is a common practice to dismiss the arguments of your opponent - reduce credibility by tainting his character) might have thrown the accuser's case out of the window. But what they cannot deny is the abnormal behavior or preference on Jackson's part to sleep and bathe with children other than his own (even if they were his own, this practice is inappropriate after a certain age). And what I think is tragic is that none of the jurors thought of that before setting him free with all honor and respect that is due to him. They didn't quite fathom that acts such as these are not within the confines of normal human behavior and this was evident in that they didn't even find him guilty of something like a third degree misdemeanor and issue him a warning. He may have been truly not guilty of molesting those kids (including his accuser) but the way he chose to spend his time with those children sure was unnatural. One of my friends drew my attention to a certain BBC interviewer by the name of Basheer (or some similar name) who in an interview a year or two earlier (at around the time these rumors first surfaced) made the same comments and added that Jackson in all his star wisdom just didn't get it - its abnormal/unnatural to get kids to sleep or bathe with you. The Jackson camp sued him for libel and slander a little while later with the outcome being unknown to me. Will my enlightened readers leave me a comment if they know more about that story?

So, another 'landmark' judgement has been handed out and another page in our judicial history has been turned. Are you surprised? No sir, I am not.

An apt quote from the recent movie "The Cinderella Man", "If they take this long to decide, they usually decide to screw somebody".

China's hunt for oil

2005-06-06T19:10:00.000-04:00

Obviously the US is not the only country which looks for oil and resources leaving no stone unturned. Its just they are either most vocal about it or they make all the headlines everywhere.

Look here for China's largely silent (silent in the media but hardly unnoticed) hunt for oil. I must say they have been pretty ingenious in acquiring so many leads all over the world. No wonder the US is jittery about its oil reserves and the ones it controls. I really can't blame them.

Its Official: Apple goes with Intel

2005-06-06T18:53:00.000-04:00

I have this long post in mind where I will link interested readers to relevant posts and my thoughts on Apple deciding to go with Intel, what it means for the market, developers, its carefully cultivated brand image, other products like the iPod and possibly new products that we haven't seen from Apple.

After work maybe?

[Link] Apple said is was making the move to x86 architecture chips because they offer more power and better efficiency. Where art thou oh technology pundit who oft immersed thyself in lengthy diatribes against Intel architecture as compared to the PowerPC architecture? According to this news report, one main motivation behind the switch is because IBM has not yet been able to produce versions of the G5 chip, used in Apple's desktop G5 machines, which are suitable for Apple laptops without overheating. This was also attributed to the fact that it just wasn't profitable for IBM to spend millions of dollars in developing the new laptop version of the G5 just to satisfy 2.3% of the global market share. Their (IBM-Apple) relationship has been stormy and has finally has been dissolved.

Apple, on the other hand, moved from their OS 9 onto a UNIX based platform in their OS X and now have moved onto Intel chips. Doesn't it seem like they are trying a few populist measures (they make sound economic sense too) to break out of the niche (read as 'hole') they have carved for themselves? Intel makes so many different kinds of processors that are suited for the mobile laptop segment that such a move seems logical in retrospect given the intention to break out and capture more of the market.

more later. so much to say and so little time to say it in.

The US on Iran-Pakistan-India gas deal and on human rights violations by China

2005-06-06T18:15:00.000-04:00

A project to pipe gas to India from Iran via Pakistan could begin next year, India's oil minister says. Mani Shankar Aiyer has said, "It may not have become reality but has become a certainity".

Who'd you expect to throw 'reservations' into this seemingly prosperous (financially and politically) deal?
Who else? The US of course!

Mr Aiyer dismissed US reservations over the purchase of gas from Iran and said Pakistan and India would not accept any pressure in this regard. I think he should just disregard US concern/interest/opinion on this issue.

I also read here that the US had called upon China to come clean on its human rights violations in the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident in which security forces apparently used exessive force in clearing an apparently peaceful student demonstration. What happened there was indeed a tragedy, I am not condoning the act of using armed force against students protesting against the communist party but for the US Secretary of state to issue a statement calling for China to 'come clean' on this issue is, I think, going too far. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing said the US should pay more attention to its own human rights violations. I think this reply is befitting of the dichotomous reality of human rights violations by the US. They talk a great deal about it but in practice mostly never seem to adhere to it. Its not enough to have policies that deal with human rights violations if none from your own side really follow it and it definitely doesn't justify booking someone for similar offenses.

Colloquial Speech

2005-06-05T12:59:00.000-04:00

I finally decided to do something about my bad colloquial speech (which I think has gotten worse after I came to the United States). I have been observing how people speak in public (I don't mean on a public platform but just amongst themselves) and have come to the conclusion that I have picked up what I have been hearing around me. I am determined to get rid of some of the 'figures of speech' that I seem to have picked up. Let me very briefly list a partial taxonomy of most common words that pepper (and in some cases, even drown) conversations -

1. By far, this is THE most irritating and aggravating word - Like
It seems so innocuous and small but people use it so often for everything that my blood boils whenever I hear it. I live in a small laid back college town and all I hear from every 16-22 year old college student is 'like'. Its range of applicability is jaw dropping. It is used as a substitute for so many articles that it really boggles the mind (mine atleast).
"She's like blah blah", "He's like blah blah" and the frequency with which they throw this word into any and all sentences could outgun any AK-47. Thankfully, I do not have this habit.

2. basically

3. I mean

Both 'basically'' and 'I mean' are used more often when attempting to explain oneself in a clearer manner than the first time when all you did was confuse your listener. But, overused and improperly application have reduced its efficacy and is seen as noting more than an irritating filler.

4. actually
I guess this is used to resolve some ambiguity but....

5. "you know" or "you know what I mean?"
this is most often used when the speaker, halfway thorough making his point, decides that he has said enough and prompts the listener to get the point quickly. This too is over used to over simplify speech.

Most of these words and their kind are intended to simplify speech and are used to connect sentences in a manner of preserving continuity of thought and speech but all they do, when overused and improperly applied, is to make speech and an intelligent exchange of ideas more difficult and aggravating.

I will add more as I come across them. Intelligent readers, please add more in the comments. I shall put them in the main post with due credit.

2005-06-04T23:57:00.000-04:00

Tiger in Action! Notice the length of the 88mm gun. I think this was taken in Normandy.

The Cinderella Man

2005-06-04T16:27:00.000-04:00

Just back from watching the latest Russell Crowe movie - The Cinderella Man. I am a fan of most movies directed by Ron Howard and this movie isn't very far away from his usual style - a feel good movie that celebrates undying spirit and courage and where the journey is in the means and not in the end. A few of his movies are - A Beautiful mind, Apollo 13, The Alamo, The Missing etc. Look up IMDB for more info.

I'll be back with a more detailed review a little later.

I looked up some reviews on Yahoo! Movies and found that I was in concurrence with most reviewers and critics that this movie was moving and like most feel good movies that celebrate undying human spirit reassures you that good still prevails in the face of adversity. Some of them have said that it is an overdose and 'Howard's relentless and flatfooted attack on our sympathies slips into monotony'. I tend to disagree here, I definitely think that despite being a movie doused in all things good and beautiful, it largely stays away from being saccharine and overly optimistic.

Lets take a closer look at what I mean by Howard's movies are those in which the journey is in the means and not in the end. Let us look at the storyline in a very generic way - the story is about an underdog who, keeping in line with the feel good part of the story, comes back from behind and proves himself to the world by beating the current champion. But the story is not about winning right at the end, its about his trials and tribulations as he tries to come out of the hole he is in, all the time giving hope to those who are down in the dumps too that they too can overcome the circumstances if they tried. It is as though all those people were winning over their problems through him, he gives them hope to fight. I will admit a slight degree of sentimentality on the part of Howard during this process but it does fade away in the 'big picture'. The vehicle our hero chooses to do all these wonderful things is boxing.

We are introduced to James J. Braddock, a tough boxer who fights with honesty and where the opponent can see his (Braddock's) fists coming. The once successful Braddock slips into poverty along with most of America during the great depression. This is the setting for Howard's attempt to emphasize all things good and beautiful - the depression and all the people it pushed into poverty and crime. In the midst of this 'every man for himself' world, we have Braddock fighting for himself and his family. The journey starts here. So, we are taken through a world falling apart and how Braddock tries to mend all the holes in the fabric of life that keeps his family together. Here, Howard celebrates America too - how the country rallied together and pulled itself out of the depression. During the course of events, Braddock is offered a second chance at redeeming himself and the later part of the movie follows him as he digs himself out of adversity along with his family and prove himself in the ring, all the while giving hope to all those who were with him in that hole. Now, all of us - the intelligent movie goers - know that he definitely is going to come out on top (the good guy always wins right?). Its just how he does it that makes this movie worthwhile. As I said before, Howard does get a little sentimetal at places. The action scenes are simply brilliant and Howard does a great job in keeping up the pace and in Braddock's own words - this time he knows what he is fighting for.

This movie was worth both my time and my money. I enjoyed watching it. I hope you do to.

Ultimate Phones for Ultimate Ears?

2005-06-03T20:01:00.000-04:00

How much would you pay for a pair of earphones/headphones that will offer you crystal quality in most environments (including open air, flight, noisy station etc)?

$200?
$250?
$500?

No? then try $900 for size. Yes! thats what the Ultimate Ears UE10 costs.

I must point you to these sources for more information - A post on Ken Levy's blog and of course, to Robert Scoble's blog too.

Also visit this site Ultimate Ears. I don't know about you but they have a few models for mere mortals like me that cost between $150 - $250 (WoW)

As far as I see on the net, there are two kinds of technologies available for high quality audio irrespective of the surrounding decibel level - isolation earphones (like the Ultimate Ears) and active noise cancellation earphones (like the Bose).

Isolation earphones come in either custom built or off the shelf models. If you want a custom built piece then you'll have to visit an audiologist who will make an impression of your ear canal and earphones are specially manufactured based on the shape of your ear canal. Off the shelf pieces are slightly generic in shape but are similar in spirit to the custom built ones. There are no noise cancellation circuits and they achieve their level of isolation by completely blocking your ear canal and deliver crystal quality sound right into the heart of your inner ear. If you have worn ear plugs at a loud concert, just imagine the same except that the ear plugs are actually phones that deliver sound. Since there are no noise cancelling electronics etc, they are really compact and some models can even be worn under a helmet.

Being a proud owner of the Bose Quiet Comfort 2, I can definitely say that the Bose is amazing at getting rid of extraneous noise. Of course, it helps if you have heavy metal thundering inside the cups :-). But all these technologies fall a little short when you compare them with phones that 'block' your ear canal allowing literally no room for external sound to reach your ear. But am I willing to pay a burning $900 for it? No, I'd rather pass. Having said that, there are cheaper models ($150-%250) that I might consider purchasing a lot later to try out.

Building Character Yet?

2005-06-01T20:51:00.000-04:00

A series of Calvin and Hobbes strips in which dad tries to get Calvin to build his character. Lets kick the series off with this hilarious one -

Instant gratification is today's mantra anyway - Calvin is always with the times.

team play builds character

Grown ups play by justifying it as exercise and keep tabs by quantifying performance

A cold character

Fun for fun's sake!