O' Reilly Vs Letterman

Whoa...am I losing my mind or is Bill O'Reilly actually making sense. Here and here are his recent interviews with Dave Letterman. Listen to what he says in Part (2) of the interview!

Lagaan in the making?

Here's an article on the Afghan cricket team that is making good progress in the ICC qualifiers

"We never saw outside the camp. We just felt that everything else in the world would be the same. But I realised later that I led a very, very simple life. For a long time there was no electricity, computers, phones, facilities or anything. Very hard, very difficult. It was so hot. Sometimes it was nearly 50 degrees [Celsius] and we had no fans or air conditioning. So maybe that's why we are a little bit strong. When we see these kind of facilities, it's just so easy. Playing in these temperatures is easy"

Nice car!

Here's the car of the future! Not sure if this would take-off but looks pretty cool...!

Is the price right?

Here's a TED talk by Benjamin Wallace on how price of item has an influence on happiness.

While the talk was interesting and I strongly agree with the general theme of the discussion, I wasn't impressed with the research and the narrative. In fact, as is mentioned in its comments section, it is a little bit manipulative.

In any case, here are some things which apparently if you possess, consume or experience, you'll attain some form of short-term nirvana!

• Kobe rib eye steak CUT, Los Angeles - $160
• Pasta with white truffles , Del Posto, Manhattan - $120
• Ty Warner Suite, Four seasons, Manhattan - $30,000/night
• Cor Soap, Plank, Boston - $120
• Jormos Jeans, 45 rpm, Japan - $800
• Per Me Olive Oil, Armando Manni, Italy - $33.50/4 ounces
• Five star golf clubs, Honma, Japan - $57,000
• Kopi Luwak coffee, Animal Coffee, Australia - $600/lb
• Neorest 600 toilet, Toto, Japan - $5,980
• Vividus bed, Hastens, Sweden - $64,950
• Veyron 16.4, Bugatti, Italy - $1,500,000
• 1947 Cheviot Blanc - Priceless (apparently)!
  

I have never heard of any of these things nor would I remember even if I had for I'm as brand blind as it gets!

Greed and Stupidity

Here's a very good article by David Brooks in the NY Times on two hypotheses that explain the causes and effects of the current crisis.

Here's the supporting article for the greed hypothesis and here's the supporting article for the stupidity hypothesis.The greed hypothesis is replete with facts while the stupidity hypothesis is bit more theoretical. I prefer the latter particularly from a conclusion viewpoint.

Following is an excerpt from the stupidity hypothesis.

"From the point of view of top management, the diversity of operations means that executives were managing assets and services with which they have little familiarity. This has led to the spread of pseudo-objectivity: the search for standardized measures of achievement across large and disparate organizations. Its implicit premises were these: that information which is numerically measurable is the only sort of knowledge necessary; that numerical data can substitute for other forms of inquiry; and that numerical acumen can substitute for practical knowledge about the underlying assets and services"

Numbers as a sole measure of performance...That sadly sounds very familiar!!

Superstar's super act

Here's The Boss at this supreme best!

A very creative AD with a nice touch in the climax

Shizzle My Nizzle

Here's an awesome song! Try to decipher it .Trust me it is in English - only it's lyrics are written by a slevered, perhaps waffi, sala!

Here's a BBC article on some lawsuit that this song was involved in. The judge's comments are very funny!

Are you lucky?

Here's what Michael Shermer of Scientific American has to say about it.

"Wiseman gave subjects the "big five" personality scale, which measures "agreeableness," "conscientiousness," "extroversion," "neuroticism" and "openness." Although there were no differences between lucky and unlucky people on agreeableness and conscientiousness, Wiseman found significant differences for extroversion, neuroticism and openness."

Shermer makes a reference to Lou Gehrig. If you are like me and don't know who Lou Gehrig was, here's his wiki page! Pretty inspirational character!

ADs galore

Here, here, here, here and here are a few funny ADs from the desh. And here, here, here and here are some classics!

Not sure if these products are/were any good, but the ADs most definitely are!

Extending John Buchanan's idea

John Buchanan came up a rather an unconventional idea of having multiple captains in a T20 game.

How about extending that idea and having multiple units within a team, with each unit having its own captain/coach - a la NFL type super-specialization? The team structure can be something like this - a batting unit, a bowling unit and a fielding unit. The batting unit can have about 6 members, the bowling unit can have about 5 members and the fielding unit can have about 10 members (including the wicket-keeper).

In any particular game, the members of each unit perform their task alone. For example, a fielding unit member only fields and does not bat and bowl; a batting unit member only bats and does not field and bowl etc. Similarly, a bowling unit member only bowls – at end of every over, a bowling unit member can come out of the pavilion to bowl the next over and goes back to the pavilion at the end of the over. Given his center position in the field, the wicket-keeper can act as the on-field coordinator with the bowling unit.

I strongly suspect that the super-specialization of tasks, particularly batting and bowling, will increase the efficacy with which tasks are executed, thus increasing the quality and the competitiveness of the game being played. There are couple other benefits that I can think of. Having lower number of wickets (batters) will increase the premium of each wicket and batters will have lesser incentives to take callous risks, thereby leveling the battle between bat and ball a little bit. Team management can use the fielding unit to introduce talented young players, who can possibly move to one of batting or bowling units, with relatively lower risk toward the result of that game.

While I realize that the above fundamentally tampers with the definition of a team in cricket, what are the big cons?

Broadband Speed

Here's a good way to test your broadband speed.

I get a download speed of about 1.8 MBpS when connecting to servers in India and about 0.8 MBpS when connecting to servers in US from my broadband at home in India. If you are in the US and happen to test this, can you please let me know your connection speed?

Articles on AIG

Here, here and here are a series of excellent articles that appeared in the Washington Post late last December.

The story spans about 15 pages and is divided into three parts. It traces the evolution of the current crisis starting from 1987 when AIG-Financial Products was founded. While I found some of the technical details a little hard to follow, it was an absolutely fascinating read!

Here's a Charlie Rose interview with a pretty good panel on the same topic. I liked the tone and demeanor of Hank Greenberg, the ex-CEO of AIG. I also think that Meredith Whitney was a rambling a bit off topic, especially toward the end!

Populism

Here's a very nice article that appeared in The Economist on populist rage AIG bonuses.

"Was the fuss over AIG a sign of a new populist mood in America? Or was it just a storm in a teacup? It is hard to answer this question in a country in which anger is a form of entertainment and where the political parties have turned partisanship into a fine art. Television personalities such as Bill O’Reilly are always angry about something or other. Many of the politicians who proclaimed their outrage at the “malefactors of great wealth” are delighted to take campaign contributions from the very same malefactors"

Change in the blog title

A minor change in the blog title ...Thanks, Ramesh! As a consequence of my rather irreverent attitude toward learning proper English grammar, I had misplaced articles, threw in a few more ellipsis than needed among other such nasty things!

These days, thanks to spell-check, my ability to spell has taken a beating as well! Well, that's how I guess I adapt to new technologies - by becoming lazier and lazier! I'm beginning wonder if the so called sixth sense will reduce the sharpness of the remaining five! I guess it is possible as I have heard and read that the absence of a "sense"tends to enhance the remaining ones. The converse may well hold true!

In any case, here's how I found out how dependent I was on spell-check!Phew!

Sixth sense

Here's a link to an amazing new technology! It decouples you from the computer yet enables you harness the full power of the web real time in a very intuitive and an elegant manner. This, when commercialized, will be a huge thing.

And here's the website of the genius who designed it.

Ten trillion and counting

Here's a Frontline documentary on the mounting US national debt.

As is the case with all Frontline documentaries, very well researched but slightly dramatized

An interesting parallel

Here's an interesting and a scary parallel to the current economic crisis. Hopefully things wont be anywhere as bad as this one!

I seriously doubt it unless, ofcourse, someone says, "What if they got laid off, don't they get bonuses?" Now, that might get the aruvaal out, as they say in my parts.

"The next year, Jacques Necker, a foreigner, was appointed Director-General of Finance. Necker realized that the country's tax system subjected some to an unfair burden; numerous exemptions existed for the nobility and clergy. He argued that the country could not be taxed higher, that the nobles and clergy should not be exempt from taxes, and proposed that borrowing would solve the country's fiscal problems. Necker published a report to support this claim that underestimated the deficit by roughly 36,000 livres; and proposed restricting the spending power of the parlements. This was not received well by King's ministers and Necker, hoping to solidify his position, argued to be accepted as a minister. The King refused, Necker was fired, and Charles Alexandre de Calonne was appointed to the Directorship.

Calonne initially spent liberally, but he quickly realized the critical financial situation and put forth a new tax code. The proposal included a consistent land tax, which would include taxation of the nobility and clergy...."

An emotional goodbye email

Here's an emotional resignation letter from a Executive VP at AIG

"As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house."

I was a initially little uncomfortable with caps on bonuses and compensation for the same reason. We may be punishing the wrong people! Are the US lawmakers now hyper-extending the guilt-by-association argument? Are there ethical and moral issues in not honoring employment contracts?

Leaders leaders everywhere.....

.......and not a decision made. John Buchanan thinks otherwise. Here's an interesting idea!

"I really think in the course of this 20-over tournament we have the capacity to have the team coach, Matthew Mott, running the batting side of things. If we have to change the batting order or change personnel to fit a certain situation, then that is something that could fall under his control. "Once on the field, we have some very good leaders there in Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Brad Hodge and Sourav Ganguly. The laws of the game state that you need a captain for certain formal roles, such as the coin toss, but that aside, I see there is scope to challenge the way teams have been run in the past"

Dileep Premachandran calls it Politburo captaincy. Here's his article on cricinfo. It is perhaps fitting that it was introduced in Kolkata.

The IPL saga

Here's a very nice article that captures several nuances about the IPL saga.

My thought on this was that the incumbent party (UPA) in India wants to hedge its risks politically in case there is a terrorist attack during the IPL. Given the enormous popularity of the IPL and also the fact public opinion typically turns against the government during such attacks, UPA stands to lose enormously (and that is being hugely euphemistic). There is literally nothing to gain for UPA if IPL is successful as that is general baseline expectation.

With this simple cost-benefit analysis, it looks like the UPA wanted to appear as the paternalistic protector of India democratic institutions. Now that IPL is likely to be played in England or South Africa, UPA has more or less achieved its political objectives.

But what is lost here is the opportunity to show-case to the world that India can conduct world class sporting tournaments in India. Now this discussion on security will become a vexing issue for BCCI at the beginning of every home tour, especially after 26/11 and SL attacks.

But why did BCCI not spend money to hire private security providers with intelligence support from the government? The government would probably not agreed to that, but would have helped BCCI from a longer term credibility stand-point. But then, why would BCCI (a registered non-profit organization!!!) want spend any extra money when they were allegedly paying only about 3-4 lakhs per game for security? It is a sad (and a selfish) self-goal in India's fight against terror.

Nonetheless, don't underestimate the relevance of holding IPL in England (if it turns out to be the case.) It is a snub on the boorish behavior of the ECB and, more importantly, a full house Chennai Vs Mumbai in the heart of London in many ways re-enforces the ever increasing reverse cultural colonization!! At the risk of being a lil' melodramatic, I'm tempted to quote the saying that the sun never sets on the Indian dispora!

As far I am concerned, it's go Dhoni and go CSK to the championship title this time around.