Some geo"logical" coverage

This came in ToI today and apparently here's the reason why earthquakes happen. Okay, we all know that the person who made the comment isn't entirely clued in when it comes to matters of science, but my pique is with the newspaper.

Why is it that only, and only, these kind of articles that seem to appear in newspapers these days? So sad and pathetic! Whoever came up bright idea that the newspaper industry needs to go the tabloid way, has go it completely wrong.

If this is print media, then television doesn't seem to do any better. In fact, it is even more nauseating -- with every anchor is yelling at the top of his/her voice claiming a new expose in IPL. That is all they can talk about 24 hours a day. The sad part is, not very long ago, they (print and TV) used to deliver good content until, perhaps, all of them got mass injected with Soma or something like that!

Healthcare bill

Here's a very good PBS documentary on how the Obama administration passed the historic healthcare bill. However, like all Frontline documentaries it slightly dramatized though!

What kind of a leader are you?

Here's an interesting article on leadership!
"... found that many of the reliably successful leaders combine “extreme personal humility with intense professional will.” This kind of leader "knows the world is too complex and irregular to be known, so life is about navigating uncertainty. She understands she is too quick to grasp at pseudo-objective models and confident projections that give the illusion of control.She spends more time seeing than analyzing. Analytic skills differ modestly from person to person, but perceptual skills vary enormously. Anybody can analyze, but the valuable people can pick out the impermanent but crucial elements of a moment or effectively grasp a context."

Can you count happiness?

Here's an article by David Brooks on how we place emphasis on incorrect measures of happiness!
"In short, modern societies have developed vast institutions oriented around the things that are easy to count, not around the things that matter most. They have an affinity for material concerns and a primordial fear of moral and social ones."

Small Chinks of Light

Here's a nice article that appeared in Outlook India on the burgeoning Solar space in the country

Lack of Balance

Here's an article from David Brooks, who reviews the Obama presidency and subtly bemoans the lack of balance that people have when reviewing it.

I think striking a balance is one of the most difficult things to do for it makes one appear indecisive and wary of risk taking. In my opinion, people tend to extol greater virtues than necessary for people who take quick decisions and form fast opinions for their positions are more likely to be based on overtly simplistic and, perhaps even, self-serving interpretation of information. Below is an excerpt from the article.

"In a sensible country, people would see Obama as a president trying to define a modern brand of moderate progressivism. In a sensible country, Obama would be able to clearly define this project without fear of offending the people he needs to get legislation passed. But we don’t live in that country. We live in a country in which many people live in information cocoons in which they only talk to members of their own party and read blogs of their own sect. They come away with perceptions fundamentally at odds with reality"

India after Gandhi

Here's a brilliant review of a brilliant book. I'm reading it currently. While it'll certainly take effort and committment to complete, it is replete with phenomenonal information starting from the time of our independence.

"To comprehend India's achievement, imagine if Mexico became the 51st state of the United States, followed by Brazil, Argentina and the rest of Central and South America. Add Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to give this union the Sunni-Shia mix of India. The population then represented in Congress would still be smaller and less diverse linguistically, religiously, culturally and economically than India's."

Why I Am an Entrepreneur: Mahesh Murthy

Here's a funny article that appeared on the Wall Street Journal on why/how Mahesh Murthy became an entrepreneur. This one line description of TamBrahms is hilarious, but true
"I was reasonably-well programmed to be on the path of TamBrahm Boy + Good In Maths + Coconut Oil In Hair = Studies To Be Engineer + M.S. Abroad = Good Job In Intel + Dutiful TamBrahm Wife = Good Suburban U.S. House + 2.3 Kids + 2.1 Toyotas = The Boy Has Done Well."

I'm My Own Grandpa

Here's a hilarious song that explains quite logically for one can become his own grandpa...! Here are the lyrics.

William & Warren, Inc @ Columbia

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet talk to the Columbia Business School students. Here's the CNBC link.

20 years of extraordinary committment

Here's a very nice article written by Harsha Bhogle on Sachin Tendulkar.

I like these lines for they show that he is still a human - a fact conveniently forgotten when idolizing him.
"...His eyes were red and swollen; you could see he had been crying copiously. For the interview he put them on, and once the camera had stopped rolling, admitted he didn't want to return, that his mind was all over the place, that he felt anchorless..."

NYT Article - Genius: The Modern View

Here's is a fantasic article from David Brooks on the modern understanding on genius. Reminds me of what I read in the book "Outliers"

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!