When I heard that question, in my own geeky way I asked her back the questions, well...why does it rain? why is there an ocean? why do plants grow? why are we here? She looked at me strangely and said, so we don't know any of those? I nodded with a smile. She replied quickly, as if it was pretty obvious to her. "I think it snows so children can play and grownups can get a work out!" She went back to play. That was good enough answer for her! :-)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Why does it snow?
My daughter asked that question today. It snowed about 3 inches and I was blowing away the snow on the drive way. My kids were excited to come out and play on the snow. They were running around on the lawn covered with the white stuff, making snow man, making snow ball to throw at each other. They always have a blast when it snows. But I have to make sure the drive way is clean so we can get the car out easily.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Try, Win, Quit
We have all heard about the importance of trying hard and not quitting. There are inspirational poems and quotes about not quitting. But do you know that quitting is a constant companion of winners!?
In Seth Godin’s book, The Dip, he reveals the truth about quitting: “In a free market, we reward the exceptional. Everyone picks the best one when given a choice. And the people who are perceived as the best get rewards that dwarf the people who are third and fourth and fifth.” So, being average is same as losing! One has to quit or be exceptional. So, winners DO quit, after all!
It is "try, win, quit" ideally. But often times, "try, quit,..., try, win, quit" is also a norm. As a saying goes, "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook"!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The reality of Indian agriculture
The situation is not good! Not that it is any surprise to those who keep up with the news of farmers committing suicide in different villages often times. But I didn't realize the profession is like a slow poison in every farmer's life until my recent visit to India. When I talk to the folks in agriculture, most of them seem to have no clue that they are in a financial quick sand. On the other hand, with poor literacy in villages, the farmers seem to have no option but to live in a no win situation. The situation is really bad for those who are 100% relying on agriculture as their sole family income.
I see three groups of people in agriculture.
1. The passive income group
2. The farmers group and
3. The hopeless group!
The passive income group is a working class of people who have a job or primary income from sources other than agriculture and have farming as a passive income producing source. They are passionate about investing in agriculture most likely because they grew up in an agricultural family environment. They are not directly involved in farming. But have someone close to the farms (farmers group) take care of agriculture while they make their living in cities. Almost always the indulgence of this group in agriculture is an emotional decision to retain the family tradition or to maintain the inherited agricultural fields. They are not making profit in the investment. They are not hurt by the loss either. Some of them are under the illusion that their agricultural investments are profitable short term investments. Two concepts in financial management prove otherwise - the risk and the opportunity cost.
The passive income group puts forward an argument for agriculture that goes like this. If I invest one lakh rupee in agriculture, I get 1.5 lakh in about 6 to 8 months. That is probably true. Can't argue with numbers. There are three nuances in this argument though.
1. To begin with, one has to come up with a significant amount of money to invest in agriculture as a down payment before harvesting the returns. Luckily this group of people are able to do that on their own and avoid the "cost of capital" burden in terms of payment of interest and principal on that investment cost. The other two groups unfortunately are not as lucky.
2. The return is not guaranteed and depends on many factors like the rain/water level in the well, monsoon fluctuations, seasonal pests, etc. There is no systemic protection such as insurance against any of these factors. The biggest risk however is that the producers have no control over the price of their produce! Invariably when the volume of production is high, prices are down and when the volume is less, prices are moderate to high. So profit is shot always as Profit = Price*Quantity produced - Sunk Costs. Price is set by the "commission" shops who are traders of the produce. When the price is artificially controlled against the supply-demand dynamics and the costs are ever increasing because of the increasing labor, fertilizer, pesticide costs, profit becomes very unreliable. So there is enormous risk in the agricultural investment. Higher the risk, higher should be the expected reward.
3. In addition, if you look around to invest that initial expense in a bank FD or gold or residential land or some other investment what is the potential return? That is the opportunity cost. (Of course, each one of those alternatives come with a risk profile)
If you take the opportunity cost, add a markup for the risk factors and adjust for inflation (by the way, that goes up almost every year. Rs. 100 last year is worth less than Rs.100 this year) you should expect a return that exceeds the actual return consistently year over year. But that calculation is never considered by this group. Neither do they keep record of their investment and return over a long period of time to study the performance of their investment against alternatives. They write off the sunk costs if it comes to that and continue to go on. Well good for us! Without this group, agriculture is doomed in India.
That's a lot for now. More on the other two groups who are worse off than the first group. At least this group can sustain the losses and continue to invest in agriculture. The other two groups can not.
I see three groups of people in agriculture.
1. The passive income group
2. The farmers group and
3. The hopeless group!
The passive income group is a working class of people who have a job or primary income from sources other than agriculture and have farming as a passive income producing source. They are passionate about investing in agriculture most likely because they grew up in an agricultural family environment. They are not directly involved in farming. But have someone close to the farms (farmers group) take care of agriculture while they make their living in cities. Almost always the indulgence of this group in agriculture is an emotional decision to retain the family tradition or to maintain the inherited agricultural fields. They are not making profit in the investment. They are not hurt by the loss either. Some of them are under the illusion that their agricultural investments are profitable short term investments. Two concepts in financial management prove otherwise - the risk and the opportunity cost.
The passive income group puts forward an argument for agriculture that goes like this. If I invest one lakh rupee in agriculture, I get 1.5 lakh in about 6 to 8 months. That is probably true. Can't argue with numbers. There are three nuances in this argument though.
1. To begin with, one has to come up with a significant amount of money to invest in agriculture as a down payment before harvesting the returns. Luckily this group of people are able to do that on their own and avoid the "cost of capital" burden in terms of payment of interest and principal on that investment cost. The other two groups unfortunately are not as lucky.
2. The return is not guaranteed and depends on many factors like the rain/water level in the well, monsoon fluctuations, seasonal pests, etc. There is no systemic protection such as insurance against any of these factors. The biggest risk however is that the producers have no control over the price of their produce! Invariably when the volume of production is high, prices are down and when the volume is less, prices are moderate to high. So profit is shot always as Profit = Price*Quantity produced - Sunk Costs. Price is set by the "commission" shops who are traders of the produce. When the price is artificially controlled against the supply-demand dynamics and the costs are ever increasing because of the increasing labor, fertilizer, pesticide costs, profit becomes very unreliable. So there is enormous risk in the agricultural investment. Higher the risk, higher should be the expected reward.
3. In addition, if you look around to invest that initial expense in a bank FD or gold or residential land or some other investment what is the potential return? That is the opportunity cost. (Of course, each one of those alternatives come with a risk profile)
If you take the opportunity cost, add a markup for the risk factors and adjust for inflation (by the way, that goes up almost every year. Rs. 100 last year is worth less than Rs.100 this year) you should expect a return that exceeds the actual return consistently year over year. But that calculation is never considered by this group. Neither do they keep record of their investment and return over a long period of time to study the performance of their investment against alternatives. They write off the sunk costs if it comes to that and continue to go on. Well good for us! Without this group, agriculture is doomed in India.
That's a lot for now. More on the other two groups who are worse off than the first group. At least this group can sustain the losses and continue to invest in agriculture. The other two groups can not.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
A.D to C.E
Recently I came across a year notation like "6th century B.C.E" and I was lost. What is B.C.E? Turns out when I was not looking, the calendar convention B.C and A.D., which we were taught in the schools was changed to B.C.E and C.E.
The use of C.E.—signifying "Common Era" apparently has become popular in recent decades. As Christians and others have become increasing aware that Christianity is not the only Western tradition, it has made sense to many to switch the designation of dates from A.D. (Anno Domini meaning in the year of the Lord) to C.E., and thus also from B.C. ("Before Christ") to B.C.E. ("Before the Common Era").
Well. Perhaps we should close the history books on Y2K and start afresh on a new scientific era (S.E). Let's get ready for 10 S.E folks!
:-)
The use of C.E.—signifying "Common Era" apparently has become popular in recent decades. As Christians and others have become increasing aware that Christianity is not the only Western tradition, it has made sense to many to switch the designation of dates from A.D. (Anno Domini meaning in the year of the Lord) to C.E., and thus also from B.C. ("Before Christ") to B.C.E. ("Before the Common Era").
Well. Perhaps we should close the history books on Y2K and start afresh on a new scientific era (S.E). Let's get ready for 10 S.E folks!
:-)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Baldness and Malaria
Do you know that the ratio of amount spent annually on treating baldness Vs treating malaria is 50 to 1?
Malaria kills about a million people in Africa and Asia every year. Yet, it does not offer an attractive market opportunity for businesses to invest capital to address the issue. On the other hand, baldness affects rich old men who care to look young. This customer is willing and able to spend considerable amount of money to get cure for baldness. They have enough disposable income that presents an attractive market opportunity for businesses to go after!
- From Bill Gates speech on TED.org
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tamiflu / Antiflu
In the pharma industry, to bring a product to market is no easy task. There is a huge stage-gate process during drug development and a lengthy clinical trial for the FDA approval. A high investment in R&D is required and the failure rate of products is very high. So to protect the industry, U.S. grants patents on drugs that offer exclusive right for the pharma company to make, sell and reap the rewards of the innovation for a 20 year period. So it only takes one or two succesful drugs for pharma companies to sustain and generate a rate of return that is acceptable to the investors. Having said that, Pharma industry makes above average return in general and considered as one of the attractive investment opportunities.
In 1970, India put into place a series of policies aimed at moving the country towards self sufficiency in medicines. At this time, the national sector was less than 25% of the domestic pharmaceutical market. Of the top ten firms by retail sales, only two where Indian firms and the rest were subsidiaries of multinationals. Much of the country's pharmaceutical consumption was met by imports. Most of the Indian population could not afford the imported medicine and millions of people were dying because medicines were not affordable. The national sentiment on this issue is well captured by the Indira Gandhi's statement at the world health assembly in 1982, "The idea of a better-ordered world is one in which medical discoveries will be free of patents and there will be no profiteering from life and death"
India passed the Patents Act 1970 that greatly weakened intellectual property protection in India, particularly for pharmaceutial products. Pharmaceutical innovations as well as those of food and agro-chemicals become un-patentable, allowing innovations patented elsewhere to be freely copied and marketed in India. Supported by this regulatory environment, by 1991, Indian firms accounted for 70% of the bulk drugs sold in India.
Of course, this issue which is identified as TRIPs (Trade Related aspects of Intellectual property rights) has been one of the main issues of contention at GATT summits for a long time.
Fast forward to the present day. The one company (Roche) that manufactures Tamiflu could not manufacture and supply enough quantity for this U.S. national H1N1 flu emergency. Tamiflu patent is valid until 2016. Indian pharma company Cipla has a generic drug that it reverse engineered from Tamiflu, called Antiflu, and Cipla is ready to step in to meet the demand. Center for disease control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are considering bringing in Antiflu into the U.S market.
For a long time, the developed nations condemned India as a pirate. Indian government acted to make life saving medicines affordable to its millions. Weighing the Return on Investment of Pharma companies on one hand and the life of millions of people on the other, the choice of Indian government is not surprising. Now U.S is made to choose between those same two choices. Should be interesting to see the U.S. decision.
In 1970, India put into place a series of policies aimed at moving the country towards self sufficiency in medicines. At this time, the national sector was less than 25% of the domestic pharmaceutical market. Of the top ten firms by retail sales, only two where Indian firms and the rest were subsidiaries of multinationals. Much of the country's pharmaceutical consumption was met by imports. Most of the Indian population could not afford the imported medicine and millions of people were dying because medicines were not affordable. The national sentiment on this issue is well captured by the Indira Gandhi's statement at the world health assembly in 1982, "The idea of a better-ordered world is one in which medical discoveries will be free of patents and there will be no profiteering from life and death"
India passed the Patents Act 1970 that greatly weakened intellectual property protection in India, particularly for pharmaceutial products. Pharmaceutical innovations as well as those of food and agro-chemicals become un-patentable, allowing innovations patented elsewhere to be freely copied and marketed in India. Supported by this regulatory environment, by 1991, Indian firms accounted for 70% of the bulk drugs sold in India.
Of course, this issue which is identified as TRIPs (Trade Related aspects of Intellectual property rights) has been one of the main issues of contention at GATT summits for a long time.
Fast forward to the present day. The one company (Roche) that manufactures Tamiflu could not manufacture and supply enough quantity for this U.S. national H1N1 flu emergency. Tamiflu patent is valid until 2016. Indian pharma company Cipla has a generic drug that it reverse engineered from Tamiflu, called Antiflu, and Cipla is ready to step in to meet the demand. Center for disease control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are considering bringing in Antiflu into the U.S market.
For a long time, the developed nations condemned India as a pirate. Indian government acted to make life saving medicines affordable to its millions. Weighing the Return on Investment of Pharma companies on one hand and the life of millions of people on the other, the choice of Indian government is not surprising. Now U.S is made to choose between those same two choices. Should be interesting to see the U.S. decision.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Craftspeople and Seers
Craftspeople are highly skilled experts in the practice of one's craft. Master craftspeople are best students when they were in the school. They are excellent problem solvers. In the normal period of work, you need crafts people to run the business smooth. Lot of people fall into this category.
The prime example of a Seer is Einstein. He couldn't get a decent job as a scientist when he was young, slow in argument, easily confused; others were much better at mathematics. Einstein said to have remarked, "It's not that I am so smart. It's just that I stay with the problems longer."
Like anything, there are exceptions to this categorization. Isaac Newton is both an extraordinary visionary and the best mathematician of his day. Almost everything about Newton is singular and inexplicable.
- Derived from the book "The Trouble with Physics" by Lee Smolin
Friday, October 23, 2009
Capitalistic vision Vs "Too big to fail" policy
The following is a powerful visionary statement of the CEO Arthur Jenson to the mad television anchor Mr. Beale in the movie 'Network' (yr 1976 - great movie to watch!).
(In a loud dramatic voice!) "You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!! Is that clear?! You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multi-national dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, Reichmarks, Yen, Rubles, Pounds, and Shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!
(Soft voice) Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?
(Loud again) You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state — Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do.
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality — one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused"
- From the movie Network (1976)
Is this capitalistic vision doomed by the current worldwide economic crisis? We are certainly bitten by the "Too big to fail" policy. "Governments" had to bail out big banks and corporations all over the world.
The notion of separation of State and Business (Wall Street) is not working, is it?! Ayn Rand's school of thought subscribed to by such stalwarts as Alan Greenspan that "unregulated market will take care of itself" has caused this "moral hazard" where in tax payers ended up paying for the mistakes of big businesses.
When religion was mixed with the State, it caused havoc in the earlier centuries. Separation of State and Religion policy eliminated the influence of religious leaders in the Government. Right now, there is a revolving door arrangement between Wall Street and Washington. Ex-Wall Street CEOs go into policy making to work as part of the government and retired politicians work for Wall Street as lobbyists for businesses. This arrangement has badly hurt the people all over the world but benefited Wall Street and the politicians handsomely.
Where do we go from here? Is this a passing phase? Is closing the revolving door possible? Is Government oversight a permanent requirement for big businesses? As of now, it looks like that grand capitalistic vision of establishing one big corporation for the entire world will never work. There is too much at stake for such a company to fail. As long as sovereign nations exist to protect the citizens within the physical boundaries of a country, the global vision will be limited and strictly regulated. Currency values, exports, imports, tariffs, subsidies will be determined by the government policies rather than by the business interests.
In short, politics will trump economics always. Although economics is global all politics is local!
.
(In a loud dramatic voice!) "You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!! Is that clear?! You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multi-national dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, Reichmarks, Yen, Rubles, Pounds, and Shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!
(Soft voice) Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?
(Loud again) You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state — Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do.
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality — one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused"
- From the movie Network (1976)
Is this capitalistic vision doomed by the current worldwide economic crisis? We are certainly bitten by the "Too big to fail" policy. "Governments" had to bail out big banks and corporations all over the world.
The notion of separation of State and Business (Wall Street) is not working, is it?! Ayn Rand's school of thought subscribed to by such stalwarts as Alan Greenspan that "unregulated market will take care of itself" has caused this "moral hazard" where in tax payers ended up paying for the mistakes of big businesses.
When religion was mixed with the State, it caused havoc in the earlier centuries. Separation of State and Religion policy eliminated the influence of religious leaders in the Government. Right now, there is a revolving door arrangement between Wall Street and Washington. Ex-Wall Street CEOs go into policy making to work as part of the government and retired politicians work for Wall Street as lobbyists for businesses. This arrangement has badly hurt the people all over the world but benefited Wall Street and the politicians handsomely.
Where do we go from here? Is this a passing phase? Is closing the revolving door possible? Is Government oversight a permanent requirement for big businesses? As of now, it looks like that grand capitalistic vision of establishing one big corporation for the entire world will never work. There is too much at stake for such a company to fail. As long as sovereign nations exist to protect the citizens within the physical boundaries of a country, the global vision will be limited and strictly regulated. Currency values, exports, imports, tariffs, subsidies will be determined by the government policies rather than by the business interests.
In short, politics will trump economics always. Although economics is global all politics is local!
.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Physical frontiers of nature
Do you know that we can explain everything in the known world with only 12 particles and 4 forces!?
Six kinds of quarks (up, down, charm, strange, top, bottom) and six kinds of leptons (Electron, Mu, Tau, Electron neutrino, Mu neutrino, Tau neutrino) interact with each other through four forces, namely: gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces.
Physicists are trying to find a single, fundamental entity to these particles and unify the forces for many years with no solid result beyond this standard model of elementary particles. String theory with all the extra dimensions still remains inadequate.
For now we understand and can explain the world through the 12 fundamental particles and 4 kind of forces.
Six kinds of quarks (up, down, charm, strange, top, bottom) and six kinds of leptons (Electron, Mu, Tau, Electron neutrino, Mu neutrino, Tau neutrino) interact with each other through four forces, namely: gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces.
Physicists are trying to find a single, fundamental entity to these particles and unify the forces for many years with no solid result beyond this standard model of elementary particles. String theory with all the extra dimensions still remains inadequate.
For now we understand and can explain the world through the 12 fundamental particles and 4 kind of forces.
Deepavali surprise!
The benefit of being disorganized is that you are constantly surprising yourself!
Well. Back in 2007 during the India trip I bought a couple of dhotis for me. Of course it is not practical to wear a dhoti during winter months. Besides the opportunities to wear it outdoor is slim to none. But it serves as a nice at home dress in addition to pjs during summer months. I left one of those dhotis unopened behind my dresser and totally forgot about it until this morning. It is a tradition to celebrate Diwali with new dress. I had a shirt that I had picked up earlier for formal use. But didn't bother with buying new pants since I had one too many of them. But hooray... it was a great surprise to spot a new dhoti on Deepavali morning!
Happy Deepavali greetings to all.
Well. Back in 2007 during the India trip I bought a couple of dhotis for me. Of course it is not practical to wear a dhoti during winter months. Besides the opportunities to wear it outdoor is slim to none. But it serves as a nice at home dress in addition to pjs during summer months. I left one of those dhotis unopened behind my dresser and totally forgot about it until this morning. It is a tradition to celebrate Diwali with new dress. I had a shirt that I had picked up earlier for formal use. But didn't bother with buying new pants since I had one too many of them. But hooray... it was a great surprise to spot a new dhoti on Deepavali morning!
Happy Deepavali greetings to all.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Saturday, October 03, 2009
On the Journey of Self Invention
Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson divides life into eight developmental stages.
Erikson believed that we do not proceed to the next stage until each stages crisis has been satisfactorily resolved. Dr. Roger Gould states that in order to overcome the adaptational warp of the early life, one has to continually re-examine the defenses and assumptions. Feelings are memories of past behavior. When you sort them out and see what's current and what's left over, you can begin to use your thinking process to change your behavior. Withdrawal can be turned to hope, compulsion to will, inhibition to purpose and inertia to competence through exercise of memory and understanding. Becoming the kind of person you want to be is the ultimate act of free will !
-derived from the book "On Becoming a Leader" by Warren Bennis
| Stages of Life | Conflicts | Choices |
|---|---|---|
| Infancy | Basic Trust Vs Basic Mistrust | Hope or Withdrawal |
| Early Childhood | Autonomy Vs Shame, Doubt | Will or Compulsion |
| Play Age | Initiative Vs Guilt | Purpose or Inhibition |
| School Age | Industry Vs Inferiority | Competence or Inertia |
| Adolescence | Identity Vs Identity Confusion | Fidelity or Repudiation |
| Young Adulthood | Intimacy Vs Isolation | Love or Exclusivity |
| Adulthood | Generativity Vs Stagnation | Care or Rejectivity |
| Old Age | Integrity Vs Despair | Wisdom or Disdain |
Erikson believed that we do not proceed to the next stage until each stages crisis has been satisfactorily resolved. Dr. Roger Gould states that in order to overcome the adaptational warp of the early life, one has to continually re-examine the defenses and assumptions. Feelings are memories of past behavior. When you sort them out and see what's current and what's left over, you can begin to use your thinking process to change your behavior. Withdrawal can be turned to hope, compulsion to will, inhibition to purpose and inertia to competence through exercise of memory and understanding. Becoming the kind of person you want to be is the ultimate act of free will !
-derived from the book "On Becoming a Leader" by Warren Bennis
Saturday, September 26, 2009
All the way to Madurai
For sometime lately I have been toying with the idea of a adventurous journey to Madurai, my hometown in India from New York City and back. Sure, going to JFK by using public transportation could be adventurous but I am talking about a different kind of adventure - Riding a motorcycle.......all the way(Yeah, right...).
I came with this idea through several avenues - First I figured out that journeys have the capability of completely transforming people - we find examples throughout history. Only a journey changed Siddhartha into Buddha and Ernesto Guevara into Che Guevara. Even Mahatma Gandhi took a train journey to discover India. Hopefully a motorcycle journey will change me in similar ways. While this is on one hand, I also wanted to travel through whole of Europe stopping at historically important places - by 'historically' I mean WWII, of course. That travel could be on anything - But the freedom a motorcycle offers, particularly if it is off-road capable like the one I have, is unmatched by any other. Pack a couple of bags + tent + sleeping bag and you are ready to discover the world!!
With that said, let me speak about the places I want to see, the route I want to take etc. I have so far only planned the Europe part properly. Imagine I head out east from NYC to London on a plane and start my journey to Madurai from there. I would first ride to the beaches of Normandy where thousands of allied soldiers died on D-Day. Then I would go to Belgium tracing back the routes Guderian and Rommel took during the invasion of France. I definitely want to spend some time in Ardennes, particularly Bastogne where the 'Easy company' from 'Band of Brothers' and others fought so bravely in the winter of 1944. Then I would proceed to the Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, the only bridge intact that Patton's army managed to capture while trying to cross the Rhine. In Germany I would trace through the rise of Nazi party, and, of course, see the "Eagle's nest" at Berchtesgaden. Then I would proceed on to the eastern front, where lies the most important place of the entire European section - Stalingrad, now called Volgagrad. I would spend at least a week in this place where the bloodiest battle in history took place. It would be a privilege to keep a bottle of dirt collected from there. Along with a piece of metal I collected from a restored C-47 that actually dropped 101st Airborne (Band of brothers) on D-Day as well as Operation MarketGarden and also participated in Berlin airlift, I will keep this bottle on a showcase.
So far this is the plan - have to plan the rest of the route. Any suggestions? You may also write about any similar journey you always wanted to take.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Rare alignment - U.S. and Venezuela
In June, I wrote about the unraveling constitutional crisis in Honduras. Well, it has just got messier!
Strangely enough, U.S. and Venezuela find themselves on the same side, albeit for completely different reasons. U.S. wants to restore order and considers removing and extraditing a sitting President as a bad precedence and refuses to accept it as a legitimate move by the Honduran Congress, Supreme court and the Military. There is definitely a point in that view. Military reports to the President and cannot take orders from the Supreme Court or the Congress. President may need to be impeached by the Congress and removed from office. Not under the military gun based on a Supreme Court order in the middle of the night. The swift removal of the President from Power and the escorted expulsion from the Presidential palace and the country is chilling misuse of power.
Venezuela president on the other hand wants his buddy Mr. Zelaya to remain in power without any term limit just as himself is in his country. Mr. Zelaya earlier attempted to amend the constitution to eliminate the presidential term limit through a public referendum. That is disturbing in itself. Countries that are Republic allow Constitutional amendments only after discussion and debate of the elected representatives and through a ballot typically requiring two thirds majority to support any amendment. Honduras is a republic. Public Referendums only lead to tyranny of the masses. A country's Constitution cannot be changed based on a popularity contest or fickle public opinions.
In any case, Mr. Zelaya's move initiated all of what is unraveling now. He has returned back into the country and has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy. From this diplomatic den he is inciting his supporters to agitate in the streets on his behalf. The sitting President for his part has promulgated curfews and other rules to restrain the public. It is never going to be easy to come out of this stalemate.
In June 1975, India went through similar crisis. On a bold judgment, Allahabad High Court ruled that the election of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as null and void. The rightful move by the Prime Minister should have been to step down and let the President conduct re-election on the constituency. Instead, Indira Gandhi used a rare provision in the Indian Constitution, Article 352 to declare National Emergency. Through this declaration the Executive branch instantly got overwhelming power. Power to detain and arrest anyone without any due process. Media was heavily censored and the Court system was severely undermined. The crisis came to an end after nearly two years in March 1977 when the general elections was conducted. The Congress Party led by Indira Gandhi lost the elections for the first time in Independent India.
Anytime the Executive branch grabs power, it is the first step to establishing martial law and dictatorial regimes. We have seen this many times over in Pakistan. Myanmar is a living example of a country ruled by military junta. Equatorial Guinea in the Central Africa has been ruled by two ruthless men from the same family since 1968. The ruling oligarchy of the Middle East is no stranger to the world.
In the U.S. wartime provision of the Constitution lend shift in power to the President. President Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during civil war and President FDR curtailed civil liberties of the citizens of Japanese origin by moving them into the internment camps during WWII. Both these regrettable events were turned over after the war. If every country goes through stages of evolution to establish its norms as a sovereign nation, it is Honduras turn now.
Strangely enough, U.S. and Venezuela find themselves on the same side, albeit for completely different reasons. U.S. wants to restore order and considers removing and extraditing a sitting President as a bad precedence and refuses to accept it as a legitimate move by the Honduran Congress, Supreme court and the Military. There is definitely a point in that view. Military reports to the President and cannot take orders from the Supreme Court or the Congress. President may need to be impeached by the Congress and removed from office. Not under the military gun based on a Supreme Court order in the middle of the night. The swift removal of the President from Power and the escorted expulsion from the Presidential palace and the country is chilling misuse of power.
Venezuela president on the other hand wants his buddy Mr. Zelaya to remain in power without any term limit just as himself is in his country. Mr. Zelaya earlier attempted to amend the constitution to eliminate the presidential term limit through a public referendum. That is disturbing in itself. Countries that are Republic allow Constitutional amendments only after discussion and debate of the elected representatives and through a ballot typically requiring two thirds majority to support any amendment. Honduras is a republic. Public Referendums only lead to tyranny of the masses. A country's Constitution cannot be changed based on a popularity contest or fickle public opinions.
In any case, Mr. Zelaya's move initiated all of what is unraveling now. He has returned back into the country and has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy. From this diplomatic den he is inciting his supporters to agitate in the streets on his behalf. The sitting President for his part has promulgated curfews and other rules to restrain the public. It is never going to be easy to come out of this stalemate.
In June 1975, India went through similar crisis. On a bold judgment, Allahabad High Court ruled that the election of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as null and void. The rightful move by the Prime Minister should have been to step down and let the President conduct re-election on the constituency. Instead, Indira Gandhi used a rare provision in the Indian Constitution, Article 352 to declare National Emergency. Through this declaration the Executive branch instantly got overwhelming power. Power to detain and arrest anyone without any due process. Media was heavily censored and the Court system was severely undermined. The crisis came to an end after nearly two years in March 1977 when the general elections was conducted. The Congress Party led by Indira Gandhi lost the elections for the first time in Independent India.
Anytime the Executive branch grabs power, it is the first step to establishing martial law and dictatorial regimes. We have seen this many times over in Pakistan. Myanmar is a living example of a country ruled by military junta. Equatorial Guinea in the Central Africa has been ruled by two ruthless men from the same family since 1968. The ruling oligarchy of the Middle East is no stranger to the world.
In the U.S. wartime provision of the Constitution lend shift in power to the President. President Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during civil war and President FDR curtailed civil liberties of the citizens of Japanese origin by moving them into the internment camps during WWII. Both these regrettable events were turned over after the war. If every country goes through stages of evolution to establish its norms as a sovereign nation, it is Honduras turn now.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Better explained!
Ever wondered what the natural logarithm, exponents (e), complex numbers, etc mean really?
Here is a fantastic site that explains it.
Here is a fantastic site that explains it.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Eye of God
If the lengths of sides of a rectangle are in the golden ratio, then the rectangle is a golden rectangle. It is possible to divide a golden rectangle into a square and a golden rectangle. We could continue this process indefinitely, producing smaller and smaller golden rectangles. The point at which all the golden rectangles converge is referred to as the "Eye of God". We can magnify the figure but can never get to the 'Eye' using finite magnifications. If we connect all the vertices's, we form a logarithmic spiral that envelops the "Eye of God".
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
An impressive turn around
My mom got the passport yesterday. That is within two weeks of application! I got to admit it is a very impressive turn around for passport re-issue. It takes about the same time in US. But the demand in India is more than 3 times that here. They must be doing something right in the back room. Kudos to that. Friendlier service would reduce the stress of the applicants. There are real problems with the public interface that needs to get addressed. Let's hope we get there sooner than later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
