Recently, I decided to drop off Facebook and deleted all my relationships on the site. Here are some of the reasons why I decided to get out of Facebook :
1. Facebook doesn't care for my privacy. They keep changing privacy settings and make it my (the user's) problem to go fix the settings. I have better things to do in life than deal with this crap. Take a look at how Facebook has been encroaching on your privacy http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline
2. Facebook is neither public nor private. It's somewhere in between and that makes me really nervous. Facebook's walled garden makes it private to the rest of the world but within the garden everything is public. http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/20/facebook-not-now-follow/
3. Facebook is like a big black hole. They don't let you export your contacts or posts; they make it almost impossible to move away from Facebook; they suck you into their hole.
4. Facebook doesn't give a hoot about your relationships. You treat your friends, colleagues, family and acquaintances all the same. But, in reality they are not the same. There are special people and not so special people. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs )
5. Facebook is boring. I am sorry to all my friends on Facebook but this huffingtonpost post sums it up http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/i-hate-facebook_b_178867.html
6. Facebook is a monopolistic social information empire and, monopolies and empires are never good for society.
In conclusion, I am going to stay away from Facebook and stick to Twitter(public) and Email(private).
Ciao.
Update 1: What a coincidence that I wrote this blog on "National Unfriend Day".
Update 2: Debt collectors utilize Facebook to embarrass those who owe. Read more...
Update 3: Dec 1, 2010: Facebook's 'Like This' button is tracking you Whether you click it or not. Another reason to hate facebook.
Update 4: Jan 18, 2011: Another example of why Facebook can be dangerous to your privacy online. Man Mines Facebook For Security Questions, Nabs Nude Photos From Email
Update 5: Jan 18, 2011: Facebook has done it again; they don't give a sh** about your privacy. Third-party apps now have access to your address and phone number.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Pain and Benefits of Critical Thinking and Drive
As is standard procedure in Corporate America, I had my annual performance review done by my manager. During the year, I had performed well on all fronts except on my relationships with some of my peers. I had done an excellent job of delivering business critical projects and managed a large, very successful team of engineers. But, my relations with some of my peers did not pan out well during the year.
My poor relations with my peers has been the only sore point during the year. I attribute this to my low tolerance for mediocre work and poorly designed engineering solutions. One of the key reasons for my success has been my ability to do quick critical analysis of business and engineering problems, work aggressively on solutions and drive them to a closure. But, this critical analysis and aggressiveness has cost me my relationships.
This coming year, I intend to take better care of my relationships. Critical thinking and drive is very important in the world's largest technology startup. But, these same qualities hurt people's feelings. No one likes to hear that their designs or implementations have flaws. No one likes to hear that they are not moving fast enough.
A colleague of mine (yes, I do have good relationships with some of my peers just not with everyone) has advised me to read The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle.
I hope to read the book during the holidays and will post a review here.
Ciao
Update 1: Dec 5, 2010: Boycott Amazon for dropping WikiLeaks and not standing up for freedom. Removed Amazon book information from my website and closed my Amazon Associates account.
My poor relations with my peers has been the only sore point during the year. I attribute this to my low tolerance for mediocre work and poorly designed engineering solutions. One of the key reasons for my success has been my ability to do quick critical analysis of business and engineering problems, work aggressively on solutions and drive them to a closure. But, this critical analysis and aggressiveness has cost me my relationships.
This coming year, I intend to take better care of my relationships. Critical thinking and drive is very important in the world's largest technology startup. But, these same qualities hurt people's feelings. No one likes to hear that their designs or implementations have flaws. No one likes to hear that they are not moving fast enough.
A colleague of mine (yes, I do have good relationships with some of my peers just not with everyone) has advised me to read The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle.
I hope to read the book during the holidays and will post a review here.
Ciao
Update 1: Dec 5, 2010: Boycott Amazon for dropping WikiLeaks and not standing up for freedom. Removed Amazon book information from my website and closed my Amazon Associates account.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Social Enterprise for technical documentation
Documentation is an onerous task that very few engineers (read geeks) will willingly do. It requires discipline, patience and time to prepare readable and usable documents. Traditional use of documentation tools like a WIKI or CMS place constraints on the documenter to follow style and structure guidelines that may make sense to management but absolutely no sense to geeks.
A lot of technical documentation is often created and lost on whiteboards and cubicle shout-outs. Such documentation rarely gets captured on a traditional document site due to the constraints outlined above.
I propose using Twitter and Moblog in the enterprise as a facilitator for documentation. Most geeks today have smartphones and are comfortable writing short text messages and taking pictures or videos on their cellphones. Here's how I envision using Twitter and Moblog for documentation:
1. Whenever there is a whiteboarding session, the engineers take pictures and upload to the internal Moblog/Twitter site. And, when there is a shout-out they tweet their brains out and dump them onto an enterprise twitter site. Even better, they start the shout-out on Twitter.
2. People within the organization can start following the tweeters and mobloggers that they trust and rely upon.
3. We could even throw in some Facebook "Like" or Digg "Digg It" features for followers to rate the posts.
4. Based on the number of followers and ratings each engineer has, a professional documentation team could port the posts of the most followed engineers into a traditional documentation system.
The process outlined above can be extended to communicating project status and team huddles instead of emails in overflowing inboxes.
Here are some links to explore if you think this post makes sense..
Moblog:camera phone mobile blogging community
Yours truly on Twitter
List of Enterprise Microblogging Tools
A lot of technical documentation is often created and lost on whiteboards and cubicle shout-outs. Such documentation rarely gets captured on a traditional document site due to the constraints outlined above.
I propose using Twitter and Moblog in the enterprise as a facilitator for documentation. Most geeks today have smartphones and are comfortable writing short text messages and taking pictures or videos on their cellphones. Here's how I envision using Twitter and Moblog for documentation:
1. Whenever there is a whiteboarding session, the engineers take pictures and upload to the internal Moblog/Twitter site. And, when there is a shout-out they tweet their brains out and dump them onto an enterprise twitter site. Even better, they start the shout-out on Twitter.
2. People within the organization can start following the tweeters and mobloggers that they trust and rely upon.
3. We could even throw in some Facebook "Like" or Digg "Digg It" features for followers to rate the posts.
4. Based on the number of followers and ratings each engineer has, a professional documentation team could port the posts of the most followed engineers into a traditional documentation system.
The process outlined above can be extended to communicating project status and team huddles instead of emails in overflowing inboxes.
Here are some links to explore if you think this post makes sense..
Moblog:camera phone mobile blogging community
Yours truly on Twitter
List of Enterprise Microblogging Tools
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Why Droid X?
Here are some reasons why I like the Droid X :
I am sure I am forgetting a lot of other nice features. But, the above are good enough reasons to like the Droid X.
- It runs Android
- The best distro of embedded Linux and micro Java.
- Open source - thousands of eyeballs can rip the code apart, find bugs, find security holes and criticize Google's implementation.
- Open platform - I can run whatever the hell I want to run as long as it can be interpreted on the Dalvik VM.
- Open marketplace - I can download from wherever I want and even setup my own marketplace.
- Open development - I can develop in any language I want and use any IDE I want without selling my soul to some restrictive developer agreement.
- It is from Google, Motorola and Verizon bringing in the best from all these three companies.
- High quality software from some of the best developers on the planet.
- Superior hardware from an experienced and reliable hardware manufacturer.
- Awesome service from the best carrier in the US.
- Super size screen that makes for a great reading and browsing experience.
- Excellent voice-enabled navigation software
- Great battery life
I am sure I am forgetting a lot of other nice features. But, the above are good enough reasons to like the Droid X.
My 80/20 efforts and, Google Code and Google Labs!
For a long time now, I have been trying to convince my management to implement an 80/20 work schedule where everyone would be forced to do something other than their day job for 20% of their time. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have the courage to implement it.
I have however gone ahead and implemented it with the teams that I manage. Unfortunately, enforcing the 80/20 and operating within an organization that believes in 120/-20 rule ( i.e. work overtime and regress your brain) is a difficult task. I am hoping that something spectacular will come out of the 20% time I have given my team and I will be able to use that to convince my management about the 80/20 rule.
In the meanwhile, all I can do is envy Google and ogle at its Google Code and Google Labs portfolios.
I have however gone ahead and implemented it with the teams that I manage. Unfortunately, enforcing the 80/20 and operating within an organization that believes in 120/-20 rule ( i.e. work overtime and regress your brain) is a difficult task. I am hoping that something spectacular will come out of the 20% time I have given my team and I will be able to use that to convince my management about the 80/20 rule.
In the meanwhile, all I can do is envy Google and ogle at its Google Code and Google Labs portfolios.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Saint Warrent Buffett and Saint Bill Gates
As many of you may already Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are the world's biggest philanthropists having already pledged a huge percentage of their personal wealths to charity. Buffett has pledged (download pdf version of his pledge here) more than 99% of his personal wealth. Now, they are trying to convince the other billionaires of the world to do their share of charity.
Buffet, Gates and Gates in the $600 Billion Challenge
Buffett and Gates are, in my opinion, the greatest saints of the mordern era and the greatest humanitarians of all time. To understand why their humanitarianism is so great, we need to just look at the scale of their charitable work and our own contributions to charity. Even though our personal income levels keep rising every year, the percentage of our charity does not go up proportionately. The percentage probably stays the same, if not drops lower. As you get richer, older and more comfortable, it gets harder to deprive yourself and give more.
Long live Buffett and Gates.
Buffet, Gates and Gates in the $600 Billion Challenge
Buffett and Gates are, in my opinion, the greatest saints of the mordern era and the greatest humanitarians of all time. To understand why their humanitarianism is so great, we need to just look at the scale of their charitable work and our own contributions to charity. Even though our personal income levels keep rising every year, the percentage of our charity does not go up proportionately. The percentage probably stays the same, if not drops lower. As you get richer, older and more comfortable, it gets harder to deprive yourself and give more.
Long live Buffett and Gates.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Comcast is incompetent !
My saga with Comcast started a week ago when I moved from one apartment to another ( read my previous post about this). Ten days, 10 phone calls and 10 hours later, my cable tv and internet are fixed. But, my phone number is still not. Comcast switched my phone number during the move and have not been able to restore it yet. A work order has been pending for more than 72 hours.
I am surprised and concerned to see that a company that is the size of Comcast unable to restore a phone number. It raises questions about their competency in their other areas of the business. Are they competent enough to protect all the personal information (address, date of birth, ssn, credit card..) they collect from customers like me ?
Courteous and friendly customer service at Comcast keeps me from yelling and screaming when I call them. But, it will not keep me from defecting to another provider at the first opportunity I get.
I am surprised and concerned to see that a company that is the size of Comcast unable to restore a phone number. It raises questions about their competency in their other areas of the business. Are they competent enough to protect all the personal information (address, date of birth, ssn, credit card..) they collect from customers like me ?
Courteous and friendly customer service at Comcast keeps me from yelling and screaming when I call them. But, it will not keep me from defecting to another provider at the first opportunity I get.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Comcast sucks! Comcast Customer Service rocks!
Comcast seems to be the worst utility company on the planet. But, their customer service is one of the most friendly customer service.
Comcast screwed up my cable and internet service when I moved to a new apartment. Comcast created a new account at my new address keeping alive the older account at the previous address. And, now they are charging me at both addresses. Comcast is also charging me an installation fee even though I moved the equipment myself. (???) In addition, half of my HD channels are not working and I have been on and off the phone several times with tech support. I have wasted about 2 hours of my day and the HD channels are still not working. I wonder if Comcast is going to pay me for my time.
Contrary to my experience with Comcast, my experience with their Customer Service representatives was awesome. Their representatives were the most courteous and friendly customer service reps I have spoken to in a long time.
If it were not for their customer service and their monopoly, I would be swtiching to another cable company.
Comcast screwed up my cable and internet service when I moved to a new apartment. Comcast created a new account at my new address keeping alive the older account at the previous address. And, now they are charging me at both addresses. Comcast is also charging me an installation fee even though I moved the equipment myself. (???) In addition, half of my HD channels are not working and I have been on and off the phone several times with tech support. I have wasted about 2 hours of my day and the HD channels are still not working. I wonder if Comcast is going to pay me for my time.
Contrary to my experience with Comcast, my experience with their Customer Service representatives was awesome. Their representatives were the most courteous and friendly customer service reps I have spoken to in a long time.
If it were not for their customer service and their monopoly, I would be swtiching to another cable company.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
To hell with morality and spirituality. Let's be practical !
Finally, some practical worldly advice from the Holy See.
The Pope is asking all of us to do penance for our sins not because our sins hurt others and were immoral, but because the world is criticizing us.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8622671.stm
The Pope is asking all of us to do penance for our sins not because our sins hurt others and were immoral, but because the world is criticizing us.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8622671.stm
Pope Benedict XVI has called on Roman Catholics to "do penance" for their sins, an apparent reference to the recent child sexual abuse scandal.
He said Catholics were "under attack from the world which talks to us of our sins" and should see the necessity "to recognise what is wrong in our lives.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Who changed the world ?
Microsoft, Intel and their partners have changed the way the world computes and has improved the lives of the poorest of the world. They continue to change the world with projects like One Laptop per Child
Nokia, Skype and their industry peers have changed the way the world communicates and has improved the lives of millions of people in the developing world. They continue to change the world with applications like mobile microfinance.
Google has changed the way the world accesses information and has enlightened the minds of millions of people around the world including those of students in the developing world. It continues to change the world with projects like Google Books Library Project
Toyota, Honda and other automobile manufacturers have changed the way the world travels and has transported modern amenities into the lives of millions of people in the developing world. They continue to do so especially in the world of medical services for the poor and displaced like this Mobile Clinic in Rural Rwanda
Next time a company claims that it has changed the world, ask how.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Resource utilization
In our organization, every server machine that hosts an application has a monitoring system installed on it. The monitoring system tracks the utilization of various machine resources like CPU, memory, disk space, etc... The system raises alerts when some utilization goes beyond a pre-defined threshold and is sustained over a pre-defined period of time.
I received one such alert this morning from one of the machines hosting my application. And, later during the day, I had some very frustrating moments arguing with some managers about resource utilization. Yes, it was about "human" resource utilization.
It seems very strange to me that in an IT organization where human resource is the biggest asset, we have continuous monitoring of server resource utilization but nothing for human resource utilization.
I see many projects being overstaffed and poorly managed. And, at the same time, there are some projects that are understaffed with resources utilized beyond normal thresholds. Senior Management needs to have human resource utilization monitoring in place. Mid-level managers must be held accountable for over-budgeting and over-staffing. Because, over-staffing and over-budgeting of one project invariable means that there is some other project out there that is will not get an appropriate budget or staff.
I hope my managers are reading this !
I received one such alert this morning from one of the machines hosting my application. And, later during the day, I had some very frustrating moments arguing with some managers about resource utilization. Yes, it was about "human" resource utilization.
It seems very strange to me that in an IT organization where human resource is the biggest asset, we have continuous monitoring of server resource utilization but nothing for human resource utilization.
I see many projects being overstaffed and poorly managed. And, at the same time, there are some projects that are understaffed with resources utilized beyond normal thresholds. Senior Management needs to have human resource utilization monitoring in place. Mid-level managers must be held accountable for over-budgeting and over-staffing. Because, over-staffing and over-budgeting of one project invariable means that there is some other project out there that is will not get an appropriate budget or staff.
I hope my managers are reading this !
Bad blogger
Hello Blog,
I've been a very bad blogger - this is my first blog in over 6 months :-(
Over the last 6 months, I have tried to write several entries but I never completed any of them because I wanted each one of them to be perfect. And, of course, nothing can ever be perfect and my entries withered away as unfinished drafts.
Now, I have decided that whether my entry is perfect or not, whether it is complete or not, I am going to publish it anyway. You ask why?
Because, for the first time in my (very short) 5-year career, I am encountering some very furstrating moments at work and I want to use this blog as a punching bag. I want to vent all my stress and frustration here in this ethereal space.
If you are reading my blog and empathize with me, please do send me your comments at vijaypm_@_gmail_._com. But, if you do not empathize with me, then you are lucky. You either have a great job or you are the frustration for others at work.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I'll try to be regular with my posts.
Later...
I've been a very bad blogger - this is my first blog in over 6 months :-(
Over the last 6 months, I have tried to write several entries but I never completed any of them because I wanted each one of them to be perfect. And, of course, nothing can ever be perfect and my entries withered away as unfinished drafts.
Now, I have decided that whether my entry is perfect or not, whether it is complete or not, I am going to publish it anyway. You ask why?
Because, for the first time in my (very short) 5-year career, I am encountering some very furstrating moments at work and I want to use this blog as a punching bag. I want to vent all my stress and frustration here in this ethereal space.
If you are reading my blog and empathize with me, please do send me your comments at vijaypm_@_gmail_._com. But, if you do not empathize with me, then you are lucky. You either have a great job or you are the frustration for others at work.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I'll try to be regular with my posts.
Later...
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Death of native user interface APIs
It's been a long time since I blogged here. So, I thought I'd toot my own horn one more time ;-)
Anyway, several months back I wrote that app-servers installed on desktops would power desktop apps.
http://www.macronimous.com/resources/J2EE_Application_Servers_on_Desktops.asp
Here's a VC who's talking about the same with a slight twist: app servers installed on a remote server would power AJAX-based apps to replace desktop apps.
http://earlystagevc.typepad.com/earlystagevc/2005/09/ajax_office_is_.html
Another twist to my view is the emergence of platform independent applications developed using Eclipse SWT as a strong replacement for desktop apps.
Only time will tell which of the above three approaches will eventually dominate. Who's rooting for me?
auf Wiederhören!
Vijay
Anyway, several months back I wrote that app-servers installed on desktops would power desktop apps.
http://www.macronimous.com/resources/J2EE_Application_Servers_on_Desktops.asp
Here's a VC who's talking about the same with a slight twist: app servers installed on a remote server would power AJAX-based apps to replace desktop apps.
http://earlystagevc.typepad.com/earlystagevc/2005/09/ajax_office_is_.html
Another twist to my view is the emergence of platform independent applications developed using Eclipse SWT as a strong replacement for desktop apps.
Only time will tell which of the above three approaches will eventually dominate. Who's rooting for me?
auf Wiederhören!
Vijay
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Does Google search?
Hi Everyone
Lately, I have been having this feeling that google's page rank algorithm will become its nemesis. I have started using dogpile more often now. The search results on google have been getting very bad recently. Either I am really stupid and not entering the right search terms or website owners have become too smart for the page rank algorithm or google has lost focus on its core business and is too busy doing laser photography of the streets of San Francisco.
Here's a search that really frustrated me. When I did a search for "j2se 1.4 documentation", I expected to see http://java.sun.com at the top. It was not even on the first page of results in google. Even the dozers got it right.
Is GOOG really worth that price?
Searching......
Lately, I have been having this feeling that google's page rank algorithm will become its nemesis. I have started using dogpile more often now. The search results on google have been getting very bad recently. Either I am really stupid and not entering the right search terms or website owners have become too smart for the page rank algorithm or google has lost focus on its core business and is too busy doing laser photography of the streets of San Francisco.
Here's a search that really frustrated me. When I did a search for "j2se 1.4 documentation", I expected to see http://java.sun.com at the top. It was not even on the first page of results in google. Even the dozers got it right.
Is GOOG really worth that price?
Searching......
Monday, July 04, 2005
G8 and Climate
With all the buzz about the G8 and the Live 8 concerts, I wanted to bring to your attention a very important but saddening statistic:
Average CO2 emission per person per year:
India - 1 ton
UK - 8.9 tons
US - 19.7 tons
It is sad that the Himalayan glaciers continue to melt and flood poor 'third-world' villages while people living in the west including yours truly continue to pollute the world with our mobile factories aka cars and our enormous appetite for electric power.
I must apologize to my friends in Europe but I think the heat wave in Europe is good for the world. It's at least got Tony Blair talking of 'acknowledg(ing) scientific evidence' and an 'Immmediate action plan' while his bird-brained counterpart is still talking of the climate as a 'Long-term issue'.
Save the world from SUVs!
Average CO2 emission per person per year:
India - 1 ton
UK - 8.9 tons
US - 19.7 tons
It is sad that the Himalayan glaciers continue to melt and flood poor 'third-world' villages while people living in the west including yours truly continue to pollute the world with our mobile factories aka cars and our enormous appetite for electric power.
I must apologize to my friends in Europe but I think the heat wave in Europe is good for the world. It's at least got Tony Blair talking of 'acknowledg(ing) scientific evidence' and an 'Immmediate action plan' while his bird-brained counterpart is still talking of the climate as a 'Long-term issue'.
Save the world from SUVs!
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
End Poverty!
For the first time in a long time, today, I salute an American news agency. I salute Time magazine for discussing world poverty in its cover story and putting the face of the poor on its cover. Time is one of the world's most popular news magazines and the cover story will bring poverty under the spotlight of the world for at least two weeks, before the next issue of Time comes out.
The cover story, "How To End Poverty" is an exclusive book excerpt from an upcoming book by renowned economist Jeffrey D. Sachs titled "The End Of Poverty". The book is supposed to be quite controversial in its open attack on the rich nations for their indifference towards poverty and suffering in the world.
As a subscriber to Time, I have access to the online version of the story. Unfortunately, I cannot share it with others due to obvious copyright issues. But, I can discuss my thoughts on the story and give you the gist of it. So, please watch this space in the coming weeks for my discussion of the story. As I discuss the "End Of Poverty", I will also continue my discussion of the ten Love Commandments. Love can heal!
Another Day in Paradise
The cover story, "How To End Poverty" is an exclusive book excerpt from an upcoming book by renowned economist Jeffrey D. Sachs titled "The End Of Poverty". The book is supposed to be quite controversial in its open attack on the rich nations for their indifference towards poverty and suffering in the world.
As a subscriber to Time, I have access to the online version of the story. Unfortunately, I cannot share it with others due to obvious copyright issues. But, I can discuss my thoughts on the story and give you the gist of it. So, please watch this space in the coming weeks for my discussion of the story. As I discuss the "End Of Poverty", I will also continue my discussion of the ten Love Commandments. Love can heal!
Another Day in Paradise
Friday, March 04, 2005
Love Commandment One
Love Commandment 1: You are never too young or too old to love.
In the past, I have been told several times that I was too young to be in love. And, people continue to be surprised and agitated when they hear that I am married. I don't blame them. Here's why.
In their world, men and women must exist for about 25 years before they can experience and understand love.
In my world, your age is not the number of times the earth went around the sun since you were born. Your age is the number and nature of the experiences you have lived through. I believe the child soldier fighting a war in some war-torn nation has lived longer than most people's lifetime. Even the little child that begs for a living on the streets of your city has lived longer than most people you will ever meet in your life.
So, the next time you find people judging you by the numer of calendar years that have passed since your birth, you will know that they have not lived life and do not understand it. And, if they do not understand life, they must have no clue about love. So, just forgive their ignorance and feel sorry for their existence.
In the past, I have been told several times that I was too young to be in love. And, people continue to be surprised and agitated when they hear that I am married. I don't blame them. Here's why.
In their world, men and women must exist for about 25 years before they can experience and understand love.
In my world, your age is not the number of times the earth went around the sun since you were born. Your age is the number and nature of the experiences you have lived through. I believe the child soldier fighting a war in some war-torn nation has lived longer than most people's lifetime. Even the little child that begs for a living on the streets of your city has lived longer than most people you will ever meet in your life.
So, the next time you find people judging you by the numer of calendar years that have passed since your birth, you will know that they have not lived life and do not understand it. And, if they do not understand life, they must have no clue about love. So, just forgive their ignorance and feel sorry for their existence.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Can you feel the love?
Happy Valentine's to all of you!
Love is in the air for many of my dear ones and I thought I'd share with you and them some of my views on love. Don't worry, I'll stay clear of all the mushy stuff. Before you read on, please remember that these views are from the perspective of a (proud?) lovable (yes, that's me) Indian male (MCP? Me? No way! You must be kidding!). Anyway, I present to you the Ten Commandments of love that I try to abide by:
1) You are never too young or too old to love. (one of my favourite pet peeves)
2) Learn to tolerate society, and to ignore it whenever necessary.
3) Never give up your relationships for your love.
4) Never give up your love for your relationships.
5) Never deny your love.
6) Never publicize your love.
7) Never try to impress your lover; love your lover.
8) Never try to justify your love.
9) Never fear love or its consequences.
10) Always honor your commitment to your love.
I'll talk about these commandments in detail in the coming weeks. But, until then, think about them and let me know what you agree or disagree with. And I encourage you to come up with your ten commandments that I can share with everyone.
And I Love Her!
Love is in the air for many of my dear ones and I thought I'd share with you and them some of my views on love. Don't worry, I'll stay clear of all the mushy stuff. Before you read on, please remember that these views are from the perspective of a (proud?) lovable (yes, that's me) Indian male (MCP? Me? No way! You must be kidding!). Anyway, I present to you the Ten Commandments of love that I try to abide by:
1) You are never too young or too old to love. (one of my favourite pet peeves)
2) Learn to tolerate society, and to ignore it whenever necessary.
3) Never give up your relationships for your love.
4) Never give up your love for your relationships.
5) Never deny your love.
6) Never publicize your love.
7) Never try to impress your lover; love your lover.
8) Never try to justify your love.
9) Never fear love or its consequences.
10) Always honor your commitment to your love.
I'll talk about these commandments in detail in the coming weeks. But, until then, think about them and let me know what you agree or disagree with. And I encourage you to come up with your ten commandments that I can share with everyone.
And I Love Her!
Saturday, January 29, 2005
World Economic Forum (WEF)
An interesting panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland:
The G8 and Africa: Rhetoric or Action?
In case you don't have the time to go through the entire 27min video, here are the locations of some important moments in the video.
12:00 min - Bill Gates
"..take the example of things that are working and really get that story out, prove that the money can be very well spent and show the impact that it has.." - Gates
16:00 min - Bono
"I don't think 6,000 Africans dying everyday of a preventable disease like AIDS is a 'cause'. I think it's an emergency. And, I don't think 3,000 Africans dying from a mosquito bite is a cause. I think it's an emergency." - Bono
19:15 min - Bill Clinton
"The President just asked for $80bn for the Iraq war for a year. For a pittance of that we could double America's international assistance in all these areas." - Clinton
"Anybody who says we shouldn't do this because there is corruption or incompetence ought to be put into a closet and not listened to again." - Clinton
23:00 min Bono
"Paint those AIDS drugs red, white and blue if you have to but they are the best advertisements for our ingenuity, our science, our capability.. " - Bono
For more WEF webcasts, go here.
The G8 and Africa: Rhetoric or Action?
In case you don't have the time to go through the entire 27min video, here are the locations of some important moments in the video.
12:00 min - Bill Gates
"..take the example of things that are working and really get that story out, prove that the money can be very well spent and show the impact that it has.." - Gates
16:00 min - Bono
"I don't think 6,000 Africans dying everyday of a preventable disease like AIDS is a 'cause'. I think it's an emergency. And, I don't think 3,000 Africans dying from a mosquito bite is a cause. I think it's an emergency." - Bono
19:15 min - Bill Clinton
"The President just asked for $80bn for the Iraq war for a year. For a pittance of that we could double America's international assistance in all these areas." - Clinton
"Anybody who says we shouldn't do this because there is corruption or incompetence ought to be put into a closet and not listened to again." - Clinton
23:00 min Bono
"Paint those AIDS drugs red, white and blue if you have to but they are the best advertisements for our ingenuity, our science, our capability.. " - Bono
For more WEF webcasts, go here.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Hindi-Chini bhai bhai
I just discovered a very interesting series of articles on rediff.com - The India-China War, 40 Years On
The articles are on the Indo-China war of 1962 and the articles were published in 2002 but I chanced upon them only tonight. I was reading about India and China in the CIA's "Mapping the Global Future" report and decided to google "india china", when I hit upon the rediff.com series.
The CIA's report that I mentioned above tries to predict the state of world affairs in the year 2020. The report is quite long and so I recommed the executive summary which has sufficient details and is a manageable read. If you are interested, you can also read the predictions for the year 2010 and 2015.
Now, coming back to the rediff.com series, I suggest that any Indian with even an iota of patriotism read at least a few of the articles and get to know India's history better. I strongly recommend the article on "How Nehru let us down". The history lessons we are taught in school talk only about the "greatness" of our leaders and never about their failings. This article takes a look at how a leader's foolhardiness led to animsoity between two great nations and the subsequent humiliation of several hundred million people. Will the seeds of distrust sown by Nehru ever be removed?
The articles are on the Indo-China war of 1962 and the articles were published in 2002 but I chanced upon them only tonight. I was reading about India and China in the CIA's "Mapping the Global Future" report and decided to google "india china", when I hit upon the rediff.com series.
The CIA's report that I mentioned above tries to predict the state of world affairs in the year 2020. The report is quite long and so I recommed the executive summary which has sufficient details and is a manageable read. If you are interested, you can also read the predictions for the year 2010 and 2015.
Now, coming back to the rediff.com series, I suggest that any Indian with even an iota of patriotism read at least a few of the articles and get to know India's history better. I strongly recommend the article on "How Nehru let us down". The history lessons we are taught in school talk only about the "greatness" of our leaders and never about their failings. This article takes a look at how a leader's foolhardiness led to animsoity between two great nations and the subsequent humiliation of several hundred million people. Will the seeds of distrust sown by Nehru ever be removed?
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