Why?

 Why is Cheney all over the news defending the Bush Administration policies? Aren't his days in the sun over? 

Just what I wanted to hear

Contrary to the notion that daydreaming is a sign of laziness, letting the mind wander can actually let the parts of the brain associated with problem-solving become active, a new study finds. 

    

Bumper sticker for the day

Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet. 

Infosys

Some stats based on a talk that Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani gave in Chicago that I thought would be interesting to share.

Infosys was formed in 1981. From 1981 to 1992, their revenue grew from 0 to 4 million dollars. In 1991, India liberalized the economy and instituted several reforms that opened the Indian market. From 1992 to 1999, Infosys revenue's grew from 4 million to 120 million dollars. 1999 was when things really took off. From 1999 to 2004, their revenues grew to 1 billion and that doubled by the end of 2006.  2009 marks their twenty fifth year of doing business and they are set to reach 4 to 5 billion in revenues. 

It is never as good...

...as it seems or never as bad as it seems. That was what Obama said in his press conference on the 100 day mark of his administration, revealing his even-keeled, cool and calm approach to the issues facing this country. That to me was the standout line of the presser. 

  BTW, why all the hullabaloo about 100 days? Judge him a year or two from now. That will be a more realistic measure. 

Milk

Finally got to watch Milk. Another great performance by Sean Penn. He never disappoints. As I saw the movie depict the tension surrounding the fight against Prop 6, I couldn't help draw parallels with the fight against Prop 8 waged in the recent election. What struck me was that thirty years later, the same divisions that existed in 1978 continue to prevail today and drive the debate on both sides of the issue. 

Social Networking

What's the deal with Twitter? Why is anybody interested in what I had for lunch today? The whole idea just doesn't make sense to me. As a close friend opined, Twitter just happens to be the flavor of the day. It is a passing fad. Will it still be fashionable to tweet next year this time?

10 years ago

....we were in the midst of an Internet boom. Anybody with a computer and a business plan had a dot com  that had either gone public or was about to go public. There were paper millionaires galore. The stock market was booming. I had friends who punched in the wrong stock symbols, bought the stock of a company that they had never heard of and still made money. Life was good!

 Then the boom turned into a bust. What was unsustainable had to come crashing.  Sanity prevailed or so we thought.  But we hadn't accounted for how versatile greed can be.

 The Internet boom was replaced by the housing boom. And ten years later, we find ourselves in a deeper pit.

  Have we learnt a lesson? Perhaps this generation has, but history suggests we never will. So ten years from now, how many more boom and bust cycles will we have cycled through? 

   My guess is as good as yours

Itching for a fight already

David Souter's resignation is not two days old, but the various protagonists on Capitol Hill are already suiting up for a battle. Add to that, Obama hasn't even made his pick and won't for another month at least. Gives you an idea of how polarized politics has become in this country. 

Actually, I follow Indian politics having grown up there and if you want to talk polarized politics, then Indian politics takes the cake. 

Forever

The 2009 edition of the IPL tournament over is being held in South Africa. Is it me or the tournament just keeps going on and on. I think they need to cut the matches by half and get it done in fifteen days or risk over-exposure and lose cricket fans. 

Picking up the thread.....

Quite a bit has transpired since my last post. In a historic election, America elected its first black President. The economy has been wrecked by an earthquake of volcanic propotions. And in his first few months of office, the new President has had to make many momentous decisions that will decide not only the fate of his Presidency, but also that of the economy. In short, much water has flown under the bridge. 

There is not much consensus among economists as to the right course of action. You have economists on the right calling for tax cuts as opposed to government spending to boost the economy. And you have an equal number on the left calling for government action to avert a full blown depression. When economists can't agree on the right solution, then it is fair to say no one really knows how this is all going to turn out in the end. 

It is not uncommon these days to begin and end every conversation discussing the state of the economy and the adverse impact it has had on jobs and even the technology sector that I am a part of. This is a bad time to be out of a job and everybody is trying to cling on to the ones they have. BusinessWeek has an article of how slackers everywhere are suddenly working harder than never before.

One thing for sure is that this is going to get worse before it gets better. 

McCain's coconut

This election season, it has been disappointing to see McCain lurch from one extreme to the other as he desperately figures out a way to win on Nov. 4th. I have always had a high regard for him, in no small part because of his ability to speak his mind and buck his party. I thought highly of him, when he was unafraid to question the soundness of the Bush administration policy to win the war in Iraq on the cheap with limited troops. He was scathing in his questioning of Rumsfeld at a senate hearing on the issue. 

But this election season, he seems to have taken leave of his senses and his approach has been temperamental and unbalanced. Perhaps the fact that he is being challenged by a Democrat whom he regards as ill-prepared and ill-suited for the White House, but who has been able to generate a lot of excitement with the masses has left him unhinged. 

This election is still going to be close, but you can't help but feel that McCain with his constant lurches is losing it.

Buying TV channels

I don't like being forced to subscribe to the Top 100 or Top 200 channels by my satellite provider. I can count the channels I watch on my fingertips and the vast majority I flip through. I'd like to see a model where I can pick and choose channels and build my own subscription. If I pick more, I should pay more, If I pick less, I should pay less. It should be akin to shopping at the grocery store. Sooner or later, somebody is going to offer this and if the current players don't adapt, they'll be toast.

Non-HD

Ever since I started watching TV in HD, I just don't have the time for non-HD channels. Two TV stations broadcast news in HD and the other two don't. Guess what? I don't watch the two that are broadcast in non-HD. I don't know when was the last time I watched CNN or Fox News. It's time they started broadcasting in HD.

Is the surge working?

This article in the WaPo doesn't make me more supportive of the war in Iraq, but it is the first good news in a long time. I hope that this is a sign that things are beginning to turn around.

Bush and GDP

On the radio, I heard Bush talk about the federal deficit and say: "the deficit is now 1.2% of GDP". And the manner in which he said it gave me the impression that it was the first time he had ever heard of the term GDP!

Hillary

Given the marvelous job that the current administration is doing, I think the next election is for the Democrats to lose, and clearly Hillary has the best chance of securing the Democratic nomination. I am worried though about her polarizing effect. While she has been clearly the front runner in terms of raising campaign funds, she also has the dubious distinction of helping the opposition raise funds. I fear come October of next year, the Republicans will try to take advantage of her high negatives by blasting the airwaves with negative ads. That may essentially force people to make a choice based on fear and that can often turn out to be a recipe for disaster.

Why is this news?

I don't quite fathom why this news item is "news"? Hasn't she been around the block more than once? I know the likes of Matt Lauer of NBC get paid millions to anchor news programs, but I'd hate to be in their shoes and have to deal with these kinds of stories first thing in the morning. I'd feel cheap and disgusted. But I guess I am not being paid millions and who knows how I'll feel if I am paid that kind of money to read from a teleprompter.