Vis Major

My comp crashed. So no more posts for a while.


But I'd like to leave you with this link I came across: http://bd71.blogspot.com/2008/06/family-secrets-state-secrets.html

Questions To Answer Part III of V

1. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?

A: Joyful simpleton. I should know, coz I've been the worried genius all my life, and it ain't so great...

2. Why are you, you?

A: I guess I am me, because of the mountains of assiduously suppressed potential. Not a bit manages to leak out. Not if I can help it.

3. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?

A: Yes. But I could have had a few less dependency issues.

4. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?

A: Out of sight, out of mind. Neither matter that much.

5. What are you most grateful for?

A: Knowing how to read.

6. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?

A: Loose all the old ones. I wouldn't mind that even w/o the alternative. It will get me over my inhibitions and psychosis.

7. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?

A: nope. Challenging is part of accepting, and making your own.

8. Has your greatest fear ever come true?

A: Yeah. I've been rejected loads of times. I've lost my purse. I can probably do anything after this.

9. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset?  Does it really matter now?

A: yeah. Precisely, very clearly. History almost repeats itself, but I think I've made all the preventive action that foreknowledge gives me. So, no, it does not matter today, but certainly mattered back then.

10. What is your happiest childhood memory?  What makes it so special?

A: Going behind my dad's back, and managing to get Leo from the vet! Special, because 1. dogs 2. independence and initiative.

Questions To Answer Part II of V

1. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire.  They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend.  The criticism is distasteful and unjustified.  What do you do?

A: Defend my friend. Been there, done that. I have no good sense AT ALL.

2. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?

A: Don't think too much, if you don't have to. And certainly never think so much that it maqkes you a fundamentalist.

3. Would you break the law to save a loved one?

A: "Save" from mortal danger, duh. From the law, itself, I hope so…. Depends on the risk to me.

4. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?

A: So far, no. Is that a good thing??? Seen it the other way though.

5. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?

A: Think!

6. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?

A: Because I'm slightly conked in the head? Because I am also high up on the autism spectrum, claustrophobic in all but book shops, coz I'm the proverbial Tam-Bram…. The reasons are endless.

7. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?  What’s holding you back?

A: See above...

8. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?

A: Underestimating people.

9. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?

A: Dubai!!!! Coz it's a desert … I might settle for Rajasthan, too, though I've never been there.

10. Do you push the elevator button more than once?  Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?

A: Yes I do push it more than once. The elevator doesn't come by faster, but I have something to do while I wait!

Questions To Answer

So, I came across this set of 50 questions to find the answers to. They are (supposedly) value-neutral, so allow you to determine for yourself what you are, without any bias from the questions themselves. Some are not quite so effective, while some - particularly the ones asking about memories - are pretty good. I'll post them in groups of 10, so you guys can read my answers...

Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

A: 32? I think I sometimes think of myself as having a mid-life which keeps crisis-ing...

2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?

A: I prefer to never try, or try half-heartedly. But I want to change that answer.

3. Do you do things you don’t like, and like things you don’t do? List.

A:  Yes.

I don't like, but do, the  following -

• staring at my comp all day
• going out immediately after college, to avoid work.
•  procrastinate
• Stare at my feet when in an argument
• But junk food

I like, but don't do, the following -

•  reading the newspaper.
• Writing
• Being spontaneous.
• Getting High….not true, I did that yesterday!!!

4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

A: As of today, YES. Unfortunately.

5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?

A: That people can hide and colour their true feelings in personal relationships.

6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?

A: no idea. Philosophy???

7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

A: Doing what I believe in. I gambled away practicality and opportunity loooong back, though I wish I hadn't.

8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?

A; Probably would never have had the brains to do anything different. So, no.

9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?

A: I would LOVE to say very little. But actually, about 50 - 50. or even 60 - 40, it’s been all my mess. I wish I had been better informed, before making my decisions though. In terms of lost opportunity cost.

10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?

A: Doing things right. Things must be perfect, with a certain inner synchronity, for me. That would be at the cost of everything else….even if, even I, don’t want things to be perfect.

The dream of every IP lawyer....

I know this is probably just a bit mean of me, to post this up on the blog the minute I get it...


But every IP lawyer has heard of the famous trade-secret Coke formula, and its' up on SpicyIP anyway....


I am sooo going to try this when I can get my hands on all the ingredients!!!

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/427/original-recipe/recipe

A Scientific Mind

So a previous post said something about the perfection / imperfection of science and social science. And this is quite apt, as I wonder – for the umpteenth time – if I made the wrong decision on that first day of school in 11^th standard…when I went downstairs & changed my subjects…

I guess in science, your answers would have to come from inside you; from logic and deduction and experimentation. As Carl Jung says, in these fields you have to take a leap of mind, yourself be psychotic in order to understand human psychology.

In law, and economics, all your answers come from other people – if other people, “authorities”, don’t say it, then tough luck, you can’t be the first to say it; not until you are ancient (or like a certain type of person, J noojies-only joke!). And it says something about me, if I eventually end up in the kind of crappy fields I hate the most.

Perhaps, the saving grace is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Not always. Not forever. One of the many books I was reading over the holidays was “Joseph needham and the Secrets of China”, or I think that was the name. This fellow, needham, was the classic, ideal image of the Cambridge Don, plus that dash of over-liberalism which every genius must profess…he occupied the room presently belonging to Stephen Hawking, he published huge tomes on random subjects (chemistry-related, I think), had a photographic memory, as well as a wife and a mistress (who worked together!) among others!, he played the piano perfectly, he was the heart of revivng Moorish traditional dances in UK, he wrote phamplets and what-nots to support communism…

The kind of guy, in sum, who is an irrepressible know-it-all, extroverted, exhuberent, intellectual with whom you have a serious love-hate relationship. Like Dworkin must have felt for Hart J…

And then he leaves all of this – inspired, incidentally, by his mistress – to go to China on a diplomatic mission. He comes back, to forget all his other work in the writing of 27 volumes on everything the Chinese people invented first, did right, or achieved without the West. Not that I want to do that – but inspiration can find its’ way to expression, in work, however impossible that might seem now.

Anyway, I, for one, hope so. 

5 Things That Security-Freak Me Would Like To See

1. Small-to-medium-size boxes, with number locks, allowing you to store things anywhere, anytime. Especially useful in common mess/refrigerator. Ideally, would also have warning posters all over, and maybe a hidden camera. Or atleast the fake red blinking light which looks like a hidden camera.

2. Biometric locks for cars. You will never lock your keys inside again. You cannot loose your keys. Most importantly, no going back to the house to get the keys that you forgot. (But also – atleast as of now – you will forgo your bluetooth-unlocking facility)

3. Doors with automatic locks on them. You know, like the car which automatically clicks shut, or the password-protected document which automatically logs out after a set time. But then, this increases the possibility of locking your keys inside…if you haven’t followed point:2. So, I would settle for a door with one of those irritating Voices, reminding/warning you to lock the door, like the Voice which tells you to put on your seatbelt, or that stupid road-map-guide-thing.

4. Sonic fences, like what a bat uses to find its way in the dark, or a dolphin uses to communicate in deep sea. Each person has distinguishing characteristics which could be programmed into the software: so you could pass into your house without noticing anything; but your friend might get a particularly unpleasant shock (!).

5. And this last one is particularly close to my hear right now: an embedded GPS transmitter on each and every thing you own, so “accio (say) purse” can actually become a reality.

Straightforward, but solutions which haven't quite "tipped" as yet...

127 Hours In My Life

I suppose there is a certain ironic twist to the fact, that I loose my purse – my indispensible, hold-all, with safety money, et al., the characteristic brown wallet which I have carried with me since first year, the first time I really had money of my own – on the very day, in fact, in the very theatre, when I watch the movie 127 hours.

Not that I am, even remotely, suggesting that my endurance of a loss of purse is comparale in any way to actually cutting off my hand. I would not care to belittle the movie in such a crass manner. But just that, it seems to be an instantaneous challenge to put in practice all those lessons that the movie seeks to teach.

For one, you have already been stupid. Point established. But the movie is really interested in, what next??? How do you deal with it, live with it. I cannot live without my precious purse – or so I feel, right now. But I had to deal with it: I had to block my cards, and do what-not, like tell my parents. And I am even putting up with mosquitoes now…

And most importantly, I had to report it on this blog. Not the same as a movie on a video cam, but similar. This is something resembling my attempt to not cut the rest of the world off, as it is so simple and straightforward to do.

Perhaps what I am really trying to say here is, the movie kinda puts my loss in perspective. But that is not going to be any where near enough to get my feet back on the ground.

Slow Down!!!

WARninG: Probably a really crappy post, about all my doubts and insecurities, so I will understand perfectly if you guys skip this one. But its’ better to have these thoughts down here, in the blog, rather than roaming around in my head and ruining all my [few] attempts to study tax.

First off, I set up this blog for one thing, but I have gotten something else from it, altogether. I wanted to see for myself, if I could keep up with the rigour and discipline of regular posts…and apart from two [big] breaks in-between, I think I managed to make time for it, et al. More important, I found that I could actually think of things to say, and write, and communicate, hopefully without completely boring you all.

The subject of this blog, obviously, is not about what I did today, or what dishes I have tried to cook (aka Julie & Julia!), the news of the day, or even exclusively the books I am reading. I wanted to pick one and all of these, arbitrarily, to hold them up to “the cold light of scrutiny”. (Don’t ask me who said that, but its’ a really nice quote; my regards to whomsoever did say it…)

I always, always, have wanted to be able to add that little something to ordinary discussions. For instance, it makes no sense, to me, to say for example, that the GDP of a country is phenomenally high, if you don’t also add that 20% of people hold 80% of wealth. Or vice versa.

And it certainly is no fun, to say that GDP is xxxx billion dollars, but to not use the word “phenomenal”…I bet no one has ever used those words in the same sentence before! :-P

But the one thing I’ve learnt since beginning this blog, is that, that “little something” remains extremely, irrelevantly negligible, if you just keep looking for new “somethings”. My Oxford essay talks about a big potential breakthrough in some theoretical models, because finally, theorists are moving away from a “frenzied race to maximize utility”, and accepting that perfection is impossible in a social science, and imperfection is an acceptable compromise. Oddly, that essay has as much to teach me, as it has, to convey to the rest of the world.

Does this mean my post frequency will come down??? I hope not. Because what I do receive from this blog, is the perfect opportunity to vent all these stupid thoughts, on my hapless, captive (*really sweet smile*) audience. Leaving me free to study for my tax exam.

Bibliophilia: II

I am not even going to attempt to explain my absence. It was inexcusable, but I just couldn’t drag myself to the front of the computer. But I have been reading, instead…and really good books. Anything to keep away from application work!

For one, I read Terry Prachett again, and was disappointed, yet again. As you might remember, I said he was a little erratic – turns out, he only shows isolated flashes of brilliance. The more I read, the more I am let down. I read this book called Pyramids, got through nearly three-quarters of it, seeing as it kept holding out the promise of better reading ahead. Just a thought to the content which was so intriguing…

First, it continues on Prachett’s fictional creation, Discworld. This is a great way to explore what our world could be, if things were just a little different. For instance, theives and assassins are coherently unionized, working in perfect harmony. Something like Godfather, but with a sense of humour as well as honour.

In this book, a frustrated Prince of an undeveloped, insular, desert kingdom, goes out into the urban metropolis, joining the elite assassins. His dad dies, on the eve of graduation…the book follows the newly-crowned assassin-King. When no one in the bureacracy listens, the new King initiates his own system of rescuing condemned prisoners, using the skills of an assassin. Full marks for plot.

But then he ruins it, with math and physics and accounts. The King appoints pyramid builders to build the largest pyramid in history, but the building requires “quantum” calculations to meet deadlines. This backfires, ending with the kingdom itself disappearing into a “crack” in a rock.

Why??? How does this contribute to the plot??? Existential questions of being a microscopic part of a macroscopic world demand a full, separate book. They have nothing to do with mutiny-in-Yes-Minister. The cherry on the cake is, the conversations of the pyramid builders are the funniest, most innovative part of the book.