Recently, there was a discussion among a few friends about why Rama and Sita are considered an ideal couple in Indian culture and heritage. One Indian friend, who I think is born and brought up here in the US, had something interesting to say. He found it fascinating that Sita addressed her husband Rama as 'Dev', meaning God. Perhaps, he must have read that in a story book or seen it in a movie or TV program based on the popular Ramayana. My friend thought it was very special that they had such a high mutual regard and respect, and that they held one another and their own selves to such high honor.
Being born and brought up in India, I had never given much thought to this manner of addressing between the couples in our ancient stories. After all, I have seen many movies and read countless stories in which the wife addresses her husband as 'Dev' and the husband addresses his wife as 'Devi' (Goddess). So, I had become blind to that. Now, I wish, I hope that when I am eventually married, I can wake up every morning, kiss my wife, look her in the eyes and declare, "Thou art Goddess". I think such a powerful daily affirmation would go a long way in making us and our shared life so much better. And, I would have no choice but to be a matching God.
PS: For those who might think this is just so much empty sentiment, I have an anecdote to share. I once participated in a group ritual, at the beginning of which, the priest and the priestess who were leading the ritual, performed a simple act of affirmation and purification. They made all the attendees pass before them in a line and as each attendee stood before the priest or the priestess, s/he would anoint his/her forehead with cool sacred water, and embrace them with much affection and acceptance while quietly declaring with a whisper, "Thou art God / Goddess". That simple act was so powerful in immediately centering us, making us receptive to and feel worthy of the spirituality of the ritual that was to follow. I was amazed by how effective it was.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
360 Shenanigans
At first, the idea of a 360-degree evaluation seemed like the best thing in the world, when compared to the top-down boss-reportee evaluation. It is indeed better than a single track top-down feedback. But a 360-degree evaluation is not easy to administer. The reality is that, most people are not trained to give feedback. Even if trained, most people lack the maturity and perception to give good useful feedback. So, the evaluation for the entire year or half-year, could hinge on the most recent experience or the single worst experience during the evaluation period. The usefulness of the 360-degree evaluation is lost.
A 360-degree evaluation can also be a two-way feedback. It not only says something to the person being evaluated, it also says something to his/her supervisor/boss. It not only reveals something about the person being evaluated, it also reveals something about the people who are evaluating and the system in which they all function. If the ratings for the same person, on the same criteria, given by different people range all the way from 1 to 10 (on a 10-point scale), while touching almost every score-level in-between, what is going on? If two evaluators, give diametrically opposite scores and feedback, for the same person, on the same criteria, what does that mean?
A 360-degree evaluation can also be a two-way feedback. It not only says something to the person being evaluated, it also says something to his/her supervisor/boss. It not only reveals something about the person being evaluated, it also reveals something about the people who are evaluating and the system in which they all function. If the ratings for the same person, on the same criteria, given by different people range all the way from 1 to 10 (on a 10-point scale), while touching almost every score-level in-between, what is going on? If two evaluators, give diametrically opposite scores and feedback, for the same person, on the same criteria, what does that mean?
Mediocre = Happy & Content
Humans are extremely social beings. What this means is that those who are closer to the average in smarts, skills, sensitivity are the ones with the highest chances for happiness and contentment in the socialized human life. Success and popularity is pretty much assured if you are slightly better than average. Not too much better. Just enough that you can do better than most average people and the average people can recognize that you are better than them.
If you are too far above the average, your efforts will be sabotaged by a system which tends to favor the average, and your effectiveness will be cramped by the average people who can't find resonance with you. If you are too far above average, you will not be appreciated or recognized simply because your efforts and ideas are beyond the comprehension, understanding and acceptance of the average majority. If you are too far above average, prepare to live a life of compromise (settling for less than best), frustration and daily defeats while you try hard to explain, convince and work with mediocre colleagues, bosses, friends, relatives and acquaintances, stuck in teams and social situations full of average pedestrians. And in the case of really unlucky geniuses - stuck for life with mediocre partners.
There are only a lucky few geniuses who -
Even these lucky people may not avoid the daily compromises, frustration and defeats.
There must be a large number of 85-to-95 percentile people, who go through life frustrated and less than happy, being forced to live and work with the vast, oppressing majority of 45-to-75 percentile people. And the 76-to-84 percentile people? They are the lucky 'slightly above average' types who have a high chance for success and popularity, happiness and contentment.
If you are too far above the average, your efforts will be sabotaged by a system which tends to favor the average, and your effectiveness will be cramped by the average people who can't find resonance with you. If you are too far above average, you will not be appreciated or recognized simply because your efforts and ideas are beyond the comprehension, understanding and acceptance of the average majority. If you are too far above average, prepare to live a life of compromise (settling for less than best), frustration and daily defeats while you try hard to explain, convince and work with mediocre colleagues, bosses, friends, relatives and acquaintances, stuck in teams and social situations full of average pedestrians. And in the case of really unlucky geniuses - stuck for life with mediocre partners.
There are only a lucky few geniuses who -
- possess the skills to beat the system which is stacked in favor of mediocrity and/or
- whose success is so great that the world simply can't ignore them and/or
- who manage to end up in places where they are surrounded by others of equal or greater evolution and/or
- whose work and interests don't need much social interaction and recognition.
Even these lucky people may not avoid the daily compromises, frustration and defeats.
There must be a large number of 85-to-95 percentile people, who go through life frustrated and less than happy, being forced to live and work with the vast, oppressing majority of 45-to-75 percentile people. And the 76-to-84 percentile people? They are the lucky 'slightly above average' types who have a high chance for success and popularity, happiness and contentment.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
We'll never understand women!
From the Marketplace radio program on NPR, the episode dated July 31st, 2008 (emphasis mine):
This is the reason why us normal men will never understand women. Something makes them feel bad about themselves. So, they like it? They're crazy, man!
Professors at Villanova University gathered a group of college-aged women together and showed them ads featuring thin models. Then, as thanks for participating, the women were offered a pack of Oreo cookies. The overwhelming majority said no to the cookies, but they did say they would buy the brands and products that the ads featured.
One researcher said the analysis went something like this: That thin models make women feel bad about themselves, but they like it, and that ads using normal-sized models didn't affect womens' body image, but they didn't like the brands and products that those ads featured either.
This is the reason why us normal men will never understand women. Something makes them feel bad about themselves. So, they like it? They're crazy, man!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
I HATE Women
I hate women. The depth of my hatred cannot be matched by any misogynist. It is a passionate hatred which can only be born from the hurt of a Lover.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Dasavathaaram - Movie Review
We watched Kamal Haasan's latest movie, Dasavathaaram (also spelled as Dasavatharam) yesterday. As most people know, Dasavathaaram literally means ten avataras or forms. The movie is so named because Kamal Haasan dons 10 different roles in the movie.Dasavathaaram's main story-line is about an extremely dangerous biological weapon synthesized in the US by a microbiologist of Indian origin, Govindarajan Ramaswamy. This weapon, contained in a small capsule-sized vial, is coveted by terrorists who send their henchman, an ex-CIA officer named Christian Fletcher to get it. Govindarajan and Fletcher chase each other and the dangerous vial, in a violent and also comic game of cat-and-mouse, across two continents, ending in a dramatic climax. Now, how does this story get mixed up with a sprig-and-stylish US president George Bush, a sharp-witted and bureaucratic Indian intelligence officer Balram Naidu, a Punjabi pop-singer Avtaar Singh, a 95-year-old mentally retarded brahmin widow Krisnaveni, an honest and upright Dalit activist Vincent Poovaraagan, a gigantic simpleton Kalifulla Khan, a martial arts teacher from Japan Shinghen Narahasi, a 12th century staunch Vaishnavite Rangaraja Nambi, the deity of the god Perumal from Chidambaram, a small temple town in Tamilnadu, and also the devastating tsunami which hit South East Asia on Dec 26th, 2004? It wouldn't be much fun if I explained that here. You will have to see the movie to find out the intricate connections between all of these.
Here in the US, the movie ticket price was a whopping $15 plus $1 service charge for online orders. $16 being the highest amount I have ever paid to watch a movie, I was worried about being stuck with another one of those insufferable Indian movies. Fortunately, the movie running for almost 3 hours, turned out to be a non-stop entertainer in the same genre as Michael-Madana-Kama-Rajan, another Kamal movie in which he plays four roles. The story-line involves a series of comic occurences, peppered with witty dialogs and puns galore, several sub-plots that interweave with amazing serendipity, all culminating in an all's-well-that-ends-well climax.
The Dasavathaaram movie page on IMDB.com lists Sujatha as the story-writer and Crazy Mohan as the dialog-writer. The story and the dialogs definitely have the unique stamp of those two gentlemen. Yet, the titles in the movie itself listed Kamal Haasan under "Story-Screenplay-Dialog". Wonder what's up with that! I don't believe that Kamal would cheat Sujatha or Crazy Mohan of credit if it belongs to them. But the story of Dasavathaaram has not been free of controversy.
There are liberal computer effects through-out the movie. Some of them looked very tacky. Wish director K. S. Ravikumar had ensured a better job with computer graphics. Many of the roles played by Kamal are heavily made-up. So heavily that in some scenes the latex-covered faces look more like mannequins than humans. They could have cut down on the heavy make-up without sacrificing the validity of the roles. But then, they could have entirely left out some of the roles, without sacrificing the validity of the movie.
Nevertheless, two of Kamal's roles stand out in the movie. One is that of the fair-and-blond-all-American Christian Fletcher, an ex-CIA bad guy who pervades the movie with Terminator-like single-minded resilience. Unfortunately, this is one of the characters whose face looks like a mannequin in some scenes. Kamal had a great opportunity to show his real acting talent by playing an American with much less make-up. He blew it by opting for a doll-face instead. The other role which really stands out as my favorite role in the movie is that of Balram Naidu, an officer of the Indian intelligence agency, Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). Without too much make up (compared to the other mannequin faces), Kamal has done a great job in this role of the quintessential Indian government officer - bureaucratic, sharp-tongued and cunning, complete with a slight paunch and heavily accented English.
Despite the flaws and the coincidences in the story-line, many of which appear contrived, the movie works as a great entertainer. The story keeps moving along at a steady trot, the dialogs keep you laughing regularly and I thought I got my money's worth. That last part is something I rarely say about a movie.
What did you think of the movie? Do share your thoughts in the comments.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Scott Ritter: Pick your city!
Scott Ritter, who used to be the UN weapons inspector in Iraq, says, "Pick your city". Anybody who thinks the US should bomb Iran must watch this video. Heck, all US citizens should watch this two-and-half minute video.
By the way, Scott Ritter is not referring to an Iranian city!
By the way, Scott Ritter is not referring to an Iranian city!
Wedding Attendance by Proxy!
By now, I am pretty much used to being assigned the photographer's role at various events I attend - company events, events at the local temple, events hosted by friends and colleagues, etc. Today might have been my strangest photography assignment so far.
My neighbor, who is alone in his house right now as his wife is on a visit to India, called me over to take a "family photo". I went over and found him dressed formally in a suit, as if he was attending a wedding reception. I was wondering how this guy expected me to take a family photo, while he is the lone person in the house right now.
Turns out that my neighbor's wife is in India for her brother's wedding. They want to take a full family photo at the wedding and they want the family photo to include my neighbor, who is here in the US. So, the idea is to take a photo of him alone here and email it to the wedding photographers in India. They will then paste him into the family photo they snap at the wedding in India.
I can't wait to see how the results turn out.
My neighbor, who is alone in his house right now as his wife is on a visit to India, called me over to take a "family photo". I went over and found him dressed formally in a suit, as if he was attending a wedding reception. I was wondering how this guy expected me to take a family photo, while he is the lone person in the house right now.
Turns out that my neighbor's wife is in India for her brother's wedding. They want to take a full family photo at the wedding and they want the family photo to include my neighbor, who is here in the US. So, the idea is to take a photo of him alone here and email it to the wedding photographers in India. They will then paste him into the family photo they snap at the wedding in India.
I can't wait to see how the results turn out.
Monday, May 26, 2008
This American Life: Prom
This past weekend's episode of the NPR radio program This American Life was about the great American highschool tradition, prom. It was an interesting episode with four acts: about a prom night in a Kansas small town, when it was hit by a deadly tornado; an interview with an author of books for teenagers; a radio documentary-style recording of a prom night of a Chicago highschool; and finally, about prom at a highschool in Racine, Wisconsin which is taking American prom to a whole new level. You can listen to the full episode here.
In Indian highschools, at least in Bangalore where I went to school, we have something called "send-off party" and/or "class socials". "Send-off party" is a farewell party given to the out-going class by their immediate one-year junior class. "Class socials" as I understand it, is a party which the out-going class has exclusively for themselves. In some schools, they have both. In some, they have one or the other. In any case, the parties in Indian highschools are real benign affairs compared to the American prom which sounds like a real high-pressure act.
The prom is supposedly a formal dance party held in the school. Ergo, you need to go to it with a dance partner or risk being merely a second-class participant. That is pressure number 1 - to hook up with a suitable dance partner for the prom. I can imagine the number of proposals for prom dates, rejections and dejections which fly across American highschools from coast to coast during prom season.
But prom night doesn't end with taking a date out to dance in the school auditorium. The more thrilling adventures of traditional prom are what happens during the after-prom - the hours that start right after prom at school upto the early hours of next morning:
1. Doing something cool involving alcohol and/or drugs. How can prom be complete without getting wasted and/or high? That is pressure number 2 for the kids.
2. The final pressure number 3, of course, is to get laid on prom night. I hear and read that many kids these days have had sex well before prom. But that doesn't matter. It is the great American coming of age tradition to get laid on prom night!
I don't know about you, but I think that's a lot of pressure on American teenagers for one night. I'm glad I did not have to go through such an experience... Although I can imagine that for an American highschool kid who manages to have the full prom experience of dancing with the best girl of his choice, getting thoroughly wasted with his friends, and getting laid with his best girl, life must seem perfect. At least for that one night.
In Indian highschools, at least in Bangalore where I went to school, we have something called "send-off party" and/or "class socials". "Send-off party" is a farewell party given to the out-going class by their immediate one-year junior class. "Class socials" as I understand it, is a party which the out-going class has exclusively for themselves. In some schools, they have both. In some, they have one or the other. In any case, the parties in Indian highschools are real benign affairs compared to the American prom which sounds like a real high-pressure act.
The prom is supposedly a formal dance party held in the school. Ergo, you need to go to it with a dance partner or risk being merely a second-class participant. That is pressure number 1 - to hook up with a suitable dance partner for the prom. I can imagine the number of proposals for prom dates, rejections and dejections which fly across American highschools from coast to coast during prom season.
But prom night doesn't end with taking a date out to dance in the school auditorium. The more thrilling adventures of traditional prom are what happens during the after-prom - the hours that start right after prom at school upto the early hours of next morning:
1. Doing something cool involving alcohol and/or drugs. How can prom be complete without getting wasted and/or high? That is pressure number 2 for the kids.
2. The final pressure number 3, of course, is to get laid on prom night. I hear and read that many kids these days have had sex well before prom. But that doesn't matter. It is the great American coming of age tradition to get laid on prom night!
I don't know about you, but I think that's a lot of pressure on American teenagers for one night. I'm glad I did not have to go through such an experience... Although I can imagine that for an American highschool kid who manages to have the full prom experience of dancing with the best girl of his choice, getting thoroughly wasted with his friends, and getting laid with his best girl, life must seem perfect. At least for that one night.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Google Me, the movie
Google Me is a documentary by a guy named Jim Killeen from Los Angeles. The movie is about Jim doing a Google search of his full name, and then setting out to meet other people who have that exact same first name and last name. During the course of the movie, he travels to three continents and meets a cop, a swinger, a priest, an engineer, a VP of sales and an Aussie, who all share his first name and last name. You can watch the entire movie on Youtube (also embedded below).
The premise of the movie sounds very simple. In fact, all the Jim Killeens we meet in the movie are the average guys, with nothing very special or great about them. Yet, the movie caught my complete attention and through the entire course of the movie, I kept looking forward to knowing about the life of yet another average guy named Jim Killeen.
Jim Killeen from Los Angeles is a good story tell. His documentary is well-made and entertaining. It is peppered with good humor through out. There were also a few poignant moments in the movie when he asks each Jim Killeen he meets one common question: What is the purpose of human life? It was interesting to see people with different backgrounds give different answers.
Another interesting part of the movie is that they do a DNA test of all the Jim Killeens to see if any of them are related. I won't spoil it for you by giving out the result of the test here. Go ahead and watch the movie when you have a free hour-and-a-half. The entire movie is available on Youtube, and it is worth a watch.
The premise of the movie sounds very simple. In fact, all the Jim Killeens we meet in the movie are the average guys, with nothing very special or great about them. Yet, the movie caught my complete attention and through the entire course of the movie, I kept looking forward to knowing about the life of yet another average guy named Jim Killeen.
Jim Killeen from Los Angeles is a good story tell. His documentary is well-made and entertaining. It is peppered with good humor through out. There were also a few poignant moments in the movie when he asks each Jim Killeen he meets one common question: What is the purpose of human life? It was interesting to see people with different backgrounds give different answers.
Another interesting part of the movie is that they do a DNA test of all the Jim Killeens to see if any of them are related. I won't spoil it for you by giving out the result of the test here. Go ahead and watch the movie when you have a free hour-and-a-half. The entire movie is available on Youtube, and it is worth a watch.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Google-race
So, I coined a new phrase on Sunday: Google-race.
To google-race is to drive to a place faster than the time estimated by the Google Maps directions. You are racing against Google Maps.
Usage examples:
To google-race is to drive to a place faster than the time estimated by the Google Maps directions. You are racing against Google Maps.
Usage examples:
- I was google-racing to the restaurant when I got slapped with a speeding ticket.
- Would you guys get ready soon? I don't want us to google-race to the movies.
Total Defeat - 300th Post
This is the 300th published post on this blog. Strictly speaking, this is not really the 300th post. I have one post on 'Addiction' that has been sitting in Drafts for so long. But it is so intensely personal, I have not had the guts to publish it yet. Also, there were a few previously published posts which got deleted. Nevertheless, as things stand now, this is the 300th published post on this blog.
I started blogging about two months after I moved to Phoenix, Arizona. This blog has been a companion through my life since then. It has not been the kind of life I expected at all. It has been intensely tough and trying. I feel like the arid desert has sucked up the love and vitality from my being, leaving it dry and lifeless.
I came to Phoenix in late November 2003 with hopes for a new beginning in life, in love, in my career. When I came here, I had gone through some unhappiness and defeats in life, but I still retained some part of the original happiness and undefeated spirit with which we are all born. Incredibly, I even had some of my original innocence.
The pre-Phoenix unhappiness and defeats were nothing compared to what has happened since then. Now, I have utterly lost it. There is not a single sphere of life in which I feel happiness and contentment, in which I feel I am in control, or at least feel like I am an equal partner with destiny - not in personal life, not in personal relationships, not in my finances, not in my career, and certainly not in love. I am totally tamed, utterly powerless and with no free will to influence any of these aspects of my own life. The loss of spirit is so complete that I don't even know for sure what exactly I want in any of these areas of life!
Is this what they call mid-life crisis?
The state of my life is hard for me to believe. I know it would be unbelievable for anybody who knew me from my previous lifetime. That was a time when I was fiercely independent and strong-willed. I used to live in a kind of special aura or halo which protected me from all the mundane trivialities and hardships of life. I was untouchable and impeccable. I did pretty much what I wanted to do and the Universe had a way of conforming to my will. Eventually, life used to turn out pretty much the way I expected it to go. I got better grades than almost all my friends, got a real job before any of them, travelled abroad before any of them, made more money than them. Success was something that just happened. Love used to be the only thing which did not work like I wanted it to... but I had this blind and total faith that it would eventually work out just right for me.
How did things come to this state? For the most part, I thought I made all the right choices. At every stage, in every circumstance, I did what I thought was the best. But every choice, every action seemed to have totally unexpected and undesirable consequences. All I could do was watch in helpless horror and defeat as each attempt of mine to make things better only resulted in things getting worse. And it all happened so fast. The past four-and-a-half years in Phoenix are a blur. It still feels like I landed here only early last year. Yet, I have stayed here more than double the amount of time I spent in the previous city!
Today, in this early morning hour, I look at each aspect of my life - my personal life, my personal relationships with family, friends, colleagues, my financial situation, my career and my love. And I still shake my head with disbelief. I had never thought that at this point of my life (31.5 years old), I would be in this state or situation, in any of these aspects of my life. I never thought that I would be so simply and totally defeated.
This blog is more about my journey through love, than anything else. So, I'll talk about love. Even at this stage in life, love is as usual the one thing which causes me the most angst and discontent. It is stuck in my throat like a golf ball-sized lump. Can't swallow it, can't spit it out. It chokes my breath and tears my eyes. The utter inability to communicate, to feel, to share, to care, to just BE, together, in unison, in sync for even a single moment is terribly defeating and immensely painful.
Things were simpler and orders of magnitude less painful when my love and defeats were all solitary, one-sided. But the addition of others, their feelings and their angst into the mix multiplies everything exponentially! It is so overwhelming, I am not even able to express it in words... So, I'll just end this here.
I started blogging about two months after I moved to Phoenix, Arizona. This blog has been a companion through my life since then. It has not been the kind of life I expected at all. It has been intensely tough and trying. I feel like the arid desert has sucked up the love and vitality from my being, leaving it dry and lifeless.
I came to Phoenix in late November 2003 with hopes for a new beginning in life, in love, in my career. When I came here, I had gone through some unhappiness and defeats in life, but I still retained some part of the original happiness and undefeated spirit with which we are all born. Incredibly, I even had some of my original innocence.
The pre-Phoenix unhappiness and defeats were nothing compared to what has happened since then. Now, I have utterly lost it. There is not a single sphere of life in which I feel happiness and contentment, in which I feel I am in control, or at least feel like I am an equal partner with destiny - not in personal life, not in personal relationships, not in my finances, not in my career, and certainly not in love. I am totally tamed, utterly powerless and with no free will to influence any of these aspects of my own life. The loss of spirit is so complete that I don't even know for sure what exactly I want in any of these areas of life!
Is this what they call mid-life crisis?
The state of my life is hard for me to believe. I know it would be unbelievable for anybody who knew me from my previous lifetime. That was a time when I was fiercely independent and strong-willed. I used to live in a kind of special aura or halo which protected me from all the mundane trivialities and hardships of life. I was untouchable and impeccable. I did pretty much what I wanted to do and the Universe had a way of conforming to my will. Eventually, life used to turn out pretty much the way I expected it to go. I got better grades than almost all my friends, got a real job before any of them, travelled abroad before any of them, made more money than them. Success was something that just happened. Love used to be the only thing which did not work like I wanted it to... but I had this blind and total faith that it would eventually work out just right for me.
How did things come to this state? For the most part, I thought I made all the right choices. At every stage, in every circumstance, I did what I thought was the best. But every choice, every action seemed to have totally unexpected and undesirable consequences. All I could do was watch in helpless horror and defeat as each attempt of mine to make things better only resulted in things getting worse. And it all happened so fast. The past four-and-a-half years in Phoenix are a blur. It still feels like I landed here only early last year. Yet, I have stayed here more than double the amount of time I spent in the previous city!
Today, in this early morning hour, I look at each aspect of my life - my personal life, my personal relationships with family, friends, colleagues, my financial situation, my career and my love. And I still shake my head with disbelief. I had never thought that at this point of my life (31.5 years old), I would be in this state or situation, in any of these aspects of my life. I never thought that I would be so simply and totally defeated.
This blog is more about my journey through love, than anything else. So, I'll talk about love. Even at this stage in life, love is as usual the one thing which causes me the most angst and discontent. It is stuck in my throat like a golf ball-sized lump. Can't swallow it, can't spit it out. It chokes my breath and tears my eyes. The utter inability to communicate, to feel, to share, to care, to just BE, together, in unison, in sync for even a single moment is terribly defeating and immensely painful.
Things were simpler and orders of magnitude less painful when my love and defeats were all solitary, one-sided. But the addition of others, their feelings and their angst into the mix multiplies everything exponentially! It is so overwhelming, I am not even able to express it in words... So, I'll just end this here.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Crazy Italian Govt reveals incomes of citizens
Italian governments can be crazy and controversial. Their latest fiasco was to reveal the income levels of all tax paying citizens on a website!
Don't believe me? Check out this Reuters report for yourself: Uproar in Italy after Web publishes earning levels.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
Incredible!
Don't believe me? Check out this Reuters report for yourself: Uproar in Italy after Web publishes earning levels.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
Italians were surprised, and in some cases outraged, on Wednesday to discover their income levels were available for public viewing on an Internet site.
As part of a crack-down on tax evasion, the outgoing centre-left government made public every citizen's declared taxable income on the state's tax website, a decision attacked by consumer groups and some politicians.
Later on Wednesday the Italian Treasury suspended the website after it received a formal complaint from Italy's privacy watchdog.
Incredible!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Curry leaves are banned in the US
Curry leaves are an important ingredient of Indian cooking. For the past couple of months, I had not been finding curry leaves in the stores from where I usually get them here in the US. This was just one more symptom of the world-wide food scarcity. But a curious Google search revealed that this important ingredient has been totally banned from the US because a pest called Asian citrus psyllids was found in a shipment of curry leaves coming into California from Hawaii!Source: Pest found in curry leaves halts shipments.
Wonder how long we will have to wait until the ban is lifted. Hope it is lifted soon. Many South Indian recipes just don't taste right without curry leaves!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Evolution in Love
If two people claim to love each other much, but they can't make the relationship work, does that mean they are not evolved enough or their love is not evolved enough?
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Tax Filing Tips
It is tax filing season again. I have only two tips for the typical tax-payer:
1. File your tax yourself. Use a program like TurboTax Deluxe or H&R Block TaxCut Premium to file yourself.
2. Do not e-file. File your tax returns by paper.
File Yourself
If you are filing taxes as an individual or a married person or a small business owner, you can and should try filing yourself. Professional accountants charge anywhere from 70 bucks to several hundred bucks to do your taxes. There is absolutely no need to waste your money on them. I paid hundreds of dollars to accountants to file my taxes for the past several years. I used TurboTax for the past couple of years and have been amazed at what a breeze it is to do your taxes yourself. I was able to do my taxes in just a couple of hours, one evening. I am never going to use an accountant again, unless I am so super rich, I don't know the value of my wealth myself. The cost of the TurboTax software was little over 35 bucks in Costco. With a $15 rebate coupon that Costco sent me earlier this year, the cost of filing my taxes was well under $24! What a sweet deal! And that included the cost of postage to send my filing papers, which brings us to the next topic...
File by paper. Do not e-file.
E-filing taxes in the US is nothing but a rip-off. Depending on which company you e-file through, expect to spend anywhere from 25 to 35 bucks or more for e-filing. That is disgusting! It should be cheaper to e-file than to file through paper. Read my full rant about e-filing costs in last year's post: Why should e-filing of US taxes cost more? As long as people continue to pay such ridiculously unreasonable amounts for e-filing, companies will keep ripping us off. It is high time all the US taxpayers say a collective 'NO' to paying such high amounts for e-filing. So, don't e-file. File early and send your filing by paper. This year, I mailed my tax papers on 8th Feb. My state refund was available in my bank account on 21st Feb and my federal refund on the 26th.
Happy filing everybody.
1. File your tax yourself. Use a program like TurboTax Deluxe or H&R Block TaxCut Premium to file yourself.
2. Do not e-file. File your tax returns by paper.
File Yourself
If you are filing taxes as an individual or a married person or a small business owner, you can and should try filing yourself. Professional accountants charge anywhere from 70 bucks to several hundred bucks to do your taxes. There is absolutely no need to waste your money on them. I paid hundreds of dollars to accountants to file my taxes for the past several years. I used TurboTax for the past couple of years and have been amazed at what a breeze it is to do your taxes yourself. I was able to do my taxes in just a couple of hours, one evening. I am never going to use an accountant again, unless I am so super rich, I don't know the value of my wealth myself. The cost of the TurboTax software was little over 35 bucks in Costco. With a $15 rebate coupon that Costco sent me earlier this year, the cost of filing my taxes was well under $24! What a sweet deal! And that included the cost of postage to send my filing papers, which brings us to the next topic...
File by paper. Do not e-file.
E-filing taxes in the US is nothing but a rip-off. Depending on which company you e-file through, expect to spend anywhere from 25 to 35 bucks or more for e-filing. That is disgusting! It should be cheaper to e-file than to file through paper. Read my full rant about e-filing costs in last year's post: Why should e-filing of US taxes cost more? As long as people continue to pay such ridiculously unreasonable amounts for e-filing, companies will keep ripping us off. It is high time all the US taxpayers say a collective 'NO' to paying such high amounts for e-filing. So, don't e-file. File early and send your filing by paper. This year, I mailed my tax papers on 8th Feb. My state refund was available in my bank account on 21st Feb and my federal refund on the 26th.
Happy filing everybody.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Google Agenda is Google Calendar?
Today I got a spam invitation in my Yahoo mailbox, from a Gmail account. The Gmail captcha system was cracked by spammers recently. So, spam mails have started to circulate from Gmail IDs. Anyway, the interesting thing about the spam invite I got was the title 'Google Agenda BETA' at the top. See the screenshot below.
I have normally seen 'Google Calendar BETA' at that spot. Never heard of anything called Google Agenda. And, the text 'Google Agenda BETA' does link to Google Calendar.
So, is Google Calendar also called as Google Agenda? Perhaps in some specific countries? At this time, the URLS agenda.google.com and www.google.com/agenda do not exist.
I have normally seen 'Google Calendar BETA' at that spot. Never heard of anything called Google Agenda. And, the text 'Google Agenda BETA' does link to Google Calendar.
So, is Google Calendar also called as Google Agenda? Perhaps in some specific countries? At this time, the URLS agenda.google.com and www.google.com/agenda do not exist.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Vision Quest Tips
About four years ago, a friend asked about tips/advice on undertaking a Vision Quest. This is what I wrote to her:
1. Intent is most important. For a vision quest (as for spellwork), it's the clear intent and focus that will determine the course of the quest and the vision you receive.
2. Clearing and cleaning the space: personal space, surroundings, body, mind, heart and spirit. There are so many different ways of achieving this. Among Native Americans, the sweatlodge ceremony is a very powerful and effective way of cleaning the body, mind, heart and spirit. The ceremony could even be a small vision quest in itself. The purpose of this activity is to make yourself into a suitable vessel/container to receive the vision. Also important to clean and prepare the physical space where you hope to do your quest: casting the circle, creating a medicine wheel are two ways of doing that.
3. Attaining an altered state of consciousness, conducive to receiving the vision. The altered state can be achieved in many ways - non-physical or physical or a combination of both. Non-physical methods include meditation, sleep, dreaming, hypnosis (self or otherwise), etc. Physical methods include physical hardships such as fasting and/or spending solitary time out in the woods, deserts, mountains, etc., power medicines, sweatlodge, etc.
4. Receiving the vision and afterward. It is important to be centered and grounded enough that when the vision comes, you don't break out in a panic or snap out of the trance. It is also important that you are centered and grounded enough that after the trance or vision "has passed", you can assimilate and incorporate it into your system, come safely "back to base" and back to your "normal" lifestyle. Being able to maintain your center and groundedness depends a lot on your preparation and practice prior to the vision quest. Making your system strong and familiarizing your system with mini-visioning rehearsals would help. If you decide to go through physical hardships such as spending time out in the open and/or using power medicines, be sure to have safety nets, companion(s) to support you, backup plan to locate you in the outdoors, administer emergency medical help, etc.
Blessings and best wishes. I hope you find what you want and need, and that which needs you finds you too.
1. Intent is most important. For a vision quest (as for spellwork), it's the clear intent and focus that will determine the course of the quest and the vision you receive.
2. Clearing and cleaning the space: personal space, surroundings, body, mind, heart and spirit. There are so many different ways of achieving this. Among Native Americans, the sweatlodge ceremony is a very powerful and effective way of cleaning the body, mind, heart and spirit. The ceremony could even be a small vision quest in itself. The purpose of this activity is to make yourself into a suitable vessel/container to receive the vision. Also important to clean and prepare the physical space where you hope to do your quest: casting the circle, creating a medicine wheel are two ways of doing that.
3. Attaining an altered state of consciousness, conducive to receiving the vision. The altered state can be achieved in many ways - non-physical or physical or a combination of both. Non-physical methods include meditation, sleep, dreaming, hypnosis (self or otherwise), etc. Physical methods include physical hardships such as fasting and/or spending solitary time out in the woods, deserts, mountains, etc., power medicines, sweatlodge, etc.
4. Receiving the vision and afterward. It is important to be centered and grounded enough that when the vision comes, you don't break out in a panic or snap out of the trance. It is also important that you are centered and grounded enough that after the trance or vision "has passed", you can assimilate and incorporate it into your system, come safely "back to base" and back to your "normal" lifestyle. Being able to maintain your center and groundedness depends a lot on your preparation and practice prior to the vision quest. Making your system strong and familiarizing your system with mini-visioning rehearsals would help. If you decide to go through physical hardships such as spending time out in the open and/or using power medicines, be sure to have safety nets, companion(s) to support you, backup plan to locate you in the outdoors, administer emergency medical help, etc.
Blessings and best wishes. I hope you find what you want and need, and that which needs you finds you too.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Do NOT Buy from A1wireless & Wirefly
If you are in the market for new cellphones, do not buy from the following websites:
A1Wireless
Wirefly
Both of the above websites are owned by Inphonic Inc, which is now calling itself Simplexity.
If you do a search for Inphonic rebates, you will find that this company is notorious for avoiding the payment of mail-in rebates to its customers. It has even been sued over its bad rebate practices. This was in Nov 2006. In November 2007, the company filed for bankruptcy. But not before it cheated me of $150!
Despite being sued and going bankrupt, the company continues to cheat customers like me out of their rightful rebate money and it continues to remain in business. The laws are not strong enough to protect the customers. When that is the case, the customers should protect themselves. Avoid losing money like I did. Do not buy anything from the two websites run by Inphonic: A1wireless.com and Wirefly.com.
I bought a cell phone from A1wireless.com. They were supposed to pay me $100 and $50 as mail-in rebates. I fullfilled all rebate conditions to the letter. In fact, in early Nov 2007, I was even able to visit their rebate status website and see that my rebate submissions had been checked and approved, and I'd be getting cheques soon. Just a day or two after I checked my status, when I visited the website again, the only thing I could see was a lame message about the company filing for bankruptcy. The message has vague verbiage about some communication going out to customers expecting rebates, but I have received no communication so far. Calling the rebate status phone lines is of no use because they all play the same recorded bankruptcy message similar to the one put up on the rebate site. Calling the sales lines is of no help - you will only get to talk to Indian call center people who pretend to be dumber than donkeys. So far, there has been no cheque or any communication regarding my rebates.
When Inphonic is not fulfilling its mail-in rebate obligations to old customers, how can the company continue to do business, offering similar mail-in rebates to new customers? Like I said before, the law is not protecting the interests of citizens. Don't lose your hard-earned money to these crooks. Do not buy from them. In most cases, you can get the same or similar deals from more reputable sites like Amazon.com Avoid these guys for the frauds they are.
A1Wireless
Wirefly
Both of the above websites are owned by Inphonic Inc, which is now calling itself Simplexity.
If you do a search for Inphonic rebates, you will find that this company is notorious for avoiding the payment of mail-in rebates to its customers. It has even been sued over its bad rebate practices. This was in Nov 2006. In November 2007, the company filed for bankruptcy. But not before it cheated me of $150!
Despite being sued and going bankrupt, the company continues to cheat customers like me out of their rightful rebate money and it continues to remain in business. The laws are not strong enough to protect the customers. When that is the case, the customers should protect themselves. Avoid losing money like I did. Do not buy anything from the two websites run by Inphonic: A1wireless.com and Wirefly.com.
I bought a cell phone from A1wireless.com. They were supposed to pay me $100 and $50 as mail-in rebates. I fullfilled all rebate conditions to the letter. In fact, in early Nov 2007, I was even able to visit their rebate status website and see that my rebate submissions had been checked and approved, and I'd be getting cheques soon. Just a day or two after I checked my status, when I visited the website again, the only thing I could see was a lame message about the company filing for bankruptcy. The message has vague verbiage about some communication going out to customers expecting rebates, but I have received no communication so far. Calling the rebate status phone lines is of no use because they all play the same recorded bankruptcy message similar to the one put up on the rebate site. Calling the sales lines is of no help - you will only get to talk to Indian call center people who pretend to be dumber than donkeys. So far, there has been no cheque or any communication regarding my rebates.
When Inphonic is not fulfilling its mail-in rebate obligations to old customers, how can the company continue to do business, offering similar mail-in rebates to new customers? Like I said before, the law is not protecting the interests of citizens. Don't lose your hard-earned money to these crooks. Do not buy from them. In most cases, you can get the same or similar deals from more reputable sites like Amazon.com Avoid these guys for the frauds they are.
Testosterone & Being a Man
On Saturday, I listened to a fascinating program on NPR radio station about the male hormone testosterone. The piece was an episode of This American Life series produced by Chicago Public Radio.
The segment of the program I found to be most interesting was the experience of Griffin Hansbury, a man who used to be a woman and underwent sex-change. One of the steps in his sex-change process was to get injected with the male hormone testosterone. She - who is now a he - talked about how the increased testosterone levels made her/his view of the world go through a paradigm shift. He describes how much his thought processes when approaching women changed from what they were "before T" to "after T" (his phrases). Griffin used to be a lesbian woman before T, and during those days, when he saw another woman he was attracted to, his mind would go through a whole narrative sequence on how he should approach the woman and get to know her based on her interests and personality. After T, when he saw a woman he felt attracted to, before any coherent thought even had a chance to form, his mind would be flooded with "pronographic images" involving that woman! In other words, he experienced what it is to be a man.
I thought it was very cool that one person could experience sexual attraction as both a woman and a man in one life time. As I listened to his experiences, it hit me that he was able to know what men go through only because of his testosterone treatment, and almost no other woman (except for rare exceptions) will ever know how men really feel about sex, and why we act the way we do.
If just testosterone could cause such a difference in the personality, imagine how much more differences there must be due to all the other things which go into determining our genders. Men and women might belong to the same species as far as biology goes, but in many aspects of psychology, we might as well be totally different animals.
You can listen to the full episode by visiting this page: 220: Testosterone. If you want to listen to just the segment I am commenting about, you may move the slider of the audio player to the 15-min mark and you should be all set.
The segment of the program I found to be most interesting was the experience of Griffin Hansbury, a man who used to be a woman and underwent sex-change. One of the steps in his sex-change process was to get injected with the male hormone testosterone. She - who is now a he - talked about how the increased testosterone levels made her/his view of the world go through a paradigm shift. He describes how much his thought processes when approaching women changed from what they were "before T" to "after T" (his phrases). Griffin used to be a lesbian woman before T, and during those days, when he saw another woman he was attracted to, his mind would go through a whole narrative sequence on how he should approach the woman and get to know her based on her interests and personality. After T, when he saw a woman he felt attracted to, before any coherent thought even had a chance to form, his mind would be flooded with "pronographic images" involving that woman! In other words, he experienced what it is to be a man.
I thought it was very cool that one person could experience sexual attraction as both a woman and a man in one life time. As I listened to his experiences, it hit me that he was able to know what men go through only because of his testosterone treatment, and almost no other woman (except for rare exceptions) will ever know how men really feel about sex, and why we act the way we do.
If just testosterone could cause such a difference in the personality, imagine how much more differences there must be due to all the other things which go into determining our genders. Men and women might belong to the same species as far as biology goes, but in many aspects of psychology, we might as well be totally different animals.
You can listen to the full episode by visiting this page: 220: Testosterone. If you want to listen to just the segment I am commenting about, you may move the slider of the audio player to the 15-min mark and you should be all set.
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