Category: Random Draws

My friend Veer asked me to comment on what is posted at this site — 10 Economic Charts That Will Blow Your Mind. OK, my mind is blown away. One thing is apparent to me. The US is in economic decline. But it is not clear whether that decline is long-term or not.
Continue reading “Is the US Economy in Long-term Decline?”

I believe that a person is at his most pathetic when he makes excuses for his failures and justifies them saying that they are primarily due to circumstances beyond his control. It is not merely an abdication of responsibility but what is worse, it precludes the possibility of corrective behavior. If it was not his fault, there’s no reason for him to change. He believes that when circumstances change, he will not fail.
Continue reading “An Admirable Evasion by Whore-master Man”

Amul’s ads are clever. A few days ago I caught their take on the revolution in Egypt. “Hosni, kranti Mubarak ho!” Translated, “Hosni, felicitations (mubarak) on the revolution (kranti)!” Wonder what Amul will say now, now that Mr Mubarak has departed for greener pastures. Hosni Mubarak, from what I gather at the wiki entry on him, was like any other corrupt ruler of a Third World country.
Continue reading “Hosni Mubarak, like Nehru, is a Great Statesman”

I am persuaded that the ability to reason is not natural. It appears that illogic and irrationality is on the increase but it could be just that the internet delivers more examples of stupidity these days than before when it was not possible for the retarded to gain access to the internet. I cite two examples for your consideration.
Continue reading “Reasoning is Unnatural”

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, the illustrious exponent of Hindustani classical music of the Kirana gharana, passed away in Pune yesterday. The one and only time I had met Pt Bhimsen was in 1991 in Pune during the Sawai Gandharva music festival. As it happened, I was in Pune yesterday.
Continue reading “Goodbye Pandit Bhimsen Joshi”

People don’t need a 1/4″ drill bit; they need a 1/4″ hole. That observation made by a business school professor (I forget who) is a perpetual favorite of mine. It cautions us against confusing means and ends. I believe that much misery of our mundane lives arises from our inability to distinguish between means and ends. Let me tell you a story. Stop me if you have heard it before — which you may have since I repeat it often enough.
Continue reading “On the not reading of big fat books”

I believe that corruption is as significant an indicator of a diseased economy as cancer is of a diseased body. If unchecked, it will eventually kill. Corruption is organized violence against the people of a poor country which kills them as surely as putting them into concentration camps, extracting hard labor, starving them, and then pushing them into gas ovens.
Continue reading “Corruption Matters”

CORRUPTION TABLE

1 Lac = 1 Peti
1 Crore = 1 Khoka
500 Crore = 1 Koda
1,000 Crore = 1 Radia
10,000 Crore = 1 Kalmadi
100,000 Crore = 1 Raja
10 KALMADI + 1 RAJA = 1 SHARAD PAWAR
10 SHARAD PAWAR = 1 Madam

Item: Captain John Wright, 58, is retiring as a senior pilot. He has had a distinguished flying career with 35 years of sitting in the left hand seat in the cockpit, much of it of heavies like the Boeing 747s and Airbus 340s. But it’s time that he hangs up his wings and retires from a job well done. Bluesky Air, the airline that Captain Wright served so competently, has announced that on Capt Wright’s retirement next month, his seat will be occupied by his son Jack. Jack will move from his job as a janitor at Burger King to be the chief pilot at Bluesky Air. He will fly the planes that his father flew.
Continue reading “Ruling a Banana Republic Does not Require Special Qualifications”