Everybody is moving out of Michigan

I heard a very interesting fact today that bees are required for survival of almost 20% of Michigan’s farming. Bees as most of know is responsible for the transfer of pollens which in turn spurs the growth of fruits, flowers and vegetables.

There is a latest report that has shown that bees are moving out of Michigan and there is a major concern about the farming growth this year. Nobody knows why this is happening (Let’s just blame it on Global Warming! People seem to be blaming that for almost everything these days.)

Lately it just seems like everything is moving out of Michigan– Bees, people, auto industry etc...

Importance of Chewing food

One thing I have noticed with people’s eating habits is the ‘lack of chewing’. There are very few people who I have observed chewing their food for a long time before actually swallowing it. I should accept that I don’t do a good job of chewing too.Chewing is supposed to break up the fiber that holds the food together so that the digestive enzymes have easier access to the contents inside.

If you think about it, god has provided humans with so many teeth whose only purpose is to chew down food. Don’t you think that he has made it very clear to us that it is very important to chew down before you swallow? He couldn’t have been more explicit.

What do you think?

Water - Oscar

Water as most of you know was nominated in Oscars ‘Best Foreign’ film category. Even though it is a total Desi movie, it was still nominated as a Canadian movie since Deepa Mehta and the producer were citizens of Canada and chose to be that way.

I wouldn’t blame Deepa for doing that because she wouldn’t have had an iota of a chance of getting nominated as an Indian because of all the politics and the perceived ‘anti-Hindu’ elements in the film. Even though I don’t think it’s ‘anti-Hindu’ (Please see http://blog.my-random-thoughts.com/2006/12/widows-in-india.html for my old posting on this issue), it is so sad that she had to represent herself as a Canadian for getting through to Oscars.

There was a beautiful article about ‘Water’ in Times and the whole world appreciated her daring effort despite all the troubles she had to go through. But one of the intent of the movie was to reach those ‘close minded’ people who still adhere to those age old practices and rituals. I am not sure whether the movie actually got through to those people.

What do you think?

GPS – What to Expect

I got a new GPS for my SUV last week and have been trying around my city. After having toyed with it for almost a week now, I should accept that there have been some frustrations. The basic reason for most of my frustration stems from the fact that the GPS makes it’s decision on some algorithm and mathematical calculations and doesn’t always direct me the way I think it should.

Now that I have lived in this city for almost 8 years, I am used to traveling to certain places in a certain route. Every time GPS guides me through a different route based on its ‘shortest time to destination’ calculation to a place I am very used to, I am getting frustrated. I almost thought that I should return it at some point. I guess I wouldn’t be having this problem if I was living in a big city and not know most of the crossroads.

But as a GPS buyer, one should accept the fact that it is only going to make choices based on some algorithm and mathematical calculations. It’s not going to route you exactly as you think especially if you know the place very well. Now that I have accepted that fact, I am enjoying it very much.

My URL has changed

I am now publishing at blog.my-random-thoughts.com. So for those behind firewall blocking 'blogspot' , please use this address.

I was told that using the old address would redirect to my new domain. So I think you should be able to use both new and old URL.

Thanks all for your support.

Don’t almost give, GIVE

I saw this AD on TV yesterday which ended with a caption ‘Don’t almost give, GIVE’.

I think it’s true that whenever most of us hear or see something bad happening to people around the world, we have this initial reaction or thought that we should somehow help those affected. If we don’t react to our initial response and act then and there, somehow the enthusiasm diminishes off as days go on. Hence mostly we end up not helping those in need.

This has happened personally with me lots of times and this ad really made me think.

Do u want to be a Passive or active smoker?

I personally think that the Non smoking sections in most restaurants in US are a joke. My colleagues took me to TGIF today for my birthday lunch and we all sat in the ‘Non Smoking’ section. Even though I was apparently in a non smoking area, I can smell smoke very obviously. The only thing separating non smoking and smoking area was a glass screen on one side. I am not sure how they believe that smoke cannot get through the front entrance of the smoking section.

There is one Chinese restaurant nearby where they just have a curtain between smoking and non smoking area. That too the curtain doesn’t cover the entire height of the room. It looks more like a shower curtain.

I think restaurants like these should classify their seating section as ‘active’ or ‘passive’ smoking section instead of ‘smoking’ and ‘non-smoking’ section. Don’t you think that would be appropriate?

I just hope that government bans smoking in public places in US like they did in India. Indian government really deserves applause for passing that legislation.

Working from Home

One thing that is catching up here in US is the concept of working from home. This is true especially for people in software. Many companies these days allow one day a week to work from home. This is really cool and it’s a break from getting up early to get ready and then commuting to work.

According to many reports I read, people are said to be very productive working from home. Now with all technologies like VPN etc. available, I do not see any difference between working from home and working at office. In fact I have a friend here in US who is allowed to work only on a specific days at work since his cubicle is being shared by somebody else. This is especially useful if the office space is being rented on an expensive downtown building.

Working from home is a good thing and really helps if you have family and kids. I am very happy that this trend is catching up.

What do you think?

P.S I am turning 32 tomorrow

Home Improvement skills

Most men and women here in US have decent home renovation skills. I have lots of colleagues who work with me who have completely built their basement or remodeled a room in their house by themselves. One of the main reasons for it is because the labor cost here in the US is very high. Another reason is that there is a lot of help available through the home improvement stores if you are really interested. They offer a lot of free classes to teach you how to do it. So people in middle/lower class generally tend to do things by themselves just to save some money.

Apart from housing stuff, even big furniture, toys etc. are usually sold unassembled here in US. So you have to assemble it all by yourself. This is one thing I found it particularly tough when I initially came. The only instrument I have used in India is a screw driver. I really haven’t assembled anything before. When I initially came, I bought some furniture and it came with assembling instructions. I found it really tough to assemble it. Even after assembling it I wasn’t completely satisfied. I go through this all the time even now because of all the toys I buy for my son.

But that’s the way of life here. Of course you can pay big bucks and get it assembled. But if you are like me, beginning your life here in US directly coming from India, you’ll definitely go through this. In fact this is one of the topics every Indian who comes to US afresh whines about.

Technology replacing Humans

We went shopping today at Meijer retail store and went to a self check out lane.For those who don't know, self checkout lanes are lanes where people use a computer system to checkout without a humans help. As we were about to check out we overheard a couple talking. This couple had less than 5 items and the man wanted to use the self checkout lane to checkout. But the woman did not want to do it. She said that she would not use anything that replaces humans and that she would only checkout on a lane serviced by humans. The man said that she was nuts and went ahead and used the self checkout.

But it surely was very interesting the way that woman felt. I guess she must have some kind of bad experience in life with technology replacing human's job.

I heard that one of the big car spare parts companies is opening up a factory employing 700 people. The CEO was saying that 10 years back he would have needed 3000 employees to do the same thing and how tech improvement has cut down the company’s SG&A costs. We definitely have come a long way in the last 2 decades.

What do you feel about technology replacing Humans?

HDTV accentuates facial imperfections

HDTV as you all know is known for its picture clarity. But one problem that I see with it is that it accentuates even the smallest imperfection in human face. So I think it adds even more pressure to all those anchors that appear on TV.

In this world where plastic surgeries have become a very common trait even for most rich commoners, it kind of becomes imperative for these celebrities and anchors. They are now forced to do it to survive in their businesses.

This problem is even more accentuated when I play Indian channels on my TV. In Indian channel (Sun TV is what I watch), most anchors don’t pay attention to superficial traits as much as anchors here and so when they appear on HDTV, their facial imperfections become even more obvious.

I think with all US channels becoming HD by 2010, this will be a main issue for media folks. I guess it already is.

What do you think?

Papaya

It used to be the most ignored fruit back when I used to live in India. There used to be a papaya tree in my house and I remember papayas growing in it and falling down unused.

After I came here I came to know what kind of nutritional content it has and now I buy papayas at an exorbitant price at my local grocery store. Back home it used to be considered as poor man’s fruit and is totally ignored by others. Also back home there used to be a negative publicity for it since it could potentially abort fetus. But here in US it is a delicacy.

Even though I don’t like its taste that much, I would still eat it for all it’s nutrition. So for guys and girls back in India, eat it and don’t ignore it.

Here is the nutritional info
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=47

Bold and Daring

I always wonder what drives people to do things that could potentially cost their life. I was watching a program on discovery yesterday where they were showing people attempting to climb Mount Everest. According to the report the climbers know that there is a very high risk for them to die. But they still go ahead and do it. Some die and some are successful.

Regular humans do not usually try to pursue something like that. I guess you got to have an extra special courage and a totally different mindset to attempt to do something like that. Whenever I see programs like that it always makes me wonder how some people can be so bold and daring.

I guess these are people who don’t want Normal ordinary life. At the end of their life they want to say that they tried to do something different and daring than others. I think it’s more of a personality thing than anything else.

What do you think?

Failure

Failure is something that is very hard to accept especially if you are the decision maker. You always want to give your one best last shot before acceding to it especially when you have been working on something for a long time.

I have seen many software projects in big companies which have failed after years and years of hard work. The decision makers try to push the limit until it really begins to bite them. Finally they accede to failure. I guess a good manager will be able to for see such failure during planning phase of the project. But unless he is heard, he will just have to follow his orders and be a part of failure. If he is smart he’ll move on to something else and not be a part of it.

Sometimes acceptance of failure has a very positive effect and helps you move on. I once met a person who got let go from his job because of his bad performance in the job. He said that it was the best thing that happened to him since he was able to find something that he really enjoys doing now. I guess he accepted his failure in whatever he was doing and moved on.

What do you think?

Saving money

Americans do a poor job of saving money. Their savings rate according to latest data was -1 % last year. So they are spending more than their earning power. Thanks to credit card companies most people have forgotten to live within their means.

I have lot of American friends who don’t think a wink and buy stuff as long as they get a good financing rate and can pay it back over a period of time. Most I have observed don’t worry about their earning power or about their future. I know it’s wrong to generalize. I should also say that there are some people who are extremely careful with money.But 'most' average American I talk to seem to be bad spenders. So I wasn’t surprised when the report came out last week that the savings was -1%.

On the other hand people like us from developing countries place more emphasis on saving money. I sometimes feel that we are the other extremes.

I personally think that there should be a good balance between saving and spending money. We should not be too stingy nor lavish.

What do you think?

I am ready for spring

I was shopping in Costco the other day and one thing that caught my eye is the big display of Tulips, daffodils and other spring flowers. Whenever I see those on display it is always a great feeling that spring is around soon. I am little bored of this cold winter and I am just waiting for spring to come so that I can start my Garden chores. I juts love to see my plants spring back up to life. I am just waiting to see those green leaves, colorful flowers spring back up in my garden. I am ready for spring. Are you?

This is the shot of a blue hydrangea that bloomed last spring in my front yard. Believe me,It’s very tough to make it bloom in blue.

E-Fencing

For those that haven’t heard this word, this is nothing but selling stolen goods on the internet. E-fencing is a big business on the internet fetching several billions of dollars in revenues. This is revolutionized because of e-bay.

This is how it works:
Products are stolen from the shelves of retail stores. They are then sold on the internet at a rate much cheaper than MSRP most likely through E-Bay. In E-bay as most people know, all business transactions happen through seller and buyer trust. These E-fencers build up good reputation on EBay and so they’ll have no problems selling it.

One guy who was interviewed on CNBC said that he was a student and made close to $45000 per annum by e-fencing. He was quoting that before E-bay he found it much harder to sell such stolen goods. But now life is easy for him.

So next time you buy something on E-bay, it could be stolen goods.

I personally think that it should be up to E-Bay and Internet Security experts to stop these. We are just consumers looking for good bargains. So I don’t think we should care.

What do you think?

Gossip

Whenever I am in the check out aisle of any retail store, one thing that captures my eye is the headlines that appear in those B rated magazines that lie on the shelf. They almost always come up with eye popping headlines. I saw one yesterday where they said that Laura Bush has hired Divorce Lawyers to consider divorcing George Bush. Headlines like these are so catchy that you almost feel like buying it. But once you buy it and look inside, you’ll see that it is some kind of a fake headline designed to capture people’s attention.

People have this insatiable longing for gossips. When I used to live in India, I always see people gossiping about one thing or the other especially when they are in a group. In fact when my mom was here with me in US, she once remarked that life is very boring here without gossips. Celebrities I am sure go through hell because of such gossips.

Media like the one’s I mentioned above make use of human’s fallibility for gossip for their own monetary gains. This is the main reason why the so called B rated media have managed to stay in business so long and they will continue to do so.

What do you think?

Driving and Cell Phones don’t mix

Weather is treacherous here because of freezing temperatures. Roads are very icy and it is very difficult to drive in these conditions even though I have 4 wheel drives. There are drivers like me who are quite careful when I drive in such conditions. On the other hand there are drivers who drive as if they are beyond par than anybody else. These drivers not only increase their chances to meet with an accident but also increase the blood pressure of guys like me.

Today I saw a guy driving with a cell phone in one hand and cigarette in the other. I am not sure how he was steering the vehicle. Personally I would like to see Cell phones banned during driving especially in highways and freeways. With an allowed speed limit of 70 mph here in Michigan even a small mistake could be fatal. I have heard about this law being implemented in other states. But this is really needed for all states which go through harsh and snowy winter.

What do you think?

Believe

I was watching an old TV sitcom yesterday (‘Roseanne’) where they were discussing about how the ‘Power to Believe’ could make wonders happen. In this episode a premature baby struggles for life and Doctors give up hope. So they talk about looking at alternate means to help the baby out like Reiki etc… They even quote that in India sick people take a dip in some holy rivers with the belief that it would cure their sickness and it miraculously does some times. One of the characters says to the mom that if you believe that the baby will survive, it surely will. Pretty serious stuff for a sitcom I guess. But the message behind it is very powerful.

I totally believe in the ‘Power of belief’. We some how have this power of controlling spiritually what happens to us physically. Most of us don’t realize it. This is applicable for things that are within humans reach. This doesn’t mean that you can walk on water if you believe you can. It's always important to think positive and believe that you can achieve whatever it is you want.It’s only those who really work hard and believe that they can be successful, turn out successful. Even during times of failure, they believe that they can achieve their goal. So believing in ourselves is very important.

What do you think?

Having a baby around

One thing that puts a smile on people’s face for sure is when you talk to them about their babies. Lots of people who work with me have babies, toddlers etc… Every time I talk to them about their babies, you can see a smile on their faces. This works with both genders. This also works on any kind of situations. It totally makes them light even if they are really angry with you.

You may get really tired taking care of the toddler / baby through out the day. But once you get away from him/her and go to work or elsewhere, you then begin to think about him/her and you’ll miss him/her very much. I am sure every parent goes through this. Having a baby around is the best thing that can happen to a person.

What do you think?

My Best Hitter!

I was just going through google analytics today to see what ‘search string’ in google gets the maximum hit to my page. The top search string was ‘IPC498A’.

I am really surprised at the number of hits I get through ‘IPC498A – Anti Dowry Law’. I see that most of the hits are from US network locations. So I did a little research and found out through various columns that many NRI’s here in US are afraid that the law may be used unjustly against them by a woman. I can see that how it can be used wrongly against men since the cops have to arrest and impound the passport of an NRI (in India) as soon as a complaint is lodged by a woman. So some woman could try to use it for the wrong reasons.

But at the same time it is nice to see that it’s working. This could at least make those few people who are studying/working here in US solely for the purpose of demanding more dowries from in-laws shiver. Believe me there are definitely people like that here and in fact I have even met a few of them.

It’s really nice to see IPC498A making people to think twice/worry about it.

Somehow we stay as one

I used to live in the border of Karnataka and TamilNadu and there was always this eternal tension as to when violence would break out. It was like I was living in the border of India and Pakistan. This was all because of the animosity between Karnataka and TamilNadu over cauvery water. This animosity is mainly fueled by politicians more than anybody else.

I recently heard the news that more water was released to Tamilnadu and violence again erupted because of it. Central government really doesn’t do much about it because their fate lies on the support of coalition. This has been going on for 17 years. So many politicians have talked about it. Some many comedians have joked about it. But it’s sad that there is still no resolution to it even though they say that the latest verdict to open more water to TamilNadu is final.

India somehow continues to stay as one irrespective of all the differences in culture, languages, religion and things like this. We truly are a very diverse democracy.

Super Bowl

I am not a big fan of football. But I make sure I watch super Bowl every year. This time I watched mostly for Colts and Tony Dungy. Even though I don’t watch football much, I have always been a secret fan of Colts. I don’t know why. I just like them. I wanted Colts to win yesterday and I am happy they did.

Another reason for watching super bowl is the Ads and half time shows. But this year I wasn’t worried too much about it because I know that even if I don’t see it that day, I can see it on 'Youtube' later. In fact some of Ad’s were already there even before it aired on TV I think.

Also did you know that this is the first time there were 2 African American coaches in the final? Even though it’s a game dominated by African American players on the field, it’s the first time 2 African American coaches have reached Super Bowl. In fact I was listening to NPR where they were discussing about how African American coaches were disregarded as management material at one point of time and how they had to struggle to get included in the management. So this is a huge win for that community.

Did you like the Super Bowl yesterday?

What is Curry Powder anyways?

We were watching food TV today since we had nothing better to do as we were stuck home in a winter blizzard. This is probably our favorite family channel. It always surprises me how they make it so interesting to watch. They also make it look so simple that it makes you want to try the entire dish at home. Also you get to know so many things about the food you eat through that channel. There are some things I have wished I didn’t know. Did you know that marshmallows have pig skin as one of its ingredients?

One thing that really bothers me and my wife is that whenever they show an Indian dish being cooked, they always add the same generic curry powder for every dish. I am not sure whether it's the same powder everytime, but they sure call it the same everytime. We use multitude of ingredients in Indian cooking and in most cooking shows everything boils down to just the generic curry powder.

I wish Indian cooking was as simple as just using the same generic curry powder for every dish. What is curry powder anyways?

Mail In Rebates

Mail in Rebates is probably one of the cleverest innovations by the retailers / manufacturers to improve sales. I guess this concept was developed based on the theory most people are fail to mail in the rebate.

There are various points of failure that I can see

1.Most people lose the receipt after buying. Some stores are courteous enough to give a duplicate receipt but most don’t.

2.Almost all mail in rebates need the product upc mailed along with the rebate. There has been at least one instance where I have thrown the box away after I opened it.

3.Only one per address. If you are greedy and buy two and send in mail in rebate for 2 you will actually get money only for one. So always read the fine print.

4.We have to mail it by certain date. Usually the date seems very far away that we postpone it and forget it.

5.Some times you can miss out a minute detail while filling the form and it can get rejected.

So if you are not careful, diligent and do not really pay attention to details, mail in rebate is not a good option for you.

But I do accept it is a win for the customer because of those really low prices you pay.

Helpers!

There are different kinds of helpers.

1. Some people help others with the hope that others will reciprocate when situation arises.

2. There are some who help with no expectations.

3. There are some who don’t help others and don’t take help from others.

4. There are some who help others but very shy to take help from others.

I think the first kind is most common in our society. Number 2 is very rare.

What kind of a helper are you?

Exercise - Pushing the limit

One thing that surprises me the most in this country is some people’s enthusiasm to jog or run even on dire conditions. I saw a person jogging in the street today while I was going to work and the temperature here is 15 degree Fahrenheit (- 10 degree Celsius). Don’t these people understand that it is actually bad to jog in such conditions? I think that some people are so obsessed with their body shape here that they would go to any limits to keep it that way.

One thing I have noticed in common with runners is that it becomes an obsession after a few months of regular running. I don’t know why that happens. But I have personally seen a lot of runners over exerting themselves and finally getting injured. They then give it all away and end up depressed.

I think it makes no sense to over do it especially if you are not a professional athlete. What do you think?