Brown Motion

A recent NY Times article highlighted the changing perception of fat Indians by perhaps those that were not. Originally viewed as 'well off' the phat people were the privileged class that did not know how to perform manual labor let alone partake in any such act. Access to rich diets was assumed as was access to non phat minions that could satisfy every whim of the wealthy elite - from chai on demand (forget starbucks when you can have a stand by 1 on 1 barista at hand 24x7 - who could also deliver paan in various formats - those not familiar with this word - it is a mouth freshener cum chewy pastime much like a chewing gum would be to the westerner) to a car wash or yard work. All while seated in the comfort of a equally phat leather upholstered seating device. Now the views are apparently a changing. It is no longer suave or chic to be plump like - you gotta show you care for your limbic make up and utilize the facilities like gymnasiums or yoga clinics to stay on top ...

If you only read headlines here is what you would conclude - 1. Meg Whitman would take 5 years to pay off her Bank Americard debit charge for the one purchase she can make. Why - BAC will now charge $5 per month for use of their debit card. Meg agrees to $1 salary as new CEO of HP. 2. Tablet computers will not be sold anymore Why - Hewlett Packard and Research in Motion (makers of Blackberry) have halted all of their tablet production (aab Goli Khaa...with all the headaches) 3. World is ending Why - China has stopped spending like before; Europe has nothing to spend; US is done printing money; Latin America who? 4. People are no different than cows Why - Cows follow the herd - so do humans in times of crisis

Sort of diametrically opposite notions. As part of some Employee Resource Groups at work I happen to get an opportunity to visit with different ethnic groups that make the fabric of California. Each hosts special events that are organized by their ethnicity. Sept happened to be Hispanic Heritage Month. While California is statistically very relevant to the Latina community and vice versa, their are also large groups represented in the form of Blacks; Asian and Islanders; Indian etc that reside in CA. Their is also a representation for the Disabled and the Gay-Lesbian community. I wonder if there is one for the pot growers or pot consumers for that matter. Not to digress but I thought of taking a deep dive in thinking about what these groups represent. Now it is an important group dynamic to see how people interact and what they pursue with folks of like backgrounds or culture when you visit some of these events. That said it dawned on me that the White people are actually ...

Do fish drink water? What would their take be on bottled water - with all the dumping going on (think Disney cruises et al) I am sure there are some bottles that get filled along the way and make it to the fortunate whales and dolphins; Do birds equate sitting with standing - so an off comment about lets sit down and talk this over would look like 2 egrets just hanging on one leg (respectively) and staring at each other?; Do people think? It appears that more and more are done doing that activity long ago and simply go through their motions of existence on the planet without having either the capacity or the energy to do so - in the latter it is the concept of 'time poverty' that perhaps percludes the activity. Just wondering!

Not a plumbing episode but a factoid on the amazing ways one can get snared into a free or almost free lunch and realize that you end up tipping for life - Printers Wii Kindle DS Iphone and other Igadgets Wife Wives (where it is permitted) Favor from the in-laws Shaving Razor One night stand (not the one in your bedroom - although it too could work sometimes)

Boeing delivers its first all composite (materially and literally) aircraft - the 787 to 'All Nippon Airways' after three years of choreographic delays - it is not easy to assemble something that flies, The Gee20 do some hand wringing on the plight of the global economy - then do some 'show me yours and I will show you mine' games - followed by excessive consumption of distilled grain spirits and let the capitalist engine figure it out for itself - heck the distilled beverage part is parcel of the capitalist model after all, The US government heads for a second shutdown in as many months (look ma - no money?) Malls are packed and so are all the flights going from anywhere to anywhere - what with people deciding to buy property in places like Togo, Maldives and Serbia Herzegovina! More kids are born in poverty than in wealth, Another mind numbing blog gets posted!

International exposure Organic movement Chinese checkers Black printers Drinking problem So much for mean what you say and say what you mean!

I am not in the business of educating anyone - with the exception of our offspring who for the most part seems to have a knack for knowing right from wrong and does use the formal channel of school based learning to her advantage. Leaves me to focus on idiotic things like this blog. I did in my past life proffer some knowledge to young engineering students as a visiting faculty at local engineering schools. That was many years ago and was a very rewarding experience from what I recollect. The recollect part is getting harder with age though. Anyway, where I am going with this rambling episode is that I am contemplating the quality of our global education today. Is it better today than in the day of Gandhi or Kennedy; Da Vinci or Akbar? What about mere access to education? What about its cost? Can formal education be hugely successful but home schooling not? Do people need to have multiple degrees, each defined by the local education authority as being a criteria for succes...

Since I have neither I am going to take liberties at pontificating on said subject. I get the sense that both are overrated and the former is used to largely support a scam run in broad daylight. At night it is harder to discern who is fashionable anyway hence the expression. Add to that a certain state of inebriation at the late hour and it further supports the theory that Fashion is irrelevant at the bar. Mucho Dinero matter. Said scam is operated by the likes of big brand names; largely resident in Europe (remember Seinfeld famously saying his man purse is actually 'European') or from designers whose names are more complex to say than the biological designation of opium. On the matter of looks - you are either born with them or not. Simple! Those that are not are to accept it as fait accompli and make hay under whatever planetary light they can find. Why anyone would embark on hay making in today's day and age is a matter of another blog - perhaps weed may b...

If you win a straw poll are you clutching at straws? If the team does a clean sweep should I hire them as janitors? What do unReal Estates look like? Perhaps subprime? Is an organic movement associated with bad odor? A priest who took castor oil might start a religious movement. When you hang out why are you not hanging or are out - instead of sitting inside a restaurant or bar - in some cases the only thing hanging out might be your tongue?

Not Q tips or Tri Tip or travel kind. But this whole begging epidemic that has gotten out of hand. That is how I view it. The developed world's way of begging with or without a bowl in some cases. Have you been to a Starbucks lately. On the off chance that I feel like a masala chai the closest beverage to satiate that thirst is a Starbucks concoction that does hit the spot. As I was ordering this beverage there it was - a conspicuous tumbler beside the cash till with TIPS scrawled on it. I mean if someone was feeling that generous about their barista or thought they had done what was truly exemplary and above and beyond their green vested job asked of them - please go give them a hug and buy them a drink dude. But to unabashedly display that at the till and indirectly expect a customer to fork over a surcharge - RIDICULOUS! So from the most demanding to the most obvious service there is an expectation of tipping - some go as far as doing the math for you based on a un...

All related - thick as blood I say. I got thinking about how human bodies have survived for thousands of years through a variety of change - climates, food, wars and famine and yet there we are as a species inhabiting the furthest corners of this rock and closing in on the 7 Billion number. While medicine as a science has been key to understanding a lot of what goes on inside the body and more specifially how to fix something that ails it, it has but merely scratched the surface of what really makes it tick. At the heart of it all is the source code in the form of genetic design. How the individual protein cells interact with each other at the atomic levels does determine how a person will live - literally and spiritually. Physiology along with Anatomy is part of modern day medical school curriculum and attempts to lay the foundation of human organ function. But when you look at the vast disease spectrum that still exists and continues to manifest humanity you understand that...

Here is my latest rant. What's with all the interviews before and after a sports event? Those that ex ball players and athletes of that game conduct with their on court or on field brethren. I was watching the US Open last night and here is an ex US tennis star (a woman) that comes out in those little tunnels that the players step out of on to the field - and accosts the 21st seed (because he is America's last hope to make something happen in men's tennis - at least in the grand slams) and slams him with a volley of questions. The fact that he is about to play a Quarterfinal with one of the best known tennis athletes in the world not withstanding she asks him 5 stupid questions (in my humble opinion) that span the gamut of how did you play in the last match and how did you pull that off to what is your strategy to defeat the Spaniard on court now (who seems unstoppable any time you see him on court). I mean first off - the guy is carrying like 100 lbs of stuff with ...

Everything in life is relative. Relative to what? Depends on your state of mind. If you have a personality that does not mind much about much then you are relatively calm...dare I say almost Zen - utopian. If you get irked with poor customer service or falsified claims whether they are from a car rental that did not deliver the car of choice or whether it was a food product that did not meet published expectation you are a normal human - relatively speaking of course. If you think hard about it what matters to you at any point in your life is a function of how old you get. As a kid you see many things for the first time and get enamored with quite a few - its only natural - and many a times are in awe to the point of desiring it and if able to obtain said good then being attached to it. As you age your world view most likely changes and you start decoding what matters and what does not. Pretty soon you are at a point where you are not inclined to hang on to a whole lot but ...

Last weekend we drove out to cooler climes and a spot by the ocean. Carmel- by-the-Sea to be exact. Its claim to fame once was that Clint Eastwood (ya as in the Dirty Harry kind) was the mayor of this Clean hamlet tucked 80 miles south of San Francisco along the Pacific. It was packed unusually so with visitors from all over the world since it also coincided with a Mela of Cars (party for car lovers) titled 'Concourse D'Elegance'. Once each year, on the third Sunday in August, about 200 of the most prized collector cars and motorcycles in the world roll onto what is often called the best finishing hole in golf — the famed eighteenth fairway at Pebble Beach (a small wealthy community tucked along Carmel's coast). While we did not venture near these prized cars we did spot a few items which had people scrambling to get a shot of - one of them included another monster movie label - Arnold Schwarzenegger. Walked into the same pastry shop we were enjoying our sandwic...