Brown Motion

As a kid learning math I am trying to remember when I first encountered the concept of a million.  Seems like many moons ago.  I must have been in middle school when a friend of the family knowing my proclivity for math handed me a book written by some Russian professors (translated to English). It was a book of curious math problems and explained concepts like large numbers in some detail.  I think that may have been my introduction to appreciating a number like a million.  One followed by six zeroes. As in the distance between earth and our moon is a quarter of that.  In miles.  A million heart beats is a lifetime of 9 days since a human heart beats at around 115,000 of them each day. But this number pales when you start discussing capitalism. Recently in the news... 1. Elon Musk, the famous entrepreneur was fined $20M for blabbing about taking Tesla private when in fact it was not so. 2.  Facebook was hacked.  50M accounts were compr...

I was in Austin again.  Capital of Texas.  Still humid and somewhat hot.  I got to stroll down the main drag in the early morning from where I was put up to an industry conference I was attending down the road.  Main drag being Congress Avenue. What began in the mid 1800's turned into a brick lined road in early 20th century to its modern Avenue status with tree lined sidewalks on both sides of the six lane road.  It runs south of the Capitol building right over the Colorado River (not the mighty but a local version) which is dammed to form the lake on towards I-35. I got to walk it going downhill starting from my hotel close to the Capitol to where the avenue crosses the Lady Bird Lake in the form of Congress bridge.  Here are some of the interesting sites - from historic and kitchy to modern and definitively Gen Z. One thing you notice is this city takes its main artery seriously and has done much over the years...

In that order.  This weekend.  Well the former only applied to the child who excelled at the sport.  As parents we drove to the race location and watched.  Then went in search of food and did the eating. It was a two mile cross country run at a golf course some 60 miles away from home.  In Sardar country.  What it means is that the neighborhood where the race ran was set amidst farmlands.  Most owned and toiled by migrants from the north of India who settled here and are used to the hard labor and hot sun and working the fields. They are the Sikh.  Also called Sardars colloquially.  They also know a thing or two about food.  From curries that incorporate variety of freshly ground spices and chopped herbs that sauce up delectable veggies or meat to flat and luscious breads (Naan) baked in earthen ovens called Tandoor the menu is stirring. We visited one such establishment run by a family of immigrants.  You can tell when you ...

Written and directed by Academy award winner Charles Ferguson this documentary about the 2008 financial crisis that rocked the world will do the same to your metabolism. Charles is a thinker, and astute individual with degrees from MIT and Berkeley who has cranked out provocative films.  This one through its poignant narrative and interviews with some of the key members complicit in the making of the crisis will leave you shaking. Shaking in anger, disbelief and pure fear at the levels of corruption and immorality that plagues the highest echelons of government, academia and finance.  To say that not much has changed since that day of rude awakening is an understatement. Michael Douglas' character stated way back in 1987 "Greed for lack of a better word is good".  That world view is what propelled America from its status as a colony of 13 states to a vibrant economy that is the world's envy.  However, greed unchecked and unfettered by any form of regulation an...

A love story worth 45 years told in 100 minutes.  On some gravelly, scenic and quiet beach in England.  It is a comedy drama set to a of bunch of Mozart, Beethoven and some other classical masters I cannot recognize.  It is a directorial debut for Dominic Cooke. Leading actor Saoirse Ronan, who I last saw in a film called Ladybird plays her part as Florence Ponting, the female interest of a student, an unknown British actor, who has just received his diploma in History and earned high honors.  He lives with his two young twin sisters and parents in a dowdy cottage in some rural part of England.  The story is something of a love at first sight event with its magic and mystery.  It is about life.  Its myriad turns some unexpectedly brilliant and some utterly devastating.  It is about innocence and honesty.  It begins when Florence first lays eyes on Edward where the latter is rushing to express his joy at earning a first class in History...

Cool spy gadgets.  Check. Black Superhero.  Check. Africa as a tech innovation hub. Check. Goofy young woman as scientist. Check. While it definitely put a spin on the stiff white male spy stereotype the movie to me lacked substance.  It is at best a kids fantasy movie not one with any specific message or if there was it was lost in the all the flashing lights and stunts. When in spite of all the tech wizardry people get into hand to hand combat I know the director has run out of ideas.  And then there are the multiple sequences of moving to the other world and seeing the light.  I started to fall asleep.

Labor Day weekend.  Oh what to do?  Any spot with a scenic view in a 100 mile radius of San Francisco was bound to be abuzz with locals and visitors alike.  Water views are everyone's fave but we bit the bullet and went south.  Quite a ways.  To Carmel. Its a seaside resort like town with a few thousand inhabitants.  In the 1980s Clint Eastwood was mayor.  It still attracts the glitterati from the larger bay area.  Monterey to its north provides an extension of the wealthy enclaves with a beach front drive labeled one of the most scenic.  The cost to ride the 17 miles is $11.  The rich have a way of keeping the riff raff out. We chose to simply eat on the way there and hang by the beach for a spell.  Our route took us past the farming communities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy.  In the latter we stopped at a Taqueria where they only speak Espanol.  The fare was presented with pictures so it was easy to order.  Food w...