Judgment Day for the US in 2012

According to some, the world will end by December 21, 2012.  Others say that the western civilization will collapse around 2012.  One of the bases for this argument is, the Mayan calendar ends in year 2012 (or in early 2013, depending on who we talk to), after about 5,125 years from its beginning.  The proponents of Doomsday prophecy argue that Mayans had a reason to end their calendar in year 2012.

I agree that there will be judgment day towards the end of 2012 in the US - it is called the election day! The people will vote (judge political candidates) on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November 2012 (the earliest possible date is Nov. 2nd and the latest possible date is Nov. 8th).    

My gut feeling is, 2012 will be just another year, with normal up, downs, and surprises.  The other differences I can think of are, it is going to be a leap year (of course) and the year of Summer Olympics (in London)!  That's all.  

My reasons for disbelief in doomsday predictions are simple.  First of all, many similar predictions in the past just didn't happen.  Secondly, Mayan civilization pretty much collapsed about a thousand years ago, and there is no sign that Mayans foresaw their impending doom.  How can we believe long-term predictions of the folks who apparently failed to see their imminent demise?  Do we take bicycle riding lessons from someone who keeps falling from the bicycle right in front of our eyes? 

The Sound of Inevitability

Cartoon Source: The New Yorker

Here is an anecdote* that I was reminded of recently.

Tom, is crazy about yachts.  One day he decides to build a model yacht.  While skimming through store catalogs, he comes across an attractive offer for under $100 - a complete yacht building kit including tools, material, instructions, and shipping & handling; a great bargain.  So, he places an order for the kit, and anxiously awaits its arrival.

A couple of days later, he receives the kit in a heavy package.  Tom eagerly opens the package only to find four basic items in it - a hammer, a chisel, a piece of wood, and a page with pictures of a yacht, along with the following four simple instructions.  

1.  Stick this paper on a wall for reference.

2.  Place the wood on a flat surface.

3.  Keep chiseling away parts of wood that don't look like yacht, until you are done!

4.  Voilà! you are the proud maker of a model yacht!

We went to Austin Hindu Temple along with our good friends to watch Deepavali celebration/mela on Oct. 25th.  In spite of organizer's best efforts, things didn't go smoothly.  The main event (Ravan dahan) was delayed by an hour, microphones wouldn't work for the MC, no adequate lighting when they were drawing raffle, disorderly crowds flocking the food/vendor stalls, trash on the ground, impatient audience heckling at the announcers...you name it**.

I thought, one good way to organize these events the next time around is, find a way to do just the opposite of what the organizers did this time - a grand success is guaranteed! I wonder why Desi functions normally dysfunction.  Personally, I am almost never late on work related stuff (tuk, tuk - just knocked on wood!).  But, when it comes to weekend things like this, I too slack off most of the time.  Perhaps, we Desis have (are blessed with?) take-it-easy genes that we manage to suppress during weekdays.  The devil is in the details - planning nitty gritty nuts and bolts is not our forte, generally speaking.  But who cares?  Life goes on!  Hakuna Matata!

* Don't remember exactly the way it was written.  So, I put it in my own words.

**though true, it wasn't as bad as it sounded here.  Folks have done many things really well.  But, just couldn't help thinking of that anecdote amidst the chaos that day.    

Five Second Rule - Illustrated

Loved this Non Sequitur. Click on the image to view it in a readable size.

దీపావళి శుభాకాంక్షలు !!

దీపావళి శుభాకాంక్షలు !!

Awesome Table Tennis

Loved the top 2.

The Bailout Plan

Cartoon Source: Because I Said So

I am no economist, but I failed to see the logic in this $700 bailout plan. Large financial institutions got greedy, made intolerably risky loans, and lost their money. Now, why should tax payers bear the brunt of their mistakes, while the CEOs walked away with obscene amounts of cash?

I would say, distribute that $700 billion to bottom 80% of the US households. That would give each family about $7,900. Those who are about to lose their (average) homes, will have about 5 months worth of mortgage payment in their pockets. While making house payments during these five months, a good number of people might figure out a way to keep their homes. Those who are not in dire straights, would spend that money, thus distributing the wealth.

It sounds silly to give $700 billion to same people who proved that they don't know how to (ethically) run a business.   The government thinks that the people are irresponsible with cash - it is true to a large extent. But, one would rather spend the money unwisely on himself/herself (or charity), than fund billionaires' greed (and possibly end up not getting anything out of it, anyway). 

Quantifying Diverse Universe

I watched The Universe on History channel recently. Pretty interesting program. But what beat me is the statement "73% of the universe is Dark Energy". Statements like this throw me off balance. First of all, to talk about how big the pieces of a pie are, shouldn't we know how big the whole pie is? Also, what is the guarantee that what we see is representative of the universe? When a decent level of uncertainty is involved, I would say something like "about two thirds of the "observed" universe is estimated to be dark energy" or something generic like that. I would refrain from exuding confidence with statements like "72.98% of the universe is Dark Energy".

Reminds me of the quote "38% of the of the statistics are made up on the spot"!

I am sure astronomers had a good reason for saying what they said - I just didn't get it.

Digital Communication Barriers

Devendra Harne of India has entered into the Guinness Book of World Records because he has 12 fingers and 13 toes. Looks like he is being able to lead a normal life and took it with light heart - good for him.

If he were in the US, I can see a couple of disadvantages for Devendra.  First, he has even number of fingers on each hand - if someone really ticks him off, it would be hard for him to effectively communicate his genuine feelings :-)

Second,  it would be hard for him to remember if the month of August has 30 days or 31 days!

On a serious note, it is inspiring to read about some seriously handicapped people who managed to completely ignore their disabilities and reach amazing heights, while we were complaining about all the things that we didn't have.

Yoda's Wisdom

Here are a couple of video clips from one of my favorite movie series, Star Wars. The first one (five minutes) is a classic - involves Luke's failure to pull his space ship out of the water and the powerful lesson he learns from Yoda in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

The second video (about eight minutes long) is a mixtures of scenes from different episodes - Enjoy, and may the force be with you! 

Loved the part after Yoda pulls Luke's space ship out of the water using the "force". Luke says in disbelief: "I don't believe it". Yoda quips, "that's why you fail".

Modern Day Robinhood?

Scott, while walking near Times Square in New York notices a man intensely throwing shreds of paper into the air.  Obviously, Scott gets curious, and goes to the man: 

Scott: Sir, what are you doing?! 
Man: I am chasing elephants off of here. 
Scott: But there are no elephants here.
Man: See, it's working!"

Cartoon Source: God's Address

I couldn't help but think of this joke*, while I was listening to a discourse by Sri Viswayogi Viswamjee Maharaj on September 13, 2008 in Austin, at Shirdi Sai Baba Temple.  He was speaking on the same day that Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston.  In the middle of his discourse, he said that on meditating at sixth level the previous night, he down graded the hurricane from Category 4 to Category 2! My immediate thought was, "why leave it at Category 2?"  

After his discourse, people stood in line to bow to his feet.  I was surprised to note that he was handing out his color photograph to each, along with his blessings.  As he was talking about the greatness of Shirdi Sai Baba at length a few minutes ago, I thought that it would have been apt for him to distribute Baba's photo instead of his.  Besides, for a while, when people were bowing to his feet, he was talking to someone on his cell phone (without even noticing who was to his feet!).   

I failed to see any more divinity in him than that is present in every rock, tree, and Joe.  If some managed to see it, I have great news for them!  

 

I own a bridge in Brooklyn and I am willing to sell it at a throw away price:-)

Joking aside, I learned that Sri Viswamji is doing a lot of public service, and like I opined before, he deserves respect for this aspect alone.

* Heard it in our Toastmasters' meeting.

Perspicacious Pisces

At the point of our birth, we all get some baggage*.  Some of it is good (like well-functioning body parts, parental care, and inheritance) and some of it isn't (like genetic defects and inadequate living conditions). And then as we grow, we add our own baggage to it (which we acquire through a combination of good and not so good habits/practices). 

So, at any point in time, (knowingly or unknowingly) we will be carrying two sets of bags - a set of good ones and a set of bad ones.  Some among us have a knack for getting excited about the good baggage (even if it amounts to almost nothing), and the gift of oblivion for the bad one. I loved one of these yogis in this (one minute) motivational video that PBS used to air a few years ago. 

* Whether that baggage contains past karmic impressions or not is a different subject.

Nikon, an Icon

Loved the pun in a recent Nikon commercial.

Talking about puns, I loved this pun in a Telugu movie song ever since I heard it for the first time (excerpt from the lyrics below) వ్రేపల్లియ ఎద ఝల్లున.., from the movie సప్తపది

కాళింది మడుగునా కాళియుని పడగలా
ఆబాల గోపాల మాబాల గోపాలుని
కాళింది మడుగునా కాళియుని పడగలా
ఆబాల గోపాల మాబాల గోపాలుని
అచ్చెరువున అచ్చెరువున విచ్చిన కన్నులజూడ
అచ్చెరువున అచ్చెరువున విచ్చిన కన్నులజూడ
తాండవమాడిన సరళి గుండెల మ్రోగిన మురళి
ఇదేనా..ఇదేనా ఆ మురళీ

Ike's Ire

I find the photo above on hurricane Ike's aftermath from National Geographic amazing. Looks like* all houses around it were obliterated, while this one survived pretty much unscathed. Someone on TV the other day quipped "I am going to have my house constructed by the contractor who built it!" 

Here are a couple more photos.

A pump jack--a device that mechanically extracts liquid from oil deposits--sits among flood waters shimmering with oil in High Island, Texas, in an aerial photo taken on September 14, 2008. 

An alligator crossing the road in Sabine Pass.  Why did alligator cross the road?!

*It is hard to tell from this picture alone, if all the houses around were destroyed, as we have view of only one side of the house. May be all the houses next to it that were not in the view were saved, and this happened to be at the boundary of a group of house that survived.

Mexicans and Racism

Read in yesterday's newspaper that McCombs grads are not getting as many jobs offers as they used to. To get handyman jobs done cheap, so far, some folks have been shopping for (hard working) illegal immigrant labor near Home Depots and Lowe's. Things are changing a little bit these days. 

This is a racist video that I came across a couple of years ago; not a must watch video.

Acts of God

Graphic Source: 3-D View of Hurricane Emily, NOAA

When I heard of Hurricane Andrew after I landed in New Orleans (in January 1993), one of the first things I looked up in the library was, why aren't hurricanes a problem in India? I quickly learned that they actually are; we just just don't call them by this name - in Indian Ocean they are cyclones, and in western Pacific they are typhoons. The physics is the same - low pressure with calm winds in the center, surrounded by turbulent winds spreading outward.

It just occurred to me that these weather phenomenon are analogous to what we call God.  In the west He is Jesus, in the east he is Vishnu, and in the Arab world He is Allah. Also, like the eye of a hurricane, the God is within us, as calmness at the center. The turbulent we are, the farther we would be from the Center (aka God).

When I think of of calmness in the center of these massive weather systems, I get goose bumps. Can you imagine calmness in the center of energy that is more powerful than thousands of atom bombs?

People who were caught in the 1926 Miami hurricane - most had never been in a hurricane - discovered that an idea like yours can be fatal. When the eye of the Category 4 storm came ashore a little after sunrise on Sept. 18, 1926 many people thought the hurricane was over and went outside.

When the other side of the storm arrived, one anemometer measured the wind going from less than 10 mph to a gust of 132 mph in two minutes. The available reports say "many people" died when the other side of the storm hit, but no exact figures are available. Newspaper accounts referred to "the second storm."

It's hard to believe today when many Florida newspapers, such as the Miami Herald, have writers and editors who are very knowledgeable about hurricanes, than few people in Miami in 1926 even realized that a hurricane consists of winds going around a calm eye, with almost equally strong winds on all sides of the eye.