A not so ordinary dinner

Yesterday, I went out for a dinner with the previous and the present roomates of my dorm to an Indian restaurant in Manila. This dinner was different. The diversity of the people attending changed a few things: 2 Indian vegetarian Hindus, 4 Indian non-vegetarian Hindus, 1 German Christian and an Indonesian Muslim.

So what's so different about a diversified group.

The situation and the intracacies you have to take care of in a dinner.

Vegetarians had to order separately and didnt need help in ordering as they know their country dishes. The Muslim friend was specific about the non-veg and wanted only 'halal' meat. My German friend does not like seafood and when Raita(curd/yogurt) came, we had to ask him if he was lactase tolerent. (Around 10% people in the world are lactase intolerent and can't consume milk and curd).

These conditions were quite too many for a dinner and we the hosts had to be careful not to take arrogant decisions while ordering.

Most importantly, all of us had to stick to talking to English (which some Indians violated a lot and I didn't personally like their rudeness).

Strength and courage

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage".

Emperor's new clothes?

Dehydrated water? Unbelievable! An oxymoron!!!

Think Again!!!

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/4875/

"It is a patented product and we began "manufacturing" it in the 1960's when space flights began" according to the company...

well, a need was definitely there for the astronauts, but what does it contain and how?

Past, present and future

Saw this great line on a friend's status message:

"Past...perfect, present....continuous, future....tense!!!"

Flying car

More details at: http://www.moller.com/downloads/Autovolantor.pdf

My mother

It seems that when my cousin was in 3rd std, she entered an elocution competition. The topic given was "My mother".

She started her elocution competition with the line "My mother is very useful to me....!!!"

Wordless love story

Way of addressing

The way some Indians address their friends indicates the area they have mostly likely spent their childhood/college time. Take for example the following addresses:

Thanks yaar

Thanks di

Thanks maga

Thanks re

From my non-scientific analysis, I have so far identified some of the places these are most commonly used. 'maga' is from Karnataka where maga literarily means son. Sentences ending with 're' are from Mumbai. Usually people using 'di' are from Tamilnadu while yaar is a commonly used in North India.

So when you hear someone talk to their friends, you can atleast make out where they have most likely been brought up in. There is no gaurantee however as people may want to sometimes portray a certain image and may use a certain style to be identified with.

The last resort

I personally know many people who wont do the job otherwise ;)

IP address locator

Ip address locator

http://www.ip-adress.com/whois/

Oops! I did it again...

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/08/0810_13_management_practices/index.htm?chan=rss_topSlideShows_ssi_5

Sexy indicators

Whoever believes Finance is boring should know that there are very interesting things in the world of finance like the Angelina Jolie stock index, Jennifer Lopez, Leading lipstick indicator, Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue indicator and even a Paris Hilton stock index.

So what are these? These are supposed to be some indicators for predicting the direction of the stock market or for taking a view on the stock market.

So the Angelina Jolie index is an index made up of a selection of stocks from companies associated with actress Angela Jolie. Seen as one of the world's most influential celebrities, some analysts believe that companies connected with Jolie will outperform their competition.

Jennifer Lopez: A slang technical analysis term referring to a rounding bottom in a stock's price pattern.Traders like the rounding bottom in a stock pattern because it can be an indication of a positive market reversal, meaning expectations are gradually shifting from bearish to bullish.For those unaware, Ms. Lopez is often criticized (or praised) for her round bottom.

Sports Illustrated swmisuit issue indicator: An indicator based on the nationality of the model on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit addition that attempts to provide insight on the stock market return for that year. The indicator suggests that when the cover model is from the U.S. the S&P 500 will generate a return above its historical rate while a non-American cover model leads to under performance by the S&P 500 for the year.

But the most interesting indicator for a non-Harvard based MBA student is the Harvard MBA indicator. A long-term stock market indicator that evaluates the percentage of Harvard Business School graduates that accept "market sensitive" jobs in fields such as investment banking, securities sales & trading, private equity, venture capital and leveraged buyouts. If more than 30% of a year's graduating class take jobs in these areas, the Harvard MBA Indicator creates a sell signal for stocks. Conversely, if less than 10% of graduates take jobs in this sector, it represents a long-term buy signal for stocks.

Upside Rainbow

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205829/Freak-nature-causes-smile-sky-usually-seen-Poles.html

The new Indian identity

Do you know the new Indian identity? What are Indians outside India recognised with? How do non-Indians try finding out if people are Indians?

There is a new answer to all the above questions.

On my travel to Palawan on the weekend, I arrived at the Puerto Princessa airport and while I entered the terminal from the runway, a guy looked at us Indians and started singing/saying "Jai Ho". I was taken aback for a moment, just smiled and walked ahead.

P.S:For those of you who dont know what "Jai Ho" is, it is a very popular Indian song from the Oscar winning movie Slumdog Millionairre.

Obselete things

Somethings are so old that we tend to ignore them and don't care about them. And then, what we thought was ancient and obsolete and has no use becomes a need. I faced this odd situation on my trip to Palawan over the weekend. We bought an underwater camera for taking shots when we scuba dived. The camera was a disposable analog underwater camera. I couldn't remember to rotate the roll and found a plastic protrusion in the camera which I did not know what it was for. Fortunately, the professional scuba diver knew how to use it and he took all the photos. It really helps to know certain things even though they are extinct. They could come in handy in another function or utility if not the traditional way.

Floating apartments

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/29/the-citadel-europes-first-floating-apartment-complex/

All ready?

Basis risk

"Being hit by basis risk makes you feel cheated."

For the common public, basis risk is a risk of not getting what you paid for or the risk of getting something not matching to your specifications or what you had in mind.

The myth of Mega pixels

A nice article explaining in simple terms what megapixels in cameras and the myth of going in for high MPs.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/Corporate-Dossier/The-great-megapixel-myth/articleshow/4840011.cms

Turning point

My first personal turning point in my MBA is the following instance:

Sometime in october last year, when our group was solving a case of accounting, we had two issues in a case for which there were arguments. I had a different opinion on both the issues compared to another groupmate who had an opposite view on both. We argued for long and both of us convinced the other on one issue. So he won one and I won one. The next day, when we went to class, we discovered that both of us had convinced each other on the wrong answers. What a fool we had made of ourselves.

This one instance made me realise that nobody can be right all the time and since then, I try listening to other people's ideas without prejuducing their options if they dont match mine.

A true MBA learning lesson.