Heartcrossings

Interesting article on the business of selling haunted houses . The legalese on the matter is amusing In the interest of avoiding such untenable consequences, the notion that a haunting is a condition which can and should be ascertained upon reasonable inspection of the premises is a hobgoblin which should be exorcised from the body of legal precedent and laid quietly to rest. Legal issues notwithstanding, such houses can command a premium in the market apparently In other cities, this kind of sign might read “Newly Renovated” or “Price Drop,” but in New Orleans and a few other places, some say “Haunted” or “Not Haunted.” In a city with such a rich history of the supernatural, these haunted houses can sometimes demand a premium. 

Funny info-graphic on how to vet your start-up idea . Expand both  X and Y axis all day long until you have covered everything you can imagine making a business out of. The advisory from Andrew Chen on what folks should feel free to dream up So go work on “Tinder for doctors.” Or “Birchbox for pizza.” Use it for the Linkedin blurb describing your company, and on your 5-min accelerator pitch. But don’t forget, there’s a reason why “Uber for X” startups have mostly failed — you need to lead with the customer value, not with what is easily described within the startup community. Using Craigslist to inspire Airbnb for X is about as amusing as the info-graphic Chen refers to. Airbnb seems to be the one that got away for many investors, who are now closely watching the roster of startups that are slowly  disrupting  certain sections of Craigslist (and in the case of Airbnb, doing  this literally ).

Powerpoint decks are my least favorite thing in the world and not a day goes by in my life when I am not dealing with one - as a recipient or a creator. It is hard to say which is worse. Several years ago, management at the time sent a bunch of us to a speech coach to learn how to effectively deliver a presentation and make the most of the thirty second attention span audiences have per slide.  It was impressed upon us the importance of simplicity and hammering on the three or four (if you are being very pushy) points you want your audience to remember after you are done. If they can recall one of those points accurately a day later it is an achievement.  I remember wondering why there was such an emphasis on assuming people did not care, were checked out and most importantly could not wrap their heads around material that exceeded a third grade reading level. These very same people have no problem following the endless plot twists of a cop show  and can recall the pr...

Good to read that there may be hope for folks like me who have hearing loss from inner ear damage . I discovered I had this problem when I inherited an old watch from my father as a kid. It needed to be wound up every day before school so it could reliably tell time. It was not long before I found out that I could barely hear it ticking out of one ear. The condition has grown worse over time though the decline has been bearably gradual. In the next decade, it's likely I will be completely deaf in one ear.  The loss of auditory stimulus as a doctor once told me impacts our cognitive abilities. It was the reason she said that she recommends very strongly that patients like me get hearing aids. Apparently a lot of us decide to tough it out, develop adaptations to work with lost hearing and those around us adapt to our impairment.I have been one of those as well but a real cure for the condition would be worth trying if it came about in time. 

Interesting comparison of Mona Lisa to Kim Kardashian in this NYT article that is it time to hide that painting away so the circus around it can stop at the Louvre.  ..the Louvre is being held hostage by the Kim Kardashian of 16th-century Italian portraiture: the handsome but only moderately interesting Lisa Gherardini, better known (after her husband) as La Gioconda, whose renown so eclipses her importance that no one can even remember how she got famous in the first place. Sad, ironic and true. The article is a fun read though and the recommendations offered by the author to do right thing by the selfie-seeking tourists and Mona Lisa are quite hilarious She needs her own space. Build a pavilion for her, perhaps in the Tuileries, that is optimized for the crowds. Connect it to the main museum via the underground mall known as the Carrousel du Louvre, and sell a single ticket for both locations. Set up prime selfie stations, and let more curious visitors learn about the ...

Another Marcus Aurelius meditation Consider how quickly all things are dissolved and resolved: the bodies and substances themselves, into the matter and substance of the world: and their memories into the general age and time of the world. The dissolution of things once held to be "real" is always around us. Reading this made me think of my backwater hometown in India that does not exist anymore though the place survives on the map, now part of a state that did not exist back then. But everything else that was familiar from then has dissolved away. I no longer recognize it despite a few surviving landmarks that seem out of order being there. And yes, have also experienced resolution of problems that seemed completely insurmountable at one time. The memories did get subsumed in "the general age and time of the world" . This meditation makes so much sense at a certain age and stage of life. I never read it when I perhaps needed it most - in the time of youth o...

Love these pieces of furniture that are grown on a farm .  By manipulating trees' growth and coercing new shoots to go in different directions, they were able to shape them like sculptures—ones that take years to complete. "It was inspired by seeing an overgrown bonsai tree that looked a little like a throne," Just about everyone has seen a twisted branch or a piece of driftwood that resembles an object we are familiar with. Not unlike seeing faces in the shape of a floating cloud. Not many would see potential to create there - we would likely dismiss as a whim of nature and move on. Also love how this idea places instant gratification on a long pause - you end up getting something that looks like it belongs in a museum For a chair, expect a six to nine-year growing period and another year for it to dry out.

Good article on what is messed up with undergrad education in America . Year after year, kids get into the college of their dreams only to feel let down and cheated. It would have been tolerable had it been a free or heavily subsidized education - that takes the edge off the disappointment.  People make the most of what they have been given. Its like buying clothes from the final sale rack. You can't expect many miracles and need to make do with what you scrounge up. Such is not the case for the American undergrad student so it stings. The article, summarizes their plight quite succinctly:  Universities aren’t like restaurants that rely on repeat customers: pretty much nobody gets two bachelor’s degrees. If you choose the wrong place, as many students do, it’s not easy to signal your dissatisfaction by transferring to a competitor. Besides, every year, colleges are practically guaranteed a fresh supply of high school graduates and adults looking for new skills. The result ...

Ran into this quote about the capacity to be alone while looking for reviews of a book on Goodreads. It starts with these lines: "The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it's not." It made me think about what it means to have capacity to be alone. Does it imply capacity to be able to lose hour and days reading, tending to a garden, making music or talking long nature walks? Or does it need a more productive pursuit that results in things being made - a person losing all sense of time as they work on their passion project - restoring a car, writing software, making a piece of art, repairing or remodeling their home? Something of tangible value comes out of such time spent alone.  And there are many among us who are quite capable of doing one or more of these things and finding it a blissful way to spend time. So, it could be argued they do have the capacity to be alone and indeed they love the thing they are spending t...

Generally agree with the case against frequent flier incentives in this article . But the same is logic is applicable for just about any loyalty program - it promotes needless consumption and rewards those who are most at fault. There are few incentives if any for consuming responsibly. When it comes to clothing for instance, products are not made to last as they once were. I have a sweater from my childhood that I received as a gift from an expat relative. It was much too big for me then but intentionally so - they wanted me to get the most use out of and grown into it. And so I did. There is no telling how many times this thing has been washed over the years. J says its a look that's quite fashionable now and she took it with her to college. This sweater does not look many decades old as it really is. I have clothes bought in the last couple of years that look more worn out than it. This idea of being built to last is no longer in vogue - because it does not promote ceaseless ...

Such a creative and sensible idea to make fishing boats with plastic bottles .  Madiba & Nature volunteers have gathered to pick up thousands of plastic bottles near Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, to use those bottles for what they call ecological canoes. The boats could help not just the environment, but the local community as well. In a video, Ismael said there’s a great need for fishing boats in his area, and the plastic bottle boats could meet that need. Local fisherman Emmanuel Japa said at first they thought the plastic bottle boats were a joke, but it turns out the crafts are actually strong and seaworthy. Ismael also said plastic bottles clogging their waterways have led to flooding in the local area. As such ideas must necessarily be, it appears simple and obvious once someone thinks to implement it. And that is the beauty of it perhaps. A local problem (though in the case of plastic bottles the problem is far from local) addressed ingeniously by local talent. Unfo...

I miss J more some days than the other. The empty nest grows on you a day at a time as I am learning  Snippets of conversations in the kitchen come back to mind. Her coming from school tired and hungry, sometimes still wanting a little chat. The days felt monotonous sometimes - we both had schedules to live by and free time was never abundant. Yet, in the absence of those days, random memories take their place. Today for instance, I remembered that Mother to Son by Langston Hughes used to be one her favorite poems. She knew most of it by heart. When I first heard her read these lines out loud, it felt like vindication.  Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light.

At a Halloween party last month I saw a young couple dressed as gladiator and milk-maid respectively. Both outfits were cool and conversation starters as I am sure they intended. This was the only pair that evening that had put in actual effort into their look. Most people were lazying it out. Maybe were were all channeling what is on-trend in Japan these days - being mundane for Halloween . ..instead of the flashy and flamboyant costumes they had been seeing gain popularity in Japan, they decided to dress up in mundane, everyday costumes. The type of costumes that you have to explain to people and then they say, ooooh I get it. I have never figured out the right statement to make by way of a Halloween costume so never wore one. Have a feeling many folks out there have the same problem. Unlike me they take some simple and lazy way out just to check off the costume box - no everyone has can pull off something "spectacular" but they don't want to sit out of the whole ex...

When I first read The Overcoat by Gogol as a kid, I am pretty sure these lines did not remind me of me It would be hard to find a man who lived in his work as did Akaky Akakyevitch. To say that he was zealous in his work is not enough; no, he loved his work. In it, in that copying, he found a varied and agreeable world of his own. There was a look of enjoyment on his face; certain letters were favorites with him, and when he came to them he was delighted; he chuckled to himself and winked and moved his lips, so that it seemed as though every letter his pen was forming could be read in his face. If rewards had been given according to the measure of zeal in the service, he might to his amazement have even found himself a civil counsellor; but all he gained in the service, as the wits, his fellow clerks, expressed it, was a buckle in his buttonhole and a pain in his back. It cannot be said, however, that no notice had ever been taken of him. While I can hardly claim I live for my...

Lines from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius that served as a reminder today on the work that I need to do, still have not done and found reasons to put it off for another day. Remember how long thou hast already put off these things, and how often a certain day and hour as it were, having been set unto thee by the gods, thou hast neglected it. It is high time for thee to understand the true nature both of the world, whereof thou art a part; and of that Lord and Governor of the world, from whom, as a channel from the spring, thou thyself didst flow: and that there is but a certain limit of time appointed unto thee, which if thou shalt not make use of to calm and allay the many distempers of thy soul, it will pass away and thou with it, and never after return. Had to think about the distempers of my soul that I have yet to calm and allay. When I paused to do that, it occurred to me that such maladies can not only stifle individual progress but that of those who are around them, lo...

Fun post about the difference between drinking your own Kool-aid and eating your own dog-food . ..if the business is actual dog food, then dogfooding it would be feeding the product to your own dogs, not eating it for lunch. .. The point is that drinking your own Kool-aid is not the same as eating your own dogfood. If you’re drinking your own Kool-aid, you’re either suicidal or you believe your own hype. It's been my experience that there is various degrees of suicidal in Kool-aid drinking. The least harmful is where the organization is glowing in self-congratulation and works as a mutual admiration society. It definitely builds camaraderie. But nay-sayers, malcontents and otherwise puzzled outsiders do not feel welcome and their ideas are summarily rejected.  Such an organization may still continue to serve it's customers well - specially if they have been smart enough to get them to drink that same Kool-aid. Most harmful is when people are faking their e...

This blog can hardly be called a journal but I have experienced many of the benefits cited in this Fast Company article. “Writing something down stops things from going around and around in our heads,” psychologist Dr. Jane McCartney told the  Telegraph . “This puts things in perspective; it stops you from obsessing and can help us make sense of our jumble of thoughts and feelings.” When I experience the swirl of thoughts that Dr McCartney describes, I try to find some broader global theme that includes it, read what others have written on the topic and after a while, I may be on to subjects far removed from the original trigger. In the course of my readings, I usually find something that provokes a response and it may become a blog post. 

J when she was younger used to watch the first and last ten minutes of shows on Netflix to catch a CliffNotes version of stuff that others were talking about - so she could contribute in those conversations. She had no interest in most of it and lacked the hours in the day to binge on shows. I am sure her process was efficient but its unlikely she got any value out of it. Netflix has just made it easier for folks like J to get there quickly .  There's even an "efficiency expert" out there who advises watching at faster speeds to make the most of your viewing time. "More jokes, more laughs, more drama, more suspense - same time," Michael Kirk,  creator of the Efficiency is Everything website , writes. "Efficiency: Like an assembly line, if we increase the speed of the line, we will see more completed. "Same jokes, same plot, and at 10% faster - you won't notice a difference." Is the point of entertainment and film-making to get us to th...

So creative and apropos this poem written in the style of The Raven . The whole thing is an absolute riot but my favorite stanza has to be this one   “Nevermore,” tweeted I, “will I use again this app I once adored!” “Perhaps some tempest tossed my sushi to some rocky distant shore?”         This I tweeted, thus defeated, but was very quickly greeted,         By the buzz of a response that left me rattled to my core—         DM’d by a customer service rep in central Bangalore.         He said his name was George.

Interesting essay on what goes through an inmate's mind when they write an apology letter to the victim or their family. ..guidelines for how a prisoner should approach writing an apology letter — that expecting forgiveness, for instance, is self-serving, and means you probably aren’t ready to write the letter. Reading this, I wondered:  Was it selfish to hope for forgiveness? The writer speaks of a fellow inmate who has published a book on how inmates can spend time positively in the American prison system He writes about the apology letter bank in the book, describing two types of guilt: fixated (shame-based) and constructive. Even in the lives of ordinary people, there comes a time to offer a heartfelt apology. The challenges the author describes probably transcend the specific dilemma he writes about. An apology that is aimed at seeking forgiveness does not bring the recipient any comfort. They feel injured yet another time. Yet never receiving one leaves them feeling ...

It is fascinating to read the spin on pointless smart and connected technology that never seems to lack for funding. In this case we are schooled on what a bathroom is  “Bathrooms are evolving from places where we practice basic hygiene to where we prepare ourselves for the day,” said Chris Herbert, the founder and CEO of Shine. “Wellness and self care will be happening more in the home, and this is a big opportunity.” Its unclear how exactly flushing the commode smartly is going to improve the health and wellness of the consumer. Traditionally that had to do with diet and exercise. Last time I checked people were not eating dinner in their bathrooms even if the place looked like an art installation. The same is true for home gym equipment including the Peloton cycles that is apparently not making the company any monies . " We make fitness entertaining, approachable, effective and convenient, while fostering social connections that encourage our members to be the best versi...

Watched Citizenfour mesmerized and dismayed at the same time. There is no such thing as privacy in the digital world - just based on the reach the large technology companies have over our data. The idea that these sets of data when connected yield a picture (true or false) of  the target person is just a logical next step.  Scaling this to cover everyone and all their data is indeed Orwellian but exactly what can be expected if there is both available data and technology to process it in enormous scale. There is certain inevitability to this. The private sector can do exactly this and is not being upbraided for wrong-doing. Most of the outrage in the movie is directed at the invasion of privacy and the unfettered collection of data. That is probably the least of the problems. A great deal of fuss was made of the fact that there is an interface to query this data based on identifiers like name, email, passwords etc - does not sound wholesome but it is not such a radical thi...

I happened upon a copy of the American Riflemen magazine  in the metro that some passenger had forgotten to take. It was interesting to browse through the publication and also read the editorial that was about protecting this fragile thing that is freedom in America. The idea of protecting freedom and liberty has universal appeal and yet the vehicle used to do so that make it an infinitely fractious issue. These lines from the book Why Liberalism Failed seemed particularly relevant in making sense of that editorial  One of the key differences between “conservatives” and “progressives” today is over whether liberalism can and should see its primary locus as the nation or the world. Both sides share the view that liberalism is a universalist philosophy, but they differ over how best to advance that universalism. Mainstream conservatives have sought to advance liberal universalism through the vehicle of the nation, primarily through globalized economic policy and aggressively i...

In her book The Collected Schizophrenia , the author,  Esmé Weijun Wang writes: ..employment remains the primary marker of someone who is high-functioning, as having a job is the most reliable sign that you can pass in the world as normal. Most critically, a capitalist society values productivity in its citizens above all else, and those with severe mental illness are much less likely to be productive in ways considered valuable: by adding to the cycle of production and profit. And  Esmé Weijun  is one of those, who despite her condition, can hold down a full time job and be productive in a socially acceptable way. She describes her conundrum with brutal honesty when she says: Because I am capable of achievement, I find myself uncomfortable around those who are visibly psychotic and audibly disorganized. I’m uncomfortable because I don’t want to be lumped in with the screaming man on the bus, or the woman who claims that she’s the reincarnation of God. I’m uncomfort...

An interesting application for Siri - to record interactions from the driver's vantage point when pulled over. The idea makes sense because the automation involves a task that the person could not execute on their own contemporaneously.  The phone steps in to perform a task it's owner is unable to perform. The idea can be adapted for other needs - say you are running late to an appointment, share the map navigation with the person who is waiting for you so they know when to expect you. All with a voice prompt, with minimum driving distraction. Such recipes exist or can be created quite easily.  I would love a short cut that could create a travel itinerary and a packing list based on my date and place of travel. I very rarely manage to pack the clothes for the weather correctly. Something little is always missed and it can be a pesky annoyance on the trip or worse something that cannot be done without. I have yet to have had a trip where I was packed optimally and yet ...

Over the years, I have had the privilege of listening to women in leadership roles speak about their career journey and challenges. The goal of such discussion in a public forum is to encourage a new generation of female leadership to find role models and further their own careers. A theme I have seen repeated is how these women answer the question about role models - very often its another woman - most often a close family member.  That is not how a man in leadership would typically answer the same question. By staying close to home and family in their response, women feed into the very stereotype they are trying to avoid and overcome. How about a role model that is not a family member, met in the course of their long and illustrious careers. It could be a woman but could as well be a man who saw potential and helped nurture it - there are plenty of those around.  After a while the stories of the crusading, all conquering mother who overcame incredible odds to raise h...

The medieval advisory coming from E&Y only demonstrates how very hard it is for women for consolidate gains they have made over decades.  Organizations built and run by men tend to exhibit entrenched biases that value confidence and assertiveness in men while penalizing those traits in women; judge men based on their potential, while assessing women on what they’ve already accomplished; insist on work hours that cater to men with wives at home taking care of everything else; and, of course, ignore when women are sexually harassed ― far more often than anyone was willing to admit until very recently. The part about requiring women to have accomplished things before they can be promoted often ensures that the brightest women with the greatest potential divert most if not all of that energy into channels that result in better more guaranteed outcomes. They stop wasting time trying to prove their value to men who are ill qualified to "evaluate" them. As a result the comp...

Back to reading the Basic Writings of Bertrand Russel - this excerpt is from his essay My Mental Development As a rule, children or adults who are happy are likely to have fewer destructive passions, and therefore to need less restraint, than those who are unhappy. But I do not think that children can be made happy by being deprived of guidance, nor do I think that a sense of social obligation can be fostered if complete idleness is permitted. The question of discipline in childhood, like all other practical questions, is one of degree. Profound unhappiness and instinctive frustration is apt to produce a deep grudge against the world, issuing, sometimes by a very roundabout road, in cruelty and violence It was interesting to connect the dots here. Starting from a child who is is naturally more unhappy and restive than the rest. Per Russel, they cannot be made happy by letting them run wild and do what they want or think they want. Yet the matter of discipline as he says is a on...

Nice MIT Review article on what it may mean for kids to grow up having robot servants to do their bidding.  The big part of parenting a young child is through feedback on their demands and requests. It helps them learn rules and boundaries within which to successfully operate in society. With the likes of Siri and Alexa at the receiving end of such orders, the feedback cycle is effectively eliminated. Even worse, we trust the AI of some business optimizing for their own benefit to decide how our kids will be parented.  The author takes a positive and optimistic view of what the future holds For young kids like Hannah who can’t yet read, write, or type but can talk a mile a minute, voice-operated assistants could help build social skills and push boundaries—two things that are key to a child’s development. If nuances in the user’s tone can affect how the digital servants respond—which is not that unlikely in the near future—it’s possible that kids who use them will becom...

As a woman, do I really want my workplace to be so considerate as to s tart doling out menopause adjustment days ? The purported goal is to remove the stigma associated with it and let women deal with the awful symptoms alone at home,  The policy will support employees experiencing  menopausal symptoms  such as hot flushes, anxiety and fatigue, giving women access to flexible working arrangements and paid leave if they feel unwell because of the side-effects. The strategy, which  Channel 4  says is the first known among UK media companies, will also offer staff a private, cool and quiet workspace, a workplace assessment to ensure their environment is not worsening their symptoms and a range of support and guidance resources. It's just too bad that the andropause side of the house is left holding the bag. Maybe if you are a man of a certain age and suffer lack of energy,depression, irritability, mood swings and yes even hot flashes - that is just a sign of...

It's hard to tell what to make on this new "innovation" that comes from the Vatican . The Vatican says the device -- part of the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network -- is designed as a tech-based teaching tool for learning "how to pray the rosary for peace in the world." The corresponding app features personalized religious content, as well as health tracking info gleaned from the bracelet. It's on sale now for 99 euros ($110/£85). Its unclear how the stated goals for this thing will get accomplished. In the least, if the objective is to pray for world peace, then all people praying with the beads should be connected to each other and keep uniform pace and experience that in-synch feeling with their fellow humans. Why would that not be part of the Minimum Viable Product?  And clearly, such prayers will be coming from the very privileged. $110 is how much a really poor family might make in a month . Maybe they can just wait for the rich to pray for thei...