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Introduction

Accurately remembering names is one of the simplest yet most important components of interacting with people, no matter in what capacity. A person’s own name is the single most important word to him/her; it is intimately tied to his/her identity as an individual. How you deal with people’s names can have a profound effect on their impressions of you: Think about the times you’ve felt special when someone you admired addressed you by your name in a sincere tone; or think about the times when you’ve felt belittled when someone negligently called you by the wrong name, or worse, maliciously made fun of your name in front of you.

This article presents some tips I’ve acquired over the years with regards to remembering and using people’s names. There are many far more reputable professionals who have written about this topic, so I am not claiming that my tips are novel. However, such professional ‘human interaction gurus’ are often targeting their advice to a business-minded audience, giving tips on how to socially network, schmooze, or otherwise impress people at work. In contrast, I am writing based upon my own experiences growing up as a technically-minded kid without much in terms of schmoozing or popularity-acquiring skills, so hopefully other nerds and geeks can better relate to my advice.

Tip 1: DO remember someone’s name the FIRST time he/she tells it to you

Here is the most important tip of this article, so pay attention!

Unless you’re the Unabomber (or some other hermit living in isolation), you will have to make hundreds or even thousands of introductions to strangers throughout your lifetime. Like death and taxes, personal introductions simply cannot be avoided, so it’s wise to remember the most crucial bit of information that comes out of them: the other person’s name.

Unfortunately, most of us totally forget the other person’s name as soon as the introduction is over. Here is how a typical scenario plays out:

1. The other person says to you: “Hi, I’m Sasha”
2. You respond by presenting your own name: “Nice to meet you, Sasha. I’m Philip”
3. A split-second later, you totally forget Sasha’s name because your mind is too pre-occupied thinking about the next thing you’re going to say to carry the conversation forward, or too focused on listening to Sasha talk. Likewise, Sasha also totally forgets your name.
4. The conversation might proceed for a few minutes, and then by the time you and Sasha part ways, neither of you can remember the other’s name, but you’re both too embarrassed to ask for it again. Game over.

This has happened to me dozens of times, and it still continues to happen, although less frequently now that I’m more conscientious about remembering people’s names. The main lesson here is that if you don’t make an active effort to remember someone’s name the first time he/she tells it to you, then it’s really difficult for you to get another chance to do so.

One simple way to elide this awkwardness is to later ask a friend who knows Sasha to remind you of her name. But I feel that a better way is to try your hardest to remember names the first time around. Let’s revisit our same introduction scenario again:

1. The other person says to you: “Hi, I’m Sasha”
2. As soon as you hear her name, start repeating SASHA in your head loudly a few times — SASHA, SASHA, SASHA. If you want to practice saying it out loud a few times, ask her about her name. “Sasha, that’s spelled S-A-S-H-A?” or “Sorry, I’m not so good with names. How do you spell that?” The purpose of these questions is to simply get you and Sasha to repeat her name a few times to help you to remember. This step should only take a few seconds at most, or else it can start feeling awkward.
3. Now introduce yourself: “Nice to meet you, Sasha. I’m Philip.”
4. Unless you have something desperately urgent to say, let Sasha talk, and as you listen to what she has to say, keep associating what she says with the name SASHA. Think creatively about how you can clearly associate that name with her face. If you know someone else with the same name, try to associate that person with Sasha; or if you know some clever mnemonic or memory aid to help you remember her name, then use it, no matter how absurd it might seem.
5. When you finally part ways, mention her name to her! e.g., “Great talking to you, Sasha, I’ve gotta go meet up with my friend now.” This has the double benefit of making her feel good that you remembered her name, and also helps you reinforce her name in your head even deeper.

With some practice, you’ll notice that you will become much better at remembering people’s names, without appearing at all awkward.

Tip 2: DO make extra efforts to learn foreign-sounding or unconventional names

Most people you’ll meet will have conventional-sounding names, like Steve or Rachel (if you live in America). However, you will inevitably meet people with unconventional, foreign-sounding, or hard-to-pronounce names (with respect to your home culture). These folks are used to people forgetting or botching up their names, so you will make an extra good impression if you can accurately recall their names. It’s obviously harder for Americans to remember a name like Ramachandran than George, but that’s not an excuse for not trying.

My main advice here is to (apologetically) ask the other person to repeat and clarify how exactly to pronounce their name: “Sorry, I can’t hear too well with this noise in the background. Could you repeat how to pronounce your name?” These people are used to having to repeat or clarify their names, so they likely won’t mind, especially when you are meeting them for the first time. Don’t worry at all about how to accurately spell their names, but rather focus on making up a phonetic spelling that’s easy to remember. For a name like Chakravarty, you could think to yourself, “CHALK – AHHH – VAR – TY, rhymes with party” And when you address them by their names again, you can ask for them to repeat it a few times, with something like “Pardon, did I pronounce it correctly? I want to make sure I get it right.” At the very least, they will appreciate that you are making an effort.

Tip 3: DON’T make any remarks about people’s unconventional names

Everyone with an unconventional name probably remembers being teased as a kid in school over his/her name, so such insensitive behavior during adulthood (even if not maliciously intended) can bring back less-than-fond memories.

You risk sounding ignorant, xenophobic, and bigoted if you make dismissive or insensitive remarks about people’s names that happen to be unconventional by your local definition. For example, “Boy, those Asian names are so hard to remember! Sheesh, I can deal with Dave or Mike, but Yamamoto, damn!”. Or even something as innocuous as “Whoa, that’s pretty weird-soundin’, dude! Where did that come from?!?” Even if you don’t actively intend to be prejudiced, such statements make you sound so. This is especially true if you’re a member of the majority group, i.e., a white person in America.

Remember, in most countries, your name sounds weird!

Tip 4: DON’T call people by nicknames or alternative forms of their names if they haven’t first sanctioned it

Play it safe by always addressing someone by the exact name he/she used when introducing him/herself. Hearing someone call you by an unsanctioned nickname or name variant can be mentally jarring, since you’re simply not used to responding to it. Even worse, it shows disrespect and arrogance on the part of the caller, since he/she seems to be asserting the right to modify your own name in front of you. Someone named Robert might not want others calling him Rob or Bob or Bobby-boy, or might have reserved those variants only for use by close friends or family members.

This action becomes even more offensive and bigoted when the other person has a foreign name. For example, if you meet someone named Katsuyami but you say something like, “God damn! What a weird-soundin’ name! How ’bout I call you Kat instead? You cool with that, kid?” What a fucking insult.

Tip 5: DO use people’s names occasionally in conversation, and especially when saying hello and goodbye

Once you remember someone’s name, the great thing about using it in conversation is that it can develop better rapport (since everyone likes hearing their name) and can also help you remember it even better. Of course, it’s gratuitous and phony-sounding to preface every sentence with mention of a name, but I’ve found that you should at least use names when saying hello and goodbye to enter and exit with a pleasant impression, respectively.

Tip 6: DON’T ever call people by the wrong name

Hearing your name mispronounced can be annoying but forgivable, especially if lots of people find your name hard to pronounce, but hearing someone call you by the wrong name is always infuriating! Out of all facts that someone can possibly misremember about you (e.g., your job, college major, or ethnicity), getting your name wrong is the ultimate insult. It simply leaves a yucky visceral impression that the other person doesn’t give a damn about you.

Thus, if you’re not 100% certain that you’ve got someone’s name correct, it’s probably better not to address them by it, and instead immediately find some covert way of re-learning it (e.g., asking a friend or even apologetically asking that person to re-introduce him/herself to you).

However, don’t just give up and not make subsequent attempts at learning someone’s name just because you didn’t get it the first time around. Hearing someone call you by the wrong name is horrible, but knowing that someone most likely doesn’t know your name and isn’t willing to learn it is also fairly irritating.

Tip 7: DON’T misspell someone’s name in writing

When you are writing emails to people (or letters, if you’re old-school), the single most important word to spell correctly is their name. Typos everywhere else can be tolerated, but people will reflexively cringe if they see their names misspelled. A person sees his name in writing probably more times than any other non-trivial word, so any misspellings will immediately pop out.

Many people have misspelled my name as Phillip in emails, even when my emails to them clearly spelled it Philip; this is one of my personal pet peeves, and I can’t help but notice every single time it occurs.

A brain-dead-easy way to get someone’s name correct in writing is to simply copy-and-paste it from a previous email they have written to you; the chances of someone spelling their own name wrong is far less than you spelling it wrong!

Tip 8: DO try to learn the names of important people surrounding your conversation partner

You can build even greater rapport with someone if you can remember the names of his/her significant other, spouse, kids, or even parents. That way, instead of sounding generic with something like, “So, how is your wife’s art project going?”, you can appear more personable with, “So, how’s Deborah’s art project going?”

Don’t stress as much about these names, though, since they are less important than getting the person’s own name nailed!

[Via - Lifehacker]

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Osmania University was founded by the Nizam Nawab on principles of Muslim brotherhood. But the real backdrop was hatred towards Hindus. In the early 1900s, on religious occasions Hindu students were not even allowed to gather on campus. The only worship allowed by Hindu students was in their own hostel rooms. (Today, this culture is still in practice in most Islamic Republics). In essence, Hindus were second class citizens on OU campus in those days.

When Vandemataram movement was in full swing, the VC banned uttering the word ‘Vandemataram’ on campus. They even put some people in jail for violating this ban – one among them was our own former prime minister, Sri PV Narasimharao.

Despite this checkered past – in the late 60s OU alumni was one of the most elite in the nation. In fact, at one point three sitting CMs were OU alumni.

Fast forward to early 1970s – students who were from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema region were mobbed, beaten and threatened to death by the then Telangana separatists. A lot of students and employees from the two regions were expatriated to colleges and positions in the other regions. Talk about being second-class citizens in their own state.

Thugs and goondas have populated the ranks for student roster in the 70s. Anecdotal stories of  several students taking examinations with a knife display were in circulation. All this raucous led to several employers having a footnote in their job announcements in papers: “Candidates from the Osmania University need not apply.”

Now the history is repeating itself. Thuggery and hate is back in full-force at OU. And this is all done at the behest of JAC!!! [From TeluguOne]

హైదరాబాద్: ఉస్మానియా విశ్వవిద్యాలయంలో జరుగుతున్న బి.ఇడి. స్పాట్ వాల్యూయేషన్‌ను ఉస్మానియా జె.ఎ.సి. అడ్డుకున్నది. కొందరు అధ్యాపకులను విద్యార్థులు తరిమికొట్టారు. అధ్యాపకుల చేతిలో ఉన్న పేపర్లను కూడా వారు లాక్కున్నారు. అంతటితో సీమాంధ్ర అధ్యాపకులు భయంతో అటు ఇటు పరుగులు తీశారు.
ఈ దాడి గురించి గవర్నర్ నరసింహన్ అసలు ఏమి జరిగిందని వైస్ ఛాన్సలర్ వాకబు చేసి తెలుసుకున్నారు. సీమాంధ్ర అధ్యాపకులు తక్షణం వెనుకకు వెళ్లాలని జె.ఎ.సి. కోరింది. ఆంధ్ర ప్రాంత అధ్యాపకులతో పేపర్లు దిద్దించరాదంటూ ఉస్మానియా జె.ఎ.సి. నినాదాలు కూడా చేసింది. సీమాంధ్ర అధ్యాపకులు తెలంగాణా విద్యార్థుల మనోభావాలను దెబ్బ తీశారని జె.ఎ.సి. నాయకులు ఆరోపించారు. సీమాంధ్ర అధ్యాపకులు ఈ నెల 30 వ తేదీలోగా వెనుదిరిగి వెళ్లాలని జె.ఎ.సి. కోరింది. వారిని వెనుకకు పంపించకపోతే ఉద్యమాన్ని తీవ్రం చేస్తామని ఉస్మానియా జె.ఎ.సి. హెచ్చరించింది.

స్థానిక అధ్యాపకులతోనే పేపర్లు దిద్దించాలని, లేకపోతే తెలంగాణా విద్యార్ధులకు అన్యాయం జరుగుతుందని జె.ఎ.సి. ఆరోపించింది. అధ్యాపకులపై జరిగిన దాడిని సమైక్యాంధ్ర టీచర్స్ సమాఖ్య ఖండించింది. అధ్యాపకులకు తెలంగాణా అని, సీమాంధ్ర అనీ వివక్ష ఉండదని వారు వివరించారు. పేపర్లు దిద్దే విషయంలో డీ కోడింగు జరుగుతుంది కాబట్టి ఏ పేపరు ఎవరిది అన్నది ఎవరికీ తెలియదని, అటువంటప్పుడు సీమాంధ్ర అధ్యాపకులు తెలంగాణా విద్యార్ధులకు అన్యాయం ఎలా చేస్తారని వారు ప్రశ్నించారు. ఇప్పటివరకూ అన్నదమ్ముల్లా విడిపోదామంటున్న తెలంగాణా ఉద్యమ నాయకులు ఇప్పుడు అధ్యాపకులపై జె.ఎ.సి. దాడి చేయడాన్ని ఎలా సమర్ధించుకుంటారని వారు ప్రశ్నించారు. ఒక అధ్యాపకుడై ఉండి జె.ఎ.సి. నాయకుడు ప్రొఫెసర్ కోదండరామ్ తోటి అధ్యాపకులపై దాడి జరుగుతుంటే ఏం చేస్తున్నారని, ఆయన తక్షణం తన పదవికి రాజీనామా చేయాలని వారు కోరారు.

Excuse me, if this is not an act of terrorism, what  is?

In essence, now the students, faculty and staff from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema are not only second-class citizens on OU campus, but are also target of hate!

I am wondering aloud if good ole days of “candidates from OU need not apply” will be back!

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I have been looking for a full frame DSLR and ended up buying Nikon D700.  It is expensive but after looking at my pictures, its totally worth it. Shooting at 1250 ISO and look at these samples. Shot all these with 50mm 1.8 lens. With other cameras I was not able to go beyond 400 and if I need to, ended always with flash. All the below pictures are with out flash and at 1250 ISO. Will share more soon.

No post processing done to any of these pics and all are just out of camera.

[View with PicLens]

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I drafter this several weeks ago. Just lacked finishing touches and hence delayed posting.

A Goldman Sachs employee (probably a trader) wrote a strong blog post/e-mail chastising the populist anger on Wall Street. In that he not only lamented the populist anger, but challenged the folks on “main street” to be ready for the invasion by Wall Streeters.

FT-Alphaville Published his full original article. Excerpts

Being a big fan of the History Channel, I have seen about 3 zillion specials concerning the demise of the Dinosaurs. Some people theorize that it was meteor strike that set in motion the cataclysmic events. While others postulate global warming, ice ages, cosmic gas, alien invasions, red algae, and everything else imaginable.

In general I feel that this concept of constantly reexamining past events ad nauseam is one of the things that is destroying our country. We spend billions of dollars studying events, looking for secret and fascinating answers when usually the truth is simple. Trillions and trillions go to prove cigarettes cause cancer while the tobacco companies knew it Ummm no shit. We study every angle possible from the grassy knoll, why the Bay of Pigs was a disaster, were Washington’s teeth ivory or wood, why the Muslims hate us, etc etc.

Then of course we find out what happened, and then we apologize as an entire country. Slavery, relocation of the Native Americans, taking Iranian oil in order to fuel our tanks in WW2, we say sorry for it all now like we are in the “make amends” stage of AA. You also have the a-holes that come up with insane theories even though we all saw it happen in our life times and know the truth. Like king a-hole himself Charlie Sheen, who blames George Bush for blowing up the World Trade Center and Pentagon, even though we all saw Islamic extremists fly planes into the buildings, and they have admitted doing it proudly. (Um Charlie if a plane didn’t fly into the Pentagon, what happened to all the people on board that supposedly flew into it?). 50 years ago Americans would have hung Charlie by his nuts from a post, but now we are so soft that we just watch his TV show. That’s why the slogan “Never Forget” makes me laugh, we have already forgotten.

I’m getting away from my point here which is; as a culture we love to go over history with a fine tooth comb. You are already hearing that “The Age of Wall Street” is over. Bankers and traders are already being compared to dinosaurs. Networks, papers and politicians are already predicting we be extinct in the next decade. You can almost hear the joy in Keith Obermanns voice as he says Joe Main Street is taking back America and evil corporate America is on its way out. I say be careful what you wish for, cause unlike the dinosaurs we are not going out without a fight.

Certainly things aren’t rosy on Wall Street. Our President accuses us of reckless behavior, Congress calls for oversight and salary caps, and commissions and compensation are down throughout our universe. If the socialist agenda gets its way we might very well be extinct and go the way of the dinosaur. Before the Discovery channel starts production of its “10 possible reasons why” show, lets take a step back. My argument is that we are just doing what we were bred to do. We were trained from day one to “think outside the box” and have “breadth of vision” right? We were trained to come up with ways to make money for our firms and were rewarded for it. So when the regulators made that impossible in the Equities market, we found different instruments to trade. Maybe we didn’t know the ins and outs of credit default swaps, the same way we knew what INTC’s capex number meant to the semi-cap equipment space, but there was a vig in it.

We are traders, it’s our job to make money. Whether it is a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn’t matter. We would trade baseball cards if it was profitable. I didn’t hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 12,000 and everyone’s 401k doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, its not a problem until you lose. I have never heard of anyone going to Gamblers anonymous because they won too much in Vegas. Well now that the market crapped out, the government and the average Joes are looking for a scapegoat to blame. God knows there has to be one for everything. Well here we are.

Go ahead and take us down, cause you are only going to hurt yourselves. What is going to happen when we can’t find jobs on the street anymore? Guess what, we are going to take yours. We get up at 5am and go out after work till 10pm. We are used to not getting up to piss when we have a position. We don’t take and hour lunch break. We don’t demand a union. We don’t retire at 50 with a pension. We eat what we kill, and when the only thing left to eat is on your dinner plates we are going to devour them.

For years teachers and unionize labor has had us fooled. We were too busy working to notice. Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping? We are going to take your cushy jobs with tenure and 4 months off a year and whine just like you that we are sooooo underpaid for building the youth of America. Say good bye to your overtime and double time and a half. I’ll be hitting grounders to the high school baseball team for 5k extra a summer, thank you very much. So now that we are going to be making 85k a year without upside, Joe main street is going to have his revenge right? Wrong.

Guess what, we are going to stop buying the new 65k car, we aren’t going to leave the 35% tip at our business dinners anymore, no more free rides on our backs. We are going to landscape our own back yards, wash our cars in with a garden hose on our drive ways. Our money was your money, cause we spent it. Difference is you lived off of it, we rejoiced in it. The Obama administration and Democratic National Committee might get there way and knock us off the top of the pyramid, but its really going to hurt like hell for them when our fat asses land directly on the middle class of America and knock them to the bottom. We aren’t dinosaurs. We are smarter and more vicious than them, and we are going to survive. The question is, now that Obama is making Joe Main street our food supply will they?

This guy must think that those who don’t work on Wall Street or those who don’t have an Ivy League MBA are incompetent and are on Welfare. (Of course, I am exaggerating!) It is true that a lot of smart and ambitious go to work on Wall Street. That doesn’t make the others wusses.

Excommunicated from the US of A (Fair warning – there is a lot of objectionable content at that site).

I would guess that it started around the time the catchy phrase “Wall Street vs Main Street” was invented by some up and coming political speech writer.   Maybe it was born when the Democratic party decided to change the agenda and the direction of this great land.   When liberals decided to concentrate their land grab on the domestic home front instead of foreign shores.   Territories in Iraq and Afghanistan were replaced by the government take over of the health care, education, automotive, welfare, and finally financial industries.   Like any enemy combatant that came before us we were called by a generic term which would lump us together and given a face that would represent loathing to the populus.  The terms; Jap, Nazi, Islamic fundamentalist, and Axis of Evil were joined by Wall Street.   On the Mount Rushmore of infamy the faces of Hitler, Osama Bin Ladin, and Saddam Hussein, are now fully adjacent to Bernie Madoff and if the government gets its way Lloyd Blankfein.

Clearly, this guy is resentful of democrats and is making a political statement and trying to give us a fake “objective” cover. The anger against Wall Street cuts across all populace – Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians.

That however is not my point,  the allegations against the people that work in our industry are simply untrue and ridiculous. The hundreds of thousands if not millions who make their living working in finance are every bit as American and “Main Street” as the rest of the country.   The fact that the President and Democratic run Congress are now trying to demonize us  only shows what depths they will reach in  order to achieve their goals.  Nothing is more dangerous to a Socialist agenda than the free thinking and industrial attitudes that perpetuate throughout WallStreet and Capitalism. Finance reform is just a fancy name for the lobotomy that Obama and Barney Frank are about to give the country.  A docile and dulled patient is more easily cared for and handled.   The hypocrisy of it all is that just like any other sector, religion, or race we are too broad to be easily painted with a narrow brush.   We are the upper, middle, and lower class.   We have the same faults and redeeming qualities you would get from any other group of Americans you threw together.   I guess the liberals and President think it’s ok to generalize and stereotype the people on Wall Street, which runs in direct contrast to their high and mighty moral persona which they love to flaunt.   Obama can ask Goldman Sachs when is enough money enough, and then in the next sentence send a “shout out” to his friend Oprah Winfrey for signing a 100 million dollar deal with Procter and Gamble.   Our own government has decided that they want us out of  their New World.   We are being excommunicated and executed for crimes we did not commit.

He is calling the “liberals” and “democrats” hypocrites.

There are a million things in my life that I have to live with that aren’t ideal.  All are direct consequences of my own mistakes and decisions.  Lord knows I have my share of vices and walks on the dark side.   I regret none of it, but none the less they  are things I have to deal with.   I have a daily 4 hour commute  to make a living.   An ex-wife hell bent on making me pay forever for being a terrible husband.   2 dogs on their way out that I need to care for.  25 dollars in tolls.   Ridiculous property taxes in the state of N.J.   Missing my ex girlfriend who went back to her husband.   Paying more taxes than your average union, state or city worker.   No pension and at this point.. no 401k.  Cranky customers that want to make me miserable because they are in the same boat.  Trading for pennies.   Etc Etc Etc, I think you get the point.

Something has been pricking this guy. “Lord knows I have my share of vices and walks on the dark side.” Huh. What would that be?

There are a million things in my life that I have to live with that aren’t ideal.  All are direct consequences of my own mistakes and decisions.  Lord knows I have my share of vices and walks on the dark side.   I regret none of it, but none the less they  are things I have to deal with.   I have a daily 4 hour commute  to make a living.   An ex-wife hell bent on making me pay forever for being a terrible husband.   2 dogs on their way out that I need to care for.  25 dollars in tolls.   Ridiculous property taxes in the state of N.J.   Missing my ex girlfriend who went back to her husband.   Paying more taxes than your average union, state or city worker.   No pension and at this point.. no 401k.  Cranky customers that want to make me miserable because they are in the same boat.  Trading for pennies.   Etc Etc Etc, I think you get the point.

Related posts:

1. United States of Communist America
2. Boycotting Big Banks
3. Wall Street 2 is Coming. I Love it Already!

Yet, the Home Minister of one of the most powerful countries in the world, yielded to a man who was on a phony fast and was not in any imminent health danger and who in fact was eager to give up his fast even if the central government winked at him.

Instead of diffusing the crisis in A.P., what did our esteemed Home Minister do? He found an opportune moment when two senior most leaders Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee, known for their prudence and wisdom, were out of the country. On December 9^th he pressured Sonia Gandhi, despite her reservations about a hasty decision being forced on her in the middle of the night, that unless she agrees to split the State, Andhra Pradesh will go up in flames. The intelligence report allegedly sent by the State authorities sympathetic to separatists came in handy to impress upon her.

In 1937 C. Rajagopalachari became the Chief Minister of Madras. He skillfully managed to divide Telugus by giving the ministerial posts to Kosta telugus and none to Rayalaseema leaders. It took a great deal of effort and signing of Sribagh pact to undo the damage done to Telugu unity by Rajagopalachari. In 1949 as Governor General, Rajagopalachari visited Hyderabad and publicly stated that he is opposed to the division of Hyderabad State, which re-energized Telugus to fight for Vishalandhra. Later on in December 1952, after Potti Sriramulu’s death, Justice Wachoo recommended making Madras the temporary capital of Telugus. Rajagopalachari threatened Nehru with his resignation and ensured that Madras was robbed from us.

Home Minister Chidambaram, like C. Rajagopalachari, is playing a spoil sport with Telugus. In an article written for Indian Express May 18, 2003, Chidambaram wrote: “In my view, there is a strong case for the creation of…Telangana (out of Andhra Pradesh, population 7.57 crore).”

While Andhra Pradesh is the 5^th largest State in India, Tamilnadu happens to be the 6^th largest State in the country with over 6 crores population. Yet, when PMK leader Ramadoss, in light of Chidambaram’s December 9^th announcement to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, demanded similar bifurcation of Tamilnadu, Home Minister termed the demand as “meaningless and absurd” and said that the idea should be nipped in the bud.

When it came to division of his home State, the Home Minister reacted emotionally almost in a knee-jerk fashion. Yet when it came to Andhra Pradesh he took advantage of every excuse to enable the division of Telugu people. He didn’t even bother to consult the cabinet, the parliament, nor the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly before eagerly and unilaterally announcing the decision to divide the State of Andhra Pradesh.

Chidambaram’s follies are not confined to Andhra Pradesh. Under his leadership Naxals are going on a rampage. Media has been idolizing Chidambaram as a Sardar Patel’s reincarnation. Looks like that got into our Home Minister’s head.

Our Patel wannabe Home Minister started “Operation Green Hunt” on Naxalites. He rolled in Central Reserve Police Force and Commando Battalion for Resolute Action against Naxals. What are the results of his high-profile offensive so far? 25 policemen killed in West Bengal, 76 CRPF and policemen killed in an ambush in Dantewada Chattisgarh, and another 26 CRPF men killed this week in Narayanpur district in Chattisgarh.

Home Minister Chidambaram should learn a lesson or two from late YSR. Andhra Pradesh was one of the worst Naxal affected States in the country. YSR didn’t indulge in any major “operations” or threatened to bring aircrafts to tackle Naxalites. He initiated developmental activities in Naxal infested areas. He strengthened the intelligence network, and empowered the police to do their job. This has effectively halted Naxal menace in the state. YSR didn’t make tall claims, nor held weekly press conferences, nor did he ever celebrate victory over Naxals.

If this is not enough, it is widely believed that the Home Minister played a chief role in the recent conflict between Manipur and Nagaland, wherein Nagas have blocked NH 39 and NH53 access for 65 days. This effectively denied the rest of the North Eastern States basic commodities like fuel, baby food, and medicine. It is widely believed that it is the Home Minister who opened the North East’s pandora’s box.

Home Minister Chidambaram during his brief stint has done enough damage to our nation through his actions. Under his leadership, Andhra Pradesh in the South, Kashmir in the North, and Nagaland, Manipur in the North East have gone up in flames. I hope the leadership of this country will wake up from its slumber and relieve Chidambaram from his public duties.

Save Andhra Pradesh!

Nalamotu Chakravarthy

http://www.myteluguroots.com

http://www.facebook.com/people/@/226703252445

http://twitter.com/nalamotu

http://www.amazon.com/My-Telugu-Roots-Telangana-Bhasmasura/dp/0984238603/

Related posts:

1. My Letter to Sri Krishna Committee
2. Nizam Telangana State Demand is NOT Over 50 Years Old
3. Why Telugu Land is Called Andhra Pradesh? (Restored)

Here is the Tech summary for the geeks.
The processor A4 is the same one used by the iPad.
It has dual mic and dual camera.
The metal casing is actually an Antenna ( two Antennas in fact separated by a cut).
Apple combined the three chips into one (the ARM Cortex CPU + the video GPU + and the RAM ).
WiFi is 802.11n
You can create folders and organize the apps.
You can do multi tasking by pressing the home button twice.
Bing is added as a search provider along with google and yahoo.

Here is summary for the non geeks

The phone is ridiculously thinner than previous iPhone , probably the thinnest phone on earth.
The display is better.
The battery can get you thru a working day.
You can take photos in low light.
You can record HD video.
And you can make video calls with another iPhone 4 using WiFi.

So what do you think of the phone? Are you buying it ? What other phones are on you mind ? What are the most important features to you ? Are you affected by ATT recent data plans charges ?
Comments please ?

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I know Mohan Garu often talks about how he disagrees with Ayn Rand.

Figured I post an Ayn Rand interview where you can see the personal side of Rand. She talks about Jimmy Carter, Aristotle, Plato, self-interest, charity, evils of sacrifice, middle-east oil, religion, atheism, god, and her husband who had just passed away. You get to see a rare personal side of Rand in the interview where she says she would die for her husband.

Ayn Rand Interview with Donahue-1

Ayn Rand Interview with Donahue-2

Ayn Rand Interview with Donahue-3

Ayn Rand Interview with Donahue-4

Ayn Rand Interview with Donahue-5

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I’m around a lot of studying. When I walk through the lobby of the Psychology building at Texas, I often see a few students on benches reading over their notes. A trip to the library requires navigating a sea of students at tables and carrels deep in study. Then, when I go home, I have three teens who are usually engaged in some kind of studying.

One thing you can say about studying. It sure is quiet.

Now, there are good practical reasons to want to be quiet while studying. If you’re in a public place, it would be disruptive to the people around you to start talking. Plus, if you are talking to yourself, that would look more than a little odd. Even at home, you may begin to think you have lost your marbles if you start muttering to yourself while studying.

A paper by Colin MacLeod, Nigel Gopie, Kathleen Hourihan, Karen Neary, and Jason Ozubko in the May, 2010 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, suggests that every once in a while, it might not be a bad idea if you talked a bit while studying.

In this paper, these researchers document what they call the production effect. They looked at people’s memory for items like a list of words. They found that if people studied the list by reading half of the words silently and the other half by saying the words out loud, that he words spoken aloud were remembered much better than those that were read silently.

Now, it isn’t that just reading things aloud helps, because people who read all of the items on the list aloud were no better at remembering the items than the people who read them all silently. And both of these groups remembered the words more poorly than the words that were read aloud by the people who did half the list silently and the other half aloud.

So, what is going on here?

One of the things that is known to help memory is distinctiveness. We tend to remember oddballs pretty well. An experimental example of this idea is the Von Restorff effect. If you study a list of words where all but one are birds and the remaining item is a sport, you are much more likely to remember the oddball than to remember any particular one of the birds. More commonly, when you meet up years later with friends from grade school, everyone remembers the names of the kids who were different from the crowd in some way. (If you discover that everyone from grade school remembers you, then you were probably the one who was different.)

[Via - Psycology Today]

[Read More]

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[Via Engadget]

08:10PT Ah, got to love those change of plans — we’re now re-waiting for the magic gates to open. Should be any moment now judging by this Viking we’re standing by and his glaring impatience.

Yesterday’s Google I/O keynote brought about a number of big newsbits — a Chrome web app store, the open WebM video format, and so forth — but even more tantalizing were Vic Gundotra’s not-so-subtle hints at some major announcements coming at today’s keynote. Will we finally get some details on Android’s latest updates on the food roadmap?

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Going by the recent wave of separatist violence, KCR might not be making empty threats. Separatist thuggery will most likely resume post December, 2010. The real question is- how will the integrationists respond to these threats of violence?

The State Government’s pusillanimous handling of the recent spate of violence reinforced separatists’ view, that force is the best tool to achieve their jingoistic goals. Complement that with the leftist militant ideology that crept into the movement. Further complement that with the Central Government’s bowing to the pea-sized pressure brought on by KCR’s supposed indefinite hunger strike.

Government’s failure to stamp down violence has encouraged the separatists to a point where they are now making open threats of a civil war.

So, what is the integrationists’ response to the threats of violence going to be? Will the Samaikya Vaadhis at last wake up from their slumber and form a formidable organization that can stand up to the separatist might?

Throughout the current separatist movement, integrationist leaders have adopted a strategy of appeasement. Threats and acts of violence were mostly ignored or downplayed. Integrationists opined that standing up to the separatists will further incite them and will only exacerbate the situation.

If history is any guide, a bully cannot be reasoned. Gandhi’s philosophy of peace would not have worked against a fascist like Hitler. Pakistan can only be reasoned from a position of strength. KCR’s threats of violence can only be dealt with a credible response of self-defense.

In a civil society no man has a right to physically assault another man, unless such an assault is expressly granted by a court of law. A man cannot assault his foe. A husband cannot assault his wife. A parent cannot assault a child. A police officer cannot assault a criminal. A mob cannot lynch a reckless driver. A separatist cannot assault an integrationist and vice-versa.

Unprovoked physical assault is the most egregious crime a man can commit. Physical assault is not only a criminal offense, but it is the most immoral act a man can commit. If our creator were to maintain a list of man’s most immoral acts, physical assault on life will top that list.

However, there is another important aspect to the philosophy of life. While physical assault is immoral and criminal, we men also have a solemn responsibility to defend our lives. Life is a god given gift and self-defense is every man’s fundamental right.

What is self-defense? Where does government promised security to its citizens fit in this scheme of self-defense? Isn’t it the role of government to protect its citizens when they are under assault? If citizens take law into their hands, wouldn’t there be chaos all around?

One may claim that a society where people are defending themselves will quickly get out of hand. However, evidence shows otherwise. People have died by millions when they failed to defend themselves- whether it is the 6 million Jews that died during the second world war, or the 800,000 Tutsis that were killed in mere 100 days in Rwanda, or nearly a third of Cambodia’s population of 2.5 million killed by Khmer Rouge, or a conservative estimate of 20 million killed by the Communists in the Soviet Union.

I am not suggesting that we answer separatist violence with more violence. I am urging for a credible self-defense. When attacked, be prepared to defend yourself and that includes assaulting your attacker. Most civilized nations, including India, grants its citizens the right to self-defense.

In a self-defense case, Supreme Court Justice D K Jain ruled: “When an individual or his property is faced with a danger and immediate aid from state machinery is not readily available, that individual is entitled to protect himself and his property.”

If you assault a man without provocation- you are a criminal. On the other hand, if you defend yourself when assaulted- you are a model citizen and a moral human being.

Hyderabad and Rangareddi together have nearly 80 lakh people. There are less than twenty thousand police in the city to protect millions of residents. If KCR acts on his desire to see the Musi River turn red, there just won’t be enough cops to protect everyone.

It is time for people in communities to start thinking about how they would defend themselves. It is high time integrationists start responding to the separatist vitriol. It is way past time integrationists build an organization that can stand toe-to-toe against the hate-mongering separatists.

The separatist movement should be fought by the integrationists with conviction. Every false allegation made by the separatists must be answered. Every caustic remark must receive a fitting reply. Every separatist assault must be stopped.

If KCR, as promised, unleashes his bloodthirsty civil war machinery- a sneak preview of which we’ve already seen after December 9^th- are the integrationists ready to defend themselves?

Save Andhra Pradesh!

Nalamotu Chakravarthy

http://www.myteluguroots.com

http://www.facebook.com/people/@/226703252445

http://twitter.com/nalamotu

http://www.amazon.com/My-Telugu-Roots-Telangana-Bhasmasura/dp/0984238603/

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2. Whose Hyderabad is it?
3. GO 610 and the Job Looters

Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer

Sometimes, the news makes me cringe.  I don’t know how many of you have read about Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070.  This legislation was recently passed, making it legal for the police to stop people and demand a verification of immigration status.  The motivation behind this bill is to find immigrants who are in this country illegally, thus attempting to solve the problem of having so many illegal immigrants.

The reaction to the legislation has been very strong.  There are people who are violently for it and people who are violently against it.  I saw such a wide range of opinions on this issue that I decided to sit down and actually take a look at the bill.  I understand the intent of the bill, which is to ensure that federal immigration laws are actually enforced, but I think that the Arizona legislature is going about things poorly.

There are some interesting arguments in support of the bill.  People insist that the bill is not unconstitutional and that it is just meant to enforce the laws that are already in place.  They say that illegal immigrants should not be in this country, so it is not a big issue that the authorities are trying to find them.  Illegal immigrants do not have to pay taxes or support the system in the same ways that legal residents do, yet they reap the benefits of the system.  The validity of these points can be debated, but that is not the question at hand here.  I think the majority of Americans would agree that illegal immigration is a problem and that it needs to be fixed.  However, the end does not justify the means.  The solution to the problem should be constitutional.

People may ask, “how hard is it to carry your green card?”  Well, let’s think about it.  How many of us carry around proof of our immigration status on a daily basis?  I know that I don’t carry my passport anywhere with me.  If I was asked to verify my immigration status on my way to school, I doubt I could do it, even if I am an American citizen.

Opponents of the bill argue that it is legalizing racial profiling.  The legislation is written in a way that makes it possible for law enforcement officers to demand an immigration check of whomever they want.  The bill states that “a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person” when “reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States.”  I’d like to direct your attention to the phrase “reasonable suspicion.”  A reasonable suspicion can be just about anything.  It can be interpreted to mean that racial profiling is acceptable or not.  Ideological arguments aside, I think it’s poor legislation to write a directive so vague.

The legislation also says that officials are allowed to send, receive, and maintain whatever information they like in order to verify a person’s immigration status.  I find it interesting that so many conservatives who spoke out against things like health care reform because it meant “big government” are in support of this legislation.  Per this legislation, the government is allowed to maintain whatever information it desires.  How is that not big government?

Lastly, I find a serious problem with the following article of the legislation: “A law enforcement officer, without a warrant, may arrest a person if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has committed any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States.”  This clause is on shaky ground with the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  According to the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement officers can seize a person if there is a reasonable suspicion that they have committed a crime.  Being an illegal immigrant can technically be considered a crime, but how does one determine the probability that someone is an illegal immigrant?  Here, the racial profiling argument comes back into play.  I doubt that Arizona police are going to stop Caucasians to see if they are illegal Polish immigrants.  They will be stopping people who look like illegal Mexican immigrants.  It is true that the majority of illegal immigrants in Arizona are likely to be from Mexico, but that does not make it constitutional to say that anyone with dark skin or anyone who “looks Mexican” can reasonably be thought to be an illegal immigrant.  People who argue that this is not racial profiling do not really have an argument.

This legislation is currently a very inflammatory topic.  News outlets and Internet media make all sorts of claims as to what this bill says and what it means.  I encourage everyone to read the actual document and form an opinion that is minimally influenced by media distortions.  After reading the bill, my opinion is that it is ridiculous.  The language is so vague that anyone in Arizona can be criminalized by it, and unfortunately it is a group of people with certain external characteristics that will suffer from it.  Those who say that opponents of the bill support illegal immigration are making a ridiculous claim.  The majority of Americans would like to see a resolution to the problems with the immigration system.  However, this is certainly not the way to do it.  This bill is unconstitutional, in spirit if not in letter, and I sincerely hope that it will be redacted before it goes into effect.  I agree with our president that the bill “undermines basic notions of fairness,” and I think that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer made a grievous mistaking in signing it into law.

For those of us who do not live in Arizona, why should we care?  If standing up for the principles of justice is not enough, think about this.  Not only is the bill unjust, it has created a heated debate in our society about immigration reform, and with all of this uproar, I doubt that our country will be able to take any meaningful steps towards real reform in the near future.  As the daughter of immigrants, I think that straightening out the immigration system is an urgent necessity to ensure that those who came to this country and worked hard to succeed do not suffer the consequences of a broken system.  Immigration reform is one of the hottest issues in politics and it is certainly one that needs to be resolved sooner than later.  This bill makes moving toward resolution less likely, thus ensuring that the problems associated with illegal immigration will continue to affect our society.

Related posts:

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2. Boycott Arizona
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First a little background on my stock market experience

All these years I observed one thing: Markets are not efficient. Period. They are heavily manipulated by the big money interests – investment banks and large hedge funds. Even with this knowledge, I was able to profitably navigate the market. There was occasional intervention in the markets by the government during Asian contagion, LTCM crisis, and 9/11. Now it is more open and a daily event. As with many, when government tinkers with whatever is left of free-markets, it is nearly impossible to value things either on fundamental or technical basis. That is the dilemma I am in now.

I frequently get asked to give an opinion on individual stocks or advise on investments. I try to avoid doing that completely. In my 15-year blogging experience, I have talked more about markets in general and individual several stocks in particular. However, for about a year I completely stopped talking about markets. For, after nearly 18 years of stellar record, since March 09  I am not able to gauge the markets – meaning, I have been very wrong since March 09. For instance, two months ago I said on this board about “warning shots” and possible decline. That almost was a contrarian indicator. For the next eight weeks, the markets were up – almost on a daily basis. While I admit being totally wrong, this type of market behavior is bizarre. I guess that is what will happen when the government blesses large market participants with an assurance that they won’t let the markets fall. If the markets were to be ‘free-wheeling’ they will not and should not go straight up or down. The wheel is rigged.

Currently I myself am in a time-out mode. Even when I talked about stocks and markets, whatever little advise I dispensed was to some close friends only.

I don’t give advise for various reasons:

1. I am not a licensed investment adviser
2. I shudder at the thought of being responsible for someone else’ losses.

Here are a couple of good calls I made in the past (check dates):

• The week before Lehman filed for bankruptcy: September 11, 2008: Game Over

  Game over. With this LEH bailout news I think We will see a major Crash next week. If not next week, the week of options expiry in October.Point swings/trading range in S&P this week:
  Monday: 33 points (37 points with the gap)
  Tuesday: 44 points (45 points with the gap)
  Wednesday: 22 points
  Thursday: 38 points

  These are huge percentage moves for S&P 500. These swings are indicative of a major move immediately ahead of us – possibly next week. Up? or Down? I think down.

• October 05, 2008 – Get ready for Jaw Dropping Action in Markets

  • Bottomline:The picture looks really, really bleak. Massive coordinated effort to save banks and markets could begin as early as Monday. Treasuries are indicating a 50-75 bps interest rate cut. Don’t go overboard with shorts because a massive short-squeeze may be (will be) orchestrated with a global coordinated effort. On the other side of the trade are the most powerful Central Banks in the world, the governments of major countries in the world. Expect manipulation and rule changes as it unfolds. Remember that you are no match to them.

    Chances are, most of the people who are correctly bearish for the right reasons can and will lose a lot of money in this market. I am trying to be not one of them. I have the following guiding principles:

    1. I want to protect my capital (sell and ask questions later)
    2. Couple of years worth of moves will occur in hours. I want to try to take advantage of the situation. But, I won’t hesitate to take quick profits

Now for the list of bad calls – More than half a dozen bad calls since March 2009.  The bottomline is this: I was more wrong than right in the last 1 1/2 years;

Current Market Outlook

As of today’s data, I believe that the world stock markets are heading towards a steep correction in the next 3 months.  My analysis is mainly based on published sentiment indicators, some anecdotes and early signs of credit market dislocations. FYI, Greece problems have not gone away. If anything, Greece’s credit problems got worse. Now, we are beginning to see a surge in CDS premiums for Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

If I were long stocks, any stocks, I would get out NOW. To be conservative, I would be in full cash.

In the interest of full disclosure, For several months I am either in full cash or short US financial institutions. I am warming up to short the market even more. Also, I have had fairly good success with trading and investing in the past. But, I also managed to a lot of foolish things and lose big.

caveat emptor.

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2. Get out… NOW!
3. Obama’s Words Didn’t Cause the Market Slide This Week

The Myth Propagated by the Intolerant Right that Doesn't Want itself to be Identified with Hitler

During our debate last week, in a reference to the following depiction of political ideology (by Jesse) Chakravarthy said, “Hitler is a leftist. Socialist is in his party’s name.”

My immediate reaction to Chakravarthy’s comment was to laugh out loud. I won’t let these kinds of myths and assertions to pass for facts, which is why I am posting this.

Twenty years ago I bought and read a classic book, “The Rise and Fall of Third Reich” by William Shirer. I dusted it today and hit the internet to respond to Chakravarthy, who essentially reasserted a common myth among right wingers. (BTW, Shirer is a fascinating read – I highly recommend it.)

Yes the word “socialist” is in the name of Nazi party. National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDP, 1933-1945) is the official name of the Nazi party. Let us look at the actions of Nazis and put them where they belong in Jesse’s ideological continuum.

——————-

I started writing this article by referring to Shrier and quickly realized that there is an excellent article on the web that has already debunked this myth. Why duplicate? Here is an excerpt that squarely puts Hitler where he belongs – “on the extreme right:”

Most people’s political beliefs are complex, and cannot be neatly pigeonholed. This is as true of Hitler as anyone. But since the far right is trying peg Hitler as a leftist, it’s worth reviewing the tenets popularly associated with the right. These include:

• Individualism over collectivism.
• Racism or racial segregation over racial tolerance.
• Eugenics over freedom of reproduction.
• Merit over equality.
• Competition over cooperation.
• Power politics and militarism over pacifism.
• One-person rule or self-rule over democracy.
• Capitalism over Marxism.
• Realism over idealism.
• Nationalism over internationalism.
• Exclusiveness over inclusiveness.
• Meat-eating over vegetarianism.
• Gun ownership over gun control
• Common sense over theory or science.
• Pragmatism over principle
• Religion over secularism

Going by party name if one believes that Hitler is a socialist, it is naïve at best and stupid at the worst. It is like believing that there is freedom in “freedom fries” (which is another silly reaction by right-wing nuts to France’s non-participation in Iraq war.)

PS:

“Hitler is a socialist” is a myth propagated by the far right and put in the right-wing noise machine by the likes of Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and believed by ditto-heads. I personally believe that these two guys are extreme nut cases who are not just intolerant bigots – they always lie and distort facts. They are entertainers, nevertheless. Not to mention very articulate and convincing entertainers!

Of course, if any one believes that they make sense, I cannot and will not hold it against that person. It is not just because it is an individual right to believe what one thinks makes the most sense to him/her. It is also because, till some 13 years ago Rush did make sense to me. O’Rielly did make sense to me. The right wingers did make sense to me. It took a lot more reading and observation to realize how phony and hypocritical these guys are. If it sounds like I am ridiculing anybody for believing these nuts, you should also note that I am ridiculing myself from 13 years ago.

Related posts:

1. “Goldmen” – They are Everywhere
2. Income by Religion: Where do Hindus Stand?
3. Free Markets, My Foot!

When there are more than a dozen news papers, competition is sure to exist and stories like these are evidence of the cut-throat competition that exists among the print media houses. But in this instance, with newspapers bashing each other, competition has turned ugly. If you can read telugu, you can find the articles here and here.

Competition or not, I would like to specifically point out one thing, the caste-ism card played by Surya newspaper. One doesn’t need an outstanding IQ to guess why this issue is being tied with caste. It was an absolutely shameless act. As a journalist, one cannot fall further. This is what I consider as the lowest quality of journalism. These kind of practices, even when used as a last resort for the very survival of a newspaper, are just plain wrong.

It is obvious that one of the newspapers is lying which raises an important question. As a common man who wants a truthful and honest source of news, I am now in a dilemma as to which among the dozen newspapers in Andhra Pradesh to follow. Who is being truthful? Who is lying? Or even worse, who is deceivingly presenting only half of the story and not the entire picture? Apparently, every newspaper has its own political or business interests and the news are cleverly manipulated to showcase the same.

Probably, before relying on a newspaper we should be well aware of the political and business ties of the newspapers management. As absurd and tedious as it may sound, this is one way to avoid hopping on to the media’s bandwagon and to intelligently decipher the news.

What do you do to make sense of what you read in a newspaper or a news website? Which newspapers do you think are reliable/unreliable? And why?

http://www.krishnachaitanya.in/blog/2010/04/andhrajyothy-vs-surya/

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1. Jayaprakash Narayan Column on Telangana (restored)
2. Once a Legend, Now a Failed CM
3. YS Jagan Odharpu Yatra : Part I