Saturday, May 19, 2012
Does size matter? Facebook and friends, that is :)
In a matter of months, we will soon find out if the proud owners of Facebook shares are holding anything more than a worthless piece of paper. I won't be surprised if FB begins to roll out fees for this and that in order to increase the revenue stream.
If the data on ourselves and our "friends" are what FB will have to monetize, then I suppose both the numbers of people and the quality of data will matter, which is where this Pew study's (ht) numbers become important:
If the user data is ultimately for advertisements that will translate to real sales, then mere numbers might not matter all that much if the disposable incomes of the youngest cohorts is insignificant. It will, once again, come down to the size of the wallet, which in FB world is not the same as the most number of friends, right?
BTW, the same Pew report notes:
If the data on ourselves and our "friends" are what FB will have to monetize, then I suppose both the numbers of people and the quality of data will matter, which is where this Pew study's (ht) numbers become important:
If the user data is ultimately for advertisements that will translate to real sales, then mere numbers might not matter all that much if the disposable incomes of the youngest cohorts is insignificant. It will, once again, come down to the size of the wallet, which in FB world is not the same as the most number of friends, right?
BTW, the same Pew report notes:
For once, I am not in the minority then :)Of people who use social networking sites, 63% have deleted people from their "friends" lists, up from 56% in 2009; 44% have deleted comments made by others on their profile; and 37% have removed their names from photos that were tagged to identify them.A majority of social network site users - 58% - restrict access to their profiles and women are significantly more likely to choose private settings.
Don't forget Pakistan. Not now, please!
I worry that Pakistan seems to be rapidly fading from our radars.
A little over a year ago, the American population was keenly following the events in Pakistan, thanks to the reports of the very cinematic killing of Osama bin Laden in a compound only miles away from the capital city of Islamabad. But, since then, the media coverage of that country appears to have slowed down to a trickle.
It is not as if everything is all peachy on the other side of the planet. For one, even if it was bin Laden and Al Qaeda that we were fixated on, we need to keep in mind that the militant organization hasn’t been completely wiped out. Earlier this month, while in India, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton observed that Osama’s deputy, Ayman al‐Zawahiri, was “somewhere in Pakistan.” Of course, the Pakistani government quickly rejected the possibility, reminding us of how it used to consistently deny the odds of Osama ever being there!
We need to keep Pakistan in our minds because there is a lot more to the country than our own interests in going after Al Qaeda and the Taliban. For starters, it is a near miracle that the shaky government continues to be in power four years since it was elected, despite all the fears that the weakness of the leaders and the killing of Osama might trigger a military coup. The worries were justified, to some extent—ever since the country became independent in 1947, the military has directly ruled the country for a majority of its existence, and has exercised considerable influence over political matters even when democratically elected governments were in power.
Yet, the government has survived. Thus, the optimist in me views the current government headed by prime minister Yousaf Gilani and president Asif Zardari as evidence of a waning influence that the military has had in Pakistani civilian affairs. The four years that Gilani has served as the prime minister makes him the first leader to have served the longest continuous term in office in all these sixty‐five years. Further, this combination of democratically elected Gilani and Zardari will be the first ever civilian government to complete an entire term, if everything goes well, before the next round of elections in 2013. While an elected president serving the full term in office might be routine to us here in the United States, the completion of a full term will be a significant milestone in Pakistani politics and history.
A relatively stable Pakistani government does not automatically mean that life for the people couldn’t be any better there. The troubles relating to Afghanistan and India are far from over. It could easily be years before any sense of a geopolitical calm prevails in that part of the world. But, the path towards that peace is through the civilian government, which is all the more why the elections next year will matter a lot not only to Pakistanis but to the entire world too.
Internally, the Pakistani economy appears to be far from healthy. The decades of an existential anti‐ India obsession that translated to unsustainable military expenditures severely shortchanged the growth and development of a sophisticated economy. In the 1950s and 1960s, Pakistanis had higher per capita incomes than did Indians. Since then, and especially over the last twenty years, India’s economy has taken off while Pakistan continues to be in the doldrums.
It is perhaps because of a healthy confluence of urgent economic and geopolitical factors that now the governments of India and Pakistan are beginning to engage in normalizing trade relations. Of course, a number of things could go wrong, as they have many times in the past whenever these two neighbors attempted to normalize relations across their borders. But, hope springs eternal in the human breast!
On our part, here from the US, we ought to cheer these developments, and support them in every possible way we can. We definitely do not want to perpetuate a long‐held sentiment around the world, particularly in Pakistan, that the US quickly forgets as soon as its own selfish objectives have been met.
A little over a year ago, the American population was keenly following the events in Pakistan, thanks to the reports of the very cinematic killing of Osama bin Laden in a compound only miles away from the capital city of Islamabad. But, since then, the media coverage of that country appears to have slowed down to a trickle.
It is not as if everything is all peachy on the other side of the planet. For one, even if it was bin Laden and Al Qaeda that we were fixated on, we need to keep in mind that the militant organization hasn’t been completely wiped out. Earlier this month, while in India, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton observed that Osama’s deputy, Ayman al‐Zawahiri, was “somewhere in Pakistan.” Of course, the Pakistani government quickly rejected the possibility, reminding us of how it used to consistently deny the odds of Osama ever being there!
We need to keep Pakistan in our minds because there is a lot more to the country than our own interests in going after Al Qaeda and the Taliban. For starters, it is a near miracle that the shaky government continues to be in power four years since it was elected, despite all the fears that the weakness of the leaders and the killing of Osama might trigger a military coup. The worries were justified, to some extent—ever since the country became independent in 1947, the military has directly ruled the country for a majority of its existence, and has exercised considerable influence over political matters even when democratically elected governments were in power.
Internally, the Pakistani economy appears to be far from healthy. The decades of an existential anti‐ India obsession that translated to unsustainable military expenditures severely shortchanged the growth and development of a sophisticated economy. In the 1950s and 1960s, Pakistanis had higher per capita incomes than did Indians. Since then, and especially over the last twenty years, India’s economy has taken off while Pakistan continues to be in the doldrums.
It is perhaps because of a healthy confluence of urgent economic and geopolitical factors that now the governments of India and Pakistan are beginning to engage in normalizing trade relations. Of course, a number of things could go wrong, as they have many times in the past whenever these two neighbors attempted to normalize relations across their borders. But, hope springs eternal in the human breast!
On our part, here from the US, we ought to cheer these developments, and support them in every possible way we can. We definitely do not want to perpetuate a long‐held sentiment around the world, particularly in Pakistan, that the US quickly forgets as soon as its own selfish objectives have been met.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
A crash in the morning. A crash in the evening. Life!
Perhaps "S" and "U" and my parents will be surprised to know that I have not had oatmeal for a while now. I am now on to a boiled egg and toast routine, to go with coffee. Soon after breakfast and other morning routines, I was off, on my 100K drive to work.
It was a gorgeous spring morning. Sunny and bright, with just a little bit of nip in the air. I wanted to go off the road, and stop by the river, but I kept driving. The gas station attendant commented "it is a beautiful vehicle" as he cleaned the windshield, and I was tempted to tip him just for that comment.
Even the radio was off throughout the drive--there were enough and more for the eyes, and plenty of thoughts in my mind. I worried that my students might not be all that interested in the materials that I had scheduled for discussion. I was thinking about the kind of videos that I could use as I came to a stop when the traffic light turned red.
From the left side of the intersection came an ambulance with its lights flashing, and it turned into the road that I was on and sped. My light turned green and the ambulance that was ahead of me rushed through the traffic light where I had to stop again. By now, my mind was completely off the class and the videos, and was preoccupied with the ambulance. Suddenly, two police cars sped past me like the proverbial bats out of hell. And then a fire engine followed.
A mile later, the entire traffic came to a complete stop. The lights from all those vehicles were flashing away. After about nine minutes, the long line of cars and trucks slowly crawled past the crash site. Two cars looked smashed--perhaps a head-on collision. I hoped that there were no serious injuries and no fatalities.
The rest of the drive to campus was nothing but variations of my appreciation of the life I have. That I could even enjoy a sunny spring day like today.
Before class time, I scanned the few web sites that I usually do, and oddly enough one essay that I read was "Is death bad for you?"
I thought I would check the news and got bummed out that Donna Summer had died. Made me wonder all over again whether death was bad or good, and for whom it was good or bad.
After a relatively long day at work, I was back on the road, homeward bound. Thoughts about life and death perhaps prompted me to take in as much as I could. I took the longer route home in order to enjoy the scenery, and picked up a flowering pot from a nursery.
About three miles away from home, a sign by the slow lane flashed "crash ahead." It felt really, really, strange that my day was bookended by crashes.
While here I am blogging about it, I wonder what happened to those who were involved in the crashes. I hope they will be ok soon enough to enjoy life.
Walking by the river was especially soothing today. The sight of dogs wagging their tails, kids trying out the words they learnt, adults pondering life, and birds not caring for anything.
Life!
It was a gorgeous spring morning. Sunny and bright, with just a little bit of nip in the air. I wanted to go off the road, and stop by the river, but I kept driving. The gas station attendant commented "it is a beautiful vehicle" as he cleaned the windshield, and I was tempted to tip him just for that comment.
Even the radio was off throughout the drive--there were enough and more for the eyes, and plenty of thoughts in my mind. I worried that my students might not be all that interested in the materials that I had scheduled for discussion. I was thinking about the kind of videos that I could use as I came to a stop when the traffic light turned red.
From the left side of the intersection came an ambulance with its lights flashing, and it turned into the road that I was on and sped. My light turned green and the ambulance that was ahead of me rushed through the traffic light where I had to stop again. By now, my mind was completely off the class and the videos, and was preoccupied with the ambulance. Suddenly, two police cars sped past me like the proverbial bats out of hell. And then a fire engine followed.
A mile later, the entire traffic came to a complete stop. The lights from all those vehicles were flashing away. After about nine minutes, the long line of cars and trucks slowly crawled past the crash site. Two cars looked smashed--perhaps a head-on collision. I hoped that there were no serious injuries and no fatalities.
The rest of the drive to campus was nothing but variations of my appreciation of the life I have. That I could even enjoy a sunny spring day like today.
I thought I would check the news and got bummed out that Donna Summer had died. Made me wonder all over again whether death was bad or good, and for whom it was good or bad.
After a relatively long day at work, I was back on the road, homeward bound. Thoughts about life and death perhaps prompted me to take in as much as I could. I took the longer route home in order to enjoy the scenery, and picked up a flowering pot from a nursery.
About three miles away from home, a sign by the slow lane flashed "crash ahead." It felt really, really, strange that my day was bookended by crashes.
While here I am blogging about it, I wonder what happened to those who were involved in the crashes. I hope they will be ok soon enough to enjoy life.
Walking by the river was especially soothing today. The sight of dogs wagging their tails, kids trying out the words they learnt, adults pondering life, and birds not caring for anything.
Life!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
An easy fix for the student debt problem: The five minute university
Students continue to educate me in different ways--some healthy and positive, and others, well ...
One of those positive experiences today came from a student, "J," who suggested that we watch a funny video clip on the "five minute university." It was quite a deal--sarcasm and satire for four minutes.
Goodbye, student loans :)
So, the nerd in me took over: who is this dude? A Google search reminded me that I had seen him in a Colbert show, but I thought it was Robin Williams when I watched that:
This wasn't Robin Williams impersonating?
So, the nerd continued on ... turns out that the person behind the character is Don Novello.
I tell ya, something new every single day :)
One of those positive experiences today came from a student, "J," who suggested that we watch a funny video clip on the "five minute university." It was quite a deal--sarcasm and satire for four minutes.
Goodbye, student loans :)
So, the nerd in me took over: who is this dude? A Google search reminded me that I had seen him in a Colbert show, but I thought it was Robin Williams when I watched that:
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
This wasn't Robin Williams impersonating?
So, the nerd continued on ... turns out that the person behind the character is Don Novello.
I tell ya, something new every single day :)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Romney chooses running mate, and goes after the Hispanic votes
It is Paco!
And, opinion polls are highly favorable.
But then the report is from America's Finest News Source :)
And, opinion polls are highly favorable.
But then the report is from America's Finest News Source :)
Photos of the day: Grace Kelly and Sophia Loren
It is the time of the year that Cannes becomes news.
In this collection of photographs of movie people from years past, I would typically have gone with Grace Kelly as my favorite:
But, Sophia Loren is perhaps one of her best here:
In this collection of photographs of movie people from years past, I would typically have gone with Grace Kelly as my favorite:
But, Sophia Loren is perhaps one of her best here:
Monday, May 14, 2012
The highly indebted students, er, generation!
It is nauseatingly gross when a highly seasoned higher education administrator says the following:
As I look back at my own writings, in September 1999, I authored an op-ed in The Bakersfield Californian, in which I worried that we were fixated on dropout rates in high schools, all because of the preoccupation with college and, in the process, were not paying attention to career and technical education--vocational training. Since then, I have been all the more been only drowned out by the louder and louder voices in favor of college for all, even as the mismatch between the revenues and expenditures of governments worsened, resulting in fewer dollar allocations for higher education that, in turn, resulted in higher fees for students. And now it is a trillion dollar problem we are forced to recognize. Meanwhile, Mr. Gee has been collecting salaries and benefits in the millions every year, and coaches even out-earn him.
"The Indentured Servant Generation" as Matt Yglesias noted a while ago!
Crap; not a good way to start a Monday morning :(
“I readily admit it,” said E. Gordon Gee, the president of Ohio State University, who has also served as president of Vanderbilt and Brown, among others. “I didn’t think a lot about costs. I do not think we have given significant thought to the impact of college costs on families.”Yep, for years he and practically all the administrators and faculty at colleges and universities never gave any significant thought to how much the cost increases might affect students and their families. They decided that the goose was laying golden eggs in the form of higher salaries, and went after all the possible geese and eggs. How awful!
As I look back at my own writings, in September 1999, I authored an op-ed in The Bakersfield Californian, in which I worried that we were fixated on dropout rates in high schools, all because of the preoccupation with college and, in the process, were not paying attention to career and technical education--vocational training. Since then, I have been all the more been only drowned out by the louder and louder voices in favor of college for all, even as the mismatch between the revenues and expenditures of governments worsened, resulting in fewer dollar allocations for higher education that, in turn, resulted in higher fees for students. And now it is a trillion dollar problem we are forced to recognize. Meanwhile, Mr. Gee has been collecting salaries and benefits in the millions every year, and coaches even out-earn him.
"The Indentured Servant Generation" as Matt Yglesias noted a while ago!
Crap; not a good way to start a Monday morning :(
Back in Time
So, for a few days now, it bugged me that I couldn't place the original tune whenever I heard a recent Top-40 "Back in Time." Finally, couldn't take it anymore. One simple Google search and .... problem solved :)
First, the original:
Now, the Pitbull version:
I admit--I love the new version. Even more than the older one!
First, the original:
Now, the Pitbull version:
I admit--I love the new version. Even more than the older one!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Photo of the day: Look ma, what I have for you!
Ram Soren returns home with the night's catch in Bori village, about 120 km from Guwahati
What we eat is culturally, and not biologically, determined. In some cultures, people enjoy eating dog meat, while rat meat does it for a few others, and vegetables for even more .... Personally, no thanks to dogs or rats!
Explaining electoral college votes and the presidential election
In an accent that is not American :)
Maybe I should quiz my students and find out how much they know?
Maybe I should quiz my students and find out how much they know?
What don't qualify as gifts on Mother's Day?
I woke up recalling, for whatever reasons that only a shrink can uncover, the phenomenally funny Calvin and Hobbes strip about Calvin getting his mother a card. Breakfast, coffee, and newspaper, and everything else later, I tracked down that strip with a simple Google search:
Calvin, of course, gave his mother quite some hell; I tracked down one of those too:
Ah, Calvin!
As freaked out Calvin's mother was, well, contemporary mothers are getting used to the freaking reality conveyed in the cartoon below:
Calvin, of course, gave his mother quite some hell; I tracked down one of those too:
Ah, Calvin!
As freaked out Calvin's mother was, well, contemporary mothers are getting used to the freaking reality conveyed in the cartoon below:
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