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Misinterpreting Faith

On a recent visit to The Daily Show by Jon Stewart, evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, described faith as belief without evidence (and not positive). It's easy to label religion or spiritualism with a tag word of fanaticism due to the current events the world is embroiled in. It is also very easy to assign the tag of stubbornness because of the so called conservatives who would misinterpret every scripture to spread spiteful propaganda. Unfortunately this is the state of world we live in the modern society.  However, I find these arguments thrown in various forms of media all too easily; almost readily available like a No Income/No Asset mortgages in the world prior to economic crisis of 2008. A rather extended analogy but that's how easy it is to blame religion or spiritualism in today's world. Moving from one to another; the elephant of mulishness is real (in reality elephants are quite smart animals and have been here before the biped mammals learnt to hunt) ...

[Book of August] Rework

Most of us are all too familiar with the daily grind of a workplace. All the workplaces are alike although the culture may differ slightly.  We know the pain of going through excruciating meetings that manage to belabour a simple thing to gigantic proportions of absurdity (similar to this sentence, I must say)! "Meetings are poisonous"; they kill productivity. Oddly enough (or is it?) Outlook cannot show a 15 minute meeting, it works in a step size of 30 minutes.  Sorry, 15 minutes = 30 minutes, huh? This would be my mantra; try to make meetings as short as possible. To make it simple; I liked the book and the SMS-like advices it gave.  I don't have much to write so I'll let some of the highlights from the book to speak for itself. As you would deduce, these are the things I liked in the book. Learn to say no - it's a rare trait to learn! One of my favorites - teaching sincerely goes a long way to earn a loyal customer  My ...

Tele"no"vision

Discovery Channel - Reality TV TLC - Reality TV History Channel - Reality TV I'm not much of television person and the list of shows on these channels isn't going to particularly interest me either. It's so funny that reality television is so far from reality and in past few years this junk has grown faster than fast food (please read junk food) chains. I never really understood the purpose of reality TV. Is it providing an insight into the everyday life of people? I don't know if having tens of cameras following you is leaving any room for originality. Also don't forget the pressure of producers that want to achieve a set viewer rating. The commercialization is evident in pop-culture, Sheldon Cooper (from The Big Bang Theory) says, "He owns Fox and they canceled Firefly"; when he is creating a list of traitors. So everything is about what people want and any shred of "what people need" is not a commercially viable option. I am s...

Dating an Idea

A thought comes dashing in from nothingness, I catch it, I feel it and I throw it back to nether. It comes back again, it's more evolved this time. It tries to make a bond and explore us further. I say hi! It tries to go away but I hold it tight. I want to talk to you; as I slowly try to tether. It keeps bouncing all around; stay with me! I beckon at first; then I shout, "come hither". It's broken now, but eyes open and astound. I say don't worry; "all your pieces I'll gather". It's a simple idea that came to me when I had finished watching Cate Blanchett's interview . She talks about dance as when "language is dispensed and distilled down to a gesture". In a way I feel thinking is dancing with thought(s). An idea knocks at the door, you let it come in and you form a relationship with it.  You hold hands, dance together and probably end up taking it with you to a private corner of your mind. It co...

A Pizza With You (an original poem)

I want to write a love song for you. More cheesy than the pizza we had. I know I stole all the mushrooms. You said you were cool about that. I don't want to sit on the other side! It's more fun to steal from your hand. I will take you for a long ride on bike. A few inches closer with every bump. So while reading this just remember me. I'm waiting for the next time we will eat. I plan to steal a littler more than we planned. Holding your hand walking down the street. I wish I could write like Matt Nathanson. He is a great writer. This short poem that came riding into my mind  while going through Matt Nathanson songs. Someone will understand it. The night is young, but we are younger. Time is on our side. Kill the lights. Matt Nathanson (Kill the lights from  Last of the Great Pretenders)

The Case of a Lost Mind

Scene 1 FADE IN INT: TWO FRIENDS SITTING IN A CAR, WAITING FOR A TRAFFIC LIGHT TO GO GREEN.  A How can you stay silent (all the time)? B Hmm, An acute case of neurosis, or perhaps some kind of autism spectrum disorder, or you know what it could be that I lack necessary social skills? A Don't kid me. I'm really serious about this! B It could be any of these or most likely none. I'm not crazy, although my mother never had me tested. A bit of Sheldon Cooper here (laughs). A Come on! I'm worried about you, man! B It's just the way I am. I've been programmed to not to talk a lot! The word programmed didn't help my case much, did it? A You gotta tell me more. B The best possible way I can describe myself is, I am lost! It's a strange word, on one hand it implies being doomed but it can also mean I'm lost in some profound thoughts. So which one is it? Um, well it depends on the time of day. A...

Make It Easy

In a project sometimes the planning becomes too complicated leading to a blurry picture of the end result and a disenchanted team. To make it simple....it sucks, it sucks like a wet dry wax (I would never forget this quote from Mr. Mark Ruffalo). It really sucks! A whole lot of projects have failed in the past - one of the primary reasons is growing complexity. Or is it growing complexity or lack of efforts to increase simplicity? Are simplicity and complexity correlated or as a physicist would say the two properties are inversely proportional. I too have been guilty of making things too complicated....really...duh! In my personal life I clutter a lot of emotions that overwhelm in the most dire times of my life. Those are the times "picking my brain" really helps. It's the time when you throw out the complexities one by one. I don't have a practical methodology that can help you to make it simple. I can only say when times are tough; just take a step back an...