rants

Keep the faith!

2011-02-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

2011-02-03T02:45:00.001-08:00

There are times when you realize that the game is rigged - against you. Do you fight to make it fair? Do you continue playing? Or do you quit and move on to something else?

There and back again!

2010-03-10T00:39:00.000-08:00

It's a pleasure to be back. To my own country. For good.

2009-10-26T02:34:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

I'm writing now, mostly because I'm bored. I feel I don't have anything much to say now, just like all those other times. And yet, when I read through my older posts, I realize that they've chronicled a portion of my past... and it's good to know :)

In that spirit, I stop to look at the world around me at this moment in time.

I'm still in Austin. It's not as new to me as it was last year. And yet, there are things that I discover everyday. Like Epoch... the 24 hour coffee shop on North Loop.

I've started listening to NPR podcasts. The big deal nowadays is all about the President's health plan. I support universal health care. But surprisingly, some of my closest friends don't. It is interesting to see how people take changing political positions as they age. People who were once extremely liberal, now sit on the other side.

I'm listening to different music nowadays. I'm falling in love with Dave Matthews Band. How do I slot their music? I don't quite know.

Mark Knopfler, Tool, Miles Davis, and Steve Vai... Popular artists, yes. But new on my cd player. And loved dearly.

I saw Aadhavan. Vadivelu rocks :) And Surya! I strive... What muscle??? Maybe I'll get there someday. Let's see :)

2009-05-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since I wrote anything meaningful.

I've completed my run now. Thanks to all my sponsors! I'm happy for the kids. I'm happy good friends of mine supported me through everything. Thanks guys!

Sam!

2009-02-11T22:56:00.001-08:00

Bottleneck (Training Day - 1 Feb, 2009)

2009-02-02T21:35:00.000-08:00

http://theeconomicsofeverydaythings.blogspot.com/2009/02/bottleneck-training-day-1-feb-2009.html

Ten Thousand Meters

2009-01-21T08:55:00.000-08:00

This is the altitude at which modern Jet airplanes fly.

This is also the distance I will be running on March 29, at the Statesman Capitol 10K.

Surprised?

If you know me well, you will be.

I am a theoretician. I can't play. I don't like to. I like books. But, I think rearranging my bookshelf is a chore. Physical exertion is quite alien to me.

In many ways, I'm just your guy next door. Someone quite typically in his late twenties. Still fresh from those dreamy years spent in college. Just waking up to the reality of adulthood. And Life.

I'm sometimes impatient with where I am, career wise. I look at Obama, and wonder why I am not where he is today. I conclude that it is because he is twenty years older. "All in good time...," I tell myself.

I like nice things. I want an iPhone. And a Porsche Boxter. My loyal steed, a Toyota Corolla, sometimes goes under appreciated.

And so on and on and on. I am like most people you meet. The similarities are so many...

And yet, there is one small difference.

I still dream. And believe, quite strongly, in the power of those dreams... That the world will be a better place. And that we can take it there. Together.

Which brings me to why I've started running... I'm running because I want to spread a message.

All of us know that education is important. We are where we are today, because of the good foundation that we got. We sometimes take that for granted.

There are many children out there who don't have access to this basic right. For some, its because of circumstance. For some, its because they don't have enough money. They have the same dreams that we do. And yet, they don't have the foundation to make it happen.

I believe I can make a difference in their lives. I believe you can too.

And so, I run.

I'm raising money to help the children at Gnanodaya. This is a school in Chennai, for healthy children of leprosy affected patients. The school provides food, shelter, and education to these children, free of cost to their parents, most of whom are below the poverty line.

Run with me. Support me. And consider donating to our cause.

There is one other thing... You have a good life. Celebrate that! Smile :)

Thank You!

Better World Books, Carbon Credits, Literacy efforts, A book sends me email, C++, Just plain funny

2008-11-26T08:37:00.000-08:00

So I just bought a book from Better World Books, and paid $0.05 for Carbon Neutral Shipping. They said they were going to buy Carbon Credits to offset the carbon cost of shipping. So far, so good, right?

But these guys had some sense of humor. And some ambition. I quote...

Until Willie Nelson's Biodiesel bus does deliveries, we've got no choice but to send your book on normal planes, trains and automobiles. They all deliver your book considerably faster than we could on our bikes, but they belch carbon dioxide into the air the whole time. In case Al Gore hasn't stopped by your house, sat you down, and given you his slideshow yet, we've got some news for you. These carbon dioxide emissions are overheating our planet, causing a "climate crisis". Carbon Offsets are a way that we can "offset" these emissions through the purchase of clean energy credits and reversing deforestation. It is only a few pennies per book, but when thousands of people do it every day it adds up.

We looked at our shipments and used Carbonfund.org’s Carbonfree™ Shipping application to estimate the average offset needed for our packages and we always round up. 100% of the funds charged as Carbon Offsets WILL be used to purchase carbon offsets. Once Better World Books is 100% carbon neutral, we'll start to offset the carbon emissions of our non-profit partners. After that, we'll offset Exxon's emissions. They'll never know what hit 'em.

We work with Carbonfund.org to make this possible. If you like it, demand Carbonfree™ Shipping wherever you shop online.

Offsetting Exxon's emissions indeed... :)

And here's more... the book that I bought sent me an email just before being shipped:

Hello Karthik,

(Your book(s) asked to write you a personal note - it seemed unusual, but who are we to say no?)

Holy canasta! It's me... it's me! I can't believe it is actually me! You could have picked any of over 2 million books but you picked me! I've got to get packed! How is the weather where you live? Will I need a dust jacket? I can't believe I'm leaving Mishawaka, Indiana already - the friendly people, the Hummer plant, the Linebacker Lounge - so many memories. I don't have much time to say goodbye to everyone, but it's time to see the world!

I can't wait to meet you! You sound like such a well read person. Although, I have to say, it sure has taken you a while! I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but how would you like to spend five months sandwiched between Hamlet (bipolar) and Fundamentals of Thermodynamics (pyromaniac)? At least Hamlet was an upgrade from that stupid book on brewing beer. How many times did the ol' brewmaster have one too many and topple off our shelf at 2am?

I know the trip to meet you will be long and fraught with peril, but after the close calls I've had, I'm ready for anything (besides, some of my best friends are suspense novels). Just five months ago, I thought I was a goner. My owner was moving and couldn't take me with her. I was sure I was landfill bait until I ended up in a Better World Books book drive bin. Thanks to your socially conscious book shopping, I've found a new home. Even better, your book buying dollars are helping kids read from Brazil to Botswana.

But hey, enough about me, I've been asked to brief you on a few things:
You chose Standard shipping.
You can expect your order to arrive in 4-14 business days.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email my friend Jesse and his team at help@betterworld.com. If you could please include your order number (#######) that would be very helpful.

Eagerly awaiting our meeting,

Effective C++: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Design (2nd Edition)

Sometimes, humor crops up in the most unexpected of places. This was refreshing.

And these guys do seem serious about their mission. They donate to Literacy causes around the world. They ship Carbon Neutral. And their prices are quite reasonable too.

So there... check out BetterWorld.com the next time you're about to buy books.

The Exodus

2008-11-09T22:01:00.001-08:00

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan echoes my sentiment in this article. Will miss you guys. And along with it, a part of my life :) Three cheers to Dada, and Jumbo.

Losing my religion, on Cricinfo

Anil Kumble is one of a kind. When asked why he doesn't spin the ball over by more than an inch, when people like Shane Warne turned a yard away, his reply was short: "The distance between the middle of the bat and the edge is one inch."

Dada was a great batsmen, especially against the spinners. But I will always remember Dada as the guy who gave Indian cricket its spine.

Do you run?

2008-10-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

This seems to be the first question folks from Austin ask.

And they are not necessarily talking about reasonable distances like 200 m. They start from half-marathons (13 miles and change), and go on to full marathons (26.2 miles) and ultra marathons (a hundred miles through hilly terrain?). I'm impressed. But I have to think for a while. I like my knees. :)

Most Austin folks run as if their life depended on it. I've been spending a lot of time with the folks who volunteer for AID and ASHA. I have to say that they are a very very cool bunch of folks. And I've gotten introduced to some very very nice efforts that are underway in India both in the infrastructure development and the educational outreach areas. Last Friday for example, there was this lady from India, Kanchi Kohli who works with this NGO in Delhi called Kalp Vriksh. She gave a talk on how major initiatives in India go through without a good idea of the impact they would have on the environment. And the impact they end up having is usually quite disastrous. Google her up. I'm sure the Google God will bring up more on her than I can hope to express in this column.

Notes from Austin

2008-10-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Every new place brings with it its own charm.

Austin is nice. Austin is probably the only place one would want to be in, if one had to stay in Texas.

Texas is, in some ways, like Punjab. And Texans are, in many ways, like Punjabi folk. They mean well. I think. They just lack polish.

Anyways, folks in Austin are urban. And the amount of culture in this town has to be seen to be believed. Wikipedia calls Austin the live music capital of the world. And if what I see around me is anything to go by, that might be true.

I haven't had chance to walk in and stay for any performance around town so far. I'm hoping I can correct that this weekend.

The synagogue

2008-09-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

So now its hello from Austin, Texas.

No I'm not going back in time. From a political point of view, Austin is still blue. It is, however, a teeny tiny blue dot in a huge red sea that is Texas. And yes, people here say you'll. But seem nice and educated in general. And they don't ride horses to work. No.

So I went to a synagogue yesterday. A new Rabbi was being installed. A colleague was gracious enough to invite me to the event. And I have to say it was fun.

Now this was my first first time at a Jewish service. It was quite similar to a Christian service. Recitals. Good Music. Speeches.

No altar.

The podium was called the beema. There was the ark, under which the children gathered. And they were blessed by the community as a whole. The boys were supposed to have lives as rich as Abraham. The girls were supposed to follow in Sarah's footsteps.

Interestingly Abraham makes an appearance in the Islamic tradition as well, as one of the Prophet's ancestors. Abraham == Ibrahim.

And the Rabbi training program is quite similar to grad school, I must say. For starters, they go to school and write a thesis. This particular Rabbi, was a jolly old woman who's thesis was on the holocaust. After school, they do an internship. The end of the internship is when they start interviewing for positions.

These positions are filled by search committees, who interview a few candidates and select one. This person starts out as an assistant Rabbi, moves on to becomes an associate Rabbi, and finally becomes a Rabbi.

And that is a very very academic route. Phew.

Anyways, laters.

Californication

2008-09-02T01:27:00.000-07:00

It's the edge of the world
and all of western civilization
The sun may rise in the East
At least it settles in a fun location.

- Red Hot Chili Peppers

A cup of coffee

2008-08-02T17:32:00.000-07:00

So I went to this small coffee shop on State Street last week. I had heard good reviews, and was curious.

There was this fairly old gentleman at the counter. That struck me as odd. At a place like Starbucks, you would expect high-schoolers to run the show. Oh, well.

I ask him for a Cappuccino. And there began a series of questions:

Single, double or blah: And he showed me how big each one was going to be. Single, I said. Reasonable question. My mistake for not having been more specific. Shrugs.

I turn around to people watch.

Whole milk, reduced fat milk, or fat free: I look at him like, "I don't care," but say... "Reduced Fat." A pretty girl enters the store.

Regular or Soy Milk: Regular. Annoyed. But irritable people turn away pretty women... or so I've heard. And so I smile.

Decaf or regular: Regular.

Ethiopian, Nigerian or blah: Whatever.

Foam/No Foam: Pretty girl or no. I'm irritated by now. I wouldn't have minded this at another time. But I was on my boss' clock then. I say, "Foam's alright" And manage a smile.

Couple minutes later, I get my Cap. The old gentleman looks at me, and says, "I'm sorry young man! We like to make our coffees exactly the way you want it."

"But," comes the killer closing line, "We're not like Starbucks."

"We don't teach the customer how to order!"

I smile.

Pretty girl smiles.

And the whole room smells like fresh coffee. :)

Nigerian.

2008-03-17T00:13:00.001-07:00

This weekend was history in the making as far as Wall Street was concerned. America's fifth largest investment bank, Bear Stearns, collapsed... over a period of 16 days.

On Feb 29, apparently, it was trading at $80 and change. Over the last weekend, JP Morgan bought Bear Stearns at $2 a share. I don't think a company of the size of BSC was ever sold over a weekend, especially at a little over 1 percent its estimated worth.

This is *huge*! If the financial infrastructure goes down, everything else goes down...

The US Fed is trying everything it possibly can to avoid catastrophes. Over the past weekend it stepped in to tackle the Bear Stearns issue, and did something that it hasn't done ever: accept mortgage backed securities as collateral for its loan to JP Morgan.

The next few days will be very very interesting...

The IPL player auctions

2008-02-20T04:49:00.000-08:00

I woke up in the middle of the night... and with nothing better to do, ended up at cricinfo.

Now, I've taken it upon myself to follow the fortunes of the Chennai team. Yeah, I'm jingoistic! :P

Looks like the we've landed Murali and Matthew Hayden. Two of my all-time favorites. And surprisingly enough, a $1.5 mill Dhoni. Stephen Fleming. And a bunch of fairly useless players.

I do think Dhoni is a very gutsy player. But $1.5 mill?

Just to get a sense of what else $1.5 mill could have bought us:

Shane Warne (US$ 450,000)
Anil Kumble (US$ 500,000)
Adam Gilchrist (US$ 700,000)
Mahela Jayawardene (US$ 475,000)
Kumar Sangakkara (US$ 700,000)
Ricky Ponting (US$ 400,000) - (If Punter travels to Pakistan, he doesn't get to play at all... that explains this number, somewhat.)
Kamran Akmal (US$ 150,000)

At first glance, I think I like the way most of the other teams look. :( Chennai has three stars, and then some.

Moving on, I think the bidding process itself is quite interesting. Auctions are places where value is decided by what something is worth to the second highest bidder.

This auction becomes somewhat more interesting because there are caps. Every team has a cap on how much it can spend in total. So what they're looking at is to form a good team within that amount. When you already have five batsmen, someone like Shahid Afridi becomes more attractive than Ricky Ponting.

The other objectives are quite obvious too... The amount spent is incomplete without countering in expected payback: Financially and otherwise.

This post is incomplete. I don't think I've completely digested what's happening. But this does seem like fun stuff.

On being sick...

2008-01-25T02:58:00.000-08:00

Being sick can be fun... when you're just sick enough.

You remember those times when you can run a marathon if you have couple pills? But you don't, and so you can't lift your grocery bags?

That is what I'm talking about.

No throwing up. No coughing your lungs out. No Sachin Tendulkar fevers. Nothing dirty. Nothing so painful.

Just sick enough... to not show up for work. :)

Knock knock!

Indian writing in English

2008-01-20T00:43:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with a friend couple days ago.

Somewhere in conversation, context was set up, and it became necessary to use the word whorehouse.

It wasn't.

My friend preferred "house of illness in reputation."

I couldn't help smiling. The more obvious reason was the need to use a euphemism, and the cleverness of it. Indian sensitivities...

The not so obvious reason was the realization that this is uniquely characteristic of contemporary Indian writing. The kind that we rave about.

PS: I personally don't care for Indian fiction. So I might be wrong to generalize... Please give me license :) Oh, I'm currently reading Dune, by Frank Herbert. I think it is bloody brilliant.

Of Al Gore and the IPCC

2007-10-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

I quite enjoyed watching "An Inconvenient Truth!" I will say that it was well made, with some Hollywood lines thrown in for good measure... like the opening line, for example... "I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States!"

The following comment from a news article is thought provoking though...

Piers Forster from the School of Earth and Environment at England's University of Leeds said in a statement: "It's every scientist's dream to win a Nobel Prize, so this is great for myself and the hundreds that worked on their reports over the years. It's perhaps a little deflating though — that one man and his PowerPoint show has as much influence as the decades of dedicated work by so many scientists."

The Beach House...

2007-09-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend...

A wooden house on the edge of a cliff, the sound of crashing waves, thick fog, wood in the fireplace, crackling flames, the gang and a baby, birthday cake, poker through the night, silly conversation.

Idyllic. Isolated. Desolated.

The closest gas station was thirty miles away. The closest grocery store... sixteen.

The only thing missing was a killer on the loose :P

Awesome fun!

Beginner's Luck

2007-08-13T14:49:00.001-07:00

"It's called the principle of favorability. When you play cards the first time, you are almost sure to win. Beginner's luck. Why is that? Because there is a force that wants you to realize your destiny; it whets your appetite with a taste of success."

- Paulo Coelho

Ok, I'm not one of those people who believe blindly in the power of "The Alchemist." I do think, however, that the above mentioned is a lovely quote, and possibly very close to reality.

Travel Companions...

2007-07-10T00:57:00.000-07:00

Its amazing how our cine heroes always get to chat up these pretty young things, traveling.

I think back to all those times I've had to endure those super long journeys.

That wise looking Asian gentleman, who made me teach him Sudoku. And was amazed by the fact that I could actually finish one in under fifty minutes... (yeah, fifty! Any friend of mine who reads this must note that I was drugged, jet lagged, sleepy, *and* afraid that there were terrorists on board.)

And then there was this Indian uncle... an extremely jolly man, I thought. Till he jumped into his AMWAY spiel.

That middle aged Caucasian businesswoman, who couldn't believe that I chose Stanford for MIT. Trade sunny CA for chilly Boston, I ask? Obviously, she seemed to think.

That uncle and aunty from Hyderabad... who were quite worried about my state of nourishment. You should meet up with my son Ramakrishna Reddy in San Jose, they said. Our daughter in law makes yummy Lamb curry. Aunty seemed disappointed when she found out that I was vegetarian. She cheered up somewhat when she found out that I was a big fan of muddapappu and avakaya.

I remember filling up immigration forms for the elderly Panjabi couple who were headed over to meet their grandchildren. We don't speak a common language. But we communicate.

And all those kids. God! Entertaining for the first half hour or so... extremely extremely annoying after that. Playing peek-a-boo 14 hours straight can get tiring... however cute the sister :P

Hmmm...

There was this one pretty chick from Bombay, on one my of my trips back home...

Young, smart, cute, ambitious... she seemed to have it all. Amazing amazing conversation!!! The Pacific seemed smaller still...

As we were about to touch down, she introduced into the conversation, the subject of a husband...

Anyways... that was that.

The Economics of Everyday things

2007-04-25T01:40:00.000-07:00

I had the most interesting dinner conversation with a friend today. The discussion centered around issues that have always fascinated me... These are topics that I've always wanted to spend considerable amounts of time on. And hopefully will... after I hand in my dissertation, six weeks from now. :)

Pet projects for the next part of my life (in no particular order)

*) Socio-politico-economic philosophies: Capitalism, communism and socialism.
*) Styles of government: Democracies, dictatorships, communism.
*) The role of government (vs. the market)
*) The everyday economics associated with these social structures. Possible mathematical analyses for when it make sense to have one over another.
*) The sustainability of a utopian society. (Open source software?)
*) The economic sense (or the lack, thereof) of the Bhagavad Gita's core philosophy.

These are questions economists keep asking time and again. Some questions don't really have clear answers. And as the old joke goes... you can put twenty economists in the same room, and no two of them will share the same opinion on anything!

The study is fun, nonetheless.

If you think you can point me in the direction of some useful resources, do write me a note. If you're also interested in similar areas, and are looking for starting points, try:

*) Economics, Samuelson and Nordhaus
*) The Argumentative Indian, Amartya Sen
*) India Unbound, Gurcharan Das
*) The Constitution of India
*) The Constitution of the United States of America.

And I missed the Gita discussion session today!

2007-04-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

So much for being regular, but there was much else to do and only one of me.

Here's what the Hitchhiker's guide has to say about the existence of God though...

(quote)
Now it is such a bizarrely impossible coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the nonexistence of God. The arguement goes something like this:

"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

"But," say Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't though of that" and promply vanishes in a puff of logic.
(end quote)

While we are on the subject of faith, here's Stephen Colbert on truthiness, his word of the year last year. Hilarious :)

You don't know Jack!!!

2007-03-29T00:17:00.000-07:00

I spent the whole of last year with three wonderful flat-mates. Among other things, they were huge fans of the hit TV series 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland as the indestructible and indefatigable Jack Bauer.

Dev once forwarded a humorous article on Jack Bauer. The following work wonderfully well if you substitute any B-grade action hero for Jack Bauer! :P
(Jet Li, Vijaykanth and Mithunda are some names that come readily to mind. Oftentimes, my friends scandalize me by including the venerable Rajni Sir in this list... but I refuse to acquiesce!)

I'm including five of my favorites (quoted from site):

1) The city of Los Angeles once named a street after Jack Bauer in gratitude for his saving the city several times. They had to rename it after people kept dying when they tried to cross the street. No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.

2) Once, someone tried to tell Jack Bauer a "knock knock" joke. Jack Bauer found out who was there, who they worked for, and where the goddamned bomb was.

3) When Jack Bauer was a kid, he made his mom eat Spinach.

4) Jack Bauer played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun and won.

5) Passed out, surrounded by terrorists and nerve gas, and handcuffed to a table leg, Jack Bauer laughed to himself and said, "I have them right where I want them."

Click this link for a hundred more: You don't know Jack!

Landing on a wing and a prayer...

2007-03-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

A wikipedia article about UA flight 232, which landed at Sioux City, Iowa after losing almost all control authority, and the tail mounted engine. The captain and a DC-10 instructor who was travelling on the flight, managed to land it as safely as possible, given the conditions.

110 passengers died. A lot more lived.

UA 232 Crash Landing.

Summer Wine

2007-03-15T01:14:00.000-07:00

So I've been overdoing U2 today. Among other things, I rediscovered this song... this version performed on stage by Bono and the Corrs.

A very pretty duet! Enjoy: Summer Wine.

Incredulity!

2007-03-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

The feeling in my head as I watched a seventy something lady driving a 1980-something Honda Accord overtake me on a one lane road...

Grad School

2007-03-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

So there was this Russian researcher, who once gave a presentation in the department. What exactly it was on, I don't remember. The following anecdote was funny though. I quote to the best of my memory,

"So I first came to the US when I was in my thirties, and this was during the prime of the Cold War. I got myself an invite to visit some of America's defense establishments.

On one of my lab visits, I chanced upon a group using methodologies and results from my graduate work. I was aghast.

How could the enemy even think of doing something so underhanded?

Five minutes into the tour though, I relaxed somewhat. I was even feeling happy.

At last, someone is using my thesis!"

Every grad student dreams of becoming the next Albert Einstein when (s)he enters grad school. Somewhere down the line, realism sets in.

Ruth-Aaron numbers

2007-03-12T03:14:00.000-07:00

So I recently came across the Ruth-Aaron numbers... They're kinda famous, and for a very interesting reason.

Let me digress... Fibonacci in the Fibonacci sequence: famous mathematician. Ramanujan and Hardy in the Hardy-Ramanujan number (1729): famous mathematicians. You kinda get the picture right?

Ruth and Aaron, though, are baseball stars!!! (Yeah, THE Ruth and THE Aaron).

Ruth-Aaron numbers are any two consecutive integers n and (n+1), the sum of whose prime factors is the same. 8 and 9 for example.

8 = 2*2*2
9 = 3*3

2+2+2 == 3+3

So Baby Ruth had the record for the most home runs ever ==> 714. His record was broken by Hank Aaron in 1974, when he completed his 715-th home run. 714 and 715 were the first observed Ruth-aaron numbers :)

The five monkeys problem!

2007-03-12T02:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, let me admit that the version of the puzzle I heard said pirates. I felt compelled to change things to fit my monkey theme... So here goes:

So we start out with a bunch of monkeys, right? Ok, five, to be precise. These guys are logical enough to be Ayn Rand's poster boys... meaning very very logical. They are greedy (Midas++), and very very bloodthirsty (like the villain of some B-grade Bollywood movie). Bloodthirsty, did you say? Well yeah, they really really like to kill people or as the case may be... monkeys. If they don't gain anything by keeping you alive, they prefer you dead! :-o

So anyways, these guys land up on a treasure island, right? And what do they find there but a chest with one thousand gold coins (1000). Obviously, each one wants the biggest share he can get for himself. But here is where community ordering and a sense of hierarchy come in! The monkeys always answer to their leader. Second, third, fourth and last in command are well established. Maybe we should make things easier for ourselves, and just give them hierarchy numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

So here's how they divide the booty. Monkey #1 proposes a division, and by division, I mean something of the nature of 1: 200, 2: 200, 3: 200, 4: 200 and 5:200. Everyone else votes on it. A strict majority passes the proposal and everyone retires happy. And if the proposal is not passed? Monkey #1 is killed and the responsibility of division falls on M#2 and so on... till consensus is reached. A STRICT majority is needed, by the way. This means that when there are four monkeys, a proposal is passed only when three vote for it.

Its fairly obvious to see that the proposal above is not going to work. Right? Clearly, by getting rid of grandpa, everyone else can get a bigger share? Or can they? Will grandpa's guiles prevail?

What does grandpa, aka Monkey Number 1 (no, not Govinda silly), do now? Gmail me at karthikp.

Die laughing :)

2007-02-06T22:24:00.000-08:00

And so I ended up doing what I like best... browse the shelves of the bookstore at the end of my street, and here's what I found:

This book was written by Art Buchwald on his death bed. Talk about typing furiously on your laptop on your trip upstairs... Very characteristic, this book actually shows that there can be humor in death.

Salut!