Sunday, December 29, 2013

Goodbye 2013. Hello 2014.

As we reach the end of 2013, and get ready to welcome 2014, its that time of year when we make resolutions.

This time around I'm going to try and make my resolutions simple, measurable and realistic. Starting with having a target of achieving 80% of the resolutions. So here goes.


1. Rightsize physically to under 80 kgs.

2. Exercise regularly. Take at least 10,000 steps daily.

3. Write a novel.

4. Get pilots license.

5. Spend time with Reia's studies.

6. Be nice(r) to family and take at least 2 holidays.


7. Increase revenue at Web Access by 1.5 times.

8. Increase revenue at Absolute Access by 5 times.

9. Increase US MRR clients to 100 +

10. Experiment with mCube and live trading in the US markets.


and finally enjoying Life to the fullest. Beginning to realize we have only one to live and need to make the most of it.

Here's wishing all of you a very happy, prosperous and amazing 2014.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party was launched just a few months ago by Arvind Kejriwal and his colleagues who had failed to make an impact as part of the "India against corruption". Frustrated at being able to do nothing as activists, they decided to take the bold step of forming their own political party, something they had tried to avoid.


The party is based on the simple premise of honesty. Its their opinion, which is shared by most Indians and unfortunately accurate, that the political system and government functioning is riddled with corruption. Their single simple goal is to reduce if not completely rid India of corruption.

I was a great fan of the AAP movement. If I was in India, I would be a proud participant and volunteer in whatever way I could help. Their first encounter with the election process was the Delhi elections. And they've done an amazing job.

The first part of any political campaign is funds to manage the campaign. The AAP movement is completely dependent on the Aam Aadmi or common man, funding them. And their success in achieving this is phenomenal. They actually had to close their donation collecting process and inform people that no more contributions were required, as they had already achieved their required targets.


The party, especially its leader Arvind Kejriwal in addition to being a nice, honest person was also brilliant. Its not coincidence that he did his engineering degree and then joined the prestigious government bureaucracy as part of the Indian Revenue Services. They reached out to the people, had meetings at local level and had not only the whole of Delhi, but the rest of the country rooting for the party.

No one gave them a chance. The political parties believed that a newcomer party with no base or cadre to speak of could not pose a threat. Even the media gave them no chance of success and they were widely reported to be a passing fancy. Until this point of time I was rooting for the party.

And then a change occurred. The AAP figured out the first rule of politics. To get votes, make all kinds of promises. And they did. Promised free water and electricity bills would be halved. I started having reservations but was still a well wisher.


And then the party did what to me was the turning point of changing from a party with good intentions to anarchist. They went around inciting the people of Delhi to not pay their electricity bills. The rationale they offered was that the electricity companies were fudging their books. Whilst they had absolutely no evidence of this, lets assume that this were true. In my mind, it doesn't change anything.

No rationale can justify breaking the law and inciting and encouraging the people to follow suit. The moment an individual takes on the role of unilaterally deciding what is good and bad, and then pass judgement as well as diktats on taking illegal actions, is the beginning of the end. Its a sad day to see that a movement with very good people with very good intentions have allowed their righteous arrogance to make completely indefensible decisions.

The results of the elections were announced earlier this month and the Aam Aadmi Party achieved what no party in Indian history has achieved. They won 28 seats of the 70  seats garnering 29%+ of the votes. They did not get a majority and were pipped to the post by the BJP, who won 31 seats as the largest party. The Congress who had a dismal performance could win just 8 seats. Since its virtually impossible that the Congress will support the BJP, there's a good chance that they may support the AAP and that Arvind Kejriwal becomes the Chief Minister. The party which has earlier said they would not take the support of either the BJP or Congress, have now done a u-turn and are seriously considering taking support from the Congress.


Whilst I wish that this does happen, as a well-wisher I would like to offer the Aam Aadmi Party some advise. Please get rid of your arrogance, admit that all illegal decisions made by the party were wrong and a result of growing pains. This will result in disillusioned supporters such as me, coming back. Alternately, you can continue to go the populist route you seem to have chosen and who knows, you could very quickly even become the Prime Minister. But then you'll be just another party like the existing parties and once again dash the hope of the Aam Aadmi.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Its the thought that counts

A few days ago I got a card in the mail. A beautifully addressed card from Freia. Unfortunately I knew that Freia couldn't have written it since she has handwriting whose saving grace is that its slightly better than mine and almost equally illegible.


The envelope has an important looking seal. Intrigued I opened the same and there was a handwritten note. Knowing Freia, I realized that this had to be some kind of a net based service and sure enough, the stamp had a web address.


bondgifts.com

They were running some free trials and I guess I got one of the free ones. They have a service where you can send a note for $5, and they'll write it, put the address on the envelope, put the stamp and mail it.

To put it in their words :

BOND is a tight team of busy, talented New Yorkers who are united in one ultimate goal: to brighten people's day by connecting with them in a simple yet powerful way.

In a world running over with emails and text messages and meetings and schedules, a lot gets accomplished—but little is felt. BOND makes it easy to bring out the best in yourself and in other people—and to make a lasting impression, whether you spend $50, thousands, or nothing at all.

At BOND , it's not just the thought that counts but the execution—a perfect mix of technology, tradition, fun, and the art of communication. Surprise someone with a personal handwritten note in the mail. Make someone's day with a cool, beautifully packaged gift to celebrate a meeting or a milestone. All in minutes, straight from your iPhone or your laptop.



What makes this service even more important is the way the notes are written. By a robotic arm using traditional ink. Just wish they'd use blue ink instead of black. Its fascinating to see the robot in action.


Whilst the card did have a novelty value, I'm not sure its something that I would subscribe to.

Its the thought that counts, when that thought is executed by you, not a robot. When the occasion demands I think, I'll continue to pen a note and take the walk to the post office.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Air-India v/s United

I just got back from an India trip on United. A couple of months ago I had made the trip on Air India. There were several similarities and several differences. It wasn't a case of 1 was better than the other. However in specific areas, there were clear differences and one was far better than the other.

In airline operations from the travelers perspective there are 6 points that make a difference.
a. Ticketing and Planning
b. Pricing
c. At the airport
d. Pre-boarding and boarding
e. Aircraft and amenities
f. In flight service


Ticketing and Planning
The United experience is significantly better than Air India. Whether its the website, the support, the options, the call-in numbers, ....
AI : 3 / 10
UA : 8 / 10


Pricing
Typically Air India beats United on most occasions in the pricing. United pricing is consistent across travel portals and its own website. Air India is inconsistent. There is sometimes as much as a 100% difference in the pricing for the same sectors across platforms and its own website is one of the most expensive. Overall however you are able to find better pricing on Air India than United on most occasions.
AI : 7 / 10
UA : 3 / 10


At the airport
The check-in at United is far more systematic and well organized than at Air India. shorter lines. Faster turn around. However the staff at Air India are probably a little nicer when people have issues or need help.
AI : 6 / 10
UA : 6 / 10


Pre-boarding and boarding
United is slightly more organized and has these class of passengers from 1 to 5. The so called preferred card holders are Class 2. Unfortunately almost everyone seems to be in Class 2, and the few who are not, are stuck especially if they have kids. Air India is inconsiderate to everybody, except the senior citizens and those with families. Both have major scope for improvements in this area.
AI : 5 / 10
UA : 4 / 10


Aircraft and amenities
Air India and United both have reasonably new, long range aircraft with a personal entertainment system. Air India seating is a little more comfortable, but United has better maintained interiors.
AI : 6 / 10
UA : 8 / 10


In-flight service
Air India has reasonably good in flight service and most of the staff are very nice, polite and helpful. The United flights staff is not as nice. Their overall attitude and behavior leaves a lot to be desired. The only saving grace is that they have no biases and are equally rude to everybody. Of course, thee are exceptions. There are a few horrible Air India flight attendants and a few exceptionally good United flight attendants.
AI : 7 / 10
UA : 5 / 10


Final scores
AI : 34 / 60
UA : 34 / 60

Coincidentally both the airlines are tied. No wonder I travel on the airline that offers the better fare.

However the changes Air India needs to make to become a really wold class airline are minor and need a string management to enforce changes, especially at a technology and implementation level. And I hope they do. I'm probably biased, but I really enjoy flying Air India a little more than United.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Bitcoin

Everyone seems to have heard about bitcoins. Yet very few seem to know how it works. And whilst I had a reasonably good understanding of it, I was surprised at how little I actually knew when I started to research the subject for this article.


It seems like my latest self discovery is that a video speaks a million words. So let's start by having a look at "What is Bitcoin?"


A great resource to learn all you ever wanted to know about bitcoins, is as is most things in life, the original source.
http://bitcoin.org/en/

And the FAQ section will very quickly answer most if not all of the questions and doubts you ever had.
http://bitcoin.org/en/faq

The best way to really learn about bitcoins is to do what Freia did. Buy bitcoins. And you'll very quickly realize that you don't even have to buy 1 bitcoin. You can buy 1/100th of a bitcoin if you so desire.


This blog would be incomplete without my thoughts on the future of bitcoins. Freia seems to be a firm believer that bitcoins is the future. And for once, I disagree with her. I think that several things will happen. The first as has already begun is that there will be several similar offerings. Digital currencies, each of which will differentiate themselves in minor ways.

The reason I think that bitcoins will not last for a significant period is the following.

1. Bitcoins are not protected

Whilst the open source community and the bitcoin fraternity claims the protection is based on the military grade cryptography, the unfortunate fact of life is that even military grade cryptography has been hacked. The problem with bitcoins being hacked is that there is no recourse. No one owns bitcoin and so there's no central authority or bank that can address the loss. Think of it as a safe deposit vault that is very safe, except that if it does get broken into, no bank is there to take responsibility or compensate you.

2. Bitcoins are not traceable
The very system that provides the system with its anonymity also provides it its flaw. In a normal banking transaction, we have a trail of which payments were made to who and when. Here, once the bitcoin is gone, its gone forever. There';s very little you can do, if the receiver decides not to honor their commitment. No credit card company you can call to stop payment.


3. No one owns bitcoin
Once again the primary advantage is also its disadvantage. The dollar is a strong currency, because the US has a vested interest in ensuring that it remains a strong currency. And hence the Federal Reserve will take actions to ensure it remains stable and valuable. The absence will expose the bitcoin to the risk of volatility. A recent drop in over 20% in a short period demonstrates this risk in the real world.

4. Bitcoin mining is unpredictable
The basis of the value of bitcoins is on the basis that the digital mining of bitcoins is predictable and becomes increasingly difficult over time.This assumption could be shown to be wrong if someone, somewhere is able to innovate a devise and / or an algorithm that is able to accelerate the process by a factor of 10, 100 or even 1,00,000. This will then generate an excess of currency concentrated in the hands of a few individuals which will make the currency extremely shaky if not worthless.


5. Regulatory Risk

The most real short term risk is probably regulatory in nature. Society works on the basis of businesses and individuals paying taxes. The bitcoin methodology actually bypasses this on many levels. It thus becomes but a matter of time before Government starts regulating bitcoin transactions, if not completely making it illegal. In either case it becomes a underground currency best used for illegal activities and not the ubiquitous digital currency its being positioned as.

As in most things, there's a good chance that I may be wrong. And since I like bitcoins and Freia has an investment in it, I hope I am.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Simplifying Ideas


I've always been interested in learning what makes a good presentation great. And have been constantly surprised at how few people are able to make a reasonable presentation. You'd assume that speakers at conferences hare professionals and this is their 128th presentation and they'd have learnt something about how to engage the audience. Surprise, surprise, all most of them have managed to do is perfect the art of completely ignoring the audience and their boredom.

Making effective presentations is not very difficult. There are a myriad resources online and otherwise which are very helpful. If only you pause, realize you need help and go find it.

This blog is not about any of this. Its about a great presentation. And simplifying ideas, in a manner to make it understandable. Not for the experts. But for everyone interested.


I recently came across this 2010 presentation by Roy Beck and was fascinated about the methodology he used to make a complex subject, simple. Not simplistic. Just understandable.

Have a look and I'm sure that the next time you have to talk on a subject, you'll have a few ideas on how you can simplify and make ist super interesting.

Enjoy !


Sunday, November 17, 2013

Coin

After the Uber realization, I realized how there were several new services, innovations, products, ... that were out there and I had absolutely no idea about. I'm assuming that some of you maybe like me and have no idea about some of the cool stuff out there.


And so to educate myself, I decided to dedicate the next few blogs to cool stuff. And this week is dedicated to Coin. So what is Coin. And like all good things, who better to explain the concept than the folks who invented it.

Simple
All your cards. One Coin.


Its said that a picture speaks a thousand words. And a video a million. The coin video explains it all in under 3 minutes. Watch it.


Coin is still under development. And while it'll be shipped in the summer of 2014, its available as a pre-order. And yes, I have pre-ordered.

Whilst going through the product I came across a very interesting fact. The CEO and CTO of the company are of Indian origin. Kanishk Parashar is the CEO & Founder and Karthik Balakrishnan the
CTO.

An interview that Kanishk gave to TechCruch throws light on the thought process and the product. Here's to Kanishk and Karthik and to the success of Coin.


Sunday, November 10, 2013

Uber

The first time I came across Uber was a few months ago. One of my colleagues had been to San Francisco on a business trip and the charge slip he gave me to approve had Uber on it a few times. I asked him what that was and he enlightened me.

I was fascinated. Sounded like a really cool idea. And let me allow Uber to explain what they do.


Everyday cars for everyday use.
Better, faster, and cheaper than a taxi.


Their other lines elaborate a little on that explanation.

The Uber App
Request, ride, and pay via your mobile phone


One Tap to Ride
Reliable pickups
Clear pricing
Cashless & Convenient


and finally

All around the world
Available locally, expanding globally



What I was amazed to find was that its now available in 26 countries. Including India. Not yet in my favorite city, Mumbai but in Bangalore, Hyderabad and New Delhi.

And Uber summarizes their offering very well. "Uber is evolving the way the world moves. By seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through our apps, we make cities more accessible, opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers. From our founding in 2009 to our launches in over 50 cities today, Uber's rapidly expanding global presence continues to bring people and their cities closer."


What makes Uber so fascinating is how it seems to solve a need we never even knew we had. All of us have spent umpteen occasions when we've been frustrated trying to get a ride and on the rare occasion we got one, we were ripped off. And they have worked smart on removing most if not all of their pain points. As an example, no tip required. Its already included. Simple. Effective. And hassle free.

What makes Uber interesting is that it partners with all of its stakeholders in what is a reasonable and fair manner. It results in an increasing benefit, not only to the consumer, us but also to the driver. The benefit to the ecosystem making it easier to visit the city, and of course to themselves from the commissions they make on the transactions works into a nice win-win situation for all involved.


One thing we can definitely learn from the success of Uber is that a simple and good idea, executed well in a fair manner stands a very good probability of success. And there are several opportunities that remain.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

New York Marathon. Its more than a race.

Earlier today was the New York marathon. Last year we were recovering from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy and it was the first time since 1970 when the marathon was first run that it had been cancelled.


And so, it was great for New Yorkers to be out there either running or cheering. There were more than 50,700 participants of which an incredible 50,266 completed the race. An astounding 99+%. I guess this is helped by the difficulty level of getting a running spot in the Marathon.


The New York Marathon is arguably the most famous of the world marathons and one of the 6 annual marathons that form the World Marathon Majors. The others being Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and from 2013 Tokyo.


You can find more interesting trivia about the New York marathon at:
http://www.nyrr.org/races-and-events/2013/the-2013-ing-new-york-city-marathon
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Marathon

or better still see the video


The point of this blog was that the marathon and its diversity of runners from the teens to the octogenarians has inspired me to participate in a Marathon.

However being a realist, I want to start easy. So will do a half marathon. I also want to start slow, and since its nearly the end of 2013, let me target next year. Not 2014, but 2015. So basically, I do hope to compete and complete a half marathon in 2015.

Would love to write more, but gotta run. Literally.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Globalization of celebrations

The last day of October, i.e. the coming Thursday is Halloween, a US originated holiday that allows kids to go trick or treating. In other words, kids get to dress up as their favorite characters and go to neighbors house and demand candy for not playing a trick on them. Its that time of year when kids get to eat a variety of candy in virtually unlimited quantity.


Yesterday Reia mentioned that her cousin had gone for a Halloween party. Not unusual until you realize that her cousin is in India. The last effect of Globalization was brought about by hallmark and the card companies exported all available holidays worldwide to increase sales of their cards and even invented a few.


This round of globalization seems to have been triggered by the availability and constant consumption of global visual imagery. Most kids are now interconnected with friends across the world in a manner where they can not only exchange e-mails, but visually communicate both online using apps such as Skype, and offline such as Facebook, Instagram and the recent favorite of Teenagers, Snapchat.


This has contributed in a large part to the globalization of holidays and festivals. Diwali, Navratri, Holi, ... are promoted and celebrated with greater gusto in US colleges than in Indian colleges. There is also the trend of reverse cultural bonding. When you have something, you don't want it. And when you don't you yearn for it. This is visible in the various ethnic groups in the US. The Indian parents want their children to not only learn at least one Indian language, they also want them to learn Indian culture.

On an average, Indian Americans know more about Indian culture than Indians. And this is probably true about the other cultures. Its very visible amongst many ethnicities, the Chinese, the Irish, the Korean, the French, ...


If all of this is reasonably accurate, it leads me to 2 interesting conclusions. Both of which our ancestors have known for years. You yearn for what you don't have. And the grass is always greener on the other side.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Affordable Healthcare. Why did it fail and what could be done.

Oct 1, was the day that the Affordable Healthcare launched the Healthcare marketplace website. This was the website where people could browse and find plans.


Day 1 was a disaster. No one could get to the website. In the meanwhile the Government was shutdown and the focus shifted to the Government shutdown. Day 2 to 7 was equally bad and by now the focus was shifted to Congress not increasing the debt ceiling and the risk of a US Government default. Oct 17 was when finally there was a deal, albeit temporary and kicking the can down the road by around 3 months.

And the website and its accessibility was as bad as ever. With the other major news out of the way, the focus was back on how the website still wasn't working and how millions of people had frustrating experiences in finding or comparing plans, let alone sign up.


Initially President Obama and the administration blamed the issues on the traffic, i.e. the number of people who were trying to access the website. They continued to use this as the main cause of the issue until it has now become obvious that its simply not true. The media was able to eliminate this as the root cause by a very simple experiment. Trying to use the website even in the middle of the night, early morning, 4 a.m. Nothing worked. And there's no way there could be more than a few hundred people trying to access the website.

I tried using the website on several occasions. On most occasions I had similar experiences to most people, but because of the sheer number of attempts, I was able to proceed several steps into the website. Several states (13) had put up their own marketplace, including Connecticut and New York. Whilst these had some issues, they were relatively minor and overall they functioned relatively well. It was the Federal government website, applicable to States that did not have their own marketplace, which had the major glitches.


The Government according to media estimates has spent over 600 million dollars on this effort over a 3 year period. And it doesn't work. I'm confident that the administrator will be able to fix most of the issues in a few weeks, but there are several things that could or should have been done, which could have resolved most of the issues in a couple of days. And would be as effective as the several hundred million dollar fixes.

Here's a list of the top 5 things I would do to improve the same. It would cost under $10,000 and would resolve over 95% of the aggravation. No that was not a mistake. Ten Thousand Dollars. That's it. Not 100s of millions, not 10s of millions not even a couple of million. Just a few thousand dollars. And not even that, as the people required to make these changes are probably on staff and being paid anyways.

Fix 5
Redirect to State Home on Fed Home page
The Fed website gets traffic from all the 50 states. And then after asking several questions, redirects you to either the State's healthcare website where applicable or continues with the process. By making this the point of entry, you are reducing a significant load of those whose States already have their own health marketplace. And by having multiple sites, 1 for each State, the ability to manage the load as well as make State specific changes becomes simple.


Fix 4
Create a quick reckoner calculator of Healthcare options   
At the end of the day, the healthcare options are a factor of a few basic factors.
1. No. of persons
2. Sex of each person
3. Age of each person

This is the Law. It does not allow the insurance companies to use other factors that may impact premiums such as health, race, family history or any of those zillion things. That's it. A simple ready reckoner can give you the options available when you input these basic values. And most of the millions who were frustrated and want to know their options would have it in minutes. Automatically reducing the number of people accessing the website.


Fix 3
Minimal details required to compare
The current website requires loads of data to compare plans. After the previous steps, those who want to go further and want a formal proposal can be made to input the personal data. Such as Name, Address, Date of Birth and other required data. Again this can be reduced and restricted to under 10 parameters per individual.


Fix 2
No need to register
The current system required every visitor to register before they could get any info. Considering that the large majority of these visitors aren't likely to purchase the plans, its a waste of time and resources. Both of the individual and of the portal. Make as much info available outside of the registration. That way, only those who want to take the next steps towards purchasing healthcare need to register. Automatically reducing loads and resources by over 90%. Think of the impact a single road accident has on traffic. Its a cascading impact. Get the accidents off the road, and give a separate lane for fast traffic, and the traffic moves smoothly.


Fix 1
No server side validation of data at application
And finally get rid of all of the validations at the application stage. All you need to do is have a 1 line disclaimer that says "The policy is subject to all data provided being accurate". The same can be verified offline in a batch process at a later stage by the insurance companies issuing the policies. And the benefits can be verified by the Government when they are submitted by the Insurance company for verification. This will speed up the process and give the exact same accuracy as the current cumbersome system that uses interfacing with several systems including Credit Rating Agencies for verification of an individual. The Government is collecting money upfront. The payer (Beneficiary) needs to worry about the data being correct and accurate.

And the reason, all of this can be done in a coupe of days at low cost is that you're getting rid of all the complicated systems that have several bugs, issues, flaws, holes,... and replacing with a simple yet robust, scalable and equally or rather more effective system.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

ZocDoc

Ever since my walk in the park, I've been meaning to visit a doctor. Mainly because there is the concept of Primary Care Physician and I didn't have one. A couple of weeks ago, I finally decided that I should go meet a Primary Care Physician, before something goes wrong.


I did what we normally do when we want a new trustworthy provider. Ask your colleagues and friends. They gave a few suggestions, I should check out. In most cases, it was their family physician. Unfortunately for me when I checked them out, they were either too far, or not taking new patients, or the earliest appointment was in a couple of months or ...

And so I did the next thing we do when we want to find something. Search for it n the Net. And whilst Google gave the names and addresses of a few providers, I came across a site called ZocDoc, which seemed to do exactly what I wanted. And so I registered. And searched for doctors in my area.


I made an appointment to meet a doctor in Norwalk close to where I work after a couple of days. I got an automated mail saying the appointment would be confirmed by the doctors office. The next day I received a voicemail saying I needed to call in to give my insurance details and confirm the appointment. I called in and the clinic's coordinator wanted to know what my illness was. As mentioned in the ZocDoc form, I said I just wanted a General Consultation in order to have a Primary care Physician and I had no ailments. She said in that case the doctor did not have time to see me. The earliest appointment available would be after 2 months. She claimed that they only do a few a month. This was weird and strange. The only reason could be is that ailing patients revenue / minute is greater than people who aren't well. No wonder the cost of treatment and medical premiums in the US are astronomical.


I wasn't happy with the doctor or with ZocDoc. And then I got a call from ZocDoc. They wanted to know what happened, were apologetic and send me a $10 Amazon Gift Card. The person who I spoke with was a real person, intelligent and who knew her stuff. So either I got lucky or they have an amazing back office operation. This interaction encouraged me to give ZocDoc 1 more try.

I found another doctor in Westport. And made an appointment. This time the appointment was confirmed almost immediately. I went in, met the doctor who seemed to be as good in person as his reviews suggested. I came away happy at having finally got my very own personal Primary Care Physician. And that was not the end.


I received a mail the next day, with a request to give feedback on the interaction with the doctor. What made it even more interesting was that it was a simple format that allowed the feedback to be given in the email itself with 3 simple clicks. And thus ensuring that the feedback percentage and thereby the effectiveness of the system was very high.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

US government closed

Earlier this week on the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, Oct 1, the US Government was partially shut down. This sounds absurd. How can a government shut down ? And what does it mean ?


Great questions and there are several answers out there. There are also many opinions on who to blame. And depending on whose opinion it is, it varies from the Republicans, to Congress, to the Senate, to the President. The way the Government works is that there are 2 types of methods in which Government departments., or Government programs get funded. The first is those programs which are automatically funded. Programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Armed Forces. And then there are those which are funded on the basis of yearly congressional appropriations or basically congress approving an annual budget for the year. And these have to be approved by October 1, for the coming year, else those departments need to start cutting on spending. These departments include the National Park Service and so parks and monuments are closed as well as agencies such as the Pentagon, so civilian employees will start getting forced leave.


The television media is covering the negotiations or rather the lack of negotiations between the Democratic Senate, Republican Congress and a Democratic President. And whilst I have several opinions on why each of them is behaving like a spoilt brat, I'll let that pass for fear of being yet another voice who knows nothing about nothing.

Interestingly this is an annual event. And on most occasions a budget does not get approved. What does happen is that a Continuous Resolution is passed, popularly called a CR, which is nothing but akin to maintaining the status quo, until the next event.

I have a very simple solution to avoid the impasse. Its called "Tacit Approval". And what this implies is that whenever any decision is not arrived at by the majority in both houses which has been approved by the President, the TA (Lets give it an acronym so that its easier to get approved), automatically kicks in. In other words, the government can never be closed.


A question that may come to mind is that this could be misused by the political parties to avoid coming to an agreement. The interesting aspect in this methodology is that it can't be misused, since it doesn't allow any new events. So, if any party wants a new provision or want to do away with an old provision, they will in any case need to get approval of both houses of Congress as well as get the President's acceptance. What the TA does is avoids closing of any program due to a non decision or lack of consensus. So if parties are passionate about agendas, they'll need to work doubly hard to make it happen since inaction will achieve nothing.

IMHO TA is perfect for Government. It ensures that when the politicians do what they do best, "Nothing", "Nothing Happens" and yet everything will continue to function normally, leading to a lot of happy people. And more important very few unhappy people, except of course the politicians, since they would have lost the ability to have nuisance value.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

gofundme

A few days ago, I got a mail from Freia. Something to the effect that "I've helped out, you should too". And below was a link.

http://www.gofundme.com/4iik84?utm_campaign=Emails&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email


I was curious enough to check it out. The link took me to the page of Katherine Landis, a freshman at NYU , like Freia. And her story was amazing. I was immediately encourage to and did my bit.

What stuck me was the platform, gofundme. A great idea. And like most great ideas, something simple that allowed a person in need to petition their case to their family and friends and through them to a larger social network. It was Crowd-funding at its best.


Going through the various cases,like every medium several were frivolous. But whats great about these platforms, is that their merit is decided by the donor. The probability of undeserving cases getting funded is not high and more important the probability of deserving cases like Katherine getting funded is very high.

And sure enough, Katherine did get fully funded in a few days.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

fitbit

Earlier this month I had presented a fitness device called FitBit to Mabel. Imagine my surprise when I received a present from Mabel. A FitBit. And a message. "Its Awesome. Try it out".


It was ironic that I was being presented something I had presented. Seemed like I had no clue about its value. As far as I knew, FitBit was a simple wrist band that was a pedometer. Something that measured the number of steps you walked. In fact, its such a simple device that most smart phones have a free app, that will do exactly that.

I opened up my FitBit and set it up. The default setting was 10,000 steps, 30 minutes of moderate activity and burning of 2500 calories. I got an invite to become friends with Mabel and Claudian and Kurund. And was able to see that they were able to do their targets consistently every day for the last few weeks.


Seemed like I had no choice. If they could do it, so could I. And so I did Day 1. I realized that it was relatively simple but needed at least 30 minutes of walking in addition to the daily activities of moving around.

I found myself becoming conscious of the target and subconsciously began modifying my behavior in little ways. I began parking my car at the far end of the lot not the closest. Walk whilst on the phone,...

And then realization hit me. What made FitBit effective was not the pedometer. It had managed to integrate 2 simple but powerful things. The first was measuring your activity on an ongoing basis as opposed to a pedometer that you switched on and off. And the second was connecting and displaying the statistics of your friends. Human nature works very hard in the realm of relativity. If someone else is doing it, then so can you, and so will you.


I'd like to write more, but will allow you to check it out. I gotta go and take a walk.