This is a weekly blog that puts forward my thoughts, and my point of view.
You may agree with some. And probably disagree with most. And we can agree to disagree. After all, wouldn't life be boring if we all thought the same way.
Last year I made several resolutions and linked it to rewards. It was partially successful. I managed to do around 76% of the goals and claim 2 of the 5 rewards. But as my daughter says, "That's not good enough. You need to complete what you started."
And so my resolution for 21018 is very simple. Complete all pending tasks by March 31, 2018. And complete all the resolutions of 2018 before the end of 2018.
Yes, I have a few resolutions for 2018. And hopefully my update in January of next year would be "I managed to finish what I started".
All the best to each of you for 2018 and may you be able to complete everything you started.
Recently Twitter introduced Threads. And Freia asked me to check it out. I did. Liked it. And decided to use it to make my 2017 list. Of what happened. The Top 10 events of 2017. That Twitter users got to see 1 week before you. And so here goes my first prediction for 2018. Twitter will rock. The Media. And the Stock Market.
"
There is a ritual we like to do twice a year. At the beginning. And at the end. We make lists. Of what will happen. And what happened. As 2017 draws to close, its time for the list. Here's my list of the Top 10 events of 2017.
10: It is but natural that the feature that allowed me to have this list in a meaningful manner on Twitter finds a mention. And so we start No. 10 as "Threaded Twitter". https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-multi-tweet-threads/
9: Since its my list, I cannot but help sneaking in a personal project, HOPE. HOPE is an acronym for High-Speed Outernet Powered Education. A project we believe can help Billions, yes Billions get quality education. Join us and help get HOPE to billions. http://lobodecoded.blogspot.in/2017/10/hope-persistence-and-belief.html
8: I love Ice-Cream. But avoid them order to keep calorie intake low. If only it could be healthy. Eureka, its here. "Guilt-Free Ice Cream". A pint of super tasty ice-cream, just 240 calories. HEALTHY ICE CREAM THAT ACTUALLY TASTES LIKE ICE CREAM. http://www.halotop.com/
5: Revolutionary technology for the legally blind. eSight 3 is an engineering breakthrough that allows the legally blind to actually see. It enables independence and choice as the legally blind engage in virtually all Activities of Daily Living. https://www.esighteyewear.com/
4: The Media. Yes. The media. Working in a hostile environment, where politicians tell us that all news negative to them is Fake and all positive news is Real. A fair and unbiased media is one which presents the facts. And makes retractions on occasions when they make a mistake.
3: The Silence Breakers changed the world. Their impact has been across industries. And this is the beginning. And needs to continue until unacceptable behavior takes place and does not meet severe repercussions and the zero tolerance it requires. http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/
2: In any other year, these heroes would be No. 1. Each one of them deserves to their own list. These heroes highlight how little we do and how much we can do." CNN Heroes, you've changed the world. And made it a better place. For all of us. Thank You. http://www.cnn.com/specials/cnn-heroes/
1: Usually this is the toughest one. This year was different. This was the easiest. The winner by over 2000% is the Bitcoin. Starting at under $1000, its on track to end the year at over $20,000. https://www.coindesk.com/price/
And below is the original Tweet. Embedded. The new improved version in 2018 will allow me to just embed the tweet and the complete thread will be embedded. Saving me the trouble of recreating this blogpost. :-)
There is a ritual we like to do twice a year. At the beginning. And at the end. We make lists. Of what will happen. And what happened. As 2017 draws to close, its time for the list. Here's my list of the Top 10 events of 2017.
On Thursday the FCC voted to repeal net neutrality rules. This is important and is likely to impact most of our lives directly or indirectly in the coming days, months, years, decades,...
Based on what I knew, or to put it more accurately thought I knew, I was against the repeal actions. It was my understanding that it would be the first step in making the last truly open non-controlled space into a manipulatable controlled environment.
This changed when 2 colleagues Al and Bob had the exact opposite view. They felt that it would make the Internet a free market, as it should be and would be beneficial to the companies and to the consumers.
I went back and started reading, listening and watching and spent hundreds of hours, okay 10's of hours on seeing which view is right. It seemed to be that in such a straight forward proposition there would be a right and a wrong.
I've put together for you a series of videos that share both points of view. The first is a CBS clip on the announcement . And the 2nd is a WSJ video of 2015, which explains net neutrality when it first came up for discussion and a vote in 2015. All other videos are in order of their published date. I've given my conclusions and thoughts at the end of the series of videos. If you truly want to have an unbiased point of view, it makes sense to go through these series of videos and / or other matter on the subject, partisan and non-partisan. And then decide.
FCC votes to end net neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal net neutrality rules in place since 2015. Critics say the move will dismantle the "open internet" while proponents argue it will remove burdensome regulations on telecoms. Slate technology writer April Glaser joins CBSN to discuss what the future could be for net neutrality. Published on Dec 14, 2017
Net Neutrality Explained Published on Feb 26, 2015
Creators of the Internet Tell Congress Ajit Pai and FCC "Should Be Stopped" Published on Dec 13, 2017
Ben Shapiro debunked by a network engineer on net neutrality. Published on Dec 13, 2017
NET NEUTRALITY: Why Big Corporations Support It. | Louder With Crowder Published on Dec 4, 2017
FCC chairman: Repealing net neutrality will benefit the market Published on Nov 22, 2017
Former FCC Chairman Wheeler Reacts to Net Neutrality Plan Published on Nov 21, 2017
Net Neutrality II: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Published on May 7, 2017
Two Minutes on Why Net Neutrality is Terrible - Mark Cuban Explains Published on Feb 25, 2015
My Take:
SAD. The repeal of net neutrality is a bad idea. It makes the Internet that has been for the most part open with access to all the Internet has to offer, to a curated version of the Internet. Where the curation is based on ability to pay. Not of the consumer, but of the content provider. Which means I may never even know what I'm missing.
A colleague who was for the repeal, gave his reason as net neutrality is government diktat and the government should stay out of the business of business. He went on to give the analogy of a retail store. In his opinion, Macy's should have the freedom to decide what they put on their shelves, and he and I should have the freedom of choosing whether to go to Macy's or to Sear's. Ironically even in the example, Sear's is no longer a real option. More to the point I agree with everything he said, and yet this has nothing to do with net neutrality. If at all you want to use the retail analogy, then Macy's is a store on the World Wide Web. And the Net connection is the road that leads to it. While the stores should have the freedom to have whatever they want on their shelves as in real life, the access to the roads should not be dependent on whether Macy's pays and access blocked to the Mom and Pop store next to Macy's since they were unable to pay the ISP. As in real life. True freedom is the ability to go to the store I want. Not choose among the few that I can reach.
If you look back at history, the maximum new wealth created by entrepreneurs has been created in the last 3 decades. Interestingly a large part of that has been their ability to access a large market, which until the Internet, was not available to the small guy. I'm not against the Big Guys. Actually I'm a fan, because to a large extent they are responsible for the wonderful quality of life that we have. I just want them to compete on a close to level playing field.
The good news is that the repeal is unlikely to create a major issue, since the consumers ability to switch providers, competition and the judicial system may get straying corporations back to doing the right thing. However what doesn't make sense is that if you want them to do the right thing, which the proponents say they will, why not have a set of rules that mandate it.
The argument that there should not be government intervention is flawed, since in any case rules, laws, society and everything around us is dictated by rules, regulations and norms, by the government. Its a Federal Law that dictates that I'm mandated to follow instructions of the aircraft crew, even though basic survival instinct should dictate that behavior. Which is why we get to choose the government. And that's how we control our destiny.
To summarize, its my personal opinion that all infrastructure that is a necessity should have government oversight. I believe that the Internet is a necessary infrastructure and hence should have rules similar to the others. Unfortunately that was just repealed. RIP Net Neutrality.
p.s.: To bolster my case, I just found someone else who seems to agree with it. The World Economic Forum.
"... The concept of government as provider comes next: government as provider of goods and services that individuals cannot provide individually for themselves. Government in this conception is the solution to collective action problems, the medium through which citizens create public goods that benefit everyone, but that are also subject to free-rider problems without some collective compulsion.
The basic economic infrastructure of human connectivity falls into this category: the means of physical travel, such as roads, bridges and ports of all kinds, and increasingly the means of virtual travel, such as broadband. All of this infrastructure can be, and typically initially is, provided by private entrepreneurs who see an opportunity to build a road, say, and charge users a toll, but the capital necessary is so great and the public benefit so obvious that ultimately the government takes over." https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/government-responsibility-to-citizens-anne-marie-slaughter/
I had purchased a few bitcoins in Jan 2015. More than anything else, I wanted to experience the full life-cycle of the Bitcoin owning, storing and transferring process which everyone talked about but few knew. Freia was the one who first purchased bitcoins at Coinbase and I followed suit. She had purchased when the Bitcoin was trading at $1,000+ and so when I was able to get it at $250, I thought it was a good deal. Risky, but good.
In the last couple of years, the subject of bitcoin had come up and I've been cautiously bullish. I thought that there was a reasonable probability that the cyber currency would increase in value and had made these comments during discussions.
In the last few weeks the price of Bitcoin has sky-rocketed. I just looked and it was over $ 16,000. Earlier today morning it was at $14,013. It seems to change significantly every time you look at it.
Many of those who were part of the Bitcoin chats, now think that I know about Bitcoin. And so have 2 things to say to me. First, "Why didn't you make us buy Bitcoins?" And the second, "Should we buy Bitcoins.". The answer to the first is, Yes I did. And I said it was Risky. That hasn't changed. It's still SuperRisky.
The answer to the second is that, "I have no idea." I myself have divested 75% of what I owned at various levels, @$2,000, @6,000 and @$16,000. A few minutes prior to writing this blog.
And while I have absolutely no idea whether the Bitcoin will trade at $100,000 or at $100 or even $0.01 in a year, I do know one thing. Nobody knows. I have just 1 piece of advise, "Invest only that amount of money, which you could have thrown into the ocean. Never to be seen again". And per chance, if it does give you some returns, say a big "THANK YOU" to whichever divine force you believe in.
And before you do that, check these out. They will not tell you what to do. But at least, you'll know more about the vast ocean in which you are about to throw your money.
One of the reasons for the surge in cyber-currency is the respectability that they now enjoy, By virtue of their options being traded on a few leading exchanges, starting today. http://cfe.cboe.com/cfe-products/xbt-cboe-bitcoin-futures
How Bitcoin Futures Will Affect Price
p.s.: And if this has been an eye opener, I do accept thank you gifts. In Bitcoins.
When we had moved to the US in 2012, one of our favorite things to do, was America's favorite pass time. The Television. And we saw a lot of it. And we were among the few who actually loved the ads. Of course, there were several we hated but one of my all time favorite ads was from a franchise food outlet, Cracker Barrel.
I always wanted to go to one, and we did not have one close to where we lived. And did not come across one in our travels across the state on many weekends. Reia was back for her internship and as we were driving to check out cars, I saw a sign. A Cracker Barrel sign off I-95 in Milford. And immediately told Reia, "We have to come here".
Earlier today, we fulfilled a 5 year old dream, to eat a country dinner at the place for it, "Cracker Barrel". The first difference we noticed was that it seemed to be a country store, just like you see in the movies, except that at a corner was a hostess. She led you into the restaurant, and the decor and ambience was similar to the ads. I loved it.
The menu was nice, simple and most importantly what I found to extremely interesting pricing. A dinner for $7.99. Which included an entree, 2 sides, biscuits and corn bread. Hmmm. Must be small quantities.
I ordered the recommended dinner and Reia ordered Dumplins. The food looked appetizing. The quantity was large. And it tasted great. Similar to what my grandma would have cooked. If she was American and lived in the country.
No meal is complete without dessert. And Reia did not let us down. She ordered the Pecan Pie, which was new and part of the holiday pie menu. We had it to go, since we were full. But couldn't resist tasting. It was good. So good, that it didn't get home.
And their new ad isn't as good as my favorite original. But quite good, nevertheless.
Last Sunday Reia and I went car shopping. I had finally decided that it was too expensive to rent cars and it would be more cost effective for me to just buy a car.
I didn't want to spend too much and so was looking at a used car. Since I spend just around 6 months and am not local, I wanted to buy a fairly recent one that would not give me the heartache of breaking down every few months or weeks or days.
I spoke to a few experts, aka Americans. And this was 1 subject on which there were myriad opinions. Al felt that a car is an investment and I should get a new, all wheel drive, fully loaded. The rationale being the comfort while owning and the value when selling. Bob was of the opinion that if I wanted to get a used car, I should get one from a dealer and not an individual or a used car outlet. His rationale was that although you could expect to pay significantly more, you could rely on what you were getting and the probability of landing a lemon very low. And the final authority. Reia. She had just 1 question, "Can I take it to college ?".
After running all of the zillion opinions and options through an extremely complex algorithm, processed at super-speed by the world's faster computer, aka the brain, we decided to go check out Car Max. The primary reason was that it seemed to be a single place we could check out several cars at one time.
Reia and I had kinda narrowed down to a Nissan Rogue Sports. It was neither a SUV nor a sedan, but had the features of both and was what some called a Crossover. The primary reason was it seemed to be the cheapest car that had an all wheel drive, a nice thing to have in the snow in Connecticut.
At Car Max, the experience was exactly what they claimed in their ads. No pressure sales. In fact, there was no real sales. All questions I had were answered by going to the Car Max website that I had already visited. And the sales person did not seem to know or be able to help us in making a decision. He wasn't even able to explain why a used car was almost as expensive as a new car. A 2014 car was priced at $17,000 and I remember seeing a new car ad for under $20,000. He checked it online, saw i was there and advised me to go buy the new car. I agreed and so Reia and I decided to check that out.
The time was already 3.30 and dealerships closed at 4 on Sundays. We decided to drive to the nearest dealership which happened to be "George Harte Nissan" in West Haven. They were all set to close down when we got there, but were attended to by Tim Roy. He was good. He was a professional. Knew when to push. And when to stop. He gave us a price. What seemed to me to be an obviously larger number, so he could negotiate. I told him I wanted his best price and I would make a decision. He came back with a number that was not Amazing but quite good. The comparable price to the $17,000 was $18,000. And this included a 3 year warranty and all the good stuff that comes with a new car.
It seemed like a great deal. Since it was the end of the year, the dealerships wanted to sell their 2017 model year inventory before the year ended. And Nissan was willing to help them, by giving a few manufacturer discounts as well. And 0% financing. And the dealer was willing to forfeit most if not all of their margins. And Black Friday, the greatest sale event in the US was an opportunity to move cars. Motivated Buyers. Even more Motivated Sellers.
We were sold. And promised to get back the next day. After checking out at least 1 more dealership. Just to make sure we weren't missing anything. I checked out 2 other dealerships. One of them had a similar price. Unfortunately I had a very poor experience. And the other I had a great experience. But a price that was $3,000 more. There was no decision to be made. It made itself.
And then I made a mistake. I spoke again to Al and Bob. And they convinced me that the entry level model is never a good idea. I needed to at the very least get the next model, and the winter package and ... My cheap car just got a whole lot more expensive. And I was sucked in to going with it, because of the "What if they are right?" syndrome.
Yesterday, Reia and I went picked up our new Nissan Rogue. 1 day old and we already love it.
Last Sunday was my niece Simran's birthday. And we were blessed to have another niece on the same day. She was a healthy child at 3.649 kg and 53 cm.
It seems like none of us will be able to see her for the next 60 - 90 days. Don't know what will determine when we will be able to visit her, but I am sure the parents have figured out what, when and why.
I've been brought up in India where all of us visited the happy parents in the hospital, hours after the child is born. Not only of the near and dear ones, but also the not so near yet dear ones. There seemed to be no clear reasons for this decision to keep visitors away that was shared by the parents. Except for that's how we do it. And like all things in life, people choose what's right for them. And everybody else respects those wishes. Especially when there is no other choice.
I was curious to find if this was followed due to medical, cultural, religious or some other reasons. And I started a research project on the subject aka Ask Friends and Google.
I started with the medical professionals. We have 2 doctors in our immediate family. And I checked with them. They said that from a medical standpoint, its not only okay but good to have visitors after the baby is in the room with the mother. And when the hospital allows it. They laughed at the stupidity of the question, since the very fact that the doctors and hospitals were allowing it, not only was it safe and perfectly okay, it was a joyful time to be shared with the near and dear.
Next stop was the church. The priests too shared the same opinion as the doctors. And felt that you could get the child to church as soon as a few days or as some parents prefer, wait a month. And it all depended on the mother. And her comfort level. I guess they didn't want to miss a potential long term parishioner.
Next stop was my American friends. The Americans were vocal on the subject. A colleague, Ruppert had a baby born after 27 weeks. And to call her premature would be an understatement.
Natalie
He said that while they had visitors as soon as the baby was in the room with the mother, they had been advised to be careful with handling of the baby. And so would request visitors not to hold the baby and the close ones like his Mom to wash their hands using hand wash foam they had ready.
Dad Ruppert with Natalie
The Europeans seemed to follow a similar pattern. I tried to find some culture that had such strict routines but wasn't able to. Most articles on the subject talked about etiquette for visitors, but I wasn't able to find an article on not having visitors for 2 - 3 months.
All of the above does not mean that there isn't a good reason for the parents behaving in what many of us consider strange. There's a possibility that we just don't know and what we don't know appears strange. Or as life has taught me, it could just as well be plain and simple arrogance or stupidity or both. I guess its one more of those life's mysteries that I'll never know.
And while I look forward to seeing my niece in 3 months or so, its possible as a doctor suggested that I avoid seeing her for a year. Since there's no significant drop in probability of infection between Day 1 and Day 60, but there's a statistically significant drop between Day 60 and Day 365. Or as my daughter thought aloud, "I think I'll wait till she's 16, so she can decide whether or not she wants to meet me."
But really, I cant wait to see the Rose. And am sure that when I do get to meet her, it will be an occasion well worth waiting for.
Yesterday was celebrated in the US as Veteran's Day. It's a public holiday observed annually on November 11. This day is also celebrated in other parts of the world and is meant to mark the end of World War 1. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of, no not the 11th year but the 18th year, 1918.
Its always fascinating to show the respect and thankfulness shown here to those who served. Richly deserved, but not always shown in many parts of the world.
Here are my 10 favorite Veteran Day signs.
And since usually the good outnumbers the bad, here are my 5 least favorite signs.
Happy veterans day and Thank You to all who served. Your motherland. Not only in the US but all over the world.
