Sunday, October 23, 2005
Alarming Gas Price Increase: Have car-makers snoozed long enough?
"We promise that fuel efficiency is just as important to us as it is to you."
So goes a Chevy TV advert that talks about how Chevrolet is also giving a fuel efficiency of 30 highway mpg for some of their cars. Seems like American car makers are finally waking up and smelling the impending losses. This year has been a nightmare for American car manufacturers like Chevrolet. Just scan any newspaper and you see the following stories:
"Ford plans shake-up after losses: Reports 284 million dollars in losses and plans a significant restructuring"
"General Motors skids to huge loss: 1.19 billion dollar losses"
We all know the rigmarole. Hurricanes on the Gulf coast, damage the oil refineries, drive up gas prices. Sales of SUVs and trucks go down. Ford and GM are in deep trouble.
Don't even get me started on what a stupid idea SUVs and Hummers are. Huge vehicles that just drink a lot of gas. Have you ever driven behind one of these monsters? You just can't see the road or road signs ahead of these things. They are so big that more people die of accidents with SUVs than most other car classes. So in addition to burning more fuel and producing more greenhouse gases, these cars also drive up insurance premiums for people like you and I, who aren't even buying these vechicles. I don't know what Ford and GM were thinking. I am sure there are some really smart people there and you can see a trend of people shifting over to more fuel-efficient and reliable cars. Blame it on the Japanese car makers who are thinking smart and thinking ahead.
My Acura isn't the best as far as fuel economy is concerned. It gives about 25 miles per gallon in the city and I am really kicking myself for not buying a hybrid. What's more in California you can use the carpool lane if you drive a car that gives more than 50 miles per gallon, even if you're driving alone. So you save even more money on gas as you cut across the rush hour gridlock here in the Valley, instead of burning more fuel trying to find a decent radio station.
These days if you are watching a football game, you are bombarded with car commercials. But no matter how many beefy guys egg you on to buy a truck, or how many employee discounts they offer, "Times they are a'Changin". People don't buy SUVs and trucks unless they really are filthy rich or they are totally daft. (Does that mean dense people watch more football... well maybe I am dense then!) As Rose (played by Kate Winslet) from Titanic says "What is this male obsession with size??" Why do some men have to drive huge gargantuans to prove their masculinity?
Seems to me that GM and Ford were counting on ekeing out a market in this big car segment what with Toyota, Honda and Mazda gulping down the regular car segment. But not for too long. Thankfully Chevrolet seems to have woken up and it might end up being the only American automaker to survive these testing times.
"We promise that fuel efficiency is just as important to us as it is to you."
So goes a Chevy TV advert that talks about how Chevrolet is also giving a fuel efficiency of 30 highway mpg for some of their cars. Seems like American car makers are finally waking up and smelling the impending losses. This year has been a nightmare for American car manufacturers like Chevrolet. Just scan any newspaper and you see the following stories:
"Ford plans shake-up after losses: Reports 284 million dollars in losses and plans a significant restructuring"
"General Motors skids to huge loss: 1.19 billion dollar losses"
We all know the rigmarole. Hurricanes on the Gulf coast, damage the oil refineries, drive up gas prices. Sales of SUVs and trucks go down. Ford and GM are in deep trouble.
Don't even get me started on what a stupid idea SUVs and Hummers are. Huge vehicles that just drink a lot of gas. Have you ever driven behind one of these monsters? You just can't see the road or road signs ahead of these things. They are so big that more people die of accidents with SUVs than most other car classes. So in addition to burning more fuel and producing more greenhouse gases, these cars also drive up insurance premiums for people like you and I, who aren't even buying these vechicles. I don't know what Ford and GM were thinking. I am sure there are some really smart people there and you can see a trend of people shifting over to more fuel-efficient and reliable cars. Blame it on the Japanese car makers who are thinking smart and thinking ahead.
My Acura isn't the best as far as fuel economy is concerned. It gives about 25 miles per gallon in the city and I am really kicking myself for not buying a hybrid. What's more in California you can use the carpool lane if you drive a car that gives more than 50 miles per gallon, even if you're driving alone. So you save even more money on gas as you cut across the rush hour gridlock here in the Valley, instead of burning more fuel trying to find a decent radio station.
These days if you are watching a football game, you are bombarded with car commercials. But no matter how many beefy guys egg you on to buy a truck, or how many employee discounts they offer, "Times they are a'Changin". People don't buy SUVs and trucks unless they really are filthy rich or they are totally daft. (Does that mean dense people watch more football... well maybe I am dense then!) As Rose (played by Kate Winslet) from Titanic says "What is this male obsession with size??" Why do some men have to drive huge gargantuans to prove their masculinity?
Seems to me that GM and Ford were counting on ekeing out a market in this big car segment what with Toyota, Honda and Mazda gulping down the regular car segment. But not for too long. Thankfully Chevrolet seems to have woken up and it might end up being the only American automaker to survive these testing times.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
The foot in the mouth disease
Okay and now to the post you've all been waiting for... (virtual drumroll....) Gaurav vs IIPM. I've spent the past 3 hours just tracing the story from one blog to another. If you are interested in doing the same here are the major one's I'd recommend.
(Right from the horse's mouth)
Gaurav
Kautilya
Ashutosh
Ramanand
Hirak
My thoughts on this. Unfortunately this situation has been analyzed to death on most of these blogs that any thoughts I've had would just be mirroring most of these blogs. IIPMs approach to this story is best described by phrases such as "throwing an axe at one's own leg", "putting your foot in your own mouth" and other such variations of the word suicide. It just shows a lack of some basic business sense... all the more reason why nobody should want to study at a place like that. If IIPM really doesn't give what it advertizes, they should want to avoid any bad publicity. Public memory is typically really short and the story wouldn't have become this big if they had just kept quiet.
As for Gaurav, he is getting more than a few days worth of his "15 minutes of fame. I've known him since class 10, when we used to sit in the Math Olympiad classes together and we even went to college together at COEP. He isn't the same person he used to be back then, but I have to admire the way he is handling the issue.
Okay and now to the post you've all been waiting for... (virtual drumroll....) Gaurav vs IIPM. I've spent the past 3 hours just tracing the story from one blog to another. If you are interested in doing the same here are the major one's I'd recommend.
(Right from the horse's mouth)
Gaurav
Kautilya
Ashutosh
Ramanand
Hirak
My thoughts on this. Unfortunately this situation has been analyzed to death on most of these blogs that any thoughts I've had would just be mirroring most of these blogs. IIPMs approach to this story is best described by phrases such as "throwing an axe at one's own leg", "putting your foot in your own mouth" and other such variations of the word suicide. It just shows a lack of some basic business sense... all the more reason why nobody should want to study at a place like that. If IIPM really doesn't give what it advertizes, they should want to avoid any bad publicity. Public memory is typically really short and the story wouldn't have become this big if they had just kept quiet.
As for Gaurav, he is getting more than a few days worth of his "15 minutes of fame. I've known him since class 10, when we used to sit in the Math Olympiad classes together and we even went to college together at COEP. He isn't the same person he used to be back then, but I have to admire the way he is handling the issue.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
The dilemma of the non-resident Indian guy
I try to avoid talking about personal matters on this blog usually, but I want to assert an opinion on something I'm not pleased about. It's the severe dearth of intelligent, well-read, articulate and most importantly "single" Indian women out there. Quite frankly single Indian women practically don't exist in the Bay area or atleast the circles I move around in. The odd single girl is so dense that even making an intelligent conversation is a challenge. Then the rare single girl who is capable of such thoughts, has some other annoying personal trait... selfishness, super-sentimentality and craziness to list a few. Obviously you're not surprised they are available.
Your parents don't want you to date any American girls, whether they are Asian or white or even Indian for that matter. I am very far from perfect, but some of the really smart good-looking Indian guys I know also seem to be facing the same problem. Is this the price of success? You don't really want to have an arranged marriage because finally it is a huge gamble and by now you've already realized that your parents have a very different world-view from your own. Are we just going to end up as misfits both in India and America, where we can't like American girls because they are too American and don't get along with Indian girls because they are too Indian?
I try to avoid talking about personal matters on this blog usually, but I want to assert an opinion on something I'm not pleased about. It's the severe dearth of intelligent, well-read, articulate and most importantly "single" Indian women out there. Quite frankly single Indian women practically don't exist in the Bay area or atleast the circles I move around in. The odd single girl is so dense that even making an intelligent conversation is a challenge. Then the rare single girl who is capable of such thoughts, has some other annoying personal trait... selfishness, super-sentimentality and craziness to list a few. Obviously you're not surprised they are available.
Your parents don't want you to date any American girls, whether they are Asian or white or even Indian for that matter. I am very far from perfect, but some of the really smart good-looking Indian guys I know also seem to be facing the same problem. Is this the price of success? You don't really want to have an arranged marriage because finally it is a huge gamble and by now you've already realized that your parents have a very different world-view from your own. Are we just going to end up as misfits both in India and America, where we can't like American girls because they are too American and don't get along with Indian girls because they are too Indian?
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Armageddon?
Has the rate of natural calamities just increased exponentially this year? Earthquakes and torrential rains in South Asia, Hurricanes in North and Central America, Avian Flu in South-east Asia on the rise. To top that there are man-made disasters too, Islamic terrorists strike in London and Bali. Ofcourse I should also include the Iraq war and the casualties daily there. I don't mean to be cynical but I feel like global human population has shrunk substantially this year.
For some reason though I think human beings are being an extreme burden on the globe. In India while medicine allows us to reduce death rates, no one makes an equally valiant attempt to bring down the birth rate. We have probably brought a large number of species to extinction in recent years. We are deforesting more regions in the world, producing more greenhouse gases... the list is endless. Even though global warming is now a scientific fact, the big superpowers aren't ready to relent and even make a conscious attempt to reverse the deadly process.(The EU is making an attempt I believe). Is global warming going to be our downfall? Would countries be willing to make short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term sustainability? Are we going to cause our own extinction?
Has the rate of natural calamities just increased exponentially this year? Earthquakes and torrential rains in South Asia, Hurricanes in North and Central America, Avian Flu in South-east Asia on the rise. To top that there are man-made disasters too, Islamic terrorists strike in London and Bali. Ofcourse I should also include the Iraq war and the casualties daily there. I don't mean to be cynical but I feel like global human population has shrunk substantially this year.
For some reason though I think human beings are being an extreme burden on the globe. In India while medicine allows us to reduce death rates, no one makes an equally valiant attempt to bring down the birth rate. We have probably brought a large number of species to extinction in recent years. We are deforesting more regions in the world, producing more greenhouse gases... the list is endless. Even though global warming is now a scientific fact, the big superpowers aren't ready to relent and even make a conscious attempt to reverse the deadly process.(The EU is making an attempt I believe). Is global warming going to be our downfall? Would countries be willing to make short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term sustainability? Are we going to cause our own extinction?
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
55 word Story Tag from Nupur
Crappy writing warning: Do not read further... you risk severe brain damage if you try to read this story.
Amit and Nikhil are sitting in a Silicon Valley Starbucks. People around the coffee shop can't figure out why these two Indian guys appear so animated and why they might be gesturing so violently at each other, and yet whispering softly enough to not disturb anyone. Young Harry is a budding Venture Capitalist, and he senses an opportunity in what obviously sounds like a business plan. The two Indian guys sporting Nvidia T-shirts look like technical wizards to him. He slowly moves closer to them and hears Amit say “I think we should start this way…”. Harry interrupts awkwardly, “I am a VC, I couldn’t help watching you guys… Is there any way I can help ?” “Oh sure” says Amit. Harry is a little surprised by his willingness. “This is the problem… one of my friends asked me to write a 55 word story and I just can’t find a way to end this story!!!”
Okay so that obviously wasn't 55 words long. So here is another attempt:
Amit and Nikhil are discussing an important problem in a Silicon Valley Starbucks. People around the coffee shop can't figure out why these two Indian guys appear so animated and yet whisper so softly. Amit suddenly breaks down and starts weeping inexorably. Nikhil says, “Amit it’s okay… you don’t have to write a 55-word story”.
Tagging:
Suvid
Sumeet
Ashutosh
Manish
Vinayak
Crappy writing warning: Do not read further... you risk severe brain damage if you try to read this story.
Amit and Nikhil are sitting in a Silicon Valley Starbucks. People around the coffee shop can't figure out why these two Indian guys appear so animated and why they might be gesturing so violently at each other, and yet whispering softly enough to not disturb anyone. Young Harry is a budding Venture Capitalist, and he senses an opportunity in what obviously sounds like a business plan. The two Indian guys sporting Nvidia T-shirts look like technical wizards to him. He slowly moves closer to them and hears Amit say “I think we should start this way…”. Harry interrupts awkwardly, “I am a VC, I couldn’t help watching you guys… Is there any way I can help ?” “Oh sure” says Amit. Harry is a little surprised by his willingness. “This is the problem… one of my friends asked me to write a 55 word story and I just can’t find a way to end this story!!!”
Okay so that obviously wasn't 55 words long. So here is another attempt:
Amit and Nikhil are discussing an important problem in a Silicon Valley Starbucks. People around the coffee shop can't figure out why these two Indian guys appear so animated and yet whisper so softly. Amit suddenly breaks down and starts weeping inexorably. Nikhil says, “Amit it’s okay… you don’t have to write a 55-word story”.
Tagging:
Suvid
Sumeet
Ashutosh
Manish
Vinayak
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Adding my friend Sathish Jothikumar to my blogroll. Sathish interned at Nvidia in my group this summer. He is a graduate student at the University of Texas-Austin. His blog is called "I am the alpha and the omega".
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Napoleon's Buttons: A Book about Chem-History
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
- Winston Churchill
On Nachiket's recommendation I picked up this book and I loved it. The book talks about "how 17 molecules changed history", and it makes for some very pleasant reading. This book is a treasure-trove of interesting trivia. That helps if you want to impress some pretty girls with interesting dinner conversation. Ofcourse it hasn't worked for me yet, but as you can tell it's only a matter of time before it does. ;-) If you don't believe me, here are a few examples:
- Nutmeg contains a chemical similar to a hallucinogen called Ecstasy. So if you consume excessive amounts of nutmeg, through some biochemical pathway the nutmeg gets converted to ecstacy and voila! you see "Lucy in the sky with diamonds". So now you know why your mom told you never to add too much nutmeg to your food. (Also don't blame me whether that nutmeg experiment works out for you or not.)
- The book claims that the reason why some people love spicy food is because chilli induces pain. So the body releases endorphins to ease the pain, which as well all know makes us happy. So if you're addicted to the chilli, now you know why.
- The name of the book comes from another fascinating piece of history about Napoleon. The authors claim that when Napoleon's armies reached Russia during it's severe winter, their buttons made from tin softened from the cold. So the French troops were seen holding their uniforms together with one hand and holding their weapons in another.
This last one sounds apocryphal to me, as do a few others such as one about the Antarctic explorers Scott and Amundsen from the chapter on Ascorbic Acid. But there isn't a whole lot I can do to test the verity of these incidents. It sure sounds like some interesting piece of fiction if not non-fiction. One fails to grasp the significant role that chemistry played in shaping history, and this book highlights just that. If you love science and also like to learn something about history along the way, I'd recommend this book.
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
- Winston Churchill
On Nachiket's recommendation I picked up this book and I loved it. The book talks about "how 17 molecules changed history", and it makes for some very pleasant reading. This book is a treasure-trove of interesting trivia. That helps if you want to impress some pretty girls with interesting dinner conversation. Ofcourse it hasn't worked for me yet, but as you can tell it's only a matter of time before it does. ;-) If you don't believe me, here are a few examples:
- Nutmeg contains a chemical similar to a hallucinogen called Ecstasy. So if you consume excessive amounts of nutmeg, through some biochemical pathway the nutmeg gets converted to ecstacy and voila! you see "Lucy in the sky with diamonds". So now you know why your mom told you never to add too much nutmeg to your food. (Also don't blame me whether that nutmeg experiment works out for you or not.)
- The book claims that the reason why some people love spicy food is because chilli induces pain. So the body releases endorphins to ease the pain, which as well all know makes us happy. So if you're addicted to the chilli, now you know why.
- The name of the book comes from another fascinating piece of history about Napoleon. The authors claim that when Napoleon's armies reached Russia during it's severe winter, their buttons made from tin softened from the cold. So the French troops were seen holding their uniforms together with one hand and holding their weapons in another.
This last one sounds apocryphal to me, as do a few others such as one about the Antarctic explorers Scott and Amundsen from the chapter on Ascorbic Acid. But there isn't a whole lot I can do to test the verity of these incidents. It sure sounds like some interesting piece of fiction if not non-fiction. One fails to grasp the significant role that chemistry played in shaping history, and this book highlights just that. If you love science and also like to learn something about history along the way, I'd recommend this book.
