Two weeks ago, I found an audio-only Farsi Pimsleur Program in our local library. Pimsleur method is a method that builds vocabulary in terms of blocks, quite literally so. Words are introduced, used frequently, and the words learned previously learned are brought in randomly. The approach helps retention, and with the audio you start feeling comfortable with the sound of the language and learn to speak simple phrases and sentences.
I finished the 4 CDs with about 4 hours of content during my commute in one week. It was fun, and now I have a couple of books to learn the language more formally as well. In 2009, I taught myself to read the Perso-Arabic script, so I don't have to learn the script (which would have made learning Persian even more daunting).
Persian seems to be odd in the sense that it is literally unchanged since the 11th century and of course, is still a living language. The language seems to be easy in the beginning, but it is a very unique language that linguists are still trying to figure out parts of Persian language and debating the mechanisms! I probably already know a thousand Persian words because I know Urdu, though these would not be cognates as the Persian sound register and intonation is different from the Hindi/Urdu ones.
I live in Southern California which has a lot of Iranian-Americans. In fact, one half-Iranian taxi driver was joking that in Southern California, you have to say bebakhshid if you hit a curb. The italicized words means excuse me in Persian. This also allows me to practice my newly learned Persian on native speakers, which I have already done. Yes, I am shameless. You need to be shameless if you want to learn a foreign language.
I love learning new languages. I would have been a linguist if I had the choice and knew what I do now. So far, I have found German to be the hardest language to learn, and I never got beyond 100 pictographs in Chinese. Too bad I have a daytime job and other interests!
March 13, 2010
India and Shah Rukh Khan: Open Letter or Rabid Nationalism?
Last month I got into an argument with someone who posted an inflammatory email in the mail-group I am a member of. I had absolutely no intention of starting into that argument: all I did was to note how shocking the mail was. This upset some others who started abusing me and questioning whether I was an India and then asked that I be expelled from that group. Astonishing.
The original email someone had posted was the notorious "Open Letter" by Arindam Bandyopadhyay, which I suppose was doing rounds through many Indians' email boxes. I should have done some research on who Mr Bandyopadhyay is, before responding, but I focused on the logic of his argument.
Basically, his claim is that the majority opinion must become the only opinion. He asked Indian Muslims to prove their devotion to India and implicitly assumed the preliminary sympathies of all Muslims lie primarily with Pakistan. Some of my points are listed below.
How can one assume that Indians, Hindus even are a monolithic culture? With 3.3 million gods and goddesses, there is ample choice and the clan-based system for marriages practiced by the Rajputs and Jats to this day gives the lie to this assumption. When even all Hindus in the same caste cannot easily agree to something despite speaking the same languages and observing essentially the same festivals, it is monumentally hard to forge a monolithic culture in India. It has not happened in thousands of years despite scores of invasions and settlements, it sure won't happen now.
India as a country it is now existed only very briefly in history, if at all. People forget the Maratha Empire and the Jat Empire. They forget how the Jats stuffed Taj Mahal with hay. They forget how the Marathas were brutal in their conquest of other parts of India and demanded a lot of tribute. After the disintegration of the Maratha Empire, the Holkers and Scindias could not agree on anything. And before that the Rajputs of Rajputana were almost constantly at war with each other. Just like any other country of this size.
He assumes that all the dalits will march under the aegis of upper-caste, upper-class, well educated Hindus. Centuries of malnutrition, lack of education, short life expectancy and lack of basic health care has created a big mass of Indians who live at the fringe of modern India. More and more farmers committing suicide because they cannot stand to live the life. Little has changed for them. These people first want grain and water, then basic hygiene and sanitation -- they do not want to annihilate Pakistan. Not far away from where I grew up, Phoolan Devi shot 12 Thakurs with the same bullet, taking revenge for the abuse she had suffered.
Besides, why are we Indians so obsessed with Pakistan? Pakistan has been a failed country and many intellectual Pakistanis openly accept that the problem with Pakistan is that it was conceived as a "not India" and therefore cannot exist independent of that founding principle. That is a severe limitation for any country. Having said that, by comparing their country to Pakistan, the Indians are doing themselves a disservice and indeed hampering their growth and development.
Culturally, the influence of the Farsi language and Persian culture cannot be wiped clean. A quick study of Farsi reveals that many words used by Hindi speakers (including saugandh [oath], kuchek [some]) came from Farsi. In fact, in rural Uttar Pradesh, people order two cups of tea thus: do tho chai. That is very simply intelligible to a Farsi speaker. Even the word for "I" -- main in Hindi comes from the Farsi man. Right wingers need to get over it, and they will once they realize how deep the roots are.
There has been terrorism committed by Muslims in India, no doubt about that, but how about the massacres in Gujarat that Mr. Modi presided over? Let me share this with you:
As Santayana said, Those who cannot learn from history are doomed (or compelled) to repeat it. So the right wingers will keep true to form.
The original email someone had posted was the notorious "Open Letter" by Arindam Bandyopadhyay, which I suppose was doing rounds through many Indians' email boxes. I should have done some research on who Mr Bandyopadhyay is, before responding, but I focused on the logic of his argument.
Basically, his claim is that the majority opinion must become the only opinion. He asked Indian Muslims to prove their devotion to India and implicitly assumed the preliminary sympathies of all Muslims lie primarily with Pakistan. Some of my points are listed below.
How can one assume that Indians, Hindus even are a monolithic culture? With 3.3 million gods and goddesses, there is ample choice and the clan-based system for marriages practiced by the Rajputs and Jats to this day gives the lie to this assumption. When even all Hindus in the same caste cannot easily agree to something despite speaking the same languages and observing essentially the same festivals, it is monumentally hard to forge a monolithic culture in India. It has not happened in thousands of years despite scores of invasions and settlements, it sure won't happen now.
I mean, heck, can you even get Shiv Sena and their goons to not be out of line and stop claiming that Mumbai is only for the Maharashtrians? I'd like to see Mr. Bandyopadhyay try. Let him go to Bandra.
India as a country it is now existed only very briefly in history, if at all. People forget the Maratha Empire and the Jat Empire. They forget how the Jats stuffed Taj Mahal with hay. They forget how the Marathas were brutal in their conquest of other parts of India and demanded a lot of tribute. After the disintegration of the Maratha Empire, the Holkers and Scindias could not agree on anything. And before that the Rajputs of Rajputana were almost constantly at war with each other. Just like any other country of this size.
He assumes that all the dalits will march under the aegis of upper-caste, upper-class, well educated Hindus. Centuries of malnutrition, lack of education, short life expectancy and lack of basic health care has created a big mass of Indians who live at the fringe of modern India. More and more farmers committing suicide because they cannot stand to live the life. Little has changed for them. These people first want grain and water, then basic hygiene and sanitation -- they do not want to annihilate Pakistan. Not far away from where I grew up, Phoolan Devi shot 12 Thakurs with the same bullet, taking revenge for the abuse she had suffered.
Besides, why are we Indians so obsessed with Pakistan? Pakistan has been a failed country and many intellectual Pakistanis openly accept that the problem with Pakistan is that it was conceived as a "not India" and therefore cannot exist independent of that founding principle. That is a severe limitation for any country. Having said that, by comparing their country to Pakistan, the Indians are doing themselves a disservice and indeed hampering their growth and development.
Culturally, the influence of the Farsi language and Persian culture cannot be wiped clean. A quick study of Farsi reveals that many words used by Hindi speakers (including saugandh [oath], kuchek [some]) came from Farsi. In fact, in rural Uttar Pradesh, people order two cups of tea thus: do tho chai. That is very simply intelligible to a Farsi speaker. Even the word for "I" -- main in Hindi comes from the Farsi man. Right wingers need to get over it, and they will once they realize how deep the roots are.
There has been terrorism committed by Muslims in India, no doubt about that, but how about the massacres in Gujarat that Mr. Modi presided over? Let me share this with you:
I remember being 9 years old when my family and the neighboring families harbored the innocent Sikhs whose life was suddenly put under grave danger on October 31, 1984. Marauding hordes of criminal elements were robbing and killing Sikhs who had nothing to do with Khalistan and asking if there were any Sanps (snakes) in the area, meaning Sikhs. That has never been addressed satisfactorily. So what makes think that all Sikhs or Punjabis even are cool with the assumption of a harmonious, monolithic body? I saw the father of one of my friends burned alive with kerosene and then stabbed to death, all in front of his family. His fault? Being a Sikh. Think about that for a minute. Wasn't this terrorism? Committed by the majority Hindus?
As Santayana said, Those who cannot learn from history are doomed (or compelled) to repeat it. So the right wingers will keep true to form.
December 30, 2009
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
This week I finished reading the popular book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It was an interesting read, and I do not think Malcolm hit upon a groundbreaking idea in this book, he revealed his evidence in an engaging manner.
For example, he argued that software moguls like Bill Gates were not just smart and driven: they were there at the right time and at the right place. There is truth to it, no doubt, as any biography of Bill Gates quickly reveals. He is after the myth that everyone who has been wildly successful deserved it completely. That myth has another, tacit, nefarious corollary which is Calvinistic in nature by saying that those who have not been wildly successful have no one to blame but themselves. Europeans and Asians do not need convincing that such idealized vision of success, the rags to riches story, are not what they seem.
Consider how the number of billionaires in China has ballooned. Have the Chinese become more ambitious all of a sudden? Of course not. They can now be entrepreneurial in a limited capacity, that's all. In a country where the government officially owns everything, wealth is precarious indeed.
One example Malcolm cited was hilarious. Jeb Bush, son of George HW Bush and brother of George W Bush repeatedly stated that he was a self-made man during his campaign for the governorship of Florida. And no one called him on it. Such is the implicit assumption about successful persons in the US. This belittles the accomplishments of truly self-made men such as Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln.
Malcolm does not offer a final word or advice -- but I would say this, as I have said to others -- Do the best to put yourself in the best position to make the most of the opportunities that come your way. Hardly groundbreaking and I don't think all of my staff has liked hearing that, but that's just how it is.
For example, he argued that software moguls like Bill Gates were not just smart and driven: they were there at the right time and at the right place. There is truth to it, no doubt, as any biography of Bill Gates quickly reveals. He is after the myth that everyone who has been wildly successful deserved it completely. That myth has another, tacit, nefarious corollary which is Calvinistic in nature by saying that those who have not been wildly successful have no one to blame but themselves. Europeans and Asians do not need convincing that such idealized vision of success, the rags to riches story, are not what they seem.
Consider how the number of billionaires in China has ballooned. Have the Chinese become more ambitious all of a sudden? Of course not. They can now be entrepreneurial in a limited capacity, that's all. In a country where the government officially owns everything, wealth is precarious indeed.
One example Malcolm cited was hilarious. Jeb Bush, son of George HW Bush and brother of George W Bush repeatedly stated that he was a self-made man during his campaign for the governorship of Florida. And no one called him on it. Such is the implicit assumption about successful persons in the US. This belittles the accomplishments of truly self-made men such as Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln.
Malcolm does not offer a final word or advice -- but I would say this, as I have said to others -- Do the best to put yourself in the best position to make the most of the opportunities that come your way. Hardly groundbreaking and I don't think all of my staff has liked hearing that, but that's just how it is.
December 29, 2009
Working out and becoming Mini-me
I have been lifting weights for a few years and since I also know sports science, it has been a constant source to amusement to me to hear what the personal trainers say and what the newbie trainees say. Then of course there is the gospel on TV and before/after pictures in the print media. Most of the latter are stolen and used without permission.
What annoys me the most is that I see men and women doing sets after sets with weights that could not trigger hypertrophy of any sort and the only impact they could have is to give them tendinitis and lumbago (as you bend at your knees and h-e-a-v-e, pushing out with your lower back and flexing the lumbar spine). That is ridiculous. Repetitive movements involving one small joint are dangerous to your health and give you chronic pain in the form of carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis. That's dumb working out. I have done that and not seen results as fast as with a powerlifting 5 x 5 program that I am now on.
The second source of annoyance is the diet purported to lose fat and sculpt muscles. That's total bullshit. Learn a little bit of Sports Science, y'all. What then happens is that women starve themselves, kill their brain cells due to malnutrition and they do not become stronger -- they just become SMALLER. That's the figure of women who go to gym but play no sports where strength is of great importance. The stick-figure thighs are unhealthy. Ever see the thighs on an Olympic swimmer? They are large and have definition: those quads can kick some ass. Not the malnourished mini-me who works out an hour a day and lives on a subsistence diet of 1,000 calories. That's not attractive, ladies... or gentlemen, you know who you are.
The third most annoying myth is that doing more sets at moderate weight develop cuts. Nothing could be further from the truth. The cuts develop by dieting, or what is called cutting in bodybuilding parlance. The main reason I don't want to compete in bodybuilding contests is that I would then need to cut 15 lbs in 3 weeks, meaning I would have to go on an unhealthy diet, suffer from minor ketosis, drink 2 gallons of water every day -- all while maintaining my job and my workout schedule in addition to my other hobbies or, erm, my family responsibilities.
What annoys me the most is that I see men and women doing sets after sets with weights that could not trigger hypertrophy of any sort and the only impact they could have is to give them tendinitis and lumbago (as you bend at your knees and h-e-a-v-e, pushing out with your lower back and flexing the lumbar spine). That is ridiculous. Repetitive movements involving one small joint are dangerous to your health and give you chronic pain in the form of carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis. That's dumb working out. I have done that and not seen results as fast as with a powerlifting 5 x 5 program that I am now on.
The second source of annoyance is the diet purported to lose fat and sculpt muscles. That's total bullshit. Learn a little bit of Sports Science, y'all. What then happens is that women starve themselves, kill their brain cells due to malnutrition and they do not become stronger -- they just become SMALLER. That's the figure of women who go to gym but play no sports where strength is of great importance. The stick-figure thighs are unhealthy. Ever see the thighs on an Olympic swimmer? They are large and have definition: those quads can kick some ass. Not the malnourished mini-me who works out an hour a day and lives on a subsistence diet of 1,000 calories. That's not attractive, ladies... or gentlemen, you know who you are.
The third most annoying myth is that doing more sets at moderate weight develop cuts. Nothing could be further from the truth. The cuts develop by dieting, or what is called cutting in bodybuilding parlance. The main reason I don't want to compete in bodybuilding contests is that I would then need to cut 15 lbs in 3 weeks, meaning I would have to go on an unhealthy diet, suffer from minor ketosis, drink 2 gallons of water every day -- all while maintaining my job and my workout schedule in addition to my other hobbies or, erm, my family responsibilities.
December 4, 2008
Au Hasard Balthazar: A most powerful movie
Though not well-known to the general public in the US, Au Hasard Balthazar is one of the best movies ever made. As the name suggests, it's a French movie. It was directed by Robert Bresson and released in 1966.
So much has been written by movie and art critics about this movie and Bresson that it's hard to say anything new. I focus my attention to the last 10-15 minutes, the final scene of the movie that made me cry like nothing ever has. There is no music in the final scene. All you see is a donkey on a gently sloping grassy hill (like Kentucky's rolling hills) move about, sit down and die. No words are spoken and you see the donkey die, while other animals around it go on with their business. I saw it and I thought to myself if that's how I would die. We all have to go one day; would we go without even a whimper, all alone, having accomplished nothing to look back upon -- not leaving any legacy, anything behind us. Go that way after a life of cruelty that the world inflicted on us, not fighting back, moving around like a dust speck that hovers and wafts in the slanted shafts of morning sunlight, coming to rest no idea where? Who even thinks about it?
It was a really powerful moment. I understand the whole movie is allegorical, and I am not religious, but the sheer force of those moments stayed with me. And I decided to spend more time with my family, to listen more to others, to see if I can enrich my life as well as those of others. It's a little bit like the lines from T. S. Eliot's poem named A Song for Simeon
...
Grant us thy peace.
I have walked many years in this city,
Kept faith and fast, provided for the poor,
Have taken and given honour and ease.
There went never any rejected from my door.
So much has been written by movie and art critics about this movie and Bresson that it's hard to say anything new. I focus my attention to the last 10-15 minutes, the final scene of the movie that made me cry like nothing ever has. There is no music in the final scene. All you see is a donkey on a gently sloping grassy hill (like Kentucky's rolling hills) move about, sit down and die. No words are spoken and you see the donkey die, while other animals around it go on with their business. I saw it and I thought to myself if that's how I would die. We all have to go one day; would we go without even a whimper, all alone, having accomplished nothing to look back upon -- not leaving any legacy, anything behind us. Go that way after a life of cruelty that the world inflicted on us, not fighting back, moving around like a dust speck that hovers and wafts in the slanted shafts of morning sunlight, coming to rest no idea where? Who even thinks about it?
It was a really powerful moment. I understand the whole movie is allegorical, and I am not religious, but the sheer force of those moments stayed with me. And I decided to spend more time with my family, to listen more to others, to see if I can enrich my life as well as those of others. It's a little bit like the lines from T. S. Eliot's poem named A Song for Simeon
...
Grant us thy peace.
I have walked many years in this city,
Kept faith and fast, provided for the poor,
Have taken and given honour and ease.
There went never any rejected from my door.
Who shall remember my house, where shall live my children’s children
When the time of sorrow is come ?
They will take to the goat’s path, and the fox’s home,
Fleeing from the foreign faces and the foreign swords.
November 26, 2008
Indian food is not just curries
I sometimes grow tired of hearing wannabe world citizens that are not of South Asian origin, say that all Indian food is a variation on curry. And by curry they mean meat and/or vegetables in a red/orange/yellow thick liquid. As recently a Chinese colleague of mine put it: Indian food does not have much variety. It's all the same. Now I know better than to engage such people in an argument, but it annoyed me.
Three Stages of Cooking an Indian Dish
An art in Indian cooking is braising. Braising is a cornerstone of Chinese cuisine as well, and basically means cooking meat or vegetables with small and variable amount of liquid. A lot of Indian dishes are prepared this way. There are three stages of cooking. The typical Indian pot for cooking this kind of food is called a Karahi or Kadai which unsurprisingly is very similar to the Chinese Wok.
Anyone can make a liquid curry
Anyone can make a dish with a lot of liquid. Since heat is passed by convection in a liquid, which results in slower transfer of heat, it is very forgiving. Braising is not always forgiving. You can burn the food in the first step, or make the food mushy if you're not careful. I find that many Indians living abroad do not make braised foods, because they cannot be bothered to make food that takes some effort. On the other hand, you can dump everything at once in a fair bit of liquid and voila!
Summary
Good food takes effort, no matter which culture you consider. French food takes a lot of effort because it is often prepared from scratch. Same about Persian Food. And it is the same about Indian food.
Three Stages of Cooking an Indian Dish
An art in Indian cooking is braising. Braising is a cornerstone of Chinese cuisine as well, and basically means cooking meat or vegetables with small and variable amount of liquid. A lot of Indian dishes are prepared this way. There are three stages of cooking. The typical Indian pot for cooking this kind of food is called a Karahi or Kadai which unsurprisingly is very similar to the Chinese Wok.
- First one sears the vegetables or meat at very high heat (presumably locking the flavor in, but I don't completely agree) to give them a firmer texture.
- After the initial searing, you cover and cook on medium heat for another ten minutes. As you cook your dish covered, the steam does not escape and water or other juices materialize at the bottom of the pan.
- Finally the heat is reduced to low until the dish is finished. One reason behind reducing the heat is to retain the moisture and liquid. The end result is more flavorful than steamed vegetables -- a unique blend of crisp outside and succulent inside.
Anyone can make a liquid curry
Anyone can make a dish with a lot of liquid. Since heat is passed by convection in a liquid, which results in slower transfer of heat, it is very forgiving. Braising is not always forgiving. You can burn the food in the first step, or make the food mushy if you're not careful. I find that many Indians living abroad do not make braised foods, because they cannot be bothered to make food that takes some effort. On the other hand, you can dump everything at once in a fair bit of liquid and voila!
Summary
Good food takes effort, no matter which culture you consider. French food takes a lot of effort because it is often prepared from scratch. Same about Persian Food. And it is the same about Indian food.
October 6, 2008
Wendy's Sucks
Wendy's advertises its fare as being better than fast food, but I find that is just for appearance's sake. It is no secret that I eat fast food only occasionally. A few months ago, a new Wendy's opened up across the road from the community where I live and we thought we'd give it a shot. Bad mistake.
Their spicy chicken sandwich was sandy and fried too long in a batter too thick and oil unfit for frying. The result was a clovis knife of a sandwich with so much salt that you were left gasping for a river. The fries were cold and had the weird taste of having sit too long in too much salt and oil. We had another sandwich which was equally bad.
We emailed our complaint with all the details to Wendy's. It's been six months and no reply. We are not eating at Wendy's again. I can understand an occasional misstep in fast food preparation, but the complete absence of consumer relationships is awful.
On the other hand, we were not completely satisfied with a pack of Emergen-C Heart Healthy sachets around the same time as the misadventure with Wendy's. We heard from Emergen-C within days and they mailed us a replacement pack with the flavor of our choice, for free. Now that's good customer service. You can bet that I would stay with Emergen-C.
Shame on you, Wendy's.
Their spicy chicken sandwich was sandy and fried too long in a batter too thick and oil unfit for frying. The result was a clovis knife of a sandwich with so much salt that you were left gasping for a river. The fries were cold and had the weird taste of having sit too long in too much salt and oil. We had another sandwich which was equally bad.
We emailed our complaint with all the details to Wendy's. It's been six months and no reply. We are not eating at Wendy's again. I can understand an occasional misstep in fast food preparation, but the complete absence of consumer relationships is awful.
On the other hand, we were not completely satisfied with a pack of Emergen-C Heart Healthy sachets around the same time as the misadventure with Wendy's. We heard from Emergen-C within days and they mailed us a replacement pack with the flavor of our choice, for free. Now that's good customer service. You can bet that I would stay with Emergen-C.
Shame on you, Wendy's.
Creating the ultimate shopping experience
Taken from a speech I delivered a few months ago to the local Toastmasters club
SHOPPING: WHY DO WE DO IT?
CREATING THE ULTIMATE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
Shopping. It is the most American of activities. Consumer spending amounts to two thirds of the GDP of the greatest economic power in the world. Humans have been shopping for the longest time, but shopping these days is driven increasingly less by basic needs, but more by the emotional needs it fulfills. I will focus solely on the retail sector, and to be precise, clothes retailing. I will discourse about the four modes of shopping (the whys) and suggest ways to make the shopping experience memorable, fulfilling and fun: just what makes shoppers return even when there are no sales (the what and how).
The first and obvious driver of shopping is need. We need our daily bread, milk, shampoo, toilet paper and underwear. It is a very brutal market in needs retailing. Wal-Mart is the clear winner here, but many prefer Target over Wal-Mart. Prices for staples are quite similar in both, but Target provides a cleaner, brighter and more orderly shopping experience than Wal-Mart.
The second driver is features. Small innovations in providing customers with that little bit extra works wonders to attract more customers. One way to deal with it is through carefully controlled special editions that give an air of exclusivity to what you wear. The second is consistently superior quality.
The third driver is affordability. With the retailing market akin to the
The largest, though imperceptible driver of shopping growth is the emotional needs a product, a brand and a store fulfill. Luxury today might be a need tomorrow, but that’s not where the growth is. Study upon study has shown that customers are irrational when a product or brand stands for something they want to be associated with. Many women eat brown bag lunches for months just so they can afford a flowing robe from Anthropologie. Many men forego Saturday six-packs to afford an iPod or iMac. Even children forego some luxuries to get their toy or an icon of tween fashion. Because it makes them happy, like a cat that’s just eaten a canary. It’s not all about the product. What matters increasingly more these days is the “experience” of shopping in a store. Take Nordstrom for example. People love shopping there, and why? If there is something in stock, they will happily and cheerfully find it for you. Walking spaces are broader. The store is orderly, clean, relaxing and just luxurious. People spend time there, they feel valued and the experience is rewarding. The loop begins.
Now that we know the four drivers of shopping, how can retailers use this information to improve the shopping experience for customers, while not catering to a tiny niche and becoming a boutique? I offer four suggestions:
Lighting
Clear as daylight, the obvious aspect of lighting carries connotations. Most stores use fluorescent lights, but that light is not flattering to people’s appearance. If the lighting makes every imperfection in your face or body dominate the aesthetic value of an outfit, it is self-defeating. Studio lights are the way to go, as you see in Abercrombie & Fitch, offering a warm refuge from the hoi polloi outside.
Music
Music to my ears! Retailers have not figured out that loud, commercialized punk rock and punk rap deter customers rather than engage them, for sure among customers that wield the wallets. More people leave a store because of music than stay longer. The retailer is free to choose the message they send with the kind of music they play, but it must be in the background, and not make you feel you’re at a rave. Abercrombie & Fitch does this poorly. The music is too loud and gives the impression that they don’t want the customer to hang out, to touch and feel the merchandise.
Direct the traffic
You want to offer the customer a natural way of wending his way through the store, where every kitty corner corresponds to a concept, an expression, a story vignette. Janie and Jack does this very well, as does Pottery Barn Kids. With a carefully designed store, the sight lines take in all the store has to offer – and every section is coherent and somewhat private.
Keep it personal every day
There is no substitute for great, unobtrusive service. Have you ever wondered why they ask you for your name at Coffee bean and other aspirational places? So they can address you by the first name when your latte is ready. They are not going to remember you name if you return in 3 hours. This is hypocrisy, and makes me as red as a tomato. You want retail staff to be like a seasoned server in a five-star restaurant. Out of your sight and shopping experience, unless you need him or her – at which point you realize he/she is knowledgeable, prompt and friendly.
September 17, 2008
Anxiety Hotline!
I was surfing the website of IIT Kanpur, and found a link to the Anxiety Hotline. I felt puzzled as to why would you need a hotline for anxiety. We all know Suicide hotline or Depression hotlines, but anxiety is such a piddling little thing. Anxiety is natural; we all get it from time to time -- if it gets too bad, it's called panic.
However, a reading of the text on the link made it clear that the goal was to prevent suicides. Everyone who attended an IIT for a Bachelor degree and many those who did not are acutely aware of the tremendous stress that IIT undergraduates face; most of it arises from a huge amount of needless information that's shoved down their throats day in and day out. I knew several students who committed suicide; some were successful, some were not (they later dropped out). I remember that in the four years I was there, there was at least one suicide every calendar year.
Mental health is still taboo in India and many pretend mental disorders are genetic and signs of weakness. So, while the attempt has been made to help suicidal or depressed students cope with their C, D and F grades, the name is disingenuously benign. I am sure the intention was to make it sound less pejorative. I think you ought to call a spade a spade. Another weird aspect was that they list names of professors who can help. How many of them have been trained to deal with this? Do they know enough to identify how much help someone needs? Most Indian professors hold the view that effort succeeds. Obviously, that's often untrue.
There is too much unnecessary pressure to perform academically, and it is unhealthy. There is stress at MIT and Berkeley, but nothing compares to IITs: it's time they do something about it. MIT did something about it, and is now paying attention to how an applicant will handle the stress when on campus. The IITs should do something about it as well. Four or five suicides every year is just scandalous.
However, a reading of the text on the link made it clear that the goal was to prevent suicides. Everyone who attended an IIT for a Bachelor degree and many those who did not are acutely aware of the tremendous stress that IIT undergraduates face; most of it arises from a huge amount of needless information that's shoved down their throats day in and day out. I knew several students who committed suicide; some were successful, some were not (they later dropped out). I remember that in the four years I was there, there was at least one suicide every calendar year.
Mental health is still taboo in India and many pretend mental disorders are genetic and signs of weakness. So, while the attempt has been made to help suicidal or depressed students cope with their C, D and F grades, the name is disingenuously benign. I am sure the intention was to make it sound less pejorative. I think you ought to call a spade a spade. Another weird aspect was that they list names of professors who can help. How many of them have been trained to deal with this? Do they know enough to identify how much help someone needs? Most Indian professors hold the view that effort succeeds. Obviously, that's often untrue.
There is too much unnecessary pressure to perform academically, and it is unhealthy. There is stress at MIT and Berkeley, but nothing compares to IITs: it's time they do something about it. MIT did something about it, and is now paying attention to how an applicant will handle the stress when on campus. The IITs should do something about it as well. Four or five suicides every year is just scandalous.
September 11, 2008
Chicken Fricassée
There is great joy in preparing food from scratch, without any artificial flavors and have it taste marvelous. One thing I cook reasonably frequently is Chicken Fricassée broadly based on the recipe by Julia Child in her seminal book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I tend to make my own tweaks, so I use black pepper because it tastes better, I use breast meat only because the thigh meat has a strong flavor that does not go well with the delicate sauce. Sometimes I add paprika for a pink dish, which is cute. I typically skip the mushroom garnish because it takes too much effort to fry mushrooms, and my kitchen is small, which means I have to fry them in batches in my largest pan, which cause a lot of spattering.
I have found it tastes best with somewhat sticky rice, like what is used for making Sushi. Even Jasmine rice is not suitable with this dish; Basmati is just too nutty. I ha
ve found that pasta does not go well with it. It is a favorite in our household, and I find it easy to make. It takes about 10 minutes to cut the vegetables and get everything ready, but from that point on, cooking continues in one pot. You have to be careful with the final egg yolk-heavy cream enrichment. If the egg yolks are heated suddenly, they curdle. That ruins the appearance of the sauce, though the taste is not affected.For an Indian flavor, you can add clove powder, chopped almonds, raisins, cumin powder, fenugreek leaves, green cardamom and coriander in addition. Saffron strands are also something to consider, but they make the dish earthy. Please do not use curry powder, I hate recipes asking for curry powder.
August 31, 2008
The joy of deep frying!
Deep frying in an ancient method of preparing food. It is all around us, like French fries. Whole franchises have been built on the art of deep-frying (KFC anyone?) Yet time and again we are presented with deep fried food that is soggy, dank and makes your esophagus revolt. Why? I think people have lost the art of deep frying.
For a long time, I had an electric deep fryer. It did an OK job frying French fries, but it bombed with other things such as Pooris. I decided I had had enough and tossed the deep fryer and started frying in a huge cast iron wok. It made a world of difference. The food came out crisp, light, bright and refreshing. That is because one of the major purposes of cooking, no matter how it is done, is to get rid of the water in the food. When the oil is as hot as it should be, the water in the food is transformed to steam and gushes outward at such speed that oil can't get inside your food. Oil can only penetrate the outermost layer of your food. Deep fried food is not necessarily more unhealthy. I fry only in peanut oil, which has no trans fats and does not decompose into gunk when it's heated. If you have the money, you can use clarified butter for deep frying, which is the best. However, deep frying can be expensive.
I am attaching some photos of deep fried wontons I made recently. I know I used Gyoza skins instead of proper wonton skins, so they don't have long ears.
August 27, 2008
Sichuan Beef
The Sichuan a.k.a Szechuan province of China is known for its fiery cuisine. A common ingredient in Sichaun cuisine is crushed red chili pepper -- seeds and all. That is interesting because chilies are native to the Americas and reached China only in the 1600s. Before the chilies arrived to China, a native spice, the Sichuan pepper was common. The taste of the Sichuan pepper is not hot like the chili or pungent and clean like black pepper, but a little lemony and rather vague. You could not import Sichuan pepper to the US until recently.
I made a popular dish recently, called the Sichuan Beef. I used top sirloin steak and sliced it as thin as I could, but it is clear to me that I need more practice dicing things finely with a cleaver. The kitchen got a bit oily with all that frying in batches. Two pounds of top sirloin lasted of all 3 hours for 3 persons and a toddler.
August 20, 2008
What are you eating today?
This is a transcript of a speech I recently gave at my local Toastmasters Club. I have a PhD in a related field that supposedly gives me some credibility in this area. The title is a pun on Joyce Carol Oates frequently anthologized short story Where are you going? Where have you been?
So what did you have for dinner? What are you planning for lunch? Are you eating healthy? Do you think you are eating healthy on the Low-carb diet? The low-fat diet? Expensive pre-cooked entrée? Do you have any idea what you are pouring or shoving down your gullet? Today I will discuss some major misconceptions we have about our food. I promise that you will look differently at the food you put on your plate at the end of this talk.
High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
HFCS. It’s in every industrial food product you can lay your hands on. High fructose corn syrup sets America apart from rest of the world. Does Mexican Coca-cola have HFCS? Nope. Anywhere in Europe? Nope. People have called it sugar on crack. Some studies have shown that you can consume high amounts of HFCS without realizing it. It’s not that HFCS is cheaper than sugar. It is cheaper in the US largely due to import quotas and tariffs on sugar. It is advanced because it makes logistical sense. It does not spoil, and pound for pound is sweeter. You ever wonder why it is so cheap to super size your soda? That is because restaurants get SYRUP to which they add water and fizz and bring to your table. It costs a restaurant 9 cents to make a 16 oz drink for you. You probably pay $2 for it. HFCS is here because it makes industrial sense, even though it tastes decidedly worse.
All Natural or 100% Natural
You probably feel good putting stuff labeled all natural onto your shopping cart, thinking your children are eating healthy. Cadbury Schweppes was labeling 7 Up as "All Natural" or "100% Natural", despite containing high-fructose corn syrup. While the U.S. FDA has no definition of "natural", there is nothing natural about HFCS due to the high level of processing and the use of at least one genetically modified (GMO) enzyme required to produce it. In 2007, Cadbury Schweppes agreed to stop calling 7 Up All Natural. They now call it 100% Natural Flavors. Mamma Mia! Even if anything is derived from rotten insects, it can still be labeled all natural. As a matter of fact, Tropicana is bugging your food, literally. Bug juice and carmine is what makes their grapefruit juice red. Buyer beware!
Trans Fats
If you remember your Chemistry lessons, you may know of cis- and trans- forms of a molecule. In trans form two groups are on the opposite sides of the molecular backbone but in the cis version they are on the same side. This simple difference makes a HUGE difference to their qualities, especially in how human body treats them. Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. You may not even know that you are eating trans fats. Your food may say it contains hydrogenated fat or palm oil or corn oil. Trans fat remains in the blood stream for a much longer period of time and is more prone to arterial deposition and subsequent plaque formation. It has many other deleterious effects such as an increased likelihood of diabetes, coronary disease, liver dysfunction, obesity, and more. Why is it used? Better shelf life. You can fry in them for much longer before they go rancid.
Salt
Ah, the staff of civilizations. We need it, but too much of it can cause severe problems such as kidney stones, porous bones, high blood pressure. It can kill you too: Salt solutions have been used in China as a traditional suicide method. Back in the US, three slices of a 14” Pizza Hut Meat Lover's Stuffed Crust Pizza have 1,560 calories. Well it sounds like a lot, but wait there is more: they contain a whopping 5 grams of Sodium. All you need in a day is half a gram. They give you enough salt for TEN DAYS in one meal. Wow. What do you think of desserts, eh? Raspberry Scone from the Atlanta Bread company contains 1.75 grams of sodium, same as seven servings of bacon. Too much salt makes you angry, unproductive, depressed, thirsty and dumb.
Your food is becoming like cardboard, because though it has become cheaper, it has lost its soul as well. It’s being prepared like cardboard. The next time you go grocery shopping, read the labels carefully. There is nothing natural about 100% natural. Genetically modified foods are not Just what nature intended. Just because an advertisement said something is healthier, it doesn’t make it so. Remember: if fat doesn’t kill you, sugar will, and if you survive sugar, salt will. If you are feeling beat up, bloated, fat, cantankerous, have a murderous headache and an unquenchable thirst: look to your food for clues.
What are you eating? What have you eaten?
So what did you have for dinner? What are you planning for lunch? Are you eating healthy? Do you think you are eating healthy on the Low-carb diet? The low-fat diet? Expensive pre-cooked entrée? Do you have any idea what you are pouring or shoving down your gullet? Today I will discuss some major misconceptions we have about our food. I promise that you will look differently at the food you put on your plate at the end of this talk.
High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
HFCS. It’s in every industrial food product you can lay your hands on. High fructose corn syrup sets America apart from rest of the world. Does Mexican Coca-cola have HFCS? Nope. Anywhere in Europe? Nope. People have called it sugar on crack. Some studies have shown that you can consume high amounts of HFCS without realizing it. It’s not that HFCS is cheaper than sugar. It is cheaper in the US largely due to import quotas and tariffs on sugar. It is advanced because it makes logistical sense. It does not spoil, and pound for pound is sweeter. You ever wonder why it is so cheap to super size your soda? That is because restaurants get SYRUP to which they add water and fizz and bring to your table. It costs a restaurant 9 cents to make a 16 oz drink for you. You probably pay $2 for it. HFCS is here because it makes industrial sense, even though it tastes decidedly worse.
All Natural or 100% Natural
You probably feel good putting stuff labeled all natural onto your shopping cart, thinking your children are eating healthy. Cadbury Schweppes was labeling 7 Up as "All Natural" or "100% Natural", despite containing high-fructose corn syrup. While the U.S. FDA has no definition of "natural", there is nothing natural about HFCS due to the high level of processing and the use of at least one genetically modified (GMO) enzyme required to produce it. In 2007, Cadbury Schweppes agreed to stop calling 7 Up All Natural. They now call it 100% Natural Flavors. Mamma Mia! Even if anything is derived from rotten insects, it can still be labeled all natural. As a matter of fact, Tropicana is bugging your food, literally. Bug juice and carmine is what makes their grapefruit juice red. Buyer beware!
Trans Fats
If you remember your Chemistry lessons, you may know of cis- and trans- forms of a molecule. In trans form two groups are on the opposite sides of the molecular backbone but in the cis version they are on the same side. This simple difference makes a HUGE difference to their qualities, especially in how human body treats them. Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. You may not even know that you are eating trans fats. Your food may say it contains hydrogenated fat or palm oil or corn oil. Trans fat remains in the blood stream for a much longer period of time and is more prone to arterial deposition and subsequent plaque formation. It has many other deleterious effects such as an increased likelihood of diabetes, coronary disease, liver dysfunction, obesity, and more. Why is it used? Better shelf life. You can fry in them for much longer before they go rancid.
Salt
Ah, the staff of civilizations. We need it, but too much of it can cause severe problems such as kidney stones, porous bones, high blood pressure. It can kill you too: Salt solutions have been used in China as a traditional suicide method. Back in the US, three slices of a 14” Pizza Hut Meat Lover's Stuffed Crust Pizza have 1,560 calories. Well it sounds like a lot, but wait there is more: they contain a whopping 5 grams of Sodium. All you need in a day is half a gram. They give you enough salt for TEN DAYS in one meal. Wow. What do you think of desserts, eh? Raspberry Scone from the Atlanta Bread company contains 1.75 grams of sodium, same as seven servings of bacon. Too much salt makes you angry, unproductive, depressed, thirsty and dumb.
Your food is becoming like cardboard, because though it has become cheaper, it has lost its soul as well. It’s being prepared like cardboard. The next time you go grocery shopping, read the labels carefully. There is nothing natural about 100% natural. Genetically modified foods are not Just what nature intended. Just because an advertisement said something is healthier, it doesn’t make it so. Remember: if fat doesn’t kill you, sugar will, and if you survive sugar, salt will. If you are feeling beat up, bloated, fat, cantankerous, have a murderous headache and an unquenchable thirst: look to your food for clues.
August 14, 2008
Why Olive Garden Sucks
Worthless place with pathetic food, needless snobbery and full of pretenders who think they know fine dining! I recently went to OG after a hiatus of four years, and was quickly reminded of the the cause of my long rejection.
Service was so-so, the ushers were bitchy-snobbish and wore a rubbery smile and flashed cold eyes and then rolled their eyes like a perverse urban Madonna.
First up were free breadsticks. This was an improvement to their earlier super-salty, soggy and oily bread, but it was still too salty and too margarine-y. You think they use butter? Ha!
The minestrone soup had a distinct taste of canned tomato paste and the kidney beans and garbanzo beans came from cans and were overcooked. The Tuscan sausage soup was the high watermark of our meal, it was creamy with a hint of bacon and contained slices of potato. That would do as a passable appetizer.
The appetizers were fried a million times (mille fois frié, a pun on mille feuille). You could kill with those chicken fingers, even stab. Yep, they were that hard! So dark was the crust that I thought I had fallen into a fresh dug grave. Toasted raviolis were over-toasted, many times over, generating only a slightly lighter hue. The fried mozzarella squares were all right, but how can you screw THAT up?
Up for entrées, the lasagna was all right, if a tad too oily and salty. The Fettuccine Alfredo Chicken sucked in all three measures. The fettuccine were overcooked for 3-4 minutes, so in stead of being al dente, they were al gum. As a matter of fact, at the bottom of my pile of noodles, some were COLD. This means the noodles were boiled, thrown into a colander to stay, and they were not tossed with the sauce! The sauce was floury and lacked the delicacy of fresh grated Parmesan cheese. But what do I expect when I know their sauces are shipped frozen. Eyes wide? Aghast? Tsk tsk tsk. To top it off their chicken was cheap quality and watery, no spring to it. The grilling lines were tasty though.
House Special
My wife had "Tour of Italy" which had Fettuccine Alfredo, of which I would say no more. The second item was lasagna, which I have already commented on. Finally, it had what Americans think is true Italian food: Chicken Parmesan. Now once again the crust was hard and dark. And if you pressed the patty, it did not give or spring back: in cooking school, that means you have fucked up a chicken breast, and should be ashamed of yourself. There wasn't much chicken inside either due to heavy use of meat tenderizer. It was an overfried schnitzel with thrice-thick breading.
My daughter wanted a dessert but I vetoed it. I told her I would make the real Zabaglione at home with real Marsala wine. This evening I made Chicken a la Milanèse with Sauce Parisienne and we ate well. It however brought to mind what I hated about OG and why I stopped going there.
If you are a gourmet, stay the hell away from here. If you want to impress those who are not foodies or gourmands even, bring them here. It's like pouring Seagram 7 out of Chivas Regal or Glenfiddich. If they don't know it, it won't hurt 'em.
Service was so-so, the ushers were bitchy-snobbish and wore a rubbery smile and flashed cold eyes and then rolled their eyes like a perverse urban Madonna.
First up were free breadsticks. This was an improvement to their earlier super-salty, soggy and oily bread, but it was still too salty and too margarine-y. You think they use butter? Ha!
The minestrone soup had a distinct taste of canned tomato paste and the kidney beans and garbanzo beans came from cans and were overcooked. The Tuscan sausage soup was the high watermark of our meal, it was creamy with a hint of bacon and contained slices of potato. That would do as a passable appetizer.
The appetizers were fried a million times (mille fois frié, a pun on mille feuille). You could kill with those chicken fingers, even stab. Yep, they were that hard! So dark was the crust that I thought I had fallen into a fresh dug grave. Toasted raviolis were over-toasted, many times over, generating only a slightly lighter hue. The fried mozzarella squares were all right, but how can you screw THAT up?
Up for entrées, the lasagna was all right, if a tad too oily and salty. The Fettuccine Alfredo Chicken sucked in all three measures. The fettuccine were overcooked for 3-4 minutes, so in stead of being al dente, they were al gum. As a matter of fact, at the bottom of my pile of noodles, some were COLD. This means the noodles were boiled, thrown into a colander to stay, and they were not tossed with the sauce! The sauce was floury and lacked the delicacy of fresh grated Parmesan cheese. But what do I expect when I know their sauces are shipped frozen. Eyes wide? Aghast? Tsk tsk tsk. To top it off their chicken was cheap quality and watery, no spring to it. The grilling lines were tasty though.
House Special
My wife had "Tour of Italy" which had Fettuccine Alfredo, of which I would say no more. The second item was lasagna, which I have already commented on. Finally, it had what Americans think is true Italian food: Chicken Parmesan. Now once again the crust was hard and dark. And if you pressed the patty, it did not give or spring back: in cooking school, that means you have fucked up a chicken breast, and should be ashamed of yourself. There wasn't much chicken inside either due to heavy use of meat tenderizer. It was an overfried schnitzel with thrice-thick breading.
My daughter wanted a dessert but I vetoed it. I told her I would make the real Zabaglione at home with real Marsala wine. This evening I made Chicken a la Milanèse with Sauce Parisienne and we ate well. It however brought to mind what I hated about OG and why I stopped going there.
If you are a gourmet, stay the hell away from here. If you want to impress those who are not foodies or gourmands even, bring them here. It's like pouring Seagram 7 out of Chivas Regal or Glenfiddich. If they don't know it, it won't hurt 'em.
August 2, 2008
Surfer dude and unified theories
The holy grail of Physics is a Unified Theory, i.e. a theory that describes different but fundamental forces, such as electromagnetism, the weak interaction and the strong interaction. Except for String theory, no Unified theory has been proposed. And String theory apparently cannot be tested.
A surfer-dude named Lisi (he holds a PhD in Physics from UC San Diego) has proposed such a theory, called An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything. See original coverage here.
It looks simple and elegant, and came from someone outside the academic circles. Do similarities to Einstein end there? Only time will tell.
A surfer-dude named Lisi (he holds a PhD in Physics from UC San Diego) has proposed such a theory, called An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything. See original coverage here.
It looks simple and elegant, and came from someone outside the academic circles. Do similarities to Einstein end there? Only time will tell.
July 27, 2008
Magazines I read on a regular basis (2)
I have subscribed to some more magazines, thought it has meant I am less likely to read them all. See my earlier post for a list. I have a few more subscriptions now.
- Poets and Writers Magazine
- Poetry Magazine. I remember reading one when I was an undergraduate in India.
- The Smithsonian magazine. Only $10 a year. Can get a good article every other month.
- Wired. Only $10 a year. Why not?
July 16, 2008
Caesar III and Addictive Real-Time Strategy Games
Caesar III came out in 1998. I was in graduate school at that time, and had a lot of time to fill in between experiments, and found Caesar III demo from download.com and played it. I loved it and bought the game. I have spent hundreds of hours, maybe even a thousand playing and perfecting my strategy at Caesar III. I didn't realize games could be so addictive. Sure, games like Wolfenstein and Doom were addictive, but how many times could you play the same level with the same demons at the same location? In Caesar III, you could play a game many times over without repeating the progression of events.Micro-management to the extreme
Caesar III gave you basic building blocks of a city. Roads, farms, gardens, fountains, clinics, theaters, prefectures (police stations), engineer posts, mines, workshops, bridges and so on. You can build
farms only in a certain location in the map. You want to make sure that there are enough workers living near work. And you have to keep them happy. They want everything -- clean water, market access, food, entertainment, schools and theaters. The happier houses are, the bigger they get and pay more in taxes. Yes, you have to collect taxes to balance your budget. Yes, you have to balance the budget! You need to keep the Roman gods happy or they make your life hell. It is very addictive to try and build the perfect combination of services and houses so that everyone has everything. You have to make sure everything your populace wants is given to them. Their expectations are low at first, but become gradually steeper until it becomes a challenge.
The Walkers
Caesar III uses the ideas of walkers. Every building, for example the prefecture would have employees (prefects) come out of the building and walk on roads. At every junction, the walker will randomly choose one road. If a building has not been passed by a prefect for a while, its risk of catching fire goes up. Similarly, workers will leave their home and walk the same way in search of a job. If enough walkers come regularly to a farm, the farm will have its complement of employees and food would grow in it as fast as allowed by the game. This makes it critical to build homes and workplaces near, but not too close as to annoy the citizenry.
Military Aspect
There is a military aspect to it as well, but it's primitive -- nothing like Age of Empires. You bring your units to enemy units and they take over, you have no control over them. The best defensive approach is to build walls around your city and to build towers from where you can throw missiles at an attacking force and inflict good damage on them without taking any losses. Legions are the best fighting units here; the other two units are worthless -- they have mobility but poor striking power.
Summary
In summary, Caesar III was a perfect game with endless micro-management and many maps to play. If you haven't tried it yet, I would recommend it. You have to make your brain work for you in this game, and you will be challenged. The graphics are awesome (keep in mind they date from 1998). They made a sequel, Caesar IV, but I found that boring and too slow.
Caesar III has many cities as maps you play on. It is often a challenge to bring food, pottery and furniture to the people, as you may be forced to manut
June 30, 2008
Mail-in Rebates: Beware!
All of us have seen mail-in rebates for years now, especially at large electronic/computer chains like Best Buy. These rebates make the price very attractive and encourage impulse shopping. I have seen too many inconsistencies and useless caveats -- with the sole intention that the customer will not receive the advertised rebate -- that I do not count on the mail-in rebate when purchasing a product.
Most mail-in rebates require that you
The unstated goals are that once you return the mail-in receipt, you may not be able to return a product; that you may make a mistake by sending one piece of paper less than required. Certainly offering a mail-in rebate has advantages for the seller -- they will invest and collect interest on the $100 mail-in rebate that they'd pay out 3 months later. A conversion rate of 50-70% swells the profits for the company.
You have no rights
If the seller says you made a mistake, or that they didn't receive the package, there is little you can do. If the seller refuses to refund you because they say you didn't include the original UPC code, there's nothing you can do. Think businesses don't lie? Always mail it certified mail where someone has to sign for it.
Shameless Lying by Sears
Four years ago I purchased a treadmill from Sears. The representative told me, and the documentation had it, that I was eligible for a floor mat. I sent everything as detailed, but the rebate was refused. Why? The rebate department said there was no rebate associated with this product. Incompetence? I think not. A couple of phone calls went nowhere, and store representative were no help (they get commissions on what they sell, so they don't care), and I gave up. Sears' benefit? $40. I haven't bought a large-ticket item there since. I hate liars.
Devious Rebate Form at Circuit City
Recently I purchased a laptop from Circuit City and saw something VERY curious. I followed a link with the intention of printing the rebate form. At the top of the page was a little button saying Print Form. Sure. I pressed it. It only printed 40% of the page. And guess what, the text on the web said Send this form in its entirety. A-ha! A dummy who uses the conveniently place button will be rejected. Intentional? I think yes. And you had to write the Serial Number on the paper form as well. What the heck? Do they have baboons dispensing rebates? How hard is it to read 3 pieces of information?
Read the Fine Print
Best Buy is shameless in having lots of rebates that are contingent on you signing a 2-year contract with an ISP. When I purchased a laptop in 2002, I was told to get a $100 rebate when I sign up for MSN Internet for 2 years. At $25/month for dial-up, it came to $600 for the duration. Why do that when I could get DSL for $30 a pop? Don't be a sucker, and read the fine print.
Summary
I'm not saying that mail-in rebates are evil, nor that all sellers are devious in this way. Just keep in mind that there's a 30% chance you won't get the rebate, and factor that in the price. And avoid sellers or manufacturers who nickel and dime you.
Most mail-in rebates require that you
- Send in the original receipt, serial number bar codes and original UPC
- Send in the rebate within a certain time frame
- Send in everything at the same time
The unstated goals are that once you return the mail-in receipt, you may not be able to return a product; that you may make a mistake by sending one piece of paper less than required. Certainly offering a mail-in rebate has advantages for the seller -- they will invest and collect interest on the $100 mail-in rebate that they'd pay out 3 months later. A conversion rate of 50-70% swells the profits for the company.
You have no rights
If the seller says you made a mistake, or that they didn't receive the package, there is little you can do. If the seller refuses to refund you because they say you didn't include the original UPC code, there's nothing you can do. Think businesses don't lie? Always mail it certified mail where someone has to sign for it.
Shameless Lying by Sears
Four years ago I purchased a treadmill from Sears. The representative told me, and the documentation had it, that I was eligible for a floor mat. I sent everything as detailed, but the rebate was refused. Why? The rebate department said there was no rebate associated with this product. Incompetence? I think not. A couple of phone calls went nowhere, and store representative were no help (they get commissions on what they sell, so they don't care), and I gave up. Sears' benefit? $40. I haven't bought a large-ticket item there since. I hate liars.
Devious Rebate Form at Circuit City
Recently I purchased a laptop from Circuit City and saw something VERY curious. I followed a link with the intention of printing the rebate form. At the top of the page was a little button saying Print Form. Sure. I pressed it. It only printed 40% of the page. And guess what, the text on the web said Send this form in its entirety. A-ha! A dummy who uses the conveniently place button will be rejected. Intentional? I think yes. And you had to write the Serial Number on the paper form as well. What the heck? Do they have baboons dispensing rebates? How hard is it to read 3 pieces of information?
Read the Fine Print
Best Buy is shameless in having lots of rebates that are contingent on you signing a 2-year contract with an ISP. When I purchased a laptop in 2002, I was told to get a $100 rebate when I sign up for MSN Internet for 2 years. At $25/month for dial-up, it came to $600 for the duration. Why do that when I could get DSL for $30 a pop? Don't be a sucker, and read the fine print.
Summary
I'm not saying that mail-in rebates are evil, nor that all sellers are devious in this way. Just keep in mind that there's a 30% chance you won't get the rebate, and factor that in the price. And avoid sellers or manufacturers who nickel and dime you.
June 4, 2008
The Sunlight on the Garden
I like poetry. I liked it even when I didn't understand it, because good poetry is like music -- you appreciate it by hearing it. I remember one poem that read a long time ago, and have never really forgotten, and it's not a highly fancied one or one that's often fed to students of classics and poetry. It was written by Louis MacNeice and is titled The Sunlight on the Garden.
I am reproducing it here. The first stanza is just beautiful.
I am reproducing it here. The first stanza is just beautiful.
The sunlight on the gardenBeautiful, but vague. Like U2's lyrics. Hence timeless. Apparently, it was written by Louis after his wife had left him for someone else. If that influenced this work, the net effect is saddened. Even without that knowledge, the poem remains nostalgic, a tad wistful and jumps from one idea to another, thought it ends on a positive note. I have drawn pleasure and perhaps strength from it over many years, and at times I've felt that it contains infinite wisdom, constructed as it is with universal themes of loneliness, regret, alienation and acceptance.
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold,
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.
Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards its end;
The earth compels, upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.
The sky was good for flying
Defying the church bells
And every evil iron
Siren and what it tells:
The earth compels,
We are dying, Egypt, dying
And not expecting pardon,
Hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under
Thunder and rain with you,
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden.
June 1, 2008
Pasta is a gourmet food
Pasta has gotten an undeserved bad name in the US, where it is associated with red sauce and cheap Italian restaurants with poor service. That is just not true. Italian food has a lot of variety; just that what passes for Italian food in the US (except in the Haute Cuisine) is Sicilian food. Sicilian food uses a lot of olive oil, and very little Parmesan.It's all because of the geography. Northern Italian cuisine is a whole lot closer to French and German cuisine than to Sicilian cuisine. Reason? Northern Italy has weather that allows raising cattle that feeds on grass (Sicily is a whole lot more arid). Cow's milk is converted to butter and cheese. What grows locally is used: such is the way of the world. Italian cuisine is refined and versatile.
The best Italian cookbook I know of (and most critics agree) is Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. In that she talks about the right way of making pasta. A little bit of butter goes a long way.
How to make pasta sauce?
It is very simple to make pasta sauce at home. All it takes is some care and a tiny bit of effort. Homemade pasta sauces can be jarred or frozen, they keep for about 6 months.
Here's a photo of my homemade pasta sauce. This sauce has no olive oil or coloring. The heavy cream and fresh grated Parmesan give it a orange hue. Topped with chopped parsley and finely grated Parmesan cheese. Served over shell pasta, cook al dente and then tossed with butter. Everything except the cheese is organic.
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