French Family Values

t r u t h o u t - Paul Krugman | French Family Values

Originally appeared on the New York Times Op-Ed page on July 29, 2005. In itself, an interesting comparison. And it throws in a good measure of Republican-baiting to boot.

What hurts though is that the actual productivity of the French workforce, measured in terms of GDP per hour worked, is higher than in the US. Ouch. I am a part of the latter workforce.

Salient points raised in the article include the fact that the European workforce in general has the flexibility to barter extra time off for lesser pay. AFAIK (as far as I know) that is not even an option here in the States. I am not advocating a general reduction in work hours. But what I am advocating is an optional package that lets the employee take more time off if necassary especially when it concerns their family.

Oh sure, you can point to "vacation without pay" concept and say that it is essentially the same as the European one. But if you ever had to do that, good luck to your reputation in the workplace. And oh, try doing that every year and see what happens.

But considering the emphasis on the individual in our society here, as opposed to the family, is this ever going to be a feasible solution. Little wonder therefore, that it was the allegedly left-wing socio-liberal New York Times that cared to write this article.

I can't wait to see what baloney rhetoric will spew from the gutter-mouth of Ann Coulter and her fellow right-wing cronies.

20 great American drives - Road Trips - MSNBC.com

20 great American drives

Just man up and go...car...truck...RV...bicycle :)

Run, don't walk...

....to the March of the Penguins

See Windows Media Video trailer here: March of the Penguins (300kbps)

To quote from the trailer, as narrated by Morgan Freeman (who also narrates the movie)

There is a mysterious ritual that dates back thousands of years. No living creature has survived it.

Except.

The Penguin.


They have wings, but cannot fly. They are birds that think they are fish! And every year they embark on the nearly impossible journey to find a mate.

For 20 days and 20 nights, the emperor penguin will march to a place so extreme, it supports no other life.

In the harshest place on earth, love finds a way.


This is the incredible true story of a family's journey to bring life into earth.

Filmed in the French Antartic territories, this documentary catalogues the life of the Emperor Penguin from the end of one summer to the beginning of the next. And because Antartic is in the southern hemisphere..this is just reverse of the weather pattern as we know it in the North.

What this film tells is the story of the penguin. But what it makes you realize is the underlying unity in the general pattern of life on earth. And yes, that includes us humans as well. The urge to procreate being the common underlying theme. As also the maternal and paternal instincts. And the biggest common theme. Sacrifice. Especially in the face of constant hardships. And a sense of loss. That leads to surprising actions.

I have the urge to rant here about some people dismissing the story as presented by this movie as subjective and an attempt to humanize these animals. But that is a post for a different day.

If not for anything else, just go see this movie for its spectacular presentation of Earth's harshest continent. And to appreciate the efforts of the French crew in making this movie and enduring the same harsh climes that the penguins put up with on an annual basis.

One thing that I cannot help but wonder...what is it that causes Europeans to produce such fantastic nature documentaries at a better rate than Americans (or atleast, why does it seem so?). And what can be done to bridge this trans-Atlantic gap?

So who's the chicken now?

The dismantling of a team has begun..and yet again, the Phoenix Suns will live up to their esteemed name as a development team for players that then move on to other teams and prosper.

So, this guy Robert Sarver flaps his hands in an apparent imitation of chicken, mocking the San Antonio Spurs for not playing Duncan and Ginobili during a regular season game this past March (March 9, 2005 I think). Ah well, in the spirit of revealing secrets, I guess he just preceded the revelation of the man behind Deep Throat.

Where am I going with this rant? Here is where. I live in the Phoenix metropolitan area. And naturally it was assumed that I would be rooting for "your Phoenix Suns". And when I came out of the closet as a San Antonio Spurs fan..well...(insert shocked faces, disappointed faces, angry faces here).

And then the saner amongst them popped the question..Why?

I guess the recent wheelings and dealings of the Suns are the single largest proof that as a fan, this team is not worthy of my followings as a fan. I guess when the team owner goes from mocking others as chicken to being the chicken himself, it just makes for one terrible deal for the people that follow the team.

Of course, it was hilarious to see Sarver mock the Spurs as a Junior Varsity team before tipoff. But I guess he did not catch himself smiling when the JV team was within one point with under 2 mins left.

Yes, I understand sports is a business. And Sarver is being calculated in his decision making. But repeating the same mistake twice..well...you have your classic definition of chickening out. And here is why, amigos, the Suns did not inspire loyalty in me. They are not worth it.

It speaks volumes when one franchise (the Spurs) attracts players that are willing to sign for discounted prices to play and another (the Suns) bungle up the one real good thing they had going for them.

Make no mistake...I like the Suns...but I love the Spurs. And most of it lies in how that team reacts to its community, and how the community reacts to that team. See the Big 5 feature on the right side of this excellent article on ESPN.com

The Cyclorama

Interesting tribute to a Hall-of-Fame QB...

What is the Favre era cyclorama?

"It is a concept for a future museum installation documenting the entire career of Brett Favre.....circular bank of television screens surrounding an audience....over 200 screens one for each game of Favre's streak...entire games including commercials..."

Would be lovely if it becomes a reality.

Back to the present though...will he be able to keep up his streak of non-losing seasons? It says here that he will be able to keep that streak alive.

Summer Nights in Tempe

Night Over Tempe.

Shot from the Fifth Floor of ASU's Ira Fulton School of Engineering's new building in Downtown Tempe. My first snap of lightning strikes. Canon S1-IS's work..



Tempe July 4th Festival.

Shot from about a mile away from the actual spot of the fireworks, from the sidewalk of a bridge over the Tempe Town Lake. Canon S1-IS's work..

Champions....Again....

San Antonio Spurs. Champions of the NBA. AGAIN.

And they did it the classic way. By playing as a quintessential team. By having a sense of chemistry. By relying on each other to pick themselves up off the floor. By using the power of team to win the winner-takes-all Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Maybe they do not always run and run and run in the up-and-down style of basketball that epitomizes the Harlem GlobeTrotters and street ball. Maybe they do not have the flash and dazzle of show-offs. But if you have ever really watched them play, (missive to the people that complain that the Spurs are boring..have you ever really tried to watch them play without having that preconceived notion in your mind?) if you ever can think of basketball as being something else in addition to run, run and then run some more, you will atleast begin to appreciate their excellence.

In the present double-speak ridden world, it is a pleasure to be able to see a team with no ego hassles, no humility issues, no problems paying attention to the coach, and no problem giving their opponents their due respect. It is a pleasure to watch this team not preen and pout and draw attention to themselves like most superjerk players do. And yes, they epitomize almost everything that America says it wants its sportsmen to be...talented, full of character and ability to put team above self. But, didn't I just say "double-speak" ridden world?

So naturally, America turns its back and gets back to tired and irritating cliches: boring half-court team.

My retort: its a pity you missed it.

You missed this most international of NBA teams getting players assembled from three continents to play together as one cohesive unit. You missed this chameleon of a team that (surprise surprise to all you who missed it) beat the Phoenix Suns at their own game, and then turned right around and played Detroit Pistons at their own game and won. You still want to insist that the Spurs are boring? Too sad and too bad for you.

Get used to it. The San Antonio Spurs, along with the Detroit Pistons, are potential dynasties in the making.

Its Tuesday..no...its Wednesday...

Recently, my job afforded me with the rare privilege of pulling an all-nighter in order to get some segments of the system ready for a client presentation. It almost felt like I was back at "school", slogging it out over a course presentation/project/thesis/what-have-you.

Anyway, having consumed boat-loads of caffeine through the course of the two days, it turned out to be pretty easy to stay awake through to the night of the second day..

And then sleep hit..with an irresistible force..and I was the immovable object stuck in its path. So, an estimated 9 hours of sleep on a weeknight ought to be enough. So you would think. Even if it came after being awake for 40 hours straight.

And you would be correct. For the most part. Atleast for the physical part.

But apparently someone really forgot to tell it to my mind..and to my biological system. I woke up the following morning, all refreshed and sprighty...only to realize that my mind was still in "yesterday".

The calender said it was Wednesday..my mind insisted it was Tuesday..and the tug-of-war was on. You see, one of my worst nightmares is this fear that somehow, one fine day, when I wake up, ALL the clocks and calendars in the house would be all pointing to the wrong date and time and throw me completely off-kelter. That meant that in that initial wave of post-nightmare-panic, I could not convince my own mind rationally that it was indeed Wednesday and that I had pulled an all-nighter through Monday night into Tuesday.

Somehow, somewhere, thank goodness, rationality set in and my mind accepted that it was indeed Wednesday and not Tuesday. I consulted with Answers dot com about this, and it spat back with an answer...

Circadian Rhythm..the Biological Clock.

If only it was as easy to reset that clock as it is with the mechanical ones.

You better come with "It"

A splendid ad spot for Gatorade proclaims, amongst other things..."Football is football, unless it is foot-ball. A bat is a bat, even if it is flat. Ten feet on the West side, is Ten feet on the East side. No matter what, you better come with it because it is 90 feet to first, no matter where home is.

(For the uninitiated, the 90ft statement is based in baseball, where the four plates that make up the diamond are 90 ft apart (Home to 1st to 2nd to 3rd to Home is 90 feet each)).

Two profound thoughts in the bolded sentence...

you better come with it...Effort.
Its 90 ft to first no matter where home is. Focus on goals.

Sports cliches maybe, but profoundly true in regular life as well. If only we are able to treat challenges of life as something akin to the challenges of sport..because for whatever the reason, sport seems to get the adrenaline pumping for people.

Until that happens though, we can sit back, and appreciate such wonderful specimens of advertising...

Trivia and Gender

We are just days removed from the revelation of Deep Throat, and in the spirit of revealing information, below is a possible explanation to the wonder of why trivia and trivia-pursuit related games seem to be a domain of the Gentlemen, with not much participation from the Ladies.

Courtesy National Post via fact.on.ca and Trivia Hall of Fame comes this piece of interesting trivia news.

The University of Ulster at Coleraine, located in the northern part of Ireland, conducted a test with 1500 university students taking a 182-question general knowledge test (designed to measure the knowledge in the 19 major domains of what is normally considered as general knowledge, including areas such History of Science, Politics, Sport, History, Classical Music, Popular Music, Jazz and Blues, Art, Literature, General Science, Geography, Cookery, Medicine, Games, Discovery and Exploration, Biology, Film, Fashion and Finance), balanced to eliminate gender bias and also gender differences in memory or in IQ.

Surprisingly, the men beat the women in just about every category, even in fashion. The main explanation left appears to be that men see general knowledge tests as a competition with other males for status and power.This is utterly fascinating considering women tend to do better than men in schools and seem to be outperforming men at jobs in the real world as well.

Now for some really curious facts. Regis Philbin, host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, has lamented about his contestants being male. Almost half of Trivia Hall of Fame's online quiz game are women, and other research suggest that women are very much drawn to online gaming, provided that they are competing only with themselves.

It may be that most trivia environments are too cut-throat for women, who prefer not to be surrounded by men competing to see who has the biggest ... brains.

Whodathunkit?

Also, you wanna pick up a girl? How about showing off some of your muscles upstairs...in the brains? This link details using those muscles to pick up girls. Check it out here...