With each new product that Apple announces, including the revamped Apple TV and the new Ping social network, Steve Jobs reveals a little bit more of his plan to dominate the media universe. But I can summarize that plan’s fatal flaw in one word: iTunes.

Considering that iTunes is the software behind one of Apple's money making streams, it is very unlike-Apple in terms of aesthetics and use. Steve Jobs insists, less is more but I wish he would take a look at iTunes.

[Link to How iTunes Could Be Apple’s Undoing]

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A bigger worry is that jobseekers no longer have the skills demanded by employers. Half of the 8m jobs lost went in construction and manufacturing, and those departing these industries may struggle to adapt to jobs in more vibrant areas such as education and health services. The cost of this skills mismatch is compounded by America’s housing bust. Many owe more on mortgages than their homes are worth. Households often opt to stay put rather than default, leaving them trapped in places with high unemployment and unable to move to where jobs are plentiful. The rise of the two-income household has also made workers less mobile than they were: it is harder to move in search of jobs if there are two careers to consider.

These factors, in my opinion, are the biggest in holding back economic growth in the United States. Of course, companies holding on to their cash reserves and not investing in expansion or hiring is another. But the three mentioned above seem to explain much of the tepidness in the economy. All the more reason to invest in vocational and/or higher education and not cut back as is being done currently in Texas.

[Link to Skills Mismatch and Labor Immobility]

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The effects of immigration on the total output and income of the U.S. economy can be studied by comparing output per worker and employment in states that have had large immigrant inflows with data from states that have few new foreign-born workers. Statistical analysis of state-level data shows that immigrants expand the economy's productive capacity by stimulating investment and promoting specialization. This produces efficiency gains and boosts income per worker. At the same time, evidence is scant that immigrants diminish the employment opportunities of U.S.-born workers.

Interesting. This study posits that Americans are in fact better off if immigrants (from Latin American countries) lack in English language skills. Of course, that assumes *all* Americans have better English language skills :)

[Link to The Effect of Immigrants on U.S. Employment and Productivity]

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In the midst of the Afghan war, Indians have been conserving pre-Islamic art, Buddhist monuments and Mughal gardens, even tracing links back to the Bronze Age.

I'm just glad someone is taking care of the past for the future.

[Link to Saving Afghan Treasures]

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Not too long ago when the country was reeling under the threat of one of the most severe recessions since the Depression, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas made a bold statement. When asked about the economic condition of Texas, he replied:

Why is Texas kind of recession-proof, if you will? As a matter of fact, just today I think, Michael, you said someone had put a report out that the first state that’s coming out of the recession is going to be the State of Texas. I told him, I said, ‘We’re in one?’

As arrogant as that may have seemed not to mention the 95,000-odd jobs Texas had lost by then leading to 8% rate of unemployment, I kinda agreed with his basic premise. Compared to California, Florida, and other states, Texas given its size was not as badly hit because the housing crisis that had primarily caused the economic recession hadn’t hit Texas as bad. Ironically, some aspects of the State of Texas Constitution that limited “cash-out” refinancing and home-equity lending which if introduced at the federal level would be decried as socialism had helped. So Texas looked in great shape, right? Even if parts of Texas suffered, towns like College Station that relied on education and research industry at the university seemed immune.

Unfortunately Rick Perry bought into the hype of his other Republican colleagues and among crazy talk of secession, he announced an across-the-board 10% budget cut for state agencies; one of which also happened to be Texas A&M University. Located in College Station, Texas A&M University is the primary employer of the town’s 70-80,000 population; not including the people living in the twin city of Bryan. This directive from the Governor’s Office led to much debate and consternation at the university where even tenured faculty jobs were not considered safe.

Following initial rounds of layoffs mostly among lower levels of staff like at the physical plant and other related departments, it led to a feeling of apprehension and unease in the town. Although the university will end up slashing less than 1% jobs, almost everyone was afraid that they too might lose their job. Other measures like hiring freezes, pay hike freezes, and reduction in other benefits although health insurance premiums rose, were also enforced. This in spite of the fact that student enrollment has significantly risen as it always does during an economic downturn and for some strange albeit political reason, tuitions and other fees have been frozen for two years too.

After an uncertain summer, the housing report for July for Bryan-College Station came out last week. It turned out that housing sales had fallen by 56%, the steepest drop in years. The expiration of the homebuyer tax credit hadn’t helped either. Realtors in the region were frustrated that due to the uncertainty in the employment market, even those who were still employed did not want to step into the housing market although July is historically the busiest month for real estate since school year begins in August. Now we know that downturn in the housing market is often the harbinger for downturn in other aspects of the economy like home services, home improvement, food & dining, electronics and appliances, etc triggering a slowing down of an economy that was otherwise quite robust and thriving. The 10% cut that the university was forced to implement while freezing tuition and fees that started all this might not even make much of a difference in the state’s finances. Obviously, this does not even scratch the surface of the effect on the quality of education and research for Texas A&M.

So yes, anecdotally, I’ve seen how the government can trigger a potential recession where previously none existed. Or it has just been a strange coincidence. You decide.

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Post tags: College Station, economy, recession, Texas, Texas A&M

So when your Marathi friend emails you “You like orange pants with purple frill” – the odds are she only wants to know whether you do, and forgot to add the question mark. It’s less likely she’s accusing you of questionable taste. (Although what made her ask to begin with is something to think about.)

If you have ghaati friends, then you might want to peruse this succinct post by Gauri on what exactly your ghaati friends are trying to say. And yes, about that word ghaati, it's like the n-word, only Maharashtrians can call themselves ghaati but there are exception when some might not be offended. But those who get offended are really offended. So don't take a chance, na.

[Link to The Unofficial Official Marathi English]

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You know those goody-two-shoes who volunteer for every task and thanklessly take on the annoying details nobody else wants to deal with?

That's right: Other people really can't stand them.

Four separate studies led by a Washington State University social psychologist have found that unselfish workers who are the first to throw their hat in the ring are also among those that coworkers most want to, in effect, vote off the island.

Heard of the 20-80 rule that says in an organization, 20% of the people do 80% of the work? It is especially true in volunteer organizations; maybe more skewed. Now research has shown that not only will you not be thanked for doing work that no one willingly wants to do but in fact, you will be hated for doing it. These findings underscore my experiences at least with working with volunteer organizations or community projects. You'll understand if you are one of those 20%. Nevertheless, people like us trudge on although sometimes are tempted to throw in the towel and give up.

[Link to Your Selfless Deeds are Hated]

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Post tags: elections, electronic, fraud, India, Law

Take a look at Tuesday night’s box score in the baseball game between New York and Toronto. The Yankees won, 11-5. Now look at the weather summary, showing a high of 71 for New York. The score and temperature are not subject to debate.

Yet a president’s birthday or whether he was even in the White House on the day TARP was passed are apparently open questions. A growing segment of the party poised to take control of Congress has bought into denial of the basic truths of Barack Obama’s life. What’s more, this astonishing level of willful ignorance has come about largely by design, and has been aided by a press afraid to call out the primary architects of the lies.

People will believe what they want to believe irrespective of the facts that are merely inconvenient. Even in 2010, a sizeable percentage of the population believes that the Sun revolves around the Earth. So how can you expect a black President to convince them that he is a Christian and a citizen?

[Link to A Nation of Know-Nothings?]

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The other Panvel, to my right as I get off the train, is, not unlike Mumbai, an old town in a new world. Historically both a port and a trading town, Panvel was once the rice bowl of the north Konkan, with its famous Bazaar Peth, Mirchi and Kapad Gallis. Panvel Gaon dates back to 1725, when the Bapat Wada was built. It was elevated in the 1800s, when migrants from the Konkan were populating Bombay, and Panvel Shahar was an alternate place to make a home. When you talk to old-timers, they tell you that a newcomer could always find home in Bapat Wada and a job in Dhootpapeshwar, the ayurvedic factory. While the factory is gone, the wada still shelters several hundred residents.

Written by one of my architecture professors in India, this essay took me back to the town that I spent 14 years in and very little seems to have changed. Perhaps that's how Panvel is. Change is at the pace of an elephant trudging along.

[Link to Panvel - Perpetually in Transition]

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Behold the allegedly new iMac Touch purported to be in works at Apple. The OS changes as you change the angle at which you operate the computer. But of course, this is just a patent application so no dates on production yet.

[Source: Patently Apple]

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Post tags: apple, computers, innovation, mac, tablet, touch

The claim that we are in the Middle East to protect our liberties is misleading. To continue this charade, millions of Muslims are indicted and we are obligated to rescue them from their religious and political leaders. And we’re supposed to believe that abusing our liberties here at home and pursuing unconstitutional wars overseas will solve our problems.

The 19 suicide bombers didn’t come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Iran. Fifteen came from our ally Saudi Arabia, a country that harbors strong anti-American resentment, yet we invade and occupy Iraq where no al-Qaeda existed prior to 9/11.

Many fellow conservatives say they understand the property rights and 1st Amendment issues and don’t want a legal ban on building the mosque. They just want everybody to be “sensitive” and force, through public pressure, cancellation of the mosque construction.

Rep.Ron Paul might be cuckoo at times but at least he sticks to his libertarian principles that other Tea Baggers claim to espouse. However, the demagoguery of the Right is more hypocritical than that of the Left because the former are allegedly anti-government intervention and pro-property rights. So it may be bipartisan demagoguery for sure but the persistent hypocritical nature of conservatives makes it more dangerous. Let me take my words back, Democrats wussing out on freedom of religion is equally dangerous because someone who will not stand up to their cause that they extol is equally to blame.

[Link to Bipartisan Demagoguery]

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Some political analysts and consultants say Mr. Lazio’s critique of the planned project is designed in significant part to ward off an unexpectedly spirited challenger in Carl Paladino, a wealthy upstate conservative who has spoken out against the project in even blunter language than Mr. Lazio.

In his own commercial, Mr. Paladino vowed that, if elected, he would use the government’s power of eminent domain to force the center’s developers to find a different location.

So a conservative probably who might even be a Tea Bagger wants to exercise government control over private property just because he doesn't agree with the land use in a neighborhood he doesn't live in? That, my friends, is the modern conservatism movement. They don't hate the government; they just want the government to do their bidding in line with their bigoted views.

[Link to Eminent Domain for your Convenience]

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Netbooks were an established consumer-electronics market with devices that people thought were pretty cool, but often frustrating and with serious shortcomings and design flaws.

Then this happened:

Marco Arment predicts the form of future tablets using the smartphone analogy. Imitation is indeed the highest form of flattery. It is a win-win for consumers and imitation is fine but you would wish other companies would get their innovation groove on at least sometimes. Ironically, the "We were there first" argument is used most by Apple haters in touting multitasking features in smartphones.

[Link to Future of Tablet Forms?]

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US News & World Report produces the most widely-read college rankings, but Forbes, The Princeton Review, and several other publications have produced their own rankings. The problem is that every single one of these rankings is just absolutely, completely, and totally full of crap.

These rankings have always been suspect yet are one of the top used criteria when students are choosing colleges that may well guide how the rest of their life turns out to be; especially for graduate school. Always talk directly to alumni, students and professors. See if the university and your department does or supports research that you are interested in. And yes, offers funding to do what you love to do.

[Link to Don't Believe College Rankings]

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Post tags: ranking, university

"Dimensions takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are."

You cannot understand the true scale and measure of an event until you put it in the dimension of the things you are most familiar with. Perhaps then you will understand the true nature and impact of the event.

[Link to Scaling Events over Disparate Geographies]

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"Indian-Americans, the fastest growing Asian group in the United States, make up a little over three million of the country’s population. But only two — Jindal and Dalip Singh Saund, A Democrat who represented a California district from 1957 to 1963 — have ever served in Congress. This year, though, there are an unprecedented six Indian-American candidates, all Democrats, are running for the House. And with Jindal and Haley generating national attention, the prominence of Indian-American politicians has never been greater.

And while one might assume that cultural conformity would be more important to Republicans, given the party’s conservative, tradition-minded base, Indian-American Democratic candidates can be just as quick to prove their American assimilation to voters."

Although American Jews in politics never fail to burnish their Israeli connections, Indian-American pols especially in the Republican Party try to run as far from India as possible.

[Link to For Indian-American pols, the "What are you?" test]

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Post tags: diaspora, politics, United States

A 15-minute short and worth every second of it

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Post tags: Videos, vimeo

"Mr Sutton is the founder of CultofLess.com, a website which has helped him sell or give away his possessions – apart from his laptop, an iPad, an Amazon Kindle, two external hard drives, a "few" articles of clothing and bed sheets for a mattress that was left in his newly rented apartment.

This 21st-Century minimalist says he got rid of much of his clutter because he felt the ever-increasing number of available digital goods have provided adequate replacements for his former physical possessions."

Sutton is already at where we will be in a few years. Can you live with so few possessions?

[Link to Living out of a hard drive]

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Post tags: clutterfree, digital, materialism, minimalism

"There is no denying that alcohol is a problem in India. But banning booze outright has been proven not to work. Apart from converting what could be taxes for the government into profits for bootleggers (as in Gujarat), there is also the problem of illegal brews that often blind or kill their clients ."

While not commenting on the causation-correlation problem that gets alcohol blamed for social ills, banning anything seems to be the solution for everything the government wishes we don't do regardless of their right to do so.

[Link to Indians are treated like children over alcohol]

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