Beauty of Statistics.

I always knew that statistics is a beautiful art where you can slice and dice data the way you want to project it. But Hans Rosling mesmerized at TED while enlightening the following 3 aspects -

1. Statistics is not properly available.
2. Concept of Industrialized and third world countries are wrong.
   
3. Animated graphics can make a difference.

This is the most stunning data visualization I have ever seen. But then you have to see this presentation with a pinch of salt. He says that Asians are getting richer and moving out of poverty in the last 3 decades. He has not kept in mind due to inflation etc he has to move the poverty line as well. And all the data presented is in the logarithmic scale.

All said and done we can find faults in anybody's explanation but then the biggest take away was that Hans did not speak about what is right what is wrong; he justified what he thinks is right and what is wrong. And the icing on the cake is the stunning presentation and graphics.

Rating - 10 / 10.

On a oneway lane called life

I believed that priorities in life, Health, Career and Family, were cyclical. I was in top physical shape, running marathons for fun on weekends. Family was happy as I had recently relocated back to Bangalore. I figured I was in a new job and needed atmost attention.

Started my job as an underdog, I worked like as if I was possessed and in under a year I got an out of turn promotion. Along with I got a bonus of 40 Pounds. Not in currency, but in weight. Thanks to my misconception that the spoon was a shovel. Also, family was getting increasingly uncomfortable with my prolonged absence.

On a much needed vacation our tour guide took us on a treacherous cave-crawl at the end of it we reached a small room. He said this is where the sage is used to meditate and this where he practiced yoga. That’s when it dawned, that those folks who were so busy meditating, without time to shave but made time for physical fitness. It was time for me to act.

Wearing clothes for plus sized people & spending loads of time at home, I have learnt that the priorities in life are not cyclical. Health, Career and Family are 3 parallel threads which need to be catered to independently. And each of them is like an end point of a cob web, if anyone is not taken care of the whole thing snaps!

Gone Baby Gone

One lazy Sunday afternoon, when both profession and academic were at logger heads, confused; I randomly decided to watch this movie titled “Gone Baby Gone”.

The reason I decided to watch the movie was not because this was a directorial debut by Ben Affleck, but it some how related to the missed opportunities I sensed and could relate to the title. But then the movie hit me and hit me hard. The crime drama like a house is built by brick by brick of information. Amazing acting and cinematography. The music equally blends into background complimenting to the suspense generated by the strong story line.

The movie speaks about how everyone wants the truth... until they find it. And once you have the truth; you have the pleasure of finding it & nobody knows what to do with it.

An exceptional movie. A masterpiece!

It was love at first sight.... for me...

Numbers Numbers Numbers...

Infinity, Pi, Million, Zero...

Why are we all obsessed with numbers? What is your age? How many years of work experience do you have? How much salary do you make? What is the stock price of your company? What is your bank balance? What is your weight? Noticed the hit counter on web pages?

Ever wondered, data can be misrepresented so easily. Have you thought how prior years of experience is so important for a new job but never in a budding relationship? This is dangerous... I sometimes think life would have been so much simpler without numbers.

Exercise till you feel good (no weight i need to worry about) go to work what ever time (see there are no numbers like 9 o'clock), work till you are satisfied, buy what you fancy (you need not worry about inflation), drink till you drop dead (nobody is counting the pegs). Lovely. Seems like heaven to me.

And I bet there would somebody from the other side who would say "Hey! We need numbers for routine, markets, normalcy, sanity ..." I think the only numbers we need are dance numbers. Period.

What do you think?