Muffi's blog

A really thought provoking (and controversial) perspective by Peter Thiel on the traditional value of Education. This quote pretty much sums it up..

As America awoke to a mundane Saturday morning, a billion people half way across the world launched into the biggest party on the planet. After 28 years, India took home the Cricket World Cup once again. In an intense game, the Indian cricket team kept the nation on edge: a disastrous start, losing the top two batsmen very quickly and then following up with one of the most amazing of run chases seen in a final. As Tendulkar fell, it almost seemed like Sri Lanka had broken the backbone of the team and sent the entire nation into a state of shock.

In retrpspect, this may well prove to be a turning point in the history of Indian cricket and a blessing in disguise. This young and never-say-die team stepped up to the occasion and showed that we're finally not dependant on any one individual to win us the World Cup. Tendulkar can now ride into the sunset, leaving behind one of the most phenomenal legacies in the game, and a new generation of players that will make India proud.

Jai Ho!

A dollar in 1950 is worth about eight in today's buying power. Could
we extend the same analogy to time, but in reverse? Would minute in
1950, be worth just a few seconds today?

What do you think? And remember you heard it here first :-)

Out of the night that covers me, 
Black as the Pit from pole to pole, 
I thank whatever gods may be,
For my unconquerable soul. 

In the fell clutch of circumstance 
I have not winced nor cried aloud. 
Under the bludgeonings of chance,
My head is bloody, but unbowed. 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears 
Looms but the Horror of the shade, 
And yet the menace of the years,
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. 

It matters not how strait the gate, 
How charged with punishments the scroll. 
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

http://www.poemhunter.com/

An interesting article in this week's Bay Area Tech wire, especially relevant to folks like me who are transitioning into a new job. Work Etiquette gives some useful tips to help make the transition into a new company as smooth as possible at http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/bay-area-tech-wire

As part of the OPEN Forum 2010 marketing team, I've been asked questions like "why are you doing this event?" and "why should I attend?" I wrote this brief to explain "why". I hope you find it compelling enough and register for the event.

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OPEN Silicon Valley is a non-profit, managed and run completely by volunteers. OPEN Forum 2010 is being organized by a team of volunteers, just like you & me.  We're taking time out of our personal and professional lives to organize this event, which we hope will inspire everyone of us to achieve our dreams & aspirations.

The singular force that drives this team is our desire to  learn, connect and be inspired by some of the great minds around us -  their perspectives, their successes & their failures. Silicon Valley is an amazing combination of intellect, capital & risk taking - perhaps the only one of its kind in the world. It's events like OPEN Forum that  help us step back from our day-to-day routines and tap into this tremendous potential that the Valley has to offer.

Of the six billion people on this planet, only a select few of us have converged from across the world to Silicon Valley - let OPEN Forum help you find your own answer to this "Why"!

Information on sessions, speakers, tracks & volunteering at http://www.opensvforum.org/

If you're ready to register, please email muffi@ghadiali.com, and I can send you a discounted registration code.

A classic example of emergence lies in the flocking behavior of birds. A computer simulation can use as few as three simple rules (along the lines of "don't run into each other") and suddenly you get very complex behavior as the flock wends and wafts its way gracefully through the sky, reforming around obstacles, and so on. None of this advanced behavior (such as reforming the same shape around an obstacle) is specified by the rules; it emerges from the dynamics of the system.

Simple rules, as with the birds simulation, lead to complex behavior. Complex rules, as with the tax law in most countries, lead to stupid behavior.

Many common software development practices have the unfortunate side effect of eliminating any chance for emergent behavior. Most attempts at optimization — tying something down very explicitly — reduces the breadth and scope of interactions and relationships, which is the very source of emergence. In the flocking birds example, as with a well-designed system, it's the interactions and relationships that create the interesting behavior.

The harder we tighten things down, the less room there is for a creative, emergent solution. Whether it's locking down requirements before they are well understood or prematurely optimizing code, or inventing complex navigation and workflow scenarios before letting end users play with the system, the result is the same: an overly complicated, stupid system instead of a clean, elegant system that harnesses emergence.

Keep it small. Keep it simple. Let it happen.

—Andrew Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmers

Sky-high test scores, rerouted airline traffic, and an abundance of Ivy League dropouts. Any idea which country's education system produces all these things and President Barack Obama's endorsement to boot? The first of GreatSchools' two-part series on the world's top-performing education systems offers a glimpse into what this Eastern powerhouse can teach us about our kids' education.

A sad ending for the Mumbai Indians at the IPL. But then I read George Carlin’s perspective on sports teams in Briandroppings and don’t feel too bad J

“I decided it’s not necessary to feel bad and suffer just because my team sucks. What I do now is cut ‘em loose for a while. I simply let them go about losing, as I go about living my life. Then, when they’ve improved, and are doing well, I get back on board and enjoy their success”