CDOQ

One who understands breathing understands life. 

An unrestrained mind and restrained senses make a human wise. 

She is subtle and she is overpowering She smells like a bouquet of flowers and she looks like a prisoner  She is loved and she is hated  She has a light body and she weighs heavy  She is refreshing and she is intoxicating  She comes from acid and she can calm me  She is young and she is mature  She gets me excited with her smell and she makes me creative with her touch She is often confused and she is always right  She has a name from a mountain and she is delicate  She is complex and she is simple  She has the last position in line and she is at the top She is sophisticated and she is a villager  She brings me joy in the summer and she brings me joy in the winter  Who is she?  Well, she is a redhead and she is French. She is Brouilly  - my favorite wine! 

Ms Mobile at birth  Ms Mobile turned 40 on April 3, 2013 and she is the sexiest woman alive. She changes lives, breaks hearts and brings smiles to the faces of everyone who gets a glimpse of her. Ms Mobile was born on April 3, 1973 in the US. She weighed 2.2 pounds. It is hard to know who the parents are but Dr. Martin Cooper played a key role in bringing Ms Mobile to the world.  The general public in the US found out about Ms Mobile on March 6th,1983 when the first commercial mobile phone, DynaTac 8000x went on sale for $3,995. Prior to the US public becoming aware of Ms Mobile, Japan and the Nordic counties got to know Ms Mobile a little bit. At the time, the most popular fortune teller in the business world, McKinsey , famously predicted that Ms Mobile will amount to nothing i.e.   by year 2000, the global market for mobile phones would be 900,000. In the year 2000, there were 400,000,000+ mobile phones globally. And, today there are more than 6,000,000...

Free will is a function of free environment. 

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) was one of the most innovative figures in the music history. I recently finished taking a class on Beethoven at Stanford taught by a brilliant music scholar, Stephen Hinton . The class was a fascinating journey into Beethoven's nine symphonies and into his life.  Beethoven played a key role in evolution of symphonies from classical period (1760 - 1820) to Romantic period (1820 - 1918). Following are a few key innovations he was responsible for:  1. Movements : A classical period symphony has three or four movements. They are usually in the sequence of Fast -> Medium -> Dance -> Fast tempo . The three-movement classical period symphonies follow Fast -> Medium -> Fast tempo. Beethoven experimented with and popularized the following in the Romantic period:  i) Changing the order of movements. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is an example  ii) Expand the number of movements. Beethoven's Sixth Sym...

Human lifespan continues to rise and the lifespan of everything humans use continues to decline. Is that sustainable?

People often confuse seriousness and sincerity. 

There is no color without light . 

"Strange as it may seem to us, the underlying concern of American capitalism in the late nineteenth century was the possibility of sufficiency. Just as Marx had envisioned a world where everyone would have enough for a decent life, American capitalists were worried that people would stop buying their goods once they had enough things to live comfortably. There seemed no obvious reason why someone would replace a piece of furniture or a coat or a set of crockery simply because it was old. This problem was solved in large part through the influence of Edward Bernays , a nephew of Sigmund Freud , and principle promoter of his ideas in America. Bernays was intrigued by Freud's view that people are bundles of emotion, passion, and desire, and that the real motive for human action is the satisfaction of deep-seated desires rather than rational calculation. Bernays saw that American companies needed to transform the way people thought about their purchases, so ...

Time influences thinking and behavior. 

Is it possible for anyone not to like waltz ?

Am I organic? 

Regardless of the seed and how it is rolled, a cigar's burning is affected by how it is cut and how it is lit. 

"The drawbacks of corporate life are more difficult to specify yet just as pervasive. The need to get on by pleasing others in ways that you don't quite understand, the sense of being watched to see if you are measuring up, the ludicrous yet intense jealousies over cars, furniture, and office space and pay, all contributed to a kind of enervating paranoia. In the world of the corporation there was no such thing as simply doing a job well - you must be either rising or falling within the organization. Management of companies was based on fostering low-level fear among staff, the result being a peculiar mixture of individual ambition and corporate conformity - you stayed safe and got on by second-guessing what others wanted, and by adhering to some never-quite-defined corporate code. Adherence to the corporation became a necessary part of workers' psychology, even if they disliked their jobs; conformity became the price of security." - Roger Osborne  (in the bo...

Is the idea that one is somehow (religion, nation, race, money, job, looks, etc.) better than some humans necessary for individual identity? 

The burden of the society is carried by the middle class. The poor are worried about survival and the rich can get away with breaking the norms. 

Human love for ideas far exceeds human love for another human.  

The problem with shorting a stock is that you don't know for how long the irrationality of the market will last. 

Beauty of yoga lies in graceful transition through poses. 

1. Wealth without Work  2. Pleasure without Conscience  3. Science without Humanity  4. Knowledge without Character  5. Politics without Principle  6. Commerce without Morality  7. Worship without Sacrifice 

A company strategy that is difficult to communicate across the organization is usually ineffective. 

Why do we like stories?

Familiarity with low expectations breeds attachment. 

Mobile phones and what they can do are a frequent part of conversation in the US. The first iPhone started this social phenomenon in 2007. The iPhone 5 comes out today and the front page news in the Wall Street Journal is that the map application on the iPhone 5 is not good enough. See what was front page news about iPhone three years ago by clicking here .  Following is a picture taken outside the Apple store on Wednesday, September 19th, evening in Palo Alto, CA. These people have been camping outside the store to buy the iPhone 5 today.  Who knew people can love a phone so much!  I find it fascinating that a phone can change the society. Let's see how long this sustains. 

Why most of the popular songs are 3-5 minute long? Was it always this way? Can the writer not write anything longer/shorter or the singer can not sing anything longer/shorter or can we not hear anything longer/shorter?

The French are missing from the action and they may not like it:-) Things to note: Every minute on the clock represents a year  The AAA and the D batteries are a reference to the country's credit rating.  Pause the video towards the beginning to see what the guy is eating from the can.  Pause the video towards the end when the toast is served to see the names on the toast.  The name of the butter is bond. 

I seek a non-seeking mind.

Recently, I bought some JP Morgan  stock[NYSE: JPM]. Following my hero, Charlie Munger's advice, I did do my homework before purchasing the equity. Part of my homework was to read Jamie Dimon's letter to JPM shareholders. It is a very interesting read. I was impressed with the clarity and detail Mr. Dimon outlined how he thinks about developing leaders for a multinational corporation. I practically agree with everything he said in the letter. Following is the edited version of Mr. Dimon's thoughts on leadership:   Leadership is an honor, a privilege and a deep obligation. When leaders make mistakes, a lot of people can get hurt. Being true to oneself and avoiding self-deception are as important to a leader as having people to turn to for thoughtful, unbiased advice. Emotional Quotient [EQ] matters in management. EQ can include empathy, clarity of thought, compassion and strength of character.  Good people want to ...