Turn your wall into a dry erase board!

How would you like to draw on your wall and not worry about messing up the walls? How would you like your wall to be dry erase board? This cool new product can help you turn your walls into a dry erase board on a student budget!

Street Justice & arranged marriage - hilarious!

I am sure that western world is already shocked enough about the concept of arranged marriage. Are you ready for street justice and arranged marriage combined? Watch this video. It is hilarious -

Home food connection

Innovative idea to revolutionize food industry

Organic food, healthy food, fresh food, natural food, green food and so on are phrases that are common place in the food industry. We see them everywhere in stores, restaurant menus, advertisements, local bakeries, fast food chains etc. However, people are still not satisfied with the quality of food that they find outside their home. We still keep searching for that elusive, fresh tasting, aroma infused, tongue tickling and mind awakening food that is nowhere to be found except may be in the homes of the best chefs.

I am exploring this idea with a couple of my friends to connect the best home chefs with home food lovers. Through this business, you as a customer can order food from hundreds of local home chefs on a website and pick it up from their home at your convenience. We are so passionate about this idea because it not only addresses the quality of food, but provides the ability for people with the knowledge and ability to cook medically restricted dietary foods to actually market their skill and provide the much needed services to local communities. For example, currently, if you are a diabetic patient, you are restricted to eating foods with sugar substitutes. But they are not the best foods that you should be eating. Foods made with natural and carefully chosen ingredients can have great impact on one’s blood glucose level. But, consumers today don’t have a choice if they buy food in the market outside. With this new online business (website), you now have an avenue for not only medically restricted diets, but also almost any type of cuisine right in your local neighborhood.

Seeking jobs? This is a must read.

Many of my friends have been looking for jobs. In the course of educating them in the art of creating resumes, cover letters and interviewing, I find it interesting that many of them have not thought about how the person on the other side of the table feels when they are reading their resume or cover letter. I came across the article titled, "Never Read Another Resume" in this month's INC. Magazine that would be of tremendous help to whoever is interviewing right now. It is written by an employer and clearly explains how they select people. One of the big things they talk about is the effectiveness of the cover letter and what kind of questions a candidate asks. Read on... I am sure it will throw new light into your job search.

"Never Read Another Resume"

Climate change hoax

Climate change has moved from the US national stage to the world stage. We have all been forced to live in guilt every time we drive our cars or turn up our thermostat! Imagine my shock and surprise when I heard that the scientific study conducted on climate change on which the international community based all their actions, has been fraudulent! Yes, fraudulent!

George Bernard Shaw said, “The minority is sometimes right; the majority always wrong.” Today, climate change protagonists are in the majority. If we really want to find out the truth, we should be paying careful attention to what the world's scientists are now talking about even if they do not hold the most popular view.

It has now surfaced that the whole theory of climate change was based on a sampling of just 3 trees. Tree ring data was used to determine temperature in the medieval times. It is widely known that temperature data cannot be truly ascertained from tree rings as it is not a reliable indicator of ambient temperature. To make it worse, it has now been revealed that they have cherry picked these trees and ignored a lot of other trees which did not support their pre-drawn conclusions.

The graph below (of course without the word "HOAX") is considered as a logo for climate change protagonists. Every time you see it, remember that it was created with only three tree cores and using tree ring data to determine temperatures which are not reliable to begin with.


This is a clear case of biased research for their own political or economic gains. In my view, it is one of the largest hoaxes perpetrated on humanity in recent times and one of the most heinous crimes. We ought to get to the bottom of this and ensure that whatever harm is already done is mitigated as much as possible.

This is my new year wish for 2010 -
I wish to live in a world that is based on trust and mutual respect for each other.

Facts mentioned in this article are based on the following article:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/29/yamal_scandal/

I don't need to explain this story...

Great Movies - Philosophy, Comedy and Extraterrestrials!

If you are into philosophy and paranormal subjects, here are some great movies to watch. I watched these recently and I enjoyed every one of them. I know how difficult it is to get good movies to watch. After all, in my estimation, less than 10% of the Hollywood movies live up to the hype they create. If your tastes are anything like mine, you will also certainly enjoy these movies. Look them up on netflix or your local dvd store or the public library...

Holy Man
Starring: Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum

This is a movie that is both funny and philosophical at the same time. Eddie Murphy kind of plays "God" in the movie although it is never stated so explicitly. Jeff Goldblum is a shopping channel manager who learns valuable lessons through "God" entering his life. It is pure entertainment while you learn some lessons!




K-PAX
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges

K-PAX is the name of the planet that this person claims to be from. He looks human, he speaks English and no one can believes him. When he is admitted to the mental institution, he is questioned by his psychiatrist who slowly starts believing him. The story itself lends you to analyze human behavior from an alien's perspective. Until the very end, you are not sure if he is an alien or not! Great suspense and great entertainment.




What about Bob?
Starring: Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss

Although this movie started off a little slower than the other two movies I saw (mentioned above), it picked up pace and quickly became hilarious and philosophical at once. A person who thinks he has psychological issues eventually turns out to be more stable and more in touch with his life than his psychiatrist! Contradictions are well portrayed.





The Fourth Kind
Starring: Milla Jovovich portraying the real life character Dr. Abigail Tyler

Two reasons to watch this movie:

1. If you are into scary movies, this is a must see not because this is a great horror movie, but it is a real life horror story. Movie is well made with real footage, not like the stuff you see in Paranormal Activity, where it is made to make believe.
2. If you are intrigued by extraterrestrial life or aliens, this is again a must see. This is the first movie I have ever seen about aliens and it is extremely compelling proof. The whole movie is about the events that happen in Nome, Alaska over the span of 9 days. Many people commit suicide apparently because the mental agony they are going through because of aliens torturing them is unbearable. Dr. Abigail Tyler, who is also one of the victims is strong enough to continue her investigation even though she is as scared as anyone else. Thanks to her, we have this movie and excellent documentation of the events through video and audio. She is determined to find the truth.

Enjoy and please post your comments including any good movies that you think I should check out!

Barbaric Denmark Custom!

Denmark's Gruesome Festival: Mass Killing of Whales and Dolphins to prove Adulthood

This is the latest news making the rounds on the internet! Apparently, you have to kill a dolphin to enter adulthood in Denmark!

You don't see this horrendous news in the media. It is unbelievable.

For a full story, please visit this link:

A word of caution before you click the link. The images are gruesome and if you are weak hearted, you may want to skip the story.

Denmark’s Gruesome Festival: Mass Killing of Whales and Dolphins To Prove Adulthood

Best money I ever spent

If you have been following my blog posts about my contests at Table Topics, here is the final one. I competed at the Division level. The question posted was - "What is the best $100 you have ever spent?" Pretty easy question, yeah? But you can still be amazed how well people can screw up in front of a big group of audience. You have less than 5 seconds to think about it as you walk up to the audience and smile and greet them, but that 5 seconds coming up with a great example defines how well you respond! Here is my video of the speech. I won't give you the results :) You will have to watch the end of the video to see what happened.

Customer Service Online? What's that?

Today, in the online business world, customer service is almost forgotten. Traditional business models have always emphasized customer service and rightfully so. But when it comes to customer service in online shopping, we don't see it much. All of us have experienced the situation where we have a hundred questions about the product we are trying to buy, but information is hard to find on any website. Sometimes, you end up going to the local store just because you can talk to a customer service rep. Recently, I had the opportunity to give a short talk regarding this. I hope you enjoy watching it as well. As usual, any comments are most welcome (both good and bad.)

If I were more than 100 years old, what would I eat?

Recently, I was asked this question at a table topics contest - If I were more than a 100 years old, what would I eat?

For a moment, I was perplexed at the way the toastmaster had worded the simple question. There was a prelude to the question about some news article, but fortunately, I was able to understand the actual question before I could answer... whew!

This was an area level contest (Area 33) on September 25, 2009. I was proud to represent our club and am proud to say that my answer actually won! Looking forward to the Division level contest... Watch for the video. For now, enjoy this video... and of course, COMMENTS are greatly appreciated and NEEDED for me to improve. Please keep them coming.

Embarrassing moment in my life

Me? In a fashion show? The thought itself is embarrassing. Recently, I was asked to share one of my memorable competitions and I shared this experience. You can watch the video better than me describing it... Here goes...

Funny Video

It is a long time since you have seen anything funny on my blog. Here it goes. Please enjoy Maz Jobrani!

Barack Obama's weak hearted plan

Today, President Barack Obama unveiled a plan for making America more green by increasing the fuel efficiency standards for American cars. His plan calls for the auto industry to build vehicles that average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. I don't know about you, but I am thinking that this is a plan for the weak hearted! Let me explain why...

I own a Toyota Corolla which averages around 30 mpg. With Barack Obama's plan, every year, Toyota has to strive for improving the standards by less than a mpg to reach the goal by 2016! Even a novice engineer or a non-engineer can figure out how to do this. All you will have to do is to reduce the weight of the car a little bit by either a slight redesign or remove of some non-essential features. Today, Honda and Toyota have cars that can already give upwards of 40 mpg. The latest Prius is said to give 50 mpg. One can only wonder if the Obama administration has any clue about where to focus to improve our lives.

On a slightly different note, the railroad industry has been advertising that they can move a ton of freight 436 miles on a gallon of fuel. The first time I heard this I was astounded. A simple fact check reveals that this is true although their pollution standards are not as high as for automobiles. However, this begs the question, why is our auto industry so archaic? Can't we do better?

James Watt invented steam engines more than 200 years ago. These engines used burning coal to power them. We are still in the same arena. We are burning fuel instead of coal! Can't we think of a better way to power something without burning something? I am sure we can. The real revolution is not when we achieve higher mpg, but it is when we figure out a better way to power our automobiles. I just hope it is in our lifetime.

Do we deserve our heritage?

Our Indian heritage is not only enormous, but also the most advanced in many fields such as art, mathematics, astronomy and medical science. Ellora caves is such a great example of exquisite and unbelievable art that calling them caves is an understatement. I recently had the fortune of visiting these precious caves. The best way to describe Ellora caves are "as temples carved into mountain stone with exquisite detail." These are full size temples and you don't have to crawl in or bend down when you go into them. Once you see them, you will wonder how it is not part of one of the seven wonders of the world. These pictures here do more justice to these caves than my attempt at describing them.

The real question is - Do we deserve our heritage? What are we doing to preserve this heritage?

Indian government has done a lot of things to help promote these caves and preserve it. For example, there is an entry ticket to go into these caves. A beautiful well maintained garden welcomes you into these caves. We even have drinking water available near the caves. Plenty of tour guides are available.

However, what is missing is access to a toilet! If you want to see the caves in full detail, it will take you the major part of your day and at some point every visitor needs to use the toilet. Sure, we have two toilets on the premises, but they are locked! No, there are no working hours for the toilet. They are just plain locked forever! There are signs for toilets everywhere, but only to find them locked when someone follows them! What is the end result of this? People ease themselves next to the toilet in open air. It is understandable when someone does this in such a situation, but it is abhorring when you step into some of these caves and get the stench of urine in many dark regions of the caves! Isn't it disgraceful to desecrate art like this? We should have at least some pride in our ancestral work and heritage so that our kids can be inspired to do greater things. If we don't respect our own heritage, there is no chance others will either.

I hope the management of Ellora caves will at least open up the toilets so that our heritage is not used as toilets. I seriously hope, no matter how bad the call of nature may be, we will have the sense to not desecrate our ancestral heritage.

Baski or Super Brain Yoga?

This is the heights of stealing age old Indian practices! In India, we grew up with this as a form of punishment and called this so called exercise as "Baski." I am sure different parts of the country used to call it with different names, but essentially it was a form of punishment to kids who misbehaved. Watch this video to see how modern science is taking this practice and calling it their own technique! I won't be surprised if this is later patented as their technique.

You want me to change? Why?

Recently, I was asked to give an entertaining speech. I chose to tell a monkey story that not only entertains us, but teaches us a great lesson about our mental road blocks. Hope you enjoy this speech I gave and find it funny. I hope our Indian politicians learn this lesson too. Your feedback is certainly appreciated:

Is there an antidote for moral policing?

Friends,

I am at a loss for words! One month back I wrote about moral policing spreading in India. Today, it has continued its rise and is now spreading to Goa. For someone who may be looking at the India map, you can clearly see how it is spreading fast from its origins in Mangalore. Despite these guys being openly blatant, Indian government is yet to take any action against these people. In fact, they are not even bothered, it seems.

So, now the real question is, is there an antidote to this? What do you suggest should be done to prevent this from spreading? If you have any comments or suggestions on non-violent, ethical, moral and legal means, please post your comments here.

Mahesh

Related link:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pubs-beware-sri-ram-sene-to-now-work-in-goa/436141/

What's wrong in voting for Sanjay Dutt?

Many of my young friends are big fans of Sanjay Dutt, especially those who are too young to know about Sanjay Dutt's checkered history. Therefore, recently, when I read in the Times of India, an article by Ram Jethmalani who represented Sanjay Dutt in the court case against him more than a decade back, I thought it is worthy enough to share with all my friends. This also serves as a grim reminder of what our country has been through due to Sanjay Dutt and other people like him.

Ram Jethmalani is a dear friend of the late Sunil Dutt, father of Sanjay Dutt. Therefore, it must have really taken a lot of mental courage to write such an article. I believe that those of us who truly understand his words and predicament will come to the right conclusion that we cannot accept Sanjay Dutt in our political arena.

Just because a lot of time has passed since the crimes committed by Sanjay Dutt (proven in the court of law) does not mean that he is eligible to run for elections. I call upon every responsible citizen of the country to first of all denounce his nomination to the party, but also vehemently oppose voting for him even if he stands for elections. In a country filled with corruption, he may still get to stand for elections, but it is our security and future at risk if we vote for him. They are not something that can be put at risk. This is what is wrong if we vote for Sanjay Dutt. If we had been more prudent over the years, Mumbai would not have seen this many bomb blasts and terror attacks. At least now, let's make the right choice.

Related links:
Sanjay Dutt does not deserve to be an MP: Jethmalani

9 Jan 2009, 2124 hrs IST, TNN

Why we should not vote for Sanjay
1 Feb 2009, 0058 hrs IST, Ram Jethmalani

Moral police infection spreads in India

The so-called moral policing is now spreading farther and wider across India, but unfortunately, we see that the media is already moving away from the subject. Today, there is a small report in "The Hindu," but the majority of the Indian newspapers have ignored this today.

By now, some of you may have heard that there was another attack in Haryana where a girl was beat up, but this time by a police officer!!!! The police officer's name is "Moola RAM." You can read the full story and also see a video of the incident here.

I would think that if everyone who has Ram in their names start thinking they are the moral police, Lord Ram himself has to come and save us from this onslaught. However, fortunately, we have some creative individuals like Nisha Susan battling the situation by sending pink underwear to Ram Sena. (Read full story by NPR here). Thanks to Nisha for reducing some of the workload and heartburn for Lord Ram!

We all know that the moral police are neither moral nor police! If anything they are far from being moral. Our father of India, Gandhi has taught us that the best way to fight people in power is with defiance and non-violent non-cooperation, much like what Nisha is doing. If we resort to these methods, I am sure that even a behemoth can be tamed and brought to its knees. In this case, Sri Ram Sena and others like them, may not actually be in power, but they seem to be backed by the government's inaction against their violence. So, let's keep our cool and use Gandhi's principles to fight this injustice. Ultimately, we will prevail.