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IT rates in India

This is one interesting fact.. salaried Indians are the 10th most taxed people on the planet.. whats more is that we are 40 places ahead of USA.. which somehow i always believed was a very heavily taxed country. I wonder how badly were the people tax before the Narsima Rao Reforms which lowered the tax rates to half.

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Feeling Lucky

A friend of mine recently forwarded me a nice article which lists down the differences in attitude of lucky and unlucky people. The author believes that by changing one’s outlook towards life one can also be lucky.
You might not have to agree completely to what the author says but the article has a lot of merit. So do give it a read.

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rape and death penalty

I was always against the demand for death penalty for rapists. My reasons were:
1. I believe that society is a lot to blame when they sometimes assume that the victim did something wrong.
2. Death Penalty is taken quite seriously by law. Hence it means almost infinite appeals, re-opening the case at the smallest pretext and getting involved in a lengthy and costly legal battle. If someone believes in delayed justice being equivalent to justice denied, then this change in law will only increase the victim’s agony.
3. Usual crap against the very idea of death penalty esp. does state or anybody have a right to take someone else’s life.
However this Wall Street Journal & Mint’s article presents an economist’s view against harsh punishment. If you get time do read it because I like their treatment to the subject.

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South Indians and Hindi

First of all Hindi is not our national language, so it is not necessary for people to know it.

However as this guy rightly points out, there are a few barriers to speaking in Hindi as well.

Hindi and Me

So next time feel a bit for those guys who only learn Hindi in school.

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Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch was a computer scientist at CMU. Diagnosed of pancreatic cancer he gave the last lecture on Sep 2007. The lecture is all about achieving ones dream and enabling others to reach their dreams.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo]

Although the lecture lasted for more than an hour, but you can really appreciate how moving this passionate lecture was.
Thanks Karthi for forwarding it to me

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Neighborhood Effect

I recently came across a very interesting finding. How the fortunes of one person increases the spending of the entire neighborhood.
Isn’t it interesting that just to show off and for senseless vanity we often are driven to over spend and live beyond our means.

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where-are-indias-innovative-companies-products-and-solutions

This wonderful article from seeking alpha tries to address the paradox that in spite of the fact that India has the best brains in the world, why do we lag behind in terms of finding innovative solutions to address Indian needs.

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Animator vs Animation

These are 2 very creative animation videos designed by Alan Becker. Here a stick guy goes crazy and plays havoc with the computer screen. You can download the MS Office files, or you could watch them at the following links
Part1
Part2

– Courtesy Dhruva

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Theatre Premier

I love this show. In 6 minutes it shows a preview of almost all the famous singers. Why can’t there be something as creative in India
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And a nice Video by Nokia depicting how nano particles can change our future. I need this keyboard device.
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Watching your teenage daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a Stradivarius to a gorilla.

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Don’t judge too quickly

some good short videos
Don’t judge too quickly

Is this equilibrium even physically possible? 

Follow your heart

Cool pool shot

Here is why I don’t introduce my girls to my friends

Why do girls think so much?

And here is why I hate people talking over phone