Elan Musk – A living Tesla

Would the electric car Tesla make a history in transporting people? Musk said that Tesla drivers would be able to fall asleep and wake up at their destinations using full self-drive by the end of 2020. Tesla reports that every car produced since October 2016 has all the hardware needed to drive itself.

Until then, drivers will have to continue to monitor the technology and be ready to take control of the wheel if something goes wrong, the report said.

While many will be pondering over the safety of car driving while on road, Musk is prepared to risk the lives of those in space vehicles as well. He has demonstrated reuse of launch vehicles of space rockets thereby reducing the cost of space missions.

An interesting debate presently is on between the safety obsessed NASA and space maverick’s SPACEX. Whether ‘load and go’ technology, that is load the supercooled propellant just before takeoff to pack more fuel in the rocket, is safe enough for human travel. The NASA scientists, with two explosions and loosing 14 lives, are obviously averse to the Elan Musk’s idea of pushing the borders of Space Technology. There was a recent explosion of Falcon, the work horse of SpaceX, but fortunately the loss was limited only to a million dollar payload.

Always there is a compromise in safety when commercial interests supersede. This had been the case in Bhopal as well as in some deadly nuclear reactor accidents when one is ambitious in pushing the technology to its limits.

Musk is setting new limits in engineering innovation. Is the great innovator, Nikola Tesla reborn?

Congenital lying – Rahul’s Speciality

Yesterday, Hours after a “personal visit” to Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at his office in Panaji, Congress President Rahul Gandhi today claimed that the former Defence Minister had clearly stated he had nothing to do with the “new deal” on Rafale fighter jets.

Parrikar reprimand Rahul Gandhi in his letter, “Paying a courtesy visit and then stooping so low as to make a false statement for petty political gain has raised, in my mind, questions about the sincerity and purpose of your visit itself.”

“Here am I fighting against a life-threatening illness. Due to my training and ideological strength. I wish to serve Goa and its people against any/all odds. I thought your visit would give me your good wishes in that cause of serving our people. Little did I know that you had other intentions,” Parrikar wrote.

“With deep disappointment, I write to you hoping that you would put out the truth. Kindly do not use your visit to an ailing person to feed political opportunism,” Parrikar wrote.

Parrikar went on to clarify that the procurement of the Rafale was as per the Defence Procurement Procedure. “I have said this before and wish to reiterate it again in today’s context too. The fighter aircraft are procured following all stated procedures keeping national security as top priority.”

A sensible person would feel sorry immediately. He would not… He responds ‘I empathise with your situation. I understand the immense pressure you are under after our meeting yesterday. Pressure that has forced you to take the highly unusual step of demonstrating your loyalty to the PM and his cronies by attacking me in this uncharacteristic manner’. He holds on to his lies… Is he not insane?

Earlier also ‘the joker’ failed to authenticate in the parliament the ‘audio proof’ of Parikkar talking to his state cabinet colleague on Rafale (later he went on winking for which he was politely pulled up by the parliament speaker).

Why does he behave like a child? Should he exploit a courtesy call to a terminally ill patient, for lying? May be he would have thought Parikkar may not have energy to rebut his blatant lie! Very mean of him….

Cholesterols and Statins

The medical history’s biggest money spinning hoax is coming to an end: both the statin business and the ‘cholesterol-free modern oils market of FMCG’ is busted with the official pronouncement that there will be no longer be any warning against eating high-cholesterol foods.

Cholesterol is being officially removed from Naughty List. The US government has finally accepted that cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern doing a U-turn on their warnings to stay away from high-cholesterol foods since the 1970s to avoid heart disease and clogged arteries.

Cholesterol is the basis for the creation of all the steroid hormones, including estrogen, testosterone, and corticosteroids. Brain is primarily made up from cholesterol. It is essential for nerve cells to function.There is no such thing as bad Cholesterol. Experts say that there is nothing like LDL or HDL.

This means eggs, butter, full-fat dairy products, nuts, coconut oil and meat have now been classified as safe and have been officially removed from the nutrients of concern list.

When we eat more foods rich in this compound, our bodies make less. If we deprive ourselves of foods high in cholesterol, our body revs up. The majority of the cholesterol is produced by liver.

High cholesterol in the body is a clear indication which shows the liver of the individual is in good health.

Dr. George V. Mann M.D. associate director of the Framingham study for the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors states:

Saturated fats and cholesterol in the diet are not the cause of coronary heart disease. Cholesterol is not found to create block any where in human body That myth is the greatest deception of the century, perhaps of any century.

Studies prove beyond doubt, cholesterol doesn’t cause heart disease and it won’t stop a heart attack.The majority of people that have heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels!

The story does not end there: Brainwashing on the ill health effects of the traditional coconut oil, ghee, butter etc., for marketing non-native oils have immensely helped filling the coffers of multi-nationals at the expense of the health of at least three generations!

Is this the benefit of science?

What does this woman want?

Sigmund Freud was quoted as saying: The great question which I have not been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is “What does woman want?”

On reading this I initially thought he was referring to Sonia, but reconciled to the fact this quote fits perfectly well to the world renowned, well educated, highly qualified and respected Dr Manmohan Singh. Don’t be furious that he has been mistook for an eve, but in an era of ostracising remarks on gender discrimination, I stand by my appraisal.

At this ripe age, what does he want by taking all the insults of the first family of the old Indian national political party? Why should he swallow the insults heaped on one after the other?

When,

the then crown prince tearing a cabinet decision in a press meet; turning a blind eye on corruption charges and pronouncing them ‘coalition dharma’ when he can’t relieve the erring UPA partners; can’t stand up and resist the insults on PV Narasimha Rao when he passed away; can’t shield his minister (Jayanthi Natarajan) who was made a scape goat, didn’t respond to any of the tirades made on him by Sanjaya Baru in his book ‘Accidental Prime Minister’; and many more…..

Any Self respecting mortal either would have spontaneously come out of the hibernation with denials, if any or quit the shameful position for good. But why should he continue to enjoy the G-company without any hint of remorse? Doesn’t it pain the educated fellow citizens?

Don’t you now agree with my statement on Freud’s conundrum of failure to understand WOMEN’S mind?

Butchering PSUs

Syphoning PSUs is a way of life for the politicians! Fortunately with both Jaya and sasikala out of picture, there can be a turnaround if a honest bureaucrat is at the helm of affairs. The working of TNEB has improved substantially after Saikumar’s taking over of the office of CEO. Partly it is also due to the board’s restructuring as per the centre’s guidelines of UDAY, which the TN government was vacillating when JJ was alive. The power purchases from private players, procurement of equipment and spares as well as coal are made more transparent and the bleeding holes have been plugged. These are mainly due the non-interference of ‘KARAI VETTIS’ in the company’s affairs. Such a turnaround for the transport corporation is a distant dream!

PSUs suffer from unscrupulous goons on one hand and the staff on the other who cry foul when the there is an air of transfer of control to no- nonsense private industry! It is time to say good bye to the failed Nehruvian socialistic pattern of society development, in which we follow neither capitalistic philosophy nor communistic. This dualism would only hoodwink the gullible novices and would never work for the betterment of society at large, especially in a pluralistic democracy such as ours.

PSUs have become a national symbol of inefficiency and a milching cow for the unscrupulous. Isn’t it quixotic to run the basic needs of society such as health and eduction be run by private players while those to be run on commercial basis such as power, banking, transport, steel, coal mining etc to be run by state. How long the tax payer’s hard earned money would be fritted away by the thoughtless nationalisation that dawned on the Indira era?

Would the world be better off without lawyers?

An engineer dies and goes to Hell.

He’s talking with Satan and says, “What a terrible place! It’s very hot, dark, smoky and extremely bad!”

Satan said, “Well, what did you expect? After all, this IS Hell!”

The engineer said, “Do you have a compressor, some tubing, and wire?

Satan said, “Yeah, we might have some of that stuff laying around somewhere. I’ll check and see what I can find for you.”

Satan finds the stuff. So, the engineer starts designing and building improvements. After a while, Hell has air conditioning, iced water, good lighting, flush toilets, and escalators. The engineer is a pretty popular guy!

One day a call comes from heaven to Satan, “we had a mix-up. on checking records it was discovered that by error an engineer got sent down to you. He should have come here in Heaven. All engineers go to Heaven. You need to transfer him up here instead.”

Satan says, “Why, things are going great. We’ve now got air conditioning, iced water, flush toilets, great lighting, and escalators, and there’s no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next. We like him! We’re going to keep him.”

The ruler of heaven, Lord Indra is horrified. “That’s clearly a mistake! He should never have gone down there in the first place! Send him up here immediately!”

Satan says, “No way! I really like having an engineer on the staff. I’m keeping him.”

Indra says, “Send him back up here or I’ll sue you!”

Satan laughs, “Yeah, right, Good luck on that. By the way, Where are you going to find a lawyer other than in hell ?!”

Satan speaks GOSPEL truth….!!!!!?? May be world would be better off without lawyers????

Tail piece:

In Legal profession, A lie does not presuppose the absence of truth but a resource to disguise it with legal subterfuge to the point of being unrecognisable!

Family Doctors – bygone era?

Recent upsurge of revolt in the medical industry(?) in different parts of the country, pains one who is traditionally brought up in a different culture of doctor-patient relationship. The invasion of western culture has brought immense distortion in our social fabric including Guru-Sishya; these were considered holy professions for centuries but with the advent of modernisation, unethical practices ushered in; the cost of health and education have skyrocketed, thanks to their management by those driven by so called technology, business motives under the guise of charity.

The unfortunate gullible common man believes that ‘the one that is costlier must be better’; the industry exploits this falsehood and calls for clinical investigations that are unnecessary; insurance companies make hay while there is shine…mass screening programmes bring in new patients with many false positives…. once life saving drugs get enlisted under banned list years later… anti cholesterol statins increase the diabetes population…. traditional food habits are butchered by senseless media(anti coconut oil);

It’s time to set the clock back… bring in the culture of family doctor as against specialists; use less Medicine as reckless dispensation of even life saving medicines are injurious; use traditional medicines for common ailment which can even be included in the curriculum; motivate the sense of service as the symbol of social status in the curriculum as against the economic prosperity; profess simple living;

Hope many of you would know what lord McCauley stated long time back: ‘ unless you destroy the cultural values of india and make it western, india can’t be conquered’…..

Modern Godmen and Cult Leaders

It was itching to share my views on self styled god men for a very long time but I was resisting to avoid any possible rubbing with my ascetic FB friends on the wrong side; the recent happenings in Haryana pushed me out of my restraints.

Religious rituals like bhajans, namaz, gospels, etc are time tested ways of calming the tumultuous mind. But the imbecile humans mistakenly perceive the bandmasters as god men. The higher echelons of the society adore them either due to their ignorance or the belief that these Shepherds would recommend their prosperity to the almighty! The herds follow their suits without application of mind. Spirited followers blindly abide their dictates, to the extent that some even commit mass suicides! Mostly these crooks indulge in worldly pleasures hiding behind the veil of religious empowerment.

While most of the exploitations, anyway go undeterred, those against children and women, the only ones the society recognises as crime see the light. Only these can be proved legally if the victims testify. But rarely only a few cohorts rebel; rarer still are those who stand and testify in public as they are invariably muted by violent means; painfully the law takes longer than public memory and the conductors continue their regimen as usual.

These incidents are a blot in the evolution of civilisation and later generations should be enlightened by history. With the life becoming more of a challenge with wild goose chasing, such episodes are going to be not uncommon, unless the society finds an alternate way of channeling the troubled mind.

Are the cult leaders very different from these Godmen?

Those of you who are reasonably old (around late 60s) might recall a cult leader cum musician Charles Mason, an inspiration of a dark American culture of pop music, in the late 1960’s. The world was awe stuck with the news of seven brutal killings on two consecutive nights in Aug 1969, including that of the actor Sharon Tete, eight and half months pregnant and wife of noted film maker Roman Polanski. The clue less investigators closed in many months later, after Mason bragged the murders to cellmates where he was held for an unrelated murder charges. He escaped death penalty when the capital punishment was outlawed in California, spent his life term imprisonment and died this Sunday at the age of 83. In his prison interview in 1986, he replied to a question ‘so you didn’t care (about the murders)’: ‘care? What the hell does that mean ‘care’?’…. he didn’t have even the faintest of the remorse….

Do all the cult leaders feel the same way? How would Ram Rahim respond when the final judgement is pronounced ‘one day’; it took three years even in California, but if it is delivered within his lifetime here he should be very unfortunate…isn’t it?

On Triple Talaq

The constitutional bench has given the verdict on ‘talaq’. Before commenting on the judgement where the debate involves issues on Fundamental right vs religious tradition here are some views:

In Hindu religion, there were centuries old customs such as SATI, child marriage, widow non-remarriage, etc., Reformers like Ram Mohan Roy, EVR and others belonging to the same religion started movements against such practices which were later included in the books of statutes. Strangely the affected parties have not sought legal remedies! I am not aware of any hindu religious body contesting these legislations in the courts; still there are some regional pockets covertly following some of these traditions, is beside the point.

In this case of ‘talaq’ the affected party has sought a legal solution and the court has given only interim relief; It applies to that particular person and not to the community or religion in general. Though the religious body can take cognisance; but I do not think that the executive can enforce this. Also the judgement gives way to the parliament to enact a law to define the custom as non-negotiable!

A wise judgement since, in case the society wants to over rule the judgement they can enact a suitable law in the parliament; Another wise thing they have done is that stay will be vacated if only the law is enacted within six months else it stays…! I don’t know in the legal parlance the meaning of continued stay, does it mean then, it is a verdict or it is reviewable…

There is a thin line of demarcation between what is a fundamental right and what the society thinks as proper!

Are we back to the ancient days where the church was supreme and even if it says the world is flat you can’t deny; if you deny you will be sentenced to death?

NPA – Twin balance sheet problem

I read a very interesting and thought provoking article by Swaminathan S Ankelesaria Aiyar on failed economic ventures leading twin balance sheet problems: that of lenders and borrowers. Without the so called write off or ‘hair cut’ the balance sheet presents an unmanageably ugly picture. Should we not accept that without risks of such venture capital investment, there would be stagnation. In case of unforeseen problems, the pain of failed ventures is shared between the lender and the borrower. That is why there is a concept of ‘write off’. US is throbbing with economic activity and thrives because of such ventures.

But in a country such as India where the lenders are public sector banks, those in the government, being the owners, are accused of cronyism when it comes to legitimate writeoff. Those in the opposition benches, be it UPA or NDA, always find holes in any policy, in what so ever way it is transparently formulated. Their voices are so loud that even balanced politicians are wary of such unpopular but right decisions.

Arvind subramanian, the present chief economic adviser of the present regime, suggested creating a ‘bad bank’ to takeover at some cost the impaired loans and dispose of them at discounts. But the government as well as the private sector banks are wary of financing this ‘bad bank’. So the dodgy balance sheet problem is waiting for a ‘hair cut’ eventhough the hair is impeding the mobility of the body.

The failed lending decisions haunt even a honest banker. Political compulsions drive the investigation agencies culminating in witch hunt: like the case of former chairman and top officials of IDBI being arrested for providing loans to KFA. Though one would not like to go into the merits of the case, the allegation lists ‘meeting Mallya on a holiday’ as though one shall not work on those days.

I am not sure whether Mallya’s tweet that he is a foot ball is far from true? Adanis, the Mody supporters, were barred from bidding for ports in UPA regime though they were operating india’s largest port at Mundra, citing security risk based on some ED’s remark in Persian gulf deals.

Unless there is quid pro quo evidence,the decision maker shall not be made guilty of favouritism. But after a case is registered there is delayed justice. there is unending accusations but to final conviction. So guilt is only belief and not an objective fact. Like the case of Marans ….

Can doing business in a such a country be an enterprising option for either a legitimate start up entrepreneur or even a seasoned capitalist?