Smart Expense Analysis

Recently I went to get my bike serviced at the authorized service center. The bike is more than 10 years old and I was thinking of exchanging it for a new one. I was told the servicing would cost Rs 2000 to Rs2500. I asked the service engineer how much I would get for my bike. The guy told me that my bike would fetch Rs5000 approximately. I thought. What sense did it make to spend Rs 2000+ on servicing my bike whose value was Rs 5000? Here was an interesting question. The cost of a new bike was Rs 60,000. And my bike was in good condition. If I got it serviced, I was sure I could use it for at least one more year easily without problem. Why incur cash outflow of Rs 60k and incur about Rs 5k depreciation for the current year (=(60-5)/12) assuming straight line depreciation and 12 years life and scrap value of Rs5k) for new bike when I could service it for Rs 2500 and no cash outflow. So I got it serviced. I will worry about a new bike next. Sometimes, what seems at face value may not be right!

Cementing A Relationship

Many women suggest or insist that rapists should have their private parts castrated. 

I agree if the rapist is like the Nirbhaya ones.

I have another suggestion. Females who falsely accuse a man of raping should have their private part cemented. Example would be the female alleged rape victim in the movie Section 375. My friends ARU and TKN agree with me.

J And P (As In MBTI)

Having seen and been with J and P type people I thought i would write my thoughts about them.

P type people are open, interested in new things, they have more width than depth in subjects. J type people are the opposite. When confronted with a new thing, a P (type person) would want to toy with it and it experience it forgetting that they have other commitments and that indulging in the new thing would conflict with the prior commitments. This need for immediate gratification is overwhelming. The stronger their energy levels, the greater the need.

The J usually would strive for depth and is committed to what is in their plate. They hate to take up new things on the fly, they are not open.

As a result, one cannot plan for things with a P because they often don't follow through with what they commit. One cannot plan with a J, on the other hand, because they often may not consider anything out of the beaten path.

As I mentioned earlier, a J is generally, not open to new stuff. When their energy levels go up, the SJ, as an exception, will consider a new S, but not N, experience. The high energy NJ would consider a new N, but not S, experience. 

Note:

1. In all the assertions, we should prefix the word "largely".
2. J is a person who is methodical, planned.
3. P is a person who is more ad-hoc
4. N is a person who has imagination.
5. S is a person who goes by memory and can't imagine.

Additional reading:

"This kind of approach — being openly meditative about the issue at hand, with a penchant for missing his own deadlines as he mulls his options — is in line with how Mr. Biden has made other big political choices throughout his career. Those who have worked with him over the years describe nonlinear decision-making processes with input from allies and family members, a barrage of questions from Mr. Biden, and a habit of extending deadlines in a way that leaves some Democrats anxious and annoyed, while others say it brings him to a well-considered decision, eventually.." From Why Joe Biden Keeps Missing His Own V.P. Deadlines

Putting A Diaper

Place an underpad. And then the diaper as shown below. The head will be to the left and feet to the right.

Placing the patient on the diaper is the difficult step. Put the pillow below the diaper to move the person to the left (or right) as needed.

 

The portion below the hips is folded up and the portion to the left is placed on top and stuck. See the two stickers below. 

Then the piece on the right is stuck on top of the left piece.

Self Destructive Behavior (SDB)

SDB is not just about cutting yourself up. Indulgence in extreme sports, indulgence in narcotics, indulgence in fatty and spicy food also constitute SDB, in the sense that what you crave isn't good for you.

Extreme generosity, like what Karna had, is also an example of SDB. When we are generous way beyond our means or when we love to take high amounts of stress which we know our body cannot manage we are indulging in SDB.

When we are addicted to behavioral patterns that would ultimately ruin us we can say that we have SDB.

When a very touchy person, who hates to be disrespected, acts as a simpleton and hence subconsciously encourages people to disrespect him - he is also indulging in a weird, inexplicable SDB behavior. SDB comes in various flavors.

How healthy or productive can our life be when half the time what we do is something that hurts US? It's like swimming upstream. 

Even sensible people indulge in such SDB. I guess our reward seeking system or hormones in some of us is so strong that we look at immediate thrill without looking at the long term hurt that we cause ourselves.

How do we stop this? How does it feel when a near and dear person indulges in such behaviour? 

Tracking And Estimating Covid-19 Cases In India

I created this spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mrcYiTOuwGjqUomO9vsUQLuY-5DwlgPs7nY8RhmyuPw/edit?usp=drivesdk

I tracked total CUMULATIVE cases and deaths in India from Apr 21, 2020. The numbers were fairly low on this date - about 20,000 cases and 600 deaths total. 

The cases and deaths data for each date have been taken taken from 

https://www.covid19india.org/

As of Jul 29, 2020 there are about 1.5 million cases (including recovered cases and deaths) and 34,000 deaths.

The cases are currently doubling in 20 days while deaths are doubling at a slower pace: at 28 days.

The cases are increasing at about 3.5%/day while deaths are increasing at 2.4% / day. At the current rate, India will have about 41 million cases and 323,000 deaths by end of October 2020.

Note:

1. I have assumed that cases and deaths increase at the SAME rate to October as they are now.
2. Data till current date are actuals, while data for future dates (colored rows) are estimates.

Kashmir Belongs To?

https://www.dawn.com/news/1567717

"The iconic tiger should come to Pakistan, which, being the Muslim successor state after colonial India, should have a right to it."

The said tiger was taken from Srirangapatnam in Karnataka, more than 2000km away in South India. The author believes it belongs to Pak because Tipu Sultan was Muslim. No wonder Pak believes Kashmir belongs to Pak.

God help me if my wife was Muslim. These people will claim my wife too because of her religion.

The author of the article, as per Dawn, is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

Is this what they taught her in constitutional law?

Did she ever read property law? A stuff doesn't become yours just because the previous owner belonged to the same religion as you.

Factors Important For Our Well Being

1. Resilience : ability to bounce back after a (severe) fall
2. Stress taking: Ability to handle severe stress with grace
3. Smartness: Ability to avoid situations which likely are "losers" meaning situations that are not beneficial to us.

It's A Man's World

We have awards like Field's medal or Nobel prize or Olympic medal for achievement or excellence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths), sports etc. 

How come we don't have an award or recognition for exceptional stress felt? 

Many people recognise emotions as the currency for achievement. These are the people who focus on how you felt or how I felt or how he made her feel as the primary way to evaluate human beings and not what you or I or she achieved in various fields.

How come we haven't yet gotten around to formally recognizing  emotions or advances in emotions? 
For example, there may be a new Princess who couldn't breath because of a pea in her bed. Or consider my friend who was flummoxed because her husband tested covid-19 positive when her daughter's birthday was around the corner. And the friend was torn apart by having to address the needs of both her husband and her daughter. Who recognised the turmoil she went through?

The well known awards such as Nobel or Olympics focus on a result. These results are a result of emotions such as desire, perseverance, drive / ambition. Without these emotions, results are unlikely to be achieved. Where is the formal acknowledgement of the richness of emotions that a person feels? 

How come, then, we focus our attention on an end result than on the lead indicator, aka emotions?

How come no one has taken up cudgels on behalf of emotions? 

Pregnant Chennai

Today I went out for a walk in the afternoon. It was cloudy and breezy. The city was glowing, positively looking beautiful. The lockdown added to the beauty. Everything was serene, hardly any traffic. 

In Tamil there is a saying that when a girl looks glowing and beautiful, she must be pregnant.

No, no. I think it goes like this. A girl, when she is pregnant, glows and looks beautiful. Yes that's it.

And Chennai looked positively pregnant today.

I imagined sitting on the coconut branch leaf without letting the man know so he could pull me also.

The following outstanding photos were taken today by a friend of mine. I don't reveal any name but she is an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu.

Wowowow.