Did MDA just manage to go viral?

Wow ... MDA's rap video even managed to hit Techcrunch. They may have actually gotten something going for them here...

In spite of some critics denoucing them for making this video, I seem to think that it was done at least partially in response to some earlier comments made to them like "censorship is done by faceless people"...

In any case, I would have never believed that the word "KPI" could appear in a rap but yeah, I stand corrected.





(29-Nov Update : They also hit Neatorama )

Video: Money as Debt

A quick peek at where money really comes from and how monetary policy works:

UC Berkeley's Marching Band does Video Game Tunes

I can't decide what I like best about this, the creativity, geek culture, musicality or the level of teamwork involved.

Probably all of the above...





[props to : CollegeHumor.com]

Easy Peasy Chart Chooser by Juice Analytics

Cool... The folks over at Juice Analytics (one of my favorite sites for common-sense data visualization) has come up with a Chart Chooser tool to help even the densest of all people pick the right type of chart/graph to display what they want to show.

Hopefully, this puts an end to all those ridiculous 150 column bar-graphs we see all the time in presentations whose only reason for existence seems to be to compete for the "most data per square inch" prize.

Check it out here:
http://chartchooser.juiceanalytics.com/

Retail Price Search System?

Seems like a popular technological trend of late is the shift of power (in the form of information) from the few to the many.

Sure, Google helps us find the online information we need in general terms but perhaps more can be done in the niche areas/markets where we want certain special information/details returned in a particular and predictable fashion. In some segments, like that for job, real estate and airfares, there have been lots of movement already but it seems that's about it. Overall, a lot of attention has been placed on industries where consumer behavior is characterized by high-involvement purchases (which are also, unfortunately, once-off or infrequent mostly.)

Maybe its time to look into some mass market search which targets at lower-involvement searches, but adds value in other ways like ease of use and accuracy of information? Perhaps, something like a service which allows you to check the lowest price of certain items when you SMS the UPS of the product you want to the service?

When such a system is operational, retailers will be shaking in fear. Which is a good thing.

Thought of the Day

Every parent should let their kids break stuff ... It makes them either better at fixing things or coming up with excuses, both which are invaluable life skills.

Why someone should bring a long tube into Underwater World

The picture:


The news:
Underwater World's MAGIC Tank

The dastardly idea:



(PS: Don't do it.... )

(PPS: No really, don't ....)

Let loose the waves of knowledge

There has been a lot of talk going on constantly about the importance of education as a fundamental developmental catalyst for third world countries. The premise lies in the notion that if we were effectively able to propagate basic education and hence promote the pickup of basic life skills for the people (especially the young) of these said nations, there would be a much greater potential for these better educated youths to grow up to bring their country out of poverty.

But to further expand on this notion - that the bringing of an increased level of awareness and knowledge to people spurs development. Does it not also apply generally to all peoples of all nations that a further level of understanding of how various things work works in the long haul to improve humanity's condition? Key difference being that we need to stretch beyond what we take for sufficient and push the boundaries of what we want to know.

For most it seems, the quest for knowledge ceases at their penultimate educational milestone of a university degree (which has seen it value plummet somewhat due to educational inflation, but that's another story). Do we therefore only educate ourselves to the mere extent which is necessary to enable us to be identified as having successfully overcome this gauntlet we call the education system?

I believe that educational curiosity does still exist. But somehow, it exists predominantly within a very small population of intelligentsia made up mostly of professors who swap knowledge amongst themselves through journals, conferences and whatnot. Academic style and complexity being a massive hurdle for most mere mortals who wish to read these and comprehend them in a useful fashion. These knowledge then become trapped within ivory towers of the academic elite.

So here's the idea -- what if we could have a system of propagating these new found ideas and intellectual exchanges to a more massive audience, in a simpler fashion. My belief is that the infrastructure already exists in the form of the internet so why are we not making more use of it to push more information outwards?

Hopefully, with the freer flow of ideas and information, a widespread education curiosity can be re-sparked once more.

(To be continued ... ?)

Thought of the Day

Has meritocracy by irrelevant or obsolete standards condemned us all to widespread mediocrity?

Really Random Thoughts (aka Too Lazy to Write Full Blog Posts so ...)

• Materialism / Consumption is over-rated but its what drive the economy and keeps sucking undergraduate into banking jobs.
  
  
• Economy is good and people are complaining that they could have gotten a "better job" or "price for their house" or "prices are rising". Interestingly, these were the same people who also complain when times are bad. Trend? Hmmm....
  
  
• Too many people get caught up with the really petty things in life. Like grades .....
  
  
• So many online startups feel like lottery shots to me - low Cost of starting up, low individual commitment, low chances of striking it big and yet high payoffs if it really works. Perhaps these people would move over to gambling in our casinos when they open.
  
  
• Academically advantaged people love to debate with me about the usefulness of their theories. I wonder if its because I'm missing something here or that they have also figured out the lack of utility of what they have spent years to grasp.
  
  
• Instead of finding theories that work in real life (haha, oxymoron here), I've known people who spend all their time trying to tweak the real world to fit the theory.
  
  
• School (I hope!) must be the only place where a document prepared in 30mins justifies spending 2 hours choosing the right fonts/colour/background for the presentation slides.
  
  
• I love how you can "debate" which some people by keeping quiet and listening till they trip over their own arguments. It's really priceless.
  
  
• Never argue with idiots - they would bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience. (Ok, this wasn't exactly original)
  
  
• The amount of money/wealth seems to be a pretty good gauge of intelligence. Perhaps it was built in this way so that the really smart would get the means (it "flows" to them) to do the right things to make the world a better place. However, I haven't figured out how it applies to poor professors or rich rappers yet (wow, unintended alliteration!) .
  
  
• I wonder if Plato's cave had another exit that lead to an underground metro line, would it result in squashed philosophers or would they be able to think away the trains a la Descartes.
  
  
• Who says we haven't invented time travel? Isnt' the Internet a forward time machine that can shoot you into the future by a couple of hours each time. (oh my, where has all the time gone?)
  
  
• I wonder why I'm spending so much time wondering. I would totally ace Wondering 101 but I guess there's just no demand for such a course.
  
  
• I wish I had better memory so I can remember where I put my to-do list.
  
  
• Are plastic recycling bins made from bio-degradable plastics? Are carbon-credit certificates printed on re-cycled paper?