An Ode to Minneapolis...

US Debt

Just watched this movie... I.O.U.S.A

Mind boggling.... US Debt is sky-rocketing...
And the real shortfall in meeting the US government obligations is even worse.....
Watch the movie or read more here to understand what this really means.... And here for the simple good old wiki on the topic...




But just to give you a sense of the problem.... Indian GDP was only about $1.2 trillion in 2008... In other words, US debt of $12 trillion today is 10 times as much as the entire Indian GDP (GDP, in rough terms, is the value of all the goods and services produced in the country) !!

BTW, you think you know trillion?
One million seconds will pass in the next 12 days.
One billion seconds will take 32 years.
One trillion seconds will pass in 31,688 years.
Time is money, right? If you make one dollar every second, you will have a million dollars in twelve days. You will be a billionaire in 32 years, but it will take you more than 31,000 years to make a trillion dollars.

How is it changing the game for the US?

In 2006, Professor Laurence Kotlikoff argued the United States must eventually choose between "bankruptcy", raising taxes, or cutting payouts. Thomas Friedman has argued that increasing dependence on foreign sources of funding will render the U.S. less able to act independently....

Well... you have seen how China is already gaining power in the world arena... need more to say?

Here's looking at you, kid!

Watched Casablanca for the nth time..... lovely as ever!!

I did some research on the famous song sung by Sam....
"As Time Goes By" written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931.. It became most famous in 1942 when it was sung by Sam (Dooley Wilson) in the movie, Casablanca. The song was voted #2 on the "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs special", commemorating the best songs in film

You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.

And when two lovers woo
They still say, "I love you."
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.

Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date.
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate.
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny.

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.



Thanks to Warner Bros for the movie and making the song famous...

The piano playing in the film version was performed by Elliot Carpenter, with Dooley Wilson singing.

The song's famous opening line - "You must remember this..." - is actually the start of the fourth verse as originally written and performed. However, Dooley Wilson did not sing the preceding three in Casablanca. Most subsequent versions have similarly omitted them, leading them to have become virtually unknown to most listeners.

Catch more on the wiki...

And for the complete lyrics, check here

Chinna Star!!

Off late, I (ISay.SoIAm.) have been getting a lot of attention and interest from my Japanese and Chinese fans... Though I do not understand the sudden popularity and fan-following among the oriental populace, I wholeheartedly welcome them to my blog.

It is a grandiose yet humbling feeling to be in the same league as the Superstar! For the miserably uninformed, Superstar is Rajinikanth aka. Rajini - the God of Style. He is the true international film icon from India. He is best known for his mass popularity and appeal, largely drawn from his mannerisms and stylized delivery of dialogue in films. His films run houseful across the world and especially Japan. One of his latest films, Sivaji - the Boss was hugely popular. Sivaji charted as one of the top-ten best films of United Kingdom and South Africa box-offices upon release. It also became the first notable Tamil film to run for over 100 consecutive days in Toronto at the Cineplex Odeon theatre.

The message on the poster states "On the heels of the 175th day screening (in India), the Japanese Rajini Fan Club conveys their congratulations"
For more details, check Rajini's Japan Fansite http://www.rajini.jp/

Anyways, coming back to my oriental fan-following - To be compared even lightly to the "Superstar" takes me on and beyond Cloud Nine. I humbly accept the title of "Chinna Star" aka. "China" Star!!!! Well... Chinna in tamil means 'small' and China is tamil means China, of course.

I recently got the following golden words as a comment (compliment!) on one of my posts: To quote "最豐滿最好之稻穗，便最貼近地面" which means "The best of the best plump rice is the best close to the ground".

Thank you again, my 'best' fans!! ;-)

Raleigh!

This place is nice... And of course, the whole world is getting illuminated by the Christmas and New Year eve lighting... so every place looks nicer this time.

I especially like the mistletoe like lighting they put up on the trees here.. (will try to put a picture of that soon). BTW, you know the thing with mistletoe? if you come to meet another person of the opposite sex (or same sex, depending on your preference!) under a mistletoe, you should Kiss! How I wish my lady is here with me now!!

The weather, of course, is fantastic... snow flakes in the air! It was supposed to be a snow storm that turned into a light snowing here... (There has been snowstorms or blizzards, which is more destructive, in other parts of the east coast) ...and it feels so welcome and normal for me, after facing the biting cold of Minneapolis.

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here you go... the mistletoe lights that I was talking about..

Once in a lifetime.... may be, twice....?

Recently, I read this story about how some folks made tons of frequent flyer miles without really spending any money at all.....

But first I have to tell you the Pudding Guy story from 2000.

David Phillips, a California engineer, took advantage of overlapping frequent flyer promotions to earn 1.2 million miles by purchasing 12,000 cups of Healthy Choice pudding, for $3,000. At the time, someone put the value of those miles, redeemable for 48 free domestic tickets, at about $20,000. Not bad for a $3,000 investment. (In case you're wondering, he gave most of the pudding away to charities, soup kitchens, and the like.)

And quite recently, the U.S. Mint has been selling $1 coins in bulk, at face value, with no shipping or handling charges. Canny consumers have been buying the coins and charging the purchase to a mileage- or points-generating credit card. When the coins are delivered, the buyer simply takes them to the bank and deposits them, using the money to pay for the purchase when the credit card statement arrives.

Here is the original Wall Street Journal story

I should credit this story too...

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Anyways, reading this story made me think about "Being Lucky" and "Being Smart".

I have had this feeling before that every person will get the opportunity of his/her lifetime at least once..... It does not matter what you have been doing till that date... but IF you capture the moment and make use of the opportunity, things will never be the same again.....

And that most of the time, people are not even aware of such an opportunity going by.... And they spend their lifetime ruing/ lamenting about their ill-fortune....

Studies have shown that people that are optimistic have a huge probability of catching the 'right' moment... In fact, I remember a detailed research that conducted many live studies where hundreds of people were given a newspaper to read and answer some questions.... There were a couple of places on the paper where a message was inserted saying something to the effect "If you see this, just turn in the newspaper and we will give you $200".... And as you could have guessed by now, the optimists and the folks that considered themselves lucky collected the $200 many times over those that did NOT consider themselves lucky....!!

Moral of the story: consider yourself lucky and you will be!!

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But there is a catch... if you have been considering yourself "NOT Lucky" or "Unlucky", how can you overturn your thoughts overnight??

That is a bigger story.... but here is the gist of it -

I have had many such 'lucky' instances in the early years of my life.... And suddenly one day, things changed.... and I thought I turned unlucky.... That was followed by a series of undesirable events and over time, it reiterated my feeling of unluckiness. That left me totally helpless. Well, what can "I" do? the God of luck is not in my favor!! That was a total wretched feeling and left me feeling miserable and unhappy. Oh boy, those were the dark days..

And one day, after months and years of trying to change my luck, I realized that "I" am the culprit!! I realized that it was "I" that was saying that I am unlucky. Like I said, there have been instances of both scenarios in my life. But I was saying that I was unlucky (at that period in life), choosing to ignore the positives that were present.

I can say I am lucky... or I can say I am unlucky. Whatever I say, my life goes exactly the way I say.

When I started taking responsibility for "my life" and what I say about it, I started feeling a lot of freedom and gracefulness back in my life. With the new found grace, I was "free" to start seeing the positives again, and not turn a blind eye to the positives. Life started to look rosy again - show shades of luck. Only this time, I know "I" am seeing it!!!

You may ask - "so what are you saying, finally?"

For one, consider today your lucky day!! What you have read just now is the secret to unravelling your own luck, if you choose to. [Yes, only if you choose to - that is another Zen]

For another, this is the story behind my blog name... "I Say. So I am."

- Bhaskar

PS: Some say it as "I Think. Therefore I am." - but if you are only thinking, how will I know?! Anyways, another Zen for another day!

vs.

"Positive emptiness vs. Negative emptiness"

Philosophical time: Appraisal time!

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Yesterday:
Good morning Raleigh
Good evening St. Louis
Good night Minneapolis

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Raleigh was nice... and a bit cold.....
But nothing compared to the cold send-off I am getting here at Minneapolis...
15 F, snow and 30 mph winds....

Its Time.... Almost!

Time to say good-bye... to the city of Minneapolis..... soon!