What's new: December 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Satisfaction ? Excellence ? Perfection ?

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a
sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying
nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of
the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need
only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The
gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the
damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said
the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install
the idol?" The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar
twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that
there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor
stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will
know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else
appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside.
Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own
satisfaction and efficiency…

--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and
love email again

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Aathimoolam IAF

Athimoolam's IAF reminiscences ... sorry saar for the language.
http://www.athimoolam.com/category/indian-air-force/

Tragedy of the Commons

The Tragedy of the Commons -- Elinor Ostrom's Nobel winning work
and related stuff:
http://www.indiana.edu/~iascp/LinPubs.html

This is what the Nobel Prize committee said about the author:

"Elinor Ostrom has challenged the conventional wisdom that common
property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central
authorities or privatized. Based on numerous studies of user-managed
fish stocks, pastures, woods, lakes, and groundwater basins, Ostrom
concludes that the outcomes are, more often than not, better than
predicted by standard theories. She observes that resource users
frequently develop sophisticated mechanisms for decision-making and rule
enforcement to handle conflicts of interest, and she characterizes the
rules that promote successful outcomes."
_________