Apparently the Whisky breweries don’t use new barrels but use the ones that have already been used by the Wine makers. I am sure that the price offered by the Whisky companies for the barrels is quite lucrative otherwise how can you explain that while initially a cask was used for 30 years, now it is only used for a maximum of two years my a wine company before it is shipped to Scotland.

The Life of a Cask From Wine to Whiskey

Apparently he didn’t and couldn’t give a fuck to how small businesses always suffer in cities where these retails chains open. So I tried to tell him that even if the things are cheaper, you don’t end up saving money. “The layout of these store means you end up buying things you don’t need just because they are on a sale. I end up buying biscuits that I have to throw away after months when they are past their use by date or I end up buying things that I originally didn’t intend to buy like the ‘two for one’ macaroni that again doesn’t end up being used. You need to be exceptionally disciplined to go to a store like that and buy only the things that you need. I know for a fact that I save money if I buy groceries from a mom and pop shop even if the individual items are more expensive.”

To this he said “Well, people will buy only what they can afford, they are not taking money out of someone’s pocket” I realized that I have agitated him enough and continuing this conversation will end up only embarrassing our host so it was time for me to shut up.

However, here are a couple of info graphics that I sincerely wish I could share with that person.

Locally Owned Business vs. Non-Locally Owned Business Spending infographic

Download the infographic:

The Photographer’s Outlook on 2013

Here are the things that I used to take these pictures

1. White Ivory Sheets – For backgrounds, You can use any other colour that compliments your subject. For example if you are photographing a white or light coloured object you may want to use a dark background sheets. I use ivory sheets because of smooth , non-reflective texture
2. Scotch tape – This if to tape the sheets on the wall
3. A table (optional) – Required if you want to take a shot from a low POV.
4. 2 CFL – In this case, I used only one. I sometimes use two, depending on the subject. The reason for using a CFL is that it doesn’t cast harsh shadows and in a lot of cases, like in this one, you can take pictures without having to use a light diffuser.
5. A cable with a multiple holders for CFL

In my pictures, sun is the main source of light and is complimented with CFL lamps if required so you will need a place that gets enough sun light. However take care not to take pictures in direct sunlight to avoid harsh shadows.

Now once you have set up your equipment for the shot, you are ready. Now you have to compose your shot and that is where you have to use your creativity. I usually start with straightforward shots and let the object guide me, sometimes I may be inspired by something that I have seen somewhere else or have tried myself previously.

I usually shoot in manual mode as that allows me much greater control. The shoot at an ISO of 100 and an aperture of 2.8 (for shallow DOF). I like to use a shallow DOF because it helps you isolate small areas in your shot and it also helps in hiding the imperfections of the background. The shutter speed is adjusted based on the available light and what kind of exposure I am looking for. In this case, most of the shots are over exposed.

Results

Here are some results for you to judge the effectiveness of the setup.

If this is true, it is very shameful that the government is using the death of two soldiers for its political gains.

The spontaneous reaction, the very first one that comes to mind is the childhood lesson that almost every boy learns. If you ever get in a fight, you sort it out there and then only. If someone hits you, you hit him back and get even. You can’t comeback home and then go the next day and beat that kid, that would be a second fight, and not the continuation to the first one because things have changed in the meantime with other people like parents and teachers getting involved in it. So what is difficult to understand is why the Indian soldiers didn’t respond there and then. Being soldiers, I would have assumed them to be naturally aggressive and they must have curbed their natural instincts to not seek revenge. Who stopped them? The protocol decided by the government on how to respond in such situations?

There is also a theory that this is not an isolated case and incidents like this keep happening all the time. This one is highlighted and kept alive in media to divert the attention of people from other issues. Issues that have been destabilizing the governments like the Delhi rape case. This is a standard operating procerure for the government, whenever the heat becomes too much to bear, find something else that will divert the attention and focus from the current problem. If this is true, it is very shameful that the government is using the death of two soldiers for its political gains.

Tell me, what do you thing, am I just being a conspiracy theorist or is there some truth in what I am saying?

The idea is to please more people than you piss off.

One ran the biggest dope scandal in the history of sports. Destroyed the credibility and careers of a lot of people and won not just one or two but seven championships by cheating.

The second cheated his employers and stakeholder in particular and investors in general.

Inspite of this, they are not running short of supporters.

Lance Armstrong still has as many people still supporting him as people against him because of his initiative in helping people suffering from cancer. Rajat Gupta has Bill Gates and Kofi Anna writing to judges to be lenient to him because of charitable work he has been doing.

The idea is to please more people than you piss off.

The same thing is true for baseball managers—if you have a better lineup you’re more likely to win the game. And of course that’s true for the sushi restaurant with fresher fish. And the tech company with better programmers, and the college with better professors…

If this is all so obvious, why do we spend all our time trying to find cheap average inputs and then make them special through our magnificent sales and management skills? Why do we industrialize the hiring process, spend very little time on scouting, and seek out the replicatable instead of the special exception? Our ego demands that we spend all day polishing the average instead of seeking out the exceptional.

Better to invest the time and money on special people and raw materials instead.

This is a repost of a post by the same name by Seth Godin on his blog.

Fans, sports ministry, government, and infrastructure – The Indian players have not won medals BECAUSE of these things but INSPITE of these things.

Lack of proper facilities to practice, no financial support from the government that would let them concentrate on sports and no support from Indian fans (cheering them when they have won the medals in not support). Sushil Kumar even had to pay the expense of his Physio from his own pocket. And still they have managed to win… and they have apologized for not winning the gold. Salute to them.

The government and sponsors have now woken up and have announced “rewards” for winners; Sushil Kumar has been awarded a total of more than 3 crores. If that money was spent earlier on the right things, it could have produced more winners.

Give us a social platform with a promise that it is the next big thing, the facebook killer and we will drop what we are doing and flock there. It’s that easy to engage us online.

We all want to be connected and we all want to get the maximum out of social media and that desperation is the new way to gain our attention. Just present us something that promises to be the next big thing in the social media. This is all we need to rush to create a profile there.

Think about the social media platforms where you have created profiles. I have created profiles on so many sites like Flickr, 500px, Tumblr, Posterous, Pinterest to name a few. Every now and then I try to “reach out” to more people by posting links of by blogs there. But if I am not following links posted by someone else, why will someone follow my links and following someone else links, reading someone else’s rants take time. The key is you need to give more than you take, you need to hear before you can expect to be heard. If I can’t do that, then I am wasting my time there and my half-assed efforts are nothing more than beaming messages in space hoping an aliens on another planets will get it and will respond. If you can’t be a part of a conversation, just leave it..