All

The United States has a federal system of government. The more interesting aspect is how Americans vote thrice for the federal government.

When Sony’s Walkman was expensive, we used them with cheap earphones. Once the music players were cheap, we shifted to more expensive headphones as a status symbol.

When Americans say spicy, they usually mean chili. For some weird reason, other spices that are more aromatic like Turmeric, cloves, cardamom, etc. do not seem to fit the definitely of “spicy”. That’s why in a typical Indian/Thai restaurant in the US when they ask how spicy, they mean “How much chili should I put in” However, when an Indian says that the spices were good, s/he usually means that the food had an aroma and a balanced composition of contrasting tastes....

A charity is when your customers capture value when you don’t. A scam is when you capture value but your customers don’t. A business is when you and your customers both capture value. - unknown

One unique aspect of Indian culture is its desire to innovate in culinary. Tomato was first introduced to India in the 16th century. Now, it is an integral part of Indian cooking and is used in ways most others cultures won’t.

Indian passport remains weak, as per Henley’s 2021 index, India has visa-free access to only 59 countries and that excludes the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Schengen zone. Before ruminating on that, it is worth asking, why China, which is 5 times richer than India in terms of per capita GDP is not doing significantly better either. The island countries of the Caribbean with a population of less than a million have better access than China. Even war-torn Venezuela has a better passport including visa-free access to western Europe. I believe that two dominating factors decide the power of a country’s passport. First, how rich is the country? And second, how big is its population?

There are several nightmare stories on the Internet regarding Google’s poor handling of payment issues related to Google Fi service. Most problems arise because people buy a phone along with Google Fi SIM. Don’t do it.

There are positive jobs and then there are double-negative jobs. Positive jobs when done well increase the revenue of the company. On the other hand, double-negative jobs when done well, prevent the loss of revenue. Consider HR, lawyer, physical/information security personnel, all are double-negative roles. If they do their job well, you won’t notice any harm. It is hard to justify spending on double-negative jobs. They don’t increase the bottom line....

What should this code print?

The US is one of the few countries where the temperature measurements are in Fahrenheit. Elsewhere, Celsius is the norm. Usually, when traveling, I want an approximate mapping. Thankfully, it is linear and easy to memorize. To convert temperature in ºC to ºF - double and add 30 To convert temperature in ºF to ºC - subtract 30 and half