So, after all the chaos settles, I wonder how folks will remember Jerry. He is, after all, an exceedingly nice guy. Although, perhaps not the best CEO that there could have been.

Given that average stock portfolios have tanked 31%, YHOO has declined nearly 47%. If he'd have taken the Microsoft offer, he would have been hailed as a genius. The savior of stockholders. Some time ago, when Terry was being paid ~ 235 million a year, we all had argued that the big $$ were for making the big decisions. Easy to say now with hindsight, but for walking away from the $31 offer, he left a lot of $$ on the table.

I wonder how he will take it himself, given his reflective and thoughtful nature...

For a while now, there had been multiple references to books by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It got to the point where I could hardly turn before I had a reference in my face.

Giving in, I placed holds on the books in the library to discover and enormous wait time, even for the excellent Seattle Public Library. The books, I must report, did not disappoint. Both Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan were excellent. They required rather close attention and several reads of interesting chapters before I was sure I obtained the necessary understanding that was being sought.

Suitably equipped, I went through my awareness of events to determine a black swan not part of the well known set (Internet, PC, 911, etc). My final Rs0.02 to this - India winning the World Cup in '83. That's a black swan. Rare and unpredictable frequency (once!), check. Massive impact, (center of cricket universe to begin moving to India) check. Hindsight logic and reasons being devised (mohinder amarnath's swing bowling!), check.

What do you think?

Sometime ago, when I was working at Y in California, I had the good fortune of working with an eclectic and superb group of friends. The group worked closely and met every day for lunch. Lunch discussions were wide ranging usually involving the world, politics, algorithms and stock predictions.

We had a staunch capitalist, having his share of stories of the Soviet Union and the California experience. Another was the detail oriented superman, tracking the betting performance of the group and arguing for benevolent dictators. A third was into managing corporate relationships and was the window into the advertising world. Another is the subject of this particular post - a product manager who was widely read and wise, kick ass technically and a joy to work with. He was also someone I leaned on to understand the "American" perspective.

So, in 2004, when talking about the Democratic convention, I asked him what he thought of the chances of an unknown senator from Illinois who'd given an impressive speech. I'd casually thought that it would be interesting to for example, imagine Hillary running in 2008. For someone so positive and upbeat, he turned around and said something that surprised me. He was rather convinced that it would be many more years before either a minority or woman candidate would be viable. In his words, America was far more conservative and not yet ready for such large steps. His point was that North Carolina was, for example, not the Bay Area in terms of cultural assimilation and awareness. I was rather naively more optimistic about inclusiveness. (admittedly, I'd traveled very little through the country at that point). We ended that conversation inconclusively.

All throughout the presidential campaign, when I would think of the possibility of an Obama victory, my mind would go back to his words. So, on November 4th when the news channels are declaring an Obama victory I'm reminded of that conversation. I wish I'd setup a bet. North Carolina for example, is leaning for Obama. T, you owe me.... this is one of those bets for lunch that I know you are glad to lose.

Sometimes, the optimists win.

By popular demand, Goodenough is extending the exhibition for few more days. Mostly till the Friday. I might not be in all the time, but will be in and out rest of the week. Do buzz me on 07876085594 if you are planning to come.

The exhibition has been going on really well. The turnout on the opening evening was not as big as I had hoped, but later I found out it was because of the bad weather and a conflicting Rugby match. I think my talk went ok as there were enough questions at the end.

People have been coming in large numbers since 10am today and even at 6pm, people were still coming in for the exhibit. If you are in London, do come for the exhibit soon as it closes tomorrow evening (tuesday)

A BIG thank you again for the sponsors : Geodesic and Goodenough College for making this such a wonderful and world-class exhibit

It's surprising, but no sooner do you get an email id and the information flow is immense. If you take a few days away from working and beating down the email fire hose, it can flood back. This series of articles talk about Inbox Zero, an idea that has resonated with me:


If you also deal with large amounts of email at work or otherwise, these articles are an interesting read.

Some of the work that I'd been doing over two semesters in Cornell was put together into a paper at CIKM 2008. So, I traveled to the Bay Area and drove up to Napa each day to attend. The conference was excellent and I had a really good time meeting up with my professor. I also stopped by the a9 offices in Palo Alto which was very interesting - it's at a great location.

I got to meet harriboi after a really long period. Even though it was a rushed hurried meeting, it was the first time I've seen him in a while, so it was really good. A good part of the trip was also the fact that I got to eat a really great Deepavali home meal. A really large meal. A really great meal - with classical dishes that I'd forgotten and missed. Yum.

Finally, spending time with my nephew S is amazing. As he babbles along, I'm able to tease out meaning and coherence. I can sense a Person growing. I feel a sense of joy that is difficult to describe. I'm worried and terrified of him as he walks - while he adjusts for differences in floor surfaces and sharp corners. He turns his head suddenly and my heart catches in my throat. Somehow, spending time with him is walking a tightrope walk between the highest peaks of the world. There's a sense of unspeakable awe and sheer blinding terror all at the same time.