Of Psycho and freakshows...am back..work was just a wee bit hectic..boring..but hectic..
Enuf of the banalities..on to 'da juice' !
Bombay..circa 2005..
*seems like such a long time ago..simple times..happy times..*walking outside CST..i see a book.."50 bucks ? worth a shot..cool.."
I buy..i read..i am enlightened,fascinated,mind-boggled...and other associated adjectives and adverbs..
Few books would come close to a "Freakonomics-A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything"..
two economists..Dubner and Levitt,wrote it..won the nobel for eco..so there...
More on their
wiki page..
trust me,worth a read..both page..and book !
*The cover features a sliced apple..with an orange inside..apples and oranges..so similar..but so dissimilar..*why ? bcos they pick up 2 seemingly unrelated sets of data..and come up with a connection..
backed by hard stats,information,patterns,logic,reasoning..
I am still amazed by their "Crime rate fall in the US" example..mind-blowing connection tha,yaar !
*Btw,the crime rate in chennai will soar,Mr.Ass,if i dont get back the "freakonomics",i lent you ! soon !!*
Why am i writing this ?
Well..so happens...those 2 freaks,Dubner and Levitt...wrote their latest column...for the NYT on May 7th..
and it's the most popular emailed article currently..trust the rankings,not me !
A column...'How A Star Is Made : Where does talent really come from'..
and that...talent means nothing..hard work is the only thing that counts..
practice makes perfect..and that...all that matters is enthu and bull-headedness...
and..to humour those who dont really care abt all the above..
World cup fever..Germany 2006...
Why the world's soccer stars are,unusually....usually, born in the first few months of the year !?
All answered...in a column written by guys,i admire for their approach to a problem..more than anything else..
*I mean,come on...who would look at correlating abortion rates in the US,late 80s against crime rates in the 90s ?!
To even have a hypothesis,you need some grounds,rite..they are outta this world ! :O*So..their main page..
here...
The column...here...on
nyt..
Some background info on the research for the column..and assorted trivia...
here..
The complete list...
here...
And bcos the book is recommended study material in many universities..study guides,etc for download..
here..
Pdf research papers on the subjects..kinda boring..but interesting sleep material...iffffff you manage to go thru it completely..
"The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance"...
here..
"Dart performance as a function of facets of practice amongst professional and amateur men and women players"..
here...
Now..you know..why a wasim akram is...THE wasim akram...
why a gary kasparov is ..THE gary kasparov..
why a good blogger is..good..
and..why...a kini..is well...an ordinary,simple,not-a-smart...guy...
*bcos he tries real hard to be one !*:)
Coming soon...My attempts at psycho...and trying to predict people..something i am fascinated by...
girls...also figured in that 'stuff-i-am-fascinated-by' category..
but they are getting boring...and predictable nowadays...hmmm,i wonder...
:D
PS : Pickup the username and password from
bugmenot if NYT asks u for a free registration..
