Data visualization help

Wanted : programming help

I'm looking for a software tool, hopefully web-able, that can take data like a budget distribution and visualize it in the way the "Disk Usage Analyzer" works in Ubuntu/Linux.


The important part is the input: Rather than being top-down, it should be able to add things bottom-up the same way the DiskUsageAnalyzer weighs all the individual files and builds up the distribution to give us the final picture.

The trick: Instead of taking a file's SIZE, it can take a number stored inside the file (it could be a simple text file or .ini file)

This software example leaves out the last step of listing/visualizing the actual files. Naturally my software would cover that too.

Why I want this: It's not just budget allocation... it can be any application where we can use bottom-up adding up and infinite, non-linear breakdowns. One sector may have 3 elements and it may stop there; another sector may have 2 of those elements breaking down further. And over time, one black-box-like section may open up to reveal its components. I'd like it to be as flexible as putting a simple file in the folder.

This could also have a feature of "missing departments". Example: Education dept gets 20 crores. Broken down into its various programs, the programs might add up to 15 cores. 5 crores unaccounted : this could be programmed to show up in this interface.

So.. anybody up for the challenge?
Contact me on nikhil [dot] js [at] gmail.com
Phone : +91-966-583-1250

short video on factory Vs democratic education

Video: Make Your Voice Heard: Discover Democratic Education (2:35 mins)

My comment there:
thanks for sharing this!
Factory schooling and the teacher-centric paradigm are based on an underlying assumption that the average person is stupid and cannot be trusted to act in the best interests; that we need "experts" to guide and "educate" everyone.
The trouble, of course, starts when the experts inevitably put their own interests first.
Democratic learning counters that assumption. The most ordinary people, when given the freedom, will make better choices than experts.

Global Service Jam 1-3 March 2013

There's an event called Global Service Jam happening in several cities across the world and in India on March 1 2003.

The tagline: You have 48 hours to change the world.

My friend Rohny attended it in Mumbai last year and had amazing reviews of it.

Here's a description:
On 1 March 2013, people who are interested in service and using a design-based approach to problem solving and creativity will meet all over the globe. In a spirit of experimentation, co-operation and friendly competition, teams will have 48 hours to develop brand new services inspired by a shared theme. On Sunday at 3pm, they publish them to the world.

So it's cutting across sectors, is open to all including kids, and has lots of on-your-feet thinking and brainstorming together, spread across 3 days. The theme will be given when the event begins.

Check out the website http://www.globalservicejam.org

Imagination over experience

A week back, in a conversation with an amazing person I've recently gotten to know, she remarked about why is she seeing so many dead peoples' quotes in poster-images being shared over facebook - she'd rather know about what the living have to say.

While I myself really enjoy seeing some very wise words being shared, I understood her point : What are we, the currently living generation, saying and believing? Why don't we exchange, as often, our ideas and thoughts? Why do we need great (and dead) people -- the elites, to monopolize wisdom? After all, even their famed wisdom has been inherited from the wisdom of the crowds. Every person is capable of displaying exemplary wisdom, foresight, understanding of any situation.

So I've started off with this:

And it's shared in an album in my facebook profile over here.

Climate reality: Don't mix cause and effect

It's not about debunking conspiracies just for the sake of debunking conspiracies. It's about analysing the chain of facts and events and figuring out what's REALLY going on.

Came across this shared by a Page that I otherwise get quite useful posts from:

"Global Warming: 420,000 years of data proves that contrary to current belief today, the Vostok data shows us that CO2 increases lag behind temperature increases by about 800 years. This means that CO2 is not the cause of the increased temperatures, and global warming is not caused by man."
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/02/08/420000-years-of-data-proves-global-warming-is-not-man-made/

So,...
<Head smack> omg where's your logic gone off to? for 420,000 years CO2 increase happened AFTER temperature rise, and THAT warming of course wasn't caused by humans. Now for the first time in recordable planetary history, CO2 increases are happening BEFORE temperature rise. And then the natural systems will pick up from that and release MORE CO2 from the oceans and permafrost. This is the very core of the runaway global warming explanation.
Oh, and please tell us whether ANY of the CO2 increases of the past 420,000 years have ever reached the heights (390+ ppm latest) or acceleration rate of today's CO2 levels, in the ABSENCE of any major volcanic eruption or similar natural cataclysm?



from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carbon_Dioxide_400kyr.png

You know your soul's been touched when..

Wonderfully put by Bob Marley:

"Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can
completely turn your world around.

You tell them things that you've never shared with another soul and they
absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share
hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were
never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When
something wonderful happens, you can't wait to tell them about it,
knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to
cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool
of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you
are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the
things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful.

Place humanity above any religion

Shared on facebook by a friend:

A user on CNN (US): All religions have had periods in which they were not perfect. I think its fair to say that currently, the way Islam is practiced, women are repressed and mistreated. Yes, yes America over sexualized women and its not good for women, or society. But, this is Islam's time to fix its own injustices. Good Muslims, of which there are many, need to protest Sharia and tribal practices which are barbaric and not even in the scripture. All religions/societies have flaws. this is Islam's time. (Context: Saudi Arab Child murder case)

I wish to go deeper.

Many womens' rights activists I have met in the past months have categorically told me that all issues of womens' rights are at their very root, issues of human rights -- issues of women not being treated as human beings.

How about asking human beings (there we have a common ground) across the world to give basic human rights and liberties their rightful place : a veto over any philosophy or religion or management system whose this or that component may be in conflict with human rights?

From this position, we can actually tackle both the kinds repressions in the western and arab worlds (and of course, my own country has no reprieve) with the same stroke and prevent the core issue from getting side-tracked by cross-accusations.

our planet is a delicate flower

"This planet is not terra firma. It is a delicate flower and it must be cared for. It's lonely. It's small. It's isolated, and there is no resupply. And we are mistreating it. Clearly, the highest loyalty we should have is not to our own country or our own religion or our hometown or even to ourselves. It should be to, number two, the family of man, and number one, the planet at large. This is our home, and this is all we've got."

— Scott Carpenter, Mecury 7 astronaut, speech at Millersville University, Pennslyvania. 15 October 1992.

http://www.spacequotations.com/earth.html

Idealist Champion (ENFP) - Myers Briggs (MBTI) personality type indicators

I tried out a Myers-Briggs (MBTI) personality test at a friend's suggestion sometime last year, and this is what I got of it : ENFP.
Disclaimer: I don't want to make any indication that this is any accurate. Just sharing here, and I felt like I could relate with what I got.

http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/champion.asp

Like the other Idealists, Champions are rather rare, say three or four percent of the population, but even more than the others they consider intense emotional experiences as being vital to a full life. Champions have a wide range and variety of emotions, and a great passion for novelty. They see life as an exciting drama, pregnant with possibilities for both good and evil, and they want to experience all the meaningful events and fascinating people in the world. The most outgoing of the Idealists, Champions often can't wait to tell others of their extraordinary experiences. Champions can be tireless in talking with others, like fountains that bubble and splash, spilling over their own words to get it all out. And usually this is not simple storytelling; Champions often speak (or write) in the hope of revealing some truth about human experience, or of motivating others with their powerful convictions. Their strong drive to speak out on issues and events, along with their boundless enthusiasm and natural talent with language, makes them the most vivacious and inspiring of all the types.

How 2012 was for me

2012 : The year when I did and spoke exactly what I wanted to;

the year when I declared war (or rather, peace) on my fears;

the year when I took a stand and changed some things forever;

the year when I took the plunge down the rabbit hole and turned
everything I knew upside down and inside out;

the year when I saw everything coming together and fit in like an
immense jigsaw puzzle;

the year when I rekindledmy human connections and made more new ones
than I had in all my life earlier;

the year when my life transformed from a frightened race up a ladder to
a wide open field where I can go in any direction and get things going.

As a friend put it yesterday, the world, as I knew it earlier, has ended
and will never be the same again. Onward!
(this I'd posted on facebook and emailed to my close ones on 1st Jan)

Warning about civillization by Thomas Paine, 1795

Agrarian Justice
by Thomas Paine
1795

To preserve the benefits of what is called civilized life, and to
remedy at the same time the evil which it has produced, ought to
considered as one of the first objects of reformed legislation.

Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, called
civilization, has most promoted or most injured the general happiness
of man is a question that may be strongly contested. On one side, the
spectator is dazzled by splendid appearances; on the other, he is
shocked by extremes of wretchedness; both of which it has erected. The
most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found
in the countries that are called civilized.

To understand what the state of society ought to be, it is necessary
to have some idea of the natural and primitive state of man; such as
it is at this day among the Indians of North America. There is not, in
that state, any of those spectacles of human misery which poverty and
want present to our eyes in all the towns and streets in Europe.

Poverty, therefore, is a thing created by that which is called
civilized life. It exists not in the natural state. On the other hand,
the natural state is without those advantages which flow from
agriculture, arts, science and manufactures.

India loves Pakistan

This is an initiative to build a people-to-people bridge of peace and love between traditionally rival nations, through posters with messages of peace. It started between Israel-Iran and has since spread elsewhere. There was an inspiring talk about this posted on TED.com, you can see it here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/israel_and_iran_a_love_story.html

Check out the Israel Loves Iran facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/israellovesiran

I'm attaching the 2 posters I created, so you can get a feel of this.

So, IF you're interested, here's something you can do:
1. Send me a pic of yours, or a group pic (taking permission of everyone who's in it), and I can make a poster of it similar to the ones I've attached and send it back to you.
2. Upload it on facebook
3. Share it with me (https://www.facebook.com/nikjs - add me!) OR post it on https://www.facebook.com/IndiaLovePakistan (But note, I'm not managing that page)
4. If you're feeling nervous about putting your own pic, you could share a non-personal pic (like the handshake one I've put)

Apart from this, you can spread the love by sharing the posters I've posted on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151435096111934.552341.703751933&type=3

The idea is to spread love and peace among the citizens of our countries. The common citizens : the boys, girls, men, women, grandparents... they are not evil; we all want to live a happy life and don't have any desire to kill or hurt anyone. We can skip over all our politicians, extremist elements and love each other, people to people. And if enough of us do that, then maybe one day we can end hostilities and have peace and friendship!

Additional: In case you're still feeling vary about "the evil enemy", see this short and brilliant blog article by a friend of mine who recently visited Pakistan :
http://ruchi2cents.blogspot.in/2013/01/journey-to-pakistan-whats-pakistan-like.html

Additional: Make your own poster! Download the ppts of these at http://www.4shared.com/dir/JolD5QKK/india_loves_pakistan.html and put your photos in, play around!

Eklavya 2.0

After hearing in depth the Eklavya story, nowadays I get pissed off when people bring up the ostensibly honorable Dronacharya-Eklavya teacher-student, guru-shishya relationship. In my view, the story demonstrates the merits of self-designed learning and acts as a stern reminder of the perils of giving too much credence to experts. But whenever it's narrated, I feel like there's this subconscious message being delivered that "caste reigns supreme" or "everyone has their place in society". This story needs a rewriting.

So, ladies and gentlemen, here's

Eklavya 2.0

---- Part 1 : Rejection Nation ----

Eklavya was a bright and talented little boy who was fascinated by archery and really wanted to master it. He found out that there's an ace archery teacher located quite nearby, went by the name of Dronacharya, was famous for mentoring the Pandavas.

enviro-education PJ

Completely irrelevant and illogical and phaltu joke (PJ) which connects the global education swindle with the ultimate macro-consequences of putting products of said education system in positions of influence and authority:

With so many people blindly chasing after degrees,
It's no wonder we're having global warming!

What are we, originally?

Please read some or all of the pages at http://peacefulsocieties.org/ and then come back here...

Over the last few months, I've been meeting people from different corners of the world who are narrating the same insights from their visits to indigenous lands. The same characteristics are cropping up from every continent, from tribes who have absolutely no connections to each other.

No competitiveness right from childhood,
sharing of resources,
community ownership,
absence of hierarchy,
frank and honest communication,
importance on happiness,
nonviolent behavior,
absence of greed,
and more.

In science, when we see the same characteristic showing up from multiple independent samples of a specimen, our diagnosis usually is that we've found an inherent characteristic of the specimen : something that arises out of its basic nature, not externally gained. So go figure :

What are the inherent characteristics of human beings in the natural state?

What are we, originally?

Opinion-o-phobia

You have to have the guts to form an opinion, to express it, to hold it, and to change it whenever you deem necessary.

The problem with conventional structures is that you fear you will be looked down upon if you change your opinions.

Because of the fear of being looked down upon, we find people taking the safer option of not really holding any opinion on issues that may involve a bit of uncertainty. This attitude then gets labeled as more "objective" or "professional" or "unbiased". We conveniently forget that we have to actually take decisions one way or the other and that the decision can only be made if any opinion is formed at all.

Let's raise our kids the way these peaceful societies do it

We have much to learn from the way these cultures raise their children, which ultimately leads to a society free from violence and abuse. One major factor I'm noticing: The absence of any sort of competitive behavior or competitive games.

http://peacefulsocieties.org/Society/Jadar.html

Think twice before blaming freedom of speech

When I shared my last article on the factors that lead to acceptance of eve teasing, I got a comment: "freedom of speech! the two-edged sword"

So I want to tackle this thought. Here's my reply:

wrong. satellite TV has been purposefully pushed because it is the best way for the state to homogenize the country. wired cable networks, given time, would have evolved to make their own local channels and have regional oriented content and discussions delivered - people to people. They couldn't be monitored by the govt. That's the real reason why they were closed. Now any content to be aired has to go thru the govt-industrial complex that controls the satellite broadcasts. They cut off voices from the communities which would have tackled these issues at a local level.

cross-posting: letter to Mukesh Ambani

Cross-posting from https://www.facebook.com/FinalWarAgainstCorruption/posts/110631422450611
because I liked the directness of it, and this stuff needs to get out there. It doesn't matter who wrote this, because much of what's in it resonates inside me as well. Motives etc all come later.. the stuff, the mudda needs to get out.

Public's tolerance of eve teasing leads to rapes. But what leads to eve teasing?

The Justice J S Verma committee, which was formed to suggest ways to make rape laws stronger in India, submitted its report. A key suggestion in the report was to begin treating eve-teasing/stalking as serious non-tolerable sexual offences.

How would you react if you see a woman being 'eve-teased'?

My comment on that:
there was a time when child marriage was treated as natural. It took great efforts to drive in that it's not supposed to be tolerated; and now in many places if not all, it's not tolerated. Same thing needs to happen with eveteasing also : even if it seems "natural" to many, we will have to collectively educate ourselves and the next generation that it's NOT natural and it's not supposed to be tolerated. This is good: It shifts the focus from the victims to the aggressors. We have to target a whole generation of men and make it clear that "ab yeh nahin chelga"

See the conversation on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151457730694257&set=a.412535254256.195409.389272039256&type=1

poster:pale blue dot

a poor-man's attempt to make a poster. Used open office's presentation (powerpoint). This one, to use as cover photo on facebook.

Inspiration: http://zenpencils.com/comic/100-carl-sagan-pale-blue-dot/

Book: Deschooling Society

A seminal work by Ivan Illich, "Deschooling Society" that laid the foundation for several alternative education and unschooling movements. The way he has differentiated institutions from networks is amazing. And for a chap in 1970 to foretell a universal education network that's taking shape right now, that's something. You can read the full book on http://ournature.org/~novembre/illich/1970_deschooling.html

Game Theory

Would Prince of Persia 3/4/whatever, or any adventure / role playing
game be as much fun if from the start everything was fine and there were
no problems, no issues that threatened to wipe out everyone and
everything we've known and cared for?

No. It would be totally boring. You'd probably deliberately fail
missions or kill your own people just for the sake of doing something
out of the ordinary. Let's face it : we need something big at stake to
really get ourselves to push forward and DO stuff... and to have fun
doing it.

Make a fair comparison

A conversation with a friend in Swaraj University. She has taken the
huge step of not continuing after 12th to any degree course, and instead
joined Swaraj Uni. There are genuine worries about the future and
whether she will be able to be on par with formal qualification holders
in the fields she aspires to work in.

So I have this to say: If you want to compare yourself with someone
who's done engineering or arts or commerce, then fine. But then please
take into account these factors:
First, in your comparison, do not take yourself as you are right now.
Rather, consider what your skill levels will be 3 or 4 years down the
line. Look at how much you've grown as an individual in these few months
just since your 12th exams ended, and now extrapolate it. Because you
should compare yourself with your ex-classmates who will graduate 3/4
years from now, not with people who have already graduated.

Next, estimate the total financial expenditure that your average
college-going comparison subject is going to do till the time she/he
graduates, which you will not be doing.

need to blog

I haven't blogged in a long time. And that's because there's sooo much
stuff happening!

But life is precious and unpredictable. I do want my experiences,
thoughts, ideas etc to get out there. So I better get over this
bloggers' block, drop some high standards and get back to simply
expressing myself. Images and proper formatting be damned!

Analogy : education and love

Advice to educators: The assumption that fancy methods, classroom management techniques, more worksheets, high technology, scientific tracking, attention-grabbing stories, rhymes, charts and toys will help you to teach an objective better to a class..

is as flawed and as short-sighted...

as the thinking that using expensive gifts, pick-up lines, mind games, flamboyance, false promises and pretences can get a person to fall in love with you.

In both cases they will respond only if they themselves inherently wanted to, regardless of the efforts you put in. At best you'll only get a partner pretending love for the sake of the money, or a class pretending to learn for the sake of the marks. At worst you'll only end up giving false hopes of a great future and set them up for a big disappointment.

 

 -----

A friend asked me to elaborate upon this. I shared my recent video. Then he asked to elaborate upon it more. So I wrote him this:

Well, it's as I shared in the post. Children are human beings first. The International convention on human rights is supposed to be applied to all human beings. The magic number of 18 (and the assumption that below that, these rights don't apply) is a lie. We are not supposed to hold any human being against their will, no matter how convinced we are that it's for their own good. If any compromise on this stand is to be made for practical reasons, then only parents/family reserve this right. Outsourcing it leads to human rights violations aka the present state of pedagogy.

The 9-year-olds in my class, every last one of them, was capable of learning everything we wanted of them at their own pace. They were all capable of learning non-linearly (like mastering years worth of learning in a few weeks when they really want to - everything on this planet except the education system is non-linear!), there was no need of worrying if one of them can't master adding double-digit numbers right now.  But I held them against their will and tried forcing things on them, in whichever way. That had a net negative effect on them. I witnessed the spark of genius being extinguished in front of my eyes. It harms the natural tendency of the child to like something, pursue it and master it themselves. The outcome of this forced schooling is everything that we find wrong in the people around us today. Most of what we pass off as normal just because everyone else is doing it, is actually abnormal and unnatural, and everyone is suffering.
Adding a moral science subject or one on democracy is bullshit if we're violating their rights and practising dictatorship on them at the same time.

Video: My Experiences with Education and TFI

My Experiences with Education and TFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2fy7pY3iqc

Dedicated to all the beautiful, amazing, wonderful kids who, at their personal expense, defied all attempts at psychological conditioning and showed me and so many others the ugly truth of what we were doing to them in their names.

Check out the documentary movie "The Forbidden Education" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByO41gE3dPQ , it sums up most of the elements of the education conundrum that I've mentioned here with clarity and connection. I'll recommend it as a must-watch for all parents as well as teachers.
To download the movie and to read more about their research, go here: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.educacionprohibida.com%2Finvestigacion%2Fpedagogias-y-metodos%2F

No offence meant here, but since it's about systemic issues, it's bound to be difficult for many who are comfortably settled deep inside the system, and whose jobs and way of life depends on it. Well, there will always be a child who stands out and says "Look! The Emperor has no clothes!"
To dear TFI Fellows : you're amazing people, you're my mates, I love you. We've wondered so many times about why it's so darn difficult -- here's why. Question everything, go back to the drawing board.

If you can't watch the movie linked above here are pointers to the literature:

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Modern Schooling by John Taylor Gatto - http://books.google.co.in/books?id=BNg8tdL2IdQC&printsec=frontcover

http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/resources_gatto.html

Lots of amazing essays on schooling at : http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/resources_factory_schooling.html

Where you can get books in this sector : http://banyantreebookstore.weebly.com/
---------------------
To see what schools can actually be if we just let go of the urge to control child development, to get a glimpse of the unlimited potential in store for our children, check out:

The Sudbury Valley school, http://issuu.com/nikhilsheth/docs/the_sudbury_valley_school

Why does a Sudbury Valley School work? http://www.sudval.com/essays/122008.shtml

Why force Reading? http://mountainlaurelsudbury.org/reading.asp

And Rithmetic http://www.scribd.com/doc/14389275/And-Rithmetic-by-Daniel-Greenberg

Persistence http://mountainlaurelsudbury.org/persistence.asp

---------------
Great thanks to http://www.tiddlywiki.com for the technological breakthrough that enabled emailing massive amounts of documentation in a single private attachment in a way that anyone could read through it easily. The management never saw it coming ;)

Trickle down corruption

Where corruption begins :: the trickle down effect

A common statement I see nowadays in the news media: "we all knew corruption was rife at the lower levels, but how could we have ever imagined that the rot extended all the way to the top!!"

I started thinking about this recently while pondering about the origins of corruption and dishonest behaviour. Rather than saying babus do this, do that, I asked some simple questions by first putting myself in the shoes of a babu/public servant (crap, they imply totally opposite meanings yet stand for the same thing!).

So, let me suppose I'm a babu at the frontlines - I deal directly with people in some or the other govt department. Not a clerk; just some falaana (meaning this or that) officer at a falaana desk in a falaana department. Above me there's a whole hierarchy and below me there's a few people, mostly clerks. My job is.. well, something relating to forms and files. People of all sorts keep coming in all day clutching their lives in their hands for getting something that's actually supposed to be theirs without asking, and I have to inspect, approve, send, transfer, whatever. If I'm trying to do something sneaky and make a quick buck on the side that would contribute to my child's college education savings or that would pay towards the down-payment on that new flat so my family is guaranteed a roof over their heads, I'll probably watch out, scared that I might get caught. Now, who would I be most afraid of?

(side note : Education of children? Home and security for the family? Our babu doesn't sound so evil now, does he? NOW do you get my problem with the whole anti-corruption movement? We're all human beings, dude. Anything that dehumanizes anyone, even a bribe-taker, is simply not addressing the roots of the problem.)

Would I be afraid of anyone working below my level in the office hierarchy? Nah, if any of them dares to say anything against me, I'll teach them a lesson by getting them fired or inconveniently transferred or whatever. My equals? Well, the hierarchy is such that there's typically one or just a few persons at a level. And those guys are my colleagues. We share our lunch everyday, our families and kids know each other. They would understand. They certainly wouldn't get me screwed without talking it over with me first.

That leaves just one category : my superiors. My immediate boss, as well as his equals in other departments. Now, they call the shots. One thing out of line they find and it's GAME OVER!

I'd be really scared of a superior at work finding out about me taking a bribe. REALLY scared. If there's even the slightest chance that I might get caught, I won't do it; I won't take the bribe. So if I assume all the public servants in the nation are in a similar position as me, wouldn't this fear of the superior automatically keep corruption levels down?

After all, that's what the purpose of hierarchical organisation is, right? One guys keeps his subordinates in check, they keep theirs in check, and so on up and down the whole chain, from the lowest clerk to the highest position in the state. The entire point of having a top-down heirarchial power structure is to keep things clean and efficient. This should be the last place for corruption to happen. So why is corruption rampant?

Coming back to the babu's shoes... So I'm afraid of my superior. However, what if I know that my superior is also indulging in bribe-taking? After all, he plans to send his son for MS in US by next year.. even for taking a student loan, one needs to show a good enough account balance! And what's my small bunch in front of his big pile? Right, so since the boss is doing it, so can I! And heck, if someone tries to get me screwed for it, he'll cover my ass. Coz if he doesn't and I get the shaft, then Oh Boy, I ain't going down alone!!

Try to observe the immense psychological difference made by the knowledge that even the boss is cheating.
Bribery went from "watch out! be careful!" to "who gives a shit!"

So, Theory: Corruption at lower level becomes rampant when the higher levels are in on it too.
Corollary 1: If you see corruption being rampant at the lower levels, it signifies a high probability that the higher levels are corrupt as well.
Corollary 2: The direction of adoption of corrupt practices travels downward. aka, Trickle-down effect. Superiors practice corruption and then their juniors follow suit.

Extend this to all levels, all departments of government. What this would indicate is that if you find corruption being rampant at the lowest levels of a sector, it means that there's rampant corruption happening at the TOP. And the one at the top, preceded and CAUSED the one at the bottom; not the other way around.

On the other hand, this theory severely reduces the probability that if the junior level officers are messing around, then the boss is blissfully unaware of it. Duh, they're not that stupid.
And this totally screws the long-held advice that if you find an officer doing something corrupt then you should report it to his superior. Because you'll only be reporting to someone who's even more corrupt, and that'll only land you in trouble! SHIT!

So, I'd like to blow the whistle on the long-held assumptions about the top-down hierarchical power structure: This a system designed for the Gods, not for human beings. It doesn't make society clean and efficient as it claims. Rather, this pyramidal structure makes an environment conducive to corruption, red tape, misdirection, vested interests, ego, slowness, disrespect, exploitation... everything that it claimed it would keep out. Any normal person put into this system, has a much greater probability of doing the wrong things because that's what this system is DESIGNED to produce. The benefits it provides at the expense of morality then attracts only those people best suited to it.

So, when a news reporter talking on some newly dug-up scam exclaims "we all knew corruption was rife at the lower levels, but how could we have ever imagined that the rot extended all the way to the top!!"
--> Bazinga! It started FROM the top and THEN came down to where you could see it.

Taking this theory to its logical conclusion, here goes...
If you're finding corruption rampant at the bottom levels of government everywhere in your country,
then use the trickle-down theory and trace it up, up, up...
And FIRE ALL YOUR HIGHEST LEADERS. They started it.

This leads to some unsolicited advice for anti-corruption movements everywhere: If you really want to do anything about corruption in the long run, keep in mind that even if you manage to wipe out every corrupt official, your most sincere efforts are useless as long as you don't destroy this top-down hierarchical structure which will quickly repopulate itself after the purge and bring forth corruption once again. It is this misguided philosophy of managing things, and not the people doing it, that is the real enemy. And if you're too scared to consider an alternative; if you prefer the security and comfort of control through power structures and fear the imagined chaos that you've been trained to think will come in the absence of these structures, if you have no faith in the power of people to truly govern themselves and sort their own problems without need of authority, then learn to live with corruption and all the evils it brings.

How To watch subtitles on VLC better

If you're watching movies with subtitle files on VLC player, chances are you'll find it a bit difficult to read.
So here's a quick way to change the subtitle display to make it better. I'll explain through screenshots:





You'll have to stop playing the movie (not pause; stop) so the changes can take effect.
Then sit back and enjoy the show. Here's what it'll look like:



And in case you're curious, the video is a paradigm-shifting documentary on education from: http://www.educacionprohibida.com
It's in Spanish, but google-translate does a good job : http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.educacionprohibida.com

"Any Other Girl"

Found this shared on facebook:

The sad love story.
Heart breaking Love Story"
Two Lovers Decided to Broke up..
After Few Years When the Boy got Married with Any Other Girl..
His X-Gf Approached him & said..
"How dare you to select my favourite colour as your wedding theme?"
"How dare you to...
use my favourite flowers as your decoration?"
"How dare you to Fix the date on Which I proposed of your marriage ceremony?"
"How dare you to use our song in ur wedding?"
Boy cried and replied..
"This is the only way I can pretend to my heart that I am marrying you"

My reply:
Apparently he's perfectly fine with making a guinea pig out of the wife and she has no right to live a full-fledged life of her own. So what if he's heart-broken, he still needs to make someone else's life useless in order to complete some societal formalities. Hats off to this caring person. Let's print a photo of his ex so he can stick it on the wife's face at night. After all, he does need to placate his poor innocent little broken heart AND meet his bodily needs at the same time.

This story symbolises a lot of what is wrong with the present and past male population (and many of their mothers) : Their utter inability to treat ALL women as full-fledged human beings. Sorry heartborken guys and sorry to their parents, but there is no such thing as "Any Other Girl" that you can marry. You're much better off doing things that lead to a better world where heartbreaks like yours will not happen again.