The Law of Unintended Consequences

Okay, so be well-informed that I am not writing any research paper on this particular law mentioned in the subject. This is a well established law of Economics. Well, I just started reading Superfreakonomics: from the authors of Freakonomics. Freakonomics was one of the first book I read besides, fiction and of course my course materials and comics.

Coming back to the topic, I was inspired by the new section on Freakonomics' blog called Applied Freakonomics. Here readers share their personal experiences of how different chapters in the book inspired them. They just started it today, and the first experience is a very good example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. You can read it here.

Also, if you need an another good example of this law, you can very well look at the Wikipedia entry. It exemplifies that World War II was an "Unintended Consequence" of harsh treatment on Germany as per the Treaty of Versailles.

From Superfreakonomics:
"People respond to incentives, although not necessarily in ways that are predictable or manifest. Therefore, the most powerful law in universe is the law of unintended consequences." And this is exactly what I realized after watching this bollywood movie "Dhoondte Reh Jaaogey."

The movie is about, two characters: a battered movie director and a honest ethical chartered accountant. They decide to siphon money from multiple financiers. Then they would create a low-budget super flop movie, and all the financiers will loose the money. But since they created a low-budget flop movie, they would not have to pay-back. Everything goes smoothly, and the movie is full of ingredients for disaster (at box-office). The climax too was decided such that India would loose against Pakistan, which definitely would not (never ever) fare well with the Indian masses.

Now, the law of unintended consequences strikes. The climax is changed, without the knowledge of the two main characters and hence the movie becomes a hit (super hit). Hence they end up paying profits to every financier and end up in jail. Though fictional and may be not exactly relevant to the law, I thought this movie was a good example.

U2- New Year's Day :)

"and so we are told this is the golden age,
and gold is the reason for the war we wage" :)

Ice Skating Indian Ishtyle :)

Imagine doing this in a real saari :) ..or may be this could revolutionize the entire saari-industry :) .....but a good job ...well done :D

Kapil Dev on Sachin

The Greatest......could have been greater

I have no doubts whatsoever about his performances. His record over 20 years is impeccable. I feel that since I know his ability as a cricketer I can say that for all his wonderful talent and his fantastic ability, Sachin Tendulkar is an under-achiever.
When I bowled to him 20 years ago I knew at once here was a cricketer of extraordinary ability, and he was only 16 years old then. In modern day cricket, according to me, no one can be compared to Tendulkar – not Viv Richards, not Ricky Ponting, not Brian Lara. I can only say that, sadly, Sachin has given an opportunity for people to compare others to him.
There has been no greater breaker of records, no bigger ambassador for India and for the game. For over 20 years he has been a champion, He has kept his mouth shut and shown what his bat is capable of. The cherry on the cake is that there have been no controversies surrounding him. His behaviour is impeccable. I know he broke every imaginable record. I am aware people will criticise me for saying this on such a happy occasion. He made records, but he is not a ruthless cricketer. In fact, he started as a destroyer but somewhere along the way he became a record breaker.
To my mind there are only a few ODI innings in which he played to his full potential. I remember a 138 against Sri Lanka (at Colombo, Compaq Cup final, September 2009) and the175 he made in Hyderabad last fortnight. There are a few other innings that come to mind, but I can confidently assert that, for a major part of his career, Tendulkar has played well below his potential.
Sunil Gavaskar had the ability and the patience to work a bowler till he was tired and then kill him. Sachin had the talent to kill a bowler in his first over. To my mind, Sachin played like Gavaskar. Taking in the totality of his cricket, Sachin had greater talent than what he performed.
Records he would have made anyway. His approach has been ideal to the passing of landmarks, to the setting of new peaks. I must confess that I felt bad about his 194 on the day he was left stranded when the captain (Dravid) declared the Indian innings. But I was not sad that he did not make his double hundred. You will know what I mean if you replay the innings on video.
What the cricketer in me says is that I would be happy had he made 500 to 1,000 runs less in his career provided he had been ruthless in his approach. When I say all this I mean it as a compliment to his talent and a criticism of his under achievement. I firmly believe that for a batsman of Sachin's talent, he should have made 10 Test double hundreds, a 300 and at least one 400.
In the same breath, I would say that I would ideally have liked to see him go from 30 to 50 in three overs and to go from 50 to 80 on any pitch, against any bowling in 5 overs. He may use up another 5 overs to get to 95 and then safely get his century. Here is a man who can hit sixes at ease than anyone else in world cricket but after 50, he usually takes 5 overs to get to 55.
I have not seen Don Bradman bat. But I have seen Viv Richards and Sunil Gavaskar. Sachin is more talented than the two of them. He is a batsman capable of batting on 300 after a day's play in a Test. Today's climate and real feel are such you have to score that quickly to make big scores and kill the opposing bowling. I know Sachin could have done it. In my judgment, has had under performed to his ability in the last 12 years.
I know it's easy to say he should win a World Cup for India off his own bat. But this is not in his control, Winning a World Cup is about teamwork. What I want to see from Sachin in the rest of his career is to bat as he did in Hyderabad where he accelerated every time he lost a batting partner. That's his real ability.
I enjoyed it immensely when Sachin said this was the very best innings in his life. This is what he is capable of. The 140-ball hundreds are for Rahul Dravid and the like. I wish that to do justice to his ability he would sit with the likes of Richards, people with a ruthless approach – not with Geoffrey Boycott, who incidentally also broke all kinds of records.
I remember Sharjah (ODIs in 1998), Sydney double hundred (in 2004), Perth hundred (1992). Sorry to say, I cannot say the same of his last 15 international hundreds. I was very hurt when Ponting said recently that Sachin makes runs. I think the Australian captain dismissed him as an accumulator of runs, a maker of records.
The world bowlers are scared of a batsman like Virender Sehwag today. But they should always have been scared of Sachin. I know for a fact that he can hit the very same ball from the very same spot either to the leg side or the off side for four and he can do so either off the front foot or the back foot. Knowing very clearly that he has more ability and talent than anyone else, he should have destroyed bowlers.
Name 10 top international sportsmen who started shining when very young and you will see they would have suffered burnout by the time they were 30 – for example, Boris Becker, Nadia Comaneci. I admire Sachin's discipline and the passion he has for his sport even now at 36. Hats off to him. I know a lot of sportsmen work very hard on their game. Take Dravid as the prime example. But Sachin did not have to work hard. The only other cricketer I could think of with so much talent was L. Sivaramakrishnan. And look how he wasted it. Sachin did not have to work that hard on his game. What I would like to see in the remainder of his career is that he should dominate the bowling and make runs as he did in the Hyderabad ODI. I would like to see him finish his career as a destroyer of bowlers, as a ruthless cricketer who helped his team dominate the sport.

Henry's Hand :D

This is how France qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. poor Ireland !!!




More details here :)

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/post/The-Hand-of-Henry-Handball-sends-France-to-Worl?urn=top,203537

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis

a video explaining Aurora Borealis



and a very good capture of the same phenomenon :) pretty awesome !!! this images were captured from the International Space Station :)




more explanation :)



some more pics with Enya's tracks :) ...its been long since I heard Enya :)

creativity at work - 2

After this:

http://jargoneer.blogspot.com/2009/10/creativity-work-d.html

we decided to get more ambitious and created this :)

sweetest thing :) U2

An amazing video as well :D

Yeh Dooriyan

Tera Honey Laga hoon :P

Rio Grande Berger

lol ..and this is the Berger combo meal that you get at River Beach
Cafe ..located right next to Goose Lake (pics in the previous
post)..the berger is yummy ..but like all good things in the world
that comes with a price ..this one too ..it's super fatty thanks to a
layer of onion rings lol ...there couldn't have been a better way of
making a food so calorific :p ....

Goose Lake

some pics of the Goose Lake around Chillicothe, IL, Rome, IL to be precise. I didn't know this place was so close to work. But better late than never :)

Mona Lisa Painting made from Cups filled with COFFEE

Artist assistants stand next to 3,604 cups of coffee which have been made into a giant Mona Lisa in Sydney , Australia . The 3,604 cups of coffee were each filled with different amounts of milk to create the different shades!!

migratory birds

I dunno what the birds are .. cuz I ain't know ornithologist :p .. but
I wa feeding them and they just came flocking...

Daal Gosht :p

this is daal-gosht(goat meat) bohra style... very simple to cook ..
but takes a lil longer :) .. in the end a very delicious and nutrition-
rich food .. :p

Memorable Quotes from "Brick Lane" by Monica Ali - 2

Amma hugged her fiercely. She took Nazneen's wide face between her two palms and spoke to her:" if God wanted us to ask questions, he would have made us men."

She would never, so she said, wear a sari again. She was tired of taking little bird steps.

She longed to be enriched by this hardship, to cast off her childish baggy pants and long shirt and begin to wear this suffering that was as rich and deeply colored as the saris that enfolded Amma's troubled bones.

I am working for bricks.When I am gone to dust, they will be standing.

University is also close down. All students hold protest. They rallying for right to cheat. In my heart I support. Some who afford pay the professor fr tutoring by exam paper. To be fair all must have mean for equal cheating.

People said he was soft in his head, because he was always reading. Books had cracked him and the more cracked he became the more books he read. That's how he earned his name, Makku Pagla, or Lunatic Makku.

Sent from my iPhone

Memorable Quotes from "Brick Lane" by Monica Ali - 1

Regular prayer, regular housework, regular visits with Razia.She told her mind to be still. she told her heart, Do not beat with fear, do not beat with desire.

All the objects of human reason or inquiry may naturally be divided into two kinds, that is, Relations of Ideas, and Matter of Fact.

In this city, a bit of grass was something to be guarded, fenced about, as if there were a sprinkling of emeralds sown in among the blades.

Nazneen tasted some from a spoon and burned her tongue. But it was her heart that was ablaze, with mutiny.


Sent from my iPhone

Gosht Tarkari

Kadai Chicken :p

cooked in a cooker though lol :p

Memorable Quotes from "Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz

Sucks to be left out of adolescence, sort of like getting locked in
the closet on Venus when the sun appears for the first time in a
hundred years.

These days I write a lot. From can't see in the morning to can't see
at night. Learned that from Oscar.

He wrote: so this is what everybody's always talking about! Diablo! If
only I'd known. The beauty! The beauty!

Lola's hair is long now and never straightened; she's heavier and less
guileless, but she is still the ciguapa of my dreams. Always happy to
see me, no bad feelings, entiendes.

Sent from my iPhone