I am defeated by my 7 year old son

My 7 year old son, Meesam defeated me last week on a video game. Virtua Cop 2. I've never been able to cross all three levels at one go to face the final boss. I first played VC2 in 1999. I've put a few times more hours in this game than he did.  It took Meesam just a month to learn the game and cross all the levels.

Meesam and his sister playing with my Macbook

Is it a sign that he is smarter than I am? Or, am I too dumb not to reach at the end of the game? Or, am I too old (that shouldn't be -- I learned the game while I was 25, now I am 36). Or,  is it that children are just like that?

Should I be proud of Meesam? Or, be ashamed of myself? Or, stay indifferent? Any expert opinion?

I keep telling myself: "Welcome, this is only the beginning :)".

Finland Ranked First and Bangladesh 88th by Newsweek

In the research done by Newsweek on the criteria of health, education, politics and economy – Bangladesh ranked 88th while Finland 1st and USA 11th. Many of us are elated seeing Bangladesh first time ranked in double digit – in whatsoever category, by whatsoever authority. But I am intrigued by some of the comments from the champions. Here is one from some Kalevi supposedly from Finland

One in four people in Finland has to take psychiatric medication just to get through the day. Mood disorders have more than tripled in some population groups during the last decade (this trend is especially noticeable among young adults who have just entered the job market). Finland is also the top fifth most suicidal nation in Europe. But hey, if you want to measure well-being according to such indices as how many cell phones or Internet connections there are per capita, or how many people can read a newspaper or do basic math, then sure, we Finns are the champions of the world. It's just that these supposed indices of well-being do not seem to correlate with happiness in the real world of human beings. In fact, there would rather seem to be a correlation between them and unhappiness.

To really understand the high score of Finland in this and some other studies, you need to know that this is a country that strives to become the perfect living-machine, a society as a machine for efficient living. The general goal is to rationalize every aspect of life, much the same way as labor is rationalized in a McDonald's restaurant, until nothing escapes the standardization and control of the welfare machine. As a result of this pervasive institutionalization (or, indeed, McDonaldization) of Finnish society, life in this country has become increasingly alienating socially. People are generally estranged from their immediate communities, their neighbours and even their own families, and rely on the authorities (experts, professionals) in the most mundane problems of life.

Finnish sociologists conducted a study on people's reactions to school shootings in the U.S. and in Finland, where these “extended suicides” have become increasingly common in recent years. They found to their surprise that while Americans often sought emotional support from their immediate community, their neighbours, colleagues and families, Finns almost never did. What Finns did instead is typical of people living in an advanced welfare society: they sought the advice of the professionals, the doctors, psychiatrists and crisis therapists. When the study was publicized in Finland, many people reacted to it with a kind of scornful superiority. Some said that the results only show what a backward country the United States really is, and how advanced the Finnish welfare society. It did not occur to them that the results indicate something disturbing about their own society.

Finland is, indeed, such an efficient society that we have even eliminated the need for community and normal human relations. We are the perfect living-machine, a society as a machine for efficient living. I seem to be among an increasingly small number of people living in this country who still dare to ask, “What is the real human cost of this coldly rational way of life?”

Finland: the healthiest, most educated, rich and politically sound nation. Photo: Newsweek

Another one from Kraig Watson and liked by Kalevi –

What about enjoyment of life? i live in oslo and would have more fun in a microwave with a metal suit on.

And one more Jacob Matthan –

Is Finland the best country in the world to live in?

That is what a recent Newsweek report said.

It is obvious that none of the Newsweek Team have never lived in Finland!

Finns are the “Masters of Spin”. The country is controlled by an oligarchy of about 50 powerful families (It used to be 5 but the base has widened slightly during the three decades.)

The Oligarchy control the Media. That is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal.

The judiciary, police, bureaucracy, lawyers, and politicians are primarily corrupt. The laws of the country are written to run such a system, so the word corruption does not exist in their little world.

How else can the proportional system of Government exist. In one election it may be a coalition of right and centre, while in the next it may be left and centre, while in the next it could be right and left! the promises made in any election campaign are just words for the masses to consume. the real wheeler dealing occurs in the chambers of power after the election where the poor are sacrificed at the expense of the rich!

The politicians do what the Oligarchy tells them. In the process they throw a few crumbs to the Finnish Public!

The schooling system is a joke in that the students are not permitted to question their teachers. This takes the student to adolescence where the Finnish male is forced into compulsory military service which makes them into zombies. (Exceptions do occur, but they are exceptions!)

To not take part in the army service was considered traitorous till one son of a Finnish sitting President decided he world not join the army. A dilemma but it gave relief to some who were not the zombies of Finland.

The country has been run by a cartel system. There is no maximum retail price law. The Finns are fleeced. The Oligarchy convinced the Finnish Public that just because they paid highest prices, they had the “Highest Standard of Living”. Whereas the Finns just had the “Highest Cost of Living”.

As a result Finns have been the top “Economic Migrants” to every corner of the globe, starting with their neighbour Sweden.

On the other hand Finns do not tolerate migration into Finland, except when it serves their purpose as allowing prostitutes from third world countries to enter freely!

Even the word for migrant - immigrant or emigrant was demonized in Finland!

Every country has its good and bad points and so to Finland. Finland is a good country to live in, but certainly not the BEST! The grass always appears greener on the other side of the fence. The Newsweek team should live in finland for a short while and then they will realise the error of their conclusions.

 So, where on earth people are happy, then?

Bangladesh: Children on Boat.   Photo: Wikimedia

Freakonomics - Review of the Book

I made a quick review of the book Freakonomics by Steven D. Lavitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Well it did not yield me a mundane return, but I think there would be people who might like it anyway.

Freakonomics: Review of the Book

View more presentations from Shaer Hassan.

By the way, do you know who Ted Kaczynski is? He is mentioned at the end of the presentation. You know what? He got a post in his own name in Wikipedia! Must be a very famous guy? Click the link here: Ted Kaczynski.

Color Picker for Mac

I have been using Mac for a couple of years, and am never through with its enigma. Mac has so many gems under its hood!

If you were wondering like me how to get a color picker for Mac, here is the solution.

If you are using Mac OS X, just type DigitalColor Meter on the spotlight. Run the application. Point to any position of the desktop. Press command+shift+h to select the color.

To know the hexadecimal color code, choose 'RGB as Hex value, 8-bit' from the drop down of the application. Whereever you need to put the color code just type the value against R, G and B serially without space (666699 for the blue in above image). Voila!

There are other solutions to this color picker problem. But this is the quick and easiest. Enjoy!

Slow Movement

I found a video promoting slow movement a couple of months back:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/carl_honore_praises_slowness.html

Quite interesting, if you have moderate internet speed to watch this :).

My take? Europeans can afford the slow thing. We can't. While we, Bangladeshis are inherently slow, we top in corruption, poverty, bureaucracy, procrastination -- last thing we need is to be preached about slowness.

Yes, I know the Europeans... I've seen our CXOs and consultants in GP leave office during the daylight, while we are staying till 10 pm for next day event. For outsourced job, we stay up here at any odd time of the day and night, while they pick the time of their choice for product meeting. They remain unreachable for about a month during Christmas. Some of them are unreachable for almost a couple of months during summer, Easter, or god knows what.

Can we afford that?

If we are unreachable for a fraction of a day, we are labeled as 'unprofessional' . The next day the work and fund move to Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Argentina or any of the myriad options they have.  

Slowness thing has some merit. But let's not slow down while we live in this dirty, problem ridden, unorganized jungle of homo sapiens. We need to be fast and real fast to make this country a better place.

Now is not the time to slow down. We are at a war -- an economic war, a war to make our country a decent living space. The people who are preaching about slowness, eradication of child labor etc. were really fast when they were at war. And they defeated the slower part of the world time and again. Now that they have a good system, they can afford to be slow. There is this stupid third world who works fast, cheap and stays up to take care of the price of their slowness. 

We, on the other hand, don't even have a system. We shall have to try many things, learn form mistakes with a hope that down the line we will have one. Riding on that we will be able to be slow some day; give time to family, friends -- play golf, switch off cell phone in weekends etc.

I think it's a crime for us if we be slow right now. We are supposed to be the leaders of the nation. We are the creme de la creme of the country. (The point that you are being able to read this post proves that you belong to the super privileged part of the population.) The nation does not need another "slow leader" now.

Japanese are workaholic. They work 16 hours in a day. They are super productive, innovative, fast and professional. Americans work hard, fast and long hours, too (we get quick feedback from them :-)).

So, let's not confuse by choosing the wrong idol. We don't have luxury to be slow, my friends. I mean... look around you!

Who are the heroes of our time?

Entrepreneurs are heroes. They are the value creator. They see opportunities while others see emptiness. They are the engines of today's economy. They are risk takers, the dreamers and the doers.

You agree with it or not, no matter what your mother said about the business people, no matter how high your father talked about the government  service, or however glorified your friend’s job in MNC seems, or how your brother bragged about his life in a developed country, how every children grown in this country with a dream to be a doctor or an engineer; entrepreneurs are the super heroes of a modern country.

They are the seeds, the organizers, the believers, and the challengers.

Good for Bangladesh that it has just started to know that. If it wants to prosper further, it must recognize the heroes and start honoring them every way it can. Citizens should better cherish to be one of them.

Not every person can be or will be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are the smartest, the wisest, the different and the rare breed of a society. You may not end up being one of them, but if you can, rush to be one.

What is there of more fun and rewarding in life than to dream of something, involve a team in your dream, work to materialize that, live to see your dream come true, live to see how life of many transformed positively  because of you, live to see your creation changing the society and transforming the country? And finally when you are not here, your baton is passed, things become larger and greater, and you still are the seed of a great entity. No one can take that away from you.

So, you the mortal and the small one! are you ready to be someone to create immortals — to create entities of limitless size?

If you don’t think you have the guts to be one of them yet; start by honoring them as the super heroes of your time.

This post is dedicated to Syed H. Rayhan, and all the entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs of Bangladesh.

What do you want?

You don't need to prove anything to anyone but to you.

Wanting the right thing is the most difficult part of the life. Achieving is fairly easy.

Most people fail for pursuing the wrong dream.