Statistical Analysis of Names based on social network data

Wanting to figure out the existence of a distant "being" with a mysterious gene pool connect, I set out to explore linkedin search.

There are 1470+ "Balan"'s in "my" world. And, interestingly, a good number of these are firangs with the maximum non-Indian concentration being Romanians!

Next, I set out to analyse how my first name figures in the scheme of things.

Rajesh - 22,000
Rahul - 19,000
Krishna - 19,000
Ram - 26851
Rakesh - 11000
Tanya - 17995
Venkat - 7000
Vishal - 12000
Sandeep - 18000
Chandra - 12000
Guru - 35000
Prasad - 19000
Mohammed, Khan - 1,00,000
Michael - 7,68,567
Kumar - 1,20,000
David, John - 700000
Sagar - 7000 :D

Ofcourse there are more rare names. But, just look at the vast gap between the Michaels, Davids, Mohammeds,Khans and Krishna!

Hypothesis : Linkedin is a leading indicator of internet penetration.

I hope to be better than TOI in analysis. Simplistic expectations !!

Analysis :
15% of world population is Indian.
80% of India's population is Hindu.
Even under the safe assumption that India is a diverse country with names being very diverse in spelling and sheer number, the above statistic shows a clear skew with the following conclusion:
a. Rate of growth of internet adoption in India might be healthy. But, there's a whole lot of folks out there still waiting.
b. So, whoever wants to bet on an Indian e commerce venture, stay put in it as a portfolio investment. Shift between firms depending on competitive instincts.
c. This also corroborates with the statistics obtained from internetworld.

Hence proved, Linkedin is a leading indicator of Internet penetration.

Extending the above name analysis to Facebook.. found that face book and linkedin have low correlation.

A Logical - Mythological perspective to Animal Freedom

Here's looking at animal freedom from the perspective of philosophy - combining logic & mythology.

Let me begin from the root cause to justify the reason for this topic. In the context of human beings, freedom is often a debatable topic whose thin line is infringed under several pretexts. And one of the fundamental violations of this concept is to infringe upon another entity’s freedom. This could possibly trace to a difference in self interest between the affected parties resulting in subjugation of the oppressed by the powerful, in ways more than one. The Indian independence movement is a relevant case in point.

We must learn to accept the fact that animals are fellow beings in this world, which serve a variety of purposes – work, meat, experimentation, pets etc. Irrespective of their utility, we must be sensitive to the fact that they are an “entity” in this world. And infringing upon their freedom is a violation.

We could also bring in a touch of mythology, to bring in some self-consciousness in the minds of The believers. According to the Hindu mythology, the human body is a fleeting entity. The soul is a permanent one. And, our homo sapient existence is one of the several forms of life undertaken by the soul. The concept of re-birth hypothesizes that the soul would take shape in the form of several other beings such as animals, plants etc and thus continue the cycle of life. There are several principles of life to be followed for moksha to be attained.
Let me now leverage mythology and bring in a touch of reality. Consider these two philosophical maxims –
• Life is a wheel.
• Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Apply this to the statement “Cruelty to animals” and you know where I am trying to lead your conscience. Given the audience here, I suppose that we may not be directly cruel to animals. But, often, we are an accomplice to this crime.
Instead of approaching religion and mythology with the fear of god, it would do a world of good if we consider them as a million years of learning captured by the ancestors. Thus, helping us avoid re-inventing the wheel. However, this is hardly the case in our country, where blind animal worship and sacrifice tend to blossom with equal force. And, the motivation to both these acts is human self interest. Most often, it is not a genuine interest to cater to the animals’ well being.

Here is an app www.wordle.net i ran on my blog. Interesting, capturing the thought process over 2 years.

Adding to the noise

As the periodic bonanza at boosting the economy comes to an end, here's my take on the numbers.
While, the leaders may boast/rue about their respective fate on the grounds of mandate of the nation, progressive policies, communal/secular, some deeper insight into whose winning and who doesnt gives us some idea on how to make the numbers. Some points,.. after which I will state my hypothesis.
a. Bangarappa, a party hopper who generally wins LS elections with much aplomb had to bite the dust against a political novice. Well, yeah, the novice's dad is K'taka's CM. And, his wealth/power is not in question.
b. Mine town Bellary is a ST reserved constituency. Mine owners are ministers in BJP K'taka state govt and are a rich, powerful lobby. A woman candidate fielded by BJP wins.
c. HD Gowda and his son romp home in royal style. Their wealth/power is unquestionnable having been the PM and CM for quite a few years.
d. A good number of urban Indian voters in my friend circle didnt vote because

• They were displaced from their hometown and jaagore didnt work, somehow for them.
• It was a holiday and well, it was time for keeping the spirits high. Nevermind, dry day conditions imposed by the EC.
• It was a holiday, but globalization doesnt help stopping the rest of the world when your town is in election mode. So, gotta work boy.
• It was a holiday, and time to hit the beauty parlour! Gosh, leave alone election.
• Rite, so the voting percentages varied between 40 to 60%.

e. Shankar Singh Vaghela, bete noire of Modi loses; Leg-flick punk wins in Moradabad; Sidhu wins!; Sonia, Rahul, Maneka, Varun win. Priya Dutt wins; Left blips on the radar once in a while.

While there will be exceptions to which the hypothesis doesnt fit in, in 60% of the constituencies, what matters is money and power - and they are used. Well, and the utility is almost business like. Give and take. So, during election times, the wealthy of the town are approached. And, it's common funda that power is one of the fundamental parameters of successful networking. While I might appear to be discounting ideological platforms on which people network, elections are pretty much straight forward business. You help someone who can help you achieve your goals. And, people with power can do that. The goals in most cases are monetary with a thin coat of finely calibrated ideology to get the masses behind you.

So, my hypothesis - power breeds power as long as give and take works. If the folks in power dont help the lobbies, then lobbies switch. Like how it happens in TN - the swings between AIADMK, DMK etc.

And, some conclusions:

1. So, what does this say about the civil servants/bureaucrats : Well, they have to be nimble footed on their loyalties. They need to fill their booty, need the oversight of the rulers. And, the rulers need to help the folks who funded their elections. So, pretty obvious that the civil servants need to be smart in adjusting their alignments. Well, none has the benefit of hindsight. And, hence some alignments are going to be wrong. And, so the jobs of these folks are slightly screwed up. But, I guess in a private concern ( limited companies ) where power rules over process, its the same, isnt it? You align with people who progress in order to get your promotions and visibility.

But, this also explains disasters such as Godhra, a diverted disaster in Mangalore, the anti-Sikh riots. Next time, I will not put up a question on how state actors can sponsor communalism. Well, that's also a reflection of what is happening in Pakistan. If the establishment at the top is turning a blind eye to Taliban, then there's not much the grass root powers will do to change it. Unless, there's a smart chap who can work around the system after accepting it.

2. What about intellectual independents who try to contest elections, inspiring some of the masses about change. Well, we really need to appreciate these folks for standing up. Even if they just contested, its phenomenal leadership. Hats off. But, in an organization where there are a zillion factors at work, can change occur overnight? Change management gurus say no. Change is a difficult and gradual process. And to change a complex democratic system, I think you need to understand the system first. Get a hang of how power and money make it tick there. And, even then, if you want people to support you, you gotta give them back something. So, muddle your hands for a few years before contesting the elections. Show that you can make it work and inspire confidence. Yes, this is not as easy as it sounds. But, its about ROI. Put in the efforts, and you reap the rewards.

Time to print money

As the credit crunch started to creep into the consciousness of mortals, one of the first satirical questions to the financial world was - "Dude, Why cant the bank just print money!".
Till today, I thought this was a silly question which had to be summarily dismissed.
Today, Bank of England has started to do just that. Oh yeah, print notes. Not sure what are the implications of this which has made it a last resort.
http://profit.ndtv.com/2009/03/11194708/Bank-of-England-begins-creatin.html
And, why is Obama struggling with all his bailouts if its as simple as printing more greenbacks:D!
Hmm, with elections round the corner in India, it'll atleast it'll help our ballot chasers (a lot - they're not getting funds anywhere !) if printing gandhibacks is legalized!

Tectonic Shifts

On Feb 15, 1987 , the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan after a decade long complicated war. The Soviet govt. collapsed in Dec 1991. Reasons were overstretched govt, huge defence spending, increasing debt, failure of the welfare state amongst many other geo-political reasons.
Its been close to 6 years since the Afghan war by USA started. And, now, this economic depression. Huge debt levels in the US. US spends almost 6 times on defence as the rest of the top 8 countries put together. And, today, Mr. President announces that it'll take years for revival of the American economy. Though there are several data points which I've knowingly/unknowingly left out of the above reasoning, it's fair comparison. The USA cannot probably collapse as it is a free-market, democracy etc. But, seems like the world order is tilting.

Currently reading the book - Osama.
It says that Jihad was not taken up for almost 7 centuries till it was widely propagandized during the Afghan war. The history of Islam seemingly has so many internal factions and there's constant in-fighting going around on : oil, ideology, power, turf, individual agenda of leaders etc. The author has attempted to cogently put together the myriad twists in the history of this religion. It sure has opened my eyes about Islam. But, some recent vengeful acts of the west have quietened the in-fights while bringing to the fore ( headlines + cover page) a galvanized diffused leadership against the west. (Use of the word leadership is debatable.)
In the end, its personal agenda of various leaders/lobbyists which are causing several under-currents to gain momentum. The terrorists are apparently using a puritanical version of the religion (it says only the first three centuries of Islam are pure), to draw several aimless youth into the global psuedo war. And, the impure distractions of the west world are a cause to motivate the fighters against. Well, its not just ideology which motivates the fighters. Several decades of avaricious manipulation of middle east countries by the west for their oil, is causing resentment. Add to it the Israel-Palestine power balance ( US-Arab-China-Iran etc). Add the recent excesses by the west in Afghanistan, Iraq and the CIA's actions in Syria, Jordan. Revenge begets revenge. Or perhaps, oil begets revenge.
So, in conclusion, its a heady mix of puritanical ideology + oil + revenge which is propelling the terrorist/jihad movement. ( In the light of this analysis, the diplomatic response to the terrorist attack in Mumbai from India needs to be appreciated. Revenge surely aint helping, historically).
So, the aggrandization efforts of the western world of Osama/Al-Qaeda are only helping them out in publicity/ad spends!
This heady cocktail is also an under-current which is surely impacting global lobbying, economy( defence spending).

The above two threads running in parallel [ US Economy + Terrorist Activity ] definitely poses significant unease to the way the world's going to be in the next decade or following it. At this point in time, these are the top two drivers for sure. Which direction, I'm not sure. But, I'm uneasy for sure.
If at all we've to learn from all of this for wats happening around us, the hue & cry of Rama Sene, the Hindu terrorist outfits are to be brushed aside without providing undue publicity and political might. Anyways, that is probably not going to happen. Here is an academic perspective and may be some of you can be on this side of the argument in a class.

Hints for changing the world

Tired of reading multiple articles on recession. So, let me add one more to it. Well, the BFSI recession hit us all in the Oct-Nov-Dec quarter, the manufacturing sector is sitting on piles of inventory and have started to impact the macro-economic numbers. Bad news will maintain momentum till next quarter atleast. Then, bad news will hopefully decelerate when the bail out packages kickin. But somewhere again, they say that it all seems to be a realignment of the burden. Meaning, previously the big banks of Amerika alone were shouldering the debt. Now, a good amount from the other parts of the world have given their monies to mistre obama. While I couldnt really figure how this works, if its true, its nuts.
So, instead of all these bail outs and save the ass stuff, is there a way we can press reset? Destroy the free market economy. Let everything be govt. controlled for a while. Basically, everything is a principle of demand - supply. Socialism aint a bad solution temporarily. I'm no fan of Fidel Kastro but it'll be worthwhile pressing reset. So, let me think a little more.
Surely, the entreprenuers wont be a happy lot in a socialist setup. But, entreprenuers make a good lot of non-entreprenuers rich. And so,we have the shareholders and the management. But, that still is the top of the pyramid.
So, we need entreprenuers. So, we need a free market. No stopping capitalism.
Its the mid & bottom - the working class which is not getting the money and which are probably the first to get hit when a company shuts door. So, instead of preaching socialism/capitalism, the objective of bail outs should be kick in increased consumer spending at the mid & bottom of the pyramid.
But, there's a gap between thought and execution. And I shall only think. And yeah, comfortably from an armchair.