Corruption in India? No!
Slate has an
article today on a study done by a group from the World Bank, U of Chicago, NYU and MIT in which they tested for whether cash incentives given to Indians looking for a driver's license would result in faster licensing. Surprise, surprise, they found that people who were given cash incentives got the licenses faster and had a higher success rate than the group who were given no incentives, and that the same group ended up with people with less knowledge of the rules of the road than the group that took driving lessons. I think any Indian could have told them the results beforehand and saves all those researchers their hard-won grant money. But then, the researchers wouldn't have gotten a free trip to India.
Toronto to host Beatles convention
In honour of the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' last concert here in Toronto, some fans are holding a
convention here in the city on September 16 and 17.
I'm a huge Beatles fan - I think their music even now, 40 years later, is better than most of the stuff you hear on the radio these days. But this convention is just sad, for so many reasons:
1. Despite being in honour of the 40th anniversary of a concert, the convention's not being held on the same day as the concert. What's next? Can we hold Canada Day on August 14th? US Independence Day on March 3rd?
2. The "huge lineup of guests" is headlined by a) a former Beatles drummer who is not Ringo Starr, b) John Lennon's personal assistant (!!!), and c) the Beatles' promotion manager. Where's Paul? Where's Ringo?
3. The performances will be led by a tribute band called the Fab Four (fair enough) and Hal Bruce. Hal Bruce? His only connection to the Beatles is that he likes to sing their songs and was once told to stop doing so by Liverpool police because he didn't have the proper permit.
Come on people. If you're going to set up a convention in honour of the Beatles, show a little more imagination and drive than that.
The Desi Dad Project - Sepia Mutiny
Abhi on
Sepia Mutiny has a great project going, to catalog the wave of desis who immigrated between 65 and 85. He calls it the
The Desi Dad Project and it involves uploading a picture of your father taken between 65 and 85, to
flickr. Not sure what he's eventually going to do with it, but if the pics are good enough, it'll probaby end up in a book some day.
He initially had the project limited to people who immigrated to the US, excluding the many many Indians who moved to Canada. At the risk of being a copy-cat, I think it would be great to start a similar project aimed at Indo-Canadians. If you're interested, drop me a note using the contact link at the left.
Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle