Blaming around the Bush

It is unfair to blame President Bush for the ills of our financial system. He did not invent them and he did not cause them. The root of the problem is "excess."

If you induct super intelligent MIT and Harvard graduates and ask them to fabricate instruments upon instruments of speculation, they will happily do so; and even believe in what they are doing. Eventually the reality catches up with you.

As for tomorrow, sun will still rise, trains will still run, people will still go to work, factories will still produce their goods, and this too shall pass.

But for today, lets commend President Bush and his team for swift action, taken at the right time.

mysql gem on leopard

There are many posts on the subject, but this one works flawlessly:

sudo env ARCHFLAGS="-arch i386" gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config

Here is a link to the post where I got this from.

If you try to use the gem, it might fail (which means you have been trying to install it before you read this post.) No problem, there is a short cut to fix it. Look for the gem files here:

/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.7/lib/mysql.bundle
/Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.7/mysql.bundle

Delete the first bundle. It got copied twice.

Don't ask me why it works but it does.

Inversion training has begun

I am now one week into inversion training. Earlier I had bought an inversion table (Teeter Hangups) from Amazon. Last week Nosheen helped me assemble it and we could finally get on it.

Starting yesterday, I could feel my spine decompressing within 2 minutes of going vertical. This is unbelievable. I am not sure what kind of buildup time I need to be able to invert for up to 30 minutes at a time. That would be "yogi" grade inversion.

Its getting to become a bit addictive. Actually 2 minutes into it, the spine does relax and results in a general sense of well being. As for the proverbial buzz in the head, I do feel pressure build up but the buzz is not there.

I will post more on inversion once I have built up to 10 minutes.

Been counters get it. Rocket scientists don't.

According to BusinessWeek magazine's "The best places to launch a career" this week, Ernst & Young is the number 1 employer with the "Right Stuff." Google is number 7 and Nasa is number 16.

Their ranking is based on three surveys: Employer survery (filled out by employers and lists salaries and benefits) Campus Career services survey, and Student survey. The surveys are weighted in this proportion: Employer survey 50%, Student survey 25%, Career services survey 25%.

I respect BW for their smarts, but I think their weightage is completely off the mark. According to student surveys alone, Google is number 1.