The Angry Birds Phenomenon

Angry Birds is one of the most popular games in the history of the gaming industry. A lot of folks are addicted to it; in fact, I know a couple of such addicts. Here's an AYTM infographic on the global appeal of Angry Birds.



Infographic by: AYTM Market Research

NASA's Moon GRAIL Mission

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the key space agency of the United States. It has, to its credit, several milestones, including the first-ever human landing on the Moon, Earth's only natural satellite. 

Last month it launched the GRAIL mission to the Moon. Here's a Reuters infographic that captures the important details about this important mission. Somewhere I have a hunch that this will turn up as a GK question in one of the entrance tests, like SNAPTest.

The Explainer: The War on Terror - Part I

In the last two weeks, I have not published The Explainer. Most of my posts in The Explainer Series are full-length and in Q&A style. From today, most of my posts in this series will be short and will come in installments; I have seen it works best when we read important ideas relating to one crucial central idea in one short go and then refresh it with another one a few days later. So here's my first endeavor in this direction: a short Explainer of the U.S.-led War on Terror.

How did the 9/11 attacks unfold?
I think rather than write any description of how the attacks unfolded on that unfortunate day, here's an infographic that's sourced from Reuters. 

Click on the picture for a larger view.



What is the War on Terror?
The September 11 2001 attacks on American soil remain one of the most defining moments of our age. The attacks, in a way, shattered the myth that geographic isolation of the United States, flanked as it is by two massive oceans, would protect it from such large-scale terror attacks.

About four weeks after the devastating terror attacks, the U.S. launched the War on Terror, with a dire warning for friends, foes and fence-sitters: ‘either you are with us or against us.’ It was not a solo effort from the U.S.; it involved several European governments, African nations (like Ethiopia and South Africa) and American allies elsewhere (like Australia and New Zealand).

The term War of Terror was first used by the then U.S. President, George W. Bush; however, you should know that this is not the official term used for the worldwide anti-terror campaign. Rather the current U.S. government uses the staid legal term, Overseas Contingency Operation, to denote the War on Terror.

The War on Terror uses not just military but also ideological, political and legal means to destroy and dismantle terror networks and regimes that lend support to such terrorist organizations. While the War on Terror’s main target was, and continues to be, Al-Qaeda, it has run disruptive operations against other terror networks, like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Where is the War on Terror being fought?
Ten years after it was launched, the War on Terror is being waged across the globe, with Asia as its main theatre. To put in perspective, major anti-terror operations are being carried out in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asian nations (like Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), West Asia, and Africa (Somalia).

However, the border areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan boundary (called the Durand Line) have emerged as the Terrorism Central in the War on Terror.

What is Rendition or Black Site?
When you read stuff on the War on Terror, you may come across esoteric terms, like Rendition and Black Sites. Let me explain these terms in a very brief and simple way:

•  Rendition: This involves capturing terror suspects in different parts of the world and holding them without charge. Such operations are carried out by the U.S. anti-terror squads, belonging to the CIA, in collaboration with the local government in that part of the world.
• Black Sites: These are sites where the terror suspects are imprisoned. In short, these are detention centres (or jails) in pro-U.S. countries like Thailand, Romania, and Poland. However, since neither the U.S. government nor the local government acknowledges the existence of such sites, these are called Black Sites.
• Guantanamo Bay: This is an American naval enclave on the island of Cuba. It houses a massive U.S. naval base, with an infamous prison named Camp Delta. This prison is home to some of the world’s most dangerous terror suspects. 

Name a few major terror attacks after 9/11.
Year - 2002; Place - Bali; Who carried out - Jemmah Islamiya, a local cell of Al-Qaeda; What happened - bombs detonated at two popular nightclubs, frequented by foreign tourists; How many died - 202.

Year - 2003; Place - Baghdad; Who carried out - Al-Qaeda in Iraq; What happened - Truck laden with explosives rammed into UN headquarters; How many died - 19, including the UN Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Year - 2004; Place - Madrid; Who carried out - Not established, but Al-Qaeda suspected; What happened - 10 serial blasts on 4 trains; How many died - 191.

Year - 2005; Place - London; Who carried out - British citizens, with links to Pak-based terror groups though group identity not established; What happened - 4 serial blasts on buses; How many died - 52.

Year - 2007; Place - Algiers; Who carried out - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb; What happened - suicide bombers run into UN building; How many died - 34.

Year - 2008; Place - Mumbai; Who carried out - 10 Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists, with links to Pakistan's ISI; What happened - Multiple attacks on high-value targets, like the Taj Mahal hotel and Trident hotel; How many died - 166. 

Year - 2010; Place - Kampala (Uganda); Who carried out - Al-Shabab, Somalia-based terror group, with links to Al-Qaeda; What happened - 2 blasts at one hotel and a club; How many died - 74. 

Repeated terror attacks have a numbing feeling; unfortunately they numb our mind and hence whenever any terror attack happens, all we do is to 'click our tongue - tch tch' and move on to an entertainment channel on the Idiot Box. 

It's all Maya!

There are few organisations that have been as sensational and havoc-wreaking as WikiLeaks. I strongly believe in freedom of speech and transparency in matters of public policy and governance. However, it is also true that in matters of national security and public order, secrecy and discretion are paramount.

Somewhere these two important cornerstones seem to have become casualty of the WikiLeaks saga. We can look at this entire issue through the idea of the right to access information. But I think there is a more pertinent question that we should raise: at what and whose cost is this information flowing into the public domain?

For example, what about those hundreds of informers (and their families) that supplied crucial information to the international forces in Afghanistan (and elsewhere) whose lives are on the block now, after the Wikileaks revelations of their names?

On the other side, without WikiLeaks and other whistleblower organisations, we would never have come to know the shenanigans of some of our leaders. The latest disclosures about Mayawati, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, should come as an eye-opener. It is an open secret that she is corrupt; however, what is disconcerting is the sheer scale of the abuse of official machinery for personal gain.

I waded through the U.S. Embassy cables on Mayawati and for your information, I am reproducing one particular cable in full, while the rest are excerpts from other cables. I have also added the links to each cable.

One particular cable that created massive media sensation is titled Mayawati: Portrait of a Lady (for link to this cable click here.) I have reproduced the entire cable, because various media outlets have carried only excerpts and you would know the reasons for this when you read the media-business-politicians nexus in this cable. Please that the emphasis in bold is mine.

A wide range of business, political, academic and media contacts generally agreed that Chief Minister Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have done little to promote development since her May 2007 election.  According to several journalists, the law and order situation in UP has improved only in that Mayawati has centralized corruption in her own hands.  She has become a virtual paranoid dictator replete with food tasters and a security entourage to rival a head of state.  Civil servants will not speak to the press for fear of losing their positions.  Journalists admitted they feared retribution should they print anything negative about Mayawati.  One journalist claimed that all civil servants' and most journalists' phones are tapped. 

Politically, contacts noted that while Mayawati's support from Brahmins and Muslims may be waning, she remains extremely popular with her Dalit vote base.  Mayawati is obsessed with becoming Prime Minister and the BSP will spend huge sums in next year's national polls.
With all signs pointing to another coalition government in Delhi, Mayawati could be a powerbroker and perhaps even a king (or queen) maker.

All decisions must run through Mayawati or her very small coterie of advisors.  One Lucknow journalist related a story in which a State Minister was forced to do sit-ups in front of her as penance for not first asking permission to call on UP's governor.

Mayawati has institutionalized corruption with competitive fealty payments to her replacing shootouts.  Just to run as a BSP parliamentary candidate costs roughly 250,000 dollars.  This does not ensure victory of course, but with the BSP likely to field candidates in over 300 constituencies nationally, it does ensure Mayawati's campaign coffers will be full, in addition to all her other revenue sources including payoffs and kickbacks from almost every interaction that large businesses have with the state government, standard practices in UP.  In comparison, several commercial contacts in Lucknow and Kanpur spoke glowingly of the business climate in Gujarat and its Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.

Mayawati's full majority victory in May 2007 UP State Assembly elections left her beholden to no one and has allowed her to act on her eccentricities, whims and insecurities.  When she needed new sandals, her private jet flew empty to Mumbai to retrieve her preferred brand. According to Lucknow journalists, she employs nine cooks (two to cook, the others to watch over them) and two food tasters.  She fears assassination and demanded from the central government the highest level of protection available.  In addition to this outsized security apparatus, she constructed a private road from her residence to her office, which is cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches its destination.  India has seen such political personalities before, and never failed to deal with them eventually at the ballot box.

Mayawati rarely speaks with the media and when she does hold a press conference, questions are not allowed. More worrying, Lucknow journalists claimed the government has tapped their phones as well as those of civil servants.  Most civil servants now refuse to talk to the press.  Reporters fear losing their jobs should they print anything negative about Mayawati.  Caving to political pressure, the Hindustan Times removed its Lucknow correspondent after she published a satirical piece about the Chief Minister. The newspaper's owners also operate sugar mills and chemical factories in UP.

Dalits will remain with Mayawati regardless of poor governance, simply because the fact that one of their own is Chief Minister provides them heretofore unimaginable pride.

As for Mayawati's dream of becoming Prime Minister, the most plausible scenario would entail weak performances nationwide by both the Congress Party and the BJP and a strong showing by Mayawati and other regional parties.  This would allow the BSP to dictate terms of a third front (non-Congress, non-BJP) coalition in Delhi.

While inflation, development and terrorism will be the "issues" in the coming national polls, caste remains the DNA of UP politics, and no one has demonstrated more ability at playing caste politics than Mayawati. 

Terror & Humour

Violence does not lend itself easily to humour; rather it has the opposite effect. However, the two cartoons below relate the morbid subject of terrorism in a humorous way, which I could barely resist sharing with you. I found these two cartoons at the Dry Bones blog. All copyrights belong to the creators. 

My Blogroll - First Installment

The response to BJ's 15-Minute Learning Rule has been phenomenal, something I did not expect. Thank you!

Some readers suggested that I share the names of Web sites / blogs, which I access to learn. If there is something that I like as much as learning, then it is sharing that learning! 

In the first installment of a multi-post series, I bring you five of my favourite Web sites / blogs:

www.vijaygovindarajan.com 

Prof Vijay Govindarajan is a world renowned authority on strategy and innovation. His articles are full of insight and nuggets of uncommon wisdom.

http://chellaney.net/

Brahma Chellaney is a professor at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and author of Water: Asia’s New Battleground. One of India's best defence and military strategy experts, you will particularly like his analyses of Indian strategic and foreign policy issues.

www.freakonomicsblog.com

I have read both the works of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner - the immensely interesting Freakonomics and its poor (at least in IMHO) sequel, Superfreakonomics. Being unconventional in most things I do, I like their unconventional takes on matters conventional.  

www.ritholtz.com/blog

I like economics, particularly global economics. For all matters pertaining to the U.S. economy, there is no portal better than this; trust me, Barry Ritholtz's take on all matters American economy is perspicacious. 

www.bbcnews.com 

Though I do not believe that the BBC is impartial and objective, it still is a very good source on most global current issues, including on technology issues. I suggest that you check out its Special Reports section, which is a treasure trove of backgrounders on crucial global issues.

I hope this first installment helps; there are a large number of sites I follow. But as I said they all will come in an installment series.

BJ's '15-Minute Learning Rule'

In the last few days, I have been asked about my 15-minute learning rule. Before I share this simple but highly effective self-devised learning tool, let me share, with you, my experiences within the classroom and without.

I am a teacher, as most readers of this blog already know. I work for a leading entrance exam training company; I teach for the CAT and other MBA entrance tests. In the past, I have taught for the GRE too. As such, this story will focus on my limited experiences with students, training for these tests. 

In the classroom, I meet a diversity of students: ambitious, eager-to-learn, hardworking-but-lost-because-of-lack-of-direction, and a few who are either arrogant or indifferent or both. 

In over-a-decade long stint, I have, unfortunately, come across more students of one particular type: those who are ambitious but do not want to work hard. It is not that these students lack the capacity to work hard; it is just that they do not want to. 

I have often discussed this issue with some of my brilliant colleagues and have found, to my dismay, that their classroom experiences have not been any different from mine. It is disheartening for a teacher to see a student with latent talent to waste it away. 

Now you may ask me, 'Isn't it the teacher's job to guide a student?'. I can hardly disagree with that. Yes, we try hard: we talk about the benefits of reading (newspapers, magazines), constant practice (problem-solving exercises), mock test-testing (online sectional tests and mock tests), building effective communicative ability (vocabulary, conversational language ability), and above all, learning from failure. 

Now we all know how many students would be willing to do all this and more, is perhaps a moot question. As a teacher I can only show the path; walking the path or not is a consequence of the personal choice made by the student. In other words, you can take a horse to the pond but you can not make it drink.

Or put it in a more cinematic way, there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path, as Morpheus says in The Matrix.

I would like to believe that most students are eager to learn but do not know where to start. For them, I can only say: start anywhere, with anything. Learn about anything. You own / see a world-class brand (like Nike) but do not much know about it? Then spend 15 minutes on learning about it. Here is how you can do it.

The 15-Minute Learning Rule
At the outset, let me tell you that the 15-Minute Learning Tool is a self-devised one. It is a simple yet highly effective way of spending time to learn. I have often shared this with my audiences in classrooms, GDPI workshops, GK and economics seminars, and quizzes across cities. 

Here is the step-by-step approach to the 15-Minute Learning Tool.

(a) Pick an idea: it could be anything - a brand (like adidas), technology (like 3G), country    (like Nigeria), or if you like, a celebrity (like Kate Perry).

(b) If you wish to learn about it on the Internet, then google the word or go to the Web site which you know would provide you with such information.

(c) Once ready with the Web page on 'what-you-want-to-learn-about', tell yourself that you will spend 15 minutes in learning about it.

(d) However, before you start the 15-minute learning stint, also tell yourself that in those 15-minutes two things may happen:

(1) that I may not understand everything that I read, and

(2) that I may not remember everything that I read.

(e) Start the 15-minute learning module!

(f) If you read a sentence you do not understand then move to the next one; if you do not understand the next one too, then go to the third one! Do not be discouraged by what you  do not understand; it is alright not to understand everything you read, after all you are not an expert but just a lay reader trying to get a hang of an idea.

(g) At the end of the 15-minutes, you would know that 

• you might not have understood everything;

• you might not be able to recall everything, but

• you still would have got some basic idea of the issue.

If you do not have access to the Web, you can employ this learning tool with a book - any reference book, like Manorama year book or some kind of encyclopedia or even an academic textbook.

This, friends, is my 15-minute learning tool. I strongly believe in its efficacy; I believe 15 minutes is short enough to help most people retain concentration; yet it can also help you learn in a most basic way.

However, let me warn you that learning is not about passing an exam or getting a job; rather it should be a constant process. I strongly believe that learning is a life skill. This is my fundamental approach to learning and I hope it becomes yours too.