I'm Back
Hi All.
Have not had to to do much reading or blogging due to work, school, and sickness.
If I were timely, I would have answered your comments in the comment section, but since I didn't I'm commenting here where people will see it.
Thanks for all of your concern and encouragement when I fessed up to being a big mess last week. I really appreciate all of your concern...even though I don't actually know most of you, it really helps.
Am no longer in danger of breaking into tears at inappropriate times. Thank GOD!
It has been a long week, but things are getting back to normal now. As mentioned the last time I wrote, I had a paper to write on the economic status and prospects of India. Very interesting, but very time consuming. There's a lot going on in India, dontcha know. Duh.
Note to self, next time pick someplace a little less complex. Reconciling the second fastest growing economy and its onslaught of able workers with the other half of the country's population that is hungry, poor, and illiterate is not exactly easy. Yes, their GDP is growing at 8% a year with all of that outsourcing and consumer spending from the new middle class, but meanwhile 60% of the population lives in villages and support themselves with subsistence farming, 49% can't read (more if you look at only the women,) and 85% don't get proper nutrition. (For those doing the math, that figure must include many of the new middle class since more than 15% of the population is participating in the economy.) Frightening statistics, really, and it's hard to imagine how they'll fix it. Their road and rail network sucks. The population is 1.087 BILLION people and only 2M of them pay taxes. Power outages run rampant. The remnants of the caste system still dictate who gets education and who doesn't. So while they have this crazy unbridled potential they've got a whole mess of ills, and the population keeps growing and those ills are only going to get worse. Sheesh. Did not come up with any earth-shattering ideas for fixing it, but I feel pretty knowledgeable anyway.
I think it's fair to say that I'm creative...imaginative, even. And though I am capable of academic thought and reasoning, I never quite make it without throwing in some total wingnut idea that makes me look a little wacky. This time round there were two. Mind you BOTH are good ideas, but they were just a bit difficult to substantiate without copious research and more than 1500 words. So I got rid of the first one and alluded to the second in a way that was stated softly enough that I didn't end up having to prove it in detail.
1) India is basically a giant pile of coal. And you really can't use coal now, what since global warming is threatening all sorts of apocalyptic consequences. So I'm thinking India should be getting into the middle of a lot of research on clean coal technology. They've got all kinds of brain power, and if they build it the world will come to buy both the technology AND the coal. And they can use it as a fuel source themselves so they don't have to import all that oil.
2) India's spending WAY too much on oil, and they try to curtail inflation (because it would really screw their economy AND their poor people) by subsidising prices internally. To help with this, they've been buying up interests in the Middle East to help with their access, and they are building a pipeline from Iran via Pakistan. Great idea. Except there's the part about how the US is bound to call for sanctions any day now on Iran because of that whole axis of evil thing, and the newfound India/US buddy system turn a bit ugly. And then there's the other part about the whole Mumbai bombings that seem to have been carried out by Pakistan. If I were a Hatfield, I'm just not sure I'd trust my utilities flowing through McCoy land, you know?
Okay, you've basically read my paper now. I wish I had something more interesting to write about, but this is all I've been thinking about lately. I promise I won't burden you with my thoughts on time compression and the supply chain next week, even though that will be the burning question next weekend in 1500 words or less.
Along the way to writing it, I managed to catch some hellacious cold...spent two days in bed unable to swallow or breathe, spent another two at school feeling like I'd been trampled by elephants, and spent most of today resting up for work tomorrow. I have a deadline to complete tonight, but have no hope of doing so and plan to go to bed. It will all be better if I get some sleep and am healthier tomorrow.
I have been tagged individually by Lulu and collectively as an echotopian, and will get around to that soon.
Have not had to to do much reading or blogging due to work, school, and sickness.
If I were timely, I would have answered your comments in the comment section, but since I didn't I'm commenting here where people will see it.
Thanks for all of your concern and encouragement when I fessed up to being a big mess last week. I really appreciate all of your concern...even though I don't actually know most of you, it really helps.
Am no longer in danger of breaking into tears at inappropriate times. Thank GOD!
It has been a long week, but things are getting back to normal now. As mentioned the last time I wrote, I had a paper to write on the economic status and prospects of India. Very interesting, but very time consuming. There's a lot going on in India, dontcha know. Duh.
Note to self, next time pick someplace a little less complex. Reconciling the second fastest growing economy and its onslaught of able workers with the other half of the country's population that is hungry, poor, and illiterate is not exactly easy. Yes, their GDP is growing at 8% a year with all of that outsourcing and consumer spending from the new middle class, but meanwhile 60% of the population lives in villages and support themselves with subsistence farming, 49% can't read (more if you look at only the women,) and 85% don't get proper nutrition. (For those doing the math, that figure must include many of the new middle class since more than 15% of the population is participating in the economy.) Frightening statistics, really, and it's hard to imagine how they'll fix it. Their road and rail network sucks. The population is 1.087 BILLION people and only 2M of them pay taxes. Power outages run rampant. The remnants of the caste system still dictate who gets education and who doesn't. So while they have this crazy unbridled potential they've got a whole mess of ills, and the population keeps growing and those ills are only going to get worse. Sheesh. Did not come up with any earth-shattering ideas for fixing it, but I feel pretty knowledgeable anyway.
I think it's fair to say that I'm creative...imaginative, even. And though I am capable of academic thought and reasoning, I never quite make it without throwing in some total wingnut idea that makes me look a little wacky. This time round there were two. Mind you BOTH are good ideas, but they were just a bit difficult to substantiate without copious research and more than 1500 words. So I got rid of the first one and alluded to the second in a way that was stated softly enough that I didn't end up having to prove it in detail.
1) India is basically a giant pile of coal. And you really can't use coal now, what since global warming is threatening all sorts of apocalyptic consequences. So I'm thinking India should be getting into the middle of a lot of research on clean coal technology. They've got all kinds of brain power, and if they build it the world will come to buy both the technology AND the coal. And they can use it as a fuel source themselves so they don't have to import all that oil.
2) India's spending WAY too much on oil, and they try to curtail inflation (because it would really screw their economy AND their poor people) by subsidising prices internally. To help with this, they've been buying up interests in the Middle East to help with their access, and they are building a pipeline from Iran via Pakistan. Great idea. Except there's the part about how the US is bound to call for sanctions any day now on Iran because of that whole axis of evil thing, and the newfound India/US buddy system turn a bit ugly. And then there's the other part about the whole Mumbai bombings that seem to have been carried out by Pakistan. If I were a Hatfield, I'm just not sure I'd trust my utilities flowing through McCoy land, you know?
Okay, you've basically read my paper now. I wish I had something more interesting to write about, but this is all I've been thinking about lately. I promise I won't burden you with my thoughts on time compression and the supply chain next week, even though that will be the burning question next weekend in 1500 words or less.
Along the way to writing it, I managed to catch some hellacious cold...spent two days in bed unable to swallow or breathe, spent another two at school feeling like I'd been trampled by elephants, and spent most of today resting up for work tomorrow. I have a deadline to complete tonight, but have no hope of doing so and plan to go to bed. It will all be better if I get some sleep and am healthier tomorrow.
I have been tagged individually by Lulu and collectively as an echotopian, and will get around to that soon.
Comments
Time compression-Human time machine
Glad you're feeling better.