Jun 24, 2009
Posted by arif in Reviews | 0 comments
I never thought that I would pay for something as frivolous as desktop wallpapers, but when I came across Vladstudio.com, I had a change of heart. Vlad Gerasimov, is the Picasso of the Desktop world. Although $29.99 does sound pricey, but considering that one gets lifetime access that too, to hundreds of great looking wallpapers, I’ve been able to digest the price tag, (specially since I’ve already paid). So now whenever I’m in mood for a change of scenery, using the Vladstudio Companion, I just click a button and I can change my desktop wallpaper from one great work of art to another. Since all of Vlad’s wallpapers are stunning, it’s a treat to wait and see what will grace my desktop next.
The free version is pretty cool too. The only catch there is that Vlad has his signature to his wallpaper and some may be lo-res versions, but if you just use a single monitor setup, that may be all you need. So if you are tired with the default wallpapers that come bundled with your pc or mac (and who isn’t), go round to Vladstudio.com, download & install the VladStudio Companion and then get ready to receive Ooohs and Aaahs from all those who pass by your workstation. If you do go ahead and try out Vladstudio, do drop in a comment on how you’ve found it to be.
Below are screenshots to some of my favourite wallpapers:
Jun 17, 2009
Posted by arif in Reviews | 4 comments
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Now that’s one heck of a fun movie. I don’t know if my tastes have gone awry or the world around me has changed, but there are truly few movies that I find entertaining. Yes, I’m a sucker for fan the fanatasy, sci-fi genre, but HellBoy 2 is different. Although predictable yet it’s got a captivating storyline with intense moments of emotional drama, the characters are deep, it’s got great humor, not loud, slapstic style but you’d be constantly smiling and chuckling to yourself, simply amazing sets & landscapes, the Action, Special Effects, get’s you oohing and ahing till the credits start rolling. Hell, it’s even better than the first part.
No regrets watching it and would definitely recommend it. If you guys have any movie recommendations please do let us know in the comments below. Cheers!
Jun 14, 2009
Posted by arif in Reviews | 0 comments
The Zurich Axioms has an interesting preamble. Switzerland. A country that’s landlocked by mountains. It has no agricultural, mineral or any other natural resource of any kind. Yet is one of the richest countries in the world, with a GDP per capita of $42,783! (India’s is at $2,000). How? A large part of the answer lies in the Investment Banking services that the Swiss have specialised in.
Max Gunther summarises the various risk and investment principles used by his father and generations of bankers to create their millions. A quick recap of the few Axioms that I currently remember in my own words:
- Invest a meaningful portion. Do not diversify your investment
- Don’t wait for the peak of any Market (Stock, Real-Estate, etc.). As long as you are higher than your buy price, sell.
- When the ship is sinking, don’t pray, Jump! When the stock market is falling, don’t pray and hope that it’ll climb up again. Sell and get out. When to sell? When the market price falls to 15% of the highest price you’ve held it at.
- Don’t listen to Economists, Stock Market gurus or any other experts. Economy runs on people emotions. No one can predict that.
- Be wary of what the majority is doing. They are not always right. When the world is buying and they are screaming “gimme”, stand in a corner and reply back, “gladly”.
- Don’t stick to an investment plan and don’t be a long term investor. Be always quick and nimble on your feet. If long-term investing is beneficial go long-term. If long term prospects are looking bad, jump ship.
I’d like to add a cautionary note here that, Many of them axioms go against conventional wisdom (for eg. general investment advise is to diversify your risk, however, the Zurich Axioms state that to get high returns one must concentrate his risk). Nonetheless even though some axioms may sound bold, the risk is neutralised by other axioms that state that one should sell fast and always cut short your losses. No matter what it says, the book should NOT be used a sole guide when it comes to investing. But it’s got some really good principles and when used in conjunction with the advise of stalwarts like those of Warren Buffet, Benjamin Graham and Peter Lynch, (advise such as, when buying a company, buy it as if you would hold it for life), I believe one can come out a safe and prosperous investor in any market.
A mere 130 pages, this book is a helpful read and a guide in times of stress and confusion to anyone who’s into any sort of investment or business.
You can get the book from Amazon here.
My rating: 
Jun 7, 2009
Posted by arif in Reviews | 0 comments
One of the more meaningful books I have read in the recent past is Viktor E Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. The book is a mere 165 pages long, but has sold over several million copies sold and has been quoted in almost every popular self-help book I’ve come across. It’s influence has indeed been staggering. The first part of the book is a highly moving account of Frankl’s stay in Auschwitz. Ofcourse any tale of Auschwitz is always meaningful, however it’s his observations as a psychologist of the immense strength of man inspite of being under extreme circumstances that leaves a deep and lasting impact on the reader.
Take the small example right in the beginning of the book, where men who had extremely sensitive ears and would wake up at the sound of a slightest creak, found themselves sleeping soundly in midst of gunfire and bombshells dropping. Or furthermore the unbelievably inspirational example of certain men inspite of the extreme circumstances they were in they “walked through huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.”
The Wikipedia entry on Man’s Search for Meaning has a truly profound selection of quotes from this classic. I’ve selected my favourite below:
“A man can get used to anything, but do not ask us how.”
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
“Nietzsche’s words, ‘He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.’”
“When we are no longer able to change a situation – just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer – we are challenged to change ourselves.”
“Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him – mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.”
“We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.”
“It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
“Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary.”
“We have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.”
“A man who for years had thought he had reached the absolute limit of all possible suffering now found that suffering had no limits, and that he could suffer still more, and more intensely.”
“Woe to him, when the day of his dreams finally came, found it to be so different from all that he had longed for!”
“We were not hoping for happiness – And yet we were not prepared for unhappiness.”
“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
“An incurable psychotic individual may lose his usefulness but yet retain the dignity of a human being. This is my psychiatric credo.”
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – (Arif’s comment: here lies the secret to enlightenment)
For a complete listing of the Books and Dvd’s that me and Ali are consuming have a look at our All Consuming list here.
May 31, 2009
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity, Personal, Reviews | 1 comment
Other than blogs and podcasts that I read/listen, there are quite a few enewsletters that I am subscribed to. Most are free, some are not. Below are the ones that I get most value out of and have survived my ruthless email filters and unsubscribing-trigger-friendly finger.
Business:
McKinsey Quarterly Top Ten Newsletter
The McKinsey quarterly emails me the best/most popular articles of McKinsey consulting for the past quarter. It’s something that I’ve subscribed to just so that I’m some what in touch with the best practices in the Corporate Circle. I have not got tremendous value from it yet. But since the newsletters are just once a quarter, it’s not that much clutter that I need to unsubscribe to it.
Verne’s Insights
I’ve found more handy information from Verne Harnish’s weekly newsletters. They’re shorter, punchy and let me know of what are the cool useful things that Corporates around the world are up to and if there’s anything that I can implement at Vakil Housing immediately.
Metaphor Minute
Some people are born with the Metaphor gene. The can put their point across to you in mere moments by explaining you what they mean with the most appropriate Metaphor or Similie. It’s a skill I have long envied. Anne Miller has written this brilliant book called Metaphorically Selling where she explains a methodology on how to come up with a Metaphor on the fly. I have read it and highly recommend it. In her monthly newsletters, Anne gives really good examples of metaphors that you can use and prods you to keep your eye open for them. This newsletter is probably one of my favourites and can be subscribed to here.
Entertainment:
Go Comics
It’s the Comics and the TV pages that enticed me as a schoolboy to begin reading newspapers. Unfortuantely the comics I enjoy do not always appear in the newspapers I read today. I have recently renewed my subscribtion to Ucomics, by paying $11.95 for the year. Now Everyday I get emailed to me the latest Calvin & Hobbes’s imaginative world, or Jason’s latest tiffs with Paige in FoxTrot or Diane make obvious the nonsense of the political world in Non-Sequitur.
Personal Development
GTD Connect
GTD Connect is premium membership service where one can get access to a whole range of Audio, Video, Text material to help enhance your personal GTD process. Click here to learn more about GTD. Being such a busy bee that I am, I don’t get much time to hand around the GTD Forums to see what conversations are taking place or what’s the latest Audio/Video material on GTD that’s out there. However, being a member of GTD Connect, I get an email of what’s the latest out there in the GTD World. If you are serious about implementing GTD, I highly recommend becoming a member of Connect, even if it’s just for a month or two. Give it a try, sample the Audio material that they have in store, specially the Tele-seminars by David Allen. It’s been worth my investment.
Productivity Principles Newsletter
For those who are not ready to be members of GTD Connect, but still want to gain traction on your practice of GTD, you may subscribe to the newsletter of David Allen himself called Productivity Principles, where he writes tips and reminders for all to stay strong in the GTD Wagon.
Emails by Vital Smarts
Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations are two brilliant books by the Vital Smarts team. Infact I’d say they almost the next best thing after GTD (and you all know how much I love GTD). One of my personal challenges in life is to be able to hold a Crucial Conversation and/or Confrontation with skill so that both parties come out as winners. What’s a Crucial Conversation? Well, common examples are possibly when there’s something you need to tell your collegue but he’s highly sensative about it, or you have a difference of opinion on an important business issue, or possibly even dealing with a customer complaint. etc.
In all the above conversations the common elements are that:
- Both parties have conflicting opinions/interest
- Emotions run high
- Stakes are high.
Observe yourself it’s when these three elements are in place that you get a crucial conversation. When faced with a Crucial Conversation, there is a roadmap on how to get from tongue-tied, raging emotions scenario to a cool, slick, dialogue smart situation. The Roadmap is long, and that’s the topic for another blog post, however, to get started you may subscribe to the newsletter by Vital Smarts Team. In each edition they address they demonstrate how one can talk one’s way through seemingly impossible highly sensitive topics. Examples of Crucial Conversations addressed in their newsletters are:
- Conversation with an employee over mediocre Performance
- Conversation of a Parent with her daughter on being overweight
- Conversation with a sibling on a difference of opinion on a certain matter in their family business
You can access the above and further past newsletters in their archive here.
Continuing Education:
Learn Out Loud free resource of the day email
It’s been a really long time that I was meaning to blog on the excellent material that Learn Out Loud has. Do browse this website. There is amazing education I have got from many of their Audio programs. In addition to those, you may also subscribe to their daily newsletter where they are continuously scanning the web to find inspirational/motivational/educational audio/video content.
BBC Breaking news alert and Documentaries:
BBC, is the best International news site there is. Period. They hit you with just facts, no exaggeration, as less biased as they can be, and provide you with sufficient analysis and history so that you can make your own opinion. To stay upto date on the latest breaking headlines round the world, I’ve found the BBC Breaking news alert really handy.
Furthermore BBC’s documentaries are also the most insightful in the world. To stay abreast of the documentaries coming up on BBC World in the coming fortnight I’ve subscrived to their BBC World New enewsletter here
Quotes by Dr. Mardy
I’ve recently subscribed to this quotation service, by Dr. Mardy. I’m generally quite conscioius of the number of emails I receive and if a newsletter I’m subscribed to doesn’t really add value to the subjects/topics I’m interested in, I’m quick to unsubscribe to it. The weekly quotes that I receive from Dr. Mardy have held my attention for the last couple of weeks. I admit I don’t read every single email I receive from Dr. Mardy. The days I have my inbox flooded, I am quick to delete the email without giving it a second glance. But the days that I have the time, I’m glad I have I subscribed to Dr. Mardy’s service. Here is an excerpt from his weekly email for the week ending 2 May 2009:
“I want to be thoroughly used up when I die,
for the harder I work the more I live.
I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me.
It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment;
and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible
before handing it on to future generations.”
George Bernard Shaw, in a 1907 lecture
“I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze
than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”
Jack London, a remark made to friends in 1916
Misc.
Baby Centre
As soon as my Sunshine gave me the “good news“, I began scouring all over the net for books, websites on pregnancy, babies etc, till I came across Baby Center. Baby Center provides this terrific service with their weekly updates, that let you know just the information that we needed throughout the pregnancy. Which was emailed to us just in time. It really saved me immense amount of time in researching the same online or in books. Furthermore the service continues till date guiding fledgling parents on the little nuances in bringing up children. I highly recommend parents and parents to be to subscribe to this service. The best part is that this service is also personalised for India, so get tips specific to the Indian context.
Top 5 ads from Adforum.com
Advertising. An old crush of mine. I used to be a subscribed member of Adcritic and keenly track the latest TV spots being released all over the world. Now I quench myself with the Top 5 Adforum weekly email that email me the most popular 5 TV ads over the week.
*Phew* that’s one hell of a long list.
I had no idea I was subscribed to so many enewsletters till I began compiling them. Any of the above enewsletters that you are glad you got to know about? Is there something else that you are subscribed to which you think I and other fellow blog readers would enjoy and look forward to. Do leave a note in the comments if so. Happy reading.
