.. by a lot ! 138 million to 87 million ! That tells us something about what makes American's tick :)
I was in my car today listening about the craziness of Black Friday shopping on NPR and the host said something really interesting - "What if America was as enthusiastic about Voting as they are about shopping ?". Hmm, what if ...
To be fair, I don't blame the people who are excited about lining up outside the stores in 25 degree (-4 C) weather for a number of hours [and in some cases even days]! The amount of money you could save is HUGE. Infact, 3 years ago me and my wife did pull out an all-nighter in front of an OfficeDepot and I'm happy to say we were successful in getting at least one of the things we wanted :) I'm not that brave any more [although can't really say that about my wife, who was out in the mall today from 5am to 5pm :)] and prefer to sit in my home with the heat turned on. But, I did do my part to stimulate the economy by buying a couple of things online, which needless to say, I easily could have done without. That's the lure of not missing out on the mega-sale !
So how can we make voting as chic as Black Friday shopping. Well I don't know if that's ever going to happen but paying everyone a 100 bucks to come out and vote might just change the dynamics. I'm sure all the busy people would then somehow find the time to vote. Agreed, 20 billion is a lot to spend on an interesting experiment but its not like all the other things that were done to rack up a deficit of $1.5 Trillion were a lot more useful than this.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Is it just US Airways or the airline industry ?
So I had to fly from Detroit to Philadelphia this past Wednesday and something strange (at least for me) happened. Before I actually describe what, a bit of a background might add more weight to the story :)
I knew about this trip around a month in advance so I tried to book my tickets early. Here were my options -
However, as it turned out I wasn't all that smart as I had thought I was :). As I get to the departure gate, I see that dreaded word "cancelled", and I'm thinking damn, now I'll get in at 10:30 instead of 8. I wish ! I went up to the US Airways agent and asked him what was going on ? He said the flight has been cancelled and I went, ya - I can read that, but can you tell me why ? "Maintainence issues" he says. How convenient ! There is no way I can dispute that. So I request him to put me on the 8:30 flight. "That flight is completely booked sir". WTH ? He does have another option for me though. He can get me into Phily via Charlotte the same day [if midnight qualifies as that]. Yes, lets do it (as if I had an option). I should probably add that during this entire conversation, there wasn't a hint of apology in his tone. To the contrary, he sounded like he was doing me a favor !
Anyway, being the skeptic I am, especially when money is involved, I thought - was this really due to maintainence or could there be something else behind it. I couldn't think what ! As I entered my plane to Charlotte, the answer came flying. The flight, even after accommodating all other passengers from the cancelled flight was 20% empty. It was obvious (to me atleast), US Airways had cancelled the flight to Phily to save the expenses of flying an extra plane. And I wouldn't really mind that too much if the alternative was more convenient or atleast if they had the balls to own up to their 'scheme'.
So I came back from my trip and did a quick google search on "cancel empty planes" and was happy to find that I wasn't being overly paranoid. There are other people who have gone through this and oh just by chance, US Airways seems to come up a lot in the results.
BTW, I got into my hotel room at 1am which was slightly different than what I had in mind when I bought my tickets :)
And just for context, this picture shows how efficient it is to fly people from detroit to phily via charlotte :)
I knew about this trip around a month in advance so I tried to book my tickets early. Here were my options -
- Take a direct flight which goes out at 8:30 pm and arrives at 10:20pm for $250 or
- Pony up an extra $40 to fly out at 6:00pm and arrive at 7:54pm.
However, as it turned out I wasn't all that smart as I had thought I was :). As I get to the departure gate, I see that dreaded word "cancelled", and I'm thinking damn, now I'll get in at 10:30 instead of 8. I wish ! I went up to the US Airways agent and asked him what was going on ? He said the flight has been cancelled and I went, ya - I can read that, but can you tell me why ? "Maintainence issues" he says. How convenient ! There is no way I can dispute that. So I request him to put me on the 8:30 flight. "That flight is completely booked sir". WTH ? He does have another option for me though. He can get me into Phily via Charlotte the same day [if midnight qualifies as that]. Yes, lets do it (as if I had an option). I should probably add that during this entire conversation, there wasn't a hint of apology in his tone. To the contrary, he sounded like he was doing me a favor !
Anyway, being the skeptic I am, especially when money is involved, I thought - was this really due to maintainence or could there be something else behind it. I couldn't think what ! As I entered my plane to Charlotte, the answer came flying. The flight, even after accommodating all other passengers from the cancelled flight was 20% empty. It was obvious (to me atleast), US Airways had cancelled the flight to Phily to save the expenses of flying an extra plane. And I wouldn't really mind that too much if the alternative was more convenient or atleast if they had the balls to own up to their 'scheme'.
So I came back from my trip and did a quick google search on "cancel empty planes" and was happy to find that I wasn't being overly paranoid. There are other people who have gone through this and oh just by chance, US Airways seems to come up a lot in the results.
BTW, I got into my hotel room at 1am which was slightly different than what I had in mind when I bought my tickets :)
And just for context, this picture shows how efficient it is to fly people from detroit to phily via charlotte :)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Can a sandwich last a month ?
Well, obviously NOT. Plain and simple. Atleast if you are the one eating it.
But .. and there's always a but - the power of international currency conversion can actually make that happen! So, instead of buying the famous American '5-dollar-footlong' that Michael Phelps loves, if you decide to use that money to feed someone else, it might just last a whole month. No, really. And I'm not even counting the 'chips and a drink' on the side. Here's the math .. at 10 rupees a meal, 5 dollars or 250 rupees can get you a meal every day for 25 days and a healthy one at that ! Not exactly a month, but pretty close I'd say.
So why am I asking you to give up on that 1 sandwich a month and who exactly is the person that will be fed ? Great questions and no, I'm not trying to get 30 people to do this so that I can get a free lunch everyday [.. although that isn't too bad an idea :)]
I'll tackle the second question here and hopefully that'll help you answer the first one for yourself. So there's this organization called Pudiyador (which means 'a new beginning') in India which has been empowering children through practical education, extra-curriculars, sports, healthcare and food. Or in other words, things we all got as kids and porbably took for granted :). Totally inspired by what these guys were doing, I decided to start working with their team in Michigan last year and have loved every single minute of the time I've spent. In fact, I'm so convinced about what we're doing that I've mustered up the courage to start a blog and risk loosing some of my friends who might fear constantly being harassed for donations :)
Ok, before you get bored to death or start cursing, lets talk business. For better or for worse, everything usually comes down to money! To keep doing what we have for around a decade and hopefully keep expanding, the all-mighty dollar is our best friend. And since we're not exactly swimming in greenbacks, we could use any and all contributions from awesome people like you. If you are ready to take the plunge but are not sure how much to contribute, go to our donations page to see what $20 provides a child for a whole month. I bet you'd be surprised. And remember, its better to donate $5 than not donating $100.
As a bonus, here's what you get back -
Donate Now!
But .. and there's always a but - the power of international currency conversion can actually make that happen! So, instead of buying the famous American '5-dollar-footlong' that Michael Phelps loves, if you decide to use that money to feed someone else, it might just last a whole month. No, really. And I'm not even counting the 'chips and a drink' on the side. Here's the math .. at 10 rupees a meal, 5 dollars or 250 rupees can get you a meal every day for 25 days and a healthy one at that ! Not exactly a month, but pretty close I'd say.
So why am I asking you to give up on that 1 sandwich a month and who exactly is the person that will be fed ? Great questions and no, I'm not trying to get 30 people to do this so that I can get a free lunch everyday [.. although that isn't too bad an idea :)]
I'll tackle the second question here and hopefully that'll help you answer the first one for yourself. So there's this organization called Pudiyador (which means 'a new beginning') in India which has been empowering children through practical education, extra-curriculars, sports, healthcare and food. Or in other words, things we all got as kids and porbably took for granted :). Totally inspired by what these guys were doing, I decided to start working with their team in Michigan last year and have loved every single minute of the time I've spent. In fact, I'm so convinced about what we're doing that I've mustered up the courage to start a blog and risk loosing some of my friends who might fear constantly being harassed for donations :)
Ok, before you get bored to death or start cursing, lets talk business. For better or for worse, everything usually comes down to money! To keep doing what we have for around a decade and hopefully keep expanding, the all-mighty dollar is our best friend. And since we're not exactly swimming in greenbacks, we could use any and all contributions from awesome people like you. If you are ready to take the plunge but are not sure how much to contribute, go to our donations page to see what $20 provides a child for a whole month. I bet you'd be surprised. And remember, its better to donate $5 than not donating $100.
As a bonus, here's what you get back -
- Tax-deductions on your contributions.
- Bragging rights !
- No personal emails requesting more donations :)
Donate Now!
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| Pudiyador's mission .. |
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