Blog@GraceJunction

Usain Bolt is “too” tall to be a world class sprinter, Mike Friedman “too” fat to be an elite world class cyclist, Stefan Holm is “too” short to be a champion high jumper, and Erin Donohue is “too” short and stocky to be a star middle-distance runner. Yet all of them are Olympians, athletic anomlies, bucking conventional wisdom and somehow rising to the same arenas as Michael Phelps and Dara Torres.

Its amazing, how much man relies on statistics to make decisions, be it the vital or the numerical kind. But these wonderful people have attained that which has made experts revolve in their chairs and just confess, “It’s a mystery“!! (more…)

The credit cards and easily available loans made almost everything available to the common man. When the generation of the 50s-70s worked a good 25 plus years to buy a decent house with minimum facilties and bought a car after the age of 40, the new generation is buying a much costlier and better equipped (loaded) or rather luxurious house at a much earlier age (early 30s) and this generation is also buying a car much earlier too. Of course the myriad professional options have resulted in greater opportunities for earning, but the thrust has mainly come in from easier funding - credit. However, there are still things out there that even credit will not allow many of the big dreamers to acquire.

Satiated at a much earlier age, it takes much more to now challenge and satisfy these young turks. High ticket paraphrenalia, available at the malls and exclusive shops, or even in the high-end shops don’t catch their attention at all. They are aiming much higher, at things not even in the luxury list of the average citizen (muggles!). The boundaries have been pushed much higher (monetarily). Now, what’s enabling these proponents of “dare-to-dream” to fulfil their dreams and desires has nothing to do with wizarding, but its the age old business of ‘Hiring’ and ‘Renting’! (more…)

16.07.2008, 11:00 am …
(RAW head quarters, New Delhi)

Hey, long time no see! I am Deoxy Ribose, friends call me DNA. Whose DNA? Well I am the DNA of about whom the former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar said: “She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world!” Though hardly people know her by her maiden name, she is renowned and revered and respected and loved as ‘Mother Teresa’. I am being taken in to a high security zone, where I am being accompanied by DNA’s of some other influential people of India. Why, well only time will tell……

16.07.2015, 4:30 am …
(Specialized Forensic Research Labs, Bangalore)

Hi, do you remember me? I met you many years back. I think it’s time to come out. What happened? Only thing I know is that the Indian Govt. due to poor monsoons and declining stocks of food has declared a famine. All over the country, in various places, there is a look of hopelessness as the number of people dying of hunger has swelled. (more…)

In 1957, a Fort Lee, (New Jersey) drive-in theater flashed the words ‘DRINK COLA COLA’ and ‘EAT POPCORN’ for 1/3000th of a second every 5 seconds throughout the movie during a 6-week run of the film Picnic. This was the brainchild of NY market researcher, James Vicary, who boasted that Coke sales in the lobby increased 58% and that popcorn sales rose 18%!

An avalanche of criticism from outraged citizens and congressmen produced more research on the subject. Known as “Subliminal Messaging“, conflicting results have come out on this and it has been argued ever since. (more…)

Konrad Steffen, climatologist who settled in Greenland’s icesheet in 1990, was only hoping to gather more insights into the processes that drive-and are effected by-changes on ice bodies of Greenland, that hold roughly 8% of world’s freshwater supply!

Today his Swiss Camp serves as eyes and ears for climate scientists worldwide. ‘Koni’ as he is called by his friends, personally customised and deployed much of the instruments that tell the scientific world, hour by hour and year by year about these ice sheets.

Greenland’s icesheets are very crucial, and kind of a barometer for the rest of the world because of its sensitivity to climatic changes and because of the tremendous influence it has on the ecological cycles in the Northern Hemisphere. (more…)

A recent survey done in Britain found that two thirds of adults believe that the moral values of young people have declined considerably since the time when they were young. According to most of them, the rise of the celebrity culture and weakening family bonds are undermining traditional moral values among young people! Who is to blame? Are these adults listening to their own conclusions? Or its everybody else that is wrong!

We cannot do much about the celebrity culture, can we? But weakening family bonds? But it seems, the society is not too eager to do much on that front either! Bonding with kids means investment. Investing time and also infusing values.

It’s a very bad world out there. It’s pretty much difficult to barely survive! When do we find time and opportunity to care about values, much less, pass it on to the kids! Who has time to intervene in the kids’ lives and help them navigate the challenges of modern day life? They will find their way. (more…)

Few men sat together and played with the LIBOR rates in the wake of the US funds crisis and this has allowed in artificial interest rates into the world economy which could have serious ramifications very soon. LIBOR rates are used as benchmark for over 300 trillion USD worth of transactions worldwide!

Few men sit together at the OPEC and decide how much you and I will pay for our petrol or diesel. They decide the production limits of its constituent countries and this gives them large control over the prices of crude. The crude cost per barrel is estimated to be around 15 USD per barrel, that however is now selling at 130 USD per barrel or even more. (more…)