Fruggums - Filed under 'random'

November 16, 2009

$15 and a Year of Jail

"The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world - bar far" (here's an excellent read about that). Today I got a first hand experience of that.

No, I'm not blogging from jail (though I would throw a pretty sick 'Free Az All' campaign online if I was)

A month ago I ordered a roundtrip to Jamaica station for a trip to Canada. Its cheaper and it means I don't have to wait in a line with luggage. Tickets arrive in 1-3 business days, usually.

So when they didn't show up for a month I called to ask them to refund me. I thought this would be straightforward but it isn't. Now, things get lost in the mail. Its impossible for every single envelope to be delivered successfully given the volume of mail USPS handles and the sometimes ragged appearance of the people walking around with the mail. So mine was one of those unlucky ones. Ok, they can grasp that concept, even though this a government company.

They send tickets in unmarked non-privacy (which means you can hold it against the light and see its a ticket in there) plain white envelope.

A few days later I get a form. The usual regrettance-inconvenience schmitz part and then a form I have to send back. It just scared the wits out of me.

Essentially its a legal document that makes me swear that they're actually lost in the mail and I didn't get them. If I'm lying here, I'm lying to the government. There's a lot of the word 'perjury' sprinkled all over this thing. Swearing is alright, I guess. Its the penalties that really got me.

If it turns out, if the ticket that I don't have i.e. somebody else might, gets used, they can prosecute me and fine me $1000 and... send me to prison for a year.

A year.

That's a ridiculous penalty for cheating a railroad company out of $15. For one if the postman who nicked my ticket decided to use it, there's no way to track the person who actually used the ticket, all that's known is that someone used it, someone lied about getting it, someone needs to go to court.

Suppose these ridiculous threats are just deterrents? Well then, to the person who actually had their tickets lost in the mail and signs this thing for a refund, good guts you got there. I'd never sign this thing. Even if one would never end up being convinced and given a sentence, having to land up in court for such a thing is maddening in itself. They can keep their schmeasly $15.

Think about the loss they were to make if indeed someone did cheat them using this system (whichever mad person it would be). They're hauling an extra 60-100kg (on average) for a few miles. Trains can do that pretty ok without posing much of a severe threat to their operation or others' safety. This unlike people with knives and guns walking around who are the people who happen to go to prison too, like this man who cheated the government out of $15 (which isn't enough for more than a day's living in Manhattan)

Just another one of the tales that makes this country so fascinating to study.

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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October 8, 2009

Modern Criticism

Artists have to deal with it day in and day out. Well, not really 'deal' with it, but require it. Sift through a splurge of reactions to find that one person who appears to make a little bit of sense.

For some reason we require a form of validation that what we're working on happens to be acceptable (or even better, appreciable) to someone other than oneself. Here's the cool part, most of the artists we recognize today didn't need that (Robert Frank being my favorite example). They just went along and worked on what they had to.

When we ask someone for criticism we're putting them in a position of power. They are suddenly put on the pedestal and given the right to form a (hopefully unbiased) opinion on what they think about something. Part of the problem is, when someone is asked to be a critic, some people are put in this subconscious mindset that whatever they come up with has to be criticism. This is where most of the praise just withers away. To be given the title/power of 'critic' means that you obviously are regarded highly for your opinion by that person. Hence he/she expects something unique, useful and honest from you. Which means the 'critic' here, to keep up his/her won status, is going to consciously search for negatives to either balance out the positives or negate them altogether. Otherwise, what's a critic?

When I'm working on something I'm always asking people what they think. I listen to all of it. I accept around 13-17% of it. I act on about 1% of it. There are very few useful critics around. There may be several hundred good ones, but they probably aren't of much use. A large lot of people are unaware that this applies to most if not all artists and isn't just me being a narcissistic dick. For one its impossible to act on 99% of critical suggestions because 1) It doesn't fit with what the artist wants to convey and 2) Another critic already conflicted with your recommended course of action.

So really what criticism is is a little fun game we artists play. We skip along asking what you think and throw it out until we reach somebody who can actually help more than just critique. We're a confused lot. Half the time we don't know what our own vision is and sometimes we rely on other people to figure it out and scratch at it. Sometimes we just need a nudge in another direction to get things going again. And sometimes playing the criticism game is the only way to get it.

By now most of you who have ever offered me advice or opinions are probably thinking 'Hey, WTF - well, this guy doesn't need to know what I think anymore' and its probably true (even though I'll still ask you and continue to play the game). Look at that sentence again, it centers around you, not me. Those are the sort of people who are out throwing opinions (and will do so when asked) at people for their own mood. I'd like the opinions that are centered around me, because it's my work and not yours - and if you treat it the other way around anything you have to say will be useless.

And that's modern criticism. And y'know what? Guilty as charged.

P.s. It goes without saying how much worse the people who can't be honest are. Even if your opinion could turn out useless don't hide it. Lying and saying you love it is worse than saying you hate it but you're not sure why.

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September 30, 2009

The Corporation

This is a movie you really should watch. There's a lot to be said about the topic, but instead of me ranting about it just sign up for a Netflix trial and get it.

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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May 1, 2009

Busy

Usually one would think that my busiest times of the year is when I'm at college.
Strangely enough I end up far more active when I'm not enrolled in an education system.

Possibly because during college, my personal endeavors take a back-seat because of assignments, papers, printing and all that. My personal work is far more time-intensive than college work.

At the moment, other than preparing for my transcontinental migration (which is work enough), most of my day is spent intensively studying Ruby, as I'm trying to teach myself Ruby on Rails this summer. Then there's also SSH. I also updated my photography portfolio site, have to do a re-design of my blog, and search for photographers to assist in the summer (much harder than you think). So I end up working pretty much the whole day.

Which is why this blog post is so short.

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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April 25, 2009

You forgot my name?

Azhar Chougle.

Not the most memorable one but I'm utterly thankful it's 'internet-unique', there's only one Azhar Chougle that shows up when you Google it, and that's me. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

My name not being memorable (here in America, not pronounceable either) is quite an irritant. Here I'm known solely as Az, Oz, Ozzie or (thankfully) rarely Azu. So outside of class, it's pretty difficult for anyone to find me online. So whenever it comes up, I have to find a piece of tissue paper (and then a pen) to jot it down or I have to spell it out - a-z-h-a-r-c-dot-com. That's irritating. What it means is that there's less of a chance that person will even end up paying me a visit (and let's get real - I'm going to be depending on that for an income pretty soon)

Paul Stamatiou had this problem too, which is why he got pstam.com because most people couldn't remember paulstamatiou.com

So I've cooked up my own fun strategy.

youforgotmyname.com ?

And I'm going to have a lot of fun with it. That domain (very surprising it was available, has no one thought of this before?) redirects to my personal website. Not only does this make it easier for me to refer people to my website (can't you just imagine it - "Yeah, just go to youforgotmyname.com" ... subsequently convincing them it isn't a joke) but there's a lot of things one can do with that sort of domain. It's such a curious dot-com that (hopefully) some people will be tempted to visit it once they hear or see it. And that's only more good for me.

So I'm going to put a little sign on my door that says youforgotmyname.com

A shirt, blank on the front, youforgotmyname.com on the back.

And bumper stickers - youforgotmyname.com!

See, isn't it just completely lodged in your head now? It's extremely memorable since it's a sentence.

Of course people will still forget my name, but at least they'll manage to get to it now.

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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April 18, 2009

Reply!

Being the ambitious fellow I am I do have a vague plan as to what I'm aiming at in the next decade or so. I'd rather keep all that to myself though, because keeping things realistic, some of them may not be realized within the timeframe I have set so I'd prefer not to share. Think of it like a set of steps and advances throughout the years that I'll be working towards (I've already been doing this the past couple of years). These are serious life-strategy goals and not things like base jumping off the Burj Dubai, though I would like to do that someday.

My promise is this though, however far I may end up going through the years, I promise to be as accessible as possible.

What this means is that, even if I end up a millionaire (don't you love how I assume these things?), absolutely anyone can reach me at azharc(at)azharc.com and I will reply. It may take a while for me to get back to you, but I will.

I know it's a strange (and maybe even unreal) promise to make, but it's one I'd like to keep. It's one I surely keep now (I try to make sure I respond to every e-mail I receive - but most definitely do to every e-mail that requires a reply). I'm even faster to reach on Twitter. Gtalk, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Skype - I'm on all. Facebook, LinkedIn, so many more.

This stems from the frustrating fact that people 1) Aren't accessible enough and 2) Don't reply. I don't want anyone to feel that way when it comes to getting in touch with me. I get severely irritated with people who don't respond to my e-mails within a day, don't return phone calls, or don't have an easy way for me to reach them.

Pinky promise.

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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April 2, 2009

Last I liked

I've been on Last.fm and iLike but of course it makes sense to only be on one of them. I noticed that the Last.fm community is far more intelligent/diverse/musical.

Click here to download:

Last_I_liked_tag_internet_geek.zip (197 KB)

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March 2, 2009

Snowness!

Weather intrigues me. Even when it pours oceans in Bombay I could be caught staring out the window for a while. I love snow in a big city.

Click here to download:

Snowness_tag_fun_random.zip (407 KB)

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

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February 18, 2009

Equality of Happiness

I was reminded of this only when it was finally proven and featured on BBC news. I forgot to bookmark the article so I've lost it but here's what it was about.

I had been thinking of this for quite a while when it popped up - could it be that every person, from the slaving farmer to the millionaire CEO experiences the same level of peak happiness? Or, to put it better - on an absolute scale, is the peak happiness of a farmer, who has nothing but land, seeds and family, equal to the peak happiness of the world's richest men, who have it all?

Indeed it is.

And this was confirmed in a study that measured endorphin levels in the brains of thousands of people when they were at their happiest.

It is quite amazing to think that each person on the planet, regardless of situation, has the same level of peak happiness. A farmer's happiness on producing an excellent harvest = A CEO's happiness on receiving his $21 million salary.

So essentially, whatever we may go on to achieve, acquire, accomplish etc. may increase the frequency of happiness but it won't affect our actual peak level of happiness.

Just a thought.

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February 15, 2009

I Like _______

If there is one thing (tangible) in the world every person would/does/ will/could like, what would it be?

For example, you might like a mansion, but an environmentalist might hate the fact it takes X amount of natural resources to build, heat etc. It.

Do you think every person would like happiness?

Azhar Chougle | via iPhone

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