Are men becoming obsolete?

In the "good old days", men and women had well differentiated roles in society and they seldom overlapped. The domain of men was outside the home - hunting, gathering, working, farming, being the bread winner. The domain of women was in the home - cooking, raising kids, entertaining, decorating.

With modernization of society as well as the tools available, these roles have started to merge a lot. Today, even the toughest and riskiest of jobs are seeing more women step in (all the way from racing cars to cabbies to construction, the armed forces to the executive boardroom).

Go back even to the sixties and today, TV shows like Mad Men paint a very different picture (albeit a little bit extreme). If you're a man reading this, you're probably thinking "Wouldn't it be something to live in that era?" and if you're a woman, you're probably squirming in disgust, and thanking where we as a society have come today.

Today, women can do pretty much everything a man can do, and pursue the same goals. Yes, we definitely don't see as many women pursuing the same goals as men, but that seems more a matter of percentages - most women in the western world have the options to pursue the same things men have the option to.

Now, let's take the big disadvantage that men have - biologically speaking - child birth. Men are not able to continue the human race as they cannot bear children. Men definitely play a big part in the whole child bearing process, but still can never become pregnant themselves. One could argue that women can't do this by themselves either, and that the key ingredient in this process is provided by a man. This might be true; however, consider the popularity of sperm donations and sperm banks. Today, a woman has many more options to select (in a limited fashion) the biological "farther" of her child that she can gestate. The man in the equation doesn't even need to know (and doesn't get to know) what happens to the sperm he has donated.

So, are men becoming obsolete? With a lower life expectancy as well as continued social changes, men might be heading towards nothing more than being sperm donors. At least, men can take solace in the fact that they won't be completely destroyed, but women will get to hand pick the sperm, and the survival of the fittest might end up being more of a survival of the cutest / hottest (which is somewhat true already).

Men - terrified yet?

There is of course one slightly different way of looking at this - a more of a glass half full way (at least for those cuter / hotter men). In the past, men would work for everything, and pursue women, while women had the option of saying "yes" or "no". Maybe with this new paradigm, women work work hard and pursue men (which in the sperm donor world would translate to "better" men being sought after more and "paid" more for their sperm). Some might say that this is similar to men prostituting themselves, and that might be true. Ultimately, it seems that somewhere, we will hit a comfortable equilibrium possibly - who know what that will be, and when we will hit it.

Until then, women can enjoy their new-found freedom, and men can enjoy being pampered a little.

What do you think? Are men becoming obsolete?

Why facebook remains to be so popular?

I finally watched the movie The Social Network and was very impressed by the movie. Back in the good ol' college days, my roommate and I would discuss movies after we had caught a good one. This was a good movie and instead of discussing it with one person, I'm posting about it. By doing so, I plan to kill two birds with one stone - get my thoughts out there and possibly start a discussion while satisfying requests from a few friends that I get back to blogging again.

So, putting the movie aside, how was facebook able to go well beyond similar social networking sites that had even gone live before it? Before we can discuss this, we must first agree that facebook is more popular that any other social networking site.

In order to become popular, a site needs to go through the following - attract popular people (who will in turn attract other popular people), create a critical mass (so that membership can increase exponentially and quickly) and finally, continue to remain popular. I said "site", but this is true for most elements in society that thrive on popularity, be it the local restaurant or bar even.


The idea that exclusivity would attract people to a social networking site just like it attracts people to all sorts of places is quite true. As social beings, we love to feel like we belong, and belonging exclusively is a high! Starting the site at Harvard was helpful to get it going. Attracting hormonal college students with a relationship status allowed it to reach critical mass, thus helping expand to more colleges. As a side note, today, anyone can join facebook. Today, people are not attracted to it because of its exclusivity, but rather because it is popular - everyone's doing it, and you're missing out if you're not!

So, the final step - continue to remain popular - this is without doubt the hardest thing to do. Every dog has its day, and the biggest of kingdoms have risen and fallen. So, how does facebook do it? Innovation! Facebook has continued to innovate and change to add new features and to remove stale features as online social culture changes. They continue to add new features like photos and tagging as well as games etc. while removing features (shall remain unnamed) that possibly weren't so popular. Remember, that in all this, money definitely helps! Popularity attracts talent and ultimately, you need to pay that talent. However, it just isn't about money, but the innovative ideas and continuing changes - the urge to not settle, but to continue to improve. I'm sure a lot of people are going to argue that the continuing changes make facebook unpopular and I will politely disagree. The "popular" crowd (or the early adopters), the crowd that actually attracts other people to some place (site / bar etc.) doesn't want to have the same thing forever. These people thrive on something new, which is why, different sites / bars / clubs etc. rise in popularity. Facebook does a great job at continuing to change and then helping to make the transition smooth for the later adopters. This is why I believe they continue to be popular and kudos to them.

Before I close, I ask you, what are your thoughts? Has facebook peaked? What of LinkedIn? Thoughts to be shared on another post, but would love to hear more of what you think.

Lunar Eclipse

A crisp, cold and very clear night. A sliced sky with a full moon topped off with a stunning lunar eclipse. Sometimes the cold clear night does have its own silver lining, or is it lunar eclipse? It is the last total lunar eclipse till December of 2010.

Did you know why the moon looks red during a lunar eclipse?

So, despite it being about -5 fahrenheit (-20 celcius) outside, a large number of star gazers and admirers will try to soak in as much warmth as they can from the burgandy moon while watching the large shadow of our home cast on it.

What causes a lunar eclipse?

Can it be this cold and still snow so much?

If you live in Madison WI, it definitely can! The temperature outside is barely above 0 degrees fahrenheit (which is about -15 celcius), and it has snowed all day. The estimated accumulation is about 5-6 inches. That is a lot of snow for the day being this cold.

Snow is so beautiful when viewed from the confort of the warm indoors while sipping a heart-warming hot cocoa. Here is how beautiful snow on the ground can look.

I also love to watch the snow falling, and can spend many hours just looking out the window watching the individual flakes fall and become one with the snow cover. It is quite difficult to capture in words how falling snow can keep me engaged for such a long time.

However, though falling snow is great from the comfort of the warm indoors, and can even be fun to play in, it is definitely not fun to drive to and from work to in. Thus, my emotional love-hate relationship with snow continues.

Food, Opera and a Chilling Cold

It has been a while since I have written, but with little to do outdoors today, I have no excuses.

The temperature in Madison right now is a balmy 4 below zero. On a beautiful day like today, a bright sun, it is easy for someone to step out unprepared. The high today was a few degrees above zero, and the wind chill currently takes the tempature to below -20.

On a chilling day like this, great food and wonderful music are not only great, but a definite MUST! NPR had some good opera featuring the great Luciano Pavarotti, perfect background music for cooking up a great lunch. I have not been a fan of Opera, but had heard of Pavarotti before. However, after his passing in 2007, I became a little more interested, as he is popular, and time will tell if he becomes legendary. My vote is that he definitely will.

Wisconsin Public Television today had a fantastic receipe for home made baked manicotti on America's Test Kitchen. I'm not be biggest fan of the show, but I did love the receipe, and couldn't resist trying it. It was fantastic. I topped it off with a great garlic bread receipe they had, and a fine bottle of wine - a Chianti from Frottoria di Faltognano. I think I'm getting to the point where I could start labeling myself a foodie.

I have decided to make a great vegetable stirfry for dinner. I love a good stirfry, and it is a good way to get a healthy dose of vegetables. I use extra virgin olive oil and keep the sodium low to keep it healthy. I use my own receipe, and compliment it either with rice or noodles. I've even used wheat noodles to increase the health factor on the dinner.

What keeps me ticking

Ever wonder what makes you tick? Some of the things that keep me going include my friends, Fridays, my thirst for knowledge (especially the nerdy technical kind), great music and so on.

What I've found is that the more you challenge yourself, the more you get to better know yourself. At some point, you must accept your limitations, and when you do, I guess can be considered maturity. However, I've also seen a lot of people get frustrated when they challenge themselves. Kipling hit the nail right on the head in "If", a poem that I not only take to heart, but use almost as a guide to lead my life.

In IF, Kipling states the following:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

It is so important to be able to let go of something you gave so much to, and start again, from scratch, as he describes in the last two lines of this stanza. I've seen many a great person be able to do this, and many of these so called greats unable to fathom this concept.

Restarting life might not sound like the best idea, especially since life is short, and if you've spent a considerable amount of it working on something, and then have to watch it disappear or destroyed. However, for the very reason of life being short, I believe that it makes more sense to try again, to restart, to stoop and build it up with worn-out tools instead of becoming frustrated, or crying over it for too long.

I didn't mention one of the most inspirational piece of poetry in my list of things that keep me ticking, but if it isn't obvious by now, then here it is once again - IF by Rudyard Kipling is what I go back to when I need some advice.

Floyd, Keats and Fall

There is nothing that gets the creative juices flowing like some good old Pink Floyd. I don't know what it is about the music that they wrote, but it is hauntingly superior to most other good listening music, and definitely helps in getting the creative juices flowing.

To think of it, it isn't just the great Floyd playing in the background, but also the sight of trees in their complete Fall briallance. It is truly an inspiring sight. One cannot truly appreciate Keats's Ode To Autumn unless one has seen the beautiful colors that Autumn (Fall) has to offer.

You can find more about Wisconsin Fall Colors and take my advise - take a trip to see some of nature's most brilliant and colorful time.

I Love Weekends!

I love weekends! One of the many things that makes me work hard and long through the week is knowing that the weekend is coming. Most weekends, especially in summer, I tend to have a pretty packed schedule. It seems unfair that a lot of movies come out in summer, because there are so many other activities to do, all those outdoorsy things.

Madison has a vast variety of things one can do on the weekend. The lakes are beautiful, and one can spend a relaxing weekend from lazing around at the Union Terrace to an active bike ride or a visit to the Wisconsin Dells.

Today, I'm headed up to Devil's Lake, a great Wisconsin treasure, only about a 45 minute drive from Madison. At Devil's Lake, hiking, rock climbing, canoeing, swimming, BBQing and camping are some of the fun activites that draw thousands of people every summer. The lake is fed by natural springs and is truly a beautiful sight.

I hope that some of you get a chance to visit this gorgeous place.

Crazy Midwest Weather

It is Friday today, and this morning, the weather is quite pleasant. Last Sunday through Tuesday were a total boiler which led to crazy storms on Wednesday night. What is with this crazy midwest weather?

The good thing about summer is that it motivates one to wake up earlier, especially if one is in a mood to go biking or such as it gets hot later in the day. On a hot afternoon, a dip in the pool is quite refreshing. It does come as a surprise to most that one of the largest waterparks in the US (Noah's Ark) is a few miles north of Madison, in the Wisconsin Dells.

More about Madtown tomorrow!

My First Blog - Madtown

This is my first blog ever. So, what does one write in their first ever blog? I decided to write a little about the place that I'm currently at - the city of Madison in Wisconsin, the US of A.

Madison is a small city that is very green in the summer, full of fall colors in Autumn and snow white in winter. Seasonal charm definitely keeps things interesting on this isthmus bordered by lakes Monona and Mendota.

The people of Madison are fun-loving, liberal and intelligent, taking an active part in shaping the future of both Wisconsin as well as the US. What convinced me to move to Madison, or Madtown was one of its nicknames - "Berkeley of the midwest".

Here is the official government site for Madison and here is another popular site Madison.com.