All

This book seems to address the myth that primitive societies are more harmonious than our present societies.

Let’s say 1% of kids are born with allergies. The statistic is useful for a public policy maker, someone who is setting up food menus in schools or regulating restaurants. However, the statistic is useless for you as a parent. Unless you are planning to have around 10+ kids, you are never going to experience the statistical outcome. If you have one child, either the child would have an allergy or he won’t. Statistical outcomes matter only when someone plays a game sufficient times.

Tokyo isn’t a city per se but a prefecture. A prefecture is more akin to a county in the US. Japan has 47 prefectures. I would recommend two important cities in Tokyo to spend your time in - Akihabara Electronic District and Shinjuku (fancy) District.

Unlike an army or a militia, mobs are loosely held groups of individuals. Mobs are held together by some identification (race, ethnicity, shared belief towards a cause, etc.). While an army/militia is more top-down, a mob is bottoms-up in many cases. A mob leader exercises much less control over the mob than an army chief. And that’s why mobs are much more dangerous.

The United States has a federal system of government. The more interesting aspect is how Americans vote thrice for the federal government.

When Sony’s Walkman was expensive, we used them with cheap earphones. Once the music players were cheap, we shifted to more expensive headphones as a status symbol.

When Americans say spicy, they usually mean chili. For some weird reason, other spices that are more aromatic like Turmeric, cloves, cardamom, etc. do not seem to fit the definitely of “spicy”. That’s why in a typical Indian/Thai restaurant in the US when they ask how spicy, they mean “How much chili should I put in” However, when an Indian says that the spices were good, s/he usually means that the food had an aroma and a balanced composition of contrasting tastes....

A charity is when your customers capture value when you don’t. A scam is when you capture value but your customers don’t. A business is when you and your customers both capture value. - unknown

One unique aspect of Indian culture is its desire to innovate in culinary. Tomato was first introduced to India in the 16th century. Now, it is an integral part of Indian cooking and is used in ways most others cultures won’t.

Indian passport remains weak, as per Henley’s 2021 index, India has visa-free access to only 59 countries and that excludes the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Schengen zone. Before ruminating on that, it is worth asking, why China, which is 5 times richer than India in terms of per capita GDP is not doing significantly better either. The island countries of the Caribbean with a population of less than a million have better access than China. Even war-torn Venezuela has a better passport including visa-free access to western Europe. I believe that two dominating factors decide the power of a country’s passport. First, how rich is the country? And second, how big is its population?