Graduation Pics

  

More Graduation Pics

  

Our Graduation Reception

 

A few Baha'is graduated at the same time, so we decided to have a joint graduation reception. Here's us cutting the cake. 

The Stata Center

  

One final shot of the place I used to work.

  
A poster I designed for devotions this Sunday!

An Evening with Noam Chomsky

I've been studying at MIT for 3 years, but until last night I had never seen Noam Chomsky. Last night, my class had a private question and answer dinner with him. For those that don't know who he is the:

• Most cited person in the world that is still living.
  
• The person who single handedly invented the field of linguistics, and the theory used by computers to understand computer languages
  
• A well known political dissident -- especially of US foreign policy.

A lot of people hate him; while even more people see him as a hero. I recall listening to a debate on NPR between a supporter and a detractor of Israel. The pro-Israel debater kept responding to charges in Chomsky's book leading the other debater to say:

You keep quoting Chomsky.
Why are you quoting Chomsky?
He's not here.
*I* am here.

Such is the power of Chomsky: Love him or hate him; you simply can't ignore him.

At this evening, there was no planned agenda; just a night of questions from my classmates who had crowded into a tiny room. It was easily the most well attended event our class's society had organized all year -- because people like me, came out of their thesis cubby holes to see it. What surprised me was how mild mannered his voice was.

I gave him a copy of Hatcher's Love, Power and Justice, and Foad Katirai's "Global Governance and the Lesser Peace" and was excited by an invitation to "come by sometime" to his office to talk more about the books.

How to predict divorce with more than 94% accuracy

John Gottman, has created a model that can predict whether a couple will divorce with 94% accuracy. I first heard about it at an Association for Bahai Studies conference in Toronto.

The model was created by studying more than 700 couples for more than a decade.

To apply model, Gottman videotapes a couple discussing a contentious issue for 15 minutes. A team then reviews the tape to identify all instances of pre-specified positive and negative behaviors.

For example, the introduction of humor during a tense moment, is given a score of +4, while the rolling of the eyes is given a score of -4. A nod, to acknowledge the other person's point is given a score of +1.

If the ratio of positive to negative scores isn't at least 5:1, the couple is predicted to divorce.

He has produced a number of interesting books accessible to the public including Why Some Marriages Succeed while Others Fail.

Movies that Matter: Trading Races

  

Our latest Baha'i club event.

The Doctor is In

Sorry I've been incognito for a while -- I'm in the whirlwind of exams, finals, projects, and job interviews -- all the activities you go through when finishing school. But I had to poke my head out of hibernation to talk about this new find: A band called Tree Wave.

They make innovative music using obsolete computer equipment (including a Commodore 64 and a Dot Matrix printer) and female vocals. But before you dismiss the band's concept as too out there to possibly be any good, give them a listen. In the words of one reviewer

"...it isn't the bleep and bloop-fest you might expect, it is really quite lush...."

and another

"...they make remarkably sublime music...strangely beautiful, but definitely warm inside...."

The guy takes advantage of an analog synth built in to a Commodore 64 -- who would have thought! Here's a link to some of their songs.

World's first undersea restaurant

Babzi mentions the Hilton Maldives Resort on Rangali Island, this restaurant claims to be the first with an underwater view -- about 5 metres below the Indian Ocean. You can read more about it here.

At the beach at 4am

A few weekends ago, I experienced my first Beverely Hills wedding. There I met tons of cousins I never knew I had. It was kind of funny because I took a look at the map my parents were using to drive to an afterparty. The address? In Beverely Hills, 90210 :) This picture was taken after the party, when one of the locals took us to the town then to the beach.

 

At the beach in Santa Monica, 4am in the morning :) 

Whitewater Rafting

In Seattle, people seem to enjoy nature more often -- by going on hikes, camping, etc. This weekend I went whitewater rafting with some friends from Microsoft. Shown below is a 14 foot drop at one part of the journey. I'm the guy on left in the front row. 

 

 

 

Today, my team at Microsoft took the day off, to volunteer as laborers at Habitat for Humanity -- a charity that helps build homes for the homeless. We've just arrived at the construction site, waiting to be assigned our tasks. 

Damn. This is what I call "a hike." 

Another shot from the hiking trip 

I snapped this shot during a recent hike. 

You got to do what you love

Steve Jobs, gave an inspirational commencement address at Stanford.

This blog was cited in alumni newsletter

This appeared in this month's MIT Alumni Association newsletter

"Full of photos of everything from transparent concrete to lights attached to bicycle spokes, notes on how to hack a Pepsi bottle, and thoughts from a negotiation class called Playing to Win vs. Playing Not to Lose, engineering systems division graduate student Hooman Katirai offers a humorous and insightful look at life in his blog, Treadmill to Infinity."

Thought of the Day: On Taking Risks

"Looking back in 20 years, you are less likely to regret the risks you took now, than those risks you did not take."
-Author Unknown

Playing to Win vs. Playing Not to Lose

I realized in negotiation class today that some people play to win, while others play "not to lose."

To use a baseball analogy, people who "play to win," feel comfortable walking a batter to load the bases. They are fine with trusting people and taking some calculated risks if it increases their chances of winning.

On the other hand, people who "play not to lose," are driven by their fear of getting hurt. They seek to protect themselves at all costs. They are very hesitant to trust other people and are pre-occupied with avoiding risks.

Of course, there is a spectrum between these two extremes. But my life philosophy is that a strategy solely focused on "playing not to lose" isn't very effective.

Years ago my father told me to "never do business with people you don't trust, because in the end you will always lose." No matter how comprehensive your contract, no matter how airtight your patent, they will find a way around it.

If you find yourself emphasizing the "playing not to lose" mode of thinking when crafting a partnership, ask yourself "am I dealing with people I don't trust?"

An obsession with protecting oneself from harm doesn't serve to create anything of value. It's what can be termed a "negative" strategy, because it is focused on what you "don't want to happen."

If you are to truly benefit from the what a partnership can bring, you need to also foster a culture of co-operation that make partnerships work and to clarify the benefits of the partnership both to yourself and your partners. This is a "positive strategy" insofar as it focusea on what "you want to happen."

Lacking a positive strategy, you are basically assuming your partnership will fail.

So the optimal solution seems to be the middle road: (1) introduce safeguards into your agreements but (2) Develop a vision of a successful partnership and (3) clarify and publicize both for yourself, your partners, and employees, the benefits of the partnership and (4) to maximize the chance of success, find ways to allow people at all levels in both organizations to foster strong working relationships.

Transparent Concrete

While waiting to meet someone in the library, I browsed Domus (an amazing Italian Designer magazine), and noticed they had an article on transparent concrete. They were trying to figure out how to use the new medium. One of their pictures was very beautiful. The picture below, is not as beautiful as the one I saw. But it should give you an idea of this new medium.

Bicycle Lights that can display computer generated patterns!

Attach this to a spinning bicycle wheel,



and you get this:



A blue version:



the thing can even connect to a palm pilot to display custom text:



Hokey Spokes are unique bicycle safety lights that allow riders to display computer generated images while riding at night.

I wouldn't want to be seen riding with these lights, but they are pretty remarkable.

I found this while browsing Cool Neon's store.
Speaking of which, Cool Neon sells plastic wires that glow when connected to a power source. You can make some pretty funky stuff using this wire; for instance, check this "modded case" out:



Some of my friends created interesting halloween costumes using Cool Wire. Speaking of which I'm trying to find an excuse to use some too -- it's only $1.00 per foot on sale and it lasts 800 to 3000 hours.

Nice way of putting it

I love how this guy describes the Adobe-Macromedia merger:

In the classic 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film, "Blow-Up," the protagonist is at a small rock concert where pandemonium breaks out as the lead guitarist throws his guitar into the audience -- putting it up for grabs.

A fight ensues. Somehow, the protagonist ends up with the guitar and scoots into the street chased by an angry mob -- all demanding the instrument. Soon he looks back and the mob is gone. He looks at the guitar one last time, then throws it into the trash.

Dorri's Birthday

Tonight, the MIT Baha'i club and some friends celebrated Dorri Ziai's birthday. Finally: an excuse to buy one of those layered scents!

The "invent your scent" kit we bought for Dorri. It has 12 scents that can be blended to produce interesting combinations. The book details some combinations for beginners who may be unsure of which scents will clash with each other. 

The guys at Dorri's party 

Dorri & Norah at Dorri's B-day party 

Boston Marathon

At 109 years old, the Boston Marathon is the oldest and most well-known North American marathon. What amazes me, is how it matter-of-factly swings through streets in my little neighborhood. People crowd the sidelines along the entire route to cheer the runners on. Every time a runner passed the crowd would applause and goad the runners on by saying things like "Yeah! you can do it! Good job!" This picture was taken a mile before the finish line. 

Marathon pics

Emmanuel and I at the Marathon (on Commonwealth Ave) 

Thought of the day: On Leadership

Most people want to here the truth even if it is unpalatable
-Susan Scott

Pepsi bottles ... hacked!

While at the campus convenience store I noticed one guy carefully examining Pepsi bottles. I realized he was trying to figure out which bottles would let him win a free song (Pepsi is running a promotion where 1 in 3 bottles contains a code that will let you download one free song from Apple's iTunes music store).

"Can you actually figure out which ones have a free song?" I asked him.

"Sure" he says,

"it's easy! -- Just tip the bottle, and look from the bottom to read the bottle cap. If it says 'sorry try again,' your outta luck but if you can't make out what it's saying, it's probably the random code you have to type in to get a free song -- In fact, here's a winning bottle" he says as hands me bottle before walking off.

But the bottle he gave me was of the "diet" variety, so I had to find my own winning bottle. I tried what he said and to my amazement it worked! In about 10 seconds, I too walked off with a winning bottle. Now I'm off to pick my free song.

I was the only person who fired their employee

Ah well. We had a negotiation simulation in my power & negotiation class. The situation: you are an employer, and your best manager asks to go to a weeklong conference in San Diego.

One day, you need some sales data, and you use your master key to open up your manager's office. You get the data you need from a binder and needing a piece of scrap paper but not wanting to use paper from their office, you grab a piece of paper from their wastebasket and write on the other side the figures you need.

Your pen jams, and for some reason you turn the sheet over. You discover a note in your employees handwriting to one of their friends. It gives the clear impression that the employee intends to skip every day of the conference, and to use the company expense account while spending the week scuba diving and wind surfing with a friend.

In other words, the conference trip amounts to a "de-facto vacation." Moreover, it was strange that they signed up for the conference in the first place because the conference didn't seem well aligned with the company's goals or even the employees expertise.

You are now in the performance review. The employee has previously complained that the company vacation policy was skewed towards more senior employees.
In my simulation, I focused on the fact that fraud had occured -- and that my trust had been violated. I used the following framework:

0. I told the employee he was my best manager -- which was actually a true fact. Then I told him "but that's why it breaks my heart to hear these allegations."

1. Get a truthful explanation -- when confronted with what your what you know about the trip does the employee deny it? Are they genuinely remorseful?

2. Solve the problem -- As a senior manager with a fiduciary duty to the company, I decided to cancel the trip to the conference. It was clear from the case study that the conference was of no benefit to the company and was merely a front for the vacation.

3. Prevent the problem from occuring again and explain the natural consequences of continuing this behavior -- let the employee know that they are on the edge of being fired and if someone like this happens again -- trust will degrade even further resulting in their firing.

4. Get some action to occur that will rebuild trust -- Since the problem as I saw it was a degradation in trust, the solution would have to focus on rebuilding trust. I didn't want to monitor the employee. I wanted to trust them, but We couldn't just repair the situation using words alone. I needed to see some kind of action.

It turned out the employee continued to justify their actions in stage 4, by saying I needed to understand he didn't get enough vacation time. He could have gone to jail for what he had done, yet he was justifying his actions.

I fired him and I was the only person in the class that did this. I felt like I failed in the negotiation by not turning things around, but what was I supposed to do when an employee commits fraud, and is not genuinely sorry they did it? Can you trust that they won't do something highly unethical again?

Strangely half the groups in the class let the employee continue to go the conference so long as the employee gave a presentation when they returned on what they had learned -- to force the employee to show up to the conference. I think this was a cowardly thing to do and I don't think the shareholders would like to spend money on a conference that is unlikely to benefit the company.

I hung out with a friend last night who had been the general manager of one Microsoft's divisions. Since that time he has been the CEO of a number of technology companies. He told me he would have unquestionably fired the person. The fact that they were you "best employee" indicated to him that the person was experienced and that he should have known better.

Having him agree with me made me feel better, but I can't help wondering if there is something to learn from what my negotiation instructor is trying to teach me. Is there really a way to turn things around when a violation of trust of this magnitude has occurred? My negotiation instructor suggested I tell the employee "the fact that you are continuing to justify what you've done gives me less confidence that something like this will not be repeated in the future. You are on the edge." He also suggested giving the employee a paid day off to think about "what we talked about" and to "construct a plan to rebuild trust."

Movie about time travel

An Emerson student put up a short documentary on Time Travel (quicktime viewer required) on studentfilms.com. I enjoyed the film. Perhaps you will too.

One of my favorite quotes from a speech by Dr. Arbab -- a Baha'i, and a member of an International Baha'i Body that governs Baha'i affairs:

One of the greatest powers seeded in the depths of the human soul is attraction to beauty ... At one level, attraction to
beauty manifests itself in an individual’s impulse to fashion beauty through the visual arts, music, and crafts, and the pleasure he or she derives from beholding the fruits of these creative endeavors. It motivates search for order, meaning and balance, and creates drive for excellence. At another level it makes obedience a most joyous act, a response to Bahá’u’lláh’s exhortation: “Observe My commandments for the love of My beauty.”
How else is the ardent lover of Bahá’u’lláh to understand the mystery of sacrifice, to persist, and to overcome the formidable difficulties that inevitably arise in the path of service to His Cause?

Wow.. I never thought of the the quest for excellence to a search for beauty ..

Layered Scents

One thing I noticed while I was in Canada was the emerging fad of "layered scents." Instead of buying a perfume or cologne, you buy 12 or so mini bottles, and mix and match them. Similar to the way different colors clash, you then need to learn which scents clash, and which ones harmonize.

Here's some links:

Fresh.com -- I wonder what their pomogrante-anise smell like?
Body' Shop's Invent-A-Scent kit
Susanne Lang -- the big mama of this fad with 90 scents.

Back in Boston

One of the things I love about student tickets is that you can buy your ticket and fly on the same day -- without penalty! I actually bought my ticket to Toronto, on the cab on the way to the airport!