Economic Stimulus: How to spend $447 Billion U.S. Dollars
Since apparently all I can do good lately is just adding up numbers, let’s look at some figures on economic stimulus. Cutting to the chase, here is a chart illustrating the funds for the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” a.k.a Bank Bailout (Bush era) and the “American Jobs Act” (Obama Era)… That is a […]
Indian Public Toilets: Another funny ‘Living in India’ story
During a trip to the mountains in India, I recalled the interesting concept of “price bundling” when I needed to use the Indian public toilets. I couldn’t help wondering how could I have possibly got all my marketing wrong at school? As a Mexican, I thought how easy it could be to cheat by going […]
Terrorism in India and the Drug “War” in Mexico
Due to the situation in Mexico with the drug cartel’s war, I developed a bad habit of comparing terrorism deaths between countries, in this case, India. This kind of unfortunate events help me dimension the magnitude of the problem in my country, just to realize the situation in México is so delicate. Looking at a […]
Why the drug conflict in México is NOT a WAR
The most broadly used slogan to refer to the campaign against crime in México is “Lucha Anti Narco”, which literally means “Fight Against Mafia”. Why is the drug conflict in México not really a war? Well, because if you look in a dictionary, the most common meanings you will find are the following… War (wôr) […]
Negotiating Cleaning Services in India
Having cleaning services is very common here in India, like a maid or a cook… or both, it is quite affordable. It is also true that people from Monterrey (my hometown in Mexico) are said to be cheap. But in my defense, I don´t see why I should have someone over to clean twice a […]
An eye for an eye… or two: Comparing death tolls
As of April 2011, the number of estimated deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan including military and civilians almost doubled the casualties of the 9/11 attacks. But to be fair, 19 of these last ones were hijackers, so I’m thinking Americans would agree they can burn in hell. Assumptions: – Osama Bin Laded was actually the […]
St. Valentine’s: The story behind the tradition of February 14th
Where does the tradition of St. Valentine’s comes from? It is interesting to start saying that in 1969 there was a revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, from which St. Valentine was removed by Pope Paul VI. Although Valentine (Valentinus in Latin) is the name of al least three saints or priests in […]