Taxes

Taxes is simply the price you pay to the country for providing you the infrastructure (roads, police, hospitals, etc) that you use. Tax breaks are no different than a discount to a particular product (e.g. tax refund on taxes you pay when buying a house). This motivates people to do certain activities that are essentially deemed as being good for the country's bottom line (revenue).

If the government and the people looked at taxes the way I have written it as above, the necessary changes to taxes would be so much clearer and more accepted. Further taxing of high income people is silly and can be extremely detrimental. Taxing people who made income by doing activities that are non value add to anyone other than himself (e.g. gambling) or by depending heavily on the infrastructure that the government provides, makes far more sense. Essentially, you are paying the fair price to what you consume. Here is the bottom line, if people were to look at the government as just another management team to a large corporation, their actions would be far clearer and made much more objective. Just a thought...

Toyota's Sudden Acceleration Problem

I have a little bit of a background in safety critical electronics and software design so I thought I would comment on this. Based on my current knowledge (Disclaimer: My knowledge is limited to what I know from news articles), given the condition that this problem is not transient (i.e. once the problem occurs, the problem stays with the vehicle and does not disappear after a power cycle), it is highly unlikely that the root cause is a software or electronic defect. If it was a software design defect, the issue would be permanent and reproducible on any given vehicle (since the software is the same). This is not the case. If it was a electrical EMI issue, it is highly unlikely that the fault would be a permanent fault. Rather, the user would feel a sudden increase in acceleration but then back to normal operation moments later. This is not the case either.

Here is my advice to Toyota engineer's on how to present this case to the public:

1. Be totally transparent.

2. Describe the process by which you use to derive root cause.

3. Provide the statistics and evidence gathered in a succient and understandable form that follows the process described.

4. Show how this evidence supports the root cause hypothesis.

I think if this was displayed in a clear and direct manner, rather than in the form of a mea culpa or obligatory advert (e.g. a Toyota engineer saying that she is confident of the vehicle, blah blah), Toyota would go a long way in reducing the amount of confusion and noise on this topic.

Religon

This is a tough topic but one that I feel I need to provide reasoning around. I have spent a lot of time learning about Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Coming from Malaysia and having lived in three different continents, I have been exposed to Buddhism, Jainism, Orthodox and Judaism. Here is my current state of thinking.

1. It is important to understand how religions came to being. In my opinion, every human being has an innate "need". Refer to Maslow's hierarchy of needs for what an example of "needs" are. One of the key elements to achieve one or more of these "needs" is the presence of a religion that people abide by. Why? Religion offers a common way of thought and decision making and hence a consistent way of actions. Independent of what that means in precise terms, this brings about a sense of predictability around how the environment around us works. This allows for peace, belonging, prosperity and hence achieving the "needs".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

2. Taking away the ritualistic aspects, mythological and historical aspects out of religion leaves us with a set of guiding principles. A moral compass so to speak. This is religion in its truest form that tries to achieve point 1.

So my current conclusion is that all religions are inherently in their truest form good since they are derived from the intent to achieve "needs" that I share. The key is to have an open mind and absorb the religion in its truest form. Be doubtful, be open to questions and always challenge commonly accepted beliefs.

Intent of this Blog

My first blog. The key to any successful blog is to define intent and be consistent with that intent. My intent is prioritized as follows:

1. Describe experiences and thoughts in my life that can be of value to others.

2. Provide a diary of my thoughts as I grow in the years.

3. Provide thoughts and experiences related to my professional activities.