Pertinent Observations

So it has been confirmed that the chap responsible for the massacre at Virginia Tech is a chink. Korean to be precise. And he did this after a fight with his girlfriend.

Chinks are an immoral lot, I say. First they have girlfriends, which goes against our rich culture. Second, girlfriends have the gall to ditch their boyfriends. Again thoroughly unacceptable. And last but not the least, the spurned boyfriend kills not just his girlfriend but also some 30 other innocent harmless people.

The response to this should be harsh. The least that the US government should do is to ban all chinks from studying in the US. Nothing less. These chinks will snuff out whatever morals are now left with the American kids. Down with the chinks.

If this were in our India, our government would’ve banned all foreign students from Indian campuses. And maybe given Arunachal to the Chinks. No way we would’ve tolerated such alien culture here. I sincerely hope the US government does something about it.

Update

Minal Panchal, one of the people killed in the Virginia Tech massacre, has an orkut profile. Check out her scrapbook. Has all sorts of people offering condolences. God bless them!

Yet another update

Now, there is an orkut community dedicated to the chink. I’m sure orkut will be banned in south korea soon.

PS: Just had this one doubt. Are Koreans included in “chink” (in the american context; not indian where “chink” refers to northeasterners)? Else, what are they called?

For the uninitiated, the inter-state Twenty20 is being played out in Bombay and Ahmedabad now. And given India’s early exit from the world cup, all the national team players (whose states are still in contention) are playing. After the BCCI’s stern steps a week ago, no one seems to be taking chances.

And the tournament is throwing up some excellent fare, such as this game. Such a pity that it isn’t being telecast!

Update

I learn that Neo Sports still has the rights to telecast it, but given that they have already telecast the minimum of 74 days of domestic cricket they are under no obligation to telecast it. Hence they are not showing it!

Such fools! With a little publicity, they could’ve minted millions from showing this. Tell me this – would you rather watch a dead rubber between Sri Lanka and Australia or a twenty over slogfest between Bombay and TN with Sachin taking on Yo and Dinesh Karthik taking on Zaheer and Agarkar!

A wonderful opportunity missed for a number of people!??

The Karnataka State government, as part of this year?s budget, has decided to impose a 8% luxury tax on hospitals. Specifically, hospital rooms with a rent exceeding Rs. 1000 per day would be taxed at 8%.

Excellent move, I say. From a revenue management point of view, at least. For one, this tax attacks only the inelastic part of the curve. To put it in English, a small increase in price doesn?t decrease ?quantity? at these price points.

Secondly, the tax is not too much, which means that the increase in cost is only marginal, and hence the principles of elasticity apply. To recall, elasticity is defined as the change in quantity consumed to a SMALL change in price. 8% is definitely a SMALL change, and won?t have any impact on the ?consumption?.

Thirdly, the tax spares the lower end of the price curve, which is both inelastic and also affects the poor and lower middle class (no, I?m not using the phrase ?common man? to describe them). Having included them into the tax net would have been a political disaster, and also touched a very elastic part of the curve.

And fourthly, and most importantly, the scope of this tax is significant enough to have a significant impact on the government?s revenues.

Kudos to Yediyurappa, and hoping he sticks to this kind of work rather than wasting time, energy and money on ?moral issues? such as lotteries or jackpots.

Here is an article about how the ICC’s efforts to make as much money as possible and paranoia about ambush marketing has culturally destroyed the World Cup. Written by a chap called Mohan, a Trinidadian who volunteered for the World Cup. Excellent piece.

One thing, however, I don’t understand. Game in and game out I see empty stands. And am told by commentators that it is because the tickets are too highly priced. Question is haven’t the organizers heard of Revenue Management? Don’t they realize that most of the costs (facilities at the ground, organization, etc.) are fixed, and that the marginal cost of an additional spectator is minimal? (In fact, zero until the ground is full) And that they have only something to gain by lowering gate prices?

It is likely that the cricket audience in west indies is highly elastic, meaning if the ticket prices are reduced, the corresponding increase in volumes will more than make up for the reduced margins – a clear case for reduction of ticket prices.

On a related note, Mohan talks about the exorbitant prices for food and water inside the stadium, and how hence no one is able to buy them (also, food and water from outside are not allowed). Don’t these guys (the vendors) understand that the money they paid for hte concession is a fixed cost? And that lowering the prices for food and water will fetch much more in revenues?

Coming back to pricing of tickets, the ICC might justify the high prices saying that an event such as the World Cup will have so much demand and so forth. However, what prevents the organizers from offering spot discounts? Say three days before the match, only half the tickets are sold. Slash the prices and publicize it. And keep reducing prices further till you sell them all (maybe even throwing the gates open during the game)

Cricket needs its audience. It needs the mexican waves and the shouts and the hoots and the drums. It needs all the noise, and the passion and the cheers. If only ICC realized that and priced appropriately!??

So I checked and rechecked and rechecked and checked, and convinced myself that there is no mistake in my model. And in a series of? (i think) carefully drafted emails, communicated that to my bosses – that the mistake was not in my part.

The initial reaction was that of disbelief, and they suggested some minor changes and asked me to implement them. That done, and checked, and there is still no mistake in my model. And have communicated the same to the powers-that-are.

By telling the bosses that the mistake is not in my part, I have essentially challenged some assumptions in the industry. For over five years, my bosses have believed that the major error in the model lies here. I’ve told them that the bigger error lies there. There is an error here also, but correcting that is of no use unless we improve stuff there. And they are not willing to believe that. They think there is perfect. And have even stopped thinking about that. I think otherwise.

Guess I’m in for a tough time at work in the next few days…?? ??

A colleague from my previous job writes

Life has consisted mostly of work; and a lot of traveling ? airport, car, (conference room, hotel)^n car, airport, and sustained high pressure on indefinite loop. The problem is, I think I?m beginning to get a kick out of the consultant lifestyle and there?s a certain element of enjoyment now. Call it the corporate Stockholm syndrome, if you will, but that is how things are beginning to shape up.

Interesting stuff!?? I mean – the description of love for that job as Stockholm syndrome is interesting (not the lifestyle!).