Thursday, April 15, 2010

Classic Craigslist post

Read this classic post from craigslist somewhere.

Post:

What am I doing wrong?


Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful
(spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm articulate and classy.
I'm not from New York. I'm looking to get married to a guy who makes at
least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind
that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't think
I'm overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could
you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around
200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won't get
me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married
to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she's not as pretty as
I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I
get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars,
restaurants, gyms

-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt my
feelings

-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I'm 25)?

- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east
side so plain? I've seen really 'plain jane' boring types who have
nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I've seen drop dead
gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the story
there?

- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment
banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they
hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for
MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults - I'm putting myself out there in an honest
way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I'm being up front
about it. I wouldn't be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn't
able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a
nice home and hearth.

* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or
other commercial interests


ANSWER#1:

Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully
about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.
Firstly, I'm not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your
bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here's how I
see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a
cr@ppy business deal. Here's why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you
suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring
my money. Fine, simple. But here's the rub, your looks will fade and my
money will likely continue into perpetuity...in fact, it is very likely
that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won't
be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning
asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation
accelerates! Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty
hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in
earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!

So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy
and hold...hence the rub...marriage. It doesn't make good business sense
to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease. In case
you think I'm being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were
to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It's
as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So,
I wonder why a girl as "articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful"
as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to
believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K
hasn't found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then
we wouldn't need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you're going about it the right way.
Classic "pump and dump."
I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of
lease, let me know.



Answer#2:

I also came across your posting with great interest. I am a 28 year old Wall Street trader who qualifies as an eligible suitor under your $500k/yr rule. In fact, I make over a million and can usher a woman into a comfortable, true middle class lifestyle (not like those 500k lower-middle class chumps who have to make do with the junior two-bedroom).

I am sympathetic to your goal in finding a rich man to marry. The milk needs to be sold by the expiration date. But since this is premium milk, why would you settle for less than premium prices? I would like to address some of the questions that were previously missed by the other gentleman and provide constructive advice on where to find your match.

I also do believe in the efficient market theory, and am surprised that $500k hasn't found you yet. There are plenty of rich lawyers, investment bankers and hedgies to go around in this city. What gives? I think the problem might be that you have not been sufficiently focused in your search efforts.

The culprit, I believe, may be that you are also looking for qualities aside from money - such as looks, personality, and a sense of humor. However, men who have those qualities learn at an early age that they do not need money to attract quality women. As the saying goes, if you can get the milk for free, why pay up for the cow?

What you need to look for is someone who is long money, and short the other aspects. They are not easy to spot, since you are biologically wired to overlook and ignore them. However, the next time that you are at a expensive black tie event, and you are introduced to the short, bald, overweight man who fidgets nervously whilst making conversation with you, pay special attention to him.

Here's an inspirational story for you. An acquaintance of mine who was also an classy and articulate woman as yourself was able to land that guy - who also happens to be one of the top ten guys at Google. This is the type of stuff that gold-digging moms read to their gold-digging daughters at bedtime. Perhaps you need to make a location change to Silicon Valley - miracles like these happen almost everyday in a land where you can randomly throw a rock and hit a rich nerd squarely in his Kim-jong Il glasses.

And as far as his deficiencies go, they turned out to be not so bad. With hundreds of millions in the bank, she's been able to clean him up and give him a little sophistication. Think of it as a fixer-upper project with a massive budget (and yourself as a visionary real estate developer!). Although, I must warn you, it is a fine line you are flirting with - you must not overdo it lest he begins to attract younger women who are hotter than yourself. The trick is, you need build him up enough to be presentable, while simultaneously manipulate him into believing you are the best that he will ever do! That, botox and having kids will be your insurance against your depreciation (or as I prefer to use the term, milk going sour).

I wish the best of luck on your sales project. As for me, I am also available for a short-term lease. However, for marriage I wouldn't consider a woman unless she can bring beauty, brains and self-motivation to the table. I do not want to dilute my gene pool and end up raising a bunch of Paris Hiltons.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Congo

Lately i got interested in reading about central african countries, especially DRC (Democractic Republic of Congo).

In short, DRC is the 12th biggest country with estimate population of 62 million,(Former Belgium colony got independence in 1960), faced two civil wars in the last decade. Had roughly 120,000km of well-maintained roads,as well as national rail/boat services (on congo river) during the independence, now left with less than 1000 km of road remain. Long story, short DRC is being called "Undeveloping country of world".

Mighty Congo River flows thro the heart of the country(second longest river in africa after Nile, runs over 4,700 km). Tim Butcher, British journalist followed the path the river whole way thus by crossing the country in 2004 describing his experiences in his classic book Blood River. Tim takes journey which most people considered as suicidal journey (because of civil war in the country, for more info please read here and here), following the Legendary H.M.Stanley's epic trans-africa journey.

Honestly, reading Tim's experience was quite depressing,like his experience with toddler and his mom.He explains "I looked at the sickly child and tried to think of another country in the world where a baby born half a century earlier had more chance of surviving than today". Lines like "safest place for a Congolese is the forest" confirms that, DRC is undeveloping. He finishes his journey in Kinshasa and notes,"no capital city in the world more unrepresentative of its country". Tim finishes his book with following "Major lesson I learned on my trek through modern central Africa was that the most valuable asset stolen from the Congo was the sovereignty of its people"

You can read Guardian review here

BBC Reports this today. Quite depressing. God save DRC.




Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Funny Job Application

McDONALDS APPLICATION

This is an actual job application a 17-year-old boy submitted at a McDonald's fast-food establishment in Florida – and they hired him because he was so honest and funny!

NAME: Greg Bulmash

SEX: Not yet. Still waiting for the right person.

DESIRED POSITION: Company's President or Vice President. But seriously, whatever's available. If I were in a position to be picky, I wouldn't be applying here in the first place.

DESIRED SALARY: $185,000 a year plus stock options and a Michael Ovitz style severance package. If that's not possible, make an offer and we can haggle.

EDUCATION: Yes.

LAST POSITION HELD: Target for middle management hostility.

SALARY: Less than I'm worth.

MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes.

REASON FOR LEAVING: It sucked.

HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK: Any.

PREFERRED HOURS: 1:30-3:30 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?: Yes, but they're better suited to a more intimate environment.

MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER?: If I had one, would I be here?

DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 LBS?: Of what?

DO YOU HAVE A CAR?: I think the more appropriate question here would be "Do you have a car that runs?"

HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?: I may already be a winner of the Publishers Clearing house Sweepstakes.

DO YOU SMOKE?: On the job no, on my breaks yes.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS?: Living in the Bahamas with a fabulously wealthy dumb sexy blonde super model who thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, I'd like to be doing that now.

DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE?: Yes – Absolutely.

SIGN HERE: Aries.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Concept of God

Couple of months ago, during a long drive back home, i had a intersting conversation with friends about god (topic of conversation for several centuries).After couple of minutes into the conversion,friends got baffled with my view on god, end up explaining "Agnosticism", difference between Agnosticism and Atheism . Webster defines agnostic as "One who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god". In other words, "one who doesn't really get involved in the arguments on existence of God".

I am neither agnostic nor atheist. In my view, god is a concept, belief, positive energy which drives people. Again god is just a concept. The following quote reflects it more clearly.

If God is nothing more than an intangible concept that motivates our hearts—a synonym for "love" and "kindness"—He is more powerful than I ever imagined as a believer

-- Dr.R. David Lee


Read a excellent article by David Lee couple of days which reflects my view more clearly. It's written by Doctor who lost his faith in god. Author writes "
A world without God? Perhaps all doctors, like me, are one dead baby away from atheism". Couldn't agree more on that.

Again from article,

"I'm not a stupid man—I know how believers and disbelievers would interpret the events of that horrible evening. An atheist would say that Lisa's death didn't destroy my faith, but rather served as a final crack in an already shaky foundation. Believers would tell me that instead of trying to decipher the meaning of death in the cosmic scheme of things, I should just accept that God sometimes permits bad things to happen for reasons beyond our comprehension".

Probably, it's all in the way how you look at things. Again, full article is here . Definitely worth a read.

On the same topic, i like the following scene from Tamil movie "Anbe Sivam".

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Coldest city in the earth

Couple of days ago, here in chicago the temperature dropped down to -31c (about -11F) (feels like temperature). I happened to be outside for couple of hours and it was real pain. After coming back home, i started reading about coldest places in the world. I was shocked to learn about "Yakutsk", coldest city in the world, even by siberian standards. Couple of chiling points about Yakutsk.

  • Temperature drops down to -45c to -55c during the winter (Jan-march).

  • You are warned not to wear eye-glasses when you walk,since when you try to remove it,your flesh will come with the glass.

  • Day-to-day work is happening as usual until drops below -55c (kids can take leave if the temp drops below 55c).

  • Office workers usually leave the car "on" for hours, to avoid car starting problems.

watch the youtube video on a cold night.









Interesing article about yakusk in independent, click here

wikilink for Yakutsk



Monday, December 31, 2007

Uncontacted People

Lately i got interested in reading about uncontacted people (wiki definition: Uncontacted peoples are peoples who, either by choice or chance, live without significant contact with the larger civilizations of the world.) I can't imagine people who don't have any contact with outside world. According to FUNAI (Brazilian National Indian Foundation) brazil part of the amazon forest contains atleast 67 uncontacted tribes, up from 40 in 2005. More tribes are being found as the deforestation increases.

Everybody in one particular tribe is massacred except one male. He is living in the forest all alone (imagine living in forest all alone and everybody you ever know is dead). He is refusing to communicate with outsiders. He hides in the six feet deep holes which he digs, when outsider approaches (known as "Man of the hole"). After British explorers confirmed his existense (video is attached below) brazil government announced 1000 acres reserveration for this lone man.






Atleast three different tribes belived to be living in Andaman Islands and they miraculously survived the 2004 Tsunami.


More info can be found
here

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Tamil Radio Compilation

Ever tired of changing tamil radio channels (or sites) while surfing?. I used to change between more than 10 sites like that. But no longer. My friend compiled a tamil radio playlist (with more than 25 tamil channels).

You can get the downloadable winamp playlist here. http://thekaran.com/blog/?p=33

Simple, just start the playlist and enjoy the day.

Just a Intro

Sitting on my couch, wondering "what's behind this blog?". Couple of my friends asked me to blog the interesting things which i come across. Being a person who surfs the net atleast 10 hrs a day(Thanks to my job title "System admin") , interesting things are plenty to blog.So here i am. Lets see where it goes.