Blog Post #50 - Why Should I press 2 for Spanish ?

Ever wonder why you need to press 2 for Spanish and 1 for English in US when you call any US company's call center ?

Your answer  - it is because we have Latinos and Hispanics - as though it is obvious that both are similar and same and all belong to Mexico.

Ok. Even if you think both Latinos and Hispanics have anything to do with Mexico why are they speaking an European language in the new found land which is not Anglo Saxon.

Yes . I am not sure who named Europe,Asia,Africa,Australia and Antarctica or what they even mean. (Do you know?). But when it comes to 2 continents I know the story and here it is (in my own word,twisting history and fudging facts to come up with an interesting story! - go google and check wikipedia if you don't trust me!) - Amerigo Vespucci who came after Columbus was allowed to name his name for 2 continents while Columbus now just some cities in his name.

Columbus was Italian.
Amerigo Vespucci was Spaniard.

The Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand didn't want an Italian to name 2 Continents where majority of folks will be speaking Spanish.

Think Italian Continent names with Spanish spoken in both!

ok..let me confess the name of the book is

"Don't Know Much About Geography: Everything You Need to Know About the World but Never Learned"

which is where I learnt most of the stuff that I am going to write up in the context of the 2 continents,and about Portuguese and china .

But before that look at this table from Wikipedia ( as of today 12/8/2013)

Rank	Country (or dependent territory)	Population	Date	% of world population	Source
–	World	7,129,300,000	December 8, 2013	100%	USCB's world population clock
1	China[8]	1,361,500,000	December 8, 2013	19.1%	Chinese official population clock
2	India	1,237,430,000	December 8, 2013	17.4%	Indian population clock
3	United States	317,221,000	December 8, 2013	4.45%	Official population clock
4	Indonesia	237,641,326	May 1, 2010	3.33%	2010 census result
5	Brazil	201,032,714	July 1, 2013	2.82%	Official estimate
6	Pakistan	185,009,000	December 8, 2013	2.6%	Official population clock
7	Nigeria	173,615,000	July 1, 2013	2.44%	UN estimate[7]
8	Bangladesh	152,518,015	July 16, 2012	2.14%	Official estimate
9	Russia	143,600,000	October 1, 2013	2.01%	Official estimate
10	Japan	127,290,000	November 1, 2013	1.79%	Monthly official estimate
11	Mexico	118,395,054	July 1, 2013	1.66%	CONAPO Official estimate
12	Philippines	98,783,000	December 8, 2013	1.39%	Official population clock
13	Vietnam	90,388,000	November 1, 2013	1.27%	Official estimate
14	Ethiopia	86,613,986	July 1, 2013	1.21%	Official estimate
15	Egypt	83,661,000	January 1, 2013	1.17%	Official estimate
16	Germany	80,548,000	May 31, 2013	1.13%	Official estimate
17	Iran	77,046,000	December 8, 2013	1.08%	Official population clock
18	Turkey	75,627,384	December 31, 2012	1.06%	Official estimate
19	Democratic Republic of the Congo	67,514,000	July 1, 2013	0.95%	UN estimate
20	Thailand	65,926,261	September 1, 2010	0.92%	2010 census result
21	France[9]	65,834,000	November 1, 2013	0.92%	Monthly official estimate
22	United Kingdom	63,705,000	July 1, 2012	0.89%	Official estimate
23	Italy	59,859,996	June 30, 2013	0.84%	Monthly official estimate
24	Burma	53,259,000	July 1, 2013	0.75%	UN estimate
25	South Africa	52,981,991	July 1, 2013	0.74%	Official estimate
26	South Korea	50,219,669	July 1, 2013	0.7%	Official estimate
27	Colombia	47,362,000	December 8, 2013	0.66%	Official population clock
28	Spain	46,704,314	January 1, 2013	0.66%	Annual official estimate
29	Ukraine	45,455,065	October 1, 2013	0.64%	Monthly official estimate
30	Tanzania	44,928,923	August 26, 2012	0.63%	2012 census result

Are you surprised by where Indonesia, Brazil,Pakistan,Nigeria and Bangladesh are located in the list?

Have you ever also though of religion of these areas 

Answer - India (13.4% Islam),Indonesia,Pakistan,Niger(50% Islam) and Bangladesh that should give you an idea how popular Islam is and growing.


Now let us get back to language - the topic of this blog.

A Small fishing village was able to colonize the largest nation  in South America Brazil . Brazil was under portuguese rule for 300 years . From 1500 to 1822.Let us start with Portugal which not only ruled Brazil but also had Indian States who were forced to speak portuguese - Goa, Daman and Diu . Never would a Brazilian guessed that an Indian will also speak Portuguese.

Lets turn to some other facts

According to http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/populations/ctyareal.htm

you can find the following some interesting facts.
Brazil is the 5th largest country. Larger than Australia and India. We will use Size  not population for now 

	COUNTRY	Population	Land Area (sq km)	Pop density(sq km)	Pop density (Sq Miles)	Pop density(Sq Miles)
1	Russia	143,420,300	17,075,200.00	8.00	6,592,768.87	21.75
2	Canada	32,805,000	9,976,140.00	3.00	3,851,807.61	9.00
3	United States of America	295,734,100	9,629,091.00	30.71	3,717,811.29	79.55
4	China	1,306,313,800	9,596,960.00	136.12	3,705,405.45	352.54
5	Brazil	186,112,800	8,511,965.00	21.86	3,286,486.71	56.63
6	Australia	20,090,400	7,686,850.00	3.00	2,967,908.16	7.00
7	India	1,080,264,400	3,287,590.00	328.59	1,269,345.07	851.04
8	Argentina	39,537,900	2,766,890.00	14.29	1,068,301.76	37.01
9	Kazakhstan	15,185,000	2,717,300.00	6.00	1,049,154.96	14.47
10	Sudan	40,187,500	2,505,810.00	16.04	967,498.25	41.54
11	Algeria	32,531,900	2,381,740.00	13.66	919,594.58	35.38
12	Congo (Dem. Rep. of )	60,085,800	2,345,410.00	25.62	905,567.49	66.35
13	Mexico	106,202,900	1,972,550.00	53.84	761,605.50	139.45
14	Saudi Arabia	26,417,600	1,960,582.00	13.47	756,984.63	34.90
15	Indonesia	241,973,900	1,919,440.00	126.06	741,099.62	326.51
16	Libya	5,765,600	1,759,540.00	3.00	679,361.91	8.00
17	Iran	68,017,900	1,648,000.00	41.27	636,296.10	106.90
18	Mongolia	2,791,300	1,565,000.00	2.00	604,249.63	5.00
19	Peru	27,925,600	1,285,220.00	21.73	496,226.01	56.28
20	Chad	9,826,400	1,284,000.00	8.00	495,754.97	19.82

What does this data show ? You may not have realized size matters. Size does matter if we have resources that can be extracted or used.  People and natural resource can be effectively used and can sustain if the land is usable or can be made productive using technology. Where has China invested billions in the last couple of years? Answer - Africa. Where else has China invested billions - in building ports/. Sri lanka, Greece and even Bahamas . See a theme?1 Billion People speak Chinese Empire building always require ports. We will talk about it later. Again back to language. Over 1 billion people speak Chinese.  The two most common dialects are Mandarin and Cantonese.   My Chinese friends from North of China speak Mandarin and any friend from south or from Hong Kong speaks Cantonese.  Next time when you meet a Chinese ask that person if she speaks Mandarin or Cantonese. Remember Chinese don't speak Chinese.!!! The Great Britain (aka United Kingdom aka England - who can really tell me why we are not able to  understand what this countries name is?) is 76th in the list!

76

UK

60,441,500

244,820.00

246.88

94,525.49

639.42

Yes. That's right - We were taught in India " The sun never sets in British Empire". Some of us many not know the same was true for Spanish Empire and the  French too.

French and Spanish

47 France 60,656,200 547,030.00           110.88 211,209.38            287.19 48 Yemen 20,727,100 527,970.00              39.26 203,850.27            101.68 49 Thailand 65,444,400 514,000.00           127.32 198,456.43            329.77 50 Spain 40,341,500 504,782.00              79.92 194,897.34            206.99 51 Turkmenistan 4,952,100 488,100.00              10.15 188,456.39              26.28

Some Africans Nations speak French - Ivory Coast

Some Indian states can speak French - Pondicherry

In Canada the state of Quebec speak French.

21 African countries that speak French: 1. Democratic Republic of the Congo 2. Madagascar 3. Cameroon 4. Côte d'Ivoire 5. Burkina Faso 6. Niger 7. Senegal 8. Mali 9. Rwanda 10.Guinea 11. Chad 12. Burundi 13. Benin 14. Togo 15. Central African Republic 16. Republic of the Congo 17. Gabon 18. Comoros 19. Equatorial Guinea 20. Djibouti 21. Seychelles Furthermore,there are 6 African countries were French is not official, but widely used: 1. Morocco 2. Algeria 3. Tunisia 5. Mauritania 6. Mauritius (according to answers.com)

In USA New orleans has its french quarters and french culture.

While my wife and I can speak great french ( I included great because her french is great and while  is bad .. and we travelled in France they said this couple can speak great French as Great + bad = Great!) folks in Pondicherry might not know that canadians,some africans and Americans will speak french!.



Spanish is not just spoken in USA but also... (I have heard more spanish than in USA than any other country I have been - So far i have been in 13 and that list doesn't include Spain  -the world is what I witness and learn and not what are mere facts) 

It is a complex world when you look at where and how many people speak English.

Raised in South of India as a tamilian Language has always been sensitive issue for me. 
The issue of Tamil Elam and LTTE has always been part of growing up where every day news paper was about state of Tamil Nadu and its support for Tamilians while India as a country took a different stand based on political climate.

Liberation Tamil Tigers for fought for Tamil Eelam . As far as the fight was concerned it was officially put to an sri lankan government with help from Chinese (now read the beginning of the post about the port and why Sri Lanka allowed Chinese to become a Blue water Navy!!)  . Again this is a conspiracy theory - not sure how true.

The other issue is that of Hindi. Tamil nadu never accepted Hindi as official language of India while Tamilians from then to today love to watch hindi movies and songs.. from Sholay to Chennai Express while still the perception is that Hindi is not to be accepted as Indian official language. 

Here is something I learnt

Check any countries currency and you will know the officially recognized language.

Example  - Singapore currency has all its 4 official languages 

Malay,Mandarin (note not chinese not Cantonese) ,Tamil and English.

Now look at the indian currency and what do you see?

I could count 15 languages (13 in the list + Hindi + English)

Ask an Indian What is the official language of India?

Hindi - Yes? English - Yes?
What about Telugu? - The language most spoken in India other than Hindi is Telegu if you didn't know that fact.

Now let us take a look a US. While majority of Indians in US can Speak hindi or Telugu or Tamil most of us wait for our children to become proficient in Spanish.

Is Spanish an official language in US? All of Corporate America believes so. 


During World War 2 there were posters like the following

There is a myth 
 “In 1776, German came within one vote of becoming America's official language instead of English.”

So When I hear comments like he got a southern accent I think I have a Victorian accent. The British ruled us , taught all colonies English .

Americans were smart to make it American.

Other Colonies remained with Victorian English and the British changed theirs to British (whatever that means but I can tell you when I spoke in London they spoke differently.. colonial Victorian -mine vs. British - theirs).

Living in Texas and going to Fredericksburg and celebrating oktoberfest I think Texas can should German and Spanish as its official language.

Final Thought --

Whenever I go to a restaurant I look for appetites and remember my grandfather.  

Born in 1908 Under the colonial rule he was a teacher and a famer. Being well versed in English and Tamil he used to tell me that the British could never say Milagu Rasam.
Milagu = Pepper
Rasam = Soup (with lentils , tomato/tamarind.. primarily made as a dish to mix with rice)

Also the British in Tamil Nadu loved this dish but didn't like to mix with Rice .
They preferred this to be served in a soup bowl and christened a new name
Miladuthanisoup

Thani - here is Thanni the word for water in Tamil as Rasam was usually a dish with most water.

So Rasam became Thani Soup which is now finally called 
Mulligatawny.

Next time when you see Mulligatawny soup remember it is simply pepper water in Tamil and enjoy the tasty pepper preparation which is aptly in the appetizer category

Happy Learning
Sivakumar Manikanteswaran

Blog Post #49- When will I be able to drop my kids to school using Drones? - sooner than you think...

This thanksgiving I heard that some one bought a drone and was playing around with his son.

In the past I was reading about drones used by US Military (and CIA) but also Pizza and news paper delivery drones in Europe.

What caught my attention was 2 different news

Amazon has been working on Drone delivery system for Prime customers. If FAA approves in 2015 or 2016 you will get your 'package' delivered in 30 min by these Drones.

Amazon Prime Air 

Wow. 

I will order my stuff and in 30min the drone will drop it! I will pick it up and use it.

I love this concept.

While this use of drones was making me create a bigger wish list in Amazon 
"Drones used to try to smuggle contraband into jail"

What?
Check this news

The Jail Inmates need stuff too and Drones  are here to help. Attempts in Calhoun state prison, Georgia and Gatineau jail in Quebec ,Canada are documented by bbc.

So the central question to me when I woke up yesterday was -

It is 7:30 am. My son needs to be in school at 7:45.

I don't want him to get Tardy. 

Can I use one of these drones to drop him off?

We need to wait and watch! Imagine children literally dropped off in school from sky!

I love technology and the possibilities!

Keep Learning

Sivakumar Manikanteswaran

Blog Post #48- Who was Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu? Why did she get a noble prize as an Indian Citizen?

Growing up in India we had a special text book (moral science) in my 6th or 7th Grade Tamil about the most amazing lady that I never realized will always be inspirational to entire world and myself.

The educational department in Tamil Nadu (the state I was born in India) decided to add her story in Tamil and her struggles.

The version found written on the wall in her charity home.

              People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

            If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

            If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

           If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

            What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

            If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

            The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

         Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

         In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

I recommend reading this book 

Anyway, The Paradoxical Commandments: Finding Personal Meaning in a Crazy World

which has the original version and comments by the author. 

Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu is the real name of Mother Terasa who liked the following paradoxical commandments and had the above modified version of the following passage as a poster in her wall.

The Paradoxical Commandments

by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.



As one of the greatest person who ever walked the earth and I always loved her philosophy which I Understand in the following way

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

There you go - Mother Teresa's Practical suggestion to change the world. Don't try to help 1 million people . Just help 1. 

I also love the following Philosophy- She would never attend a rally which is anti-war or anti-abortion. 

She advocated attending pro-peace or pro-life.

Look at the subtle difference. She would not support any concept that relates to Negativity. 

Always supporting positive spin.

As a citizen of Macedonia  (she was born in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia ) she decided to come to India and never saw her mom and sister again.(according to wikipedia - if it is there it must be true!)

She got the highest award from Indian government - Bharat Ratna. Respected by Vatican, revered by the world and won Nobel prize for Peace as an Indian citizen (she renounced her Macedonia citizenship).

I wonder if this is what we hindus (and buddhist) call Fate?

A person from Europe coming to India to help the needy while inspiring generations of people to come after her.

There has been some controversy over her sainthood and the letters she wrote to Vatican where she expressed doubts about Jesus and God.

I don't care much about those 2. Whether a Saint or not, Whether she doubted God or Jesus according to me she is the best example of how a person served people in need with little to no support.

The following is a story I have heard - she asked donation by extending her hand to a shop keeper in Calcutta and he spit on her hand.

She allegedly said - Thanks for giving me what you wanted to give me. Now , please give some money for the most needy people I want to help.


God Bless

Sivakumar Manikanteswaran

Blog Post #47 - Einstein's letter changed the world - Really?

Very rarely do we see pictures of Einstein like the one below.

Cool Nerd in Indian Costume . 

I love this quote

If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.

Einstein didn't shut his mouth when it was time to act /write..

Here are some facts on how he changed our world.

He wrote a letter to FDR - the then president of USA urging him to create a nuclear bomb - Do you beleive it?

Einstein writes this letter because 

1.  He was urged to write by Fermi and Szilard  that enriching uranium was possible and can be used for bombs
2.Germany was ahead in developing the nuclear bomb.
3. Uranium ore was not available in large quantities and Germany stopped selling Uranium from occupied Czechoslovakia mines
4. He was a pacifist opposed to war but didn't want Germany to posses the weapon
5. He has a nice way of writing this letter which talks about status of research,the materials needed and how to setup a commission and execute. 
Wow

Execution Einstein style

Have you ever thought Einstein as a Vice President or CEO explaining how to form a committe

In view of the situation you may think it desirable to have more
permanent contact maintained between the Administration and the group
of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One possible way
of achieving this might be for you to entrust with this task a person
who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an inofficial
capacity. His task might comprise the following:

a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the
further development, and put forward recommendations for Government action,
giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of uran-
ium ore for the United States;

b) to speed up the experimental work,which is at present being car-
ried on within the limits of the budgets of University laboratories, by
providing funds, if such funds be required, through his contacts with y
private persons who are willing to make contributions for this cause,
and perhaps also by obtaining the co-operation of industrial laboratories
which have the necessary equipment.

Wow. 

If you didn't know here are 2 additional facts you may not have known about Einstein

1. He loved Violin. It is said that in one instance he spent 30min to help the other person understand and appreciate violin and classical music before a private concert in a villa. He took that person to study room played music and explained notes. 

2. He was offered First President of Israel which he declined to accept

More on Einstein later.. for now.. remember if the letter was not written America may not have formed the Manhattan District on time. 

Even thought it is said FDR didn't authorize the initiative right away and the project got started only after Pearl Harbor this letter is still important.

The letter was written on Aug 2 1939.

The US effort to build the bomb was started on Dec 8 1941 - a day after Pearl Harbor attack Dec 7 1941.

Einstein was named the person of the century (beating both Gandhi and FDR) in the Time magazine's list.

Do you know where we use E= mc2?

1. Carbon dating - determine age of organic materials based on c14. Nobel prize was won by Willard Libby 

2. PET  - positron emission tomography scans

A PET scan uses a small amount of radioactive material (tracer). The  tracer is given through a vein (IV), most often on the inside of your elbow. The tracer travels through your blood and collects in organs and tissues. This helps the radiologist see certain areas of concern more clearly.

You will need to wait nearby as the tracer is absorbed by your body. This takes about 1 hour.

Then, you will lie on a narrow table that slides into a large tunnel-shaped scanner. The PET picks up detects signals from the tracer. A computer changes the signals into 3-D pictures. The images are displayed on a monitor for your doctor to read.

Happy Learning

Sivakumar Manikanteswaran