National Day Celebrations 2009 at Champ de Mars

Some Anecdotes:

Hobbies and Interest (In a CV)

I like to enjoy doing X, Y, Z which forms part of the Mauritian Culture…

Another One:

In the HRM class, when starting the new chapter on Corporate Culture:

What is Mauritian Culture?
And then we have different answers from students:

• eating dhollpuri
• being lazy at work (not willing to work on sunday for eg.)
• being courteous
• enjoying Mauritian Sega
• having a preference for Mine Appollo, Achard, Cheddar Cheese and Tropical Fruits
• without forgetting the typical Mauritian Cuisine: Du riz blanc, rougaille, bouillon, brede and sachini pomme de terre
• having long queues at public utilities for bill payments since we don’t have computerised systems
• slow internet connection
• sending mauritian gifts on Facebook
• sharing tips when Telecommunication companies put promotions (Emtel/ Orange)
• la mer, beautiful fun
• freedom of speech in Mauritius
• Mauritians – kozer ki boukoup, agir moins
• Chauffeur Mauriciens
• solidaritE Mauriciens (no need to take rendez-vous before going at your relatives place) -
• Mauritianism – Jeux des Iles 1984 for eg.
• Kreol Maurisien
• Mauricien kone ” Tracer”
• Mauricien “bater bis”
• ban dialogues mauriciens ” ki position my army, eye husband Good, Big Weight”

Here is a blog post of mine on Culture whilst doing the Sociology module. From Wikipedia’s page of Culture of Mauritius, we can read:

Mauritian Literature:

While Kreol Morisyen (Mauritian Creole) is the most spoken language on in Mauritius, most of the literature is written in French, although many authors write in English, Bhojpuri, and Morisyen (Mauritian Creole), and others such as Abhimanyu Unnuth in Hindi. Mauritius’s renowned playwright Dev Virahsawmy writes exclusively in Morisyen.

Important authors include Malcolm de Chazal, Ananda Devi, Raymond Chasle, Loys Masson, Marcel Cabon, and Edouard Maunick.^{[citation needed]} Lindsey Collen has been able to carve out a meeting of imaginaries in the unique social setup of this multi-faceted country. Other younger writers like Shenaz Patel, Amal Sewtohul, Natacha Appanah, Alain Gordon-Gentil and Carl de Souza explore the issues of ethnicity, superstition and politics in the novel. Poet and critic Khal Torabully has put forward the concept of “coolitude,” a poetics that results from the blend of Indian and Mauritian cultural diversity. Other poets include Hassam Wachill, Edouard Maunick, Sedley Assone, Yusuf Kadel and Umar Timol.

The island plays host to the covetable Le Prince Maurice Prize, a literary award celebrating and recognizing ‘writers of the heart’. The award is designed to highlight the literary love story in all its forms rather than for pure Romantic Fiction. In keeping with the island’s literary culture the prize alternates on a yearly basis between English-speaking and French-speaking writers.

I have sometimes blogged on Mauritian Theatre, the web content which is a bit scarce.

Finally another anecdote:

Whilst at University, a classmate friend of mine asked:

“Are you Proud to be a Mauritian?”

For me, it was a stupid question on behalf of a Mauritian friend. I wonder if he has grown up singing the National Anthem whilst he was at Primary School!

Data Centre Strategies Mauritius 2009 has been organised by the Board of Investment, in collaboration with Broadgroup consulting. The Agenda for the 2-day event can be found on broadgroup’s website.

Very nice atmosphere in the conference Hall. The giant screen broadcasting an underwater diving clip was wonderful!

My First impression: Waow, I learnt a lot during these 2 days. It was absolutely well organised, well disciplined and global experts on the topic present at the conference hall of Four Point Sheraton Business Hotel.

Mahen, the master of ceremony on day 2

A bit hats off to Mahen Govinda of BOI, who is the ‘Mastermind’ of organising this event very professionally.

Got the opportunity network also with a South African Hosting company – Hetzner, who have 10+ years in the hosting business.

Hetzner directors from South Africa

It was also great to talk business with the Director of a Mauritian Hosting company.

Secondly, it was also a very, very cool, jovial and happy atmosphere. With most of the professional speakers also having a good sense of humour.. There was also a Great Gala Dinner organised where we enjoyed a lot the Bollywood show.

Thirdly, my favourite presentations were on :

• Steve Wallage – his nice pace of presenting, I was absolutely amanzed by that. He knew his slides well..
• the presentation of the Mauritius Eco-Park Project (maybe the main reason why I wanted to
• come to the conf.),
• 

  Mr. Iqbal presenting the land based oceanic project

• Data Centres: New Trends  – Virtualisation and Cloud Computing
• 

  Nitin Shan presenting benefits of cloud computing

• Business Continuity Management
• European Commission Presentation on Code of Conduct for Data Centres (mainly because he was funny)
• Dr. Ian Bitterlin, the Specialist. was absolutely amazed by his expertise

It was a good experience to network with key IT professionals in the country and internationally. Opportunity cropped up to have professional discussion with them during lunch time or during the tea break!

I wish, the guys are right now, enjoying the Cocktail and Dinner at Ile aux deux Coco – Blue Bay!

Today I woke up and said to myself: yupi going to uni today! What was worrying is that I did not have time during the week to read about my unexpected blogger talk (my first one) on my blog post: Air Mauritius Hedging – Strategy or Aptitude?

Arriving at the Réduit Campus after a relaxing drive, big problemo: Parking!!! Just after saying oufff…finally managed to get a nice car park, the Genius phoned me: “hey Ash, where are you??” It was 9.30 a.m. I replied, I will be in the class at 10:00 a.m after drinking a hot coffee.  I then quickly read my blog post so as to be able to talk about it before the class.

Then I set up for New Academic Complex and before opening the classroom door, I was amazed by the number of students present. Amazingly I saw the lecturer in T-Shirt and Sandales. But I was reassured by the “Hi Ash!” in a nice English accent.

The blogger talk started. I was happy to present myself as a blogger and to talk about the UoM Blogging community. The geek talk (which was hyper brief) was on real-time web. Otherwise the main talk was mostly on Hedging. Ahhh…I enjoyed the intellectual discussions. Real Delight!

Then I went to the library after a long time! As I entered, just at the security check point, I felt a shock!!! I asked the security guard: What has happened, how come this is not at its usual place. The latter then explained me what the heck has been going in the UoM Library. Here are some screenshots:

New computers will be installed here with high-speed internet connection!

New Boards..Nice design

As usual, I would go to visit my favourite Reserve section….Euhhhhh…what ?? it has been transferred!!

Even the past exam papers —> transferred!

Do you like this new place to site and work, UoM fellows?

The new place to borrow/ return your books

The Mauritiana section has changed! Even the girl who would be serving you is a newcomer!

What the heck is this??

CCTV surveillance in a library????

Can anybody explain to me the reason behind CCTV in a place like a library?

The day was really nice indeed. Felt hyper nice to spend time with friends in the café! Preparations for Diwali show is going hard I remarked. This year, I think I gonna perform Till then, keep connected

Have a nice and relaxing weekend!

Wrong!

Our Human Resources Management lecturer is from the Critical Realist School of Thought. Believe me, his unique style of delivery is unbeatable! He gives very interesting papers to the student community to read. One of them is entitled “Right enough to be dangerously wrong“. A paper in which David Guest proposes Critical Views of the In Search of Excellence Phenomemon.  I have blogged on it. Guest’s talent of putting forward critics is really inspiring, especially critics on a book which is one of the supposed to be read by Managers to understand the Excellence School of Thought.

Well, on Business Week magazine we find a very interesting article with the same touch of deconstructing ideas and critisizing the main arguments. Here are some quotes from: Hey, Economics Geniuses! What Happened?

If you are an economist and did not see this coming, you should seriously reconsider the value of your education and maybe do something with a tangible value to society, like picking vegetables!

If you are not good at doing your job, ‘Ale plante sousou!’

The rap on economists, only somewhat exaggerated, is that they are overconfident, unrealistic, and political. They claim a precision that neither their raw material nor their skill warrants. Too many assume that people behave like the mythical homo economicus (a term we got to hear in our HRM class today), who is hyperrational and omniscient.

The article then discusses Macroeconomics, which is my favourite subject of study in Economics, the queen of Social Sciences. Mention is made about the profession of Economists and about Economists who have introduced new School of Thoughts like John Maynard Keynes, Milton Freidman. Something interesting about Economics Genius, Milton Friedman:

In the 1960s, free-market economist Milton Friedman persuaded virtually the entire profession that the Great Depression was caused by the Federal Reserve. That seemed to imply that better policy by the Fed, guided by economists, would prevent a recurrence. Bernanke, then a governor of the Federal Reserve, said as much in a 2002 speech for Friedman’s 90th birthday that acknowledged the Fed’s role in the Depression. He told Friedman: “You’re right, we did it. We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we won’t do it again.”

The authors raises critism on Macroecomists and claim that macroeconomists failed to foresee the recession despite plenty of warning signs. I would be curious to know how Prof. Jeffrey Henkel from the National Bureau of Economic Recession would comment on this bold statement. And the very insightful last sentence of the article triggers food for thought in your mind:

Perhaps out of the ashes of failure will emerge a better macroeconomics profession.

Reading such articles provides inspiration for thinking critically, challenging the assumed knowledge and writing masterpiece articles and exam answers (:D)!

On Friday 3 April, my Google Calendar reminded me by SMS that there would be 3 presentations in the Campus. More details about the advert for the 2 presentations by the Computer Science and Engineering dept. can be found here. Kindly allow me to write my personal feedback on the events .

TNT Express ICS

Firstly, the presentation by TNT Express ICS (Mauritius). The powerpoint design was very well done. The flow of presentation was good and coherent. We obtained an idea of what we, future UoM Graduates (Computer Scientists), would be doing at the company i.e. giving the best of ourselves. Tackling the challenges lying ahead. I personally very much appreciated this part of “Warning Challenges Ahead” sign in the powerpoint.

In one of the Human Resources Management paper I read, I grasp the concept that one is not primarily motivated by the pay obtained from the work but by whether they feel challenged by the work that they are doing.

Ceridian (Mauritius)

Second presentation was by Ceridian. It was OK, I should say. The presentation team comprising of 3 “Ceridians” was smaller comapared to the one from TNT (greater that five). Unlike free distribution of  ‘Company Pen’, this time the student community obtained an informative brochure on Ceridian. The presentation by the HR lead shed light on the current economic situation a bit, which I appreciated and she stressed that despite this worldwide phenomenon, the company is growing and will be accomodating more employees by July 2009.

The interesting point is about the 5 months placement training given jointly by UTM and Ceridian. The programme is being introduced for the first time and starting in May 2009.

ACCA (Mauritius)

Last but not the least, a very interesting, informative and creative presentation given by the Director of ACCA Mauritius at Lecture Theatre 2, Faculty of Law & Management. The Director of ACCA(Mauritius), Mr. V. Busawah has agreed upon the request of faculty representative (FLM) to make a donation of all ACCA textbooks (F1 to F9 and P1 to P6) to UoM. This is a very laudable initiative since ACCA textbooks are expensive. A big bravo for the team for being to make this donation event possible.

The quality of the presentation was fantastic! No denying. This is a style of presentation from which I find lots of inspiration. Will try to work on this style straightaway and prepare a template so that my next presentation can reflect this unique style.

The questions and answers sesssion was brief but interesting questions were being given by the future professional accountants.

In the end, Assoc. Prof Juwaheer, Dean of FLM accepted the books and gave the vote of thanks. Special mention was made about care to be taken on avoiding mishandling of the new books (including tearing of pages and other ‘barbarie’). It was nice to obtain so much information about the activities of ACCA Mauritius and its close collaboration with the University of Mauritius in providing exemptions in ACCA modules for certain degree courses (for eg. BSc (Hons) Accounting)

Slavery versus Indentureship Seminar

In the end, had the opportunity to attend a Seminar at the Fine Arts Lecture Theatre (MGI) on similarity/difference between Slavery and Indian Immigrants. Despite being delivered with no use of technolgy (as in previous presentations), the similary of high quality of intellectual thoughts being shared was present there also.

During college days, there is a special day attributed to reward academic excellence: Prize Giving Day. This day has always been special to me for many reasons i) to obtain the first prize ii) to enjoy the cultural show in the MGI auditorium iii) to return home and proudly show to parents the new prize being added to the collection.

Let’s do a flashback a bit………

Primary School days:

Std 3 to Std 5 : I came either first or second or exequo in General Subjects (Maths, French, English, E.V.S)

Std 3 to Std 6: Hindi -  came mostly first in my class or sometimes exequo with a girl classmate or she would came first and me second.

Secondary College days:

Form 3: First -Computer Studies

Form 4:First – Computer Studies

Form 5: Second – Computer Studies, Special Prize to the contribution to the Computing Dept.

Lower 6: First – Economics, Computing, Certificate of Excellence for contribution in the MGI college website

Upper 6: First – Computing, AS Hindi Laureate

University days

Well, at university level, its different. Some academics put emphasis on obtaining the “First Class” degree Grade in order to have a  chance to obtain a scholarship.

Interestingly, here is what our Software Engineering lecturer noted from his years of experience at the University:

1:1 Degree student: Either end up becoming a Lecturer or doing Research in Labs abroad

2:1 Degree student: Average Programmer

2:2 Degree student: Brillant Programmers (Surprisingly)

3rd Class students: Good Businessmen.

(NB: the lecturer “requested” for a study to confirm the above hypothesis of him)

In one of the interesting module I am studying, there is the tradition of awarding excellence reward to the student who comes first.

Whats your personal opinion on rewarding excellence, do you think this is an effective motivating factor?

Img Src: Lemauricien.com interview

At the request of the representative of the Faculty of Law & Management, University of Mauritius Mr. Sadek Ruhmaly, Consultant Economist, conducted a two-day seminar at the Lecture Theatre 2. The topic of the talk: Hedging- An aptitude or a Strategy?

It was Mr. Ruhmaly who introduced the system of hedging at Air Mauritius in the late 1980s. This strategy was very successful at that time and he can be considered to be an expert in Hedging and Fuel energy.

The talk was held on two days: Monday 9th March 2009 from 13.00 to 14.00 and Wednesday 11th March 2009 from 12.00 to 13.00 (which actually ended at 15:30!).

Mr. Sadek has been cross-fertilised by great minds (S. Hawking, Lord Denning) and intellectually brilliant Mauritians.

Key terms heard: Poetry, literature, physics, pilot, Air Mauritius, Black Hole, Maths, Hedging, Strategy, freedom

Monday 9 March:

Most of the students from Finance and Law background were anxiously waiting at Lecture Theatre 2 for the opening of the talk. The lecture hall was jam-packed!

Mr. Sadek started with a “Good Morning” with a genuine English accent. Seriousness was seen on his face. He started with a statement: “Mon premier amour c’est la literature française et l’astronomie!” and read a French poem, he himself wrote last year. The poem describes his visionary views on Mauritius.

You come to the university to learn to think

The first issue was that “learning to think” is the most important thing in life. We have to be a Systemic thinker.

Being Fearless

“Those who know me, who have read about me, know that Sadek is not a Yes-Man”. He then told us the annecdote about his refusal (the only vote against) of the decrease of the Interest Rate at Bank of Mauritius.

Refinery Economics

Without the knowledge of refinery economics, it would be rubbish to talk about Oil Energy and Hedging. The below diagram was explained well:

The optimum equilibrium is not a static path.

Doing Nothing is a strategy but doing something when not required is Stupidity!

The choice of parameters in a formula is necessary.

Wednesday 11 March:

Despite being the Holi festival, the Lecture Theatre was full, again! However this time the duration of the talk was longer than expected. In the impressive CV of Sadek, we note that he is a Private Pilot, a Painter -Mystical Art, he likes Poetry and is a Mountaineer! Today he shared his passion with us. He brought some paintings which were displayed in the Lecture Theatre.

I have the crazy idea that if I would die, I would die with the most precious things that I carry in my bag!

Yes, Sadek indeed carries precious books/ documents in his brown bag. We were impressed by the number of book being shown to us, notably:

• Bhagvad Gita
• Geetanjali – Rabindranath Tagore
• Pensees – Blaise Pascal
• A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking
• A book on Japanese Archery

What is 1 + 1?

Ans: you have to specify your assumptions, what is the model. for eg. in Binary 1 + 1 gives 01!

A PhD is a substantial contribution to knowledge. Pushing the frontier into the unknown.

Philosophy

I want you to be free. On the eve of Independence, I want you to achieve Holistic Independence. Take for eg. the cutting of umbilical cord -> this is a freedom symbol.

The foundation of daring is fearlessness and selflessness. These two are the fundamental core of grace.

The body is a perishable product, but you cannot kill the ideas.

Don’t be in psychic prisons -> Groupthink

Stop just looking, start Noticing.

The most stupid thing is to ignore that has been great minds in the world.

There is a difference between doubt and uncertainty.

President Obama has to understand Black Hole in order to get out of this systemic collapse.

I talk about the world of Abstract. use of senses on Knowledge.

Sarcasm is the highest form of wit.

Grace

The first issue in strategy is Acknowledgement.

The most brilliant poetry is one that has mathematical balance.

Grace in Mathematics, Science, Art.

Hedging

Hedging can be an optimising strategy depending on the core of the business.

For each strategy there is a fallback strategy.

Playing Sudoku -3 at the same time and looking horizontally- need to have a lateral vision. Get your brain to work on 3 mysteries at the same time.

When you do hedging, don’t be caught in a circle of minds.

In Hedging, if you are distracted, you are losing.

You need not to have total control but total consciousness (of hedge funds which have a single agenda i.e. Portfolio maximisation). Control -> discrete ; Consciousness -> continuous

Economic Bubble burst because of Gargantua

Fundamental to Hedging is understanding the data

Hedging is freedom from uncertainty, moving from an unstable point to stable one.

At one point in time, you have to place your bets.

Tactical mistake -> no corporate strategy, no holistic view

Problem: options are mutually exclusive

Onion -> de layering and bringing to the core

Correlation does not infer causality.

Hedging is also an aptitude.

Strategy from the Nature

Hammerhead Shark

Fish Eagle

Microwave Generation

We, youngsters, we are of the Microwave Generation

Papyrus Parchment & Computer Science

Mr. Sadek shown us a parchment. It is the first encryption on Floppy Disk.

Caravanners are the fist Internet system in Human Civilisation

While skimming books in the BCS Books24×7 eBook library, I got the opportunity to see an eye-catching title:

Leading Geeks How to manage the people who deliver Technology

by Paul Glen

I quote the introductory part of the book:

Who Are Geeks?

Geeks are the knowledge workers who specialize in the creation, maintenance, or support of high technology. They have job titles like programmer, product manager, project manager, quality assurance engineer, system designer, system architect, program manager, technical writer, help desk technician, deployment specialist, trainer, network manager, Web designer, database administrator, desktop support technician, or telecommunications specialist. Some of them may carry titles like chief information officer (CIO), chief knowledge officer (CKO), chief technical officer (CTO), development director, operations manager, and, on rare occasions, chief executive officer (CEO).

In short, geeks are the highly intelligent, usually introverted, extremely valuable, independent-minded, hard-to-find, difficult-to-keep technology workers who are essential to the future of your company.

Why Geeks Matter

Despite all the hype and hurry surrounding the new economy, a few simple truths shine through the fog:

• Over the past three decades, the pace of technological change has increased.

• Technological innovation remains one of the most important components of an organization’s ability to compete in the marketplace.

• Geeks are the people who deliver technological innovation.

Stereotypes about geeks abound. Unfashionably dressed, pimply, video-game-playing young boys rolling Dungeons and Dragons dice populate the comic pages of most major daily newspapers. Rich, self-absorbed, intelligent, ruthless entrepreneurs line the Marketplace Section of the Wall Street Journal. Kindly, wise, absent-minded professors dream brilliant yet unintelligible thoughts in their ivory towers and yet can’t remember how to tie their shoes.

Ahh, definitely, I gonna enjoy reading this book……:D But before, tell me, are you a Geek?

Today the results of the Election in Mauritius will be announced. We already have some speculation. The elected candidate will have certain level of power restored.

For Foucault, biopower is a technology of power, which is a way of managing people as a group. For Foucault, the distinctive quality of this political technology is that it allows for the control of entire populations.

Some Definitions:

5. Power (224)-

“A more-or-less organized, hierarchical, co-ordinated cluster of relations.” Power is a characteristic of all relationships and, in fact, constitutes those relationships. All individuals exercise power, and are all subjected to it.

6. Bio-power (225)-

Power over life. It “exerts a positive influence of life, that endeavors to administer, optimize, and multiply it, subjecting it to precise controls and comprehensive regulations.”

7. Resistance (226)-

In Foucault’s system, this can be characterized by discourse that both creates and constrains.

At university, we make reference to French Philosopher Michel Foucault. Here is a very interesting video:

A nice presentation on Agile Methodologies and Extreme Programming. The “How it works” section is useful! Thanks Utkarsh.

Another presentation on eXtreme Programming. I really appreciate the pictures of Pair Programming. It gives a really good idea of the concept.

This one on UML

A very interesting presentation on Use Case Diagram

This one on Activity Diagram.

For the lab session, I tried to draw the activity diagram on ArgoUML, and I must admit that ArgoUML rocks! Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed

Here is a very very interesting case study of Presdent Barack Obama’s campaign.

Here is our presentation that we made, it was rocking!

more description of the presentation day on Monday 9 feb. is coming as I am waiting for the pictures taken on that day to make a good blog post! Patience is a Virtue.

17 Feb: an update

The presentation was a cool rocking experience. Our group was able to tackle most of the questions successfully. Positive feedback has been received till yet and compliments about our team spirit.

Here is a very interesting video on the “Marketing Lessons From Obama’s marketing campaign in the US elections – interview with the marketing guru Philp Kotler”

Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America, at a historic ceremony in Washington DC.

Obama’s Inaugural speech can be found on:

BBC News

Huffingtonpost

New York Times

and many more…

Here is a wordcloud of the speech:

We notice (Source: BBC News)

Mr Obama swore his oath of allegiance on the same Bible used by Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration in 1861, held by the new First Lady Michelle Obama.

Mr Obama made reference to the scale of his achievement at being the first black American elected to the White House, in a remark that gathered one of the biggest cheers of the speech.

Intense Security:

Security was intense, with roads and subways closed and some 40,000 security personnel on duty, including police snipers in position on the roof of the White House.

Some had been waiting in the streets of the capital from the early hours, despite the freezing temperatures. As eary as 3 in the morning! It was told that the temperation was -10.

The now former President George W Bush, who has been commended by many for the smooth transition of power to Mr Obama, also congratulated his successor.

We have a new category in my blog: Philosophy!

I went to the first conference yesterday  (despite the heavy raining at Port-Louis) for the Universite Populaire.The conference was being animated by Joseph Cardella whom we had the opportunity to meet at the second edition of barcamp. Actually I remember Joseph coming whilst I was doing my presentation (I was in the mid-way of the presentation) and our friend Pierre explaining to Joseph the what’s going in barcamp and a bit about my presentation. This day Joseph was talking on:

4ème conférence-débat : Etre ou ne pas être ? – Parménide. Vend. 16/01

Euhh, at first sight, my I received my Google reminder on my mobile, I knew I had to rush at the Port Louis Municipality, but the theme of the conference was totally in Greek for me!

I entered the Municipality Hall and Waow, it was so beautiful. The light composition in the hall was great. The furniture – first class. It was cool. There were people listening carefully to Joseph and noting down important sayings.

As far as I was concerned, I preferred to not jot down, but try to understand the topic first. To be honest, I was impressed by Joseph. He was talking about complicated things which the Philosopher wrote in his poem.

Due to the complexity, I was getting bored a bit. But Joseph finished at 06:45, leaving 40 minutes for discussion. That would be fun! and it really was – because the discussion were of high level. The question I asked was about : “How about patients who suffer from Schizophrenia?“. Rating this question as Excellent (:D), the hall pondered upon it for at least 8 minutes.

At the end, I thanked Joseph for the very interesting lecture and nice to know he still remembered me (my name at least, though being pronounced with the French accent).

Aller, parlons un peu de philosophie:

Parmenides of Elea (Greek: Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης, early 5th century BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides describes two views of reality. In The Way of Truth (a part of the poem), he explains how reality is one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless, uniform, and unchanging. In The Way of Opinion, he explains the world of appearances, which is false and deceitful. These thoughts strongly influenced Plato, and through him, the whole of western philosophy.

Parmenides stated that there are two ways of inquiry: that it is, that it is not.^[11] He said that the latter argument is never feasible because nothing can not be:

For never shall this prevail, that things that are not are. (B 7.1)

There are extremely delicate issues here. In the original Greek the two ways are simply named “that Is” (όπως εστίν) and “that Not-Is” (ως ουκ εστίν) (B 2.3 and 2.5) without the “it” inserted in our English translation.

Premises:

a. A thing can be thought about only if it is possible for it to exist. [= step (4) above]b. Anything that does not exist, cannot exist. [= step (5) above]

But (b) is equivalent to:

c. Anything that can exist, does exist.

From (a) and (c) it follows that:

d. A thing can be thought about only if it exists.

And (d) is equivalent to:

e. Anything that does not exist, cannot be thought about. [= (3) above]

In symbols:

Tx: x is thought about
Ex: x exists
: it is possible that …

	a.	“x (Tx ® Ex)		Premise
	b.	“x (¬Ex ® ¬Ex)		Premise
	c.	“x (Ex ® Ex)		From (b) by contraposition
	d.	“x (Tx ® Ex)		From (a) and (c) by hypothetical syllogism
	e.	“x (¬Ex ® ¬Tx)		From (d) by contraposition

According to forbes.com, “ For the third year running Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, is the world’s most powerful woman.”

According to wikipedia,

Angela Dorothea Merkel(born Angela Dorothea Kasner, 17 July 1954, in Hamburg, West Germany), is the Chancellor of Germany. Merkel, elected to the German Parliament from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 9 April 2000, and Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary party group from 2002 to 2005. She leads a Grand coalition with its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), formed after the 2005 federal election on 22 November 2005.

In 2007, Merkel was also President of the European Council and chair of the G8. She played a central role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Berlin Declaration. In domestic policy, health care reform and problems concerning future energy development have thus far been the major issues of her tenure.

Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany. She is considered by Forbes Magazine to be the “most powerful woman in the world at the present time”. In 2007 she became the second woman to chair the G8 after Margaret Thatcher.

Chancellor Merkel is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

In 2008 Merkel received the Charlemagne Prize “for her work to reform the European Union“. The prize was presented by Nicolas Sarkozy.
According to Forbes,

With $3.3 trillion in GDP, Germany is Europe’s biggest economy, and Merkel’s reforms are sparking a rebound, with unemployment falling (although consumer confidence just hit a five-year low). She pushed through a later retirement age, put more women in senior government posts, and raised payments to new parents. Bulldozes through controversy: hosted the Dalai Lama, chastised Mugabe, and wants to make the euro a bigger player in global financial markets as the dollar wanes. Also trying to make Germany more eco-friendly with steep greenhouse-gas cuts. Europeans voted her their most influential politician. — Tatiana Serafin

On the second position as the World’s Most powerful woman, we have Sheila Bair and on the third position Indra K. Nooyi.

The powerpoint slide can be found here. Maybe by watching it, you can witness woman breaking the glass ceiling by becoming, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, becoming Minister of economy, finance and employment, becoming President, Prime Minister, Secretary of the United States.

Conclusion

Yeah, we have powerful Venusians on this Planet Earth! You woman, take the big hammer, break the Glass Ceiling and Self-Actualise! Come on, 2008 is over and the old generation (male dominated society) is getting boring. Ask for more money, make your bosses know about your ambitions, your capabilities, take the risk – occupy the job NOW!

Please view the below video:

something must strike into your mind – What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

According to Wikipedia,

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris). The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the “Most Translated Document”^[1] in the world. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. It consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and laws

The issues are:

1. Guantanamo Bay. (Article 5 of the declaration: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”)

Amnesty Protest in Nottingham City Centre

2. Wal-martisation of Women’s Jobs

(Article 23, para. 2: “Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.”)

3. The case of Education in Mauritius

(Article 26: (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.)

To conclude, I would strongly advise all Mauritians to read Chapter II – Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedom of the Individual, found in our Constitution.

Thank you for taking your time to read your fundamental rights as a Citizen of Mauritius

An update: To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Harvard Law School Professor Martha Minow co-chaired a conference at HLS, “Hope, Critique, and Possibility: Universal Rights in Societies of Difference.” View the slideshow by clicking here. An interesting video:

I was reading Gender issues at the workplace, when came to my mind : But what’s the case in Mauritius? So let’s investigate a bit in this burning issue…

Firstly, What is Sexual Harassment?

Sexual harassment refers to “unwanted sexual advances, whether touches, looks, pressures to have sex, or even jokes” (Henslin & Nelson, 1996, p.300). It can be of two forms. The first one, known as quid pro quo harassment occurs when the harassment is linked to the granting of a benefit, for example, a woman is pressured to have sex with her employer in order to get a promotion.

The second type refers to sexual harassment that is not linked to any privilege, but that results in a hostile working environment.

Sexual Harassment Guidelines

(Source: Microsoft Encarta 2008 Student Premium Edition)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued the following guidelines in 1980 to answer questions about what constitutes illegal sexual harassment. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a 1986 case (Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson) that sexual harassment is a form of discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Can I be a victim of Sexual Harassment?

Anybody can be a victim of sexual harassment, be it a man or a woman, heterosexual or homosexual, but women are the ones who are more likely to experience sexual harassment routinely

The issue of Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is not an issue to be taken lightly. It can have disastrous consequences on the victims’ physical as well as mental health and it certainly adversely affects the productivity of the worker who stands as victim. Laws have been passed in many countries to protect workers against the risk of sexual harassment and employers have been included in the fight against this form of discrimination.

The case in Mauritius

Equal Opportunities Bill

This  bill is currently the headlines in the Media in Mauritius and in the Agenda of the National Assembly of Mauritius. Here is some quotes from the article in Lexpress on this bill (they are in french):

Exit donc les discriminations sur les bases de statut, nom, âge, sexe, caste, couleur, croyances, opinion politique ou encore orientation sexuelle. Un projet de loi promettant une île Maurice parfaite, diraient certains.

’Equal Opportunities Bill prévoit la création de deux entités: l’Equal Opportunities Division et un Equal Opportunities Tribunal. Le premier sera rattaché au Human Rights Commission et se verra conférer les responsabilités de promouvoir l’élimination des discriminations, entreprendre des investigations dans des cas de discriminations rapportées, entre autres.

Tout comme les prérogatives de la Human Rights Commission, l’Equal Opportunities Division peut référer tout cas au Directeur des Poursuites Publiques eu vue des actions légales.

Excerpts from the bill:

“The object of this Bill is to ensure that every person has an equal opportunity to attain his objectives in various spheres of activities and that no person is placed, or finds himself, at a disadvantage, by reason of his status, namely, his age, caste, colour, creed, ethnic origin, impairment, marital status, place of origin, political opinion, race, sex or sexual orientation.”

The interesting part related to our blog post is Section V of  the bill: Part V: Sexual Harrassment

(1) A person sexually harasses another person where, in circumstances in which a reasonable person would have foreseen that the other person would be humiliated, offended or intimidated, he –
(a) makes an unwelcome sexual advance, or an unwelcome request for a sexual favour, to another person; or

(b) engages in any other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature towards another person.

Acts of Sexual Harrassment

(1) No employer, or agent of an employer, shall sexually harass an employee or a person seeking employment from the employer.
(2) No job contractor or principal shall sexually harass a contract worker.
(3) No employee shall sexually harass a fellow employee or a person seeking employment from his employer.
(4) No agent of an employment agency shall sexually harass a person in the course of providing, or offering to provide, any of the agency’s services to that person.
(5) No person referred to in section 15, or his employee, shall sexually harass another person in relation to the conferment, renewal, extension, revocation or withdrawal of an authorisation or qualification referred to in that section.
(6) (a) No member of the staff of an educational institution shall sexually harass a student at the institution or a person who is seeking admission as a student.
(b) No student at an educational institution shall sexually harass another student or a member of the staff.
23

(7) No person referred to in section 18 shall sexually harass another person in the course of providing or offering to provide goods, services or facilities to the other person.
(8) No person referred to in section 19 shall sexually harass another person in the course of providing, or offering to provide, accommodation to the other person.
(9) No person shall sexually harass another person in the course of dealing with the other person in connection with –
(a) disposing, or offering to dispose of, any immovable property to the other person; or
(b) acquiring, or offering to acquire, any immovable property from the other person.
(10) No officer or member of a company, partnership, “société”, registered association or club shall sexually harass a member or other member, as the case may be, or a person seeking to become a member.

(11) Any person who contravenes this section shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding 100,000 rupees and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.

Concluding words

Nobody would like to be sexually harassed, not only in the workplace but also at school or university campus. One would naturally like to work for an equal opportunity Employer. The Equal Opportunities bill claim to ensure that every person has an equal opportunity to attain his objectives in various fields of activities. Will this be the case in real? Must Honourable Rama Valayden  congratulated for his courage, boldness and audacity on this issue? lets wait and see…

Basically I am an Economist. This is my cup of tea! But me studying Sociology, its a bit tough given I adore  ”Thinking like an Economist!”. Now for the GEM SOCI 1101, I have to read this book:

First of all, whats the difference between the 2 social sciences:

Here is a very interesting brief outline of Sociology:

Topics which we study in Sociology include Family. Here is another brief outline:

According to Wikipedia, under the section Practical Applications of Sociology:

Sociological research provide educators, planners, lawmakers, administrators, developers, business leaders, and people interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy.

Social issues are matters which directly or indirectly affect many or all members of a society and are considered to be problems, controversies related to moral values, or both.

Social issues include poverty, violence, pollution, injustice, suppression of human rights, discrimination, and crime, as well as abortion, gay marriage, gun control, autism, and the teaching of evolution, to name a few

A policy is a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s). The term may apply to government, private sector organizations and groups, and individuals

For me personally, one should study Sociology in order to develop Critical Thinking. The latter is required for the module Human Resources Management. Informative stuff on Critical thinking are:

I like slide 30: Benefits of Critical Thinking. Truth is: many people do not realise the importance of Critical Thinking. Sometimes they are as uncritical as Mr. Bean! (No offense meant here – if you feel you are being targetted.)

Slide 40 is also great: Are you a Critical Thinker?

Because as our lecturer said: “My questions are simple. The only common line that you will find is: Critically Evaluates these issues and come up with a recommendable policy”

To conclude, if Understanding Society will help me develop the skills of a Critical Thinker, yes I will read the book! Don’t disturb me, whilst am reading !!! 

Rowan Atkinson - An actor which is hold high-esteem for his great and unique performance

It was a fine university day. The birds were chirping and purple flowers blossoming. Until, our dear beloved and respected class rep. who is always devoted to her work (Nunds) gave me the golden opportunity to photocopy HRM notes on culture. One fine day, I sat down and I read it – because I do read sometimes, though very rarely: Chapter 3: Managing Culture by Stephen Linstead, under the section, The Origins of Organisational Culture, last 3 lines in paragraph 3 and I quote:

“A good film to watch, which relates to negotiated order, power and culture is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1973) starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Milos Forman”

Given the vivid effects of better understanding HRM (in some way) after watching Office Space. I decided to take advantage of the broadband connection and download the movie from the information super highway. I sat down and with the dolby Headphone enjoyed the 5 Oscar Winning film. It was a fantastic film. Amazing performance by Jack Nicholson. Great screenplay. as well as being entertaining, great way of understanding concepts in Sociology and well as Psychology. Ref: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073486/

Ref: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Sociological Analysis

The movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is based on the experience of a criminal that elected to move to a mental institution to avoid serving his time at a prison work camp.

The criminal, Randall P. McMurphy, or McMurphy, as the other inmates call him, was under the impression that his sentence would be converted to the amount of time he would need to spend in the institution. What he did not realize was that once he was admitted to the institution, he would not be released until the medical staff felt he was safe for society.

McMurphy goes about living in the institution, and creates a society among several of the patients, which has a large impact on the structure of the institution. His relationships with the other patients in the ward develops into a society where thoughts and opinions grow and interfere with the flow of the institution’s rules and regulations, and friction is made between the authorities and the patients.

McMurphy strives to overcome the head nurse, Nurse Ratchet, and finds himself understanding the mentalities of the others in the ward.

Insanity

This movie’s theme is about insanity and how people on “the other side” of the wall view the term “insanity”.

Society

The term “society” is defined as a group of people that share a culture and common identity. This society is present when McMurphy is admitted to the institution, but he changes it by developing relationships with the other patients. This can be described as social influence. Social influence is where other people have an impact on and change the thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors of others.
When McMurphy first arrives at the institution, the other patients follow a structure in the institution where interactions with others are limited. Many of the patients are withdrawn from others, and only follow the daily “routine” assigned to them. This is a society of order and regulations, and the members of this society have a culture and common identity of being “insane” and in the institution for medical treatment.

Role Conflict

McMurphy changes this society by influencing the other patients. During his time in the ward, McMurphy develops relationships with the other patients and teaches them to interact with one another more completely. He also how to work towards what they wanted with both their accommodations in the hospital, as well as their personal goals for themselves and their success with their treatment.

While he is doing this, Nurse Ratchet becomes enraged at his attempt to change the system she strongly encourages and abides by. There is an unspoken feud between the two, and there is a role conflict between them as well. The role conflict is between the power of the authority, and the obedience of the patient.

Since McMurphy is expressing his desire for change, he other patients follow his lead and also demand their own desires. Nurse Ratchet begins losing her authority over the patients and McMurphy gains influence over the patients.

Group Power

The patients, led by McMurphy, form a group. This group interacts with one another, and recognizes their identity through their involvement with each other. Since there is only a group of patients in the entire ward that really interact with one another, this group becomes a primary group. These are the select patients that grow close with each other and possess common thoughts and desires.

There are specific norms in the institution that are expected to be followed by the patients, as well as the employees of the ward. McMurphy and eventually, the other inmates constantly violate these norms.

For instance, McMurphy bribes a security guard to allow his female friends into the ward with alcohol, and the patients have a party during their sleeping time. No visitors are allowed, and certainly no alcohol, but the patients enjoy themselves and disregard that they are violating a norm of the institution.

Culture

Non-material culture is present both inside and outside of the institution. The patients outside of the institution violated the aspects of non-material culture involving appropriate behaviors and patterns of interaction. This is why they are living in the institution- they violated these norms of behavior and interaction. Some of the patients were voluntary, but they felt that they were inconsistent with the interactions with others in their personal lives. Others, like McMurphy, were seen as dangerous or unhealthy to society, and their interactions or behaviors were inappropriate when compared with the non-material culture of their society.

Punishment

Due to the violated norms and inappropriate interactions of these patients, sanctions were the responses from the rest of society and also the medical staff of the institution. For instance, since the patients in the hospital were seen as unsafe to society, others sanctioned them by being placed in the institution. Also, when McMurphy violates the norms of the institution by rioting with the other patients, and he attacks a hospital orderly, he is given shock treatment to control his emotions and behavior. This sanction was a medical treatment that was deemed necessary by the hospital staff because they felt that McMurphy, as well as two other patients, were out of control and insubordinate to the norms of the institution.

Medicalization

Each of the inmates in the institution are prescribed and administered medications by the hospital staff to control their illnesses. In fact, there is one scene that emphasizes “medication time”, and each of the patients must take their prescribed medication in view of the head nurse. McMurphy questions the contents of his medicine, and is refused any information, even though it is his body the medicine is entering. This is a perfect example of medicalization, for these patients do not have a choice of whether they feel medicine is necessary for their treatment. The doctors make that decision for each patient based on their opinions and “expertise”. Many of these opinions are based on the ideals of absolutism, where the doctors determine what is either absolutely right or wrong in the patient’s behavior, and when it is wrong, what medical treatments are necessary for them.
When the patient’s do something that is considered wrong, it is defined as deviance. The patient’s deviance is determined by whether or not their action, idea, or attribute is offensive, immoral, or strange to society. For example, McMurphy was originally sentenced to a work camp, the crime he committed was statutory rape, which is considered immoral to society.

The expectations of these patients are to behave, think, and interact in accordance with society’s ideals. Because the patients stray from these expectations, their actions are considered violations. The reaction to these violations is first, the admittance to the institution, and after that, medicalization of the deviants once they have entered the institution.

Groupthink

Groupthink is present in the society of the patients, because at one instance, McMurphy pressures the others into voting with him for a decision that is made by the entire ward. This creates a unanimous vote among the primary group, and causes a patient outside of the group to vote by his own rationalizations. Groupthink is defined as just that- the process where pressures to achieve a unanimous decision influence and overwhelm other ability to decide for themselves.

Society Structure

This institution has the structure of a bureaucracy. Although this is not a place of employment for the patients, there are a set of rules and expectations that the patients are expected to follow, and the doctors and staff rule the institution. There is also a division of labor present among the staff, for certain employees have specific guidelines and defined duties for them to complete and work by. And there is also a hierarchy of authority in the institution, for certain professionals are deemed more important and therefore have more power and authority over the other employees. For example, the head nurse has more authority than the orderlies do, and the doctors have more authority than the head nurse does.

Social reconstruction

The patients, against some of the regulations of the institution, take collective action. The patients begin to violate the rules, and also voice their frustrations involving the policies they feel are wrong or unnecessary. At group meetings, which are supervised and instructed by Nurse Ratchet, the patients not only ask for change to fulfill their wants and needs, but they demand them as well. The patients also show their demand for change by violating the rules one evening, and having a large party after McMurphy bribes a security guard. The ideology of the patients is that of the want for mental freedom and also more changes they feel are necessary.

After the patients take their collective action against the authority of Nurse Ratchet and the institution’s policies and regulations, there is a collapse in the order of the ward.

In order for the staff of the hospital to regain control after the party the patients held, strict sanctions are administered to some of the patients, and McMurphy receives a frontal lobotomy as a “treatment” for his unwillingness to cooperate and abide by the rules and norms.

a video on Lobotomy:

Conclusion

After analyzing this movie, I now have a deeper understanding of many sociological concepts, and also of mental institutions and the lives and mentalities of the patients in them. I am very pleased that I chose this film, for it provided me with a lot to think about, and it gave me a chance to see a more in depth look about “insanity” and the way it is perceived by society. Although this movie was originally made for entertainment purposes, I think that it is a key factor in the learning and understanding of sociology and also psychology. I also think that it would provide a better understanding to all of us that remain on the “sane” side of the wall.

Here is the Novel eBook by Ken Kissey.