Mona Lisa's smile interpreted

An article states that we interpret Mona Lisa's smile based on which part of the eye noticed it first! I for one, have never been able to appreciate what is it about this mundane painting of an average looking lady that draws millions to it!

Japanese cuisine

Have been in Tokyo on work for the past 2 months, and exploring Japanese cuisine as much as I can. The variety of food available in Tokyo is mind boggling! It seems like every second building in the city is a restaurant!

While it will take a very very long time to become acquainted with the unbelievable variety of food items here, I can make an attempt to showcase the most commonly (and some not at all common) eaten Japanese food.

Ramen
Wikipedia says that Ramen became popular in Japan during the Meiji period (1860s to 1910s). Which is not such a long time ago! It mostly consists of a soup that is made from chicken or pork stock and cooked for days together over a slow fire. Into the soup are added noodles and a host of other ingredients that one gets to pick and choose, like steamed pork, roasted garlic, vegetables, seafood, hard boiled eggs etc. Ground pepper can be used to spice it up. A very heartwarming, healthy and filling meal!

Sushi
But of course! The word "Japanese food" brings sushi as an instant recall to the mind! It is usually either a roll or a rectangle (or some other shape) of vinegared Japanese rice surrounded by fish(raw most of the times), vegetables and sometimes some other meat. Considered a 'cool' food to have by many in the west, many restaurants in Japan consider presentation of this food itself a form of art.


Sashimi
Thinly sliced raw meat! As simple as that. Usually the meat is that of fresh fish. But it can also include uncooked beef or horse(yes, horse!). Horse sashimi is called as Basashi and is not for the faint hearted! Usually served with soy sauce, wasabi paste and thinly sliced ginger.


Okonomiyaki
A cross between a dosa and a pancake stuffed with eggs, cabbage, noodles and all kinds of other stuff. Very hard to describe! But very good to eat!





Gyudon
Aka Beef Donburi, its a plain and simple bowl of hot Japanese rice with midly spicy beef. Cheap food and found in many street side fast food places. Incidentally, I read somewhere that beef was banned in Japan for around 1200 years, and then as recent the the late 1800s, a king revoked the ban considering it to be irrational. I wonder if the ban will ever be revoked in India?

Edamame
These are fresh soy beans boiled in salt water and served with the pods. A great snack that goes well with shochu and sake!



Wasabi
Its a green colored paste used as an accompaniment with many other dishes. Made from Japanese horseradish, this is one tongue burning, hot paste!

Tempura
Very similar to Tamilnadu's bajji, this consists of vegetables or seafood dipped in batter and fried. A good, crispy snack! Mmmmm!!!!!



Japanese cuisine is varied and takes a lot of influence from other cultures. There are many places that also serve "curry and rice". Definitely looks like an Indian influence, though Japanese curry is quite different from Indian curry. If there is such a thing called Indian "curry" since curry is a British term rather than something used in India.!

If you ever visit Japan, be bold and try out all this food! Its very unique and believe me, delicious!

Some very cool do-it-yourself gadgets

15 very cool DIY gadgets have been listed here. From a Night Vision headset to Rubik's Cube solving robot to a 3D object scanner, the DIY projects here are simply amazing!

A good friend of mine who is a Financial Business Analyst just posted this question in a mailing list -

Can anyone explain me with examples as to who is the floating ratepayer/fixed rate payer in a receiver/payer Swaption???? Have been breaking my head over it.. Please don't Google and paste.

Needless to say, I had to give an appropriate answer which my b-school Financial Management professor would have been proud of. The answer follows -

Sure!

During a Swaption session, the payer is the one who swaps money that he carries in his wallet with the product. The receiver is the person who swaps the product that he's selling for money. Now if the payer throwsthe money into the air and it floats, then he becomes a floating payer.The time duration for which the money floats in the air before gravity takes over is called as the floating rate. If the floating rate ishigher, then the payer is a floating rate payer. If the payer has some manners and keeps the money on a desk or gives it to the receiver, he becomes a fixed payer. 'Fixed rate payer' as such does not have any difference to 'Fixed payer', but the terminology is used widely in the investment banking industry in that famous street in New York whose name I cant recollect, but know that the street has a lot of walls...

Hope you liked the definition. Perhaps a google cut-paste might have been better?

I'm not sure if my friend's customers would have appreciated this kind of explanation during a consultation session, but hey, it doesn't cost much to churn out free information, right? :-)

Bottomlines force new loyalties

The political parties in Tamilnadu always rely on their own TV channels and newspapers to convey their absolutely non-neutral viewpoints to the audience. DMK and Sun TV/Dinakaran used to be like carrots and peas (or parotta and salna). However, these days it seems that Dinakaran and Sun TV have started to increase their coverage of Amma, finding no more support from the DMK. Has the face of politics in TN started to change?

Banker wearing 'For Hire' sign

This USA Today news item shows an unemployed financial engineer standing with a 'For Hire' sign. Is the US economy really entering depression?

Moving skyscraper planned in Dubai

A skyscraper has been planned in Dubai. So what, you might ask. It so happens that the tower design is made up of 80 pre-fabricated apartments which will spin independently of one another! This means that the building will look different each time one of the floors decide to go for a spin! Read more in this BBC News article...