Vending Machines: A Dream Gone Sour

Dawn Lahore, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2010. See page # 10, read an article by Miwa Suzuki.

Now, i bought this book on starting up a business of vending machine, which i didn't know about the time i bought it. Since it was published by a magazine called Entrepreneur and was about entrepreneurship, so i bought it blindly, also it was quite cheap. "People respond to incentives."

Today I read this article (see top) about flourishing and much saturated vending machine market in Japan, with only 2.5 million drink-selling machines generating 27 billion dollars last year. They've placed it everywhere from streets to the 'icy summits of Mount Fuji'.

So, this seems like a dream business idea. Pakistan's is filled with the absence of these machines. We can do reverse engineering and reinvent and redefine what a vending machine is, and spread it everywhere!

There's one little problem, and difference b/w how things work in Japan and Pakistan. In Japan, people are not the likely to crime than in Pakistan. That's why they've spread it everywhere.

I talked about this v machine to the cook at home. I surprised him how they're selling chilled bananas with mind-reading devices (that can tell with 75% success rate what you'd like most to purchase), and he said, "Yahan tou banday nahi miltay, machine kya bachay gi!" ('Here people are missing from home, who cares about a vending machine.')

I stopped day-dreaming and went back to my Philosopher's Corner in search of a billion dollar idea!

Breaking the Ice: Benchmarking Army Personnel's Social Networking

My friend comes to my home, and asks me for help. He wants me to count people in my neighborhood whom i know. I struggled to name any at all, but eventually 3 people came to my mind in a town of of over a lac people, i presume, at least! I said to him that i'm in trouble. I ain't no good at knowing my neighbours, this is a serious lacking from Islamic perspective. So i asked him, how to penetrate and break the ice with these people in this modern town.

Remember, its a characteristic of modern cities, according to sociologists, that communal life doesn't exist there. In modern cities, neighbours usually don't know each other much, but people are very active socially on networking platforms (offline it mentioned, but online as well). What a paradox.

He suggested me a tested tip: Send a formal letter with minimum words, in most elegant manners, to your neighbor calling them on a tea. This is a practice of many an Army people who do this when they come into a new place.

I'm writing the letter as a BETA version here.

______________________________

House # ABC
Street # Alif. Bay. Pay
Mr/Mrs _________

Assalamualaekum!

I'm Muhammad Umer Toor, a business student at a university in Lahore. I'm living in ______ with my father. I'm new here, so I want to have chat with you over a cup of tea at my home.

This is mobile # ________. My notify me your arrival date and time, and we'll catch up anytime of your choice.

Regards
Muhammad Umer Toor
[university name]
External Researcher @ R&D Labs,
Kirana Bar School.

Extreme Sun, Extreme Man

Sunspot.

For past one century, for past one decade, humanity has seen such crises bigger than any crisis in civilizational history, other than the flood of Nuh or such incidents. Conditions in world have become extreme producing extreme reactions by people of any world-view. One important 'out of control factor' is the catalytic effect of Sun's energy on human mind, just as sun plays a predominant - which is too small a word - in every physical happening and variation; just as sun can destroy space satellites, annihilate electricity in Canada, nullify semiconductors - it also tinkers with sensitive electric currents of human brain.

If we see past 250 years of history of sun's activity - its storms, its 'sunspots' (which emit electro-magnetic rays and flares out of it) - it has reached its peak in 20th century (see photo below in which timeline is given along with sunspot cycles). Its heat and energy emissions have become more intense than anytime before. Sultan B. Mehmood, a Pakistani atomic scientist, could not understand why the effects of sun and its magnanimous variations should not be studied on human mind and behavior. This led him to study human history and sun's history, side-by-side, of past 250 years. He penned the book, in 1997-8 (?) and came out with startling predictions which turned out to be remarkably true.

The core prediction was about the rise of agitation, restlessness, aggression and terrorism in next decade; about the physical, earthly disasters we'd see from 2008-2017 along with political turmoil and violence. Studying the 'cosmic effects' of sun spots and sun storms on human mind and moods, he said back then that next decade would manifest extreme human behaviour which if not controlled will create havoc and crises. The bottom line is: if you can have control on your charged emotions, it turns into positivity - creativity, productivity, life, thought and civilization. He adds, "Make the hay while sun shines." Hence, extremism in behavior and outlook, is a major human problem everywhere.

When the attacks of 9/11 took place, intelligence agencies arrested Mr. Method and interrogated, "What you wrote in your book has turned out to be remarkably true. Maybe you are the master-mind behind these attacks." The author only had to say, "When i wrote the book (in '98) I also sent its copies to President Bill Clinton, PM Tony Blair and other heads of state urging them to show leadership to ensure peace." (These are not exact quotes as I am relying on memory.)

The book is written in a very acute scientific manner which is, nonetheless, highly readable by laymen. It is also punctuated by such sections on Sun's role in 'the choice of marriage and children', etc. It has useful advices for people from all walks of life from politicians to entrepreneurs It is very statistically and methodically written with case histories of events occurring in past 250 years both on sun and earth.

Sunspot cycles and timeline