Eye contact problem in video calls

Have you ever noticed that it is very difficult to establish eye contact during video calls? Be it in Skype, hang out or in face time you have to look at the camera to establish eye contact with a person rather than looking in the eye which is on the screen normally below the camera. 

This is feature is same for laptops, webcam enabled desktops and even in mobile cameras. The only way to establish eye contact is to look at the camera. 

This has some major disadvantages. People are comfortable talking to another if there is no need of eye contact. This is the reason telephone calls are more preferred these days rather than face to face talking. It has become much more easier through chats and SMS where there is even no need for voice. This gives extra confidence to the user. 

The progression of distance real time communication is as follows

1. Skype (real time video, no eye contact)

2. Telephone calls (real time audio, no visual, no eye contact)

3. Chats (real time, no audio, no visual, no eye contact)

If people continue in this, there will be  difficulties when they actually need to talk directly to a person. That is, a person who is accustomed to video calls will have much difficulty to establish eye contact with a person when required. 

How to keep doing something - jogging, studying

On every year beginning, most of us take resolutions. I will run for 30 mins daily in this year. I will read a chapter of a book daily. I will learn a new hobby every month. These are some of the many resolutions we take every year. 

However it happens almost always that we loose track of our resolutions two weeks down the lane. How to stay put in your resolution is a challenge which everyone is facing. One of the ways to achieve your goals is to create a network. This is being in the company of people with the same interests. The time you loose motivation to run, you will get motivated seeing others take to the road. Whenever you stop reading a book, the group which keeps on reading motivates you by discussing stuffs they read last day. 

Such small peer pressure keeps you going and helps you achieve your resolutions. So when you decide to start something, get into a group that is already doing it.

Future of Jobs-Online delivery

While looking at our future, we look at things like moving  to an IT hub for get better jobs, the moving to a city which promotes education of your children etc . I know people who sacrifice the time they spend with their loved ones while pursuing their dreams. So is it required that we move to cities, other job hubs in the future also. This may require us to shift to developed countries also. Will this be our the future?

I guess not. The future looks bright because of internet. In this age where majority of population is moving from primary and secondary to tertiary sector, there are chances that jobs can be on-line. Of-course agriculture and manufacturing cannot be done on-line. However, if there is programming, teaching, designing kind of works these can be delivered on-line. We look at a future where we can work from any corner of the world which just need to be connected with an internet. Work allocation, group discussions, submission review etc can be done using video conferencing like Skype or Google hangout. Also, such kind of delivery will enable each of us to work from the comfort of home being with our loved ones while at the same time bring savings to owners of office charges, convenience charges etc.

Beef or Chicken? The choice

In India with lot of Hindu population who worship cows, choosing a non vegetarian diet is a serious problem. Cow is considered as a sacred animal because it gives milk and so much of Indian livelihood is based on it. India has the worlds largest population of cattle and it can be a source of protein food for many. Once a cattle reaches and age and it is not profitable for a family to keep it as it is no longer a source of income, it is left open in the streets. Hence India has many wandering cows also. Even Indian non veg population don't depend on beef as an alternate source of protein rich food. As to killing of animals is considered it is better to take one life and feed 20 people rather than killing a hen to feed 2 people.

Hurting neighbors- the choice on food habits

Whether to be a vegetarian or non-vegetarian is not a decision we had taken when we were born. It is a from family culture and values one ends up as vegetarian or non vegetarian. If one comes at a stage where a decision on whether to take veg or non vegetarian, these are some of the points worth considering. 

The common say why a person should be veg is to not hurt animals. People generally don't like seeing blood. Veggies accuse non veggies on feeding on their neighbours(animals). The curious question now is whether plants are not their neighbours. How can one accuse another of feeding on their neighbour which he eats his neighbour and that too by cutting out of a living tree. Imagine the pain you will go through if someone cuts your hand and eat it which you look. It is also worth noting that the plant blood is pulp. 

This makes us end with one big question, whether to harm any living thing or die in hunger!

The play of likes

If there is one person earning billions because you like some thing it is mark zukerberg. The foundation of Facebook is in its concept of likes. It is fascinating to note that one can only like something and not dislike. This gives confidence to users who publish their information in Facebook that no one will criticize or dislike their contribution. The only way to differentiate between something great and something not great in Facebook platform is the number of likes. A good contribution can gain you more likes than the other, but definitely not negative criticism. The confidence our friends in Facebook enjoy in sharing trivial things in Facebook is that you have an option to like or not like. There is no option to dislike. This creates another problem. What will one do it someone shares a picture of someone hurting somebody, or of someone losing something. Are you supposed to like that? Or remain quiet not expressing your opinion. Where is the option to strongly criticize this?

Toll roads- the play of user charges and road taxes

Toll road - why do we give money to private operator even after giving petrol taxes and vehicle taxes to develop roads. Since government is charging the users for using the roads, should not the taxes reduce or be abolished. The common argument that profitable roads are only taken for Public Private Partnership (PPP) and the non economically feasible are not is not applicable here. Government funds the private companies for the shortage in profit to take up projects which are not viable through viability Gap Funding (VGF), but this is only from the funds government obtain through cross funding from profitable projects through the concept of negative funding. 

So this makes us curious, why is there road taxes and user charges? If taxes cant be completely abolished why not at least reduce it for the user charges obtained through this innovative concept of PPP.