Mahmood Rattansi

Dubai, UAE

Leading Forward: How to Read and Digest a Book!

Mahmood Rattansi at 2:27 pm on Monday, February 28, 2005

“The only difference between who you are today and the person you will be in five years will come from the books you read and the people you associate with”

The Hacker’s Diet

Mahmood Rattansi at 5:38 pm on Sunday, February 27, 2005

The Hacker’s Diet

“The Hacker’s Diet - How to lose weight and hair through stress and poor nutrition”

How to Cut…

Mahmood Rattansi at 5:36 pm on Sunday, February 27, 2005

How to Cut…:

“I’m always flabbergasted when I observe a cooking teacher with poor knife skills. Unfortunately, it’s all too common. I even occasionally observe a professional cook, even in France, with poor knife skills, although this is a less common occurrence. In my opinion, good knife skills are an essential component of being a good cook. And good knife skills are not particularly difficult for the average person to learn.

Good knife skills are a combination of knowledge and practice the knowledge of which knives to use for which tasks, the knowledge of how to hold and move a knife, the knowledge of how various foods are structurally composed, and many other little bits of knowledge. But being thoroughly indoctrinated with knowledge will mean little if not accompanied by lots of practice. Like any other skill, speed and competence come with practice.”

Buy World Cup 2006 Tickets Here…

Mahmood Rattansi at 9:03 am on Sunday, February 27, 2005

Information on tickets for WC2006…

Pictures from my trip to Euro2004 - Portugal

Confidence - Where to Get It and How To Keep It

Mahmood Rattansi at 12:37 pm on Friday, February 25, 2005

Getting confidence and keeping confidence – emotional muscle – is like getting and keeping any other muscle; it just requires daily exercise.

But where does confidence come from? Is it merely a feeling – the product of an optimistic attitude gained through positive thinking rituals learned at motivational seminars – or is it something more substantial?

According to Baltasar Gracian, confidence comes from authority, “…and the highest authority is that which rests on an adequate knowledge of things and long experience in different occupations. Master the subject matter and you will come and go with grace and ease and speak with the force of a teacher; for it is easy to master one’s listeners if one first masters knowledge. No sort of abstract speculation can give you this authority; only continual practice in one occupation or another. Mastery arrives from an action done often and well… Authority originates in nature and is perfected by art. Those who attain this quality find things already done for them. Superiority itself lends them ease and nothing holds them back: they shine, both in words and deeds, in every situation. Even mediocrity, helped out by authority, has a certain eminence, and a little showiness can make everything come out right.”

more…

3M puts its money where its mouth is

Mahmood Rattansi at 1:29 am on Thursday, February 24, 2005

The Baby Name Wizard’s Name Voyager

Mahmood Rattansi at 4:32 am on Wednesday, February 23, 2005

The Baby Name Wizard’s Name Voyager

Amazing…!

Author Malcolm Gladwell live online, Tuesday February 22

Mahmood Rattansi at 4:27 am on Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Author Malcolm Gladwell live online

A great “open” chat with Malcolm Gladwell, author of two of my favourite books - Blink and Tipping Point.

An excerpt:

BRIX:

Hi Malcolm
George Bush has tried to make a virtue of making decisions based on gut instinct. Shouldn’t we be trusting people - especially those holding great power - who value reason above gut instinct?

—————————————————————-
MalcolmGladwell:

In Blink, I make it very clear that instinctive decisions are only useful and trustworthy when they are backed up by experience. The instinct of an art expert about art is incredibly valuable. My instinct about art (and I know nothing about art) is useless. George Bush’s problem is that he doesn’t understand this distinction, and follows his instincts in areas where he has absolutely no reason to. His instinct told him that Saddam Hussein was harbored weapons of mass destruction. But on what basis did he make that judgment? Bush’s principal pre-political experience was running a baseball team.

Serial burglar caught on webcam

Mahmood Rattansi at 10:26 pm on Tuesday, February 22, 2005

BBC NEWS | England | Cambridgeshire | Serial burglar caught on webcam: “A house burglar was caught after a webcam on the owner’s computer recorded images of him carrying out the raid. “

Getting my website together

Mahmood Rattansi at 10:13 pm on Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Hi. Just finished installing the Etomite CMS which will hopefully make it easier for me to add/edit content on www.rattansi.com

While you are here, check out the pics at: www.rattansi.com/gallery