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The Nepal Digest Wednesday 15 Feb 95: Chaitra 1 2051 BkSm Volume 36 Issue10
Apologies for no headers due to time restrictions.
******************************************************************************
* TND Board of Staff *
* ------------------ *
* Editor/Co-ordinator: Rajpal J. Singh a10rjs1@mp.cs.niu.edu *
* SCN Liaison: Rajesh B. Shrestha rshresth@black.clarku.edu *
* Consultant Editor: Padam P. Sharma sharma@plains.nodak.edu *
* Discussion Moderator: Ashutosh Tiwari tiwari@husc.harvard.edu *
* TND Archives: Sohan Panta k945184@atlas.kingston.ac.uk *
* Book Reviews Columns: Pratyoush R. Onta ponta@sas.upenn.edu *
* News Correspondent Rajendra P Shrestha rajendra@dartmouth.edu *
* *
* The Nepal Digest(TND) is a publication of the Nepal Interest Group for *
* news and discussions about issues concerning Nepal. All members of *
* nepal@cs.niu.edu will get a copy of TND. Membership is open to all. *
* THE EDITOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO EDIT ARTICLES FOR CLARITY. *
* *
* +++++ Food For Thought +++++ *
* *
* "If you don't stand up for something, you will fall for anything" -Dr. MLK *
* "Democracy perishes among the silent crowd" - Sirdar Khalifa *
* *
******************************************************************************
*******************************************************************
From: ponta@sas.upenn.edu (Pratyoush R. Onta)
Subject: Book Review
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu (tnd)
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 1995 19:48:10 -0500 (EST)
Book Review
Tribal Ethnography of Nepal, 2 vols. By Dr. Rajesh Gautam and Asoke
K.Thapa-Magar.1994. Delhi: Book Faith India. Price: Rs. 1756.
by Pratyoush Onta
This two volume book contains a total of 50 chapters in nearly 750 pages
of text. Arranged alphabetically by the name of a 'tribe' of Nepal, these
chapters consist of various information on habitation patterns, history,
physical characteristics, language, life-cycle rituals, religion,
festivals, dress & ornaments, food habits, economic status, social
organization and norms. In a two-page preface, the authors tell us that
the inspiration to write this book came after extensive travels throughout
the country. They say that they "were fortunate to perceive the changing
of the ethnic mosaic towards a more artificialised pattern" which in the
process was "annihilating the simple cultures that are precariously
balanced." Three characteristics of salvage anthropology come together
here: the assumption of the existence of simple cultures, precariously
balanced as it were, prior to the ethnographic present; the deterioration
and annihilation of the tribal landscape witnessed by the ethnographers at
the moment of their arrival in the 'field' and the motivation to record
whatever is salvageable of the 'true position' (always thought to have
existed in the past) of our country's diversity for posterity's sake.
If common language and culture form the authors' criteria for judging who
is or is not a tribe and Newars qualify, then I do not see why hill or
terai-based bahuns or chhetris have been left out. The assumption that
tribal cultures were 'simple' and 'balanced' can not stand up to scholarly
scrutiny and belongs to a form of nostalgia that is quite at vogue among
Nepali writers these days. Moreover the assumption that changes they are
undergoing will give these 'tribes' a homogeneous artificiality neglects
the possibilty for cultural reinvention under conditions of 'modernity.'
Recent work on the Sherpas and the Thakalis have highlighted this point.
The authors claim their work to be "simply and strictly ethnographic."
For those who believe ethnography is a listing of a disparate set of
information on a wide variety of topics, this book might prove to be a
goldmine. But even then some passages will be difficult to digest. Two
examples might suffice. On p. 356 of volume I, the authors while talking
about the kusbadiya of west Nepal, say that when a woman of this tribe
goes into labour, "the neighbouring hags ... converge at the spot, and it
is by their guidance and ability that the baby is delivered." Hags? A
bunch of ugly old women, or a group of committed women bent on using
'local' knowledge to help a would-be mother in pain? Is this abusive
language an evidence of the authors' misogynism?
On page 38 of volume II, the authors write: "The tradition of going to the
Indian or the British Armies is the one which is causing the Magar people
to become vegetablished since they have set a trend and anyone who is not
in the army is useless or no good is the feling these people have."
'Vegetablished' is perhaps a hybrid neologism through which the authors
want to suggest that because of their army service, Magars cannot use
their brains and therefore lead a boring and mentally unstimulating life.
This does complete injustice to, among other things, the long tradition of
ex-soldier inspired formal and non-formal education amonst the Magars and
others who have served as the Gurkha Regiments. Their statement regarding
present day schools making "sojo (honest and straight forward) Magars of
yesterday ... slightly conscious of their identities and social status in
this society" is unacceptably patronizing. A more sensitive analysis
would have asked how discourses of Magar identity has had to negotiate
itself with state's politics of ethnicity in the history of Nepal.
One final note to demonstrate why I find the notion of ethnography as
exemplified here to have serious limitations. On death rites of the
Newars , the authors, in four pages of text, describe various details
regarding how different types of Newars perform their last rites, observe
pollution and undergo ritual purification. This text gives no sense of
the grief that envelopes a Newar family that has just lost a member. Does
it, for instance, teach us how a Newar couple in their seventies grieves
over the death of their 42-year son? Or the sorrow of his wife and young
children? The bereaved appear as automatons going through a list of
rituals.
(A slightly longer version was published in The Independent of 1 June
1994. I have not read anything else by the author Thapa-Magar. Author
Gautam, I must point out, is a historian whose 2046 v.s. book on the role
of the Nepal Praja Parishad in anti-Rana politics was awarded the
prestigious Madan-Puruskar. He has also written - in collaboration with
other writer-activists - several volumes on human rights abuse in Nepal.)
************************************************************
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 95 20:42:43 EST
From: Anup_S.Pande_at_Berea-Mail@smtpgtwy.berea.edu
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Khoj Khabar
Namaste,
I am extremely khushi to read Nepal Digest. (May be I am the guy # n+1 if
Mr. Rauniyar is #n to say this)
If any one reading this happens to have attended Bhanu Bhakta Memorial
School, Panipokhari or Kathmandu Valley Campus or Nagarjuna Academy, Kopundole
-it would be great if we could keep in touch.
namaste
Anup
******************************************************
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 1995 23:15:57 -0500 (EST)
From: Ashutosh Tiwari <tiwari@husc.harvard.edu>
Subject: Why Have Arguments? (fwd)
To: Nepal Digest <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
FORWARDED by: ashu
It was in Kathmandu in 1990 that a patrician Nepali tycoon with
a cultivated British accent told me: "You know, my boy, unlike the Brits
we Nepalese don't know how to make arguments. We are incapable of dealing
with ideas that upset our own. That is why, even though we have democracy
now, it cannot flourish well here, without debates and dialogues. And
since we do not have a debating culture (a la the members of his Oxford
Union, I dryly supposed), how can democracy sustain itself in Nepal?"
Over cold-cuts and hot coffee that evening in that pricey restaurant
on Durbar Marg, I merely smiled and listened to that businessman. Since he
was paying the bill, I thought I would just listen to his philosophical
palaver. Boy, how wrong I was! With every passing day, his words, even
after five years, still ring loud and clear and TRUE in my ears.
Below appear an extract from Anthony Weston's "A Rulebook For
Arguments", which I hope will be read and understood by those who think
arguments are pointless, and those who take offence at every logical
thrashing, and those who urge others to "stop complaining" or "stop writing"
just because they find others' views disagreeable, yet cannot come up
with good counter-arguments to defend their own position.
What's the point of arguing?
By Anthony Weston
Some people think that arguing is simply stating their prejudices
in a new form. This is why many people also think that arguments are
unpleasant and pointless. One dictionary definition for "argument" is
"disputation". In this sense we sometimes say that two people "have an
argument": a verbal fistfight. It happens often enough. But it is not
what arguments really are.
"To give an argument" means to offer a set of reasons or evidence
in support of a conclusion. Here, an argument is NOT simply a statement
of certain views, and it is not simply a dispute. Arguments are attempts
to SUPPORT certain views with reasons. Nor are arguments in this sense
pointless: in fact, they are essential.
Argument is essential because it is a way of trying to find out
which views are better than others. Not all views are equal. Some conclusions
can be supported by good reasons; others have much weaker support. But often
we do not know which are which. We need to give arguments for different
conclusions and then assess those arguments to see how strong they really
are.
Argument in this sense is a means of INQUIRY [something TND
strives very hard to facilitate]. Some philosophers have argued,
for instance, that the "factory farming" of animals for meat causes
immense suffering to animals and is therefore unjustified and immoral.
Are they right? You cannot tell by consulting your prejudices. Many issues
are involved. Do we have moral obligations to other species, for
instance, or is only human suffering really bad? How well can humans live
without meat? Some vegetarians have lived to very old ages. Does this show
that vegetarian diets are healthier? Or is it irrelevant when you consider
that non-vegetarians have also lived to very old ages? And so on and so
forth.
All these questions need to be considered carefully, and the answers
are not clear in advance.
Argument is essential for another reason too. Once we have
arrived at a conclusion that is well-supported by reasons, argument is
the way in which we explain and DEFEND it. A good argument does not merely
repeat conclusions. Instead, it offers reasons and evidence, so that other
people can make up their minfs for themselves. If you become convinced that
we should indeed change the way we raise animals, for example, you must use
arguments to explain how you arrived at your conclusion: that is how you will
convince others. Offer the reasons and evidence that convinced you.
It is not a mistake to have strong views. The mistake is to have
nothing else.
**************************************************************
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 00:54:28 -0500 (EST)
From: Ashutosh Tiwari <tiwari@husc.harvard.edu>
Subject: Nepali Teaching in Boston II
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Thanks to Seattle's Sujata Rana for her interest in Nepali teaching
in that area. Nepali classes are going full-swing in Boston for America-grown
Nepali kids who are learning their ka/kha/ga from some of the smartest
and most dedicated Nepali students and professionals in the Boston area.
The following people are the tutors:
Sunil Shakya, Co-ordinator (Student, Northeastern University)
Rabi Karmacharya, Tutor (Student, MIT)
Bibek Chapagain, Tutor (Student, Northeastern)
Mrs. Alka Bhandari, Tutor (Home-maker)
Prabodh Upreti, Tutor (A professional in Boston)
Jagdish Pandey, Tutor (A Professional in Boston)
Binoy Yonzon, Tutor (A Professional in Boston)
Diwas Shrestha, Tutor (Student, University of Lowell)
These volunteers need all our support and applause. It's commitment
like theirs that makes the Greater Boston Nepali Community (GBNC) the most
exciting and the most interesting, and possibly a unique, coalition of
Nepalis in the entire North America (Ok, ok, that's a Chatwin-esque
boast! ;-))
For details on the tutorials: send email to Sunil at
sshakya@lynx.dac.neu.edu
namaste
ashu
president, gbnc
*******************************************************************
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 18:00:54 -0500 (EST)
From: Ranjan Panth <rpanth@uceng.uc.EDU>
Subject: Re: The Nepal Digest - Feb 10, 1995 (26 Magh 2051 BkSm)
To: The Nepal Digest <NEPAL@cs.niu.edu>
> Shyam Bahadur's question, I agree, is simple. But as far as I
> know, the educational problem in Syam's Manang is not the absence of a
> school ( there might be very few but that is in conjunction with the
> population there- thus economy) but its quality (as those who are agaist the
> Budhanilkantha funding would agree).
Someone pointed out to me that the reference to Manang has been
taken literally and that it has. I do not mean only Manang. Why can't
some guy from Ason have the same money distributed among other schools
around that area (like J.P. or Durbar High or Tin Dhara).
> How does GAA work in that context-
> this is
> not meant to offend St. Xaviers/and its partner St. mary's- if it does or
> did in the past? I honestly do not know about it.And many of you might
> instantly say that St.Xaviers didn't/doesn't have such
> government-expenditure for its set-up and why should one talk about the
> alumni-funding. But I just want to know the possibility of fund-raising
> from BKS-grads not yours(there might be some other reasons for your
> contribution to the nation).
You tend to be making my point. All this rambling does not have
any connection with the discussion at hand.
> And finally on Ashu's no-win position. If the discussions are
> meant to give birth to more ideas, I don't believe that he should ( and I
> guess he is not looking for a win)aim to try to win the game-if that is the
> right term to be used.
I honestly did not know that a "no win situation" had anything to
do with the actual winning and losing of a game.
All along nobody has argued the fact that BKS graduates do so
much for the country and so on. I have known quite a few BKS graduates
myself and they were not the kind of people that you, and your friends,
boast about. In fact, they are such close friends of mine
that I am sure that they would not mind my mentioning their names. Can
you tell me how much the following people have "given back" ? ( If you
know them, of course.) Sitaram Joshi, Subodh Bhatta, Sanjay K.C. and Kiran
Thapa have not ever thought about rural health or anti-AIDS. You may
say that they are the exceptions. If so, I can name another 20 exceptions.
Your portrayal of the BKS graduate and how much he means to Nepal
is very unconvincing. I have known BKS graduates and I do not know how
different they are from any average Joe like me. You tend you portray BKS
grads as the people that will go back to the poor and help them after
graduation. The saviors of the poor. Robin Hoods of the 20th century.
Based on what I know about my BKS friends, all of this is just
plain bullcrap. My BKS friends are no different from me and my education
didn't cost the Nepalese government a cent.
I would agree with the point you are making about 'quality'
education had the literacy rate of rate of Nepal been in the 90's instead
of where it is today.
I would agree with your point about how much the BKS grads are
"giving back" had my BKS friends been "giving back".
I would agree with your point of quality education if it were not
to cost the Nepalese government an arm and a leg. The "quality of
education" you boast about just isn't worth it. It's like something you
tell your kids, "Yes, the Maisonette does serve good food but we can't
afford it, son."
Wouldn't it be just cheaper for the government to hire people to
contribute, as you claim, to rural health, anti-AIDS and all that ? What
do we get out of BKS that we don't get out of AVM or Banasthali? ( and
don't say social service because I've seen a lot of BKS graduates and
they were no more into social service than Hitler was)
The BKS school motto should be "If it's free, it's for me!"
**********************************************************************
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 95 11:18:00 EST
From: Ram <056438@acadvm1.uottawa.ca>
Subject: Address
To: Om Gurung <Nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Gurungji:
Namaskar. I read your posting in TND about the address of H. S.Poudel
Try this address:
Mr H. S. Poudel
129-8 S. Hills
Carbondale, IL 62901
From: DURGA@admin.is.cornell.edu (DURGA)
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 11:22 EST
To: SOC.CULTURE.NEPAL@IS.CORNELL.EDU
Cc: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Intensive Nepali Language Prog
- - Mail - -
February 13, 1995 11:22am MAIL IS -
FROM: Durga Delvry Ntfy Private Urgent
TO: The Nepal Digest FOR YOUR -
SUBJECT: Intensive Nepali Language Prog Information Comments Action
Signature Approval Editing
This is to inform you of Cornell University's Summer Session in Intensive
Nepali This is an eight-week, ten-credit course providing an unusual
opportunity to develop competence in Nepali over the summer. Two FLAS
fellowships will be awarded through the South Asia Program @ Cornell for
this course. For further informaiton on housing, tuition, requirements,
etc. please inquire:
South Asia Program
Cornell University
170 Uris Hall
Ithaca, New York 14853-7601
phone: 607-255-8493 or e-mail Durga@IS.cornell.edu
Thank you.
Durga Bor
South Asia Progam
Cornell University
********************************************************************
From: shrestha@zfn.uni-bremen.de (Madhur Shrestha)
Subject: Re: Thanks!!!
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 17:22:25 +0100 (NFT)
Dear Editor,
Thank you very much for sending us the Nepal Digest information
regularly. We feel like home now.
I would be very grateful, if you let my brother Manjil Shrestha, Tel
522289, how he could contact me through email.
Looking forward to hearing from you again and again.
Thanking you once again.
Madhur Shrestha
%%%%%Editor's Note: To access e-mail in Nepal, please contact %%%%%
%%%%% RONAST (govt. agency) or Mercantile (commercial %%%%%
%%%%% agency) in Kathmandu, Nepal. %%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
**********************************************************************
From: suresh man singh <sures@hplaa03.cern.ch>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 95 18:20:34 100
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Press release of Visit to India by Deputy PM
The following is the press release made available by Mission Du Nepal,
Geneva.
1. Honourable Madav Kumar Nepal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Defence and Foreign Affairs of Nepal visited India from February 6
10, 1995 at the invitation of the Minister of External Affairs of
India, His Excellency Mr. Dinesh Singh. A high level delegation
including the Minister of State for Water Resources and Industry, Mr.
Hari Prasad Pandey, three members of parliament, the Nepalese Foreign
Secretary of Water Resources accompanied the Deputy Prime Minister.
2. During the visit the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Defence called on Their Excellencies and President,
Vice-President and Prime Minister of India. He held official talks
with the Commerece Minister, H.E. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee who led the
Indian delegation, and met several dignitaries and political personalities
in New Delhi. The Deputy Prime Minister also visited Madras, Tirupati
and Bombay.
3. During the visit bilateral discussions were held in a free and frank
manner and a wide range of bilateral issues and other matters of
common concern were discussed.
4. Both sides reiterated their commitment to the traditional friendship
and close ties existing between Nepal and India and emphasized the
need to further consolidate these bonds of relationship.
5. Several new suggestions for strengthening relations were made during
the meetings, which will be further discussed and cosidered by the
two governments prior to the visit to India in the near future of the
Rt. Hon'ble Prime Minister of Nepal, the dates for which will be
conformed through diplomatic channels.
6. It was agreed that the meetings of High Level Task Force and the
Home Secretaries as well as those of the Committees under the Secretaries
for Commerce (in the inter Governmental Committee), and .......
Water Resources would meet to prepare for visit of Rt. Hon'ble Prime
Minister of Nepal to India. It is hoped that the visit will mark a
new and constructive phase in Nepal-India relations. The timing of these
meetings will be determined shortly through bilateral contacts. It
was also agreed that the two Foreign Secretaries will meet shortly
to discuss the Nepal-India Treaty of 1950.
7. The visit of the Deputy Prime Minister has been particularly significant
as the first high level visit to India after the formation of the
new government of Nepal following the November 1994 elections. It has
resulted in enhancing mutual understanding through high level dialouge
and interation between Nepal and India.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
February 10, 1995
**********************************************************************
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 15:56:41 -0500
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: German lives less important than Nepalese lives.
Cross-posted from SCN:
---------------------
On 4 Feb 1995, GP wrote:
> Few reasons, I noticed why they don't cover our news in their NEWS media:
>
> 1. The South Asia is poor----- They want to potray that see how poor
> these guys are and how rich we are. In most of the entertainment program
> they laugh with poverty of poor countries. They potray the #BHUKH-MARI#
> in Africa as an advertisement by travel agent ? How wonderful they are?
> What to do with our good news? There was one complain sometime back,
> by one bangladeshi , to Japan Times (an english daily) asking why do
> you potray our (South Asia's) bad things only ? Why don't you spend
> some pages on our cultural heritage ? I guess the answer is that
> they don't want to say "South asians are rich in somesense and we
> are poor in that sense".
Konichi wa GP san,
Couple of years ago the Japanese T.V. brought the Kalahari bushman
(starred in the movie 'The Gods must be crazy') and made him prance about
selling noodles and being laughed at in all the demented talk
shows they have...That's cultural insensitivity at its worst. However,
before we start moralising about western media think just how little coverage
Nepal gets even in newspapers in neighboring countries - i.e.The Times of
India - goes on to show Nepal's importance in the scheme of things. Another
point to ponder - 'just how many Nepalese are concerned with events in
Botswana or Spanish Sahara?
Arun Pant
pant@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
*********************************************************
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 15:59:12 -0500
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
From: napoleon@teleport.com (George H Dick)
I'm working on a world wide web site that is intended to be a lingustic
reference work. Mostly what I want to do at the moment is collect audio
samples of language. I would love to have information on the languages of
Nepal. If anyone can send an audio file of a sample of spoken language, by
native speakers, I would greatly appreciate it. Please include a
transcription in the language (using a gif or jpeg if necessary), and a
translation in English if at all possible. If you can transcribe it into
the IPA as well, so much the better....! Any information on how the
language fits into language families, how many people speak it and where,
dialects, etc., would also be helpful.
here's the blurb:
The Universal Survey of Languages is envisioned as a major collaborative
effort with the goal of creating a linguistic reference for the layman
and linguist alike. The USL will contain audio files of spoken language and
descriptions of morphology and phonology of the world's languages, as
well as a hypertext introduction to linguistics, an introduction and
reference to the International Phonetic Alphabet, a linguistic dictionary
and information on language families. This is very much a work in
progess, and all are invited to contribute and debate the course of
evolution for the project.
http://www.teleport.com/~napoleon
thanks for listening...
George Dick
***********************************************************
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 16:00:36 -0500
From: rshresth@black.clarku.edu (RaJesh B. Shrestha)
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Need Help on Thakali's of Nepal
Cross-posted from SCN:
---------------------
From: Sudeep M Dasgupta
Subject: Re: soc.culture.
hi vivek.
i thought the simplest thing to do would be to post this to you and you
could forward it.
______________________________________________________________________________
A friend of mine , Marie Norman is on a Fulbright to Nepal, and working on
Thakalis in Pokhara in the tourism industry. She is hoping to get help in
two areas:
- the addresses (mailing) of Andrew Manzardo, William Fisher and Barbara
Parker, all of whom have written on the Thakalis.
- ANY advice and insights from contributors to the newsgroup on the Thakalis.
Please send her information at :
(preferred address)
Marie Norman
Kathmandu U.S.E.F
Deptt. of State
*****************************************************
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 08:14:00 PST
To: Nepal Digest <nepal-request@cs.niu.edu>
From: "Khanal, Bushan" <@wdni.com,>
Subject: HUMOR: Hunting Elephants
A friend of mine forwarded this to me.
- Bhushan
**** HUNTING AN ELEPHANT ****
MATHEMATICIANS hunt elephants by going to Africa, throwing out
everything that is not an elephant, and catching one of whatever is
left.
EXPERIENCED MATHEMATICIANS will attempt to prove the existence of at
least one unique elephant before proceeding to step 1 as a
subordinate exercise.
PROFESSORS OF MATHEMATICS will prove the existence of at least one
unique elephant and then leave the detection and capture of an actual
elephant as an exercise for their graduate students.
COMPUTER SCIENTISTS hunt elephants by exercising Algorithm A:
1. Go to Africa.
2. Start at the Cape of Good Hope.
3. Work northward in an orderly manner, traversing the continent
alternately east and west.
4. During each traverse pass,
a. Catch each animal seen.
b. Compare each animal caught to a known elephant.
c. Stop when a match is detected.
EXPERIENCED COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS modify Algorithm A by placing a
known elephant in Cairo to ensure that the algorithm will terminate.
ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMERS prefer to execute Algorithm A on their
hands and knees.
ENGINEERS hunt elephants by going to Africa, catching gray animals at
random, and stopping when any one of them weighs within plus or minus
15 percent of any previously observed elephant.
ECONOMISTS don't hunt elephants, but they believe that if elephants
are paid enough, they will hunt themselves.
STATISTICIANS hunt the first animal they see N times and call it an
elephant.
CONSULTANTS don't hunt elephants, and many have never hunted anything
at all, but they can be hired by the hour to advise those people who
do.
OPERATIONS RESEARCH CONSULTANTS can also measure the correlation of
hat size and bullet color to the efficiency of elephant-hunting
strategies, if someone else will only identify the elephants.
POLITICIANS don't hunt elephants, but they will share the elephants
you catch with the people who voted for them.
LAWYERS don't hunt elephants, but they do follow the herds around
arguing about who owns the droppings.
SOFTWARE LAWYERS will claim that they own an entire herd based on the
look and feel of one dropping.
VICE PRESIDENTS OF ENGINEERING, RESEARCH, AND DEVELOPMENT try hard to
hunt elephants, but their staffs are designed to prevent it. When
the vice president does get to hunt elephants, the staff will try to
ensure that all possible elephants are completely prehunted before
the vice president sees them. If the vice president does see a
nonprehunted elephant, the staff will (1) compliment the vice
president's keen eyesight and (2) enlarge itself to prevent any
recurrence.
SENIOR MANAGERS set broad elephant-hunting policy based on the
assumption that elephants are just like field mice, but with deeper
voices.
QUALITY ASSURANCE INSPECTORS ignore the elephants and look for
mistakes the other hunters made when they were packing the jeep.
SALES PEOPLE don't hunt elephants but spend their time selling
elephants they haven't caught, for delivery two days before the
season opens.
SOFTWARE SALES PEOPLE ship the first thing they catch and write up an
invoice for an elephant.
HARDWARE SALES PEOPLE catch rabbits, paint them gray, and sell them
as desktop elephants.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 11 2000 - 11:15:38 CST