May 28, 2004
Pet peeve #1
I just hate it when people keep on saying 'I mean' or 'you know' in a conversation as a habit. Just spent an hour in a meeting where one guy kept saying 'I mean' and the other kept saying 'you know'. My head is still spinning.
May 27, 2004
Comet Neat
Comet Neat (C/2001 Q4) was visible to naked eye for the last 2-3 weeks. Unfortunately, I could observe it only on one night (May 19th) due to consistent cloudy skies. Took out my old trusty Pentax K-1000 and loaded it with ISO800 speed film. Took several 10, 20 and 30 second exposures. The image below is a composite of 14 such photos combined using Registax. It is not the greatest, but, am happy with the amount of time I had to take the photos and atmospheric conditions.
The greenish blob in the center of the picture is the comet. There is a faint tail going up to the left side. If you look at the right edge of the photo, the tail will appear brighter. I hope to make better scans from the negatives to make this picture less grainy.
May 25, 2004
One of the biggest regrets of my life
I was a poor graduate student. One of the best bands ever came to town in Winter of 1994. Didn't have money to buy any more concert tickets as I had already attended two Pink Floyd and two Hindustani Classical concerts earlier that year. Decided to give up on the opportunity to see and hear Jerry Garcia and the gang live. Later in the Summer of 1995, Jerry Garcia died. There will be no more live Grateful Dead concerts. Missed the only chance I had to see one of my most favorite bands perform live. Will I ever forgive myself?
Click below for the lyrics of one of my favorite dead songs...
Ripple
If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near, as it were your own?
It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of man
There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall, you fall alone
If you should stand, then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way, I would take you home
May 23, 2004
May 22, 2004
May 21, 2004
Strange weather
Update: We learnt about the real storm when we got home around 7:30 pm. It seems that we had 95 MPH wind gusts in our area and a lot of hail. One of our neighbor's trees came down. It was a big tree and it took down a couple more on its way down. The roads were all littered with leaves and branches. The hail litterally made holes in all the leaves of the trees. They really look sad with drooping leaves. There was so much hail that all of it didn't melt in 3-4 hours after the storm. Thankfully, no TORNADO. The dead tree near our house was still standing. Should get it cut soon.
2:00pm Friday, May 21st: Something strange with the weather. We have big thunderstorms moving through. At 2pm, the clouds are so thick that it almost feels like sun has set already. The wind is blowing fiercely and the sky looks green. I have never seen this color. Hope it is not a Tornado.
gmailswap
Thanks to my dear friend, pseudofreud, I have a gmail account of my own.
There are many around the world who are offering everything from money to 'a date with their wife' for a gmail account. Interested in making the most of your gmail account? Check out the offerings at gmailswap website.
May 20, 2004
The white woman and India
An excellent article by Francois Gaultier, in an effort to understand the latest post-election events.
Here is the complete text, if the link isn't working...
The white woman and India
Francois Gaultier
May 20, 2004
The spectacle on the night of May 18, of all these Congress leaders, many of them intelligent men and women, debasing themselves in front of Sonia Gandhi, pleading with her to lead the country, made me feel sick. If Sonia had any dignity, she would have stopped it, but she just listened, with a slightly bored expression, right till the last Congressman and woman had wallowed in dirt?before her.
And again I asked myself the question which has baffled me for 35 years, although I am myself a white man and a born Christian: why do Indians have such an attraction towards the white skin?
After reading the newspapers on Wednesday morning and seeing how newspapers such as The Times of India still root for Sonia Gandhi, with columnists such as Dileep Padgaonkar saying that her becoming prime minister would be in tune 'with the highest Vedantic ideals,' I wonder: does India, one of the most ancient civilizations on the planet, need a white woman to govern her?
I am sure Sonia has great qualities, but are Indians so dumb, stupid and backward, that they cannot find among themselves someone intelligent enough, non-corrupt enough, to lead them? And what about this craze for Mother Teresa? She may have been a saint, but nobody has harmed India's image in the 20th century so much: when you say India in the West, their eyes light up and they answer: 'Mother Teresa/ Kolkata/ poor people/ dumb people/ starving people/ who do not know how to care after their own underprivileged/ who need a white woman to show them how to pick up the dying from the streets/ to look after orphans'!
Is this the image Indians want today? An image that is harming them, which is stopping Western investors from investing in India? Yet, Mother Teresa is worshipped here, from Kolkata to Chennai, from Delhi to Bangalore, and when she will be made a saint by the Vatican, perpetuating this colonial, superior-minded, Christian symbol of white superiority over the brown/black man, all the Indian media will rejoice in its own mental slavery and the Indian government will probably declare a national holiday!
Why don't Indians understand that brown is beautiful? White people spend hours on the beach and put on a hundred creams to get tanned. And in winter they even artificially lie under infrared lamps in beauty parlors to get brown! Why this obsession for the Indian woman to have white skin?
How come the two most popular actors in India have fair skin and nearly blue eyes? Why this craze for 'fair' brides? If you find the answers to these, you will understand why the fatal attraction for Sonia Gandhi and Mother Teresa.
Obviously, colonisation has frozen the Indian mind in certain patterns and the British made sure, through Macaulay's policies, of leaving behind an enduring inferiority complex among Indians, by constantly harping on the flaws of Indian culture and inflating them. That is why today Indian intellectuals repeat like parrots what their masters had said before them: 'Hindus are fundamentalists/Brahmins are exploiters/Gowalkar was a Nazi/Indians are corrupt and no good.'
But that does not explain everything: most colonised countries have aped their masters after having hated them. No, in my mind the greatest factor behind India's love for the white is the absurd theory of Aryan invasion
According to this theory, which was actually devised in the 18th and 19th centuries by British linguists and archaeologists, the first inhabitants of India were good-natured, peaceful, dark-skinned shepherds called the Dravidians, who had founded what is called the Harappan or the Indus Valley civilisation. They were supposedly remarkable builders, witness the city of Mohenjo Daro in Pakistani Sind, but had no culture to speak of, no literature, no proper script even. Then, around 1500 BC, India is said to have been invaded by tribes called the Aryans: white-skinned, nomadic people, who originated somewhere in western Russia and imposed upon the Dravidians the hateful caste system. To Aryans is attributed Sanskrit, the Vedic or Hindu religion, India's greatest spiritual texts, the Vedas, as well as a host of subsequent writings, the Upanishads, the Mahabharat, the Ramayan, etc.
This was indeed a masterstroke on the part of the British: thanks to the Aryan theory, they showed on the one hand that Indian civilisation was not that ancient and that it was posterior to the cultures which influenced the Western world -- Mesopotamia, Sumeria, and Babylon -- and that whatever good things India had developed -- Sanskrit, literature, or even its architecture -- had been influenced by the West.
Thus, Sanskrit, instead of being the mother of all Indo-European languages, became just a branch of their huge family; thus, the religion of Zarathustra is said to have influenced Hinduism, and not vice versa. On the other hand, it divided India and pitted against each other the low caste, dark-skinned Dravidians and the high caste, light-skinned Aryans, a rift which is still enduring. Yet, most recent archaeological and linguistic discoveries point out that there never was an Aryan invasion and many historians, including the malevolent Romila Thapar, are distancing themselves from it. Yet, most Indians still believe in this absurd theory.
Wake up?O Indians: you are as great, if not greater than the white man. You can do as well, if not better than the white man. Not only did your forefathers devise some of the basic principles of mathematics, astrology, and surgical medicine, not only are your people among the most brilliant in the world today -- half of Silicon Valley is of Indian origin, 30 percent of the United Kingdom's doctors are Indians -- but you still hold within yourselves a unique spiritual knowledge, which once roamed the world but which has now disappeared, replaced by the intolerant creed of the two major monotheistic religions which say: 'if you don't believe in my true God, I will either kill you or convert you'.
Wake up India, brown is beautiful, smart and it is the future. Dr?Manmohan Singh, whatever has to be said about the Congress, you have partly redeemed India's pride, and our good wishes are with you.
The author is the correspondent in South Asia for Ouest-France, the largest circulation French daily (1 million copies)
Rooting for Chidambaram!
Mukherjee, Chidambaram front-runners for finance minister
I hope P. Chidambaram gets to be the Finanace minister. It would be horrible to see that bumbling fool getting this important portfolio.
Lookout! Deer in the HOV lane
A deer joined the morning commute into San Francisco on Tuesday, bounding onto the Golden Gate Bridge and loping across the entire span as bridge officials and motorists watched in amazement.It was the first time anybody can remember that a deer, or any other animal, for that matter, has made it from one side of the famous bridge to the other in one piece.
The bridge authorities had to stop the traffic and escort the deer across the bridge. They reported that it galloped the 1.7 mile span in less than 10 minutes and was following the speed limit. It zipped through the electronic payment lane at the toll gates without paying for the use of the bridge.
Sadly, there are no deer on the south side of the Golden Gate bridge and it will have to live a solitary life on some nearby golf course. The National Park Services will try to capture the deer and return it to Marin County to avoid this solitary confinement. The only way back to the north side other than the bridge is a mile-long swim in the bay, which would be impossible for the deer or anyone for that matter as the water is usually very cold.
May 19, 2004
Shopping Online
Just ordered something from Amazon.com. In their customer service section, you can list everything that you ever ordered from them. Found out that my first online shopping experience at Amazon.com was in December of 1997. Wow! That was a long time ago. These are the first books I bought online:
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids
I have been hooked on online shopping ever since. These days, I only go to a store for groceries.
Nicely said!
This appeared in one of the articles about Indian elections in NYTimes today.
For India, his swearing-in will be historic, and not just because of the extraordinary political drama of the last week. A Sikh, Mr. Singh will be India's first non-Hindu prime minister. In a milestone that says much about this vast nation's diversity and capacity for co-existence, Mrs. Gandhi, an Italian-born woman raised a Roman Catholic, is making way for a Sikh prime minister who will be sworn in by a Muslim president, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
May 18, 2004
A sigh of relief Smart move by Sonia
Sonia Gandhi reluctant to take office
Looks like someone beat some sense into her head. It is good for Sonia not to bite something so big that she couldn't possibly chew.
Manmohan Singh as PM and P.Chidambaram with the Finance portfolio, even I would support that. Looks like stock market is already making a recovery on this news. This government may last more than 6 months after all. Let us see how it goes down with the damned CPI and CPIM.
Good analysis (conspiracy theory) of Sonia's move by Mayuresh:
I think Sonia is very smart in giving up the PM position. This way, she in fact does more to keep the dynasty intact. Right now, her son is already in Lok Sabha. Priyanka, her daughter may also arrive in six months when re-elections take place beacuse of withdrawal of Left support. She already was in the forefront during the campaigning. This way, the blame of failure of weak coalition goes to Manmohan Singh. She saves her face and then paves the way to Rahul Gandhi, her son to be PM in next elections because by then he would have the 'experience' as MP.
GO Gandhi Dynasty!!! Frankly speaking in the country where 'family following' has been in the culture of the society for thousands of years, it does not surprise me at all that this fmaily has got waya by convincing so many Indians that they are the only ones who can 'rule' India.
May 17, 2004
The Catcher in the Rye
Finished reading 'The Catcher in the Rye' by J.D. Salinger last night. A very well-written book. It took Mr. Salinger 10 years to complete it. It is probably hard to think and write like a teenager when you are not one.
It is a first-person narration by Holden Caulfield, a 16-year old boy, who was kicked out of prep school. He spends 2-3 days in New York city on his own rather than going home to face his parents. The book shows us Holden's view of the adult world, his likes and serious dislike of 'phoniness' in a very distinctive language. This coming-of-age story is a must read for everyone, especially yougsters who are in the teenage years. I wish I had read it when I was in my teens. I would have found someone I could identify with at that time (well, why deny it, even now): the way Holden's thoughts go every which way as he gets distracted and his overactive imagination about the future.
For those familiar with Marathi literature, I found some similarities with writings of G.A. Kulkarni, who wrote in a very non-judgemental way presenting a story many times without an ending. It is left upto the reader to figure out what happens next.
Indian stock market crash
Sonia Gandhi faces crisis, stocks crash
This happened even before they leftists squeezed Congress to make any policy decisions. That day is not too far away in the future. Communists have decided not to join the government but, to support from outside. It is a nice way to get your policies implemented without bearing any responsibility for the consequences.
If I had any money in the Indian stock market, I would cash out right now to prevent any more losses.
Shares on the Bombay bourse plunged as much as 17.5 percent -- the worst fall in its 129 years. Trading was halted twice, for a total of three hours, before the index closed 11 percent down, extending big losses last week. The rupee and bonds also fell.The crash, including a big drop on Friday, has wiped tens of billions of dollars off the value of listed companies. Hundreds of brokers and small investors protested outside the bourse on the day Gandhi was due to visit the president to claim power.
Leftist parties, which hold more than 60 of the new parliament's 545 seats, decided not to formally join Gandhi's Congress party and its allies in the coalition expected to be sworn in on Wednesday.
Congratulations, Massachusettes!
Congratulations to the first legally married gay couple in Massachusettes. They were married in Cambridge this morning.
Yahoo! News - Gays Start Final Steps Toward Legal Marriage in Mass.
Bravo! Hopefully, other states of the union will follow Massachusettes' footsteps and move towards a less discriminatory society.
May 14, 2004
Spring/Summer storms
Watching the thunderstorms rumbling last night, reminded me of this photo that I took last year. Some of you may have seen it before.
Just the beginning...
Scrap divestment policy: Left parties
Even before a government is formed, the leftist morons of India have started asking for their pound of flesh for support. I hope that Congress will not agree with all these demands and completely stall the economic reform process. That would be a real disaster for India.
Thanks for the link, Sujit
May 13, 2004
I am shocked
I was simply stunned to read the news about BJP/NDA's loss in the National Election. This result just means that India will have to go through another round of elections in a few months after these elected idiots fight amongst themselves and stall the economic reforms. A major waste of money, but, there is no other choice.
Received an email from Mayuresh, this morning. He puts my exact thoughts in words.
Frankly speaking, I am SOOO concerned about the country that I would not be surprised if the parliament dissolves in two months for re-elections. hmm... Sonia Gandhi Prime Minister, Mulayam Singh Defence Minister, Laloo Yadav Foreign Minister and Mayawati the minister of Railways - GOD ! please save us ...
Read the full text of his email below.
Sorry, Sujit, Parag and Navtej...
Mala, RD, Nithin, Uday, Ashwin, Michele - HIP HIP HOORAY !!! Though, I am concerned with the fragileness of the future coalition and reforms under the government represented by the Left and Laloo Yadav, Mayawati, and Mulayam Singh, I still am happy that the party that felt giving cheap cell phones, numerous call centers and master minding the most audacious communal split in the nation's democratic history would win them people's mandate was SOOO wrong !! I am especially proud of Mumbaities who were strong enough to vote Ram Naik and Manohar Joshi out. Unfortunately, voting the film star Govinda in could be as impotent.
Frankly speaking, I am SOOO concerned about the country that I would not be surprised if the parliament dissolves in two months for re-elections. hmm... Sonia Gandhi Prime Minister, Mulayam Singh Defence Minister, Laloo Yadav Foreign Minister and Mayawati the minister of Railways - GOD ! please save us ...
SO, all in all, BJP gets a lesson, parliament dissolves due to heavy infighting, BJP apologizes for Gujrat and puts forward a concrete plan for addressing income distribution (The stock market and businessmen are not enough to win elections), GIVES UP the damn stupid uniform civil code, signals its committement towards lower caste in villages and poor in the cities (hey, Mumbai's so called upper caste middle class voted you OUT and Thakurs from UP are not enough to win elections), BUILTS back the mosque in its place and may be a temple next to it (to keep those religious faggots happy) and FIRES Advani, Joshi, and all VHP/RSSites (they did jack for you this time), I think I will support them. After all, we all would prefer Vajpayee, Jaswant, Jaitley, Shourie, and Mahajan over Sonia, Mulayam, Laloo, Mayawati, and Surjeet...
May 12, 2004
Hard to believe
I thought Andhra Pradesh was doing very well under the stewartship of N. Chandrababu Naidu. I was completely surprised to read the news about TDP's overwhelming loss in the elections to Congress and its allies. If you are equally surprised read more analysis at Shanti's and JK's blog. I hope this is not the first act that will be followed by similar horrific results in the National elections.
May 10, 2004
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May 07, 2004
!@#$@!$ Oil prices
Yahoo! News - Oil Hits $40, First Time Since Gulf War
Oil is getting so expensive and consequently, gasoline is getting expensive too. This really hurts Americans that are used to really low gas prices.
I filled up my gas tank yesterday, and it costed me thirty f***ing eight dollars. The gas prices have gone up by 100% in last 5-6 years. This is ridiculous. US should make a move on Saudi Arabia after Iraq is subdued, to get more cheap oil. ;)
Fortunately, our cars are not gas guzzlers and give pretty good mileage (25city-30highway mpg). I have been making my mind up over the last year or two, that my next car is going to be a hybrid or a hydrogen powered one. Initially, it was for environmental reasons, but, now with a big hit on my wallet every time I pull into a gas station: screw the environment, I really need to save some money.
May 06, 2004
Friends: Finally over.
Tonight is the last ever episode of 'Friends'. Thank God! I just get this primal urge to hurl the nearest object I can find, towards the TV everytime I see Jennifer Aniston on it.
It is sickening how NBC is milking 'Friends' while it is on its way out. Last night there was a 2 hour special 'Dateline' about friends. I didn't watch that and have no intention of watching tonight's 2 hour final episode either. Can think of a million better things I can do in those 2 hours.
Update: If anyone manages to survive through the first hour of 'Friends', switch to your local PBS station at 9pm for Frontline. Tonight's program is on Cyberwar. Should be interesting.
May 04, 2004
Get ready for a noisy Summer
This summer is going to be noisier than usual in Washington DC and 15 eastern states ranging from Michigan to New York to Georgia. Billions of large, noisy, winged, red-eyed insects known as periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp. Brood 10) will soon emerge from the ground as soon as the soil temperature reaches 64F. They have been waiting underground for 17 years for their month-long above-ground life. They will come out of the ground as wingless insects called nymphs, climb up on trees, lose their outer skin, spread their wings, fly, chirp in search of a mate, mate, lay eggs and die. The eggs will hatch in a few weeks and the nymphs will fall to the ground. They will burrow into the soil and stay there for 17 years before they emerge again.
In some areas, the expected population is more than a million cicadas per acre. But, there is nothing to worry about. They don't bite or sting and won't damage any plants or crops. They sure will be a big nuisance as they will fly into people, clog gutters and make enough noise to make people close their windows even on pleasant nights. The cicada explosion usually peaks between mid-May to mid-June depending on the location.
Get more information about brood 10 cicadas here and here, such as pictures and recipes with fresh cicadas.
May 03, 2004
Spring flowers
May 02, 2004
QOTD
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
-Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, and author (1872-1970)
So true....
War in Iraq and Afghanistan is going well.
A couple of recent news articles...
U.S. Marines Cede Control of Falluja to Iraqi Troops
former general (in Iraq's Republican Guard), Jasim Muhammad Saleh, drove into town (to take control of Fallujah) wearing his old olive-green (Iraqi) uniform, with hundreds of residents cheering him along the streets in a hero's welcome.
A Truce on Terror: Rooting Out Al-Qaeda
The Pakistani army agreed to halt its operation against Mohammed's militants, repay Wazir tribesmen for war damages and set free most of the 160 suspected al-Qaeda supporters who were captured. The tribesmen were also allowed to keep their weapons. In exchange, Mohammed and his clan promised to refrain from attacks on Pakistani forces and the U.S. troops in nearby Afghanistan.
A Pakistani general helicoptered into a village in the Pakistani mountains of Waziristan last weekend to meet with a stubborn enemy. Lieut. General Safdar Hussain came to sign a truce with Nek Mohammed, a tribal leader whose pro-al-Qaeda fighters had eluded capture for more than six weeks and had killed about 80 of the general's men. The Pakistani army agreed to halt its operation against Mohammed's militants, repay Wazir tribesmen for war damages and set free most of the 160 suspected al-Qaeda supporters who were captured. The tribesmen were also allowed to keep their weapons. In exchange, Mohammed and his clan promised to refrain from attacks on Pakistani forces and the U.S. troops in nearby Afghanistan. Gleeful rebel tribesmen accepted the easy terms—and then treated Hussain to a meal of rice and slaughtered sheep.
The truce, however, could be a severe setback for the Bush Administration, which has been leaning on Pakistan to carry out a clean sweep of al-Qaeda and the Taliban from the tribal territory. Mohammed is a former Taliban commander who still swears loyalty to fugitive leader Mullah Omar and was earlier accused by the Pakistani government of giving shelter to al-Qaeda fighters, possibly including Osama bin Laden. In this area Pakistani troops last month mistakenly thought they had cornered bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. A Pakistani army spokesman said operations were halted because it had succeeded in "smashing" terrorist bases. But no senior al-Qaeda or Taliban member was caught. A Pakistani official who brokered the truce says the deal included a guarantee from tribal leaders that "non-Pakistanis"—Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks—would no longer cross from Waziristan to ambush U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But local officials in Waziristan say that promise is not enforceable. What's more, the truce raises doubts about the resolve of the Pakistanis to root out al-Qaeda fugitives from the tribal areas. Said a U.S. military spokesman in Kabul: "At the end of the day, we expect Pakistani action there."
From the May. 03, 2004 issue of TIME magazine
