Blog of Parag

Fishing for sharks

The photo in this story is really sickening. These people are actually using dogs as bait for catching sharks. uugghhh.

Photo in the News: Dog Saved From Shark-Bait Fate

Happy Diwali and Halloween

Happy Halloween

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year!!!

U2 - part II

Bono proved his greatness as a singer. He recorded "Miss Sarajevo" with Luciano Pavoratti a few years ago. Yesterday, he sang the whole song, including Luciano's part of the song and did an excellent job of it. I love the energy at U2 concerts. They don't spend any time between the songs. Mostly, one song fades out and second begins. There is a few seconds delay when they have to change guitars for Edge and Adam.

We liked this concert better than the 'Popmart' cocert we saw at Giants Stadium in NJ in 1997. Our seats were better this time and also the music was better. Also, last time, a drunk sitting behind us spilled his whole glass of beer and it was uncomfortable to stand in a pool of beer (YUK!). This time, we had a drunk behind us too, but, he was almost passed out.

Anyway, here is the setlist from yesterday's concert:

City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
I Will Follow
Gloria
The Ocean
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / In A Little While (snippet)
Beautiful Day / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet)
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own / No Regrets (snippet)
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday / Get Up Stand Up (snippet)
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One / MLK (snippet)

encore(s):
The First Time
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
With Or Without You
Crumbs From Your Table
Bad / People Have The Power (snippet)

More details on the concert along with reviews and photos can be found here.

A DVD of this Vertigo tour 2005 is coming out next month. The concert yesterday was so good that I am going to buy it.

Problem with comments

It was pointed out to me that the comments were not working properly on the blog. It has been fixed. Thanks, Sujit.

U2

It was an awesome show. The music was great and they performed very well. Show started with 'City of Blinding Lights' from their latest album, How to dismantle an atomic bomb. It was followed by Vertigo from the same album and the whole place just exploded with lights and sound. It is probably the most popular song from the album. Then, they went on to play a good mix of old and new songs. A lot of old songs from 'Joshua tree' and 'Achtung baby'. They even played my favorite U2 song, "I'll follow" from their album, "Boy". I was just amazed by the lead guitarist, Edge.

The show went on for more than 2 hours without a break. Can't imagine how they, especially Bono, get the energy to do it 3-4 nights a week. They are not young anymore. Getting close to 50 or already there.

Overall, it was an excellent show. If they are coming to your neighbourhood, don't miss a chance to see them live.

More fall photos

Colorful canopy





Light play

Anticipation....

Will leave early from work today to go to see U2. The concert is supposed to start at 7:30pm. But, with opening bands and all, U2 should come out on stage by 9. Have been looking forward to this since March when I bought the tickets.

Gross thousands

I can't believe that it's been 9 years since we met first. I don't exactly remember the date, but, it was 3rd week of October. She crossed this milestone yesterday. Click on the link below.

After 9 years and 144,000 miles, my 1996 VW Jetta GLX is still with her original clutch.

Finally, it's fall

My favorite season is definitely here. After what seemed like a long summer, it is finally getting cooler. The mornings are nippy and it feels good to get out of the house and breathe in the cool, crisp air.

Click on the link below to see some pictures from my neighbourhood.

Parineeta

- I was pleasantly surprised by 'Parineeta', at least the first 75% of it.

- First of all, it was only 2 hours long. Many more Hindi movie-makers should start making short films if they want people to watch them.

- It was very well picturised. The director created an authentic looking India of !960's.

- Casting was perfect. The newcomer, Vidya Balan and Saif Ali Khan did an excellent job. (I think Saif Ali Khan is much much better than Amir I-am-so-good-kiss-my-feet Khan, Salman I'll-kill-you-or-atleast-beat-you-up Khan and Shahrukh someone-please-stop-me-from-shaking Khan.) Even Sanjay Dutt, who can only act as a road-side goonda, did OK. Achyut Potdar did his usual 'bumbling fool of an old man' and other supporting actors acted well, too.

- The story was much much better than "Devdas" (even Madhuri couldn't keep me interested in that crap of a movie) and the screenplay was excellent. Everything was going well. I almost checked to make sure that I was really watching a Hindi movie and it took a turn for the worse. From the scene when Sanjay Dutt came to meet Saif Ali Khan before his wedding to deliver the papers for the neighbour's house, the movie just went down the drain -- very fast. It was almost as if the director realised that it was turning out to be a good movie and then remembered that he was making a hindi movie and had to ruin it. The ending was just atrocious. All that dramatics of breaking-down-the-wall was totally unnecessary.

- The songs were pleasing and almost appropriate. Rekha's cameo was very good. That woman still knows how to carry herself.

- I'd highly recommend this film if you haven't seen it yet. Just be ready for the disappointment at the end.

New beginning for parablog

I got sick and tired of all the comment and trackback spam. Hence, I am wiping the slate clean and start over with trackbacks disabled. Hope this will end that headache.

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is "Breast Cancer Awareness Month".

October 21st is "National Mammography Day". Schedule to get a mammogram for yourself or remind your mother, wife, sister, girlfriend, or daughter to do so.

IIPM

I am sure many of you have been following these ridiculous events revolving around a management institution, called Indian Institute of Planning and Management.

This episode goes like this...

• IIPm's false advertising,


• an article in a web-based magazine, exposing the fraud,


• a post made by a popular blogger about that article on his personal blog,


• IIPM threatening to sue him and others,


• IIPM threatening to unnecessarily put the blogger's employer in the middle of all this,


• popular blogger resigning from the company.

Don't know what IIPM has gained from this episode other than bad publicity, which it seems that they deserve. I think they should have come out defending themselves against all the allegations with facts and not lawsuits. If they had facts on their side, they wouldn't have reacted the way they did. Seems like a lot of people are unhappy with IIPM and have written about it.

All this lawsuits for defamation is a load of crap. If one is not free to express their opinion, they might as well live in communist China. As Kiruba mentions in his post, at this rate, the whole Bollywood should be after me with lawsuits for writing bad reviews for many Hindi movies over the last year or two.

Kudos to Gaurav Sabnis for standing up for his views on his blog.

Bonuses for Delphi execs

Delphi Corp., a major car part supplier announced bankruptcy last week. The CEO announced that they want to emerge as a lean and mean company after going through bankruptcy process. On top of massive job cuts and factory closures, they propose to cut the salaries for hourly workers by half and benefits will be cut, too.

At the same time, top 486 executives will receive bonuses (30%-250% of their salary depending on their place in the organisation) amounting to almost $88 million. President Rodney O'Neal would get a total cash bonus of $2.75 million, based on a $1.15 million average salary.

These are the same executives/managers, through their decision-making brought the company to bankruptcy. Does the company really need the same bunch of bozos to run it again?

On the other hand, don't they feel obligated to stay on and get the company through tough time? Where is their integrity and sense of responsibility? Why is any incentive required to keep them around?

In this kind of (greedy) corporate environment, one has to appreciate people like Steve Jobs. When he came back to Apple, the company was in trouble. He salary as CEO was $1 per year. He had a boatload of options, but, they would have been worthless, if he hadn't engineered a turn-around for the company.

The greedy execs of Delphi want to get paid for the mess they created and want to get paid even more for cleaning it up. Such is corporate America.

All the factual information is taken from this article.

NCAA Football week #6

It was such an interesting game with lots of ups and downs. I wish I was able to watch it live. Nebraska lost to Texas Tech by just 3 points 34-31. The score at halftime was 21-0 Texas Tech. Nebaska came back in the second half and were leading 31-27 till the last minute. Texas Tech converted two 4th and 1 plays within Nebraska 20 yard line, scored a touchdown to win the game. Nebraska definitely deserved to lose after such terrible defensive performance in the last minute of the game, when it counts. But, I am glad Nebraska put up a tough fight. This team has a future. Huskers travel to Baylor next week. This should be an easy game to win.

Texas-Oklahoma showdown was a big letdown. Texas easily beat the Sooners 45-12. They looked unstoppable. Next week it is time for Colorado to come to Austin and get beaten up.

In the big10, Michigan lost the Brown Jug to Minnesota at home. Quite disgraceful. Ohio State lost in the Happy Valley to the Nittany Lions of Penn State. Joe Paterno is basking in the 6-0 record for the season, the only unbeaten team in Big10. He is in his 70's and was jumping up and down in the pre-game pep rally. He is just an amazing coach. Northwestern beat Wisconsin in an upset. My favorite Big10 team MSU had the week off.

No other big upsets in the rest of top 25 teams.

Spencer Tunick

I remember seeing a documentary on HBO called 'naked states' on works of Spencer Tunick, a couple of years ago. He convinces hundreds and thousands of people to pose nude in public, arranges them in artistic and sometimes, bizzare formations (he calls them installations) and photographs them.

He started taking these photos in 1992 in New York. He was arrested in 1994 for photographing a nude woman at Rockefeller Center in NYC. His largest installations consisted of 7000 spaniards in Barcelona and 1700 english men and women in London. Many of these pictures are quite fascinating and very surreal. Check them out at these links.

Gestational license

Sometimes, you look at how people treat their children and think that there should be a licensing procedure for allowing people to have children. Sometimes, I question my own abilities to be a parent. But, jokes aside, this may be the first attempt to control reproduction by a US state. Check out this new proposed legislation in Indiana to control 'assisted reproduction'.

According to a draft of the recommended change in state law, every woman in Indiana seeking to become a mother through assisted reproduction therapy such as in vitro fertilization, sperm donation, and egg donation, must first file for a "petition for parentage" in their local county probate court.

Only women who are married will be considered for the "gestational certificate" that must be presented to any doctor who facilitates the pregnancy. Further, the "gestational certificate" will only be given to married couples that successfully complete the same screening process currently required by law of adoptive parents.

As it the draft of the new law reads now, an intended parent "who knowingly or willingly participates in an artificial reproduction procedure" without court approval, "commits unauthorized reproduction, a Class B misdemeanor." The criminal charges will be the same for physicians who commit "unauthorized practice of artificial reproduction."

It is ridiculous to have marriage as one of the requirements for getting the 'gestational certificate'. Senator Patricia Miller, who is the sponsor of this bill is basically saying that marriage should be a prerequisite for motherhood. I think this is just a veiled attempt to prevent gay couples from using these methods to achieve parenthood.

via Booman Tribune

Big Ad

I usually hate all kinds of beer ads. This one is an exception. Check it out...

:::CARLTON UNITED BIG AD:::

NCAA Football week #5

Both Nebraska and Texas were off last week and I was away on vacation, hence skipped week #4.

Yesterday, Nebraska won in overtime against Iowa State in a nail-bitting finish. I was following the game on the internet and was nice to see both offense and defense coming out to play. Bill Calahan's passing offense is finding its place in Nebraska. If this continues, the Huskers should be back in top 25 by next year. Next week, Red Raiders of Texas Tech come knocking. Hope that Huskers will be able to stand their ground and win another home game.

Texas easily beat Missouri and are itching to welcome Oklahoma to Austin next week. A win against Sooners will definitely justify their #2 ranking. Eventhough, OU is unranked and not doing so great this year, they possess a certain upset potential. Longhorn QB Vince Young looks good. Hope he stays through his senior year next season and not leave for NFL.

Michigan won against Michigan State in overtime. It was a good lift for Wolverines after two miserable losses against Notre Dame and Wisconsin. I was sorry to see MSU lose. They are my Big10 team for this year. MSU offense looked so good but, wasn't enough to win the game in the end.

Rutgers beat Pittsburgh on a Friday night game. Rutgers must be the most improved team in the last few years. When I was at Rutgers from 97-99, they were always ranked almost at the bottom of NCAA-divIA teams. They looked very sharp againast Pittsburgh and have lost only one game against Illinois and that too very narrowly.

Florida lost to Alabama in a big upset, 31-3. USC and Arizona State game was very tight, but, in the end, USC offense came out on top. Reggie Bush must be the best running back in NCAA currently. It is just a pleasure to watch him run. #18 ranked Minnesota lost to unranked Penn State and the Nitanny Lions are back in top 25 after the weekend's polls.

No experience? No problem...

High Court Nominee Has Never Been a Judge

This seems to be in the same spirit as nominating the head of FEMA with no experience in Emergency management.