The art of writing

Something i read in The Hindu, prompted to start on this. It was also based on some personal experiences and observations of mine. I noticed that i am finding it increasingly difficult to get my spellings right (thanks to MS Word and other programs), making simple mistakes when i write on a piece of paper (missing the back-space key, my favourite key), and also finding it difficult to keep concentrating on the piece of paper i am writing on.


In an attempt to prove myself wrong, and think these were just perceptions of mine, i tried to sit down and write a letter. Something that i have not in a long while. And quickly i found how, how a profoundly difficult job, this had become. It was one thing to scribble notes and jot down points in a meeting etc. But an entirely different proposition to sit down and write your thoughts, specially on paper.

Technology has changed our lives so much that we have reduced or eliminated many functions we were used to in our daily lives. This may not be such a bad thing. But language skills and communication ability is not necessarily improving with the advent of technology. Thanks to SMS, people are now finding it difficult to actually spell out words. I received this message on my IM, yesterday, "k.i vl do dat". It took me a few seconds, before my sms challenged brain figured out the meaning, "ok, i will do that". It also doesnt make too much sense from a sms point of view, because most, if not all, phones support the text-complete(T9) feature that actually suggests/complete words.

Another quick comment on the technology, which is a seperate topic for discussion, but has to wait for another day. A friend of mine had this to say, "all this technology is supposed to make life easier. its not, its only making life more complicated".

A word in hand is worth...

Tags: writing, and+writing, letter, communication, technology, language, skill

2005 - an afterthought

Its been a year since the tsunami struck the coast of Tamil Nadu, and the shores of many other nations, causing more deaths than any other natural calamity in the recent history of mankind. Yesterday, most people in these parts of this world, spent a quite moment reflecting on the impact. The TV channels as usual had a lot of stories to share, most of them of hope and path to recovery.

A year has flown past, and has been quite eventful, and it appeared that Mother Nature, was quite furious with mankind. She let it be known in no uncertain terms, that we are not behaving well as citizens of the this planet. Our lives seem to be all encompassing on this planet, and now we are the most influential beings on this planet.

Now here is a thought. Not sure, how far, i can believe in this, but it does have some bearing on our situation. Remember the times, millions of years ago, when the dinosaurs ruled the planet. There are several theories, today, that help us understand their subsequent destruction from this planet. My mom's theory is that, 'they were wiped out of the planet, because they had become too much of strain to the planet'. Now mom is no expert in science, but she does have some wild theories. Am not sure what her network or source of information is, typically like newspapers, she tries to protect the source of her information.

But this was like a brainwave to me. No matter how much of a rationalist i am, there is a part of me that believes that many things didnt just evolve. In any case, the survival of the fittest, is very much an evolutionary theory, and mother nature is just doing that, fighting back. The climate warming, the greenhouse effect, the shifting tetonic plates, shrinking ice caps, the magnetic poles, and not to overlook the possibilty of an meteor strike, could all have devastating effect to this planet and the citizens of the world.

The human kind is supposed to be the most evolved of all creatures. But unfortunately they are the ones who kill for the sake of pleasure, more often than for the sake of food. The gradual and steady encroachment on land, water and other resources that are required for the survival of their co-inhabitants of this planet, have caused extermination of entire sub-species and in some cases human races.

No small wonder then if the planet chose to strike back.

Tags: earth, tsunami, global+warming, earthquake, evolution, god

True ?

Most certainly. Atleast as far as my observation goes. Altho' this is not directed against the blacks alone. It applies to all people who are part of the non-white community.
Many times these are subtle, and many times they are not itended to hurt. But always it does make the person at the recieving end uncomfortable. Very untypical of the culture i was born into and raised. So for me personally, the initial years in the US were a big facade.

Take for example a simple fact like footwear. Until recently when Nike and a few others promoted the alternative footwear, wearing anything other shoes, brought people to stare at you. So, slippers, pull ons etc were not quite acceptable. Yeah, yeah, arguments can be made about health, smell etc. And i agree they are not something that can be discounted completely. Yet, one must also understand and respect the differences.

Mary J. Blige says America is racist

Tags: racism, america, white, black, shoes

Parlimentary history in India

So finally the hidden camera, and other sting operations are paying off. This has to be some kind of history. I am sure the opposition and many will think this smacks of politics. Well its all politics anyway.

Hope this starts a trend. But i am confident of the politicians figuring ways around this. Afterall these kinds of techinques were invented in the developed democracies of the west, and corruption does still exist there.

But there is hope. I believe that strongly, that there is always hope, and this problem (corruption) will reduce in its intensity and particularly will focus away from the day to day lives of people.

11 MPs expelled amid BJP opposition

Insat launched !!

Successfully launched yesterday from the European Space Agency vehicle Ariane.


The latest in the series of INSAT, and one of the heaviest and largest launched & built by India. ISRO doesnt have the capability to launch satellites of this size at this time, and is constantly upgrading its vehicle. There are about 3-4 launches scheduled by IRSO for the year of 2006.

India has the biggest constellation of satellites dedicated to remote sensing (the IRS series), but the application of the satellite technology is lagging far behind. As i had scribbled earlier, we are way behind in weather forecasting and related applications. We have shown the capability of engineering and launching these satellites, now we need to start applying them. On the INSAT series, i would really like to know the cost savings to the Govt because of using Indian owned communication satellites instead of foreign owned ones. The point i am trying to make is that, the country has shown its strength in these areas, but we need to make sure it benefits the people.

INSAT 2
India To Launch Its Heaviest Satellite From Kourou
INSAT-4A Launched Successfully

Tags: isro, insat, space, satellite, ariane, esa, india

Yahoo Widgets

Check this out !!


It used to be Konfabulator, what a name. Its now Yahoo Widgets, so much better. And typical of yahoo, they have integrated the whole thing with the yahoo portal and you can now check email, review your notes, connect to flickr, check out maps. Well thats not all, you can also download 100s of widgets built by and submitted by people. Its cool. There are few things that are real handy and bunch of others that are good for occasional use.

Well fancy youself with what you like. Check it out tho'.

Tags: yahoo, widgets, utilities, cool+stuff, downloads, desktop

Pondering

What could she be thinking about ?

sitting lonely on a bench
many thoughts come to mind
specially the tough ones
that put me in such a bind

pondering for a moment here
like that fountain up ahead
wish i could shoot my problems
way, straight out of my head

My Flickr - photostream

Tags: pondering, flickr+cksquare, poem
Poem Hunter (Pondering)

Is George Bush above the law ?

This is not the first time, George Bush and his presidency has attempted to hoodwink, lie, tap dance around the law, and now even break the law.

His encounter with the law began with his first presidency, when he was 'selected' as the President by the supreme court. In a highly questionable step, the Supreme Court overruled the Florida Supreme Court on the re-counting of votes, and didnt order a re-poll but said, the words of the republican politician in Florida is final, and approved the selection.

Then came the war on Iraq, which it turns out has been based on so many lies. The bumper stickers 'no one died, when clinton lied' rings loud now !! George Bush, hoodwinked the entire american public, the all too willing US Congress and Senate and the unquestioning Fourth Estate to declare war on Iraq, in search of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Now, this. In what appears a clear violation of the laws of the country, George Bush has gone on the offensive that he will continue wiretaps. Wiretaps on whom ?

In 2001, he used the sentiments of the country to push the Patriot Act into law, and also usurped a few rights and powers to himself as the President to do what was necessary to fight the terrorist. One of those steps was the war against Iraq. Samuel Johnson said "Patriotism is last refuge of a scoundrel", i wonder if he had any premonition.

Well, here is what we need to do ......

This is from a sticker available at merch-bot.com

Tags: george+bush, iraq, wmd, lies, law, constitution

At what price - relief ?

Every day, i read or hear a story about how India is stepping forward in handling catastrophes, technology advances and challenges, nuclear arms, brain drain and brain bank issues etc, i have this great feeling inside. And then equally a sad and frustrated feeling when i read stories about mishaps, and those which could have been avoided, if there some bit of caution exercised by the authorities concerned.




I know, it is easy to blame, and difficult to actually do. But these kinds of things have been going on and on. And everyone, gives the benefit of the doubt to the Govt. And then the chief minister and few other politicians come about distributing money, and that is expected to have solved the problem.

This happened at a time, when the Govt was distributing relief to people already affected by the pouring rain in Chennai. It is quite plausible, that the officials involved in this effort, were actually thinking that they were doing a favour to people who were undeserving, and so this attitude obviously must have helped create this confusion. This, it seems is not a prerogative, of the small and developing countries only. We saw a nice sample by the richest country in the world, display the same kind of apathy in New Orleans, in its treatment of the poor.

42 killed in Chennai stampede

Tags: india, relief, rain, stampede, chennai, poor, katrina, new+orleans

Phone call to President

I just heard the news. The President (George Bush) had authorized the phone tap of american citizens, to determine if they were part of the terrorist network or not !!

Now that he has listened in on my conversation, i might as well make it public here.

Ring Ring...

Me: Hello
Other side: Hello

Me: I am calling you today, because i understand the President is listening to our conversation, and i figured this was the best way to reach him.
Other side: huh !

Me: Well, so if you dont mind, let me speak and then you can chime in, as required
Other side: what !!

Me: So, George, whats the plan ?
Other side: my name is not George !!

Me: Do you think we should pull the troops out of Iraq ? Do you need any help in resolving this criss, let me know, i am good at solving crisis. And how is Dick ?
Other side: i am going to hang up now....

Me: You know the other day, i passed outside your house, and i could have sworn, you were doing a jig. Come, come, you are a big boy now, you can admit it
Other side: click..

Me: oops. I guess you are not allowed to listen anymore, George.

I wonder if there is a device, that you have, that is going to listen to my thoughts. Uggh, they are real dirty. So, i am sure you dont want to do that.
George, dont worry, i didnt mean to give you a hard time, i am sure there are people around you who are doing a good job. Who needs enemies, when you have the friends you got ?

Tags: bush, phone, usa, george+bush, iraq, patriot, terrorism