This reminded me of stories that my wife frequently recounts from a mischievous publisher she worked for (he is now deceased). This publisher was known to introduce ridiculous sentences and observations in stories that were in draft form. It was my wife’s job as an editor to delete them from the final copy. For e.g. if a sentence read “Ms Jane, VP of Marketing” - he would edit the draft to read “Ms Jane, VP Of Marketing AND A SLUT”. They were lucky they never went to print with something so ridiculous

A complete list is here

Is that secure enough for you Mr. President?

To his credit, the President joked that he saw the man’s sole.

After all, a part of the Pakistan Military strategy to build its war machine against India is to fund organizations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) - that is critical for Pakistan to keep the insurgency in Pakistan occupied Kashmir - PoK, going. President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent editorial not withstanding, it is well documented that the LeT is actively supported by the Pakistan military and most notably the ISI. It is well known that the LeT actively recruits in the PoK. The chief of the LeT, Hafiz Saeed, in a speech in Karachi, said “There can’t be any peace while India remains intact. Cut them, cut them — cut them so much that they kneel before you and ask for mercy.” So - funding for the Pakistani military has indirectly supported the LeT operations which has funded the Mumbai attacks.

Most responsible parents will tell you that they supervise what their kids spend their $20 allowance on. How come the Bush administration doesn’t bother to watch over $10bln in aid money. Let us hope the Obama administration does a better job managing our tax dollars and global security.

So the provocative title of this post is worth considering i.e.
If Al is downing as much meat as he appears to be, does that make him any more of an environmentalist than Sarah Palin - with her renowned Moose Chilli and her assertion that global warming is not man-made.

Satyam Computer Services in collaboration with the state of Andhra Pradesh in India developed an SMS application with a view to decrease pre-natal and neo-natal mortality rates.

The way this works is as follows

Geek Details

Story covers the growing trend of ABCDs (children born to Indian immigrants) returning to India - for good. It introduces the term ‘brain circulation’ instead of ‘brain drain’.

I have argued that the IT boom in India and the leg-up that India has in globalization can be directly attributed to those who came to the MBA schools in the 70s and the IT consulting (aka IT body-shops) in the 80s (I was one of them).

It must be noted that my wife didn’t warm to him easily, She was a Hillary backer after all, but she kept an open mind. By the time we heard him speak after his Iowa primary victory, she was as committed a volunteer as any working mother with a husband and a child that any campaign could ask for. I cajoled her into reading “Dreams From my Father.” but she only read it after he was nominated. Obama’s campaign is the only time we have so actively engaged in the political process at a national level. (My wife has always been involved in school-board level issues/propositions)

While I do confess to having consumed a bit too much champagne on the night of Obama’s victory, I am not as giddy as some are and I am under no illusion about utopia being upon us. I know that, as president, he will have his share of failures. He is human - with personal flaws and prone to errors in judgment like the rest of us.

However, I am hopeful (and hope is something he promises in spades) that he will give me back the country I adopted as my own more than 8 years ago. It is a country that, despite tragic flaws in its history, has always promised something very noble. I bought into that promise and sought its citizenship, despite being the citizen of a country with a rich heritage. On a clear September day in 2001, a few deranged fanatics put forth a test to the very ideals that this country held dear, by tearing down the twin towers. They tested the very decency and moral character of this country. The Bush-Cheney co-presidency failed this test abysmally.

Instead of reassuring the world that despite immense challenges they would adhere to the basic tenets of democracy, the Bush administration indulged in a vulgar usurpation of power that modern democracies have never known. The balance of power that was carefully constructed between the executive, judicary and legislature was tilted overwhelmingly in favor of the executive. Through sheer hubris the Bush-Cheney co-presidency went about shredding the constitution and wielded it as a tool to achieve its own, often nefarious, ends. Cronyism trumped competency in every sphere. My government went so far as to withdraw from the Geneva convention and openly indulged in torture. It used means like extraordinary rendition to set up secret gulags that would have made Stalin proud.

Within 7 years George Bush had squandered - no, shredded - every noble ideal that this country was known for. While many know him as the architect of the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he is also the architect of a few lesser-known wars which include a class war against the poor, a religious war against non-evangelicals and moderates, a war against science and learning and intellectuals, and a war against the environment. My government indulged in an orgy of appalling human rights violations and made Abu Gharib and Gitmo household names the world over.

It doesn’t bother me that we are in the biggest economic crisis of my generation. Not for a moment do I lose sleep that the economy may get so bad that I may have to give up the “goodies of life” that I currently enjoy. No, what fills me with grief are the acts that have been done in my name as a citizen of this country. I don’t care if Obama doesn’t fix the economy and I couldn’t care less whether he serves one term or two. The only thing I hope for, from Mr Obama’s ascendancy to the highest office of this land, is that he restores the decency and moral character of this country.

I have reason to be hopeful - I don’t know of any other country that would have elected a man with a Muslim middle name, when that country was waging what many the world over perceived to be a war against Muslims. This country, unlike any other, has the remarkable ability to completely reinvent itself - especially when it is faced with its toughest challenges. Time and time again, it has picked leaders from George Washington, to Lincoln to FDR, to lead the country out of a seeming abyss to a new day. I hope that Barack Hussein Obama will join this pantheon of leaders.

ESTP - The Doers
[ESTP]
The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time

Not bad eh? It did get the “more keen on starting something new than following it through” part correct, if traffic on the blog is an indicator

American, Cutting Back, Plans $15 Pants Fee

Published: May 22, 2008
There’s an old saying about the best way to travel: bring half the clothes and twice the money.

Now may be the time to take that advice to heart and you had better not be Indian or Chinese.

American Airlines said Wednesday that it would soon start charging passengers for the clothes and shoes that they wear. $10 for cotton pants ($15 for Jeans) and $5 for Shirts ($7 for full-sleeved shirts). Additionally, American will charge $5 per shoe ($10 if they are hiking shoes) - if they are flying on a discounted fare. Asked why they charge per shoe and not for a pair of shoes, an American spokesperson said that as per the Americans with Disabilities Act, such pricing would be discriminatory.

The airline’s new policy — to take effect July15 — comes only weeks after many major carriers, including American, began charging $15 each way for checked baggage,

The new fee is just the latest example of airlines adding charges on top of rising airfares, even at the risk of angering travelers further, to make up for the billions of dollars they are losing as fuel prices soar. In an effort to reduce the weight and consequent fuel consumption, airlines continue to explore ways to reduce the weight and the clothes we wear are the latest target.

“It’s only going to get worse and worse,” said Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents employees at American. “Flight attendants are not trained to distinguish between running shoes and hiking shoes, and what if passengers decide not to wear any clothes so as not to pay the fee” said Glading?

American Airlines executives said they had little choice but to impose such fees, given that the price of jet fuel is up more than 80 percent from a year ago.

Airline industry losses could top $7.2 billion in 2008, Jamie Baker, an analyst with JPMorgan Chase, estimated this week. Airline shares were battered Wednesday, as oil surged to a record $133.17 a barrel. Stock in American’s parent company fell 24.2 percent, to $6.22 a share.

In another development, several airlines are considering charging Indians and Chinese an extra fee - because India and China are being blamed for soaring oil prices. The rise in global oil and food prices are being blamed on demand from India and China. Last week President Geroge W. Bush blamed the demand for food with higher nutrition among Indians as the reason for 9% inflation in food prices in the US.

In a surprising move American announced that for every snack purchased by a non-Indian and non-Chinese passenger, Indian and Chinese passengers on board will be assessed an extra fee.”We are looking for every opportunity to change our cost-structure and even President George Bush has said that food prices are rising because of increased demand in India and China, so it is only appropriate that we pass the price of food consumed by average Americans to the average Indian or Chinese.

“Our company and industry simply cannot afford to sit by hoping for industry and market conditions to improve,” American’s chief executive, Gerard J. Arpey, said Wednesday at a shareholder meeting.

To cut costs, the company also said Wednesday that it would eliminate toilet paper and running water from toilets. “The weight of toilet paper and water adds several hundred pounds to the gross weight of an airplane - this move is expected to save $5000 per year and increase share holder value” said Mr Arpey.

American is also considering charging access fees to toilets for discount fare passengers. Robert Harrell, an industry consultant, estimated that as many as 40 million American passengers could be subject to the new toilet access fee. American carries about 98 million travelers a year. With an average of 100 toilet access per flight, at $1 per toilet access this move could potentially net upwards of $40 million per year. “Each passenger will get a cup of water and 3 sheets of toilet paper and 5 minutes of access to the toilet” said Mr Arpey

Asked whether the Toilet paper charge will be arbitrarily passed on to fellow Indian and Chinese passengers, Mr Arpey said “No. We understand that they don’t use toilet paper in India and China, so we can’t charge them for that”

I asked myself the question what my “kartavya” (duty) was to that squirrel. What was my role in the death of that squirrel? Am I as responsible for its death as the person who directly laid the hit. What if instead of a squirrel it were a person? Is letting a person die as dastardly an act as laying a hit on that person that caused them to die? I know the utilitarian answer to that question but that is not at all comforting.

I know that if it were a person, I would have done everything in my power to help that person, but that got me to the question - what if the only reasonable help that I could offer that person was, like the squirrel, a quick death. Would I act illegally? Obviously what was supposed to be an exhilarating downhill ride was quickly filled with angst. At least the physical pain of the uphill ride was masked easily with memories of funny expressions. There was zero thrill to be had in this downhill return. I confess that I was at a complete loss, I even blew past a STOP sign, with a middle-aged man yelling sarcastically from his car “Nice Stop”.

I have mulled on this quite a bit the last few days and started doing some research around the ethics of this issue, only to come across the thought experiment involving a Violinst. Wikipedia has a nice write-up about it here. The gist of the conundurum is as follows The society of music lovers determines from medical records that you and you alone can save the violinist’s life by being hooked up to him for nine months. The music lovers break into your home while you are asleep and hook the unconscious (and unknowing, hence innocent) violinist to you. You may want to unhook him, but you are then faced with this argument put forward by the music lovers: The violinist is an innocent person with a right to life. Unhooking him will result in his death.

Is unhooking yourself from the violinist morally wrong? The unethical act of breaking into your home not withstanding, is unhooking yourself and getting 9 months of your life back, worth the death of a violinist. (Brass players take note: As a wannabe violinist I know the punch line here).

Anyway - The Wiki article wades deep into abortion and the morality issues surrounding it - I will not even touch that. Some of my friends will argue that the squirrel being lower in the totem pole of evolution got what was coming to it and would have no remorse, except perhaps the lack of a skewer and a good fire. But what would they do if it were a person. What if they were the one connected to the violinist? Some of them blog in this forum frequently so perhaps they will weigh in.

Note that this is not a Gandhian “experiment with truth” for me - it is simply a “what if” exercise rooted in a real world experience examining my own ethics around an issue. I am not the one who practices ‘ahimsa’ in the Gandhian sense of the word, I have eaten all kinds of red meat in my teenage years and continue to eat fish and I have no qualms about that. I am certainly not a non-violinist in the absolute sense of that word - and if you have heard me play, I am no violinist either.

Why was I remembering these yesterday? Actually I can Google map the exact spot at which I remembered these expressions..but I am getting ahead of my story. Over the last 10 years, every year, I have set myself a physically challenging goal to accomplish. There were a couple of trips up Mt. Whitney, a few up Half Dome, and a few backpacking trips etc. Most of these goals I successfully accomplished but there have been a few failures, the most notable one being Mt. Dana. A few frequently tell the story of my stupidity that cost me the mountain, but I attribute it to chivalry (yes, it is not dead, long live and all that rot). Turns out I gave my gloves to someone and as I continued my way up the summit, the wind-chill was so brutal it was dangerous to continue which forced me to turn around.

This year has been like none other. I started off in May by doing a 3 day backpacking trip along the Lost coast (will do it again, anytime). Ran a 10K and next week is the opportunity to go back to Mt Dana - (I have given adequate caution to my hiking partner about warm clothing and gloves). I have been telling my buddies that given my fitness this year I will whistle my way to the top of this 13,500 feet mountain. We start hiking at Tioga pass (which is at 9000+ ft). It looks simple but the wind-chill and the elements make it one of the toughest mountains I have hiked.

Meanwhile another mountain has caught my attention. This mountain is only a few miles from where I live and I have hiked it many times, but I have never gone up the mountain on a bicycle on roads that cars mostly use. Most of you will know it as Page Mill Road. On Saturday I took my first crack at this mountain on my bicycle. This ride climbs 2000+ feet over 8 miles and there are some sections that break your spirit if you don’t keep your sense of humor. Which brings me to the “tHeega karGathe” expression. With sweat poring down in buckets and despite Peter Gabriel (Album : Passion) in my ears, I still needed something to keep my spirit up while stamping on those pedals. I was well past the 1/2 way mark but some of those gradients were just brutal. A technique I have adopted when I am pushed to my physical limits is to think of something funny (typically it is one of those silly jokes my daughter tells me) - but today those lovely Kannada and Hindi expressions came to mind. Anyway my destination was the summit (where Skyline meets Page Mill Road) and these expressions brought a chuckle and let me overcome some of the toughest gradients. To complete the story - about 2 miles short of my destination I discovered that my rear wheel was bent and the brakes kept rubbing the rim. I aborted the summit attempt and turned around. Coming down the mountain is when the expression “shitting bricks” came to mind. Most people bomb down the mountain in full speed, but at speeds of ~40 mph I was not at all confident of my control and it scared the daylights out of me -I found myself riding the brakes most of the way downhill.

Anyway, these mountains have not seen the last of me yet. I am looking forward to my date with Mt. Dana next Saturday. After that I will get my bike fixed and go up that mountain in a few weeks…and then there is that backpacking trip down the Grand Canyon on Thanksgiving weekend with 9 other friends. Looks like this will turn out to be a banner year for physical challenges and hopefully - accomplishments. Yeee Haaa!

My wife collected all the rejection letters she received as an aspiring letter and made artwork out of it. It spells out the simple word WRITER with a montage of all the regret letters. By the time you get to the final R, it is a montage of “congratulations” and “acceptance”

Today I came across a wonderful rejection of a rejection letter. Here it is. Enjoy.

Now I learn of “kopi luwak” - Enjoying coffee, made from beans that have been harvested from the dung of a civet. There is no accounting of taste, I tell you. I can understand the dung beetle having to do its thing, but we are people - accused frequently of being civilized. Do we really have to? Not being a coffee connoisseur, you can be assured that this is one coffee I will not taste.

BTW: The LA times has a story on this $600 a pound “ugh!”.