Losing perspective

Why on earth is this NEWS?
How necessary. President bumps his head. So had Bush, apparently, towards the start of his presidency.
Turns out there is a video too.

Possible headlines that are repercussions of this event:

1. President Obama bumps his head, sends America to war again
2. President Obama bumps his head, helicopter dented
3. President Obama bumps his head, needs to comb hair all over again
4. President Obama bumps his head, secret service arrests helicopter
5. President Obama bumps his head, president bumps head not
6. President Obama bumps his head, so did Bush; similar presidencies forecasted

How is this relevant to anything at all? I know he is living the life of a goldfish in a fishbowl, completely in the eyes of the country. But bumping his head? Come on! It could be a part of The Daily Show or Late Night or even Saturday Night Live - but not CNN main news! Next we would know about when his dog poops and whether the secret service cleans up after the first dog.

It's not even a slow news day, thanks to the bailout and stimulus plans being on everyone's minds...

The "fat" tax

New York governor David Patterson wants to introduce an obesity tax. No, he does not want to tax people who are fat or overweight. He proposes to levy a higher tax on sugared beverages like soda. More accurately, on non-diet sugared drinks that have 70% or less fruit juice content. Revenue earned from these taxes will fund more obesity and health research. While the article expresses the governor's points of view solely, he does make a few interesting points. First, when taxes were increased on cigarettes, it did drop in sales and there has been a considerable decrease in lung cancer occurrences. Secondly, if we take into account a study that showed additional 12-ounce soft drink daily consumption increases the risk of a child becoming obese by 60 percent (and the same for adults as well).
States such as New Jersey and California have already implemented steps on sodas and sweet foods. If I am not wrong, then NJ bans the use of sodas and sweets in schools for kids to eat. Increasing the taxes on such items, I feel, can indeed curb people from buying them as much. While this proposal is primarily driven towards childhood obesity, it will, to a certain extent have a positive effect in reducing adult obesity as well!
The world is vastly adopting a sedentary lifestyle. Though the life expectancy has increased tremendously over the decades, that is misleading as a sign of healthiness - because advances in medicine have caused the increase. People in olden days used to die of sickness and that was medicine has eradicated. Today, the story is different. While people have started living longer, they have stopped living healthily long back. Unfortunately it's a lifestyle choice that leads to this, and all the government can really do is make people realize what they are doing wrong.

Number crunching

This is the current cost of the Iraq war:
###
Iraq War Cost

I knew it was big, but I did not know it was this big. As of when I saw this ticker, the number was $612 billion. These are the other numbers I calculated:
Considering it started in 2003 and now it is the end of 2008, that is 6 years.
Yearly expenditure: $102 billion
Monthly expenditure: $8.5 billion
Daily expenditure: $280 million

Now let us look at the daily expenditure. We have (had?) a bailout plan costing $700 billion. The auto giants require a $14 billion bailout. Considering daily cost of the Iraq war, it turns out that it would take US just 50 days to equal the cost of the auto bailout.

Also, did you notice that the cost of the Iraq war is almost equal to the cost of the economic bailout of $700 billion?

Nice going, George.

Bush has good reflexes

So this happened earlier today... when US President Bush made an unannounced visit to Iraq, and a reporter threw shoes at him calling him a dog. While Bush ducked well in both shots, I feel a little bad for him.

Video Courtesy: CNN

It COULD NOT have been done in any other way

I was following election day in the US on CNN. All day. Little did I know that CNN will pull of a Star Wars. Remember the way they used to communicate in that movie?

Yeah, so I was thinking, CNN "beamed in" their correspondents and interviewees, for the first time ever on TV (see video). While it is a brilliant technological marvel, what was the point in spending so much infrastructure in doing something that could have been done by:
a. Cutting the scene reporting in the far-away location
b. Showing the reporting on a large screen TV
c. Telephone!
May be it was all about the ratings. But then, hands down, you've got to admit it is pretty cool - to see how far technology has reached from the time cell phones used to half the size of briefcases. It's also a good idea to see this being used in other aspects probably unimaginable right now. Hologram-conferencing is going to be a terrific idea when it comes to education in less privileged areas.
I am interested to see what The Daily Show has to say about this!

Ann Louise Nixon Cooper and Barack Obama

Ann Louise Nixon Cooper, 106

It's a pity that Barack Obama's grandmother did not live to see him become the first black president of the United States. But someone else did. Ann Louise Nixon Cooper. Does it ring a bell? President-elect Obama mentioned her several times during his speech yesterday in Chicago - "Yes we can."

Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old, and is from Atlanta. On November 4th, she left her home early, just so she could vote for Barack Obama. She has seen the history of US from 1902 - World War I, World War II, the cold war, Vietnam... and now she also saw America have its first ever black president.
"I ain't got time to die", she said to CNN.
She comes from a time when she was barred from voting on two counts - being a woman, and being black. She has seen America, and the world too, through thick and thin - and as Obama puts it, "she knows how America can change".
Here is where Obama talks about her in his speech:

[...] This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing -- Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?[...]

Colin Powell wept at Obama's victory. So did Rev. Jesse Jackson. I watched the elections for most of the evening yesterday - and more than experiencing the sheer joy of seeing Obama win the election, I was in awe because his persona inspires me to do something worthwhile... and to be a better person.
Update: Thanks to Nina for this video link! The 106 year old voter reacts to how she was an integral part of Obama's victory speech.

Bungee rope

And now they passed the $700B bailout. Only two days after they rejected it.

In a country where I am yet to figure out what is the best way to drink from a water fountain. But then that is only me. :-)

Economic Plunge

DOW plunged 778 points today, the worst drop ever, after the $700 billion bailout was rejected by the United States House of Representatives.

Wow. I am not sure what the repercussions of this depression is going to be like.

DOW had dropped 685 points on September 17th 2001, the first trading day after 9-11.

Developing story

Senator Obama's iPod

There are some articles I read here and there, which I have no connection to whatsoever. But I still get a feel-good rush in my body. For no reason.

CNN.com had this article - What's on Barack Obama's iPod? - a few days back, and it listed most artists he listens to. Get ready for this, because Senator Obama has a genuinely eclectic taste.
Bob Dylan.
Bruce Springsteen.
Rolling Stones.
Elton John.
Earth, Wind & Fire.
Stevie Wonder.
Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker from the jazz front.

"Actually, one of my favorites during the political season is 'Maggie's Farm,' " Obama said of one of Dylan's tracks. "It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric." In the song, Dylan sings about trying be himself, "but everybody wants you to be just like them."
[snip]
Several musicians on Obama's iPod support his bid for the White House, including Bruce Springsteen. Earlier this month, Dylan told a British newspaper that he believes Obama is redefining politics in the United States and could deliver change to a nation in upheaval.
"I've got to say, having both Dylan and Bruce Springsteen say kind words about you is pretty remarkable," Obama said. "Those guys are icons."
Obama said he hasn't met Springsteen, but the two have talked over the phone.
"Not only do I love Bruce's music, but I just love him as a person," Obama said. "He is a guy who has never lost track of his roots, who knows who he is, who has never put on a front."
And did he address him as the Boss?
"You've got to," the candidate said.

[Source]

Turns out Senator Obama does not think highly of the rap of today's generation. Though he correctly says that this music has removed segregation in the music culture, he quoted that there was way too much materialism and misogyny in the lyrics. He is concerned about that fact that his daughters listen to it. While he says that hip hop and rap moguls Russell Simmons, Jay-Z and Ludacris are "great talents and great businessmen", he feels that it would be nice if he could have his daughters listen to this music without him worrything that they are getting bad images of themselves.

Senator Obama at Penn State, 2008

Why I had that feel-good rush when I read all this? Probably because I listen to a lot of stuff he listens to too. And I really admire him and agree with his taste.

And that will be $220,000,000,000

So, as of 16th May, the Zimbabwe annual inflation rate hit 355,000%.

Wow.
Stop printing money. Seriously. There's way too much of it in the market. Again, stop printing money. Seriously. There's way too much of it in the market.
A close second is Burma at 39.5%. No more zeros. Just 39.5%.

The inflation rate was 165000% in February, and it rose to this whopping figure now. To give you an idea as to what this number means - 355,000% annual rate means prices are doubling every week. Something, let's say - toothpaste - that costs $10 today is going to cost $20 next week, and $160 by the end of the month. And $4500 billion next year.
Ouch.
Even if my math is wrong, $4500 billion for toothpaste is slightly over the edge, by most standards.
But then, as you might think, nothing costs ZW$10 in Zimbabwe. The country needs major rebooting with a current unemployment fraction of 85%. Understandably, a HUGE section lies below the poverty line.
A brief history: A few disastrous decisions were made in the past few years. Currently, Zimbabwean people have $100 million, $250 million and $500 million currency notes. By May 20th, the $5 billion, $25 billion and $50 billion notes are hitting the market.
When it started in 1980, the Zimbabwean dollar was valued at USD 1.00 = ZWD 0.68. As of
May 2008, USD 1.00 is valued at ZWD 315,000,000.

Huh.
Going to Zimbabwe? Carry lots of money. Like $50.

Sources:
BBC News
The Zimbabwe Independent
Wikipedia - Economy of Zimbabwe
Wikipedia - Zimbabwean dollar
Image courtesy

HandiCAPable

Blade Runner.

Fastest man on no legs.
Oscar Pistorius.

On May 16th 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the Oscar Pistorius, the 21-year-old South African paralympic is eligible to race against able-bodied athletes, overturning a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations in January this year. The initial ban was on the grounds that Pistorius has an unfair advantage because prosthetic legs avoid any lactic acid buildup during the race, thereby making him less tired than other able bodied runners. However, Pistorius has been fighting against this, at the cost of his training just so he can compete at the same level as other able bodied racers.
Earlier in 2007, The British Telegraph ran this article "Pistorius is no novelty sprinter" highlighting the difficulties he is facing with trying to compete with artificial limbs. He has been doggedly pursuing for permission to race in the 400 m in the Beijing Olympics, where his timing for one lap is a really impressive 46.34 seconds against the world record (Michael Johnson's 8-year old world record of 43.18 seconds). Awesome what the fiber blades can achieve. Also in this race is

Pistorius has been the subject of criticism because of claims that his artificial limbs, which are J-shaped carbon-fibre prosthetics called the "Cheetah Flex-Foot" manufactured by Icelandic company Össur, give him an advantage over able-bodied runners. It has been claimed that the "blades" he uses are longer than is necessary, allowing him to cover more ground in each stride. Furthermore, it is said that the Cheetahs return more energy per stride without ever becoming fatigued or requiring the same "investment of energy" and that they are not subject to metabolite or lactic acid build-up that slows down ordinary athletes. Pistorius and his coach, Ampie Louw, reject these allegations, saying that his prosthetics do not give him an unfair advantage. They have brought up disadvantages that Pistorius faces, such as rain (which leaves traction hard to attain), wind (which blows the devices sideways), and the fact that he needs more energy to start running than others. Additionally, Professor Robert Gailey of the University of Miami claimed that they return only about 80% of the energy absorbed in each stride, while a natural leg returns up to 240%, providing much more spring. Pistorius has said: "If they [the IAAF] ever found evidence that I was gaining an advantage, then I would stop running because I would not want to compete at a top level if I knew I had an unfair advantage."

Source: Wikipedia

Personally I have no idea whether he has an added advantage or not. But I do think that he should be allowed to race, and no further restrictions should be imposed upon him. A big step for the physically challenged.

Picture Courtesy: Dailymail.co.uk

Mr. President and the first... girlfriend?

President Sarkozy's visit has put India in a fix. And why won't it? Girlfriend Carla Bruni "is not considered wife or spouse". The Indian government is at a loss for words when it's coming to choosing the right protocol for Ms. Bruni.

Sarkozy and Bruni did not leave behind a stormless wake in Egypt. An opposition member of the Cairo parliament even accused the French president of being party to "official prostitution" in the Islamic country. Reactions in India are unlikely to be as harsh as the Egyptian politician's comment, but there are doubtful looks all around.

The Indian foreign office is likely to leave it to the French governmnent, through its mission here, to suggest if Ms. Bruni should be granted First Lady status.

If Bruni is given First Lady status, the Indian government will have to assign the couple to a single room and fix a separate program of engagements for her - shopping in Janpath, meeting women/spouses of important people, ensuring she is seated next to Sarkozy at banquets etc.

But if she is not to have official engagements, she will have time to spare because Sarkozy will be involved with the intricacies of the Eurocopter and nuclear deals in bilateral relations.

However, it is most likely that Ms. Bruni will be given privileges of a delegate accompanying the president.

Sources:
The Telegraph, 6 Jan 2008
IBN Live
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/12/26/amd_sarkozy.jpg

Paying for music: As you like it

I am not much of Radiohead fan. But a certain stint of theirs caught my attention. This British alternative rock band formed way back in 1986, rising to fame with the release of The Bends (1995) and OK Computer (1997). Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) saw the pinnacle of their popularity in the music industry.

In October 2007, they released In Rainbows. Apart from the music itself, the USP of this album release was the fact that it was available online with a BLANK in the cost field. The artists requested fans to pay what they felt was appropriate. Official figures of sales were not released, but it was reported that 1.2 million copies were downloaded on the very first day, and as it turned out, more people paid for it compared to those who did not. :-)

"Pay what you want", they said. In my opinion this was something wonderful... an intelligent step towards anti-piracy. Music artists should get paid for their talent when we download their songs. Otherwise it's just plain stealing. However, when it came to evaluating the price of their music, they handed the reins of judgment to their fans. "Pay what you feel like for our efforts." While some paid the standard cost of $0.99 a song, some were more generous.

Though by some standards it might seem like foolhardiness, I feel that when the artists pleads in this way to the music lover, a personal note is struck - "Please don't steal this music... we have worked hard towards it!" It makes a greater number of people NOT download it for free.

Picture courtesy: http://www.byte.org/images/piracy_2Dkills_2Dmusic_2D.gif

Santa asked not to Ho Ho Ho

Calling someone a 'Ho' and Santa Claus' classic "Ho Ho Ho" have been put on the same footing. Ouch.

According to this news article in FoxNews.com, Australian Santas have been told to change the "Ho Ho Ho" to a "Ha Ha Ha" because "Ho" is slang in US for prostitute. And it could be frightening to children too.

WHAT?!

Yes, it is true, and therefore, the new Santas are being trained for using "Ha Ha Ha" - some have quit. I wonder why. Santas are now rebelling against this ban because they all feel (quite strongly) that kids wouldn't understand what 'Ho is! Moreover, it's destroying something traditional, something which we all have heard all our lives.

In my opinion, if a kid is aware what a 'Ho is, he is too old to sit on Santa's lap.

Santa Claus image taken from www.clipartguide.com

Frankly ridiculous science

Honoring achievements that first make people LAUGH, and then make them THINK. That's the tag line associated with the Ig Nobel Prizes. A welcome change from the daily grind in the lab - an intention to make us recognize and identify with incredibly relevant and important issues in our lives.

Sometimes they are mildly amusing.

Like the fact that the presence of humans tend to sexually arouse ostriches. Or the fact that you can have safe sex at zero kelvin. Did you know there is a concrete relationship between country music and suicide? There is a study on the nature of injuries caused by falling coconuts. Effects of ultrasound in cheddar cheese. Why the woodpecker gets no headaches. Does a swimmer move quicker in water or syrup? Invention of an aerosol for underwear that may help determine if a husband was faithful or not. Use of quantum physics for achievement personal happiness. Farting loud as a means of protection from excessive fear.

Some winners in 2007
Source: http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2007
A penetrating medical report on sword swallowing and its side effects.
Invention of a method to extract vanilla fragrance from cow dung.
A study that shows that rats sometimes cannot tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards.
A spellbinding manuscript exploring the seemingly boundless appetites of human beings, by feeding them with a self-refilling, bottomless bowl of soup.
My favorite this year - The US Air force won the Ig Nobel Prize for PEACE for instigating research & development on a chemical weapon - the "gay bomb" - that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other and want to make love, not war.

Ceremony trivia:
The Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October — a week before the genuine Nobel Prizes are announced. Organized by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), they are presented by a group that includes genuine Nobel Laureates at a ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater. Nominees can come in any attire they like. A speech is made on receiving the award, but not longer than a minute. When the lime limit is broken a girl named Miss Sweetie Poo appears on the scene to say ‘Please, stop! I am bored’ in a high-pitched voice. The closing line of the ceremony is always "If you didn't win a prize — and especially if you did — better luck next year!" The first Ig Nobels were awarded in 1991, at that time for discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced." More of the same at The Journal of Irreproducible Results.

End note:
Gaurav has chosen his research topic so he has a chance to win the Nobel Prize in every field except Peace and Literature.
Other mock awards:
Golden Raspberry Awards for bad film work
Darwin Awards for fatally foolish behavior
Pigasus Award for paranormal fraud (U.S.)
Bent Spoon Award for paranormal fraud (Australia)
Stella Awards for "outrageous" lawsuits

______________________________________

Sources:
http://www.improbable.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ig_Nobel_Prize
http://newsfromrussia.com/science/tech/15-10-2007/98832-ig_nobel_prize-0

Que sera sera

Seen on a friend's GTalk status message -
"A windfall of millions for a team that won a farcical cricket tournament… and pittance for the heros of the Nehru cup for football and the Asia cup for hockey! No wonder our country will never see beyond cricket!"

Damage control - by Miss Teen South Carolina

So Lauren Caitlin's train of thought was yet to board the station when she was asked that famous question about *US Americans* and maps. (Aside, that was a dumb question to ask on a beauty pageant. Aside aside, beauty pageants have lost perspective. Aside aside aside, this post is not about beauty pageants.).
But what I really liked about her was the fact that she appeared on national television, on the Today Show and gave a nice explanation about the *pageant incident*, the repercussions of which made it last week's most-watched-video-on-YouTube.
Was it effective damage control? I don't know about that. But I really admire her comeback. And the self esteem and confidence that came along with it.

Educationalists suffer from dementia

The CBSE syllabus in India has decided to mellow down the sex education in their syllabus. Wait a minute, did they have one to start off with? Or was I not paying attention in class when they were covering sex education?

While words like masturbation, arousal and sexual intercourse have been deleted from the revised version of the training manual for teachers, diagrams which describe the journey from puberty to young adulthood have been done away with. This modified version is set to reach schools in a few weeks.

Source: Times of India

This is what the "educationalists" have been saying in defense. My reaction to each of them was "What the...?"

[...] Don’t impose degenerate western culture on Indian schools [...]

[...] India has not given HIV/AIDS to the world. If the world had followed the Indian tradition of one wife or one husband, this disease would not have developed at all. [...]

[...] if the sex education was introduced in any form, episodes like Nithari village would repeat in every school and locality of the country. He said just withdrawing students from the schools where sex education is being introduced is not enough, we need to firmly ensure that it is not introduced at all in any school [...]

[...] It is claimed that the objective of imparting sex education is protecting the students from HIV/ AIDS, but the syllabus prepared for it is so much indecent, damaging and obscene that it will increase the disease on a much higher speed. We don’t want that abortion centres should be opened in schools like that in Britain, morning pills need to be given to teenage girls like that in France, increase in number of unmarried mothers like that in America and teachers sexually exploit their students like that in New Zealand [...]

Source: Organiser

Face the nation (hosted by Sagarika Ghose, CNN-IBN) has the script of the debate between, as I put it, realists and educationalists.

To put it mildly, I am outraged. Are these "educationalists" idiots or are they idiots? More importantly, in their childhood, did they look down at themselves and figure out there was a "branch" growing out of them that stiffened on its own accord?

UPDATE: Sree narrates an incident in her life that took place recently. Death of someone because of AIDS - her husband was infected. May be it could have been avoided if people knew more about HIV/AIDS than they do now. How unfortunate.

Non sequitur

In the recent episode of Devil's Advocate, BJP president Rajnath Singh was interviewed by Karan Thapar on the support of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for presidential candidacy. Boy, it was some interview. The politicians and their games have become so transparent, that it has now become an art of how ridiculously can you exhibit being in denial. Watch these interviews - they are simply ludicrous. Watch Thapar make mincemeat.

Karan Thapar: You are going by his political career, let me bring that to spotlight. And now the allegations touch his integrity…
Rajnath Singh: No one can question Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s integrity.
Karan Thapar: From 1952 to 1972 he was an MLA in Rajasthan, from 1977 to 2002 he was an MLA again and yet in between for three years he became a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh. Does it not prove that he would have filed a false and fraudulent declaration of residence in Madhya Pradesh?
He would have to—in those days without a declaration of residence he couldn’t have become an MP of the Rajya Sabha.
Rajnath Singh: Whatever I know about Bhairon Singh Shekhawat I believe that his character is spotless.

Karan Thapar: But it is being said about this individual that he took a bribe, that he lied about his residential status to become a Rajya Sabha MP; there are question marks about his use of office as Chief Minister.
Rajnath Singh: No one can even imagine that Bhairon Singh Shekhawat will ever take a bribe. These are all false allegations.

Karan Thapar: If Pratibha Patil becomes the President, and it looks like she will, despite your allegations then what kind of relationship would you have with her?
Rajnath Singh: This is a hypothetical question.
Karan Thapar: It could become a reality, then what sort of relationship you would have with her?
Rajnath Singh: We should wait for the election results.
Karan Thapar: Will you apologise to her?
Rajnath Singh: No, there is no question of doing that. The clarifications must come from Pratibha Patil, the Congress or UPA.

However, I am always amazed on how Karan Thapar manages to abruptly end these interviews in spite of all the questions that go unanswered.
The entire script of the interview is available here (courtesy IBN Live).

Video 1 from IBN Live (5 min)


Video 2 from IBN Live (5 min)


Video 3 from IBN Live (5 min)

The stray and the astray

So the Mumbai municipality has decided to approach the SC for permission to KILL all stray dogs to stop the stray dog menace.
I wonder if it will extend the same thing to the millions of people who are homeless.

Related News:
From IBN Live
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