Weird science news

Some scientists do really research really weird topics.........

But they are pretty cool....

April 15, 2007 or GSK day

On this day...I am sure that a hell lot of stuff must have happened. But which piece of news was splattered all over our news channels(I mean Indian of course)? The now infamous Gere-Shilpa Kiss (or GSK in short). I can't understand the furore that was created due to this silly incident. It seems that there are hordes of mindless people just waiting for something small to happen and then unleash their violence on public property. On the other hand, we have our lovely Shiv Sainiks who have justified their acts of violence by a statement that this incident goes against our "Indian culture". Hmm...so I guess, that according to them, destroying public property, unnecessary violence etc. showcases our "culture" pretty aptly.

Yeah RIGHT!!!

On a lighter note.....here is a pretty funny article on the same topic.

(Sigh...I know its a bit too late to discuss this, but hey, I strongly feel that our media and our all these "caretakes of Indian culture" have got their priorities wrong)

Mr./Ms./Mrs "I'm always right"

I have officially lost my faith in humanity.....well atleast, a sizeable portion of it. Why?...read this.

Why does it have to be that one of the most powerful countries in the world has to have so many people with so less tolerance for anything they don't believe in?

Well, I don't think it's fair to judge people by what they post, but some of this stuff is just unbelievable. Anyway, on this occasion I recall a quote from Dilbert. It goes something like, "Never argue with idiots, they drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."

Anyway here's the link to the Dilbert blog (if you don't read it already).

License plate no '5' (try to rhyme it with mambo no. 5)

(heard this in the news, can't find any corresponding news article...but still searching...)

A businessman recently paid Dh. 7 crores (around 80 million rupees) to get the license plate number '5'. Now I don't know about you folks, but I think that is a hell lot of money to spend on something to show off. I for one, can't understand the logic behind wanting small numbers on license plates. Surely most people deem it to be a status symbol and all that, but, isn't it pure vanity? After all this, I surely hope that some part of that sum went to charity..

Well, it would certainly simply certain situations....

Officer : "Do you remember the license number of the car that (insert random offense)?"

Witness : "Well yes, actually there wasn't much to remember. The number was '5'.."

(and the questioning will go on something like that...)

I personally think it's nice to have so much money that you can afford to spend it in which ever way you seem fancy. But isn't the guy just painting a huge bulls-eye on himself (in the eyes of criminals)?...

Hmm...now thats something to ponder on....

P.S. I wanted a portable hard disk. If anyone has too much money to spend, let me know. I don't suppose anybody wants to get me one for free...Anyone having too much money?...

President of India

All around India, meetings are going on about who is to be the next President. The fact that that the President is more of a symbolic head, rather than the ultimate figure of power like the one in US, makes the candidate more of the academic type. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is an extraordinary person and I admire his talks and attitude. I consider myself lucky to have seen him face to face and heard his words live. They are truly inspiring and listening to them aroused in me an immense feeling of patriotism that has never been replicated before or thereafter in my mind.

But the question remains....how many of us are truly willing to act like he says? For every hundred people that listen to him, how many sincerely try to make a difference? I don't want to blame anyone or anything, but I feel that most people give his talks the same kind of attention as, lets say a moral science class.

Here, I remember the words of one of my English teachers. The gist of it was, as a President is just a figurehead, why should one of the best minds of India be wasted on that position? Indeed, Indian research has lost five years worth of brilliance and sheer genius as Dr. Abdul Kalam's services has been lost.

Any comments?....

Free will...

I was thinking about the various attributes one ascribe to God. God has to be omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. Leave the first two attributes, take omniscience, i.e. God should be all knowing. So basically God knows what I will do tomorrow or on any give day. So, can I justify my actions on the premise that God knew this would happen and I was simply a puppet in God's hands???

Wonder how other people feel about it....

Hmm...I wonder, can criminal give a "this was my fate, I couldn't stop it" kinda plea...

Me, my dial up connection and my internet service provider...

Hmmm... I was wondering why I hadn't posted much after my initial flurry of posts. Is it because I'm just plain lazy or what? It is not as if I didn't go online afterwards, its just that I haven't been able to connect to this site due to the amazing net connection I have at home. It takes an insane amount of time to post anything on the blog.

I have a dial up connection which finds new methods to piss me off with amazing consistency on a regular basis. Now I know that sounds redundant, but I ain't not gonna change. ;)

Anyways, at present I am in UAE where everything is regulated pretty strictly. Contrary to popular belief there is a pretty ok (as in moderately below the so called 'normal' level) freedom of speech. Yeah, you ca say anything you want as long as it doesn't offend their 'values' in any way and of course, you shouldn't complain about the rulers. It sounds paradoxical, but all this amounts to "You can say anything you want, as long as it isn't directed against us."

Oops, went off track there. I wanted to talk more about my ISP. As most countries in the Middle East, there is a proxy server which blocks all sites that are not " consistent with their social, moral and political values" or some other bull. Note the word 'political'. So, it means that it will block alternate political views as well. Ahh...I cannot comment on that because truly I don't care about what these folks think.

Damn!!! Went off track again!!! What I wanted to point out was among the myriad of websites they have blocked, Flickr.com is blocked. Now most net savvy people know the website in question and recognise it to be Yahoo's photo sharing website. It is used widely all over the world and I was stumped as to why the damn site was blocked. I promptly sent an email to them, highlighting the fact that I didn't understand how this site could go against their so called 'cultural' and 'moral' values (I believe these were the actual words I used). Unfortunately, I didn't take into account the fact that they might not appreciate or understand the sarcasm. I sent that email in a moment of frustration and I didn't think much about it afterwards.

Imagine my surprise when I got a reply the very next day...I will paste the letter here...


Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Etisalat Customer Care Center.

Please be informed that we are unable to process the requested action for unblocking the site requested by you.

URL: www.flickr.com
Reason : Nudity

Once again we thank you for contacting us with your query and looking forward to serving you in the future.

Best regards,

Etisalat Customer Care Center
Tel: 101 (toll-free)
Email:help@eim.ae
URL:http://www.ecompany.ae

Serving you 24 hours, 7 days a week.


This letter just cracked me up. Damn, the reason just cracked me up. Anyways, I understood that there is no use trying to convince people who have stuffed their ears with cotton. But I appreciate the promptness of their reply though... And the reply was pretty professional. ;)

Sigh...thats lyfe...

P.S. I found that Flickr is not blocked by the UAE University. I was able to access Flickr from their library.