Late and tired

It's late and I am tired. Tomorrow's productivity at work might be affected due to lack of sleep tonight. Nothing new, of course. How long can we IT professionals go on this way? What should we do to overcome this sick work culture? I hope and try, but rarely succeed. And I have no hope of achieving that in near future. :-(

Yet another good editorial

Here is another good editorial from The Hindu. A few days back The Hindu had analyzed the arithmetic of Lok Sabha and the behaviour of Central Government inside the Parliament. Today's editorial analyzes the Government's actions and policies outside the House, as the government completes one vain year in office.

The best of our friends and the worst our enemies

Today I was contemplating about the necessity of having more steadiness of mind, and what I should do to develop greater equanimity. Then I opened my diary to pen down my thoughts. As I turned the pages and opened today's page, it had this verse from Hinduism's greatest gift to mankind - the Bhavadgita:

बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः|
अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ||

Chapter 6, Verse 6.

"For one who has controlled the mind, it is the best of friends, but for one who has failed to do so, it remains the greatest enemy."

What an apt quotation for the mood of the day!! It is such coincidences that makes one think that God exists and is every present to guide us!

"Artificial" life has arrived!

This news from The Wall Street Journal just left me dumbstruck!

Scientists Create Synthetic Organism!!

The news is so overwhelming, I am almost numb! It is difficult to say what should be the right reaction to this event.

The debate about cloning and genetic research has been raging along for quite some time now. With new developments taking place in genetic research, this news was bound to come. But I had not expected it to arrive so soon. Subconsciously, I had assumed it would take several decades, if not a century or two, for man to achieve this. So, reading this news was indeed stunning.

I was stunning in both positive and negative ways. On the positive side it opens limitless possibilities for the benefit of mankind. For e.g., the article mentions a possibility of creation of artificial algae that would convert carbon dioxide from atmosphere in to fuel. Million other possibilities would open up. However, at the same time, there will be perils more than one could imagine today. My mind shudders at the thought of epidemics of artificially created micro-organisms.

Every development that man has made has been put to good and evil uses. So doubtlessly, the invention of "artificial life" will also have it's evil effects - unintentional and intentional. And mankind has to be prepared for it. For the march of science cannot be halted - even if brings with it possibilities of annihilation.

An excellent analysis of state of affairs of UPA government

Here is a very good analysis of the numbers position in the Lok Sabha, and the condition of present government at the Centre . As usual, The Hindu's slight leftward tilt is perceptible in the article. Yet, on the whole, it is a very fair analysis.

Maharashtra tops in over 2 lakh farmer suicides in India

Close to 2 lakh farmers have committed suicide in India in last 12 years. Maharashtra topped the chart for highest number of farmers committing suicide. It is deplorable that the Congress governments, both at center and state, remain apathetic to such a grievous situation in which the poor peasants in our country live.

Right to Information Act

A good article on how Right to Information Act is helping citizens keep a tab on the government.

Here's a related article on how the government is trying to blunt it.

It is important that RTI isn't weakened. Especially the current UPA government, which has put India among the top nations requesting google to censor internet data.

The Next Blog is not random

Most blogs on Blogspot display a "Next Blog" link on the top of the page. I have often browsed blogs using the "Next Blog" link. Successive clicks on Next Blog would throw up random blogs from across the world. It seems that blogspot has modified this feature and put some intelligence behind which blog to show next. Today, every click on "Next Blog" brought up another blog from India. And most of the blogs that came up where quite interesting. For instance, one the blogs was from a journalist reporting from Manipur.

I keep myself current on happenings in India - especially about political events. So I was surprised how little I knew about happenings in Manipur! Like, in Dec-09, it was reported that all schools in the state have been shut for more than four months! That's shocking - and news like these are hardly reported in our media.

Hawaiian Sunset

Shot at Kekaha beach, Kauai, from my new Panasonic Lumix FZ-35/38.

Quote for the day

Nothing is worth doing wrong for ... because nothing is ever so good as it seems.
- Nancy Lammeter in George Eliot's Silas Marner