"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

Seattle skyline

New blog on SCM & PM

I have started writing a new blog on Supply Chain Management and Project Management to share my knowledge of the two subjects.

Some Chicago snaps

Here are some snaps of Chicago. The first one is view of Lake Shore Dr taken from Hancock Tower. The second snap is also taken from Hancock Tower. The third photo is of Cloud Gate in Millenium Park.

Chicago!!

We reached Chicago this evening. In the evening we visited John Hancock Observatory. It's a 94th floor observatory with an amazing view of downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan! I will post some photos I took with our new Panasonic FZ-35.

Chicago seems to be an amazing place! So lively! So full of energy! In contrast to sleepy (not sleepless) Seattle! I just love these big and fast cities. After all I am a Mumbaikar to my core!

Quote for the day

All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.

- Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC)

A Beautiful Rainbow

A couple of weeks ago we saw a beautiful rainbow from our bedroom window. I quickly grabbed the camera and took a few shots. Here's one of them:

Amazing video!

Watch this most amazing acrobatics performance!

It's difficult to say which feat is the best. I liked the stunt at 3:56, when the topmost boy on the right of the screen jumps up in air and another takes his place, just before the boy in the air falls down and stands on the shoulder of the newcomer.

The Amazing History of the Battle of Pratapgad!

It's a long time since a great movie like Gladiator has been released. I love to watch the battle of Germania scene from Gladiator. It watched it a few times today. Then I watched this interesting re-creation of the battle of Stirling Bridge. The battle of Stirling Bridge is one of the most memorable battles in first war of Scottish independence. On September 11, 1297, Scottish forces led by William Wallace trounced the English, although the Scots were outnumbered 1:4!

The history of battle of Stirling Bridge, reminded me of a slide show on the battle of Pratapgad prepared by a retired school teacher in Mahabaleshwar. The slide show was one of the most interesting experiences on my pilgrimage to Pratapgad in 2001. Like the Scots, Shivaji's forces were heavily outnumbered by Afzal Khan's strong army. The slide show narrated the incredible rout of Afzal Khan's army at the hands of Shivaji's Mavalas. Here's a brief excerpt of the story of Pratapgad from wikipedia:

Battle
After starting from Bijapur, Afzal Khan began by destroying the temple of Bhavani at Tuljapur. He moved on to the Vittal temple at Pandharpur. He was trying to entice Shivaji out of the mountainous areas he occupied and onto the plains.
Hand to hand combat of the forces
Maratha troops commanded by Shivaji's captain Kanhoji Jedhe, swept down on Afzal Khan's 1,500 musketeers; resulting in a complete rout of the musketeers at the foothills of the fort. Then in a rapid march, a section of Adilshahi forces commanded by Musekhan was attacked. Musekhan, Afzal Khan's lieutenant, was wounded and subsequently fled the field.

Meanwhile, Moropant led the Maratha infantry toward the left flank of Adilshahi troops. The suddenness of this attack on Afzal Khan's artillery at close quarters made them ineffective in providing artillery cover for the main portion of their troops. And as a result of this the rest of their troops rapidly succumbed to an all out Maratha attack. Simultaneously Shivaji's Sardar (captain), Ragho Atre's cavalry units swooped down and attacked the large but unprepared Adilshahi cavalry before they were able to be fully geared up for battle and succeeded in completely routing them in short order.

The Maratha cavalry under Netaji Palkar pursued the retreating Adilshahi forces, who were attempting to join up with the part of their reserve forces stationed in the nearby village of Wai. They were engaged in battle before they could regroup and were defeated prior to reaching Wai. The Adilshahi forces not withstanding the onslaught of the Marathas started retreating towards Bijapur. The Maratha army chased the retreating army and on their way captured 23 Adilshahi forts. In fact, the Adilshahi Killedar of the Kolhapur fort himself handed over the keys to the Marathas.
Aftermath
Adilshahi forces lost their artillery, 65 elephants, 4000 horses, 1200 camels, jewels worth 300,000 Rupees, 1,000,000 Rupees, heaps of precious cloths, tents to the Marathas. They also lost their money and grain stored at Wai. 5,000 Adilshahi soldiers were killed and almost as many were wounded. 3,000 soldiers were imprisoned, and the remainder were allowed to go home in defeat.

The battle of Pratapgad took place on November 10, 1659. It marked the beginning of the end for Adilshahi and laid the foundation of benign rule of Shivaji, and eventual independence of our nation from tyrannical foreign rulers.

Good article on China

Here's a good article on China in Supply Chain Digest.

Read it and let me know your views.

Inflation in India

How to park a bicycle - method #132

Swimming and (no) sauna

I went swimming after a long time. I couldn't do sauna as I had to return back home quickly for my daily call with my team member working in India. Daily official calls are getting longer these days. Work is getting more hectic.

By the way, wet sauna is my latest discovery. It's a new addition to things I enjoy. 24-Hour Fitness Center, where I go swimming, has sauna rooms and jacuzzi, besides the pool. I had tried jacuzzi long time ago and enjoyed it. But for some reason I didn't try sauna for a long time. Once I tried the dry sauna, but I didn't like it so much. For long I didn't try wet sauna. Only recently I tried it.

I loved it the moment I stepped inside the wet sauna room. It was so hot and humid that I started sweating the moment I stepped in! It felt so much like home!! :-) I often say to Poornima that my definition of cold weather is when you are not sweating! When you are sweating, it's normal temperature! After all, I am from Mumbai!

I am wierd - I miss sweating, just as I miss noisy places! Mumbai does that to you.

Of Snakes and Dinosaurs!

Three large dinosaur eggs besides a river. One hatches and an infant dinosaur pops out. A snake, three and a half meeters long, encircles the hatched egg to make a meal out of the new born dinosaur. A storm blows and drowns the the snake and the dinosaur in debris of mud, causing instant death for both. There their bodies remain for next 6 crore 70 lakh years. Then one fine day someone discovers the two caracasses and the two unbroken eggs of species extinct long long ago. What an amazing discovery it would be!!

Customizing Google News

I am a great fan of Google. Google comes up with great products. However, in some instances they seem to be refusing adding simple features that people really need.

I use Google News to read news from different sources. Google news is a decent news aggregator. However there is one feature that readers across the world are craving for. The feature is to exclude news from a specific news sources in search results. If you google something like "google news exclude source", you'll find this issue being discussed in hundreds of forums. There is even a place where you can recommend this feature to google. I am sure hundreds of thousands of people would have recommended this feature. And it's a feature easy to implement. I don't know what's keeping Google from implementing it.

There are roundabout ways to achieve it. Someone suggested making changes to some Windows OS hidden files to block content from specific websites. Other simpler suggestions are like creating custom section with search string containing '-, for e.g. '-indiatimes.com'. I am trying that out. Let me see how effective it is. But it is really annoying that Google doesn't provide a easy way of doing it. For instance, why doesn't it allow customizing standard sections to filter out news from bogus sources, such as Times of India. Seeing news from from Times of India on my Google News page makes me sick.

Google Chrome, Google Buzz & Google Desktop

I have installed Google Chrome on my laptop. After getting used to Chrome, I find IE extremely awkward to work with.

Google, however, seem to have made a faux pas, the way they rolled out Buzz. There are several privacy issues that gmail users are facing due to not knowing enough about the features of Buzz and default settings decided by Google for Buzz.

Some years back Google had launched Google Desktop - a tool that allowed users to search the contents of their PCs, the way they search content on internet. Google desktop died because of privacy issues with it. (I had installed Google Desktop on my laptop, but uninstalled it when I realized that it searched and displayed contents of password protected file to anybody having access to my laptop).

Asia-Pacific Dance Show

Yesterday we attended Asia Pacific Cultural Center's new year celebration. There were going to a music and dance show. In the morning I said to Poornima, "I won't enjoy it. But I will come with you since you'll like it. You can also meet all your friends". Poornima was supposed to participating in a couple of dance sequences, but had to opt out. After extracting a promise from Poornima not to mind if I stole a few catnaps while the show was in progress, we set. I even took the liberty of sitting in the passenger's seat instead of driver's, and playing music of my choice (as if to compensate for the "sacrifice" I was making!) This year APCC had chosen to portray Indian culture. First half of the day was dedicated to Indian music and dance, and second half was kept aside for other countries.

When we reached there Indian instrumental music was being played. I love the sound of santoor. Needless to say, I loved the performance. Dance performances were scheduled after the music. Dance performances were divided into three parts. First they had classical dances - Bharatnatyam, Oddissi, Katthak, etc. That was followed by folk dances from different parts of India. And finally contemporary Bollywood dance.

Curiously, I loved the classical dances, especially the Oddissi performace was amazing. So was the jugalbandi between Katthak and Bharatnatyam. The folk dances where not bad either (I missed Bengali folk dance, but got to see Kashmiri, Rajasthani, Marathi, Tamil and Panjabi). It was good to hear Dhagaalaa laagalee kaLa (however the dance on that could have been better). In the Bollywood section, jugalbandi between Bollywood dance and Bharatnatyam was interesting.

After Indian dances, performances from other Asia-Pacific countries were presented. The first was Tearama te Fare O Tamatoa from Tahiti. Tahitian music was amazing - it was like war drums beating at a very fast pace. As far as Tahitian dance is concerned, I reserve my comments on it (search youtube for "Tahiti dance coconut bra" and you'll get a sample of what it was like!) The Chinese troupe presented a beautiful dance by Chinese farm girls reaping harvest. Some of the Japanese dances were also entertaining. We were among the last Indians to leave, although we didn't wait till the end of the show.

Overall it was a very good entertaining day (even for me). I think the best dance of the day was the jugalbandi between Katthak and Bharatnatyam, which brought out the subtle similarities and differences between the two dances very distinctly and beautifully.

An appeal to stay calm

The most ridiculous reaction to (probably the first) bomb blast in Pune was from Pune's Congress MP Suresh Kalamadi, who "appealed to the people of Pune to be calm". India's problem is not that people become agitated by terrorism. Our problem is that ordinary citizens care less about terrorism. "It is neighbour's daughter, who died in the terrorist attack, not mine. Thank God! Now, let me get back to what I was doing" - that's the kind of attitude most Indians show towards terrorism. They are too busy on their jobs and their shopping that they neither have any time nor do they care for anything else.

We don't need people to remain calm. We need people to raise in rage against those people who are condoning and abetting terrorism. We must stop electing (and re-electing) politicians and political parties who overlook or tacitly support terrorism. Newspapers (such as Times of India) who create sympathy for terrorists and terrorism-sponsoring Pakistan should be burned. And we need to slap the so-called celebrities who have more sympathy for Pakistanis than for Indian victims of terrorism.

Impressive Super Bowl Ads

Interesting Google SuperBowl ad.

And here's one from Coca Cola

Second "reading" of Silas Marner

Last week I listened to book on CD Silas Marnar while driving to office. It was a good adaptation of George Elliot's literary masterpiece. I had read the book just after I had quit my first job and before my B-school started. It's a very poignant tale of an old blind weaver who is transformed by his love for an orphaned child, whom he takes in his care and brings her up. Good old Sesha had given it to me to read.

As I heard the story I was constantly reminded of Seshagiri. It's more than a decade, I have met or spoken with him. Recently I heard that he is in Hyderabad. I hope he is doing well, and I wish that I see him sometime. Of course, if we meet we won't play chess. He was always a better play than I (I vaguely remember he bet me in the final game of MBT chess championship, or was it a draw?). Given I am so out of touch (with chess) that our game would be totally one sided.

An interesting resume

While browsing LinkedIn, I came across this extra-ordinary gentleman with about 14 years of work experience. Here's summary of his stints on different jobs!

Job 1: May 1996 – February 1998 (1 year 10 months)

Job 2: March 1998 – June 1998 ( 4 months)

Job 3: August 1998 – July 1999 (1 year)

Job 4: August 1999 – April 2000 ( 9 months)

Job 5: May 2000 – October 2000 ( 6 months)

Job 6: November 2000 – January 2002 (1 year 3 months)

Job 7: April 2002 – September 2003 (1 year 6 months)

Job 8: September 2003 – September 2003 (1 month)

Job 9: September 2003 – November 2004 (1 year 3 months)

Job 10: November 2004 – April 2005 ( 6 months)

Job 11: April 2005 – July 2005 ( 4 months)

Job 12: July 2005 – April 2006 ( 10 months)

Job 13: April 2006 – February 2007 ( 11 months)

Job 14: February 2007 – September 2007 ( 8 months)

Job 15: October 2007 – April 2008 ( 7 months)

Job 16: May 2008 – August 2008 ( 4 months)

Job 17: August 2008 – November 2008 ( 4 months)

Job 18: December 2008 – March 2009 ( 4 months)

Job 19: May 2009 – Present ( 9 months)

He is probably looking for a change right now. Do let me know if you would like to hire him!

How often do I blog?

It was interesting for me to note my blogging statistics. 299 blog entries in 6 years. Close to 50 entries every year or 1 entry per week. I was very active in the first two years; then there was a lull for three years; finally, last year was an average year when it came to how frequently I blogged.

JDA completes acquisition of i2

The deal that fell through last year was finally closed this time. According to industry experts
JDA's acquisition of i2 would create a tremendous positive synergies for the two companies - i2 being strong in hi-tech and discrete manufacturing, and JDA in retail. It would create exciting opportunities for both the companies, with a combined customer base of over 6,000! It would be really good if i2's fortunes revive. i2 deserves to be a leader in SCM space. Let's hope things go well from here.

A good start to a new year

I don't party too much on new year's eve. After several years, it was a very enjoyable new year's eve this time. We saw Avatar in 3D IMAX at Pacific Science Center. The IMAX theater at Pacific Science Center is the largest IMAX in the world, with the screen as tall as a six storey building! It has 12,000 W of digital surround stereo. Although we were not the first to enter the auditorium, we were lucky to get seats exactly in the center.

The movie is a good, especially in 3D. Must see once. Generally I dislike sci-fi movies, movies on aliens with non-anthromorphic creatures. However, I enjoyed Avatar because it has extraordinary animation. The plot is decent, not great. 3D IMAX experience at Pacific Science Center is great!

After the movie we just hung around at Seattle Space Needle and saw new year's fireworks at the space needle. We got a good place to sit and eat aaloo paraThas that we had packed. The fireworks were short (about 8 minutes), but splendid.

On the whole it was a very enjoyable new year's eve. It reminded us of new year's eve of 2006, when we were in London. We had watched fireworks at London Eye.

Happy New Year!!

Wish you a very happy, prosperous and successful new year 2010!!

The responsibility of Telangana burning...

The Congress I government in Centre is solely responsible for the mess it has created in Telangana/AP. Telangana issue is the latest addition in the list of historic blunders committed by successive Congress governments that have caused our nation dearly.

How I got my ring back

Here's an interesting incident that occurred a couple of weeks back. One Thursday over coffee, I showed my friends my gold wedding ring and told them how careless I am about it, and how I misplace it at home all the time. I narrated a couple incidents about it, and we had some good laugh. The next day in office, I noticed that I wasn't wearing my ring. "I have forgotten my ring at home as usual."

The next morning I searched for my ring at the usual places. However, I couldn't find it. I asked Poornima to look for it and she couldn't find it either. Under normal circumstances, I would have let it go. However, we had scheduled an appointment for carpet cleaning that day. That worried me. If the ring were lying somewhere on the carpet, it might get sucked in by the vacuum. Or if the cleaner spotted it somewhere, he would quietly pocket it. I didn't want that to happen. So I searched all over the house for the ring. However, I could find it nowhere. Disappointed, I gave up, hoping that the carpet cleaner doesn't notice it lying somewhere on the carpet.

A few hours later, the carpet cleaner knocked at the door and asked permission to enter. As he entered the house he said, "There is a gold ring over there". "Where?", I asked. I was stunned when he showed me the ring. The gold ring was sitting delicately on the railing of the staircase! I had left it outside the house for more than 24 hours! I don't recall when and why I kept my wedding ring on the staircase! What was I thinking when I removed the ring from my finger and kept it there? To this date, I have no clue! I was lucky to get it back. It was a real eye-opener on how careless I can be.

It was also an eye-opener for one more reason. I had assumed that if the carpet cleaner spotted the gold ring, he would steal it. What actually happened was to the contrary! The ring was outside the house. He could have picked it up even before he knocked the door and no one would have never ever known. I realized how wrong we can be about people! How easily we assume that other people are dishonest! How ready are we to doubt everybody else's character! We take for granted that everyone wants to pull a fast one on us. Events like these remind us that there is still honesty and humanity still left in the world.

Art of Living course complete

Today I completed the Art of Living course that Poornima and I were attending. It was a "really nice" course (as Abhishekh Shah, who was our instructor/teacher might say it). This is the second time I have attended the course. For some reason (not fully clear to me), I think this one had more impact on me. Probably because I was more in need of it this time than earlier.

I think I have drifted away from my principles of life further than ever before in my life. Many things taught in the course were a timely reminder of what I should be knowing and practicing, that I am not doing at present (but was unknowing or knowingly doing in the past).

Over last few years I have given up forcing myself to follow my ideals. Consequently, I have gone far away from my ideals. I am going where my heart is taking me. If it is taking me away from my ideals, I am willing to go there.

The heart and the intellect have to work together for a person to live normally. If the heart is not following the intellect, let the mind follow the heart, until the heart realizes its follies, learns from its experiences and realizes the right path. There will be lost time and lost opportunities in the meantime. But so be it. Until the heart experiences and learns what is right, I will have to bear it.

The heart will realize its follies and come back to the right path. Because although on the surface it seems that everything is cold and hard, the fire beneath is burning. It will keep burning and some day it will incinerate every that that is fallacious. The fire of ideals can never be extinguished.

Where will I be one year from now?

Art of Living

This week, Poornima & I have been attending The Art of Living basic course. This is the second time both of us are doing it. I have attended it in 2005 and Poornima had attended it 2006. I think somehow I am gaing more from it this time. I feel my mind is calmer since last two days and my concentration has improved. I feel better. Let me see if I continue to practise the kriya regularly after the course ends.

Like countless other gifts, Sri Sri Ravishankar's The Art of Living concept is yet another gift Hinduism has given the world.

Corruption in the media

Indian Express writes on corruption in media

An amazing Skiing Experience!!

Ravi, Amit and I went skiing at Snoqualmie. It was the first of this season. It was the most amazing skiing experience ever. Ravi and I were skiing down the slope effortlessly and with very few incidents of slipping. We started skiing at 11 am. and skied till the skiing range closed at 4 pm. It was snowing throughout that time, and sometimes heavily. Although the snow affected visibility and sometimes made it harder, it was very helpful as it is less slippery. That made skiing easier for us. I have never had such a wonderful skiing experience. I am looking forward to my next visit to Snoqualmie.

Sub-zero tempretures

For the past two days, we have been having sub-zero temperatures 24 hours. Yesterday night mercury dipped to -8 degrees centigrade! Temperature is expected to remain below zero for a couple of days more. Later in the week, it is expected to rise above the freezing point.

The consequence of this has been that any water fallen on road has turned into ice. This has made roads slippery. Today, I slipped over ice while cleaning my car's windshield with water. I hurt myself in the fall :-(. Curiously, the ice had been formed due the water I had poured yesterday to clean the the windshield of my car! That reminds me of the banana story - a person throws a banana peal on road and himself slips over it!

A quote - Our battles

For many of us, the greatest battles of life are those we have with ourselves.
- H. Wallace Goddard, Ph.D.

The worst mobile phone ever designed

My company has a policy of issuing Moto Razor to its employees. Many people consider Moto Razor as a good sleek phone. If you have ever used it, you'll know that its the worst phone ever designed by any cell phone company. The user interface is especially pathetic. Here are some of the irritating features that the phone has.

Moto Razor Crib#1
-----------------
If you remove the SIM card, you do anything with the phone except make emergency calls. At first this seems reasonable. However, consider this.

I removed the SIM card from the phone and put it another hand set, and switched off the Moto Razor. Next morning, promptly at 6:00 a.m., the Razor alarm went off, and I couldn't switch it off because the phone didn't have SIM card!

Today I ran into another problem because of this "feature" ("bug" is the correct word). I have stored all my phone numbers in the phone memory, instead of the SIM card memory. However, since I have removed the SIM card, I can't access the phone memory and read any phone numbers. The numbers are there, in the phone memory, but I can't access those until I insert a SIM card in the phone. This is similar to the Canon copier-printer-scanner that I have, which doesn't scan documents if the printer cartridges are removed!!

Mass Media = Masses of Money

Find out who is paying for the junk that you are reading or viewing in the name of news. Read this and ponder.

GDP by Purchasing Power Parity

Found this interesting map on wikipedia -

Here is a link to interesting set of maps, to which this one belongs.

Buy More Stuff!!

On Black Friday there were many people in downtown Seattle standing with placards saying "BUY MORE STUFF!!" Shot a picture of that in my cell phone.

I am reading Ramayana

I am reading C Rajagopalachari's translation of Ramayana. I admire C Rajaogopalachari not only as a freedom fighter, a scholar, a liberalist, an extraordinary intellectual, and one of the foremost politicians of independent India, but also as a one of the prominent statesmen who opposed personal hegemony perpetuated by Nehru after independence.

Look, it's going ot rain ... no, no, it is raining

I have never known any job easier than being the weatherman of Seattle. From October to June, the forecast for Seattle is one of the two possibilities - overcast or rain. And more often than not, it's the latter. For instance, here's the forecast for the next ten days. This is a bit better than the forecast we had ten days ago - this time there is one day when it's not going to rain!

The Last Emperor

Yesterday I saw The Last Emperor. It is no wonder that the movie won 9 Oscars, including the Best Picture Award. It's an amazing movie. It's a long movie (more than three hours long) on a serious topic, and yet it keeps you glued to your seat. The way Bernardo Bertolucci has recreated early twentieth century China is definitely admirable. It is very interesting narration of the life of the last emperor of China, Puyi, who was crowned emperor when he was just 3 years old, lost his seat when he was just a teenager and ended up in prison after the Communist revolution of 1949.

After watching the movie a thought crossed my mind. Is it because of the constant fighting between different warlords that Chinese people finally thought that the best option available to them was single party rule and Communism. Is that why Communism has survived sixty years and is seeing no threat in near future?

Crouching Tiger ...

Yesterday I saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It's a movie I always wanted to see. When the movie won the Oscar for best foreign language film, it evoked mixed response from people. Many people told me that it is an excellent movie, whie others condemned it for being nonsensical.

My reaction after seing the movie was that it's a good movie. The cinematography is great. The plot is interesting. Acting is good. Pleople flying in air and jumping over rooftops can be tolerated and is compensated by some great photography of martial arts. On the whole, it was not a bad movie at all. Worth watching once.

Some interesting news

Here are links to some interesting news articles I came across in last few weeks:

First one is about the extent of corruption in Indian media. Almost all the news printed before elections are published by bribing journalists.

As yet, only The Hindu has written about rampant corruption that exists in Indian media. Hindu followed it up with an editorial titled Journalism for sale. Of the political parties, only the CPI(M) has openly spoken about the corruption in the media.

Second one is from The Times of India: RSS service projects multiply ten fold. Number of RSS run social development projects now number 1,57,776; up from 15,063 ten years ago.

Finally, today is the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We can only imagine what that moment it would have been for Germans.

Fall Colours

As promised, some pictures of fall colours in Bellevue. This year, Seattle area is witnessing extraordinary display of fall colours.