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Opinion
Even though I guess the sisterhood of the travelling pantsuits will be overjoyed to vote for this candidate, I can confidently say that by picking this Governor he has severely dented all options for a fantastic and matching race. It was begun by the acceptance yesterday of the first Afr-Am, now this momentum is lost by picking a person who is, I will say, least prepared of all candidates considered from both parties.
In all, this pick is good for the ladies' vote; bad overall; I think the Dems will win this one. The Reps can enjoy their Fail with a glass of wine.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
A comment by who?
I am taking this with a pinch of salt, but all indications are I might be too cautious. I don't see why someone would go to such lengths to deceive. The first pic is a comment to my cross-post on Nittians on the aftermath of Dasavatharam, and the next is the notification of the comment.
The keyword here is 'Dad'. What say? Am I being made a fool by a la junior Hassan?
The keyword here is 'Dad'. What say? Am I being made a fool by a la junior Hassan?
Friday, August 8, 2008
Mom and email
I'd love the look on my mom's face when she sees my spam folder. Nah. It may have been fun some time back, not now.
That brings me to a forward I sent to her. I wanted to summarise the email, but for fun' sake I will reproduce it verbatim(please bear with me).
That brings me to a forward I sent to her. I wanted to summarise the email, but for fun' sake I will reproduce it verbatim(please bear with me).
I forwarded it to her and she loved it. She taunts me every time we talk. I love it. I love it that she loves it and likes to talk about it. The forward is, in a lighter vein, a poster of relationships outside the knowing of a close knit family. This 'love marriage' vs 'arranged marriage' will be dealt upon, later.INDIAN MOM
A Mom comes to visit her son Kumar for dinner.....who lives with a girl room mate Sunita. During the course of the meal, his mother couldn't help but notice how pretty Kumar's roommate was.
She had long been suspicious of a relationship between the two, and this had only made her more curious. Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Kumar and his roommate than met the eye.
Reading his mom's thoughts, Kumar volunteered, "I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Sunita and I are just roommates."
About a week later, Sunita came to Kumar saying, "Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver chutney jar. You don't suppose she took it, do you?" Kumar said, “Well, I doubt it, but I'll email her, just to be sure."
So he sat down and wrote:
Dear Mother:
I'm not saying that you 'did' take the chutney jar from my house, I'm not saying that you 'did not' take the chutney jar. But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.
Love, Kumar
Several days later, Kumar received an email from his mother which read,
Dear Son:
I'm not saying that you 'do' sleep with Sunita, and I'm not saying that you do not' sleep with Sunita. But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the chutney jar by now under the pillow...
Love, Mom
What is Rediff upto..
In the days before the dotcom bubble burst there were a handful of companies making their presence felt in India - Yahoo, Hotmail/MSN, 123India and Rediff. Full page ads, 'new' features like Instant Messengers, 'superfast' mail....
I do remember Rediff being a more of a mail-search portal then, rather than the news site now
Rediff was the fastest to load on the dialup connections back in the days(~2001). Using Rediff mainly for mail, because that was all the time we could afford to spend, it copied a revamp from Yahoo, then switched from offering extra space for extra money to unlimited space for free(muchos gracious, Gmail)..
Well, with the entry of the word-of-mouth spread Google, search queries were no more its domain, neither was mail.
That brings me to the Rediff of today.
It is desparately trying to be the Google-Yahoo of India: news(more on this follows), blogs, videos(low quality, probably suited for the net connections), music, shopping, answers, stocks.
Nowadays it is mostly for news. Breaking news, they do well, interspersed with highly opinionated 'columns' and wire reports. I would without doubt call Rediff no more than a news blog. And their recycling of news items - confirms that notion. A quick comparison with other news blogs will not raise any suspicions, believe me. The 'columns' are overtly one-sided and I suspect it is fuelling the vague and hair-raising, so called 'nationalism', I sense in the country.
It is really irritating to see recycling of news posts - and of late they are taking cues from the BBC site amongst others to 'improve' features - 'Amazing pictures' and embedding video of an audio of wire reports with the text.
But the one aspect that ceases to amaze me is the comments section. Along with every news item, a comments section is open to anyone with an account- however almost every single person who leaves a comment takes a very very one sided view, as though he/she was spilling out all his pent up rant - but not always relevant. The comments are filled with vicious attacks mostly on corruption, politics, reservations.... I believe these are people just fed up with things and no place to turn to to express themselves. But the ferocity of the comments is worse than that on even YouTube(yes, it is a benchmark on the internet).
I tried to look up for any news on Rediff the company itself, and came across an item showing the low returns and lack of future outlook coupled with a share price in the doldrums.
Rediff runs its own ads(with a few from Snap recently) and is facing, if my observations are okay, a barrage of competition - both national and international. AOL, live.com, in.com, NoGyan.com - all looking to become sites encompassing all a youngster would need - news, blogs, mail, games...
One nice thing about Rediff is that it is still the fastest loading site there is.
Rediff is still stuck with an old site design, much cluttered I must say. I intended to write this mainly about the news on Rediff, but it has turned out to be something else. Rediff intends a lot, India is a growing market for online content, it will be interesting to see if Rediff continues to maintain its position amongst the most top trafficked sites from India.
I do remember Rediff being a more of a mail-search portal then, rather than the news site now
Rediff was the fastest to load on the dialup connections back in the days(~2001). Using Rediff mainly for mail, because that was all the time we could afford to spend, it copied a revamp from Yahoo, then switched from offering extra space for extra money to unlimited space for free(muchos gracious, Gmail)..
Well, with the entry of the word-of-mouth spread Google, search queries were no more its domain, neither was mail.
That brings me to the Rediff of today.
It is desparately trying to be the Google-Yahoo of India: news(more on this follows), blogs, videos(low quality, probably suited for the net connections), music, shopping, answers, stocks.
Nowadays it is mostly for news. Breaking news, they do well, interspersed with highly opinionated 'columns' and wire reports. I would without doubt call Rediff no more than a news blog. And their recycling of news items - confirms that notion. A quick comparison with other news blogs will not raise any suspicions, believe me. The 'columns' are overtly one-sided and I suspect it is fuelling the vague and hair-raising, so called 'nationalism', I sense in the country.
It is really irritating to see recycling of news posts - and of late they are taking cues from the BBC site amongst others to 'improve' features - 'Amazing pictures' and embedding video of an audio of wire reports with the text.
But the one aspect that ceases to amaze me is the comments section. Along with every news item, a comments section is open to anyone with an account- however almost every single person who leaves a comment takes a very very one sided view, as though he/she was spilling out all his pent up rant - but not always relevant. The comments are filled with vicious attacks mostly on corruption, politics, reservations.... I believe these are people just fed up with things and no place to turn to to express themselves. But the ferocity of the comments is worse than that on even YouTube(yes, it is a benchmark on the internet).
I tried to look up for any news on Rediff the company itself, and came across an item showing the low returns and lack of future outlook coupled with a share price in the doldrums.
Rediff runs its own ads(with a few from Snap recently) and is facing, if my observations are okay, a barrage of competition - both national and international. AOL, live.com, in.com, NoGyan.com - all looking to become sites encompassing all a youngster would need - news, blogs, mail, games...
One nice thing about Rediff is that it is still the fastest loading site there is.
Rediff is still stuck with an old site design, much cluttered I must say. I intended to write this mainly about the news on Rediff, but it has turned out to be something else. Rediff intends a lot, India is a growing market for online content, it will be interesting to see if Rediff continues to maintain its position amongst the most top trafficked sites from India.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Pakistan... A new era?
----Speculation/Analysis----
Musharraf is about to be impeached - assuming he doesn't take the wind out of it with another dissolution or emergency, it marks a new chapter for Pakistan.
From being a 'dictator', if I may use it, to one supported in the war on terror by a country desperately seeking a foothold against Afghanistan, he stands to being put on trial for deeds to ensure his long stay.
Pakistan itself I will say at crossroads - many believe that the most wanted terrorist oh-sama is in the Waziristan province within its borders; essentially the jist of all news is that Pakistan inadvertently(?) is supporting the Tal i ban.
The recent reports in the NY Times that the ISI is behind the Indian embassy bombing in Kabul has added impetus to what the Indian top brass has been claiming all along - ISI supports extremism on either sides of its borders. Top US officials are said to be furious due to the non-cooperation of the ISI in its efforts to flush out the Tal i ban. Questions have been raised on who actually controls the ISI - the army or the government - which in turn questions who actually holds power in Pakistan.
And that brings us to the next president of the USA. One of the contenders, oh baama, has said that if need be, backed by reasonable intelligence, he would go after extremists into Pakistan. The other contender mac cane has said he wouldn't do so, but I am more drawn to oh baama's comments.
He seems to have a clear-cut objective for the Pakistanis - that their support will have to stop. If US enters Pakistani territory in search of extremists, it will be a diplomatic problem, but it will be a very embarrasing position for the Pakistanis - they support US on the war on terror but the US accuses it of backing terror.
This is not keeping in mind the fervour across the country - Pakistan is being forced to shun extremism which finds followers throughout the nation. It has to be seen, how, this fledgeling government can wade itself through the impeachment and cut down on proxy wars.
In short all I am saying is: many have 'realised' that Pakistan is supporting a lot of extremism; rather than the proof coming from India it has come from Afghanistan; a new administration in the US will be a lot more tougher on the Pak authorities, demanding more stringent action on the extremism on the latter's soil. The common man in Pakistan may not like it... Will he support his government, when it turns against the extremists?
It just may be the beginning of the end for Pakistan-supported proxy wars, as far as we are concerned.
Musharraf is about to be impeached - assuming he doesn't take the wind out of it with another dissolution or emergency, it marks a new chapter for Pakistan.
From being a 'dictator', if I may use it, to one supported in the war on terror by a country desperately seeking a foothold against Afghanistan, he stands to being put on trial for deeds to ensure his long stay.
Pakistan itself I will say at crossroads - many believe that the most wanted terrorist oh-sama is in the Waziristan province within its borders; essentially the jist of all news is that Pakistan inadvertently(?) is supporting the Tal i ban.
The recent reports in the NY Times that the ISI is behind the Indian embassy bombing in Kabul has added impetus to what the Indian top brass has been claiming all along - ISI supports extremism on either sides of its borders. Top US officials are said to be furious due to the non-cooperation of the ISI in its efforts to flush out the Tal i ban. Questions have been raised on who actually controls the ISI - the army or the government - which in turn questions who actually holds power in Pakistan.
And that brings us to the next president of the USA. One of the contenders, oh baama, has said that if need be, backed by reasonable intelligence, he would go after extremists into Pakistan. The other contender mac cane has said he wouldn't do so, but I am more drawn to oh baama's comments.
He seems to have a clear-cut objective for the Pakistanis - that their support will have to stop. If US enters Pakistani territory in search of extremists, it will be a diplomatic problem, but it will be a very embarrasing position for the Pakistanis - they support US on the war on terror but the US accuses it of backing terror.
This is not keeping in mind the fervour across the country - Pakistan is being forced to shun extremism which finds followers throughout the nation. It has to be seen, how, this fledgeling government can wade itself through the impeachment and cut down on proxy wars.
In short all I am saying is: many have 'realised' that Pakistan is supporting a lot of extremism; rather than the proof coming from India it has come from Afghanistan; a new administration in the US will be a lot more tougher on the Pak authorities, demanding more stringent action on the extremism on the latter's soil. The common man in Pakistan may not like it... Will he support his government, when it turns against the extremists?
It just may be the beginning of the end for Pakistan-supported proxy wars, as far as we are concerned.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Watch movies online... legally!
www.hulu.com(US IP addresses only, so far)
www.rajshri.com(Hindi, Tamil movies and serials)
www.igcinema.com(Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada movies)
www.erosentertainment.com(Bollywood)
At last, the entertainment industry has realised that the internet is not an enemy, but an ally, or rather the future.
I will put things in order of my discovery:in the US, www.hulu.com, a site by NBC/Universal and FOX primarily for their shows and movies. The US industry has been very apprehensive about online content: they fiercely take down any online presence of their content, sometimes without ensuring an alternative to those clips. All the networks now offer online content, and a study released by CBS shows that providing an online exposure for their shows actually increased TV viewership, rather than decreasing it, because people were drawn to shows, expelling the notion that viewers would skip TV premieres for the web show.
Moreover, DVD rental companies are aggressively exploring renting movies via the internet: Netflix, Apple with Apple TV(I guess). This makes perfect sense because this means no more going to the store, no more mailing dvds, no more remembering last dates.
As far as India is concerned, I was very very surprised to find T/B/Kollywood stuff online.. Rajshri, Eros Ent and India Glitz have launched online media sites: with free movies supported by ads (as well as paid downloads for the first two).
These sites have a multitude of content: old movies, recent ones, good ones, watchable ones... A good venture. The internet connection may not be favourable in India, but IGCinema has a very well designed player to take care of that. Rajshri also is impressive.
Though there are a hundreds of illegal-online-movie viewing sites still active, I can see their number coming down once these companies start taking action against the video hoster. Though they will not be eliminated, some good advertising should make these services popular. So save yourself the trouble of being hounded by sleuths and play safe, if you want to watch a movie online, point to these sites. Cheers.
PS: I wonder if there are more sites like these.
www.rajshri.com(Hindi, Tamil movies and serials)
www.igcinema.com(Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada movies)
www.erosentertainment.com(Bollywood)
At last, the entertainment industry has realised that the internet is not an enemy, but an ally, or rather the future.
I will put things in order of my discovery:in the US, www.hulu.com, a site by NBC/Universal and FOX primarily for their shows and movies. The US industry has been very apprehensive about online content: they fiercely take down any online presence of their content, sometimes without ensuring an alternative to those clips. All the networks now offer online content, and a study released by CBS shows that providing an online exposure for their shows actually increased TV viewership, rather than decreasing it, because people were drawn to shows, expelling the notion that viewers would skip TV premieres for the web show.
Moreover, DVD rental companies are aggressively exploring renting movies via the internet: Netflix, Apple with Apple TV(I guess). This makes perfect sense because this means no more going to the store, no more mailing dvds, no more remembering last dates.
As far as India is concerned, I was very very surprised to find T/B/Kollywood stuff online.. Rajshri, Eros Ent and India Glitz have launched online media sites: with free movies supported by ads (as well as paid downloads for the first two).
These sites have a multitude of content: old movies, recent ones, good ones, watchable ones... A good venture. The internet connection may not be favourable in India, but IGCinema has a very well designed player to take care of that. Rajshri also is impressive.
Though there are a hundreds of illegal-online-movie viewing sites still active, I can see their number coming down once these companies start taking action against the video hoster. Though they will not be eliminated, some good advertising should make these services popular. So save yourself the trouble of being hounded by sleuths and play safe, if you want to watch a movie online, point to these sites. Cheers.
PS: I wonder if there are more sites like these.
Friday, August 1, 2008
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