Bobby Jindal lied.....

Oh well.. On Tuesday it was one step forward two steps back, now it seems to be one step forward four steps back.

Turns out an 'incident' he mentioned in his reply-speech was, all along, a lie. Or untrue, false or made up, depending upto what level you want to scrutinise him.

The basic premise of the 'incident' is that in the aftermath of Katrina Jindal said he was with a Sheriff, when in fact he wasn't in the area. The Sheriff has since passed away, but bloggers were able to remove fact from fiction with details of Jindal's schedule and accounts of the Sheriff on the ground.

This is terribly disappointing, especially at a time when his party is doing some serious soul searching and Jindal all but fit the role like a missing piece in a jigsaw puzzle, according to conservatives. He will have to tread very very carefully, weighing all his actions in gold to minimise their impact incase he decides and does run for the highest office.

Is this incident his death knell? Have to wait and watch.

Bobby Jindal's not so impressive intro

It was on Bobby Jindal's shoulders to give the Republican reply to President Obama's semi- State of the Union address to Congress yesterday.....and his performance was.....?

Everyone seems to agree he didn't do so well. Why? Honestly, I tried to listen to what he had to say, but a couple of minutes into the speech his constant-volume voice and recitation like description of how his parents came to the US was a bit too much. The night was still young, but the reviews were out.

Oops.... Depending on how things improve over the next couple of years, Jindal will have to decide if he is going to run in 2012 - but I hope not - he better win if he runs. Seems to be already testing the waters by not accepting stimulus money partially - making Obama wrong even if he's half right.

FAKE 'Warren Buffett advice for 2009' letter?

This article seemed awfully vague, which leads back to this article in the Financial Express but leads to no other original article supporting claims that it is from Warren Buffett. Most of the search results are of Indian origin, and there are a couple of posts published before the Yahoo and the Express articles, implying the Express editors published it either being very gullible, just because they got a forward claiming to be from Warren Buffett, or checked it through some other methods, which I am unable to find.

In related news, "Warren Buffett's letter will be released Saturday 28 Feb 2009". Could the above letter be a leak? Really?

I do not question the intentions of the words in the 'letter'; words of wisdom are priceless no matter where they come from, my problem is only in trying to get everyone to read your email or blog post or print article by using the Oracle's name.

It's vs its

I myself make this mistake more often than not inspite of having a nagging doubt every single time, so here's to settling it once and for all, this website makes it crystal clear in its text when it's appropriate to use the latter or the former.

Basically, you should be able to replace it's with it is and its with his or her.

AAA 8 - Crunching Numbers

All About America, part 8: a few price comparisons/times

• It takes 2 minutes 15 seconds to heat one mug of milk to the right temperature
• It takes 14 minutes 45 seconds to cook rice in the microwave
  
• Eating out moderately at a decent restaurant costs the same as a 15 lb bag of rice (~$15)
• One cup of ice cream at the college store costs the same as one gallon of milk ($2)
• One small Fries at McD's costs the same as 6 bananas ($1)
• It takes 7 minutes to walk from home to the department
• Mailing a letter (42c stamp + 9c or 10c envelope) is comparable to an almost 1.5 lb box of salt (33c to 50c)
• The signals at Exchange Street change from proper signals to flashing yellow at 11pm
• Instead of 3 or 4 cans of soda it is worth buying a loaf of wheat bread (~$1.30)
• Eat 3 fish sandwiches at McD's('Filet-O-Fish') or 2 at Burger King('Big Fish') or buy one pound of fish and cook yourself(~$7)
• It costs as much as it takes to walk there as it does to borrow DVDs, CDs or books at the county library (free)
• One sandwich at Subway can pay for 50 eggs ($5)
• I don't drink coffee, but from what Sandy says, one 'Tall'(to hell with Starbucks and their size nomenclature) Frappucino at Starbucks can pay for 2-3 months worth of daily Folger's coffee(~$3.50)
  

Read Part 7 and earlier parts here: http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2009/01/all-about-americaaaa-part-7-down.html

A Redesign

White on black, many felt was difficult to read, moreover almost all commercial sites are black text on a white background.

I tried increasing the font size, it looked ugly, on second suggestion I tweaked the colours to a grey background and black text, which looked bland.

The Bloomberg model was very attarctive, but the problem I faced was that since I used a Minima template only one colour could be applied as a background.

Solution: use Rounders templates, which have different colours for different sections, tweak the colours, make it 3 column and import the widgets.

Importing or rather retaining the widgets(gadgets) was the toughest job, because the new template will be blank.

I had to create two new test blogs, tweak Rounders on one and replicate my blog on the other, then import the template of the former to the latter and see if it worked.

Turns out only pointers to the widget titles are stored by blogger, for an account, so if you paste a gadget title on another blog, the contents can be reproduced. So from my existing template I copied the code for all the gadgets and included them in the new modified Rounders template.

And presto! A little more pushing and nudging is needed, but nonetheless it looks better, I hope.

So much for a bored evening.

A lot of helpful code can be gotten from a Google search. I found this post helpful.

Rod Tidwell to withdraw only after 5 years

14 Feb 2009, Faux Wire Service: The famous athlete, Rod Tidwell, rejecting claims that he took steroids, has said that he will withdraw from athletics only after five years.

His statement comes after the anti-doping agency revealed that tests conducted before the Olympics tested positive for steroids.

However when confronted with this stunning release, Tidwell said that he could not return his medals or withdraw from sports because he still had a lot of money to make. He said endorsements worth $20 million were on the line, and that if he admitted his guilt his dream NY city apartment would remain a dream.

He specifically made the point that after 5 years he would be a very rich man and could afford to lose all his endorsements, if anyone even bothered. He would be out of his prime too, he mentioned.

Friends say he is also afraid his giant billboard at Times Square would stop being an advertisement for an eligible hunky sports star. A person who wished to remain anonymous said Tidwell spends a lot of time looking at his own potrait on the cereal box daily, which will be among the first to be dropped if he admits to doping charges.

Tidwell is currently single.

This article is labelled faux and is a work of imagination and is inspired by these two articles and tries to make light of how athletes time their admission of guilt.

Sri Lanka: Real challenge starts now

Amongst the handful of childhood memories which remain etched in my mind, as they happened, I clearly remember this: I am watching the morning DD news, I shout out to my father the main headline, he rushes out to the TV room, shaving brush in hand, face half lathered, stopping in his tracks when he could see it for himself.

It was a tumultuous day. Rajiv Gandhi had been assassinated. Crowds gathered in town, all unwilling to believe that act had been carried out. That was the day the unflinching support shown by Tamil Nadu began to dwindle.

It brings us to today, where the Sri Lankan government says it has restricted the LTTE to less than 200 sq km. As of this post that organisation is now banned in more countries than al-Qaeda as a terrorist organisation, although it has a very powerful international diaspora supporting it. Across the internet, if you have ever watched Tamil shows or listened to Tamil music, chances are those websites support the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Going by the rhetoric and ground reports, the Sri Lankan government is all set to regain control over all of Sri Lanka.

The pro-LTTE media outlets regulary say civilians are being killed by the SL army, which the SL govt most certainly denies. At the same time carrying out suicide missions and firing at fleeing civilians brings the LTTE no sympathy. The gag on the local media and lack of any foreign press makes verification of any events impossible. That the LTTE chose, while retreating, to take all civilians in the area, leaving ghost towns is disturbing. Why should non-combatants be caught in the cross-fire - although strategy does not make very good PR. The SL govt too does good PR: best shown in its website and bold maps.

What's next? The LTTE is a terrorist organisation; it must not be tolerated. In my humble opinion, trying to associate the LTTE with the Tamils issue is futile because of the baggage the LTTE brings along. That is why, how the Sri Lankan government moves from here on will determine how relations materialise. If the SL govt makes the same mistakes it made during the '80s, it will be like pouring kerosene over a dying fire. True, the SL govt has made all assurances that 'Tamils will be given all rights'(which implies they did not have them before), but not keeping promises is what got the SL govt into a mess. But that is how the real challenge starts.

This is an opportunity for the SL govt to ensure 30 years of the past does not repeat itself. Trying to impose itself by force will alienate the population in question - they have to be absorbed into all forms of authority and bridge the Sinhala-Tamil divide. The demands of self-rule, well, I honestly have no opinions on, I only wish there be one Lanka and not two.

Even though they may be eliminated from the island and since India definitely would not harbour them, a claim that the LTTE has been dismembered, when such news arrives, has to be taken with a pinch of salt. The aforementioned diaspora are too large to allow it to disappear without a trace. I won't be surprised if it continues to carry out 'proxy' activities. Then again, that will be only if the SL govt fumbles in its steps. The ball is clearly in the Sri Lankan government's court.

All About America(AAA) Part 7 : A down economy

This post is about the changes observed first hand during tougher economic times.

• McDonalds(East Exchange St) gets Mercs and Bentleys to its drivethrough. It was a while since I went there, so I had to skip lunch for later when to my shock it was crowded. It has redesigned its packaging for a higher-income category, with non-descript packages getting deep colours and slogans which appeal to them.
• Walmart(Arlington) suddenly stocked itself with more goods, which obviously is for those looking to save a few pennies. More shirts, higher priced jackets, licenced wear.
• A family of 4 walks up to the aisle at Walmart, father picks up a bottle of a product, confirms with wife that price is cheaper here, walks away with bottle in hand. Never seen such price comparers before.
  
• Both McD and Walmart see a greater influx of persons usually seen in Starbucks: wearing clothes which will take a while to put on, full length coats.
  
• Aldi's needs to have all three counters open, instead of the usual one, apart from the out of place new SUVs and Chevys and Hondas alongside the old Dodge Hatchbacks and Buicks and Lincolns.
• The humongous increase in persons using the County Library. More people who have trouble using public computers/persons asking Assistants for help in searching = new patrons. Again, long coats and fancy office wear-clad people wandering up and down the aisles searching for DVDs and CDs.
• Cash for Gold flyer on my door knob.
• University admissions up 6.5%.
• Electronics now available with awesome deals. Sad I bought them when their price was not so awesome.
• More infomercials on TV. Already unwatchable TV is now unbearable.
• Unlucky pubs putting up special offers to lure in customers
• Random people wanting to sell their CDs to you
• Churches advertising on buses and TV for people to visit them
  

Elsewhere, nationwide:

• Part-time Receptionist job gets 3520 resumes in under 24 hours
• Wall Street executives eating at McDonalds
• More advertisements for self-investment sites like scotttrade and tdameritrade
  
• McDonalds and Walmart among only a handful actually making a profit and seeing a rise in share value
• Post Office(USPS) proposes to drop delivering mail on Saturdays to cut losses
• Dozens of magazines shutting down
  
• Unfortunately, the cause of all the above, layoffs. Thousands upon thousands.
• The President is the Messiah who will deliver and the Opposition is a 'it's ok a stimulus shall have our ideas' style group.
  

Read earlier parts: AAA - Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Nagesh: a handful of memories

The performances our generation saw may not have been his best, yet, Nagesh has stamped his place in our hearts with those movies he acted in.

A couple of decades ago this not-so-beautiful hyperactive outspoken actor would bring the house down with his antics. Amongst the few I have seen entirely, Anbe Vaa is one for comedy(along with another stalwart, Manorama). However it was Ethir Neechal which cemented Nagesh's versatility for me. A poor, unassuming guy pure at heart and intention, we remember Madhu because of how the role was delivered.

In the recent years, Minnale saw the everyday elder: financially and emotionally supportive, ready to stand up for his dear 'grandson' even when all the odds are against him with a down to earth appeal to the heroine.

Panchathantiram, a fine comedy movie, he plays the intrusive father-in-law always poking his nose and making the water even cloudier. Then the ever loving father first proud and then disappointed in his son in Vasool Raja MBBS.

He was almost never the central character in his movies - we often overlook such performances because they are natural and flawless.

His comedy movies should be a lesson for all of today's comedians - humour is possible without blood and gore, without sexual innuendo and without being a big bore. In these few days when we are in deep sadness, it is ironical that watching his movies moves us to tears. Tears of joy and laughter.

Nagesh will be dearly missed.

'Tip to Sama for telling me to write out my thoughts.