Farenheit 9/11

Saw Fahrenheit 9/11 yesterday. I would strongly encourage everyone to see this documentary. If you love bush bashing you will love it, otherwise just sit through it and absorb the truth. I think Michael Moore stretched it a bit though, tried to extract all he could (emotionally) from the audience.

Long List

Theres a long list of new movies I wanna watch. Somehow they have all ganged up and creeped up on the unsuspecting self. Shrek2, The Day After Tomorrow, Harry Potter3, The Terminal, The Stepford Wives, Farenheit 9/11, Dodgeball, Spiderman2 .. whew and probably more that I don't recall right away. I gotta buckle up and get down to serious movie watiching soon ..

Meet Joe Blah

Time magazine, in its last issue had an article titled Meet Joe Blog. (Why are more and more people getting their news from amateur websites called blogs? Because they're fast, funny and totally biased). While most of the article addresses the issues of What blogs are, talks about some of the most popular blogs ever, the power that blogs weild nowadays, and about political blogs; one another part struck a chord.

Blogs can be a great way of communicating, but they can keep people apart too. If I read only those of my choice, precisely tuned to my political biases and you read only yours, we could end up a nation of political solipsists, vacuum sealed in our private feedback loops, never exposed to new arguments, never having to listen to a single word we disagree with.

[After looking up solipsists I realize that] This is a frightening thing, and one that I have been thinking about.
Now two things largely influence my thoughts. The first is discussing things with people .. friends, my dad, colleagues etc. The second is what I read. In both the cases I have always been careful about looking at all sides of an issue, hearing the other side out. It is very easy to bias yourself in any thought process even before you know all the sides. This will obviously, be even more pronounced if most of the people in your circle of friends think similar to you. [But then you will say: "Anya, thats why they are my friends"]. True enough, even more reason for you to read up different arguments and try to understand why some people think different.
I am stressing much on this because thats what I observe nowadays, people are caught up in their own ideas so much that they don't value the opinions of others, and so don't give them an ear. More so online, on blogs where it is so easy to publisize our own thinking, and so easy to read just what we want to read. A sort of an e-ego massage I would say. Think about it.
Keep an open mind.
[But not so open that your brains fall out].

MT-Blaclist ..

I maintain that some form of comment spam control is necessary for every blog, and myself use MT-Blacklist. More so because it was the only one I knew about and read about at that time.
I was amused however, when within a span of 2 days Amol said MT-Blacklist sucks and Jivha said MT-Blacklist rules.

Portugal witholds Abu Salem from India.

Abu Salem was caught in Portugal a few years back. Indian officials were jubilant and we all talked about how justice prevails. After a lot of talks and hype, finally Potugal told us they refuse to extradite Abu Salem because he might be given the capital punishment when handed over to India. The Acorn talks more about it here.

photos up

I have finally uploaded (and labeled. the uploading didnt take time) a lot of photos on this site.
For those who know me and still wish to see me .. they are here.
For those who don't know me, and get a kick out of seeing pictures of strangers, they are here.

One of my favs

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

- William Blake

Heads Up!

A grapefruit-sized meteorite smashed through the roof of a New Zealand house, hitting a couch and bouncing off the ceiling before coming to rest under a computer.. says a Reuters newspiece.

Cool huh? Sweet actually, since nobody was hurt. Also it seems the houseowners can keep the meteorite. (They are planning to sell it or give it to a museum). Again - "Experts believe the meteorite, a chunk of an asteroid, could be worth more than $6,300". That seemed somewhat on the lesser side to me actually .. but I'm in no way an exert on anything.

I wonder whether their insurance will pay for repairing the house though, (I bet the insurance company will classify this as 'An act of God') and the repairing cost may be more than the "value" of the meteorite (~ $6300).

While we are on the topic .. this 'act of God' clause seems pretty dicey .. I hope acts of God are clearly defined somewhere. (Getting hit by lightning, meteorite, and what else?) .. any kind of freak accident I suppose .. but then that is exactly why we need insurance!!

Fill 'er up!

I knew that rickshaw-wallahs in Pune mixed kerosene with petrol, about Mumbai taxi drivers switching to LPG, about Delhi transport using CNG, but never knew this! As gas prices rise in the US, people are turning to recycled vegetable oil as an alternative to diesel. Vegetable oil, in itself costs more than diesel, but the recycled variety is dirt cheap (sometimes, even free). Restaurants, it seems pay to have their used oil disposed, so they would happily give it to you for free. After some googling, I found a fair amount of webpages talking about the same. Also found out that this guy has been at it for a couple of years, and also makes a case for it, environment-wise.
Heres more. Whaddya think .. neat? or weird?

aargh

I am a food fanatic. I miss Indian food like hell (when I decide to return to India for good, this will be the #1 reason). Mostly outside stuff but homemade stuff too. So whenever there is any event etc, I always ask my friends/family etc 'khayla kay hota?' (what was there to eat), and my friends being the friends they are .. intricately describe everything, leaving me hungry and frustrated. kya kaare, I asked for it.
So by now, I am somewhat used to it. I feel the pangs of hunger, I miss the stuff that my friends are eating, but I don't feel as sad. However once in a while I get caught unprepared. Like a few days back mom told me she had sitafal rabdi. That was it; a complete meal .. chicken tikka masala, malai kofta, parathas, jeera rice and later the goddamn sitafal rabdi was dreamt up by my imbecile brain. I am still getting over it.

The Stella Awards

Who has'nt laughed at the silly, frivolous lawsuits that we keep coming across in ths US? Not only the lawsuits themselves, but also the ridiculous amount in damages that the plaintiffs get as a result? (Yes, I am jealous).

The Stella Awards were inspired by Stella Liebeck. In 1992, Stella, then 79, spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee onto her lap, burning herself. A New Mexico jury awarded her $2.9 million in damages.

Check out the 2003 Stella Award Winners and the 2002 Stella Award Winners.

Link Courtsey: Keyur