3 + 3 = ?

I think the Europeans have always been ahead of everybody in designing cars. Be it the Germans or Italians, European cars have class. For the past few years the european junta has generated a need for more practical cars. Cars designed such that their appeal is not just visual. They were the first to latch on the compact cars. I always thought that the 'fiat' (Premier Padmini) we had in India in the old days.. rocked in one aspect ... namely that it did'nt discriminate betn the front and back seats. Both held 3 people easily. More practical ... no? None of the newer cars had this facility. The advent of bucket seats reduced the car capacity to just 5 .. 2 in front, 3 in the back. Why restrict seat space to just 5? Some said its because of the floor gear-shift. Rubbish. As if that can't be worked around.

Now, Fiat .. the Italian car lord, has come out with the new Multipla - a car with 2 rows of seating with 3 seats each. Finally .. people will be happier.

Shwaas .. seen

I saw Shwaas today. Excellent movie. I was afraid it would not live up to all the hype I had heard .. but it did, with space to spare. Acting by the 3 main characters of the film .. the kid, his grand-dad and the doctor ..especially him .. is inscrutable. The scenery, the background .. whatever it is called in film jargon .. is pretty cool .. and the whole film (well, most of it) is realistic. Wise decision to keep the film around an hour and half.

Anyways .. I read that out of the Rs 65 lakh that the movie has managed to rake in for the oscar promotions .. just 1.5 lakh has come from Bollywood. [read this on some blog .. but cant find which one now .. sorry dude]. Apalling to say the least.

More hype than hope?

Nanotechnology and Stem Cell research .. two areas that promise to change life as we know it. One would give us entirely new materials, chemicals .. something never seen before .. maybe as light as a plastic with strength more than steel, more tensile, inert and biodegradable to boot. Or maybe teeny-tiny vaccum-cleaners that eat up all the dirt and also generate power from it. Or whatever. The other tells us it would be the source of the cure to all illnesses, allowing ad-hoc growth of body-parts and such. While both are very promising areas, me thinks both have been hyped up a lot by the media.

Nanotechnology does have current applications but even they are limited right now, and are nowhere close to what we have been dreaming about [along the lines of Michael Crichton's Prey]. Chinmay may be able to tells us more about this.

Stem-cell research also has a lot of potential, but cures are far away. The hype by supporters may make it seem that a cure for say .. diabetes is just around the corner. Embryonic stem cell research (the one most likely to yeild results) is still lagging and we are yet to understand a lot about the functioning of stem cells. Current applications include mostly bone marrow stem cells, and recently, cord blood stem cells.

Any technology needs to be given time, much more so at the magnitude we are dreaming about. My point is that both the abovementioned technologies have been hyped up too much. Maybe because right now, the media did'nt get much to hype about, or maybe because its a trend now .. the media dictates what the public thinks .. we just lap it all up. Don't we?

Too bad

Until recently, (read before the elections) the BJP looked all set to become a matured political party with a well-set economic agenda to lead India forward. However recent events (read the disastrous elections) prompted the party think-tank to work overtime. The earlier revival of the BJP was largely credited to the Advani rath-yatra and such .. so again, it seems, the BJP is willing to lean on the Hindutva issue. Chuck out all the real, important issues and focus on the sentiments of people. Bring out the ayodhya issue, lead people to believe that it is what our nation needs right now; not a good economic policy, not a common minimum program, not many other things which may seem important, but really all bow before religion and other sentiments. Yeah! Thats the way to go!! If you can't convince them, confuse them. Idiots.

This, I think is a serious setback. We are slipping back into the mesozioc era instead of gearing up and lunging for the prize .. an all-over booming economy and a stable, healthy nation. Hell, I am gonna ignore the BJP for now (they deserve it) and be critical of the current govt. Atleast they remain the same old reliably non-performing group.

Jaguar racing Red Bulled

Red Bull has bought Jaguar Racing, giving it a new lease of life. Jaguar has been a not-so-recent entrant in the racing world, but failed to insipre all this time. Red Bull, a long time sponsor on track has finally become an owner and hopes to profit from the venture. Lets hope the new season will be more interesting eh?

Let the fun begin

Cingular acquired AT&T wireless .. big news, yes. Quite big in fact. I didn't realize how big until I absorbed the details. Its a $41 billion acquisition, as a result of which a thousand AT&T wireless shops across the US will stop sporting the oh-so-familiar blue and white AT&T logo, and adopt the orange Cingular one. The new company is now bigger than Verizon wireless .. the leader .. until now that is. I forget the numbers, but Verizon had some 40 million subscribers and Cingular+AT&T make up some 40+million. Big figures.
What remains to be seen is now will Cingular continue to be the leader; for Verizon, in anticipation of the oncoming acquisition has braced itself up. New phones, new promotions are waiting in the wings. Verizon has a top-rated network and the highest subscriber retention rate, while AT&T had one of the worst. Verizon continues to lead in the adding of new customers as well.. 1.7 million new subscribers in the last quarter as against just 650,000 by Cingular and AT&T combined. Till now Verizon boasted the largest network .. the new network threatens it with one of almost the same size. Cingular-AT&T subscribers will now get the advantage of the strongest signal of the two on their cells .. again threatening Verizon's advantage of the best signal strength. Also .. now one can call free within each network .. a virtual bonanza for groups of friends of family or even businesses.
Far from winding up, the games are just beginning.

Also, [unrelated] KMart has made a successful bid to acquire Sears, making the combined company the 3rd largest retailer in the US.

U.S. ---> India?

Some additions

Some recent additions to the blogroll --

I think so: by Maverick. A place where he voices his (strong) opinion on issues that need to be addressed. Worth reading.

Cud Chewing: A different take by Kailash on all that he ruminates about.

Still mulling over the elections?

It is, in fact, very frustrating that I can't just let go. The election comes back to haunt me when I least expect it. Damn. I have to move on.
Sorry Everybody is a website put up by the kind ol folks we call americans, those from the blue states, or those from the red states who went against the current. Do visit the gallery. [via Leela]

If you, like me, are still mulling over the elections then [go do something better] this page is quite interesting. It gives a view of various cartograms of the recent elections. [via Pomegranate]

More ads..

More along the lines of the Baygon Ad I posted a few months back. Thanks to Rohit for these.

U.S.A.R

Lol. [from Boing Boing].

Moving right along ..

Some things can still make me smile thru this black mood.

Tonight I pray

Tomorrow is the big day. The 2004 US Presidential elections. I can feel the tension within me. I will be very very dissapointed if Bush is re-elected. For 4 years he ruled america in an irresponsible manner. To borrow a phrase from long time pal Chinmay's blog .. a second Bush term would unhinge the future of the world. Dubya made more enemies throught the world than any other president before him. But hes an american and americans dont give a shit about the rest of the world, so cant really blame him.
The problem is .. Kerry himself is not a bad bloke .. but thats about it. He doesnt inspire a voter to vote for him. Anywyas .. I dont want to discuss this any further.

I rarely .. if ever, pray. Tonight I pray.

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Also heres the full text transcript of the latest bin laden tape. Will need free registration. Get it instantly from bugmenot.