My $0.02 on the news I read
June 16, 2010 Leave a comment
Cow seduces Indonesian man: An 18-year-old Indonesian man in the resort island of Bali claims he was seduced by a cow after he was caught having sex with her.
A neighbor caught Gusti Ngurah Alit standing naked while holding the back of the cow.
Mr. Alit said that he did not see a cow but a beautiful young woman. “She called my name and seduced me, so I had sex with her’, he said.
June 16, 2010 Leave a comment
8 former executives guilty in ’84 Bhopal chemical leak: Slow are the wheels of justice, in India. So what is the government of India to make sure that justice is faster next time than it was for the victims of the worst industrial accident in the history of the planet at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal?
A panel starts work on a nuclear liability bill! This bill caps the extent of damages of the nuclear plant supplier and/or operator to a measly 500 corore rupees ($100 million) per incident (see update 3). If this was the law in 1984, the 500,000 victims exposed would have received $200 per person, and this is not counting people that died, estimates of which vary from 15 to 30,000. If you want to know more about this disaster, one of the best reads is Five Past Midnight in Bhopal.
Even $100 million is far less less than the US government has spent in bailing out any one of the corporations that landed us in the biggest finacial crisis since the Great Depression. But why is it doing so?
According to The Hindu, “…strengthening the Bill in favour of potential victims is likely to anger the U.S. government and American suppliers, who have made no bones about their need to be protected from ‘Bhopal type litigation’ in event of a nuclear accident.”
Hmm. I’m sure BP would want the US Congress to pass a similar legislation!
UPDATE 3: I have found out that the similar limits in the US are $75 million. House Speaker Pelosi wants to change that to unlimited amount for oil spills, while the Senate wants to increase that limit to $10 billion.
UPDATE 2: The guilty have been sentenced to 2 years in jail!
UPDATE 1: An International Herald-Tribune op-ed contributor ‘remembers Bhopal‘ and wonders “How many people in the West today want to compare the compensation citizens of India received for loss of life and health with the compensation that is likely to come from BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico?”
Under pressure from Mr. Obama, BP has decided to escrow $20 billion to pay for Gulf oil spill victims!
June 14, 2010 Leave a comment
Pakistanis have been suggesting that the US should talk to the Taliban, otherwise the US strategy will fail, and Mr. Obama seems to agree. The Defense Secrataty, Mr. Gates, believes that you cannot say that one Taliban is good, and the other not good, but agrees with his boss that there is a need to talk to some Taliban commanders.
Pakistan has nurtured the Afghan Taliban since its inception, and in fact the Pakistani military’s secret service, the ISI, created it and helped it take over Afghanistan as a ‘strategic depth’ against India. Although tables turned after 9/11, the Government of Pakistan admits it is reaching out to them at all levels. It is the Pakistani Taliban that Pakistanis want to root out, because they are causing mayhem within their borders; they are the ‘bad’ Taliban, according to them.
I think talking to any Taliban would be a bad idea, and would only foster more terrorism. On the other hand, the US should encourage other countries in the region, like India – which has sunk $1.2 billion so far, to continue to assist in building Afghani infrastructure. After all, Afghanistan needs all the help it can get, especially now that we know that it has over $1 trillion worth of untapped natural reserves.
June 14, 2010 Leave a comment
Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek explains why Pakistan keeps exporting jihad, and is a terrorism supermarket. He traces the beginnings of this culture shortly after the birth of this nation over 60 years ago*, and quotes the book written by the current Pakistani ambassador to the US, Mr. Husain Haqqani, Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military.
Mr. Zakaria alludes to the classification of Taliban by the Pakistani military as good and bad. The good Taliban attacks Westerners, Afghans and Indians, but spare Pakistanis. The bad Taliban attack Pakistan, and the Pakistani Army has tried to smoke them out of their hideouts in South Waziristan.
The US and its allies have been prodding the Pakistani Armed Forces to launch similar offensives in North Waziristan, but is faced with countless excuses why it is not a right time to do so. Perhaps the real reason is that this area is home to the ‘good’ Taliban, as seen by the Pakistani Army.
A study published by the London School of Economics claims that Pakistan is Funding and training Taliban in Afghanistan. Of course, the Government and the Army of Pakistan deny it, but apparantly a senior official admits to militancy’s deep roots in Pakistan.
*The raison d’être of Pakistan since 1947, when it was partitioned from India, was a ‘two-nation’ theory, which expounds that Hindus and Muslims are two separate cultures that cannot live together peacefully. This theorem was busted in 1971 with the formation of Bangladesh, when it became evident that the glue to unity was something other than religion. Six decades later, it seems that Pakistan is still having an identity crisis, as explained by Ali Sethi in a NY Times op-ed piece, One Myth, Many Pakistans.
June 4, 2010 Leave a comment
Candid answers from AT&T on the new iPhone data plans: Read and weep, if you use a lot of data. Two things really bother me: The tethering option is just a ‘permission’ to be able to use your phone as a modem, and that there is no roll-over for the unused data bytes.
I think it is time that we had a universal data plan that allows us to use it across all the devices we own: the laptop, desktop, phone, tablet, game console, etc.
June 4, 2010 Leave a comment
Apple’s current iPad software won’t allow iPhone tethering: My assertion has been confirmed! After all, I was quoting El Jobso, who had said so in an email reply.
June 2, 2010 Leave a comment
A very reasoned essay about the “…fuzzy thinking and whining going on about Apple, Steve Jobs, and control.”: John Martellaro correctly points out that the majority of this is coming from a very small number of vested interests (very few developers) and is being amplified by a large number of vested interests (most blogs love sensationalism – increases page-views). Since Apple, Inc. is becoming more prominent, it is more fun to take potshots at it; why should anyone worry about Microsoft anymore? Also, Google is mainly made up of engineers, and geeks just love it.
June 2, 2010 Leave a comment
AT&T axes unlimited data plan, unveils tethering price: I have no problem with tiered pricing; the more you consume, the more you should pay. However, I do have two issues with AT&T’s plan pricing:
1. While you’re charged $20 extra to be able to tether, any data used while tethered counts against your 2G Data Pro plan. In other words, you pay $45 if you want to tether, for 2G of data. Any additional data is $10 per G, so a 5G usage will cost you $75, which is $15 costlier than their 3G modem for similar data size. This sucks.
2. I’ve noticed that I’m using more and more data for communication (SMS, Email, MMS) than voice minutes. Yet, I’m forced to buy the minimum package of $40 (450 minutes) to be ‘eligible’ to get a data plan for the iPhone. Why can’t I buy fewer minutes for a lesser price?
I feel I am subsidizing my data plan with my voice plan underuse. I’m never going to be able to use the thousands of rollover minutes I’ve accumulated. So, I feel AT&T is double-dipping and cheating me outright. Shouldn’t the DOJ/FCC look into it?
Further, Steve Jobs has said that you can’t tether an iPad to an iPhone, so one has to have to have different plans for each device.
I’ve been using less data on my iPhone since I bought my iPad, so I will get a 200MB data plan for it, and keep my unlimited data plan of $30 for my iPad (since I’ll be ‘grandfathered’). This will save me $15 a month, although I’ll still be upset for paying $40 for AT&T’s basic voice plan.
Although Apple has nothing to do with this, they should bring pressure on AT&T to be more reasonable, as this will affect people’s decision to buy their devices. In addition, I am less likely now to spring for the next iPhone with videoconferencing capability (to limit my data use) and wait for the iPad with similar abilities.
June 2, 2010 Leave a comment
India is enjoying “A strong, well balanced recovery” according to The Economist: Let’s be cautiously optimistic; India has a long way to go. With a deplorable law and order situation, ethnic strife, domestic and trans-border terrorism and a need to bring equal opportunity, prosperity and security to all its citizens, including minorities, India has a lot on its plate.
Certainly, comparisons with China will be drawn, although many forget that it started market reforms two decades ahead of India, despite being a coummunist country with a totally centrally-planned economy – which in itself is remarkable.
Regardless, it is a time for India to toast itself, as she cautiously plods ahead. It will be wise for India to remember what Lord Krishna said in the Bhagwat Gita about walking toward’s ones goal: Just look at the horizon and not below; the small pebbles will distract you.
As the World Turns 