Is this only with iPhone?

To place and route with an iPhone. As it is said in the post link, this is impractical but fun, yes. But this doesn't necessarily impress anything useful about iPhone. This fun could be tried on any other high end phone with similar features as is on iPhone. This geeky fun doesn't make use of any special feature of iPhone that is not found/available on any other high end phones. But this is i-PHONE, of all things in universe, of course!

Here's one self-claimed objective dissection of iPhone by comparing it with Nokia's E70. Hard-hitting but true.

Mutiny Blog - Now available in print

Get your own - Open publication

Few links on Mangalore Imbroglio

Links I found relevant while digging truth on Mangalore issue. Might help some of you in initiating your own search for truth.

Our Home Minister's blog has reports and pictures on the Mangalore issue:

http://drvsacharya.blogspot.com/2008/09/attacking-fellow-human-being-which.html

A proof of abuse of Hindu Gods by New Life group of Christians: http://greathindu.com/

Another proof (in Kannada): http://thatskannada.oneindia.in/column/shreenidhi/2008/0916-caste-conversion-in-mangaore-an-eye-witness-account.html

Damaging idols of Christian beliefs is derogatory. true. Where did this happen and why? Newspapers tell the answers.

It is just as true as Goa Inquisition .

When all of a sudden most christian groups are disowning New Life, it is because they (catholics and protestants) see more people from their own group getting converted to New Life (why? need some more digging into this matter), and are mostly worried that they may see their churches empty as is happening in US.

Leave the Mangalore issue to the local leaders from both communities to sort it out. The center shouldn't divert the attention  from the war on terror and their failure in fighting this war. 

Bird's eye view on US financial crisis

To recount briefly, there was a housing bubble in the US and it burst. With asset prices falling, there was a rush to sell assets. But if everyone rushes to sell, the prices fall. This leads to a downward spiral called a 'debt deflation'. The housing bubble was created over years of easy money thanks to Greenspan, and subprime mortgage lending. The pendulum of market sentiment swung from the one extreme of greed to the other extreme of fear, as it always eventually does.

To support the banks who went bust because of this mortgage lending, 

1. the US Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department have asked for $700 billion to buy distressed mortgage-related assets. 
   
2. Add to that the $200 billion to rescue the mortgage guarantee firms Freddie Mac and Fannie May. 
   
3. Top it off with the loan of $85 billion to keep the giant insurance company American International Group (AIG) afloat. 
   

The total assistance allocated to prop up the financial system so far – and it is anyone's guess how much more will be spent eventually – is approximately the annual GDP of India, a country of a billion people.

All this spending by the US government will raise the public debt of the US to around $11.3 trillion. That makes it the biggest borrower in the world. The creditors, among others, are the central banks of many countries such as Japan, China, the oil-rich nations, and even India. Many countries maintain foreign reserves in US dollar denominated financial instruments. The US borrows approximately $2 billion dollars from the rest of the world every day. 

Relevant question to ask and find the answer to is: Why does the world permit the US to get away with it?

The answer could be:

It is said that if owe the bank a little money, and are unable to repay, you are in trouble; but if you owe the bank a billion dollars that you are unable to repay, the bank is in trouble. In the larger context, the US owes the rest of the world a lot of money. If it cannot pay it back, the rest of the world is in trouble. Therefore, the rest of the world has to make sure that the US never fails. That is why the US continues to get a massive line of countries(!) credit –- often from relatively very poor countries such as China which has lent the US an estimated $2 trillion.

Why should the US rescue the banks in the first place?

The US government rescued the US financial institutions it did because as noted before they are too big to fail. The US government is able to spend all that money it does not have simply because the US is too big to fail. The domestic financial crisis could have snowballed into an international financial crisis, the beginning of which would have been a crisis of confidence among the investors of the corporation known as the US. All these financial institutions in turn are linked to other financial institutions globally and the contagion could spread unless action is taken urgently. Financial insolvency is contagious. By nationalizing Freddie and Fannie, and giving a bridging loan to AIG, the US government put a backstop to the slide

What could happen next?

Economists estimate that the financial crisis will cost it around two percentage points in GDP growth for the next couple of years because recession in the US is a given. Global economic slowdown is also guaranteed. The financial system cannot be isolated from the economic system.

Which is of course very depressing news for India because India any slowdown of the global economy will adversely impact India's growth.

______

The relevant material for this study is from this article in Mail Today.

Raghu Dixit - Kannada Folk Rock

ರಘು ದೀಕ್ಷಿತ್-ಎಂಬ ಕಂಚಿನ ಕಂಠದ ಈ ಮನಮೋಹಕ ಗಾಯಕನ ನನಗಿಷ್ಟವಾದ ಎರಡು ಕನ್ನಡ ಗೀತೆಗಳು:

soruthihudu maneya maaligi (ಸೋರುತಿಹುದು ಮನೆಯ ಮಾಳಿಗಿ...) The roof is leaking…with ignorance, the singer laments! A famous song written by Saint Shishunaala Sharif, this song has seen many versions rendered by many singers of Karnataka. Raghu’s melody attempts here to give it a blues guitar feel on the latino beat!

The roof is leaking
The roof is leaking with ignorance
The roof is leaking
The roof is leaking...
There is no one to strengthen the timber
In this darkness that surrounds me
I cannot climb up there
The wooden beam eaten by termites is broken
The bolts holding the beam have given away
The frame for the thatched tiles has holes in it
I cannot climb up there
The dry grass on the roof is filled with filth
And is torn and ants are all over it
The mud is not able to hold the water
The inside and the outside have become one
Oh mother! Listen to me with mercy
Heavy rains have come down on me
But I have faith in Shishunaaladeesha
He will protect me.

-------------------------

gudugudiya sedi nodo (ಗುಡುಗುಡಿಯಾ ಸೇದಿ ನೋಡೊ): Raghu’s rendition of one of the poems written by Saint Shishunaala Sharif, a 19th century spiritual poet of North Karnataka, South India. Shishunaala is popular for his simple metaphors to explain intricate philosophies of life. This song urges the listener to smoke a Hookah (a smoking pipe) to understand how one should lead life! Open the small cloth bag called mind, pull out the hash called greed/lust, crush it in a chillum called faith and light it with a fire called intelligence, Smoke that Hookah, he says

The song translation is available as subtitles in the video.

ಈತನ ಇನ್ನೂ ಹಲವಾರು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ, ಪಾಪ್ಯುಲರ್ ಗೀತೆಗಳು ಅವನ ಮ್ಯೂಸಿಕ್ ಆಲ್ಬಮ್-ನ ಕೊಂಡು ಕೇಳಬಹುದು.

ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ಸೈಕೊ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಈತ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ ಗಾಯಕನಾಗಿ (ಹರಿಹರನ್ ಜೊತೆಗೂಡಿ) ಹಾಡಿದ ಹಾಡುಗಳು FM station-ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಟ್ ಆಗಿವೆ.

India's Nuclear Deal

Who is lying? Our PM or the US President? (US presidents have a rich tradition in lying to the congress) Does it matter any how? 

Read this today's TOI article for some answers:

[...] At the end of the day, the US cannot take any position other than to assert that it has the right to terminate cooperation in such an eventuality. On India's part, we have been equally vigorous in maintaining our right to test in compelling circumstances. This argument would be decided by sovereign decisions and national interests, not by legalistic wording. 

While Mr. Arun Shourie declares that it is indubitably our PM MMS who is lying (The article is pasted below in this blog post link.) Mr. Shourie has given several solid proofs about the way the present government, and so does the managed parts of the media, have been blatantly declaring that the Nuclear Agreement is in complete favor of India (One major agreement in this support is that India has complete rights to test the Nuclear bomb, even if it is meant for peaceful purpose, without the deal being hijacked neither by US nor by other nations who are involved with us in nuclear commerce.)

Current Update: India gets NSG waiver. This doesn't yet mean that India can get technology immediately. This deal will now go to the US congress for approval.

The first few paras in the NDTV report gives us the sense of how successful India in clinching the support of NSG. 

NDTV report:

The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has finally given its nod to the Indo-US nuclear deal in Vienna on Saturday.

Ending three decades of isolation, India has joined the elite nuclear club. The NSG waiver has come through on the third day of the crucial talks in Vienna after push from the highest political level, the opposing countries gave their nod.

Sources say apart from External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement, there is no reference to ban on tests or termination of deal if India tests.

[...]Atomic Energy's chief negotiator in Vienna Ravi B Grover told NDTV that it's a clean waiver for India at the NSG, changes in the draft made have been mutually agreed upon.(emphasis mine)

The Big Blue - Mermaid scene

I came across a very touching dialogue in the movie - "The Big Blue". This dialogue comes at a  very romantically charged-up time in the movie when both the lead characters have discovered that they have fallen in love and are trying to convey their feelings. They keep in touch constantly thru phone and in one of their light-hearted conversations the female lead asks her lover to tell her a story. He is a deep-diving passionate and he tells her his ambitions as a story -

Do you know what you're supposed to do to meet a mermaid?
You go down to the bottom of the sea,
where the water isn't even blue anymore,
where the sky is only a memory,
and you float there, in the silence.
And you stay there, and you decide,
that you'll die for them.
Only then do they start coming out.
They come, and they greet you,
and they judge the love you have for them.
If it's sincere, if it's pure,
they'll be with you,
and take you away forever.

This is one of the finest scenes in the movie. Available on youtube.

Mermaid Scene from movie The Big Blue

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

A fine lecture by a Carnegie Melon professor - Randy Pausch.

The Last Lecture

This lecture is titled "The Last Lecture". This video is about 80 minutes with over 6million views and 5-star rating by everyone who has rated so far.

This is also available in a nice interactive version which lets to read the transcript, move to any section of the video, text search the transcript, and view any ppt slides that sync with the video.

Randy Pausch died on July 25, 2008 from pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

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61

It is India's 61st independence day.

Abhinav Bindra winning India's first individual gold in Olympics after 28 years is indeed a great feat. This is his win, not India's. Though, many state governments wants to honor him with the tax payer's money. Probably, W. Bengal, Tripura, and Kerala governments might be the only three states not happy with Abhinav for how dare he defeat a Chinese in China?!

I read a nice article occasioning this day in today's Mint. The article is reproduced below.

If I Were Prime Minister...

My dear countrymen, countrywomen, brothers, sisters and dear children. Today we celebrate the 61st anniversary of our independence.

But given recent events and the disenchantment many Indians feel over the government, today I will diverge from my speeches past in this august location of the Red Fort, where our forefathers defended and fought for our freedom. I will not invoke the tricolour or the words of Mahatma Gandhi or even those of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Because, my brothers and sisters, we have reached a critical moment in our nation’s history and the responsibility of its citizens. The state of India and the many fractious Indians within are in crisis, making hindsight and nostalgia a most useless exercise.

Let me be the first head of state to say that perhaps government will not be the answer to your problems. You are.

Thus, I dedicate these words not to the two-thirds of the nation I usually pander to — farmers — but the other two-thirds: our nation’s youth, those under the age of 35 who stand on the cusp of whether this 61-year-old experiment will prosper or sputter.

For at least two years now, I have come here and laid out my mission for this country: An India that is united in thought, not divided by religion and language. An India that is united in Indianness, not divided by caste and region. An India that is united in seeking new opportunities for growth, not divided by disparities. An India that is caring and inclusive.

I admit today, my fellow citizens, my government has failed on many counts. My party, particularly, has helped fuel this divide with its ambiguous policies on caste and religion. While affirmative action is definitely needed to correct ills, the current system treats lower castes like second-class citizens on college campuses, while general-caste students run around telling everyone how their failure is entirely the fault of others.

Meanwhile, pride in our own Indianness feels shaky. Just as it appears that young people are more confident in their own skin, we have popular nightclubs banning guests in “ethnic” dress. Among lower and upper classes alike, consumer products wage battle with promises of whiter skin.

Our cities have become bastions of resentment between old and new money, old residents and newcomers, often divides cut along ethnic lines. Perhaps you do not flinch when the Diwali party invite in your gated community includes a line saying, “No maids”. The middle class divides the world into two: maids and people.

Opportunities for youth have not been inclusive. Of the one million who graduate every year, only a quarter are ready to report to work. This represents a failure of our education system.

And so today, young people who represent this nation’s future, I offer you an apology. But unlike years past, I make no promises.

Because too many times, from this perch, I have listed all the ways government can and will help your life. Universal education, rural employment, health missions, committees devoted to this and that.

But let today go down in history as the first time an Indian head of state will tell you that government is not the answer to your problems. Don’t get me wrong — there is much we must do, there is much we will do. But somewhere in our conversations about the future of India, we have lost the covenant, the partnership between a people and their leaders, and the idea that only together they can make a country great.

So, brothers and sisters, I have no answers. You do.

For proof of this, look no further than our own home-grown hero Abhinav Bindra, who did us proud in Beijing with his gold medal in a 10m air-rifle competition. It marked India’s first gold medal in an individual sport — but no thanks to the government. Rather, Bindra relied partly on his own fortune and that of the Mittal Champions Trust set up by steel tycoon L.N. Mittal; the trust gave him a physical therapist, a trainer and practice equipment.

Young people of this nation, all of you have the power to be like Bindra. You might say you have no access, you have no connections, you have no clout. Bindra, an MBA graduate from a prosperous family in Chandigarh, had all those things and he had talent — and we in government still didn’t help him. But he did not wait.

At some point, all of you have been entrepreneurial enough to make up for the shortcomings of the government. I ask you to apply the same to your life — and to each other.

You cannot wait. If there are no jobs in your village, migrate. If you don’t speak English, learn. And as you go about your life, find ways to give back to where you came from, to each other and to society at large.

Let me conclude by rethinking the obligatory “Jai Hind”. Instead, I ask you to join me in my deep wish that India in its current form should not live much longer. But if the young of this nation rise — in ideals, compassion, service, responsibility, a belief in self and country — then that would be a New India worth celebrating indeed. Jai Hind.