Read my lips

Probably the best song video I have seen for a long time. Watch this.
Starring George Bush and Tony Blair ;-)
Better to download the whole song. Length 1m:16s Size: 3.83MB (yeah I know it's a bit large).

Cave dwellers!

A few days back I put up a post about the extraordinary precautions America is taking with regard to any likely terrorist attacks. The website Ready, lists out various measures an individual or family should take in the event of a bio-terrorist attack.

When 9/11 happened America went all out against Osama and his cronies. They bombed their way right up to the Tora Bora caves because that was where Ossy boy hid. No amount of cluster bombs and buster bombs could get him out. It seems he just dug a bit deeper and bit sideways and got out right under their nose. But Ossy was not going to forgive the Americans for making him spend his weekends in caves when otherwise he could have been busy producing more children. So I think he decided to get back.

The 9/11 and the subsequent war on terrorism, has got Americans more panicky than ever. And Ossy knows this better than anyone. So I believe once in a while he will create some scene in America and the panicky administration will ask its citizens to hole up in their homes, wrap their rooms in duct tapes and eat out of tinned cans (make sure you have enough pet food to feed the poodle!).

All this is making me wonder who really are the cave dwellers? The Talibans or the Americans?

New WTC design

It is out and offical. The new building that will go up on the site where once stood the World Trade Center has been chosen. The German design has been approved by both Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The official announcement will come out in about half hour from now.

Somethings which money can't buy...

Sporting an Indian cricket teams' offical jersey: £15

Tickets to the India vs England match: £50

Trip to South Africa: £1,500

Sitting inside a 22-story building, flocked with Englishmen, and sending an email saying "We kicked your ass..." to over 3,000 goras: PRICELESS!!

There are some things which money can't buy. For all such things, I rely on the bugsy in me :-)

Half knowledge is worse than no knowledge

Here is CNN's transcript. Here is the BBC's.

That is how this website starts off in its outburst against the disparity between CNN and BBC with regard to the transcript of Hans Blix's address to the UN Security Council. Of course, CNN eventually put back the complete version of Blix's statement after receiving complaints from numerous people. If you are really interested in viewing the old version you can click here. (via takebackthemedia.com) It is the Google's cached page.

Just to arouse your interest, here are a few paragraphs that CNN took the liberty to delete.

"The presentation of intelligence information by the US secretary of state suggested that Iraq had prepared for inspections by cleaning up sites and removing evidence of proscribed weapons programmes.

I would like to comment only on one case, which we are familiar with, namely, the trucks identified by analysts as being for chemical decontamination at a munitions depot.

This was a declared site, and it was certainly one of the sites Iraq would have expected us to inspect.

We have noted that the two satellite images of the site were taken several weeks apart."

Why did CNN choose to ignore this vital information? The answer is simple and it is what I have been saying all along: US media is disgustingly polarised. 'It' decides what people should see and holds utter contempt to what the real facts are. Evidence above, it holds scant respect to what Blix fully said. And it is this polarisation that makes the US citizens believe they are always right regardless of what others say.

That said, I must admit the media in other countries (especially India) is no different either. A few days reading of both Indian and Pakistani newspapers will prove my assertions to be true. It is 'we the people' who should realise that there exist filters and therefore hunt for the full un-edited versions.

Get ready!!

This lady criticises me that I don't say one good thing about USA. The truth is I never got an opportunity to say anything good about USA because all these days I have been ranting about the war. And in that context I hate USA. When it comes to promotion of science, I love USA; when it comes to the speed at which justice is delivered, I love USA. When it comes to suing McDonald's because I ate too much, I love USA. When it comes to being prepared for terrorist attacks, I love USA. What?! Yeah! You heard me right!

America is preparing its people to be ready in case of a terrorist attack. The government website, called READY, highlights the things the American citizens should do if faced in the unlikely event (or should I say a likely event?) of terrorist attack. It outlines all sorts of attacks from biological, to chemical to even nuclear attacks. I have read just the brochure and this is what I came up with.

One gallon of water per person per day for drinking; sanitation in clean plastic containers; foods that you will eat, including protein or fruit bars, dry cereal or granola, canned foods and juices, peanut butter, dried fruit, nuts, crackers and baby foods; a manual can opener, cups and eating utensils; dense- weave cotton material, can help filter contaminants in an emergency; face masks; heavyweight garbage bags or plastic sheeting, duct tape and scissors; a flashlight, battery; powered radio, extra batteries, a first aid kit, utility knife, local map, toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, soap, garbage bags and other sanitation supplies, as well as extra cash and identification; warm clothing for each family member in your supply kit, including a jacket or coat, long pants, a long sleeve shirt, sturdy shoes, a hat and gloves; a sleeping bag or warm blanket; pack diapers, formula, bottles, prescription medications, pet food, comfort items, books, paper, pens, a deck of cards or other forms of entertainment; the phone numbers; coins or a prepaid phone card.

Phew! These are the 'essential' supplies. Its much more if you consider the stuff you need for a full family. I wonder if 'pet food' accidentally snuck in there or it was actually part of the list. I mean if there were a nuclear blast, I for one would be the last person to bother about feeding my poodle! But I guess one could justify it in times of lesser forms of attack. Anyways, interested people can read it and update their general knowledge of what one should do in times of crisis and how to prepare for it.

Where is she?

There once was a girl called Tania
Who blogged that she was soon to be a kanya
Maybe that’s why she is not around
And her blog’s been without any sound
Coz she is counting smiles in her new duniya!

Any of you who used to read her blog feel that she might have tied the knot and hence the silence??

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How markets react to crisis

In one of my earlier posts I had shown a graph of how the Indian markets have been performing better than their western counterparts. While browsing the net in search of financial articles relating to first Gulf war, I came across an interesting article which I thought would be worthwhile to share with all of you. The article speaks of how markets have rebounded after crisis events. It also details the percentage change after a specific number of days - namely 22 days, 63days, 126 days and 253 days after the 'crisis event'.

This is what it states about first Gulf war: On the date of Iraq invading Kuwait, markets fell by 13.3%. In the subsequent days (in the order mentioned above) the markets rose by 0.1%, 2.3%, 16.3% and 22.4% respectively. You can read more about it in this article.

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Blogging goes mobile

On a lesser note I thought I would flag up with my fellow bloggers this intersting article which talks of how people will soon be able to update their blogs using their mobiles. Though its a novel idea, I believe it will have few takers considering the amount of time it takes to text a message let alone a blog post. 3G phones are still a while away and there are no blog hosts which will allow people to put up photos / audio / video.

Who said there is order in chaos?

Vidya Subrahmanian in her article for TOI, analyses the gravity of the situation while America divides the world between order and disorder. As usual a few teasers.

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The clash of civilisations theory is back in circulation, though now suitably amended to take care of such non-Islamic surprises as North Korea. Writing in the New York Times, Tom Friedman divides the world into two: World of order and world of disorder. In the former category fall the US (but of course), the UK, the EU countries, Russia, China and India (hurrah!). In the latter fall failed states such as Liberia, rogue states Iraq and North Korea, and messy states, Pakistan (more hurrah!), Indonesia, Colombia and most Arab and African states.
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In many places, placards asked for a regime change — not in Baghdad but in Washington and London. If the protests were muted anywhere, they were in the ‘disorderly’ Arab world. This mass of protesting humanity didn’t represent a sudden spurt of irrational anger against the US.

This was anger that had been building up, as Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria discovered while travelling in Europe much before the protests began to show up on the streets. Such was the sweeping anti-Americanism Zakaria found wherever he went that he might have been in hostile Arab territory rather than in Europe; indeed, he quotes a Swiss friend’s child as saying that everyone in his school believes the CIA to be behind 9/11. As Zakaria says, it is no longer about Iraq, it is about the US.

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That the US will go against the UN has been made clear by almost every member of the Bush team. On February 7, Mr Bush said: “If the Security Council were to allow a dictator to lie and deceive, the Security Council would be weakened.” On February 12, Colin Powell repeated the threat: “We are reaching a moment of truth with respect to the relevance of the UN Security Council to impose its will on a nation such as Iraq, which has ignored the will of the Council.”

And that will be the ultimate irony. The world’s greatest democracy despatching a ‘demonic dictator’ by the same means he has employed to stay in power — muzzling the voice of the people and showing complete disrespect to the will of the United Nations.

When that happens it might be time to redefine the worlds of order and disorder.
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Aye aye, Vidya. And unless USA wakes up to this 'growing anger', all its' brouhaha over the 'war on terrorism' will be looked upon as a means to redefine US interests. That is, if it isn't already being looked upon like that.