Top Banana Producing Nations - 2005

Trivia!! India is the top banana producing country.

History of Religion

Update:(12/22/06 9:37CST)
After re-reading my post, I realized there is nothing like promotion/expansion in Hinduism. I've read that you cannot convert to a Hindu. You are either born a Hindu or not.
--------
Herez an embedded flash animation taken from mapsofwar about the history of religion. An interesting 90 sec watch. Looking at the map and my own knowledge, I felt Islam and Christianity were well organized and advertized? to gain the popularity across the world, in the recent past. Hinduism does not have missionaries as aggressive as christianity to promote its religion. Not that I am FOR organized religion.

I feel it (organized religion) should not be treated any differently than a political party with an agenda. Religious institutions should not be tax exempt. I believe they would not become such huge institutions atleast in USA if its not for the tax exempt status.

Anyways, its interesting to see that hinduism is the oldest of all religions (atleast from this animation)

Andhra gets green signal to set up IIT

This is wonderful news!
From TOI this:

The central government has sanctioned an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) for Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy announced in the state assembly on Tuesday.

Making a statement in the house, he said the union human resource development (HRD) ministry had given a green signal for the premier institute that would come up at Isnapur near Sanga Reddy in Medak district.

Cricket: Sreesanth Swinging His Bat?!

Sreesanth responding to Andrew Nel's (SA) taunting in the previous ball with a SIX and a small dance, with Dhoom title song playing in the background. Fun stuff :)

India Won on SA soil!

India has won a test match on SA soil for the first time ever?

From rediff: India finally registered a Test victory on South African soil on Monday.

I was not following cricket these days. Just lost interest in it, dont know when. This past year I was just watching the scores after the matches were complete. I did not follow this test either. I know the series is going on and India lost the OD series bigtime. But, I felt they were going to do well in test, maybe 'cos I remember some other away tour (WI?) where we lost OD series and won the test series. Anyways, its always good to see our home country win. Doesnt it?

Also, I just did a little math to see who was mainly responsible for the win. So, i summed up the batting and bowling figures of our guys for both innings. Following is our batting line up sorted by runs scored and which is followed by bowling team by wickets taken.

Just by looking at raw data, we can conclude that Laxman and Ganguly!! were the best batsmen, and kumble and sreesanth were best bowlers in this test. Incidentally kumble and sreesanth were the worst performers with the bat. Zaheer took as many wickets as kumble and also scored 46 runs in the test.

So, I would give my 'men of the match' awards to : Sreesanth, Laxman and Zaheer.

	R	M	B	4s	6s
VVS Laxman	101	357	221	17	0
SC Ganguly	76	241	139	8	1
SR Tendulkar	58	156	111	10	0
Z Khan	46	139	103	3	2
Extras	45
VRV Singh	40	38	23	8	0
V Sehwag	37	85	55	6	0
R Dravid	33	167	92	5	0
MS Dhoni	23	58	45	3	0
W Jaffer	13	59	49	3	0
A Kumble	7	36	26	1	0
S Sreesanth	6	17	9	0	1

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
S Sreesanth	35	11	99	8	3.18	(6nb, 2w)
A Kumble	22	5	56	5	1.85
Z Khan	32.5	8	111	5	3.33
VRV Singh	21.1	4	75	1	3.12	(8nb, 1w)
SC Ganguly	1	0	11	0	11	(2nb)

Who should you vote for in 2008?

Did an interesting survey of which 08 presidential candidate's views match with mine @ selectsmart.com. The survey has a set of 17 very important questions for american electorate. Most of the questions have 3 choices and each question has the priority you place for that particular issue. I am not sure how accurately it gives the results, but if it does, it MUST be taken by every american before he/she decides to vote for a president in 2008.

Below is the list of the people whose ideas/views match with mine. Dennis Kucinich is THE guy for me. And Barack Obama is third on my list. I can say, I am impressed. All the republicans are way down below.

Percent

Rank

Item

(100%) 1: Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) Information

(97%) 2: Gov. Bill Richardson (D) Information

(97%) 3: Sen. Barack Obama (D) Information

(95%) 4: Sen. Russ Feingold (D) Information

(92%) 5: Sen. John Kerry (D) Information

(84%) 6: Ex-VP Al Gore (D) Information

(83%) 7: Ex-Sen. John Edwards (D) Information

(78%) 8: Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) Information

(78%) 9: Retired Gen. Wesley Clark (D) Information

(78%) 10: Sen. Christopher Dodd (D) Information

(78%) 11: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) Information

(76%) 12: Sen. Joseph Biden (D) Information

(67%) 13: Gov. Mitt Romney (R) Information

(61%) 14: Sen. Evan Bayh (D) Information

(60%) 15: Gov. George Pataki (R) Information

(53%) 16: Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) Information

(50%) 17: Ex-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R) Information

(39%) 18: Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) Information

(38%) 19: Sen. George Allen (R) Information

(35%) 20: Sec. Condoleezza Rice (R) Information

(30%) 21: Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) Information

(29%) 22: Sen. John McCain (R) Information

(27%) 23: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R) Information

(16%) 24: Sen. Sam Brownback (R) Information

The Dollar Auction Continues

An interesting read about the arms sale of usa to the third world countries.

From the Indian Economy Blog, by Atanu Dey:

It should come as no surprise that the US is selling arms to Pakistan.

“2,769 Radio Frequency TOW 2A missiles, 415 RF bunker buster missiles, fly-to-buy missiles in both these categories, 121 TOW launchers for wire-guided and wireless missiles, E-2C HAWKEYE 2000 Airborne Early Warning Systems, simulators and support equipment. Their total worth could be up to $1.04 Billion.”

According Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, “The latest geo-strategic rationale for many US (arms) sales is the so-called war on terror…. US officials claim that the recent sale to Pakistan of F-16 jets with air-to-air missiles will help in the fight against Al Qaeda. In reality, they are for fighting India and they create a market for selling similar US fighters to India.”

Net Worth of People in US Government

The following is a list of the Richest People in the US government (executive, legislative). For more info visit opensecrets

Rank	Name	Minimum Net Worth	Maximum Net Worth
1	Herb Kohl (D-Wis)	$219,098,029	$234,549,004
2	Henry M. Paulson	$190,727,085	$392,934,024
3	Jane Harman (D-Calif)	$168,651,649	$289,045,000
4	John Kerry (D-Mass)	$165,741,511	$235,262,100
5	Darrell Issa (R-Calif)	$135,862,098	$677,230,000
6	Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa)	$78,150,023	$101,579,003
7	Samuel W. Bodman III	$66,698,060	$117,179,012
8	Donald H. Rumsfeld	$62,090,106	$199,687,011

Sad story of A heroic Father's Last days!

I have come across James Kim's family's missing story couple of days ago in a blog. I was following it on and off. I heard the other day in the news that his wife and kids were found in a car. And they were searching for James now. I learned he was looking for help and should be close by. I thought its great news and he should be found pretty soon. But yesterday they found his body. It was truly sad. SFGate has the story.

This is the image of terrain where the Kim's family went through this ordeal.

List of Scandalized Bush administration Officials

From TPMMuckRaker:

A number of readers have sent in tips to help the folks at Powerline, who recently admitted to having trouble remembering administration officials (beyond Scooter Libby) who had been accused of corruption or resigned in the face of scandal.

300+ Products Tested and Rated

WIRED magazine tested and rated 300 products for Fall 2006.

World Aids Day

Today is world aids day. A good news related to AIDS and India.
From John Cole:

The cost of treating children infected with H.I.V. and AIDS is poised to plummet next year, under a deal announced today between two Indian drugmakers and former President Bill Clinton’s foundation.

Cipla and Ranbaxy Laboratories agreed to make 19 different anti-retroviral drugs designed for children available at an average price of 16 cents a day, or $60 a year, which is about 45 percent lower than the lowest current price, the Clinton Foundation said in a statement.

US Senate's N-Bill facilitates spy operations

A snippet from a column written by Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan in rediff: link about the last minute introduction of a section in the Indo-US Nuclear deal bill, which might allow US spying in India!! Something that needs to be discussed in Indian media.

Of the changes that were made, what is most appalling is the inclusion of Section 115, which the Senate approved without any vote-counting or voice vote. After reading out the text of this Section, Senator Lugar just said one sentence, 'I urge adoption of the amendment', and without objection or discussion it was directly 'agreed to.'

This entirely new Section was neither a subject in any of the several open discussions between the US Congressional Committees and the various representatives of the US administration over the last year, nor was it part of any previous versions of the two bills, till it was abruptly introduced and approved quietly by the Senate on November 16

and this (emphasis mine)

The Indo-US nuclear deal is supposed to be for civilian nuclear cooperation in the hope that it will enhance the energy security of the country. Section 115 of the bill deals totally with matters of nuclear proliferation control. In the guise of conducting joint R&D in nuclear non-proliferation, with emphasis on nuclear safeguards, the US attempt appears to be in using the Indo-US nuclear deal as a vehicle to facilitate a formal entry for the US National Nuclear Security Administration into India.

The US' NSA is widely suspected to be involved in a variety of covert nuclear interventions and clandestine operations in many countries around the world, on behalf of the US government, and they work in close cooperation with intelligence agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, the US National Security Agency and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The US State Department, US Defence Department and the Department of Energy are also closely involved with the NSA. Section 115 states that the Secretaries of DoD and DoE will be consulted in carrying out the envisaged R&D program.

India's Richest

Forbes compiled a list of Richest Indians. You can take a look at it here. LINK
I chose the list that's sorted by the age (just for the fun of it). The youngest one is 33 years old. And he earned his money by, no, not by inheritance but a popular online gambling website (http://partygaming.com/)

RIP: Milton Friedman

A quote from Milton Friedman via Amit @ India Uncut. Friedman was a prominent economist. He died today. He was 94 years old.

There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost. Then, I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch! Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get. And that’s government.

Most Popular South Indian

Here are the links for voting your own popular south indian.

andhra pradesh: http://features.ibnlive.com/features/2006/goldensouth/ap/ap.php
tamilnadu: http://features.ibnlive.com/features/2006/goldensouth/tn/tn.php

Huskers defeat Texas A&M

Huskers defeated Texas A&M today by 28-27. It was 21-10 by first half. Texas A&M defense shut down Huskers in the second half until the last drive with ~1 min play time. It was an awesome drive by the Huskers offense. I did not follow the 2nd half 'cos my wife was watchin 'The Color Purple'. When I had the game back on, A&M were leading 27-21. And I was right in time for the last drive. Its a wonderful win and Huskers clinch the Big XII North.

Elections 2006

I haven't written anything about this years US elections. I followed them very closely. I was ecstatic to see Democrats win this many seats and in almost a century got control of both the houses in a single election. I believe that it wouldnt have been possible with out the progressive netroots (mydd, dailykos, atrios and moveon) stepping up the ante and doing a lot of on the ground work. It was good to see Dems gaining the control of the senate in a nail biting finish. It was wonderful to see the Stem Cell research initiative win.

Somehow got interested in US politics like an year ago. I think Michael Moore was my initial window into US politics. I think I would have voted Democratic if I can Vote. In US I think its just the party that makes decisions. There are 435 congressmen and 100 senators. But most of them vote along party lines unless in an election year or if they are running for president. Or may be if you are a republican then your beliefs are pretty much in sync with all the republican initiatives in the congress. Same applies to democrats.

Jyoti Randhawa VS Tiger Woods

From HSBCgolf :

HSBC Champions leader Jyoti Randhawa is looking forward to matching his game up against that of the World No.1 Tiger Woods when the third round gets underway on Saturday.

Randhawa remains on top of the leaderboard after day two.

The 34-year-old remains in control of this year's event after a three-under-par second round 69 saw him climb to 10-under-par and take a one-shot lead into the weekend.

7 New Wonders of the World

Here, go ahead and vote for your 8th wonder. The 7 new wonders are already decided for and will be revealed from nov 9th to 17th on Good Morning America.

The Secret Letter From Iraq

From Time Magazine:
Written last month, this straightforward account of life in Iraq by a Marine officer was initially sent just to a small group of family and friends. A quote:

Biggest Hassle — High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and "battlefield" tours (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no effect on their preconceived notions of what's going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they've been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here.

We DID It!!!

STL Cards = 2006 World Series Champions!!

Can you believe IT??

Cards are up 3-1 in World Series! Are you kidding me?? Eckstein 4 out of 5.
Tigers led till bottom of the 7th. I mean who would have thought?? I predicted 4-2 tigers win, before this world series started. May be I just didnt wanna jinx our winning record ;). Under dogs since the last week of the regular season, this is an UnBelievable drive by the Cards. This is my first baseball season and it is great to see my team is going all the way!!
And the best part is: My wife sat with me till the end!! She enjoyed it as much as I did. One happy family :)

105th out of 168

Thats the world largest Democracy: India's rank in the newly released "Worldwide press freedom Index 2006"

Allocate the Federal Budget!

Ben & Jerry's of all the political websites around has this kewl flash page where you can create your own budget (allocating federal discretionary spending) and once you are done you can compare it with how it is being done now. Its kewl as well as informative and a must visit. Please go and take a dip (pun intended).

DON - B+

The reason I went to this movie was Farhan Akhtar. I am a big fan after his DCH (Who isnt;)). I watched his 2nd movie Lakshya and I liked it too. I havent seen Amitatabh's DON, but was aware of its cult status. I managed to watch 3/4 of that movie's telugu remake: Yugandhar (No, I wasnt named after that movie. The movie was released 2 yrs after I was born)

To put my opinion in a sentence, The movie didnt meet my expectations. May be I had high expectations for Farhan. I felt the same watching its preview during Munna bhai. Its all cool and clean but the punch was missing. I loved hearing to the movie's songs.

Here are the movies negatives:
I felt the movie could be a little shorter in duration, and could use much more comedy.

And Positives:
Sharukh was awesome. I think no body else could do justice to this role other than Amitabh. The screenplay was way above bollywood's standard.

To sum it up: I wouldnt regret watching this one. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch a decent, clean, fun hindi movie.

Rating: B+

Once Upon A Time - By Arthur Silber

i love arthur silber. just read one of his blog entries, i am sure you will be touched.

college basketball championship @ vja

i am thinking of conducting/sponsoring a sports championship in vijayawada between colleges. i dont know how much is presently being done, but i am sure there is a lot of promise in creating more entertaiment fields in india other than movies and cricket.

everytime i see these nfl, nba, mlb, nhl matches, i think of why it cant be done in india. a competition between clubs (i think there are for soccer) for various sports. a competition between colleges ( i think only cricket has ). there is enormous amount of talent, entertainment value and money to just not take up the same in india.

i think we should be able to promote interest by proper marketing. by televising the events, by advertising and with good prize money. and also if there is a proper career oppurtunity in sports. not just in cricket. like a strong structure of professional leagues to goto once they are done with college. i know i am just talking from what i see here in usa.

the sports i can think of that are going to work at college level are basketball, volleyball

STL IN WORLD SERIES

AWESOME MAN!!!! YADIER MOLINA ROCKS!!!! UNBELIEVABLE..WAY TO GO CARDS..WAY TO GOOOOOOO..

TIGERS..HERE WE COME AND WE ARE GOING TO ROCK DETROIT.

Cards in World Series?? May Happen!! They won over mets in the 5th game of the series at STL by 4-2. Herez the preview for which might be the final of this series and a stepping stone for the world series!! Cant wait!! Chris Carpenterz the pitcher. Hope he just blows the Mets away

weekend sports

nebraska won over ks wild cats 21-3 on saturday making their record 6-1 this season.

stl rams lost to seahawks at stl 30-28 today. i saw until half time or so when they were leading 21-7. just checked to see them lose. thats sad :(

Chennai students selected for national awards

St joseph's in the news!!

BBC NEWS | Business | China and India 'top bribe list'

A list we should NOT be proud of topping.

They Want Your Soul - 640x480

It's really hard to describe this video with words. It features assaulting visuals, with facts and combined information that you will find in no other documentary, laid over an music score that you wont soon forget. With the intense audio/visuals and loads of information you may need to watch this several times to absorb the many things you've probably never heard of. The information contained in this video applies to all Americans and humans alike, regards of beleifs or affiliations. This is as unbiased as it gets. Major Talking Points: Political-Bias-Neuroscience, Controlled-Media, Pop-culture / sports, Elite, TV & Radio-induced-ignorance, Death-of-the-Middle-Class, Disaster-Profits, Our-new-hybrid-political-system, Bush / Kerry, Skull & Bones, Hack-Elections, 911-Commission / Prior-Knowledge, Fear-Mongering, Freedom / Terrorism, Shredded-Constitution, War-in-Iraq, PNAC, Military-Net-Centric-Computing, NSA-Wiretaps, Data-mines, DARPA Internet2, TIA/MATRIX, National-ID's, GPS car/phone tracking, Verichip-Implants, Nanotechnology, NBIC, Masonic-DC, Artificial-Intelligence, God-on-Earth, Singularity, Transhumanism, Biological-Brain-Computers, Cyborgs, Beast-of-Revelation, New-Age, Occult, Mayan 2012

The Hindu way to Reform

Satyakama has a snippet from Vivekananda's "Lectures from Columbo to Almora" about the Hindu way of 'Reform'. A must read. Absolutely pertinent to the current world. If only someone can put this lecture in the minds of radical islamists and the American neocons!!

The work against evil is more educational than actual, however big we may talk. This, first of all, is the idea of work against evil; and it ought to make us calmer, it ought to take fanaticism out of our blood. The history of the world teaches us that wherever there have been fanatical reforms, the only result has been that they have defeated their own ends.

From Google book search. Here's the link for the whole book. Page 62 has the above snippet.

http://books.google.com/books?id=T8YLAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage

Top 10 countries by their Muslim population

Rank	Country	Muslim Population	% Muslim
1	Indonesia	213,469,356	88.22%
2	India	174,862,240	16.20%
3	Pakistan	162,487,489	98%
4	Bangladesh	129,681,509	88%
5	Egypt	70,530,237	91%
6	Turkey	68,963,953	99.80%
7	Iran	67,337,681	99%
8	Nigeria	64,385,994	50%
9	China	39,189,414	3%
10	Morocco	32,300,410	98.70%

STALIN: Chiru's Movie in St. Louis

September 20, Wednesday
****STALIN****-Telugu Movie.

Watch MEGA STAR'S MEGA Movie "STALIN" On the Releasing day 20th Wednesday at 8PM & Thursday 21st at 8PM & Friday & Saturday at 8.30PM in St Louis.

Location:
WEHERNBERGH ST CHARLES 18 CINE
1830 FIRST CAPITOl DR. S
ST CHARLES
MO , 63303

Contact:Bajeed/Siva
Phone: 636-219-4898
Email: Stlouismovies@gmail.com
Time: 8 .00 pm - 11 .00 pm

Early U.S. Missteps in the Green Zone

A wonderful, elaborate article by Rajiv Chandrasekaran on Washington Post about how USA (read Bush Republicans) might have screwed up Iraq just by their careless ignorant choices. I couldnt believe there are so many loop holes in this 200 year old government/constitution. I bet, you wouldn't believe it either. Read it yourself!

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; A01

Adapted from "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, copyright Knopf 2006

After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade .

The world in 2050 | FP Passport

From Foreign Policy this:

Residents of Trinidad and Tobago use more energy per person than Americans. Sixty percent of Moroccan women are illiterate. Cuban men have a higher life expectancy than German men. All of these stats come from the "State of the World Population 2006," released by the United Nations Population Fund last week.
The report peers into the future to project that the world's population will rise from 6.54 billion today to 9.07 billion by 2050. This growth will be far from evenly distributed. The population of Africa will more than double, with Uganda being home to 29.9 million today to 126.9 million people in a few decades, while Europe's population will decline by 75 million—equivalent to the combined population of Britain, Norway, and Sweden today. Both Phillip Longman and Niall Ferguson have speculated in FP about the geo-political consequences of all this.

Iraq Coalition Casualties

A great resource on the day-to-day death caused by the so called 'war on terror' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Friday Night Dinner

I wasn't in the mood for a regular dinner yesterday night. Wanted to go out but, wasn't in the mood for a restaurant or a fast food joint, thought may be panera. But wasnt in the mood for bread. So couldnt think of a place to go and eat!! So, thought we will just go get a movie from blockbuster and go to one of eaterie's on the way.
Once we set out, my wife suggested we can try noodles & co. So, we went there to try it out. It is neat little place, in their own words..

Noodles & Company isn't some plastic fast food place...although it is fast. And it's not some intimidating take-hours-to-get-served place either. Like the food, Noodles & Company is the best of all worlds. A restaurant that invites you to sit down and make yourself comfortable. In a space that's simple, yet elegant. At tables and chairs made from wood. And surrounded by colors as natural as the food we serve. It's a design that
says welcome to our home.

Like we said, different.

It was the different I was looking for. The concept was like Panera bread. Just like panera's 1/2 and 1/2 option, here they had something called trio (pronounced tree-0, not try-0: as told by the person at the counter). We both had the trio. I had Indonesian Peanut Saute with Tossed Green side Salad and malli had Buttered noodles with Ceaser Salad. Our total came out to be 13.68. So, not bad for a nice little "different" friday night dinner.

I'd recommend it!! 4 *'s / 4 :)

House Democrats Demand Accuracy in ABC 9/11 Film

This is interesting. Democrats writing a letter to a Media Outlet's CEO to review the upcoming ABC 9/11 film. ABC has caused quite a stir in the blogospere, by releasing its preview copies only to the Right Winger's. We have to wait and see what happens to the telecast and if they do, the aftermath.

read more | digg story

Google + 200 years of news = not that helpful (yet)

An article in Foreign Policy about google news archives. The writer Carolyn O'Hara isn't impressed, but I think it is amazing to see the events unfold. What the news articles were like when Mahatma Gandhi died, When G.W.Bush declared war on Iraq, When Berlin Wall fell..It is really a Gift of History!! I cant praise it enough!!

read more | digg story

IRAQ in Retrospect

• Why did we invade Iraq?
• Do you think Iraq is a mess? Who is responsible for this mess?
• Did we do anything wrong? Something we planned didnt go according to the Plan, Correct? Or is the killing of so many soldiers and civilians planned?
• So, somebody is responsible for this, this many murders. A decision maker or an implementer. Who is that and what punishment did they suffer?
• Was it better now or before we invaded. Considering the small number of (>100,000) Iraqi deaths.
• Do we know how many civilians did Saddam Kill? And do we know how many civilians he would have tortured or murdered in his life time?

Report:U.S. Secretly Negotiated with Gaza Kidnappers (to release FOX journ)

The U.S. secretly agreed to the "real demands" set by the group behind the August 14 kidnapping of two Fox News journalists in Gaza, according to a report in the pan-Arab newspaper al Hayat.

read more | digg story

Pluto loses its status as planet

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Pluto, beloved by some as a cosmic underdog but scorned by astronomers who considered it too dinky and distant, was unceremoniously stripped of its status as a planet Thursday

How terrorized should you be of a Terrorist Attack?

Not much, according to Ronald Bailey over at Reason Online.

Even if terrorists were able to pull off one attack per year on the scale of the 9/11 atrocity, that would mean your one-year risk would be one in 100,000 and your lifetime risk would be about one in 1300. (300,000,000 ÷ 3,000 = 100,000 ÷ 78 years = 1282) In other words, your risk of dying in a plausible terrorist attack is much lower than your risk of dying in a car accident, by walking across the street, by drowning, in a fire, by falling, or by being murdered

Is Burma the next Afghanistan?

Graham Lees over at World Politics Watch thinks so. He's been tracking the high-stakes poker game that the country's ruling military junta has been playing with its 10 trillion cubic foot natural gas reserve (probably the largest in Southeast Asia).

read more | digg story

Three branches of the Government of USA

"More Americans can name the three stooges than the three branches of government. Well, that's because the three stooges are more likely to get something done." --David Letterman

Just so you know, Here are the three branches of American Government:

The executive, legislative, and judicial

From the WIKI: Federal government of the USA

The federal government has three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial. Through a system of separation of powers, each of these branches has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches, and has some of its authority, in turn, regulated by one or both of the other branches.

Cause of Death

For long I wanted to know/find what the top causes for Death are. I found this site (link)with little research, thanks to Wiki. As it is obvious that it varies from country to country and more specifically from developed countries to developing countries.

My Political Inclination!!

You are a Social Liberal (73% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (33% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

'Quake money' sent to Pak used to finance UK plane bombing plot

Money sent to Pakistan for quake rehabilitation was used to fund the Heathrow bomb attack plot that was foiled by British authorities following inputs from their Pakistani counterparts. It has been reported that even Western aid agencies provided funds and assistance to jihadi groups. (http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/?p=2056)

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An interesting blog of a conservative Mom. [link]

George Bush: Where I Stand
A good read of what a conservative thinks of what the reason's behind bush's failures as a leader. I dont agree with his reasoning though.

Birth rates of various countries:

Rank Country Birth rate Date of Information (births/1,000 population) 1 Niger 50.73 2006 est. 2 Mali 49.82 2006 est. 93 India 22.01 2006 est. 155 United States 14.14 2006 est. 164 China 13.25 2006 est. 225 Germany 8.25 2006 est. 226 Hong Kong 7.29 2006 est.

STL Sports Update

Rams won over Colts in their pre-season game [link]

Cards gain series split with Reds [link]

July 2006 was second hottest on record

  

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

(Lifted from a post on the web :)

BOY 1 loves GIRL 1.
BOY 2 loves GIRL 2.

PARENTS MAKE THE DECISION.

BOY 1 MARRIES GIRL 2.
BOY 2 MARRIES GIRL 1.

BOY 1 - GIRL 2 ? UNHAPPY
BOY 2 - GIRL 1 ? UNHAPPY

BOY 1 still loves GIRL 1
BOY 2 still loves GIRL 2

PARENTS COME TO KNOW AGAIN. DECISION MADE.

BOY 1 MARRIES GIRL 1.
BOY 2 MARRIES GIRL 2.


HAPPY ENDING!!!


NAME OF THE STORY: KABHI ALVIDA NA KEHNA.

BOY 1: SHAHRUKH KHAN
BOY 2: ABHISHEK BACCHAN


GIRL 1: PRIETY ZINTA
GIRL 2: RANI MUKHERJEE

911 Cover Up

Loose Change 2nd Edition - Korey Rowe / Dylan Avery / Jason Bermas

Hezbollah Freed Our Country

Interesting interview of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud amidst the Israel-Lebanon conflict. Puts his views in perspective of whats going on. I am enlightened by how Lebanese government is reacting to the destruction of Lebenon.

read more | digg story

july 4th @ stl arch

  

Israel - Palestine Conflict Views

This post is in response to Palrav's Comment for my ' US weapons, know-how fuel Israel's military' post. Which is also pasted below, after the Wikipedia link.

US is going to support Israel "No Matter What". The part about sustaining so well is also..Thanks to US support in the form of weapons/intelligence @ the rate of 2 Bill US $ per yer. Using an unbiased view, Israel held 3 lebanese and Hezbollah kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers to swap. Everything is NOT Fair in war and love. During a war you cannot say "raping a 14 year old girl and killing her remaining family members who are in no way related to the war" is fair.

It is not easy to solve the centuries old Mid-East conflict. But, I am sure it is not going to be resolved by destroying a country or two.
I agree that India needs to be aggressive. I thought that the idea of Prem Panicker to totally Mine the border where there is infiltration was wonderful. I am not sure if its feasible though. But, not like Israel. I dont think you would imagine Pakistan being so weak as Lebanon or any other middle eastern countries. Pakistan matches India in its military power.

-----------------
The 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict is a series of ongoing military actions and clashes in northern Israel and Lebanon between Hezbollah's armed wing and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). On 12 July 2006 Hezbollah initiated Operation Truthful Promise,[14] named for a “promise” by its leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, to capture Israeli soldiers and swap them for the remaining three Lebanese held by Israel, mainly Samir Kuntar.[15][16]Israel then responded with Operation Just Reward,[17] later renamed Operation Change of Direction.[18]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Israel-Lebanon_conflict


===========Palrav's Comment==============

I totally disagree with the point about Lebanese government not to be blamed... Hezbollah has total control over the lebanese government. It is like Pakistan saying that they do not have any relation to terrorist camps. Before Al Qaeda came into existence the award for most Americans murders by a single terrorist organization goes to Hezbollah. No wonder, US supported Israel. Not that CIA is any good.... If you look at it at an unbiased view Israel did not start it. By kidnapping two of their soldiers they provoked it .. Well as far as deaths are concerned .. Everything is fair in war and love ... The moment they started supporting Hezbollah, they got themselves into a quagmire. Being a small country surrounded by people who hate you and want to kill you, and still sustain so well, it is no small feat ... maybe India should learn more from them and be aggresive ... With Dawood Ibrahim only a few hundred kilometers from New Delhi, we still sit there like bunch of eunuchs... my perspective on it ;-) ..

List of countries by agricultural output

US weapons, know-how fuel Israel's military

From 1971 through 2005, U.S. aid to Israel has averaged more than $2 billion a year, two-thirds of which has been military assistance, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service. Man, Isnt that crazy???

read more | digg story

Storms cut power, snap trees, topple trucks across region

A major storm went through Saint Louis area last night (July 19th). Approx 500,000 customers are without power in MO. I survived it. It was pretty scary.

read more | digg story

Why we (Indians) should be ashamed

Wonderful article by Ram Madhav on the response of Indian Government to the 7/11 mumbai bombings!! Must read if you are an Indian.

read more | digg story

Bush - Blair @ G-8 Summit in Russia

BUSH:-- What about Kofi Annan?

BUSH:-- I don’t like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically ceasefire and everything else happens

BLAIR:-- I think the thing that is really difficult is you cant stop this unless you get this international presence agreed

BLAIR:-- ….U need that done pretty quickly

BUSH:-- She's going. I think Condi's going to go pretty soon.

BLAIR:-- Right. Well, that’s all that matters. If you see, it will take some time to get out of there. But at least it gives people..

BUSH:-- It’s a process I agree. I told her your offer too.

BLAIR:-- well its only.. Or if shez gonna or if she needs the ground prepared as it were..obviously if she goes out shez got to succeed as it were, where as I can just go out and talk.

BUSH:-- see the irony is what they need to do is get syria to get hezbollah to stop doing this shit and its over

BLAIR:-- cause I think this is all part of the same thing..what does he think? He thinks if lebanon turns out fine, if he gets a solution in israel and palestine, iraq goes in the right way, he's done it. That’s what this whole things about. It’s the same with Iran.

BUSH:-- I feel like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen. We're not blaming the israel..and we're not blaming the lebanese government

Family Pic

A pic taken when my parents were here, in front of our very own new Busch Stadium.

  

War

If killing one being is the answer for killing another, where will this end?. The killing of millions? would that stop killing the remaining?

You cannot point fingers at who started it. No one knows who started it. But it was started. Each side will have a point to say the other side started it. This is the case with any of the long standing fights between countries. israel-palestine, india-pakistan, .Please enlighten me to any of the war's that had improved the living conditions of the people where the war has been fought?.

I dont have a solution. But I am sure there are millions of people who agree, killing each other will not solve anything.

Interesting Links

Politics: I always wanted to see the relation between whoz lobbying who and how the senators/congressmen working for their donors. I found this amazingly wonderful link via digg

And this link for the Library of Congress will help you find the Bills and Resolutions introduced by the respective congressmen/senator.

Baseball date watch

MLB: Important Dates

October 1, 2006
Last Day of Regular Season

October 3, 2006
Division Series begins

October 10, 2006
League Championship Series begins

October 21, 2006
World Series begins

An Update from Michael Moore (and an invitation to his film festival)

Here's an email from the great Michael Moore!! (By subscription at his site http://michaelmoore.com)

Friends,

Just a quick note to let you know how things are going.

Back in February, I asked if people would send me letters describing their experiences with our health care system. I received over 19,000 of them. It was truly overwhelming as we literally took a month and read them all. To read about the misery people are put through on a daily basis by our profit-based system was both moving and revolting. That's all I will say right now.

We've spent the better part of this year shooting our next movie, "Sicko." As we've done with our other films, we don't discuss them while we are making them. If people ask, we tell them "Sicko" is "a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on earth."

But like my other movies, what we start with (General Motors, guns, 9/11) is not always what we end with. Along the way, we discover new roads to go down, roads that often surprise us and lead us to new ideas -- and challenge us to reconsider the ones we began with. That, I can say with certainty, is happening now as we shoot "Sicko." I don't think the country needs a movie that tells you that HMOs and the pharmaceutical companies suck. Everybody knows that. I'd like to show you some things you don't know. So stay tuned for where this movie has led me. I think you might enjoy it.

At this point, we've shot about 75% of "Sicko" and will soon begin putting it together. It will be released in theaters sometime in 2007.

And if you don't hear much from me in the meantime, it's only 'cause I'm busy working. I realize that my silence doesn't stop the opposition with their weird obsession for me! It seems like not a week passes without my good name being worked into some nutty news story or commentary. (I have to say, though, I did enjoy Tom Delay blaming me and Ms. Streisand for why he had to resign from Congress!)

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer. If you're near the state of Michigan later this month, I'll be putting on the second annual Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan. I've personally selected 60 or so movies that I love, many of which did not get the notice or distribution they deserved. Others are brand new independent movies and documentaries that I hope will find a large audience when they are released.

The film festival will take place in this beautiful town in northern Michigan, from July 31st to August 6th. Appearing in person with their films will be David O. Russell ("Three Kings"), Lawrence Bender ("An Inconvenient Truth"), Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda"), Larry Charles ("Borat"), plus Jeff Garlin, Jake Kasdan, and other filmmakers. We're also going to show every feature film made by the greatest American director of all time, Stanley Kubrick. Joining us in person will be his executive producer, Jan Harlan, and actors Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork Orange") and Matthew Modine ("Full Metal Jacket"). We'll also be presenting a special salute to films made in Iran (a sort of "Let's get to know them first this time!" effort).

If you'd like to see the entire list of films, click here. Tickets go on sale today (July 7) at noon. To purchase your tickets (all seats $7), click here or call 231-929-1506. Last year we had 50,000 admissions, and we expect most films to sell out early this year.

Well, that's it for now. Bush has quietly closed down the special section of the CIA that was devoted solely to capturing Mr. bin Laden, so we can all rest easy now. I wonder who his next scary evildoer will be. A fearful nation awaits its marching orders, sir!

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com

P.S. Don't forget to visit my website which I update every day with all the news the Bush stenographers (a/k/a "Mainstream Media") fail to put on page one.

Traffic Review

watched traffic atlast last night. wanted to watch it for a long time. the movie did not disappoint me. i loved it. after seeing this i see that crash is very close to the way it was taken(screenplay). close to real life in front of your eyes. you cant expect/predict whats going to happen next.

there are a lot of characters which are introduced one by one in a round-robin sort of way. after the second round..slowly the stories slowly blend with each other. steven soderbergh is a smart man. i loved erin brockowich too. i used to think ..why ban drugs? (maybe after reading gore vidal) it involves so much black market, crime, corruption etc. after watchin the movie i am not quite sure. the people addicted to it can die pretty easy. if it is available freely..i think it might increase the chances of students using it. so, for now..i think the best way is to work at both ends of this problem. demand and supply.

overall a wonderful story to be put into cinema and excellend screenplay and acting. kudos!

cricket, advice, politics

advice: try to shop for car insurance every 6 months. you might be saving money.

cricket: india has real chance of winning this final test..right now wi are at 143/6 (4:06pm)needing 126 more to win

politics: an idea for ads for candidates competing against republicans. find out what they said in support of the war before we went in and use'em. it will really be wonderful.

cricket: we won atlast. its great. i was feeling sad for the brazils loss. so this win is a breather. and it is an achievement of sorts for our test team.

interesting links

dont want your car/laptop stolen? get lojack

movie ratings that actually work? check this out

Summer hot spots of the rich and the famous

is it Fake or Foto?

sachin in the world cups!!

Who has scored the most runs in all World Cup matches so far?

Five men have so far scored more than 1000 runs solely in World Cup matches. Mark Waugh made 1004 runs, Viv Richards 1013, Aravinda de Silva 1064, and Javed Miandad - the only man to play in six different tournaments - 1083. But way clear at the top of the list is Sachin Tendulkar, who has so far scored 1732 runs in the World Cup, at the healthy average of 59.72, with four centuries. Ricky Ponting, who currently has 998 runs, and Brian Lara (956) are likely to sail past four figures during next year's World Cup.

India in 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino

We have 4 indians competing in this Olympics.
Luger Shiva Keshavan urges winter push here.

this is a pic I picked up from amit's blog India Uncut.
these people write columns for cricinfo.com.