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?