Congratulations!!!

Yazad (the booth-capturer) of AnarCapLib wins the best entry for March’s Blog Mela! The gift certificate is on the way!

Beating murder rap!

So, that’s how you beat a murder rap! Kill anyone you want and then call the police and say “God made you do it!” Pretty simple really, isn’t it! Of course, otherwise you could go the Andrea Yates way and say it was depression, God and Satan together that made you kill your kids - whatever it takes to avoid the death sentence you have brought upon others…

Beyond ridiculous!

CNN.com - Oregon county bans all marriage - Mar 23, 2004

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) — In a new twist in the battle over same-sex marriage roiling the United States, a county in Oregon has banned all marriages — gay and heterosexual — until the state decides who can and who cannot wed. The last marriage licenses were handed out in Benton County at 4 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. EST) Tuesday. As of Wednesday, officials in the county of 79,000 people will begin telling couples applying for licenses to go elsewhere until the gay marriage debate is settled.

(via webguru)

White men can't jump(?)

Crap like this incident mentioned by Donald Sensing really gets my goat. Now, I don’t follow college basketball, but I am fanatic enough about the NBA to say that the Boston Globe sports writer Rob Ryan is full of shit! Hasn’t the man ever heard of Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, Yao Ming, Steve Nash or other white stars playing superb basketball day-in and day-out and shooting the lights out of the stadium? Maybe Ryan thinks they are all overrated because of their skin color or maybe he prefers the slam-dunking, no-fundamentals game like the one that was played at Got Milk Rookie Challenge this All-Star season. Fact is, it is as irritating to have people write off players for being white/brown/green as it is when people do it to black players. Why won’t these people get that?

For that matter, it is very obvious to a regualr viewer of NBA that the league itself takes a similar view of the situation, though in a slightly different way - rewarding flash over substance. Why is it that accused-rapists like Kobe, crybabies like Allen Iverson and never-done-much-except-dunk-in-my-life Vince Carter are marketed as superstars, while genuinely good players and role models like Tim Duncan, David Robinson, etc. are simply ignored…Frustrating, really!

Update: Just found out from Sensing’s comments section that Ryan is the idiot who made awful comments about slapping Jason Kidd’s wife, with full knowledge of the fact that the woman was once physically abused by Jason Kidd. Hope the bastard rots in hell!

Tax season...

People are actually getting refunds? - My husband and I ended up owing the IRS about $1500! Boo Hoo!

Confessions of a (once) dangerous mind

Sobaka: Stomach Full of Stones is the story of a Muslim man who almost got sucked into the path of Jihad in his native land of Dagestan, but realized before it was too late how wrong it was. A great read providing an insight into the minds of the converted.

(via Dean’s World)

More on outsourcing

Coming after the outsourcing-dominated Blog Mela for this month, here is another interesting post from Suruj Dutta detailing issues not being addressed in the blame-counter blame atmosphere. He lists a good number of ways to make the outsourcing work for India by offering long-term benefits and improving India’s fledgeling research arena.

March Mela Madness!

Well, better late than never as they say - so here comes the Mela late by about half-a-day owing to my being out of the house most of the morning, which again is owing to my getting ready to join the workforce again starting the coming Monday. Yay! Anyways, let us “spring” into this month’s Mela without further ado….there have been a lot of nominations this month for you discerning readers to read upon and vote on for this month’s best entry.

First entry of the Mela is Ravikiran’s post on AnarCapLib that ties Rudyard Kipling’s poetry with Ravi’s thoughts on feminism…I know, bizarre but true.

He also has a second entry for the Mela - this time his post tries to make a case for legalizing corruption in India as a way of battling it.

Ravages posts this nostalgic piece about Madras (or Chennai for desi-purists) and the city’s interesting and ancient history.

Prashant Kothari takes on outsourcing and comments on a Wired article dealing with the issue from different points of view - very much in contrast to the usual way outsourcing is talked about.

The Kolkata Libertarian has a scathing take on some keepers of the Hindutva flame, who find Tina Turner’s playing Kali in a Merchant Ivory film an affront to their heritage.

Chiaroscuro’s entry is a series of photographs logged since Feb 19th to March 14th - they truly are a thing of beauty - very different and interesting.

Om Malik also has two posts for the Mela that I would like to combine into a single entry, since both the posts deal with different perspectives on the same issue -
he wonders in his first post if outsourcing is just a headline or if there is more to it. The second post of course, takes the issue farther and he examines the upside of outsourcing with Apple’s IPod as an example.

Another last minute nomination from the Mela-hoggers at AnarCapLib - this time written by Yazad - is this entry about the feminist advocacy play “Vagina Monologues” - it was my fault not putting this up earlier since I couldn’t access my email.

That’s all folks! Read up and get ready to start voting once I put the poll up tomorrow!

Looong overdue!

US may include Pak in ‘axis of evil’ club - Sify.com

Islamabad: Pakistan is very close to becoming a member of the US’ “axis of evil” club because of its involvement in encouraging cross-border terrorism in India and being “the headquarters of a global mail-order business in nuclear-bomb technology”, the Daily Times quoted an article in The Economist as saying.

I think Pakistan should be the CEO of the “Axis of Evil”, with Saudi Arabia added in too for good measure as the CFO - now that will make the membership pretty complete…for now!

Men strike back!

Padamsee pen(i)s Dialogues - The Times of India

Eve Ensler, the author of the much talked about Vagina Monologue , has declared Mumbai to be a ‘vagina city’, and now Alyque Padamsee wants people to hear the other side. “I loved Vagina Monologues but, I thought it was too one sided, with disparaging comments about the male organ and men. Men just didn’get to say anything in that play,” says Padamsee. As a ‘homage’ to the cult play, the advertising and theatre guru is busy with directing Penis Dialogues . Laced with humour, the play talks about the organ as an instrument of procreation, recreating and urination. “One vignette has four men in a urinal and one of them can’t pee. He has the shy bladder syndrome or paruresis,” informs Nitin Batra, one of the three playwrights of Penis Dialogues. Anish Trivedi and Pawan Kumar are the other two writers and the ensemble includes Gary Richardson, Bhairavi Goswami, Gaurav Sharma and Madhuri Bhatia.

This post and my comments in response illustrate my beef with “Vagina Monologues” - not only is the play disparaging towards men and discards them as nothing important in a fulfilling relationship, but ultimately it does reduce a woman’s self to identifying with her vagina - like I am not my brain or my heart, but my vagina, yeah riiight!

Chew on this!

Woman charged with murder after allegedly ignoring warnings to have Caesarean

SALT LAKE CITY, March 11 - A pregnant woman who allegedly ignored medical warnings to have a Caesarean section to save her twins was charged Thursday with murder after one of the babies was stillborn. Prosecutors said Melissa Ann Rowland, 28, didn’t want the scars that accompany the surgery.

I need a little more time to compose my thoughts on this - in the meantime, let me know what you think…

Update: K in the comments below has provided this link to a discussion on Fark.com about this news. The thread does bring up some interesting points. One thing that is disturbing is the absolute refusal of some people to call the baby a baby - they like referring to it as a “fetus” instead. I am sorry, but at 29 weeks I know my baby can hear me and recongnize my voice - he can survive outside of my womb in an ICU and he has pretty advanced brain activity that allows him to respond to different stimuli like light and touch. This is not a clump of cells as it is in the first trimester, but a living human being. I really don’t understand why some people find the need to dehumanize that child’s existence just so they can say “her body, her choice” about the baby’s life.

Oh, and then there are the idiots who think the woman should be left alone just because it would set a “dangerous precedent” - you know what? FUCK precedent! If someone is so ideologically bound to a cause that they cannot look at an individual case and atleast say what the woman did was atleast morally wrong, then they have issues. I think it is completely wrong for someone to think of every case in terms of how it effects their pet causes - it might be practical, but it is not human.

Another update: Here is another link with more information on the case from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Apparently the woman is married and has 5 other kids - Good Lord! That does put a pretty interesting spin on the whole thing - where the fuck was the husband during the whole brouhaha? (as an aside, I asked my husband what he would do if I acted like that woman with my baby - he said he’d kill me! He already likes the baby more than me, I tell you!)

OK, the SLT link says she is either divorced/estranged from her husband, so I guess my above point is pretty moot.

Still another update: Now she says she did not refuse a C-section…Huh?

Desi humor

Via JK comes the link to this brand-new desi humor blog - The Banian! Check it out - we have our own Scrappleface among Desis now :)

As long as we are posting links, here is something to inspire Yazad, MadMan and Kingsley ;) Maybe you guys can co-found the Indian chapter of the organization…

Haiti - coup or civil war

Niraj has an informative post on Haiti’s current situation - niraj: WHEN IS COUP NOT A COUP? - well worth a read!

Tests, tests and more tests

Ever wonder why pregnant women have almost 4lb more blood than regular people? It is so that they can have some blood left for themselves after all the tests that they have to go through, each and everyone of which needs about a vial of blood. I have had to give up about 5 vials of blood during the first trimester so people could make sure I am disease-free - another vial went today towards checking for gestational diabetes and my doctor assures me there is just one more test to go through before the grand finale of popping my baby out of myself.

That is another part that is kinda worrying me now, since my doctor was surprised at how big he got when she was measuring my stomach this Monday. It is kinda funny, since I put on only 2lb in the four weeks since my last visit to the doctor inspite of the large icecream sundaes and volcano cakes and pretty much every dessert available that I have been gorging on for the past few weeks. Isn’t this fun! I get to eat for two and my baby works out enough for the two of us (trust me - he is really into aerobics these days - I can feel him).

Had a face-to-face interview for an XML/XSL programming position that could be a 12-month contract yesterday. The interview went great and I might learn something or the other today, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. If it works out, it will be almost the same amount I was making in my previous job and a lot less stressful, so it will be a good thing.

Hidalgo - review (some spoilers)

Watched it Saturday night. First impressions - a really fun and entertaining movie, if you check your leave your brains at home. It isn’t that the entire movie is incredible, but certain feats of the man (Viggo Mortensen playing Frank T. Hopkins) and beast (the horse playing Hidalgo) do defy common sense. We are supposed to think that Hidalgo is way past his prime and cannot compete in another torturous race, but he shows not many signs of exhaustion even while pulling through twice as many hurdles as the other horses in the race.

Of course, all that matters to only those people who are expecting Seabiscuit, based on the advertisements that the movie is the true story of Frank T. Hopkins a “legendary” endurance rider of the wild west, who might or might not have been one.

Aside from questions of authenticity, if you are looking for more of an “Adventures of Indiana Jones and Seabiscuit” type of movie, you will not be disappointed. There are plenty of funny moments in the movie as well as acts of cheeky heroism and courage ala Indiana Jones and Viggo is pretty convincing as a swaggering cowboy. His horse though, manages to steal the scenes in a lot of places with his soulful expressions and evokes many laughs. Omar Shareif is pretty good in the role of the Sheikh who organizes the “Ocean of Fire” race across the desert and Zuleikha Robinson and pretty (she reminded me of Michelle Rodriguez) as his feisty daughter.

There are plenty of viollains conspiring against our hero and his horse, including a wily English Lady, the other Arab competetors, nature and a swaarm of locusts. The movie’s ultimate message seems to be that blood-purity cannot compare to sheer human will as the mixed-blood Frank (half Native-American and half-white) and Hidalgo (a mustang) prove by the winning the race against all odds. All in all, a fun movie that is pretty kid-friendly and with visuals that are worth a watch on the big screen.

A little scare

Well, had a tiny, little scare because of which I spent a couple of hours in the hospital - everything is fine now. Will be back with a review of “Hidalgo” tomorrow.

March's Mela nominations

You know the drill now. Send in posts by or about Indians and made within the date range Feb 15th - Mar 14th. All submissions should be in by Mar 14th and the Mela will be up on the 15th of March. Winner of best entry gets a $10 Amazon gift certificate!

Oscar night observations

- Billy Crystal’s comedy was pretty funny and unlame for the most part - was I the only one roaring away with laughter when Michael Moore was on the screen telling the Hobbits it was a fictitous war before being trampled by an “oliphaunt” in Crystal’s opening sequence?

- What was up with the virginal white dresses most actresses were wearing yesterday - it was Renee, Diane Lane and a lot more usually nicely dressed actresses wearing blah white.

- Charlize Theron looked like she fell asleep in her tanning bed - couldn’t she have atleast darkened her eyebrows a bit so they could show up on that overtanned face?

- LOTR pretty much swept all the oscar categories it was nominated in. Big Surprise!

- This was one of my favorite jokes from Crystal’s little skits - “Favorite Movies” - “Martha Stewart liked ‘Runaway Jury’
“Hilary Clinton loved ‘Kill Bill’
“Rush Limbaugh, ‘21 Grams’
“Donald Rumsfeld, ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Minds’
“Howard Dean, ‘Anger Management’
“[Pointing to a photo of Saddam Hussein] He just loved ‘Holes’.”