Real wording on the information booklet that somes with birth-control pills -
“Oral contraceptives must be discontinued three months before getting pregnant. Use alternative forms of contraception in those three months”.
No comment!
so the Indian Government caves in to the initial demands of the terrorists and decides to keep citizens out of Iraq - so what do the terrorists reward the government with? More demands, of course!
Hostage crisis: A new demand nowBlack Flags, the Iraqi group which set a deadline of 2030 IST on Friday for killing the first of the seven truck drivers — three of them Indians — they are holding hostage, have offered to put off the threat for a day. According to sources in New Delhi, Black Flags said on Friday afternoon that it wanted to the Indian embassy in Baghdad to post a clear message on local Arabic television channels that no Indian national would work for Kuwaiti firms that assist American and Coalition forces in Iraq.Y’know, maybe they saw the video of Yashwant Sinha personally escorting Masood Azhar to get the hijacked passengers released in Khandahar and want something similar. Knowing the “tough spines” Indian politicos possess they might even agree to kneel in front of the terrorists and wash their feet to get their hostages released.
Why cannot they stand tough for once and not reward terrorist actions, for Heavens’ sake!
It is the weekend almost and if everything goes as planned, here are the movies atleast one of which I plan to watch…
—Spidey 2
— The Village
Anyone watched these? Any reviews ?(only spoiler-free ones, please!)
Staying up in the night nursing my baby got me the opportunity to reread another one of my favorite books - “Contact” by Carl Sagan. What struck me as interesting this time around was how wrong Carl Sagan’s predictions were about the millennium as set in the novel. Here are a few examples -
— Russia is still a superpower rivaling America and still behind the “Iron Curtain”.
— Widespread use of “holographic” images
— No internet - scientists still use telegrams to tell each other of their urgent discoveries - no email
— Marijuana is grown legally and exported to France where flavored marijuana is sold on streets legally
— No mention of Islamic terrorism being a major threat
These are all I can recall off the top of my head - anyone remember anything else from other sci-fi predictions?
As someone who spent the first 35 weeks of pregnancy terrified that the baby might be premature (he did arrive 2 weeks early), I think the news below will definitely ease a lot of burden from other pregnant women. The earlier this is caught, the better the results.
Protein discovery could help prevent premature birthScientists have taken a big step toward developing an earlier, safer and simple test that could help prevent perhaps 175,000 premature births in the United States each year. Researchers say they have identified certain proteins in the blood that can indicate whether a pregnant woman has a uterine infection that can lead to premature birth. They hope the discovery will lead to development of a diagnostic blood test that would allow doctors to treat infected women with antibiotics earlier, in time to prevent premature delivery.
Sandeep has a post praising actor Ompuri - Bravo Om Puri - for not backing down due to calls by certain morons like Mahesh Bhatt asking him to refuse the award of OBE (Order of British Empire) from thje Queen of England. Apparently Bhatt feels it is improper for Ompuri to accept the award because he doesn’t like the British Government’s war on Iraq.
Now, it is very interesting to note that the self-same Mahesh Bhatt had no problems with Dilip Kumar’s acceptance of the ‘Nishan-e-Pakistan’ award from Pakistan -Meanwhile, film-makers Mahesh Bhatt and Anand Patwardhan, actor Jayant Kriplani, journalist Nikhil Wagle and many others have come out in defence of Dilip Kumar.Apparently Bhatt protests award acceptances only when the country in question is killing non-Indians…nice going, doncha think?
The report does not clarify whether the hijackers’ goal for Flight 93 was the White House or the Capitol, but indicates that the hijackers tuned a cockpit radio to the frequency of a navigation beacon at National Airport, just across the Potomac River from the capital, erasing any doubt about the region of their intended destination.At three seconds after 10 a.m., Mr. Jarrah is heard on the cockpit voice recorder saying: “Is that it? Shall we finish it off?”
But another hijacker responds: “No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off.”
The voice recorder captured sounds of continued fighting, and Mr. Jarrah pitched the plane up and then down. A passenger is heard to say, “In the cockpit. If we don’t we’ll die!”
Then a passenger yelled “Roll it!” Some aviation experts have speculated that this was a reference to a food cart, being used as a battering ram.
Mr. Jarrah “stopped the violent maneuvers” at 10:01:00, according to the report, and said, “Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!”
“He then asked another hijacker in the cockpit, `Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?’ to which the other replied, `Yes, put it in it, and pull it down.’ “
Eighty seconds later, a hijacker is heard to say, “Pull it down! Pull it down!”
“The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them,” according to the report, which seems to indicate that the hijackers themselves crashed the plane. “With the sounds of the passenger counterattack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about 20 minutes’ flying time from Washington, D.C,” according to the report.
3 years later, this story still gave me goosebumps while I was reading it. I hope I will be brave enough if I were ever in a similar situation. Read the whole article - it is worth even registering at the NYT for.
Ok, here it goes - Linda Ronstadt, Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, et al? Your First Amendment rights only guarantee that the Government cannot persecute or prosecute you for your views. The amendment does not guarantee continued employment or freedom from criticism for the views expressed. You have the freedom to shoot your mouths off and your employers have the freedom to fire you. It is not censorship!
Get it?
Is religion necessary for there to be a good moral foundation? I was switching around radio channels this afternoon when I heard Bill O’Reilly pontificating abouot how secularism is killing moral values in people. Personally, I think morality is not linked to religion and you don’t need to have the fear of a disciplinarian/rewarder God in your life to know right from wrong.
Isn’t it better for you to be a good person because you think it is imperative for yourself to be good rather than because you want to get into heaven or because you don’t want to upset God?
My boy got his first four shots today at the doctor. Poor thing cried his head off, so they gave him Tylenol. I wonder when they are going to come up with something for moms who feel like their hearts hurt way worse than the little ones’ bodies…
I have nothing but hate towards the woman Amy Richards described in this NYT story found via Michele - A Small Victory - Expendable Children. For those who will not click the link, this woman was carrying triplets and chose to murder selectively reduce two of the children so that she could continue with her downtown lifestyle and not be a suburban soccer mom. I cannot believe a human being, let alone a pregnant woman can manage the amount of callousness required to do what she did for the reasons cited by her.
I can understand aborting children who are a result of rape/incest or are deformed or otherwise suffering from serious diseases - I can understand someone getting an abortion because the mother’s life was in danger or because the person simply couldn’t afford to bring up a child due to her financial or social situation, but to willingly abort two healthy babies just so she can carry on with her “hip” lifestyle…I hope the woman rots in hell!
…actually, I should say I met an army “kid” today, he seemed so young. I was out for lunch with my co-workers when I stopped to admire a cute little baby (turned out he was 2 weeks old) in a baby carrier and the army man was his dad, on his way to Iraq (Sadr City). He got some off-time to see his son’s birth and now he is going away again. This was the first time I met in person someone personally going to be involved with war and I left the scene with a feeling of deep sadness in my heart.
I had a baby 8 weeks ago as you all know and I am very sensitive to family issues right now. This is probably why the tableau of the young man in his full uniform wistfully and lovingly looking at his sleeping baby for one last time made such a big impact on me. This young man knows he is going to be in one of the toughest places in Iraq - he still tried to reassure me that things are getting much better now, while all I could mange was to stammer “Good Luck!” and “Cute Kid!” to him.
I did mention to him I was volunteering for “Operation Give” and that I think Chief Wiggles is a cool guy and this man seemed happy, because he seemed pretty unsure of three Indian girls accosting him in the restaurant. He didn’t know what to make of us or our affiliations. I am not a religious person but if there is a God out there, I hope this father and son duo will get reunited - it would break my heart to imagine anything going wrong this man who is leaving behind his tiny, little son.
This post is probably going to be the most incoherent sounding one that I have ever made, but I am very emotional right now. I feel pain as if someone I love is going off to war and facing an uncertain future. The soldier was also with his mom (I think) and it was she who told us he was on his way to Iraq - she sounded proud of him, while at the same time choked up. She sounded like she wanted the whole world to know her son is willing to lay his life down to make someone else’s better. I am not sure I would be that unselfish in the face of a war if I were in her position. I am sad it had to come to this that her son is out fighting a war believing that it is going to keep me and my son safe, but I am glad there are people like him who are willing to do so - without them, where would be this freedom and this prosperity that I so dearly cherish?
p.s. Of us three girls who met him, I was pro-war and the other two anti-war - this young man still made an impression on each of us and we all felt sad at the prospect of his leaving his son behind to go to war in a far-off place. We all empathized with his plight and wished him the best. These are anti-war people I can talk to and discuss things with - they see things different from me, but ultimately we all value human life and we wouldn’t wish death on anyone. (I am referring here to some “peace” activists who gloat at every war casualty).
Oh my God! This is awful…just awful!
At Least 75 Children Die in Fire at School in IndiaMUMBAI, India, July 16th - More than 75 young school children were killed when a rampaging fire engulfed a private school in southern India this morning, Indian media reported. The children attending the school in the state of Tamil Nadu were reported to be from 6 to 13 years old.
Check out this post on Dean’s blog to see how Operation Give, the organization started by Chief Wiggles to supply toys, school supplies and other gifts to Iraqis was robbed of $30,000 by an Atlanta company - Dean’s World - Okay, Maybe I Wasn’t Emphatic Enough. Any suggestions on how we can deal with the situation and any help you guys might give us is very welcome. This is outrageous that someone would try to cheat a charity out of it’s money!
Here is the chief’s version of what happened! Any of our readers live in or know someone from Atlanta?
Update: Looks like the issue has now been resolved :) Good job, all who helped!