monkeyshines

by a Thinker, Sailor, Blogger, Irreverent Guy from Madras

Browse » Home » Archives for 01/02/2013 - 01/03/2013

Collateral Damage doesn’t damage you

For one whole year, after (not) reading Son of Stone, I had stayed off Stone Barrington novels by Stuart Woods.  That novel was so trashy, I couldn’t even manage to finish it - and so titled the review Son, this is a Stone to avoid.

The next Stone Barrington novel D.C. Dead, #22 on the subject received such bad reviews, I skipped that and the next two books too.  Thus it was with distaste and trepidation, I picked up Collateral Damage, #25 in Stone Barrington series.

To my delight, I found the dreaded Arrington-Barrington is out of the picture.  To eternal sadness, I learned that Elaine’s is no more.  Anyway, Collateral Damage is a return to Stone Barrington novels of the old.

We have a really frightening terrorist in Jasmine and the story spins between London and New York, straining the resources of both British Intelligence and the CIA.  Reading Collateral Damage is almost like reading a Holly Barker novel, as the part of Stone Barrington in the whole story is secondary.  Though his presence is more like a housekeeper, travelling companion and sex-provider, the book is quite enjoyable.

As with all Stone Barrington novels, Collateral Damage is a great light read, a couple of hours of entertainment without taxing our minds.

SW_CD_hc_us

Read More

Getting Disqus to work in Internet Explorer

Perhaps this article should actually be titled ‘Getting Internet Explorer to work with Disqus’.  The most annoying display problem after installing Disqus is the error pop-up thrown up for (some) Internet Explorer users.  Readers landing with Firefox, Chrome, Opera don’t have any problem at all.

Some my friends have pointed it to me, but the arrogant bugger that I am, usually fobbed them off with a smirk, “Are you still using that old junk?”.  With IE10 finally making its way to Windows 7 yesterday (today - India time), it was time to sort out the issue.

Not to mention that by being careless, God knows how many readers have been put off.  The problem isn’t exclusively with Disqus.  The other widget ShareThis also has problems.  Either it doesn’t display at all or only the main ShareThis button shows up - the additional like buttons don’t display.  Here is the screenshot.

IE10_incompatible_Disqus

Fortunately Disqus has a help page exactly tackling this problem.  As per them it is a compatibility issue.  While the latest Disqus (2012) is fully compatible with the modern browsers, which includes IE 8,9, or 10, it is uncomfortable with IE7 and earlier versions.

The first hint is IE in any of those modern avatars has a Compatibility View mode, to enable the browser to display webpages designed for older versions without any problems.

But when the IE10 was checked for viewing in compatibility mode (Tools -> Compatibility View settings), it wasn’t so.  If it had been, removing the site from the Website’s you’ve added for compatibility view box would have solved the problem.

The second hint is to open the Developer Tools (F12) in IE10 to check the browser Document Mode.  Ideally it should be in Standards mode.  Additionally it can also be in IE9 or IE8 standards mode.  But my browser was set up to use IE7 standards as Page default.  And that was the problem.

document_mode_standards_default_ie7

Clicking on it and changing to Standards mode in the drop down menu, made Disqus and ShareThis display properly.

document_mode_standards_changed

But that wasn’t the end of it.  A browser restart recreates the same quirk.  The bug was created by a specific line in the blogger template, which has not been updated to IE 8,9, or 10 standards.  It was a simple matter of opening up the Blogger template and replacing the existing line just after the <head> tag -
<meta content='IE=EmulateIE7' http-equiv='X-UA-Compatible '/>

with this one:
<meta content='IE=10; IE=9; IE=8; IE=7; IE=EDGE; chrome=1' http-equiv='X-UA-Compatible'/>

Though the Disqus troubleshooting page doesn’t mention adding “IE=10;”, I have done so and seems to be working fine.

Update (2014): If you are using the latest blogger templates and do *not* find the original tag, it means there is no problem with displaying in IE.  You do *not* have to make this modification.

Such a simple solution.  Even a simpleton like me could figure it out in 5 minutes.  And I had wasted so many months without a thought about it.
:-(

Read More

IE10 for Windows7 released and quite fast

At last, after nearly 2 years of official release, Microsoft has unleashed Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7.  At last, Microsoft has acknowledged the decision to restrict IE10 to Windows 8 till now, wasn’t a great idea.

So what is new in IE10 for Windows 7? 

First and foremost, it is not exactly the same Internet Explorer 10 that you will find on Windows 8.  There are differences between IE10 running on Windows 7 as compared to a version running on Windows 8, basically related to touch-screen compatibility.  More detailed explanation at Microsoft site at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/ie/jj819730.aspx.

That said, the browser is quite quick.  On the first run, it definitely gives Google Chrome 25 (the current version) a run for its money.  On some sites, it appears as though it is faster.  The boast by Microsoft that IE10 is 20% faster than IE9 in ‘real word performance’ seems to be true.

IE10 for Windows 7 also adds support for 30 new web standards.  Users of other browsers though will not be taken in, because most (all ?!?) of these are already supported by the latest Firefox and Chrome.

The most publicized feature about the IE10 browser has been its "Do Not Track" privacy setting, which Microsoft has switched on by default.  Once again users of other browsers are unlikely to be excited at this not-so-new feature.

Microsoft have also adopted a Google Chrome like ‘silent’ update scheme, which has been switched on by default.  The auto install of new versions can be disabled by unchecking the box in About Internet Explorer tab.

IE10_on_Windows_7

Personally I’ve always thought it dangerous to allow Microsoft to auto-update anything, including the OS.  As it happens, a couple of friends from US have called up complaining their PC has suddenly gone kaput yesterday.  This probably might be the reason - a failed update or upgrade to IE10.  All the failed PCs were using Windows 7 which solidified my suspicion, as Windows Vista and Windows XP are stuck with IE9 and IE8 respectively and will not get an upgrade.

So, is all well for IE10 running on Windows 7? 
Not quite. Update:  Solution exists at Disqus help pages.  Tips on implementation here.

 IE10 still seems to have some issues with Disqus commenting system.  The Disqus still says that the browser is incompatible and suggests other browsers, one of which is IE9.

 Ordinarily I would say that Disqus is the one at fault, and, in fact it is Disqus which has to find a way out, seriously.

 But IE10 doesn’t display the ShareThis options in entirety - it shows only the ShareThis button without the other allied-enabled buttons.  Hope they find a workaround, and soon.
:-D

IE10_incompatible_Disqus

Read More

CCleaner 3.28 released with speed improvements

The excellent freeware CCleaner from Piriform has a new updated version.  CCleaner 3.28.1913 will be the last in the series 3, soon to be replaced with CCleaner 4.0, versions.

CCleaner 3.28 as it is released now, claims more compatibility with Windows 8.  While I can’t confirm about Windows 8, what can be confirmed is Piriform’s claim of speed improvements and memory usage (on Windows 7).  But to be truthful, the gains are minimal.

On my system, the older versions of CCleaner used to occupy about 7,200 KB of RAM.  The new CCleaner 3.28 sits on about 6,940 KB of memory.

The speed improvement also shows a similar minimal gain.  Less than half-a-second.  But that might be due to the fact that there were less junk files to clean, as the system was tested with various versions of CCleaner less than a week back.

With a system that is filled up more with junk files, perhaps the speed improvements would be larger.

ccleaner_3-28_vs_3-27

On actually running the CCleaner, of course with Winapp2.ini file (Version: v3.28.130225), the black desktop problem with clearing the Transcoded Wallpaper cache came up once again.  [Mind you, Winapp2.INI clearly warns of the quirk and only disregarding the warning creates this issue].

Only by deleting the hidden ‘slideshow.ini’ file and then fiddling with the various themes could bring back the desktop.  [a simple refresh didn’t work out this time either].

As the following snapshot shows, the desktop is black at 12:49 IST and only by removing and renewing the slideshow.INI and transcoded wallpaper.JPG at 12:54 IST could it be brought back.

black_desktop_transcoded_wallpaper

Is it worth upgrading?  If you are on Windows 8, sure do.  If you are on Windows 7-, it is your choice.
Personally, I can’t wait for CCleaner 4.0.
:-D

Tip1:  Settings on CCleaner are as per earlier article.
Tip2:  Detailed explanation on restoring desktop at another earlier article.

Read More

Views under the News - 26 February 2013

The comments are probably the (fictitious, imaginary, unexpressed, tongue-in-cheek) subtext, views and events behind the News Reports, and solely intended to bring a smile to the readers. They have no connection to events and characters in real life. No offence or disrespect of any nature is intended to any person, (especially to Indians), race, religion, community, caste, profession or sex.
;-)
-----------------------------------
Speaker of Iran Parliament in India to explore communication ties.
-  After Iran-Pak-India Gas Pipeline, one more pipeline to blow hot air.
Chopper Scam:  CBI names ex-Air force Chief S.P. Tyagi as suspect.
- Finally they decide to ‘chop’ his wings.
Punjab to set up special courts for NRIs and women.
- But Terrorists will be honoured with special memorials.
Sri Lanka hopes to engage India before UN rights vote.
- Will abuse India and engage China after the vote.
Nearly 40 people questioned in Hyderabad twin blasts case.
-  Wish they had questioned half a dozen before the blasts.
Promote socially relevant uses of technology: President Mukherjee.
- Leave the kickbacks to the middlemen and profits to political son-in-laws.
2G scam accused A. Raja has every right to be heard: T.R. Baalu.
- No doubt.  Question is has he any integrity left to testify?
States should join hands to fight terror: Home Minister Shinde.
- Yeah!  They are doing so, joining hands in terror of Centre: Jaitley.


states_gangup_against_nctc

(image courtesy india today)
Read More

Watch India launch Google Nexus satellite into space

Today India became the first nation to launch a satellite built around / with a smartphone - a Google Nexus One running Android OS.

The first smartphone-operated satellite in space is just one of the many firsts of STRaND-1. On board there are innovative new technologies such as
  • WARP DRiVE (Water Alcohol Resistojet Propulsion Deorbit Re-entry Velocity Experiment); and,
  • electric Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPTs);
both firsts to fly on a nanosatellite. 

It is also flying a 3D printed part - another first to fly in space!

Why smartphones
STRaND-1 is a 30cm cubesat weighing 3.5kg.  At the heart of the satellite is a Google Nexus One smartphone with Android operating system. 

Smartphones are highly advanced and already incorporate several key features which are essential to a satellite such as cameras, radio links, accelerometers and high performance computer processors.  All they lack are solar panels and propulsion.
:-)

How Google Nexus One will be used
STRaND nanosatellite project has selected 3 winning applications, which are unique, opening new avenues of scientific research and even for public participation.

iTesa is an application that will record the magnitude of the magnetic field around the phone during orbit.  Used as a precursor to further scientific studies, such as detecting Alfven waves (magnetic oscillations in our upper atmosphere), the iTEsa app could provide proof of principle.

The STRAND Data app will show satellite telemetry on the smartphone's display which can be imaged by an additional camera on-board.  This will enable new graphical telemetry to interpret trends.

The 360 app will take images using the smartphone's camera and use the technology onboard the spacecraft to establish STRaND-1's position. 

The public will be able to request their own unique satellite image of Earth through a website, where images can be seen on a map showing where they have been acquired.  For more information www.360app.co.uk

The Scream in Space app will make full use of the smartphone's speakers.  Testing the theory 'in space no-one can hear you scream, made popular in the 1979 film 'Alien', the app will allow the public to upload videos of themselves screaming in a creative way to an allocated website.  The most popular videos will be played on the phone while in orbit and the scream recorded using the smartphone's microphone.  What are you waiting for?  Go to www.screaminspace.com

Live video of launch from Chennai
With so many firsts, I decided to capture for posterity the launch of the Google One Nexus into space from my home.

What better way to capture the launch of an Android OS satellite than on an Android OS phone, sitting at home?

So enjoy the video.



Read More

Android OS satellite launch captured with Android phone

If today’s launch of seven satellites in one rocket was a feather in the cap for India’s Space Program, it also carried a first - a smartphone satellite.

One of the satellites is a cubesat or nanosat built by University of Surrey’s Surrey Space Centre and SSTL called STRaND-1.  STRaND-1 is special in that it is the first satellite to be built around a smartphone - a Google Nexus One running Android OS.

There are also many other first and innovative technology implementation in STRaND mission.
When such a first and path breaking launch is on, there should be a path breaking post too, isn’t it?

So here is the video of launch of the Android OS satellite on the PSLV C-20 rocket, captured on my Android OS phone - but this one is a Samsung, captured from my apartment rooftop at Chennai.

A smartphone satellite launch, captured on a smartphone.
:-D



Read More

India’s launches 7 satellites - one with Google Nexus phone

The 44.4-metre tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C20 (PSLV-C20) rocket, with a lift-off weight of 229.7 tonnes, blasted off to launch into orbit seven satellites - one Indo-French and six foreign satellites.  It was a text book launch.  Watch the launch video captured from my apartment rooftop - an Android OS phone recording an Android OS satellite launch.
:-)

The seven satellites together weigh 668.5 kg. The entire flight sequence - lift-off to the ejection of the seventh satellite at an altitude of 794 km above the earth - took around 22 minutes.

The main payload of the PSLV-C20 rocket will be the 407-kg Indo-French satellite SARAL (Satellite with ARGOS and ALTIKA) and six other satellites as piggy-back. 

The other six satellites the PSLV-C20 carried are:
  • two Canadian satellite NEOSSat (Near Earth Object Space Surveillance Satellite),
  • the world's first space telescope designed by Canadian Space Agency (CSA),
  • and Sapphire satellite built by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA),
  • BRITE and UniBRITE (both Austria),
  • STRaND-1 (Britain), which carries the Google Nexus one smartphone, and,
  • AAUSAT (Denmark).
Of most interest is the STRaND-1 (Surrey Training, Research, and Nanosatellite Demonstrator) - the world's first 'smart phone satellite' carrying Google Nexus One phone running Android operating system.

pslv_c-20_7_satellite_launch

Read More

Winners and the loser at Oscars 2013

If you though Jennifer Lawrence is the only winner and the only one to stumble at the Academy Awards 2013, you couldn’t be more wrong.

For last few weeks whenever Seth MacFarlane was on Star Movies gabbing that he is going to be the host for the Oscars 2013, my reaction was “WTF”.  And it proved to be true.

Daniel Day-Lewis
Before we go into that lamer, let us see the winners.  Daniel Day-Lewis creates history by winning the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Lincoln.  By winning it for the 3rd time, Daniel Day-Lewis becomes the first ever actor to do so.

The other 8 who’ve two Oscars each are - Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Fredric March, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn and Spencer Tracy.  Watch out for innumerable articles extolling the acting of Daniel Day-Lewis and whether he is the best actor ever born!

Life of Pi
The Life of Pi was the most successful film of the Oscars 2013.  Made from a book that was considered ‘unflimable’, Direct Ang Lee managed to make a gem of a film.  The Life of Pi won Oscars for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Visual Effects. 

Though I would have liked Life of Pi to have won the Best Original Song award - for Bombay Jayashree sung it - there you have the madrasi favouritism coming through, but that is not the way Hollywood or Academy Awards work.
:-)

Jennifer Lawrence
The best ‘actress’ (is that acceptable when used in the Oscars ?!?) award was collected by Jennifer Lawrence, not without a stumble, literally.  On her way to collect the Academy Award she stumbled on the stairs, probably couldn’t see where she was putting her foot due to the long train and the thick style swell of her Dior haute couture gown.  Well hope she notches up her ‘fee’ when it is time to sign up once more for the Miss Dior line.

jennifer_lawrence_stumble_oscars_2013

 George Clooney
George Clooney joins Warren Beatty as the only other guy (or gal) who has been nominated (nominated, not won) for best picture, direction, acting and screenwriting.  Of course, when you compare it with some of the Tamil movie persona, multi-tasking with only 4 aspects of film making is nothing.  They normally have dialogue, music, and playback at least.
:-P

Seth MacFarlane
The loser was none other than Seth MacFarlane.  All he could do well was about 20 minutes as host - the first 20 minutes that is.  The only quip that was memorable was the one about grumpy Tommy Lee Jones.
The rest of his attempted one liners were awkward, embarrassing and downright stupid, some even shameful.

Mel Gibson jokes in 2013 in the context of Django Unchained, mistaking Denzel Washington for Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor, the swipe at the Academy itself on the director of Argo, and their selection of the host, or the one about Quvenzhane Wallis’ age and George Clooney.

I can’t decide which one was the most shameful: the zinger about Jean Dujardin and post-Oscar career or about Daniel Day-Lewis attempting to free Don Cheadle.

Here is the full list of the nominees and the winners at the Oscars 2013.



Read More

Google Chrome 25 released - What is new?

Google released Chrome 25 browser with exciting new features.  If we look back, Chrome 24 also added  new features - some of which worked and some which didn’t.

Google is continuing their push to introduce new features as a standard install in their Chrome browser with improved security management of extensions, better HTML5 support and the most exciting feature, voice recognition support.

Chrome 25 has also a clutch of security fixes - 22 of them - which alone makes it essential that we update - all those messy details at the release blog [http://googlechromereleases.blogspot.in/2013/02/stable-channel-update_21.html].

Silent Extensions management:
A long awaited security enhancement is the way silent extensions will be handled by Chrome 25+.  Silent extensions are those which are installed by other applications without the knowledge of (or unintentionally by) users.  The most irritating example is the installation of Skype & Firefox.  If you aren’t careful, Skype will insert its extension into Firefox.

With Google Chrome 25 and above, such silent installs will be blocked automatically with a pop-up dialog.  And if any such extensions have already been installed, Chrome 25 on its first run will disable them and inform the user with a one time prompt.

Sideload wipeout final 3

 Voice Recognition Support:
With the addition of voice recognition, Google Chrome 25 becomes the first browser to add another piece of WebRTC technology within it.   WebRTC support was implemented in Chrome 22, and if you didn’t read it then, a brief explanation is here.

So, what does that mean for normal users?  In simple terms, it means is we won’t need installation of additional plugins to use various applications and functions.

With just Google Chrome (and soon in Firefox) we will be able to carry on real-time video chat, data sharing and now voice activated command and speech recognition.  After updating Chrome, a visit to the demo page at Web Speech API Demonstration is fun [https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/demos/speech.html].

As with every piece of new technology integration, it is still clunky.  All I tried to say was ‘hello can you hear me. it is very impressive’.

It appears that selecting English (US) delivers better results, (no wonder that), while English (India) sux big time.
:-)

google_web_speech_demo_ingoogle_web_speech_demo_ukgoogle_web_speech_demo_us

What it also tells me is to junk the Rs. 150 headset and get a quality one.  BTW, there is no support yet for Indic languages.

Read More

What is new in Firefox 19

One more version of Mozilla Firefox, version 19 has been released yesterday.  For us in India, that would be today morning.  So what is new in Firefox 19.0 for Windows and Android?

For Windows users, the most significant development is the built-in PDF viewer.  Yes, just like Google Chrome, henceforth we will not require another piece of bloatware to read PDF files, instead we can open them and read inside Firefox 19.

The difference between Google Chrome and Firefox is the way they read the files.  While Google Chrome uses the proprietary Foxit Reader plugin to render PDF files, the developers at Mozilla have taken a different route.

Firefox 19 uses PDF.js, a JavaScript library to convert the PDF files into HTML5 pages for viewing.  It definitely is a better adaptation seeing the concern being expressed of late on the potential security risk of plugins themselves.

Another advantage of using JavaScript to convert into standard HTML5, it can run on various platforms - from PCs to Tablets to Smartphones.

Good job!

Firefox_19_built-in_PDF_viewer

There are 3 bug fixes and improvements about which you can read at release notes:
www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/19.0/releasenotes/

Firefox 19 has also been released on Android, however I am unable to install it on my phone.  Even though the Mozilla claims Firefox 19 is compatible with Android 2.2+, I cannot install it on my Android 2.3.6 mobile.
:-(

Firefox_19_install_android

Read More

Should India abolish Death Penalty - Part 4

Before we take a look at the contention of the activists, systemic failure and international groups and treaties on the question of capital punishment, we need to look at a specific contention that is going around now.

In about an hour or so from now, the Supreme Court will take up the issue of the death sentence imposed on the four Veerappan gang murderers in the landmine blast case which killed 22 people.

While there are many more points of contention to look into as per my own classification of the arguments, there is one which stands out and which is being chiefly used today to try and overturn the death sentence on the killers.

We have to admit to one thing.  These lawyer/activists are *not* one-trick-ponies.  They keep coming out with various contentions and arguments, which sound legitimate.  The issue of delay in disposing of Mercy Petition by the President of India is the latest.

The hullabaloo created by these people has reached such a crest that several legal luminaires have been snared into accepting or at least considering the argument.

The point that delay in disposing off Mercy Petition was a ground for commutation of sentence and contend that that this delay rendered the death penalty imposed on them illegal and unconstitutional.

This is presumably because of the uncertainty over their fate imposes enough mental strain and that it is equal to killing them every day.  This sounds very logical, but is the most absurd contention I have heard.

First, philosophically speaking, everyone of us - man, woman, child, animal or plant - is certain to die one day.  The only uncertainty is when!  The convicts, thus, aren’t being put into any more torturous condition that any normal human.

Second, legally, there is nothing uncertain about their fate.  They have been sentenced to death.  They have to be hung by the neck when it is suitable and convenient as decided by the courts. 

Third, it is a matter of fact that they live in a false sense of hope and belief, after their conviction and before the disposal of their clemency plea.  So all these days, they’ve been living in hope, not in fear.  Do these people want us to believe that a normal human being can live healthy, without sickness, if he or she is threatened with death every waking moment.

I’ve seen people lose weight when anxious and procrastinating to undergo, or afterwards, waiting for the results of their PAP smear or Typhoid culture or oncology tests.  That is only a matter of few days.

OTOH, these guys have been in prison and if they’ve been subject to such anxiety, really, the hangmen would be without a job.
:-P

Fourth, judicially, the contention is an extension or a by-product of the concept of statute of limitations.  That people who have committed undiscovered crime, constantly live in fear of such crimes being discovered, and after a certain period of time, the fear, stress, anxiety itself is enough punishment for the crime.  So even if the crime is discovered after a certain specified period, the criminal cannot be / is not prosecuted.

The problem is India has a statute of limitations only on Claims - property, contracts and the like. (AFAIK).
Even if there is one, statute of limitations do not cover heinous crimes like murder - the so called capital crimes.  No amount of fear, anxiety, stress, regret or repent felt by a murder is considered equivalent to the criminality of murder itself and prosecution is possible on discovery.

So that blows the present contention out of water.  Murder is not covered under statute of limitations and hence delay in disposal of mercy pleas *cannot* be a cause for commutation of sentence.

A look at the rest of the contentions to follow in the last part.

hanging_and_candles

Read More

Should India abolish Death Penalty - Part 3

Continuing from the earlier part, the tragedy is many unintended statements by jurists are used by the malcontent to further their own causes. A case in point is the much touted interview by (former) Justice Ajit Shah on capital punishment (Feb 2013). (YouTube link [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LCHnVvMoV4] and kafila.org link [http://kafila.org/2013/02/16/death-penalty-in-india-is-a-legal-lottery/]).

While the first part deals with systemic failure and which we will look at under that heading, the part about “…caste and class connection to death sentence, where the lower castes and lower classes are usually the ones sent to the gallows … this discriminatory nature renders death penalty unconstitutional …”, leaves us puzzled.

Apart from the fact that this is exactly what Ashis Nandy said or tried to say at Jaipur and has been slammed, I personally can not understand where the Justice comes from or where he intends to go.

Does he suggest that there should be a quota system for punishments? That every court should have a daily updated list (like ones supposed to be displayed in Ration shops) of how many of each caste, community, religion have been punished for the year? That in case a group’s percentage is lower, more persons of that group should be prosecuted?

Or does he suggest that since upper caste and class criminals are able to get away (his contention, not mine), we should let the convictions slide based on caste or class? Instead of Not one innocent shall be punished, we move on to Let all criminals walk away?

However, this (part) of the statement by Justice Shaw is being hailed as a big YES to the anti-death punishment advocates, while Ashis Nandy is being hounded, physically threatened and is in danger of losing his freedom if convicted by courts.

Opinions of the convicts, their families and people comprising their support structure is the other individual kind. We are repeatedly told that the Veerappan gang routinely deny any part in the landmine blast which killed 22 people and they claim they are innocent.

Thinking about it, has any convict ever accepted his crime - especially killers? From Hitler to Pol Pot, Osama to Kasab, Anders Breivik to Oscar Pistorius, every one who committed a crime has denied it.

Admission to crime only happens in nations with plea bargain as part of their criminal justice system. It happened recently with David Coleman Headley, and Anand Jon in the US.

In India the approver system is somewhat similar, but due to its nature and the mindset of policing agencies, it is only the fringe participants who turn approver, more like a police informer, a stool pigeon than anything else.

In effect, under Indian conditions, a criminal has better chance of getting away or serving lesser sentences if he doesn’t admit to criminal activity rather than bargain for a lesser offence. This goes for their family too.

Pretty much of what the other support structure of these convicts, namely their lawyers, and activists say can be covered under activists heading.

But there is a unique defence by the political leader Vaiko that one of the Veerappan gang convicted of the landmine blasts has never met Veerappan and so his punishment is wrong. Now is that a defence or a proof of innocence? As far as we know, Ajmal Kasab has never met David Coleman Headley. Does that mean Ajmal Kasab is innocent or that David Coleman Headley has been wrongly convicted?

Taking it further, if Al-Qaeda carries out a terror attack after 5 years with new recruits, those fledgling terrorists would never ever have met Osama Bin Laden. Will that mean that those newly recruited terrorists cannot be convicted of terrorism?

That ends part 3.  In the following we will take a look at the contention of the activists, systemic failure and international groups and treaties.

death-penalty_fair_trial

(image courtesy Rob Rogers @ post-gazette.com)

Read More

Should India abolish Death Penalty - Part 2

In this second part we will take a deep, honest look at Death Penalty, and its consequences, including the way society and people accept, approach or reject it.  In most cases, we will resort to the recent Ajmal Kasab, Afzal Guru and Veerappan gang death sentences to test the arguments, both for and against.

It is easier to justify ‘For’.  Every protest can be brushed aside as one of crocodile tears, or that the law says so.  But that is not the way we should look at it.  So we are going to scrutinize the ‘Against’ and see whether the ‘For’ is justified.

The call for abolishing or doing away with death sentence broadly falls into:
  • individual calls and opinions;
  • political leaders and their antics;
  • human rights and civil liberty activists;
  • systemic failure;
  • international pressure groups; and,
  • international treaties, laws and recommendations.
political leaders and their antics

 The rants by politicians are the easiest to disregard.  Even in the matter of death and safety of society, the politicians typically do what they do best - play politics. 

The Akalis do it with the mercy plea of B.S. Rajoana.  V. Gopalswamy or ‘Vaiko’ has been for ages trying to protect the Tamil terrorists from death and circumstances have forced him to adopt a position of a total No to capital punishment. 

The declaration by DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on capital punishment was met with a smirk.  The feeling is that his senior party men got away in the murder of T. Krishnan and Dinakaran office burning, but now with Pottu Suresh murder, the old man wants to cover all his bases. 

The ADMK has its own problems with party workers facing death in Dharmapuri bus burning. 

The BJP wanted Afzal Guru’s head, but ducks the question on B.S. Rajoana.  The Congress, after warming their backsides for 8 years, now wants to execute the convicts. 

But the most blatant display of sectarian politics was by Omar Abdullah, ‘Why hang only Kashmir terrorists? Execute Tamil and Sikh terrorists too’.

So what this says is we should nod, smile, smirk and take the politicians arguments with a pinch of salt, decide for ourselves without any heed to their rhetoric.

individual calls and opinions

 The opinions of individuals are again of 2 kinds.

Completely unwarranted and ill-informed comments like the one by NHRC member Satyabrata Pal that hanging of Afzal Guru is barbaric and death penalty is an abomination is one kind. There was also a remark by someone else that the rejection of mercy petitions reminds him (her?) of the kangaroo courts of Maoists. Some say these commentators should be pulled up and told to shut up, perhaps by courts.

But let them be. These idiotic utterances only highlight their ignorance of the justice delivery system and judicial process in India. Afzal Guru, Veerappan gang and Rajiv killers have all had their cases heard multiple times from trial courts (special courts) to the Supreme Court of India. There is nothing barbaric or abominable in awarding death sentence, in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases.

But all these chaff serve one purpose. Hearing them repeated often has had an effect on even eminent jurists, not to mention a section of public and the media.

The jurists perhaps subconsciously disliking to be associated with a profession to which barbaric, brutal, abominable and other adjectives (or are they interjections?), come out with some statements, which even to them must sound absurd, in hindsight.

End of part-2.

death_penalty_opponents

(image courtesy MacGregor @ news-press.com)
Read More

Should India abolish Death Penalty - Part 1

There has been quite a bit of chatter over the past few months over the execution of terrorists and criminals. The arguments are over the procedure, the politics, the decision making and even the law itself.

The murmurs started with the execution of Ajmal Kasab of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, though people were scared to come out in the open. With the hanging of Afzal Guru, the cacophony could be heard from Kashmir to Cape Comorin. With the rejection of mercy petitions of 4 conspirators of Veerappan gang last week, the stuff has really hit the fan.

The first bench of the Supreme Court of India is scheduled to take up a writ petition by lawyers (and human rights, civil liberty activists) on behalf of the 4 people convicted earlier by the Supreme Court of India in a landmine blast case which killed 22 people. The petition is to abrogate the death sentence.

In fact, the petition should not be seen in the lone context of Veerappan associates. The petition is one in a long line of such actions by the bleeding hearts’ actions to abolish death penalty, chiefly because one of their own (state) has been punished thus.

There are various, ingenious arguments put forward by these civil liberty, human rights, political, religious activists, whether in individual cases or broadly against the law as it stands now.

What I am going to do is take their arguments one-by-one and see whether we can find a solution, one way or other, on the merit of death penalty. To do that, I am really going to approach the problem and arguments with an open mind.

Writing down the arguments for and against the death penalty (especially in this case), a severe sinus infection with attendant raging fever, along with the drowsy medication for sinus forces me to postpone the concluding article.

That in part 2 will have to wait for tomorrow.  If time, tide, my infected sinus and fever permits, you can read the conclusions, on which the court will have to take a final decision tomorrow, before the court is seized of the matter at 10 A.M.

For now, Good Night!

hanging_and_candles

Read More

Black Desktop Background on Windows 7 solution

It is quite enjoyable and stunning to see Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones dressed in Black. But to try for the same effect on the PC’s desktop is downright crazy. Trust me, for almost one whole day, I suffered with a Black Desktop.

Mind you this is not the dreaded Black Screen of Death or the blank screen shown when the operating system files are compressed by mistake.

The PC works fine, the desktop icons are visible and every piece of software installed works as designed.  But the Windows 7 desktop is a horrible, dark, blank black.
Yuck!

black_desktop_background_windows7

As written earlier, cleaning junk files with CCleaner 3.27 and Winapp2.ini, while enabling the Tray Notifications Transcoded Wallpaper Cache (disregarding the pop-up warning), probably caused this problem.

Whatever you try to change/fix the desktop by:
  • refreshing the desktop as recommended in CCleaner warning;
  • accessing Control Panel -> Personalisation and switching to any of the different themes;
  • changing either the desktop background or window color;
  • accessing Control Panel -> Ease of Access Centre -> Make the Computer Easier to see -> Uncheck Remove Background images (it is not checked in the 1st place, darn it!);
  • reinstalling the (NVIDIA) video driver and restarting;
  • stopping and restarting explorer.exe via Task Manager; or,
  • checking the registry issues as enumerated in this Microsoft Support article (the registry key is perfect, dang it!) [http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/why-is-my-screen-black-when-i-start-windows-7], 
  • without wanting to try a System Restore;
  • starting the PC in Safe Mode and trying to change display settings;
  • scanning for malware with SuperAntiSpyware, MalwareBytes AntiMalware and SpyBot S&D (no malware found, for goodness sake!);
  • running the Aero Troubleshooter (Control Panel -> Troubleshooter -> Appearance and Personalization -> Display Aero Desktop effects;
was of no use.

BTW, Windows 7 is a genuine version and this is not a tutorial on how to crack Windows Genuine Advantage check.
:-P

As it sometimes happens, the solution, literally, came out of the mouth of babes.  A neighbour’s 10 year old bunked school today because of stomach ache.  As it always happens, the ache disappeared once his dad and mom left for office.  Around noon, his granny, unable to stand his pestering, chased him out to wreck havoc elsewhere.

The kid came sauntering up probably intent on making mischief with my cockatiels   Instead, he became interested in the CCleaner article and engrossed enough to count the number of marked files (from the logs) and spruce up the images, allowing me to pester my mom.
LOL.

To cut the story short, he spotted the black desktop and remembered the technician’s solution when their own PC went dark a couple of months back.  Bless his little heart, his Monday-morning-blues, his school curriculum on computers and his ability to recall file names.

The tip was the technician replacing the file ‘Transcoded Wallpaper’.  Once the tip of the thread is revealed, it was only a matter of unraveling it with Google search.

The Transcoded Wallpaper is a JPG file, introduced in Windows 7, residing at:
C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\

That is file which when corrupted can cause such heartburn.  But as it happens there was no Transcoded Wallpaper at all.  Which made me do something rash.  I deleted the hidden ‘slideshow.ini’ file.

transcoded_wallpaper_before_n_after

Once done, went back to Control Panel -> Personalisation and switched themes. And it worked.  The desktop was back.

restored_desktop

Tip 1: You’ve to unhide the extensions and system files before you may be able to see/identify those files, including the ‘Appdata’ folder.

Tip 2: Try out all the optionslisted, maybe even a System Restore, before finally attempting above.

Tip 3: Do not restart the system immediately after deleting the ‘slideshow.ini’ file.  You have to change themes, desktop background, windows color,  before attempting restart.

Tip 4: Try out all the options, one-by-one, taking a moment in between, while attempting to change themes, desktop background, windows color.  It takes about a second or two for the system to sort of shrug itself and renew the desktop.

update:  Corrected the reference to Tray Notifications Cache to Transcoded Wallpaper Cache as pointed out by Robert Ward.  Thanks +Robert.


Read More

The importance of Winapp2.ini and CCleaner

Two weeks back there was a minor flap when CCleaner sent a cease-and-desist email to BleachBit on the use of Winapp2.ini file in BleachBit.  Though the confusion was cleared up in a couple of days, Piriform, the developers of CCleaner didn’t cover themselves in glory in the matter.

Agreed the original article referred was a little misleading, but any developer at Piriform should have been able to put them right.

The whole issue made me think about the importance of (or the importance accorded by Piriform to) Winapp2.ini file w.r.t. CCleaner.  Don’t get me wrong.  Even without Winapp2.ini, CCleaner is one of the best (if not the best) and safest System Cleaners around for Windows. 

The barebones CCleaner operates like the motto of a brain surgeon - “First, Do No Harm”.
What I wanted to see was the difference Winapp2.ini brings to CCleaner (and by extension to the other system cleaners which have also adopted Winapp2.ini, like System Ninja and BleachBit).

Fortunately or perhaps subconsciously, I had not run any system cleaner or anti-spyware tool on my PC after the No Pongal Google Doodle, have a Moodle article.  So yesterday was the best opportunity to run such a test.

First I ran (in Analyse mode) CCleaner 3.27 without Winapp2.ini file.  Then once more ran CCleaner 3.27 with the most recent Winapp2.ini.  That done, out of curiosity, also ran the CCleaner 3.26 and 3.25 versions, with the same Winapp2.ini file.  Details settings of the PC and CCleaner are listed at the end for your interest.

CCleaner 3.27 without Winapp2.ini was slick and fast.  In 24.3 seconds, it identified 14,181 files of ~2065 MB which can be deleted. 

With Winapp2.ini, CCleaner 3.27 took 4 seconds longer, but could identify additional ~2000 files.  In 28.3 seconds, CCleaner marked 16,115 files of ~3451 MB for deletion. 

Good job Robert Ward with Winapp2.ini and thanks to Piriform for a great system cleaner. 

On completion of the test, I ran CCleaner 3.27 with Winapp2.ini with same settings for real, and it skrewed the system in a minor way - The Men in Black effect - more on that in the last paragraph.

Here is the snapshot.

ccleaner_3-27_with_n_without_winapp2-ini

Once that was done, it was time run the CCleaner 3.26 and 3.25 with the same Winapp2.ini file.  The result was something unexpected.  When we recall CCleaner 3.25 was released on 26 Nov 2012, and CCleaner 3.26 was released on 21 Dec 2012 and version 3.27 has many added functionalities it was a surprise to see the older versions perform just as good as the latest version.

The performance of CCleaner 3.26 and 3.25 was identical to that of 3.27.  They identified exact number of files (16,115 files) occupying exactly the same disk space (~3451 MB) in exactly the same time (28.3 seconds).  Darn it, even the individual file counts under specific heads were the same.
:-D

ccleaner_3-26_and_3-25_with_winapp2-ini

 Configuration and Settings:
The details of the PC hardware are in the snapshots.  CCleaner x64 portable versions of 3.25.1872, 3.26.1888, and  3.27.1900 were used in the tests.  The Winapp2.ini file was Version: v3.27.130210.

In all CCleaner versions, under Options:
  • Settings, every box was left unchecked;
  • Cookies, all the cookies were marked for deletion;
  • Include and Exclude, no files were listed;
  • Advanced, all the boxes except Enable Windows Jump List Tasks were unchecked.
In the CCleaner Cleaning Option settings:

Under Windows, every box was checked except for Wipe Free Space.  [Note:  If you use CCleaner with Winapp2.ini, please pay special care to the Tray Notifications Cache and the pop-up warning.  Enabling this option, probably cause the minor skrewup - The Men in Black effect].

Under Applications, except for Saved Form info and Saved Passwords in Google Chrome section, and NVIDIA (Play on my TV) and Samsung Kies Backups in Multimedia section, all the other boxes were checked.

 Minor Skrewup - The Men in Black effect:
As I said, enabling the Tray Notifications Transcoded Wallpaper Cache disregarding the pop-up warning, probably caused this problem.  After the actual system cleaning with CCleaner 3.27 with Winapp2.ini, the desktop became black.
Yuck!

It is quite enjoyable and stunning to see Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones dressed in Black.  But to try for the same effect on the PC’s desktop is downright crazy.  Trust me, for almost one whole day, I suffered with a Black Desktop.


How to Rectify Black Desktop Background is a subject for another article (link updated 22 feb 2013).

Read More

Views under the News - 18 February 2013

The comments are probably the (fictitious, imaginary, unexpressed, tongue-in-cheek) subtext, views and events behind the News Reports, and solely intended to bring a smile to the readers. They have no connection to events and characters in real life. No offence or disrespect of any nature is intended to any person, (and especially to Indians), race, religion, community, caste, profession or sex.
;-)
-----------------------------------
Right to reject essential to eliminate corruption: Anna Hazare.
-  What we actually want is the right to reject your rants.
In jail, Afzal Guru exhorted IM men to stage attacks across India.
- Afzal Guru execution is a blot on Indian democracy: Fali Nariman.
The way Afzal Guru was hanged is a blot on Indian democracy: Fali Nariman.
- Is that why Rohington Fali Nariman resigned as Solicitor General?
Pendency of suits in courts should be wiped out: PM Manmohan Singh
- Suit against P. Chidambaram’s election pending in court since 2009.
Delay in Justice delivery a major challenge: CJI Altamas Kabir.
- Suit against P. Chidambaram’s election pending in court since 2009.
Home Secretary Theresa May Wants to Deport More Foreign Criminals from UK.
- First deport Lalit Modi of IPL fame, whose passport has been invoked.
Prince Charles and Camilla Test 'James Bond' BMW.
- Does that make Camilla a ‘Bond’ girl?  Guk!.

James-bond-007-1962-2008-23-movies

Read More

Views under the News - 17 February 2013

The comments are probably the (fictitious, imaginary, unexpressed, tongue-in-cheek) subtext, views and events behind the News Reports, and solely intended to bring a smile to the readers. They have no connection to events and characters in real life. No offence or disrespect of any nature is intended to any person, (and especially to Indians), race, religion, community, caste, profession or sex.
;-)
-----------------------------------
Gandhi’s country must set an example by abolishing capital punishment: Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer.
- What about other Gandhi sentiment ‘Women walking without fear at midnight’?
Lawyers not allowed to meet death row convicts.
- Well, they can meet them in Hell, if they wish to.
Clear roadmap required to raise money for the ‘Green Climate Fund’:  Minister Jayanthi Natarajan.
- Hope no one has any roadmaps for 10% kickbacks.
If Afzal Guru had better defence, he may have escaped death: Omar’s National Conference.
- If Afzal Guru had better bombs, your father might not have escaped alive.
Wipe out ‘pendency’ in courts: PM Manmohan Singh.
- Is that why government kept quiet on Helicopter scam for over an year?
10% of all CVs and resumes have falsified claims.
- 10% everywhere !?!
Anonymous hacks, shuts down IIPM website.
- That sure would have shut up Mr. Arindam Chaudhuri.
Key reforms essential to India's development:  Vice-President and RS Chairman H. Ansari.
- Any plans to reform your deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien?
Canadian minister quits over inappropriate lobbying letter.
- Could you say that aloud please!
Singapore in rare anti-immigrant protest.
- There goes the neighbourhood!
Quake rattles Rome.
- First Lightning strike and now Earthquake. Holy Father please reconsider.

betting_on_the_next_pope

(image courtesy Paul Thomas in express.co.uk)
Read More

Views under the News - 16 February 2013

The comments are probably the (fictitious, imaginary, unexpressed, tongue-in-cheek) subtext, views and events behind the News Reports, and solely intended to bring a smile to the readers. They have no connection to events and characters in real life. No offence or disrespect of any nature is intended to any person, (and especially to Indians), race, religion, community, caste, profession or sex.
;-)
-----------------------------------
Kerala Suryanelli rape case:  Absconding convict arrested, produced in court.
-  For a moment, I thought  P.J. Kurien had gone into hiding.
Helicopter scam connected Tyagi brother tried to broker Ayodhya peace.
-  All he wanted was 10% of the Babri Mosque land in return.
Harvard doctors give Kumbh Mela health faciilties a thumbs up.
-  Too bad they don’t train engineers to certify Railway foot bridges.
UN Chief Ban-Ki-moon urges restraint on India and Pakistan.
-  At Indo-Pak border violations, he lectures North Korea; 
   When North Korea explodes Nuke, he talks of Indo-Pak border;
   When Syria burns, he enjoys Gangnam Style - Is this guy real?
Warren Buffet to ink $28 billion deal in Food Industry.
-  No it doesn’t involve horsemeat.
Each Briton could get free RBS shares worth £400.
- They are parroting India’s ‘Direct Cash Transfer’ scheme: PM.
Nike pulls Oscar Pistorius ad campaign.
- Just do it?  He Just did it!  They Just did it.

 nike_pistorius_advertisement_pulled
Read More

Google removes Asteroid near miss Doodle

In the morning, Google had put up a doodle for Earth's close shave with Asteroid 2012 DA14, which will fly-by planet Earth tonight, India Time. The doodle showed the second 'G' in the company's logo jumping aside and back in alarm as the asteroid passes by its place.

Google_doodle_asteroid_miss_15-feb-2013

In case you haven’t yet heard there was a meteor explosion in Russia which injured around 400 500 people and damaged windows earlier today.  In light of that meteor explosion, which is quite spectacular in videos, Google moved swiftly to remove what had turned out to be an untimely doodle.

Removing the Google Doodle depicting the near miss by an asteroid is really a good, sensitive approach.  It really stands out just like the lone candle for the rape victim displayed on Google India homepage over the New Year, instead of the usual celebrative doodle.

Incidentally the meteor explosion was observed over the regions of Chelyabinsk, Tyumen and Sverdlovsk, located in the Republic of Bashkiria, Russia.  The Russian Academy of Sciences has estimated that the meteorite weighed about 10 tons and entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kmph.
8-0

ESA have confirmed that there is no link between the Russian meteor incident and asteroid 2012 DA14 flyby tonight.  Even so, it is correct decision by Google to remove the asteroid near miss doodle.

If you want to watch the spectacular meteor explosion over Russia, the best collection of videos is at Gizmodo [http://gizmodo.com/5984476/meteorite-explodes-over-russia-panic-spreads-updating-live].

Read More

Will Air India Dreamliner Pilots be sacked now

Do you remember the time, about 8 months back, when the maharajas of the non-performing state behemoth - Air India - went on strike? Around 484 pilots of the Air India went on a flash strike, refused to reason, defied the government, even in contempt of court, for 58 full days. 

Even worse than the contempt of court (from a public perspective) was the disservice and discomfort dished out to the fare paying passengers, who must have rued the day they trusted Air India.

What was the reason for the pilot’s tantrum?  The one and the only reason was the pilots who flew the international routes did not want their colleagues from the former Indian Airlines, which was merged with Air India, to be trained to fly Boeing 787 Dreamliners. 

The Air India pilots were afraid of giving up their ‘plush’ and ‘cushy’ jobs of flying international routes to Indian Airlines pilots.  Though both the state owned airlines were merged - a profit making Indian Airlines absorbed into perennially loss making Air India - the former Air India guys wanted their cadre or caste to remain pure and uncontaminated.

I dare to term it as caste because in any professional organisation or order, only merit and skills should rule the roost.  If such an order or grouping starts to segregate or isolate on opinions, ideas or points based on any other factor - in this case a former trade organisation - such a grouping degenerates into a caste formation and ceases to be a professional, merit and skill based setup.

To be fair, we the public, still don’t know the actual criteria laid down for selection of future Boeing 787 Dreamliner pilots.  If such a criteria itself was based on assumption other than skill and merit, then it should also be condemned.

But from what was spoken on the media and courts during the 58 day strike, it was broadly understood that Air India pilots were not willing to cede places in Boeing 787 Dreamliner training to Indian Airlines pilots, even if the latter had superior skills, merit and their age profile would have made more sense for the training.
Be that it may, a compromise was reached in an opaque manner and Air India got its Dreamliner and pilots.  Till the grounding that is.

By the end of January 2013, Air India has invited tenders to sell the 7 (six?) Boeing 787 Dreamliners and lease them back, saying it is an accepted airline practice, the move would help turn around Air India and free up cash.

While they are at it, why don’t do themselves and the tax payer a service by letting go those pilots trained in Dreamliner and hire them back as contract pilots?  For switching workers from regular pay-roll to contractual ones is also accepted management practice - not only in airlines, but in every sphere of business.

Will the Air India management and the Civil Aviation Ministry have the guts to do it now?

air_india_manjul_120811

(image courtesy manjul.com)

Read More

Views under the News - 15 February 2013

The comments are probably the (fictitious, imaginary, unexpressed, tongue-in-cheek) subtext, views and events behind the News Reports, and solely intended to bring a smile to the readers. They have no connection to events and characters in real life. No offence or disrespect of any nature is intended to any person, (and especially to Indians), race, religion, community, caste, profession or sex.
;-)
-----------------------------------
  • India needs Rs. 200 bn for Food Security Bill:  Food Minister KV Thomas.
    • Does that include 10% kickbacks or not is the question.
  • Ex-IAF Chief’s cousins were bribed by AugustaWestland:  Italian probe.
    • We have written to ‘AugustaWestland’ asking for details: Government.
  • Can’t blame former Air Chief S.P. Tyagi in helicopter scam:  Jaswant Singh, former Defence Minister.
    • Uh Oh!  You too Jaswant?
  • Law will take its own course on College Elections violence:  Mamata Banerjee.
    • Except when it involves cartoonists!
  • Stop regressive trend of executions: Amnesty International.
    • Please progress to execute an order banning Amnesty International: victims.
  • Pact with French Areva for Jaitapur Nuclear plant, not in India’s interest:  Prakash Karat.
    • If same deal is signed with Russia, it will become India’s vital interest.
  • Our ability to tolerate is going down:  Minister Manish Tiwari.
    • Where was this guy when Kapil Sibal was threatening bloggers and tweeters?
  • Bribes are necessary part of doing business globally: Berlusconi.
    • Do bribes cover bunga-bunga parties?
  • SGPC against any Indo-French defence deal in view of human rights violations.
    • Gosh!  I guess J.S. Bhindranwale was a champion of human rights.
  • Did you have a past with the accused rapist? Minister Vayalar Ravi to women journalist.
    • Time to ask whether Vayalar Ravi had any past in murky affair.
  • Keith Vaz irks UK women MPs with sexist tweet.
    • Both Vayalar Ravi and Vaz have turned into dirty old men.
  • Sex attacks on the rise in Egypt’s Tahrir Square: BBC report.
    • The reporter hasn’t yet heard of Vayalar Ravi and Keith Vaz.
  • French firm Spanghero mislabelled horsemeat.
    • They should have ‘mislabelled’ it horseshet.
  • Lab rats ‘given’ “sixth-sense” by US researchers.
    • M Night Shyamalan’s next movie will have Ratatouille bending Air
  • Mahatma Gandhi letter sells for £115,000 at auction in Britain.
    • The ‘freedom fighter’ who sold it promised 10% kickbacks.
mahatma_gandhi_mirror_outsourced
(image courtesy Mike Peters @ grimmy.com - from 2007)
Read More

Valentine’s Day 2013 Google Doodle pokes Fox TV

Google’s informal motto is Don’t be evil, and being naughty is no evil.  If last year’s Valentine’s Day Google Doodle took a swipe at intelligent design and Armageddon, this year Google pokes fun at Fox TV.  If you don’t remember last year’s Valentine’s Day Google Doodle, read it here.

This year, Google has combined George Ferris’ 154th birthday with Valentine’s Day and have an animated, interactive Google Doodle, which tells the love-at-first-sight and first date of 16 animal characters in 10 different tales.

The Doodle is an amusement park with two Ferris wheels in the spotlight.  They are flanked by -
  • a Roller Coaster forming the G;
  • while the two Ferris Wheels themselves depict the two O’s;
  • a kart ride that makes up the second G;
  • the L is taken by a tower; and,
  • the E is a Merry-go-round.
valentine's_day_google_doodle_2013

There is a heart shaped button which when clicked, brings the rotating Ferris Wheel (or Giant Wheel as we call it in India) to a stop.  Two animals sitting in opposite seats come face to face with each other, fall in love and off they go on their first date.  What happens on their date comes next, in a comic strip fashion. 

Of the 10, four are complete washout:
  1. the tortoise is late for the dinner with the rabbit (or hare);
  2. the duck is faints on blasted with 3 stereos by the octopus;
  3. the octopus in turn is put off in the sushi bar by the bear; and,
  4. the chameleon wants to be someplace else at the squirrel’s squeaks.
valentine's_day_google_doodle_gone_wrong

Another 4 stories storyboard winning love:
  1. the crow having fun with the hippo;
  2. the frog crooning to the crow on a boat;
  3. the horse and the tigress holding hands;
  4. the monkey having a great time at the disco with the elephant.
valentine's_day_google_doodle_going_good

One is a toss up:
  1. the rabbit and the porpoise having different tastes;
And the last one pokes fun at the Fox TV:
  1. the Fox and TV (get it ?!?) alone and without anyone to love.
valentine's_day_google_doodle_pokes_fox_tv

BTW is there any connection between the stories and the Aesop’s fables?  I mean there is the hare and the tortoise, the frog and the bird - 2 that immediately come to mind.

Read More

Views under the News - 14 February 2013

The comments are probably the (fictitious, imaginary, unexpressed, tongue-in-cheek) subtext, views and events behind the News Reports, and solely intended to bring a smile to the readers. They have no connection to events and characters in real life. No offence or disrespect of any nature is intended to any person, (and especially to Indians), race, religion, community, caste, profession or sex.
;-)
-----------------------------------
  • Will ban AugustaWestland if bribery charges proved: Defence Minister.
    • Wasn’t Westland involved in a similar scandal during Rajiv Gandhi years?
  • Sahara: SEBI orders freezing of accounts and seizure of property.
    • Perhaps P. Chidambaram should tell SEBI to implement a ‘KYC’ pronto.
  • Terror groups in Pakistan vow to revenge Afzal Guru.
    • Ready the gallows.  More terrorists coming for the noose.
  • Aadhaar ID will become the lifeline of Aam Aadhmi.
    • Suicidal farmers of Maharashtra, Andhra and TN should rejoice.
  • All further payments to AugustaWestland put on hold.
    • Are they going to repay the bribes back to AugustaWestland?
  • Pakistan’s Sind province to be henceforth called ‘Sindh’.
    • At least one province has realised living in Pakistan is ‘Hell’.
  • China to react harshly towards North Korea.
    • Kim Jong-un will not be addressed as ‘Great Successor’ by state media.
  • American Airlines and US Airways set to merge.
    • With or without Dreamliners?
  • BBC not to publish Kate Middleton pregnancy photos, out of decency.
    • Where was this decency when Jimmy Savile rained abuse for 21 years?
  • Israel admits to holding “Prisoner X” after court order due media & public pressure.
    • Israel is the only ‘liberal’ democracy in the Middle East:  Netanyahu in Dec ‘10
  • Google Doodle for Valentine’s Day depicts Ferris Wheel.
    • Perhaps to show that Love has its ups and downs.
google_doodle_for_valentine's_day_2013
Read More
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Support - Donate

Your Blog is

Donate thro ECWID

Contact Form