Porn for Pandas??

Sometimes, guys get tired OR simply not interested OR too lazy!! You know what I am talking about. See, Pandas are not an exception either!! I just couldn’t stop giggling while reading this story. Apparently some Chinese zoo officials are using Viagra and porno movies to encourage panda to mate!!

A similar experiment in Thailand failed to make a panda perform! Read the full report here.

I have a serious question – Why are they calling it a ‘Porn’ ? An ‘educational video’ would be more appropriate since the aim was to teach male Pandas on how to impregnate the female. I’m sure it was not directed by one of those crack heads with ponytail from Santa Barbara!! I’m sure there were no handcuffs or blindfolds involved!

Can you believe that male pandas didn’t know the 'basic' stuff before seeing the video?? I thought it all came natural to species. What's wrong with today's generation? See, here too, female species seem to be smarter than their counterparts. As usual, guys just don’t get it sometimes!!

Or…what If all these male pandas are ‘coming out of the closet’?? May be, they are all gays…who knows? Oh Gosh – how come I am so smart ?

Richard Gere, Culture Police and Public Peeing!

What do you think is behind the minds of those who oppose Darwinism to those who support suicide bombers to those who call for Richard Gere’s arrest? Garbage!!! Plenty of garbage eating can explain their ‘selective bashing’ and attitude in general.

When I heard Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty incident first, I just ignored it as another nuisance from self-proclaimed ‘culture police’ in India. You see such characters all over the world. Now, Richard Gere incident is slowly gaining momentum with a court issuing a warrant for his arrest! I saw the full video clip of Gere kissing Shilpa. I honestly found nothing obscene – In fact, everyone was laughing and having a good time. It wasn’t like ‘making out’ or something!! So, the culture police found it obscene, uh? How about peeing in public? (I have seen even worse!!!) Is it obscene for them? How about spitting ‘paan’ stuff all over the walls in public? How about those unflushed, broken, extremely disgusting public toilets all over India? Is anyone worried about these things? I guess ‘culture police’ don’t care about these silly things because it won’t put them on the front pages of News papers!

Look at the following pictures – supposedly from the silicon valley of India – Bangalooru city!! Violating laws in public is ok with our courts and ‘culture police’? Read more on this pictures here.

TIME - Most Influential...

It has been a busy week so far. I didn’t have whole lot of time to do anything other than my regular work, gym and reading. When I get both Forbes and National Geographic on the same day, it means no time for anything else!!

Here is some funny thing you may want to know. I don’t know how much you trust one of those ‘Top 100 companies of the year’ or ‘Top 10 best places to work’ lists. Anyone with minimum I.Q knows how all those scams work! I know one of the ‘most admired’ companies that treated its employees like piece of garbage. Anyways, here is a list of most influential people of the year by TIME based on the votes. Click here.

Look Sanjaya Malakar is at no.12!! Almost the entire Hollywood crowd has made it to the list – don’t ask me how they are influencing the world!

Here is my candidate for the ‘Most influential People’ – The Iraqi Insurgents. They are clearly the most influential people because they are shaping up the policies and politics of USA - one of the most powerful countries on this planet! They are on news everyday, they are defining a new beginning in Middle East for better or worse.

Well, one man’s opinion…

More stories from an upside-down world...

Another case of ‘technicality’ trumping the ‘reality’! This scumbag called Kenneth Glenn Hinson, manages to hoodwink people like you and me – thanks to the shrewd lawyers and our legal system that gives ‘benefit of doubt’ to a lowlife like this one!

Full details here.

It’s amazing to see how our legal process helps criminals more than their victims! Or. am I wrong? Well, hope I am wrong!

Old man and his…

Oh by the way, I ended up slightly cutting my finger last night when I was doing the dishes. I didn’t know that the cup had a crack – as I started washing, it broke in my hand cutting my skin. There was so much bleeding – For a moment, I felt like a Terminator!! I am all good now.

I had subway sandwich for lunch. I see that they are selling cookies and brownies at the counter. So, there goes their claim to encourage ‘healthy’ diet! Did you notice another thing – how come almost all the subway shops in metro area are run by Indians? I also notice that they don’t accept credit cards. What the heck!! Man - Desis know how to cut the expenses and maximize the profits!!

Also, I read about a couple of suicide cases from the small town I grew up. How do you kill yourself? I just don’t get it. It defies all the logic. I can’t even take toothache for a day. How can you kill yourself – Just blows my mind!! Well...

Depressed

I have switched off the TV in an attempt to retain my sanity. Killing, guns, violence and all the videos of the killer played over and over again with ‘experts’ giving their opinion – It’s sick.

Even before authorities could identify all the dead bodies, Pro and anti-gun lobbies are busy attacking each other. What amazed me was the extreme right wing – calling for more guns so tragedies like this could be avoided. They honestly believe that more guns on the street and schools (yes, gun carrying professors and students) could have avoided this tragedy!!

By the way, in the middle of all this mania, we didn’t even notice that Bagdad had one of the bloodiest days leaving more than 190 people dead. It’s like six Virginia tech massacres on the same day. Well, since massacres of ‘Virginia Tech’ magnitude happens everyday in Iraq, we don’t think it’s newsworthy. After all, who said all men are created equal? Value of human life varies based on nationality, skin color and ethnicity - right?

Peace.

MP tries to sneak in a woman using his wife’s passport

Here is another very disturbing and frustrating story highlighting the level of corruption. This guy (Babubhai Katara) was so stupid that he underestimated the officials at airport.
Now, please don’t tell me that this was an isolated incident. This guy wouldn’t have attempted it if he hadn’t seen others doing the same for money!

Read the full story here.

Shame on you, CNN!

“Sheehan described the gunman -- who later shot and killed himself according to police -- as a young man wearing a short-sleeved tan shirt and black ammunition vest.” – From CNN website.

See how carefully they avoided the ethnicity of the killer! The student quoted above (Erin Sheehan) had clearly mentioned that the killer was a young Asian.

Is this ‘politically correct’ madness or what?
CNN – shame on you!

Oh....

Time for silence.
Time for a prayer.
Time for peace.

Infy and Employee growth

No!! I am not talking about Infy’s internal struggle to offer a decent growth plan to its employees!! : ) As a share holder, all I care about is it’s current stock price! If they can’t get their acts together and attract good talent, they would definitely be in trouble down the line. Don’t get me wrong – they would still be very profitable. But the quarter-to-quarter ‘growth’ factor may not be very impressive. Sometimes I wonder if Indian IT sector is nearing a saturation point?

William Trent writes…

“Infosys Technologies (INFY) Announced Results for the Quarter and Year Ended March 31, 2007, and what struck us was not sales or earnings, but employees:
Gross addition of 5,992 employees (net 2,809) for the quarter by Infosys and its subsidiaries
72,241 employees as on March 31, 2007 for Infosys and its subsidiaries
In our earnings preview we said “They will make the numbers, but investors will listen closely to the update on visas and employee retention.” Doing the math, 3,182 employees left the company (the difference between net and gross.) That number is 5.2% of the number of employees at the beginning of the quarter, which we figure to be an annualized attrition rate along the lines of 20%, in line with the rates that have concerned us for some time. However, instead of the more than 10,000 new hires in the July-September quarter last year (which admittedly may have been boosted by graduation timing) there were less than 6,000 this quarter. As a result, the total number of employees grew just 4% sequentially - perhaps a 16% annualized rate.
While still impressive, it is important to remember that IT outsourcing is a labor-intensive industry. Revenue growth is very much reliant on adding employees and making them more productive. While revenues can grow faster than employees in the short term due to improved productivity, in the long term the relationship will be fairly tight.
Infosys grew earnings per share by 64% last year and is forecasting 27% growth this year. If the current run rate of employee growth is any indication, investors should expect a significant slowdown next year as well.”

Corruption continues…

Sometime back, I had raised a simple question out of my disappointment towards the breed of leaders we have today! “Are all leaders corrupt?” Or more precisely - Is there any hope of becoming a leader if you are not corrupt and two faced liar? Some of you didn’t like the tone of it.

Look at the latest from the bunch of those despicable leaders who decide our future: Paul Wolfowitz!!

He has ‘apologized’ for getting involved in granting raises to a bank staffer with whom he was romantically involved! uh haa!!

“Wolfowitz personally directed that she should be promoted to management just before leaving (receiving a substantial pay raise) and that she has to have further salary increases at rates above the rate ceiling in the Bank. This raised Riza's salary from $132,660 to $193,590 per year, tax-exempt.” Says the report.

Read the full story here!

Enemy within…

How do you explain a conservative President least concerned about the insane National Debt or uncontrolled Illegal Immigration? How do you explain those liberals supporting Sharia law loving Islamic clerics with ugly beard?

You see them everyday. You know that their actions hurt our society, hurt our families, hurt our wealth, hurt our safety, and hurt our country. They come in all forms – liberals, conservatives, socialists, communists, fascists, racists, and idiots!

They wear these labels to deceive the general public. They shamelessly put forward their ‘talking points’ to suit their agenda. They pretend honesty while mocking the very values they preach in public.

It could be those liberals who promote a culture of ‘blame others for everything’. Or, it could be those conservatives who promote inequality based on religion, sex and race. They are all same! It’s all a game to get elected and get the power. Once elected, they all jump into bed with those Business Corporations to ‘help each other’ out, if you know what I mean!

Look at the list of presidential candidates. Where are the honest men (and women)?

Something wrong ….

I am talking about Narayana Murthy’s recent remarks on National Anthem.

There is something wrong in the picture here.

First, the report got published in a news paper. Then a popular blog runs with it. Next day, it became a hot topic in both houses of the ligeslature and Murthy ‘apologizes’! Murthy also claims that he was quoted ‘out of context’.

What’s really going on? What was the context here? Did he say it or not? How come other News Papers ignored this story if this was true? If he didn’t say anything to offend the National Anthem, why did he apologize? How come a company like Infosys, notoriously known for using media to boost its public image, blew it so bad and ended up foot in its mouth? How did Infy HR department let such a thing happen? Is it filled with boneheads sucking up to their upper management?

Or, are there any personal rivalry between Murthy and a few media outlets / politicians? Is this in any way fueled by caste politics as one of my regular readers suggested?

Gosh – so many questions! There is something clearly wrong here. I don’t think we are getting the full picture yet!

Package Vs Content

You probably saw this on TV last night. Washington Post did an experiment where they had Joshua Bell play the violin incognito outside a D.C Metro subway station. If you didn’t know – Joshua is one of the best violinists in the world. They wanted to see if without the PR, anybody would stop to listen the masterful play. He performed six classical pieces.

And the result? Hardly anybody stopped o listen!! People tossed $32.17 for his 42 minutes of playing. Read the full report and video here.

So there you go - Even the best product can go nowhere without a good packaging in today’s world. Ridiculous? You bet!

Is it true?

If reports are true, here is what one of the IT billionaire who is worshipped as ‘Bill Gates’ of India said:

"Indeed we had arranged for five people to sing the anthem. But then we cancelled it as we have foreigners on-board here. They should not be embarrassed while we sing the anthem.”

Read the full story.

I hope this report is not true! If true, it simply marks a new sign of a sold-out nation! For couple of reasons, I have intentionally avoided writing about this man and his company who claim to be ‘driven by values’.

I really feel sorry for this man. He came from a humble beginning, built a very successful multi-billion dollar business and earned tremendous respect in the eyes of millions. It’s sad to see how he is slowly destroying it in a very self-destructive manner with his ‘out-of-touch with reality’ comments.

Once again, I sincerely hope that success doesn’t lead to more arrogance.

Transition of an old imperialistic power

vajradapi kathorani mrduni kusumadapi
- An old Sanskrit saying.

It means – harder than diamond, softer than flower. It talks about how strength of your character comes from your gentle but strong personality. One doesn’t have to be overly aggressive all the time. That’s what makes a strong person different from a mere thug.

This can be applied to nations as well. Rest of the world will respect a nation based on how it handles different situations – both easy and tough ones.

Look at the recent Iran-British sailors crisis. All the right-wing, conservative media is totally mad at Tony Blair and British government. Many are using this incident to point out how liberal values and multiculturalism have made British an empty nation with no real power. I strongly disagree with this notion. I think Tony Blair did the right thing without immediately jumping on confrontational tactics. It was definitely a good judgment from his side.

We all know that UK is much better country than Iran. Crazy mullahs and Islamic courts can be appreciated and supported only by those crazy mullahs and crazy Islamic clerics. An average person like you and me can never imagine living in such a society. We all know that UK can crush Iran militarily on any given day. We also know that there is little more to the ‘Britain sailors’ story than we heard. Recent reports suggest that these sailors were on some ‘intelligence gathering’ assignment! In any case, we probably will never hear the truth and live with two stories for ever! I'm glad that the drama is over without any destruction and bloodshed.

I guess what gets most of the far-right conservatives going is the fact that Iran could do what they did to British, one of the symbols of an old imperialistic world. They want to see rest of the world supporting everything that western world, super power club does. No dissent, no questioning. 'If you are not with us, you are against us' – is the prevailing mentality. They wanted to see a display of military power by UK to end this crisis.

Again, you don’t have to be 'harder than diamond' all the time. Only bullies of the world want confrontation in every single step. Strong nations don’t. They choose battles.

Good, Bad and toothache (ugly)

My toothache has returned and I am trying to fight it in my free time. So, no political rants today!

World goes on as usual – Happiness in one place and sadness in other places. Those British sailors and their families have every reason to celebrate. Poor guys! Nobody wants to be caught by enemy nations and get their balls busted and heads smashed in the name of interrogation! God! Can you imagine it?

On the other hand, there is a sad new as well – my friends from India probably know what I am talking about – Poornachandra Tejaswi, one of my favorite writers passed away. I remember reading ‘Karvalo’ in my Primary school days borrowed from a local library. ‘Mandanna’ character is still so fresh in my memory! I really believed that it was a true story! Later, we got regular dosage of his writings in Lankesh Patrike as well. He had an amazing way of narrating even the most ordinary incidents in his unique style. I remember my first visit to Moodigere, a small, sleepy town in western ghat section, where he lived and ran his coffee estates. We were on the way to visit some temple in that area. No wonder he chose to live in such an amazing place.

Incidentally his daughters were studying in the same Engineering College that I joined later. It was true that me and my friends who worshipped him as a writer got little puzzled to see his daughters always speak in ‘English’! Well…

When I was in India last year, the first thing I bought was his latest book – ‘Maya Loka’ from Athri Book center. Ohh, Athri Book center and its skinny owner with big mustache – I should write about it some other day!

Kiran Chetry...again!

I wrote on Kiran Chetry here earlier.

After an unexpected exit from Fox News, she was immediately grabbed by CNN. Though I don't watch TV 24x7, I remember seeing her face on AC360 once or twice. I wasn't quite sure what was going on.

It's official now - She will join John Roberts on 'American Morning' (6 am - 9 am) on CNN starting from Apreil 16th.

Question is - what happens to Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien, who anchored the same show all these days? Well, based on the reports, they will still continue at CNN working on various assignments.

Kiran Chetry must be finally smiling!

This is truly sick. Read this. Imagine this story in the hands of Al Jazeera! It would be worse than child suicide bomber stories on Fox News!

Ghetto Language!

Report says -
"The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. ... We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.

Poor choice of words? You bet!

Politics, Lies and heckling!

So far, John McCain is my favorite among the presidential candidates. He is the kind of moderate person I would like to see as our commander-in-chief though I don’t agree with him on a few areas like Illegal Immigration. However, he too disappoints me like he did on this weekend. He had said last week that there are neighborhoods in Baghdad where Americans can go for a stroll!! In fact, he did take a brief walk thru the open-air market in Baghdad and bought a few rugs from the local shops. Later, he claimed that Americans are not ‘getting the full picture’ of Iraq and things are getting better.

True – Americans are not getting the full picture! Here is the full picture - McCain was accompanied by hundreds of troops and a few Blackhawk and Apache gunships when he was in Baghdad market! Based on today's reports, the sunny snipers have returned to Baghdad market again!!

I can understand if Michelle Malkin or Laura Ingraham does this and claims that Iraq is peaceful! Definitely not from McCain!

No wonder, he was heckled by Michael Ware from CNN later in the live press conference! You can always dismiss it calling it an ‘outrageous’ act by Michael! But you need to remember one thing – Michael Ware practically lives in Baghdad. Is it wrong to lose temper when you are being lied to daily?

What happened to straight talking John McCain from 2000?