The Big Debate !

Last night was the first of the big Presidential debates. The first of a few between Republican nominee President George.W.Bush and Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry of Massachussetts, the debate should put to rest some questions about the oratorical strengths of the respective candidates. While the policies and political agenda of the candidates assume a lot of significance, in the past, the visual and oratorical appeal of the candidate has been the most important factor that people have looked for.

This time the venue was the UM Convocation Center at University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fl. The show was hosted by Jim Lehrer of PBS. The hour and a half long debate was based on rules agreed upon by the representatives of the candidates and the questions were all by Jim Lehrer. For Senator Kerry, it was a chance to address a much wider audience than before and to lay to rest claims that he was a flip-flopper. For President Bush, it was a chance to assert his confidence and control over the foreign affairs of the country, and to also justify his "invasion" of Iraq. To that effect, Senator Kerry did a better job than President Bush. For most of the debate, President Bush kept reverting to the "mixed-signals" being sent by Senator Kerry. There was neither any new material nor an admittance of the fact that things were going very wrong in Iraq. Instead President Bush continued to prey on the flip-flop tag of Senator Kerry as he has done during most of his campaign. Senator Kerry, for the most part was trying to defend his one big decision to support the authorizing troops to Iraq in Congress. This one decision of his continues to haunt his presidential aspirations and might very well prove to be campaign's downfall. But beyond his defense, Senator Kerry's command over the language and the debate as such was very evident. Senator Kerry dominated the proceedings and was on the offensive while President Bush continued to beat the mixed-signals accusation to death. In addition to the verbal drama, the body language of the participants were available for contrast to the audience via the split screen display in CSPAN. While Senator Kerry appeared failry poised and confident, President Bush appeared troubled and disinterested in the proceedings.

Many analysts, while agreeing that Senator Kerry won the debate, also indicated that debates rarely swayed the public. All that this did was give Senator Kerry a fighting chance in what was appearing to be a lost cause. This would also trigger more interest in the public for the second and third debates, not to mention the only Vice Presidential debate this Tuesday.

It would be really interesting to watch similar debates between the candidates during the Indian elections. Unfortunately, the candidates get chosen amidst great drama much later than the elections themselves. While there are always a bunch of possible candidates, elections in India have thrown up so many interesting political marriages of convenience that it would be unwise to bet on the Prime Minister elect, until he has met the President and formally submitted the support signatures of his and other parties. Democracy assumes a totally new context, when it comes to electing India's Prime Minister totally unlike the one we are currently witnessing. With some renewed vigor in the final stages of the election campaign, this is one month of the year (actually 4 years) that would make for the best of political masala.

Fall is here. This was a shot taken in King of Prussia, PA in the early weeks of Fall last year. 

Houston, we have a problem !

This week all eyes are focussed on the Ansari X Prize contest which promises a purse of $10 million (no less) to the first team that finances and launches a space ship capable of holding three or more people, and makes two trips in a span of two weeks to space (a height of 100 km is acceptable). Today, Michael Melvill, a veteran space pilot made the succesful trip with SpaceShipOne, a privately funded effort sponsored amongst others by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. In a related news, Sir Richard Branson, the maverick founder and CEO or the Virgin Group of UK, signed a deal with SpaceShipOne to launch Virgin Galactic, an intergalactic spaceliner that is expected to launch commercial space trips in 2007.While I would love to dedicate this posting to all that has been happening in the X-Prize front, I would rather discuss about something that I feel needs to be addressed.

Many a time, I have felt that the money spent on the space race between the nations of the world, and now rich entreprenuers could be channelised to developmental activities that uplift the living conditions of millions of poor people throughout the world. This is not to say that the entreprenuers are not doing enough to this effect. But given the amount of money and enthusiasm that is poured into making commercial space travel a reality, it also gives us a moment to ponder, is this all really necessary ? Is it not enough for man to walk on the moon that now we need to work and spend millions of research dollars on commercial space travel. To flog the same old reason once more, could the same money not be used for AIDS research ? Space travel is a fascinating subject and it not only demonstrates that man can go where he wishes to, but also serves to bring out the very best in science and technology. Unfortunately that same science does not have a cure for AIDS. The most recent SARS attack served as a stark reminder of the fact that there are diseases aplenty that could strike us and cripple not just a few people but large economies like China and other neighbouring Asian nations.

NASA's space research has been pioneering to say the least. It has also resulted in many technological advancements that have resulted in the betterment of our standards of living. But today, in its pursuit of conquering Mars, NASA has spent billions of dollars that definitely would and could have been used better. The question is not about NASA's purpose. The question is about how much and how far would man have to go, not to mention how many billion dollars need to be spent to prove our mastery over space and the universe when there are so many unsolved and life threatening issues that plague us in this very Earth ?

With every succesful space mission, a few million or more people are condemned to life and death due to starvation and disease. Is it really worth so much ?

Yada Yada Yada !

I give up. My friends know me to be a die-hard(and something more) Seinfeld fan. I wanted to see how long I could keep without referring to something in the Seinfeld cosmos in my blog. At this stage, the news was too big for me to skip. The cast is getting back together, one more time. AP reports that the crew is getting together for a retrospective, "The Seinfeld Story" on the 25th of November. Sadly, I will be out of the country that particular day. I am starting to make plans to ask people to record the show for me. I have'nt preordered my Seinfeld DVDs out on the 23rd of November, just to not miss the UPS guy when he comes home to find me away.

One might ask, why this obsession with a show about nothing. Apart from the reason that Seinfeld is the most popular sitcom ever, to me, it is the show that put things out there that we always felt strongly about but never had a channel to express. The hilarity of seeing George screw up one more job or Elaine dumping yet another boyfriend or Kramer coming up with one more hare-brained scheme to get rich quickly, all under the ultra-scrutiny of the totally jobless cereal crazy lactose intolerant Seinfeld is just the tops. In my opinion, Seinfeld does not have a lot of pop culture references. It is pop culture in itself. It redefined the way sitcoms are written. It was a phenomenon that just survives the test of time. As one of the many thousand visitors to a popular Seinfeld blog, I see people from all walks of life just reliving each and every episode, be it the all-time classic "The Contest" to "The Hamptons". Everyone has his favorite character, his favorite quote, favorite episode and all.

I would love to just keep on writing about Seinfeld. I have seen and relived every one of the episodes atleast a few times each. But I'll stop here. There really is no need for this Yada Yada Yada. I just cant wait until November for the first lot of DVDs. So until then, I will head to my taped reruns. Serenity Now.

The G word

Given the huge popularity enjoyed by everything Google does these days(nevermind the corporate missteps leading to their IPO) in the eyes of the masses, it comes as no surprise that Google is preparing to launch its own browser.

I have been an active user of Gmail for the past few months and have found it to be an extremely convenient and innovative mail service, not to mention the vast storage space of 1GB per mailbox provided. The labelling system is unique and definitely useful and the conversation thread management mechanism is alone worth having a Gmail account. The service which is still on an invite-only basis has become so popular that they are sold for a dollar or higher on ebay. The cool factor of being one of the select few(although the few has been increasing fairly fast over the last month or so) with a Gmail account, coupled with the 1GB space has generated a great demand for it. As with its pioneering search engine, Google has come up trumps with its email service. It would be interesting to watch how google starts handling the accounts once it becomes a regular service and comes out of its beta, invite-only stage. While Yahoo has responded by upping its storage capacity to 100 MB and also improving its service, Hotmail from Microsoft continues to be the bad boy with a paltry 2MB (where is the promised 250 MB?) , not to mention the regular "Server is busy" messages and the annoying "Mailbox is approaching its limit" indicators all over. In fact its interesting to note that inspite of announcing an upgrade to 250MB mailboxes this summer (Summer is over. Officially), Hotmail continues to push for its Plus service that would not make much sense, after the mailbox size upgrade. As always, mixed signals continues to be Microsoft's forte.

Google, now cash rich with 1.67 billion dollars is preparing a multi-pronged attack into what is conventionally MS-Yahoo-AOL only territory. Its rumored to be working on a browser GBrowser based on the solid Mozilla Firefox source code. Given the security flaws in IE and the increasing popularity and press attention for Mozilla Firefox, Google would be starting off on the right foot. Added to that is Google's penchant for all things new and different and we have a much anticipated browser on the horizon.

On a final note, there is so much talk of Google and what its going to do with all its money that the rumor mills are going to be working overtime on this. Adding fuel to the fire is the number of engineers google is adding to its workforce every week (in its own unique way, I must add). Sergey Brin and Larry Page would not have envisaged the amount of interest and hype they would be generating when they created their now ubiquitous browser at Stanford. But given that Google generates all its money without compromising on all the free services they offer to the masses, this is one race horse that will remain a public favorite for a while.

Baseball for the passionate cricket fan

This week did not start too well. On Sunday, a weak Indian cricket team lost to a better Pakistani team at the ICC Cricket Championships in England. The same afternoon, the Bronx Bombers lived up to their name and destroyed Pedro Martinez and an apparent bid by the Red Sox for the AL-East division title. In the process the Sox were reminded of how frail their pitching was against a good offense and how quickly the much touted Red Sox defense could fail with some disciplined pitching. If anything it taught the RedSox that they still had a long way to go before they could think about winning the American League title leave alone the World Series.

The baseball season is heading towards an exciting phase with some division titles and both the AL and NL wild card positions still up for grabs. While the NL wildcard race seems to be a three-way race between the Cubs, Giants and the Astros, the AL wild card is still a possibility for the Texas Rangers and the Angels although the Red Sox are close to clinching it. The Pennant Races are on!

Indians in America tend to compare baseball with cricket and the former almost always pales in comparison. While I had the same problems initially, one thing that has helped me enjoy baseball is the wide array of teams and the possibility of a new champion every year. Cricket in recent years has come to be dominated almost completely by the Aussies. While there has been the occasional challenger in South Africa or India, there never has been the thrill of seeing a new challenger and a new victor on a regular basis. In this regard, baseball has a distinct edge that makes the season all the more enjoyable. Last year's champion, the Florida Marlins are struggling for a place this post-season. The 2002 champions, Arizona Diamondbacks are the last in their league. This year there is going to be a new champion and while the Cardinals and Yankees have shown that they have got what is required to win the World Series, they have also demonstrated that they have chinks in their armor. As a cricket fan, I have been fortunate enough to be able to make a temporary transition to baseball ( nothing still compares to a vintage India-Pakistan duel with Sachin blasting the bowlers all over the park) . Afterall without sports, life is dull indeed.

iPod Nation : A primer (as if you need one)

Earlier today, I posted a picture of me with my friend's iPod taken during a recent trip. The device was so cool, I was wowed enough to get myself snapped with it. It has been an interesting experience following the phenomenal growth of the iPod-iTunes combo right from the time Apple announced the iTunes store to the launch of the iPod in the US. While Apple has always been a pioneer in designing the uber-cool gadgets, it excelled even its own lofty standards with the iPod and its sibling, the iPod Mini. Today, the iPod is a part of every college student's wish list, if they havent gotten one already. In addition, the iPod Mini has firmly placed itself in the purses of the foremost of the world's fashionistas.

Today, geeks all over the world are trying to get the most out of their iPods and its accesories. There are a few hundred hacks dedicated to doing everything from using the iPod as a universal remote to reading the daily news using RSS feeds and to boot up your iMac with it. This website has many such hardware and software hacks for the interested many.

I have had a chance to play with the iPod and its wannabes, the Dell DJ and Creative Zen Touch. The Dell DJ is clunky and while it is about $50 cheaper than a comparable iPod, it does not allow the device to be used to store data unlike the iPod and does not have the click wheel to navigate easily between menus. The Zen Touch from Creative is much heavier than the iPod and the DJ and has a less than desirable playlist management system. Beyond all other factors, the iPod scores a grand slam in its coolness factor and sheer delight in handling comfort.

I have'nt been able to justify a $300 music device for myself, not to include the accesories and support plan which would altogether set me back by $400 but someday I hope I will. Until then I will continue to drool at all your Pods, which you can get at the Apple Store or the HP store .

Enjoy the music.

iPod Nation : Are you a part of it? 

The Art of being Anonymous

The Internet offers people what they like to do the most: Comment, review and critique anonymously. While this is a great way to express your true opinion without fearing an act of retribution while participating in politically sensitive discussions, it also serves as a really poor way of disguising oneself in many others.

Anonymous posting allows people to make personal attacks without having to face the response for their words. This sounds great because here you are venting all your anger, jealousy and what not about somebody without him or her ever knowing who it was. The only problem though is that by doing so, you get to be the greatest jerk in the world. He is a true man or she is a true woman, who faces up to his or her thoughts, actions and words. By posting anonymously, the poster assumes that he or she is the more intelligent person whereas, in reality, he or she is the fool because words assume no significance without the conviction and support of the user.

The reason I thought of this at this juncture was an interesting and thoroughly amusing personal comment on my blog which I just received from a so called "Anonymous" person(I like to think of them as cowards). He or she was meticulous enough to point a lot of things to me, good and bad (some very definitely useful I have to say) but did not have the guts to say who they were. That took away all the good from the comment since I cannot take advice from someone, who himself or herself needs a lot of it.

With blogging becoming huge and discussion boards mushrooming all over the internet on every possible and impossible topic in the world, it is a good time for all of us to pause and think.
Are we such weak people that we cannot accept and own up to our very own words ?
By hiding beyond the convenient confines of the Anonymous realm, are we in fact, hiding from our very own insecurities and fears ?

"Cogito, ergo sum"

Russians and tennis

All year we have been hearing about Russian women performing or rather winning the WTA tennis majors. The latest WTA rankings (www.wtatour.com) shows that there are 7 Russians( 9 if you consider Belarus which was a part of the erstwhile USSR) in the top 20. This is more than any other country has in the list. This has been all the more surprising since I have really not heard of anyone other than Martina Navratilova performing at the highest levels of the game for a long time (atleast as long as I have been following the game). Given the amount of upheavals and economic problems Russia has had over the last few years, its truly remarkable and a big credit to the athletes. Many of their stories showthe tremendous sacrifices made by the family to give their daughters the very best of coaching required to perform at the highest levels of the game. This has often involved the family sending the daughter off to the US where the facilities are some of the very best for prodigies. Hats off to the parents of these tennis stars.

In India, where facilities are not as good as Russia but the economic support can be fairly good if the player shows promise, there has been an utter lack of female tennis prospects, leave alone stars. The only tennis player from India to have ever made an impact in the Indian papers itself was V.Nirupama. I have to admit, I have not even heard of any other Indian female tennis player mentioned regularly in the papers. Such is the level of the game. Much of this can be attributed to the stamina of Indian athletes which has plagued not just Indian tennis but Indian sports in general. I wouldnt want to discuss that in this blog as there is so much that can be said about whats with the performance of Indian sports or rather the lack of it. There is also very little grassroots support for women in tennis and not much corporate sponsorship. This situation needs to change. The success of Russians in tennis is a good example of how stars are born with the support of families and total focus on part of the player to make it to the top. We sure can learn a lot from them. Hopefully we do.

Yankees suck ... Go RedSox !!!

I am typing this as I watch the Yankees bullpen performing as awfully as only they can with minnows Kansas City. The only thing surprising is that they have survived all season long atop their league with such an undependable bullpen. They just finished pitching what has been one of the longest innings I have ever witnessed with KC getting 10 runs and 15 batters
As a RedSox fan, nothing gives me greater pleasure, of course. While the Sox lost what should have been an easy series with Seattle, they have a better bullpen than the Yankees with league leading pitchers like Curt Shilling and Pedro Martinez. This weekend's series at Yankee Stadium should be very interesting. With both offenses on an overdrive and their rivalry legendary, it might come down to the pitching. The winner might just end up being the one who pitches better. I will be screaming myself hoarse all weekend hopefully in utter joy as the RedSox sweep the Yankees.
On a digressive note, the Patriots began the defense of their Bowl with an unimpressive win over the Colts. While the defense was almost indifferent all of the first half, thankfully it came back alive in the second to thwart the attempts of a very good Peyton Manning. Tom Brady was clinical as usual and hopefully he retains the luck and gameplay that got the Patriots their second title in three years, earlier this year.
As an Indian, I cannot but not mention proceedings in the cricketing world. The Indian team which was doing so well until three months ago, took a really untimely break and performed or rather didnt in both the Asia Cup and the NatWest trophy. The ICC Champions Trophy currently underway is definitely not in their grasp given their poor performance and no Sachin to boost the team. The Sachin factor was evident when the team crumbled time and again in Sri Lanka and in England. We are still not ready to talk about an Indian cricket team sans the Master Blaster.
Thats about all for now as I take in the joy that I derived watching the Yankees give away 10 runs in an inning to KC.:)

Up-and-Downtown

I was in downtown San Francisco a week back. It was a great trip and one thing that stuck me was the way people lived, parked and commuted in the downtown or in my opinion an up-and-downtown. The roads were precipitously dipping and rising at times and while it proved to be fun driving there, I dreaded to think how messy and painful it could become during rush hour. I have'nt experienced rush hour downtown SFO traffic but I can get an idea.

My friend tells me that it was the result of a civil engineer's lack of suitable knowledge of the terrain while planning the city. But given that its both a major tourist attraction and a pain for local commuters, is it really serendipity on part of the designer or just his greatest folly ?

And one other thing that I would be interested to know is if anyone every missed his turn in crooked street and went hurtling down the town ?

Downtown San Francisco with its beautiful yet extremely inconvenient up-and-down-and-up roads. 

Trying to be the cool dude !!! 

Peer pressure

I tried my best to be an Indian in Rome. I really did.The whole world has become one big blog fractal scrammed with similar yet different blogs of its zillion odd. I have been reading the blogs of friends aplenty for a long time now. Before the blog revolution hit the web taking with it all in its wake, I was there. But before I could latch on, the ocean of blogging was filled with "unique" blogs from all over. I ran out of things to blog before I could start blogging.Funny, when you think about it. I had so much to say but everybody had said it before I did !

The purpose of this blog of mine is really to be there. Put out some stuff once in a while. Fancy the blog with a photo occasionally. I am interested to see how long I persevere in this project of mine.

Before I sign off my first blog, I gotta thank my fellow mangaboys (more about them in future postings -I gotta have some material for the future) Paran, Sree, Pradeep and Aaron for inspiring me to do this blogging thing.

And by the way, Go RedSox and Go Patriots !!!