Freedom and politics

The Maanga argues in his blog titled 'Khushboo and PMK' that the PMK or the self-appointed 'Tamil Protection' squad is well within their rights say what they may about Khushboo or anyone they consider a threat to Tamil culture. What The Maanga has conviniently or negligently ignored is that Khushboo never through slippers, tomatoes, etc at the 'moral police' of Tamilian culture but she was treated to that and worse. Maybe 'Freedom of Speech' is one thing but agitating and instigating people towards such activities for sheer political mileage is despicable.
I will also be following the impending TN elections in 2006 and would like to start reporting on the lead-up campaigns, candidacy and leadership issues ala The Maanga.

Hurt and healing

I've done some very stupid things and hurt myself physically in the last 22 years. Pain that accompanies these injuries have taught me to appreciate the value of good health. It is the healing process though that has really amazed me. The body heals itself through a series of pre-determined processes.
But what about emotional trauma? Does the body/mind have a set process by which it goes about repairing the pain?
Is pain a part of the growing up process? This heaviness in the heart is disconcerting.
I saw a movie recently, where the heart is described as a muscle and analogous to going to the gym, is the process of going through mental trauma. The heart grows.. stronger. It is fitter for the next time around.
No pain, no gain.. eh.

Master's proposal - Venus atmospheric research – significant yet unanswered questions

Venus has been dubbed Earth’s ‘evil twin’. Looking closer, the underlying depth of science behind this odd nomenclature becomes clearer. Ruthless temperatures and pressure conditions on the surface characterize the planet’s unforgiving nature, while similar structure and genesis establish kinship between the closest neighbours in the Solar system. In spite of this enigmatic combination, of a resemblance mixed with stark differences, the level of research in recent years has not done justice to the scientific potential.

Comparison of the current states of the Venusian, Earth and Martian atmospheres shows the extraordinary divergence in evolution of similar terrestrial planets under slightly varying initial conditions. Venus, subjected to warmer conditions early in planetary evolution, is believed to have evaporated all the water and creating a greenhouse environment, which resulted in increased temperatures and baking of carbon dioxide out of rocks, which in turn amplified the greenhouse environment. Earth atmosphere underwent some greenhouse effects but biotic life and presence of liquid water helped dissolve excess carbon dioxide, thus creating a delicate yet essential balance for life to evolve. The Martian atmosphere, on the other hand, may have experienced little greenhouse effects and the carbon dioxide dissolved in the soil and the water froze from the cold temperatures. Such vast differences amongst adjacent planets stress the importance of simultaneous research efforts in this regard and negligence of Venusian research will invariably paint an incomplete picture.

Moral authority or Fem Adolf

I got to this link while browsing thro The Maanga. Whilst not completely convinced by The Maanga's judgment of what this woman needed more so than people need oxygen, I am confident that she's talking through the wrong orifice. In other words, she's farting.
I'm appalled that The Hindu, where the article was published, has even allowed this sort of nonsense to be printed and distributed. Maybe, they should start a weekly section, publishing select pieces from the 'Mein Kempf'.
The Hindu partially redeems itself via this.

You read it here first..or second # 1

Metaphors are the sweetness of this bitter-sweet life or are they?
Getting carried away like 'a corpse on a funeral procession'.
Haha

CBSE directive

The Central Board of Secondary Education has directed its affiliated schools to provide free education to all girl students who are "single child" in their family.

This article was in The Hindu dated 5th November.
My thoughts on this are, as commented on The Maanga:
Private schools, with the exception of few, have proved to be big money-minting institutions. Large sums of money, under the official billing of 'Facilities Development schemes', are being demanded as donations.The norm today is that majority of students attending private schools take tuitions outside the school. The schools have become but another 'state' institution - something everyone has to attend but with no great meaning, significance or 'educational' quality. Sure, this CBSE directive may not be the best solution, but it tries to address an issue that was being swept away under the carpet as if it never existed. I believe in a loan-type system, where the student's fees are paid by the government to the private school. The student once passing out of the school pays the goverment back in the form of taxes. This way, I believe that the schools won't have to compromise on teaching quality or facilities due to the greater number of students or due to the financial constraints that would arise out of the proposed system.

Rural E-literacy

I've been intrigued by this concept that has been the one of the cornerstones of Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam's 'India 2020- A developed nation' plan. I also read on the internet, about some fine work done in development of villages into 'Information Centres' by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. Reading verbatims of Presidential addresses and listening to MS Swaminathan at his recent lecture in Canberra, I somehow was not totally convinced how beneficial these development schemes were going to be. How relevant will it be for a daily wage labourer or farmer to familiarize himself with computers, I naively wondered.
But, today I see how increasingly dependant people are on E-bay and other internet based shops. E-commerce is a recognized degree in many universities.
So I reconsider my previous thoughts. I can see the merits in cutting out the money-minded middle man in the process. Thus making the farmer or weaver in the rural region the beneficiary of profits.
Some of the possible drawbacks of the implementation of such a scheme, other than mind-boggling logistical issues, would be how that may affect local markets. I read a fine post which defined GDP as such:
GDP = export - import + investment
Going by this an increase in export would definitely help with the GDP.

Cricketing conundrums #1

Finally, I like reading Cricinfo articles again. I feel I can open the 'Sports' section in every Indian newspaper without trepidation! Life is beautiful.. when India does well at cricket. :O)
However, one minor bone I have to pick with the Supersub rule (though it has worked wonders for India recently) is that of substituting a batsman. According to the rule, a bowler can be 'supersubbed' after bowling, say, 4 overs and the Supersub will be allowed to bowl the remaining quota of that 'subbed' bowler's overs (6 in this case).
But can a batsman, whilst in the middle of his innings, be 'supersubbed', thus leaving the 'Supersub' to play out the remainder of the 'subbed' batsman's innings?

This, being far from a cricketing or logical fallacy, I assume arises from the imbalance in the fact, that a batsman could bat for as long as he wants (upto the 50 overs per side limit) but the bowler regardless only gets 10 overs. Maybe, the sport of cricket is indeed tilted towards the bat beating the ball!

P.S: http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/SL_IN_IND/SCORECARDS/SL_BOM-PRES-XI_22OCT2005.html