Fidgety Foots

http://www.xkcd.com/594/

Don't throw them away!

This is uber-super-duper-cool. We accidentally had a dirty swiffer cloth go into our washer. It came out intact, clean and dry and staticky! It’s reusable! We use one a week…so we’ll see how long this will last.

Stick that one in the craw of perceived obsolescence.

Sunil’s update: We have now been using the same Swiffer sheet for 3 weeks now (washing after every use) with no problems!!

The past month my colleagues (and to a smaller extent, I) have slogged our asses off for a product that a company that happens to pay us is building. I watched and wondered - why would someone invest so heavily in something that is at best a tenuous link?

The obvious answer is ambition, and that is certainly true for some of the people involved. But for the rest…it’s just the need to be passionate about something.

Sublimating oneself comes naturally to humans. It doesn’t matter what the object of adoration is, the act itself is transcendental and purifying. Some people adore god or children or parents or humanity in general, others adore a project at work.

We’re all looking for a way to rise above ourselves.

Read this article first - Ram Sena reaction to pub attack

Looks like Mutalik left his brain behind for this interview. The guy is saying it’s ok to gratuitously assault men. And women are gullible cows, incapable of free thought, being misled. Patronizing, fanatical and stupid. Great combo.

These people are permanent terrorists in our country. The Mumbai attackers operated swiftly and devastatingly, but the Senas are slow poison, petrifying free thought, progress and individualism.

I bet Ram Sena activists will “protect”  (read molest) any attractive woman who is above their social stratum and wouldn’t give them the time of day under normal circumstances. I would be afraid to go for a walk in Mangalore now. What if one of the Sena goons takes a fancy to me, decides to beat up Sunil and grope me?

Bloody terrorists.

We’re trying to rent out our flat in Bangalore, and a week ago a Muslim family inquired about it. I mentioned this to a friend and it became clear that we would be ill-advised to rent to them. Seemed illogical, but I’m the air-head NRI, out of touch with ground reality, so I asked around.

Every single person I talked to advised me against renting to Muslims.

“Why take a chance?”

“They may be decent folk but some mama/chacha/cousin will come from Karachi and they won’t even know what he’s up to”

“When they find any hanky panky they catch the homeowner first. You’ll be charged with harbouring a terrorist”

“You guys aren’t here, they’ll catch your family and put them in jail. Log mahino tak gaayab ho jaate hain (people disappear for months)”

“I’ve heard that no one will rent to Muslims, some people are even refusing to sell to them”

“How would you feel knowing a bomb was made in your beautiful new house?”

Imagine how the Muslim community must feel, denied accommodation (and God knows what else) on the sole basis of their religion. Is it any wonder they live in ghettos, embittered, feeling like second-class citizens? They’ve stood shoulder to shoulder with other Indians in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack. Yet we have trouble trusting them.

And what of me the “educated” intellectual? What am I to do? It’s true that the majority of terrorist incidents are Muslim-perpetrated. It’s true that the landlords are harassed when subversive activity takes place in a home. It’s very possible that in my absence my  family will be targeted by law enforcement. I know theoretically it shouldn’t happen, but it does. If POTA comes back civil rights will be even more curtailed.

So I can stand by my liberal ideals and risk the comfort and dignity of the people I love. Or I can turn hypocrite and bigot - preaching tolerance, practicing discrimination.

I’m not sure what my decision will be in this case, but it’s unfair that this is my choice.

Bombs went off at 10 locations across the city today, terrorists are holding people hostage at the Taj (Colaba) and Oberoi. I’m  looking at CNN IBN - fire burning at the Taj, the NSG is en route to the Taj, bloodied hostages staring dazed into the camera, shots in the background, ATS chief Karkare shot dead. Casualties so far: 87 dead, 185 injured.

Gritty footage of JJ hospital on the screen, the hospital has been flooded with injured people. Please donate blood at:

• JJ Hospital (022 23739031)
• St George’s Hospital (022 22620240)

Re: cell phones, we were able to get through to family at 6:30 am today. Looks like you can call.

The public is advised to stay indoors.

Watch (almost) live news here: http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/video_streaming.php

The terrorists hijacked a police van and started shooting from inside. The van was chased down and found abandoned. WTF???

Am I the only one who’s irritated by the “exclusive” news coverage on CNN IBN? I understand this is the perfect time for a plug, but come on ya - I’m watching your news coverage already, stop telling me how great you are.

Watched this movie tonight.

It is set in Vietnam, the story simple, Cinderella-like.

The story was old and boring, but the telling…it was exquisite, with sensuous visuals, music and sound. Like meditation, effortless and aware.

CYA spiel - Some may find this boring, please don’t yell at me if you do. The acting is so-so, but the production more than makes up for it.

One thing I must say for Sarah Palin - she’s teased open a bunch of societal scabs just by being. A conservative, “pro-life”, drilling-hungry, lipsticked pitbull hockey mom with a handicapped kid….wowowow so much fodder for discussion, activism and fights here. Throw into the mix an old-ish presidential candidate and these issues barge into your living room and life, staring your family in the face.

Her stance on abortion, borne out by her personal actions is scary. Le Palin had a shotgun wedding and just (at 44 years) delivered a handicapped child. Her 17 year old daughter has “decided” to bear a child to term. The gray band that defines conception is widening and creeping over my rights. Is taking a morning-after-pill is abortion? If so, isn’t taking birth control abortion too? Will contraceptives be banned? Are we looking at Ceausescu’s America? Or a Catholic version where sex exists solely for conception, not pleasure?

And what a brilliant stroke to create a movement that forces women to bear children and then call it ‘pro-life’. The thousand reasoned arguments against it are stymied by the question “if one is not pro-life is one anti-life?” I have to hand it to the conservative right wing nuts - they have the naming down (remember the “Patriot” Act, which shredded civil liberties?).

My inner libertarian is a nervous wreck.

http://www.flexer.info/2008/08/28/hug-a-developer/

Watch the video

This weekend has been dedicated to house cleaning. Cleaning in the sense of cleaning OUT not cleaning UP. My mother-in-law is visiting in a month’s time, which means a second bedroom needs to be reclaimed from the universal-dumping-ground-with-closets.

We started the purge yesterday. Closets were emptied, old treasures exclaimed over, memories revisited. We promised each other that we’d be ruthless with the stuff - anything that was not used for the last year had to go.

Post-sorting, a pile of Some-Day-Stuff stared back at us. The inventory is as follows:

1. Lego mindstorm set
2. Electronic keyboard
3. My dance stuff
4. Sunil’s glof clubs
5. Climbing gear
6. Roller blades
7. A candle-making kit (hasn’t surfaced, but will)
8. Pottery tools (hasn’t surfaced, but will)

How do we throw these away? They’re part of the life that we’ll live when we’re not so busy with work, our mid-life retirement plan, the possibilities that soothe fraught weeks.

So back they went into closet, under bed, under the chaddar awaiting our leisure.