Life’s Keyboard…

…I wish I had one.

  (Keys from Microsoft 2007 Clipboard)

Updated Keyboard as per Rachna’s comment (See comments). I know some of you will object to replacing “Coffee” button but since I don’t drink Coffee, so I would happily swap it with “Undo” button:

Tuesday Tag: How Dumb Am I?

Okay, I am not sure if this dumb quiz is worth anything. To me most of the things in this list can happen to anyone. I am not sure how is it measure of dumbness. But then most probably I will get the highest point in this one. I just wanted to give it a try. So here it goes. The rule says:

The more [x]’ s the “dumber” you are.
[x] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were talking
[ ] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were NOT talking
[x] You have run into a glass/screen door
[x] You have jumped out of a moving vehicle
[x] You have thought of something funny while walking by yourself
[x] Laughed, then watched people give you weird looks
So far: 5
[x] You have run into a tree/bush.
[x] You know that it IS possible to lick your elbow
[x] You have tried to lick your elbow… a few times
[x] You never knew that the Alphabet and Twinkle Twinkle Little star have the same rhythm.
[x] You just tried to sing them.
So far: 10
[x] You have tripped on your shoelace and fallen.
[ ] You have choked on your own spit .
[x] You have seen the Matrix and still don’t get it.
[ ] You’ve never seen the Matrix.
[x] You type only with two fingers.
So far: 13
[ ] You have accidentally caught something on fire
[x] You tried to drink out of a straw, but it went into your nose/eyes.
[x] You have caught yourself drooling.
[ ] You have fallen asleep in class and fell outta your chair
So far: 15
[x] Sometimes you just stop thinking
[x] You are telling a story and forget what you were talking about
[ ] People often shake their heads and walk away from you
[ ] You are often told to use your “inside voice”.
[ ] You use your fingers to do simple math
So far: 17
[ ] You have eaten a bug
[ ] You are taking this test when you should be doing something more important
[x] You have put your clothes on backwards or inside out, and didn’t realize it
[x] You’ve looked all over for something and realized it was in your hand
[x] You have ran around naked in your house. (What's so dumb about that?)
So far: 20
[ ] You repost bulletins because you are scared that what they say will happen to you if you don’t.
[x] You break a lot of things.
[ ] Your friends know not to use big words around you.
[x] You tilt your head when you’re confused
[x] You have fallen out of your chair before
So far: 23
[ ] When you’re lying in bed, you try to find pictures in the texture of the ceiling or wall
[x] The word “ummmmm” is used many times a day.
So far: 24

Total: 24/37

So I am 65% dumb. Who knew?

Again a free for all tag…

Big Brother

Over the years, I have heard my Indian friends complain about how unfair and partial US is. How it keeps giving aid to Pakistan even though Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism in India! How blind-sighted US is when it comes to Pakistan! After 9/11 attacks, we all sat up and thought that, now US will realize how stupid it has been in providing aid to a country that sponsors terrorism. But to no avail. And then as terrorist started concentrating inside the Pakistan border, we thought may be now US support to Pakistan will stop. But no. Then Taliban started raising its head in Pakistan. And US gave yet another aid to Pakistan! We think that US is blind-sighted. It’s being stupid in giving aid to Pakistan. But is it so? Do you really think US is that stupid? Honestly?

Well let’s take a step back from Indo-Pak relation and see the world politics from US perspective. Let’s start in 1940s. As we all know (or I am assuming), after World War II the world was divided in two super powers and we ventured into era of cold war between these two super powers. Coincidentally, at the same time Indian partition took place. If you have seen a world map, you will notice that we are geographically very close to  former USSR which made our stand in this power balance of the world a bit crucial. China was already a communist state. Next big state in Asia was India. Now our leaders in that period started favoring USSR over USA, which made USA start looking for allies in the region. Someone who can cause trouble for us and disrupt our progress (remember Vietnam war, West and East Germany, North and South Korea?). And it found one in Pakistan and with that started the influx of financial as well as military aid to Pakistan. The ties strengthened when USSR attacked Afghanistan. US was simply looking out for itself. It didn’t have any personal grudge against us. It was simply wary of our relationship with Soviet Union.

Now let’s come back to present. There is no USSR anymore and Russia doesn’t pose as much threat to USA. However, the two fastest growing economies of the world are still in the same region: China and India. As much as I understand world politics, US is more threatened by China than it is by India. However, India does remain in its watch list. Add on to it, its past wariness of India as a friend of communists as well as all the outsourcing issues and migration of businesses to India.

Now tell me, do you sincerely think USA is going to stop aiding Pakistan any time soon?

And here we are thinking US is blind-sighted, and even stupid, for supporting Pakistan. For some reason, we want the Big Brother to be fair. We want it to support us as we are the good kids and Pakistan isn’t. I think, it’s high time that we grow up and stop expecting US to put world peace above it’s self interest. It has never done that and it never will. That’s what we call capitalism! So let’s stop whining about what US should or shouldn’t do. Let’s start thinking about what we should or shouldn’t do.

Disclaimer: This post is not about Americans but US government’s policy. I personally know Americans who are against these policies. And quite a few who has no clue about US policy in the region. I am criticizing US policies here and not American people who are indeed fair and honest.

P.S.: I  know that US is now feeling the burn of terrorism themselves. But again they think they will be able to handle it. They created that monster so they can kill it too. Plus the fight is so far away from their home, they don’t suffer the daily killing of their civilians on their own soil.

Ice Skating and Desi Dance

A must watch, if you haven’t already seen it:

(Link via Varun)

Missed

Well I didn’t post anything yesterday and most probably won’t be able to for next week. I have a very stressful week ahead and it’s toll started even before the week began and hence the missed post of yesterday. I have few queued posts for coming week so hopefully it won’t be a complete dry week but I won’t be able to keep up with comments at the moment but I will read them and moderate them even though I won’t be able to reply to them. So please do leave a comment if you find something interesting. I will catch up with you guys next week…

Criticisms and Insults

I don’t get it. Why do commentators who disagree with you choose to insult you, instead of defying your logic? And when they do so, why do they need to use the term “gay” as an insult? I mean, I don’t get it. Let’s say I am gay or whatever other insult they want to use, how does that prove my point wrong and theirs right? And then they have audacity to comment again and tell me that I don’t have a backbone as I can’t handle criticism! This is from someone who chose to comment anonymously! Really?

I know I shouldn’t get upset by bonkers like that and that’s the reason we have comment moderation system in place but still they do get your blood boiling. No matter how cool you are, these irrational, irrelevant, foul-mouthed comments do pinch you somewhere and usually spoil your day. It’s easy to preach that these random people are not relevant and they need to be ignored but it’s not easy to do so. 

The difference in opinions I can tolerate. I might tolerate some polite criticism, as long as it is sugar-coated. I might get defensive (all of us do that) if someone raises his or her voice while criticizing me (*Disclaimer: Advisors are not included in ordinary people. ;P ). But if someone starts throwing insults at me instead of criticizing my opinion or my work, it’s gets a bit hard to deal with…

I am sure a lot of bloggers must face these issues and hence most of them uses comment moderation. And I know, one is supposed to ignore them and get on with one’s life but I am curious to know how do you deal with the rage and frustration after reading such comments? I went and bought a Snicker bar today along with a coke bottle early in the morning. I have been refraining from either for past few weeks. And I guess, I am still angry hence this post. 

What do you do?

P.S.: For those who know I don’t like chocolates: Snicker bars don’t taste as bad as chocolate. Its main flavor is peanut (which I absolutely love) and not chocolate. So yes, Snickers are my weakness…

True Christian

This is brilliant:

 

No this isn’t the middle ages. Landover Baptist Church is  a fictional church based in a fictional town. Though the first time I went to the page I wasn’t sure that it was a parody. You never know the religious zealots. For example, look at this news item: Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum (thanks Jeff). The Church says:

"The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that's really a problem."

Honestly! They can’t provide social services funded by the city, following the city laws. For some reason it reminds me of Bal Thackeray and his brand of politics.