Weekend

I am desperate to go photographing: I went to Pride parade on Sunday. Complete waste of time though. Couldn’t get many shots as the stupid TV camera guy kept jumping in my shots. Not that there was much to shoot. Simply put, not my kind of event.

One of the few shot that I took and liked is on the left. A photographer trying to take picture though she was luckier than me. She was in the parade route unlike me who was shoved in the sidelines. I need to find good spots in bay area to take pictures where I haven’t been. I am bored...

They brought their own gavel!

As I was driving back today, I heard this piece of news (click on ‘Listen now’) on National Public Radio (NPR). Simply entertaining. The transcript of the report is below:

Today was supposed to be the day New York state government got back to work. The state senate has been paralyzed for two weeks. There was a failed legislative goo and a dispute over which party was in-charge. Governor David Paterson used his powers to compel state senators to meet today but as NPR’s Robert smith report the senators didn’t exactly corporate:

The political battle over who controls the New York’s state senate became more like a child’s game of calling dibs today. First, Democrats and Republicans plotted to see who can get to the podium first to hold the gavel and then they proceeded to ignore each other. This came after governor David Paterson had basically told both sides to grow up and show up in special session this afternoon.

David Paterson: “Over last couple of weeks, the senators conduct has been laughable but what’s going on around here these days is no joke and I don’t find it funny.”

Perhaps surreal is better term. Let’s recap. On June 8th Republicans tried to take over the state senate from the Democrats. Two Democrats defected to help the Republicans out and then one re-defected back. So long story short, the New York state senate became tied and for weeks no one has been able to figure out who is in-charge. Democratic state senator Eric Schneiderman told reporters this afternoon that negotiations broke down over who would run the special session.

Eric Schneiderman: “We don’t want this to be a circus and we are asking the Republicans to enter in an operating agreement. They have refused to do that. They are still focusing on the issue whether or not June 8th vote was valid and who is the president of senate?”

You see the Republicans had a plan. If the New York state senate’s special session was at 3 o’clock this afternoon, they were going to show up at 2 o’clock and try and hold their own session. That way they will be standing at the podium and at least visually in-charge. But at 12:30, the Democrats launched a sneak attack. They entered into senate chamber through a back hallway and locked the doors. State Democratic senators stood vigilant at podium then the senator Republicans got into the chamber and try to start their session ignoring the Democrats and ostensibly passing bills. They brought their own gavel. The Democrats started another legislative session with their gavel and started talking over the Republicans. Both sides claim to have passed bills even though no one has a majority. Governor David Paterson called it a farce and says he is disgusted.

David Paterson: “ I feel that they should be punished for what they have done, that they should stay here everyday, Saturdays, Sundays, July 4th and every other time until they remember they work for the people of the state of New York and not for themselves.”

The clock is ticking. On July 1st various taxes and labor agreements won’t go into effect if not approved by the state legislator and damage to senate’s reputation is already done. A poll released yesterday show a record number of people saying New York state is headed in a wrong direction: 63%. A majority called the senate a deadlock and an embarrassment, Robert Smith, NPR news, New York.

Simply hilarious! You know, at times radio is so much better than TV. I don’t think video recording of the event would have been as funny as this report. All they needed to do was to close the report by saying: “That ladies and gentlemen was the story called “Gavel struggle”, read for you by Robert Smith”.

Now I know why they say, ‘Reality is funnier than fiction’.

Please don’t…

As usual I am complaining. And today I am complaining about the Orkut users. Well honestly, it’s about the Orkut users I know, which means technically they are my “friends” though I am not sure how can I become friends with so less common sense. And may be I am out of line on few of them but they irritate me immensely so here they are:

- Please don’t comment on your wife’s album containing your baby’s pictures saying how amazing she (the baby) looks. I understand she means the world to you, but to the world you look dumb by doing so. 

- Please don’t change your name to phrases as “Never say never” or to symbols as “..” and expect me to guess who you are when you comment or scrap. Especially when  your profile picture is a rose and you are sending a friendship request asking me “Remember me?”. How on Earth am I suppose to guess who you are, forget about “remembering you”? 

- Please don’t post your baby’s picture as your profile picture. Some of us are trying to find an old friend whose name might be same as yours but we have no idea how his or her baby might look like. It’s really annoying to attempt guessing how your baby’s mom or dad looks like while staring at his or her picture. You can put a picture of your baby with you, if you do want to show off your baby.

- Please don’t use your spouse’s profile as your own. You can create your own profile. You know it’s FREE. It doesn’t cost you anything. It’s weird leaving a scrap for you at your spouse’s profile. I understand that you two are two bodies and one soul and all that but for some unknown reason you still have two separate friend circles. I have not met your spouse. EVER. So please understand the weirdness of the situation from my point of view.

- Please don’t mix and match the location. Your current location is the location where you currently live and work. You can’t be in Allahabad and Washington, D.C. at the same time. They are practically half the globe away from each other!

- Please don’t put photos of celebrities as your profile picture. No matter how much you adore those celebrities, THEY ARE NOT YOU. Sooner you realize that, better it’s for you.

- Please don’t write your name in a language unknown to some of your friends. Be polite and write in  English. I feel unwelcomed by such gestures.

(from: http://www.know-insurance.co.uk/)

P.S.: Yes they all are real incidents.

My Monday Mornings…

 

Back

   Well hopefully. I took out my camera after a long time (six months!) yesterday. I have been itching to do so for past 2-3 months now. I have decided to shoot in RAW now. This means, I need a large memory card and a lot of post-processing time. However, its worth it. I went to Japanese Tea garden (Golden Gate Park) yesterday. I still can’t walk as much so I was restrained in the area I parked my car. However, Tea garden turned out to be fun. If you visit bay area, do visit Japanese tea garden. Its very calm place as you can see.

I am going to Stanford Commencement today. Few of my friends are graduating and asked me to take their pictures. Hopefully I will be up to the task.  

The Dog Ate My Homework 1.2.0

The newest way for getting out of the HW deadlines:

1. Click on this link and purchase the word file.

2. Rename the file to a more appropriate one.

3. Email the file to your professor as your HW.

Internet gets the blame and you get extra time to finish the HW. :)

Indian Muslims

Indian Muslims strikes back! It’s simply awesome.

The crude transcript of what Maulana Madani said to Musharraf is:

Maulana: “Musharraf Sahab, first of all I would like to congratulate you for starting the politics of Pakistan from India. Congratulations to you. Secondly, I would like to ask a question. The population of Muslims living in India are larger than total population of Pakistan, hopefully you know it.”

Musharraf responds, “Yes I know that.”

Maulana continues: “If you know that then you should also know that Indian muslim knows how to solve his problems. We don’t need your advice.” Musharraf nods. Applause from the audience.

Maulana: “Lastly, I want to say this: You ruled Pakistan for so many years and you are accepting that war/Jihad is being conducted from both sides of border. Whether it’s being conducted from both side or not but now we know that at least it’s being conducted from one side by your confession.” Audience laughs. Musharraf looks grumpy.

Maulana: “You can do whatever you want. In this civil society of India, more than 70% , I am being conservative otherwise more than 90%, of population supports Indian Muslims and are ready to fight for them. So please don’t try to alienate Indian Muslims by making any remark, whether it’s made in India or Pakistan. Please. Thank you.”

Pro-life

BBC reports: Shot abortion doctor buried in US. Apparently an anti-abortionist, or so called pro-life propagator, shot a doctor who used to perform abortions. How can anyone anyone can call him- or her-self pro-life and then go shoot someone? Is the life of an unborn baby more valuable than a living person? How can they call themselves pro-life?

And that’s not it! They had the audacity of staging an anti-abortion demonstration at his funeral! First they murder him and then when his family and friends grieve for him, they turn up with their pickets to demonstrate a political issue! How dare they? Do they even know the meaning of life that they are so determined to protect? How dare they show up at his funeral to protest?

Most of us have lost a loved one at some point in our life. Dealing with that kind of loss is one of the most difficult thing to do. At that time, instead of apologizing for being the cause of their grievance, how can they come over and protest? Am I the only one who finds this appalling?  

P.S.: 1. I know the news about shooting is old but the news of protest at his funeral simply disgusted me.

2. I am not taking sides in the debate of pro-life or pro-choice. Simply reacting to the outrageous news.

Taxes …

… and what all we do to save them? For example, Proctor and Gamble actually claimed that Pringles® are not potato chips. Really! They went to Britain’s Supreme Court of Judicature claiming that Pringles® are not potato chips even though they have 40% potato flour. Forget about it looking and tasting like a potato chip. But thankfully courts in Britain are not as crazy and they ruled against it. Guess,there is still hope for this world. At least it’s not entirely insane..