Theo De Raadt.

A cut and paste job follows.

De Raadt, 37, is a blunt-spoken, even obnoxious programmer who works out of his basement in Calgary. He is the chief author of one of the most airtight, hacker-proof operating systems ever created: OpenBSD. Bolstered by advanced cryptography and data-traffic filtering, OpenBSD runs systems at Intel, Oracle and Adobe, secures a gas pipeline in Kurdistan and runs servers at the University of Minnesota. As good as it is, OpenBSD costs nothing; an IT manager can download a free copy from the Web and put it on a server or network gateway.

De Raadt is thus something of a budding cult hero in the open-source-software movement, a not-yet-famous Canadian version of Linus Torvalds, the creator of the open Linux system that sparked the free-code revolution. Yet he derides the Linux movement and says his software blows the doors off that inferior code. "Look at Linux closely and it's heading to be the next Microsoft,"he avers. "It's low-quality software. Their stuff isn't any better."

Like Torvalds, De Raadt doesn't get any royalty from those who use what he created. "People who use it don't advertise it. It's just really silent," he says. He doesn't know--or much care--how many users OpenBSD has, though millions of copies have been downloaded. "All I care about is making high-quality code. If I had to work at a regular job, it would drive me nuts."

So instead of doing the venture capital startup thing--"I don't need to get rich; I don't care"--he lives on C$30,000 dollars a year from the sale of $45 discs, donations from users and the sale of T shirts featuring a mascot (Puffy the Blowfish) and slogans ("So long, and thanks for all the passwords," says one). Often he shares some of the money with others who hack (create) code.

De Raadt moved to Canada from South Africa with his parents when he was 9. He got a computer science degree from the University of Calgary and worked briefly as a developer until joining three friends in 1993 to create a system they called NetBSD (for "Berkeley Software Distribution," a 20-year-old variant of Unix).

But a year later De Raadt got kicked out of the group for rudeness. (His motto:"Shut up and hack.") Things came to a head after he clashed with a programmer. "He was a complete loser. I told him to stop talking and do stuff." The guy later apologized by e-mail, but De Raadt, rather than drop it, replied with a blistering, obscene diatribe so devastating it was forwarded to hundreds of techies for their entertainment. It came to be seen as a founding document for OpenBSD; today, when you Google "theo deraadt," his unkind e-mail shows up near the top of the list.

Undaunted, he started a rival project in 1995, dubbing it OpenBSD. The first release was ready a few months later, updating the old Berkeley Unix system, which also led to variants that run computers made by Sun Microsystems and Apple. A decade later, he says, more people care about his project than NetBSD.

One night @ the call centre.

Freakonomics. I was talking about reading that and then submitting a review. Hmm, it didn't happen. Instead I read some other books. The most recent one is "One night @ the call centre". It's by one Chetan Bhagat.
It's low priced (95 rs) and cover is shoddy. I bought it because I liked the author's first work, "Five Point Someone".
I must say I liked the second one too. As the title indicates, the whole story happens on a single night, ofcourse with enough flashbacks. It's about 2 young men, 1 old man and 3 young girls( 1 married among them).
Each one of them is in a mess. And this is the night the events reach a climax. The common features of 2 books by author are excellent witty observations, tight story and absence of melodrama.
The books will make excellent material for movies, or so I feel. There is a lot of american bashing in the book. Perhaps a bit over done. Hmm, probably a sort of revenge for stereotypic description of India/Indians by western authors.
Let me type in some excerpts which I liked.

'He thinks that just by watching the news, he can change the world.' (Probably refers to people like me.)

'Her Calvin Klein perfume will keep her carcass fresh for days.'

' a thrity-five-year-old American's brain and IQ is the same as a ten-year-old Indian's brain.........Americans are dumb, just accept it...'

'He was standing with the Statue of Liberty in the background, perhaps to emphasize that he was an NRI match and thus better than others.'

'When girs call a guy 'teddy bear', they just mean he is nice guy but they will never be attracted to him.'

'Girls are strategic.They'll talk about love and romance and all that crap--but when it comes to doing the deal, they will choose the fattest chicken,'

'Girls' handbags have enough to make a survival kit fr Antartica.'

'she stopped crying after ninety seconds,around the time any girl would stop crying if you ignored her.'

'What is it about MUSIC that it makes you remember things you prefer to forget?'

'How did girls manage before the mirror was invented?'

And many more. One may observe a bias againest girls. But it's because the story is narrated by a male character with a failed love story.

To sum it up. I had fun reading the book and I recommend it. :)

These things shouls happen.

This post will random. You are forewarned.

Everybody says war is bad. Probably it is. I never experienced one from close quarters to have a informed opinion.
Lot of people say Iraq war is a mistake. Why is it so? Is it because America is bleeding? If there were no suicide attacks, then will we judge the war in a different way.
Yeah, I am aware of usual arguments. Iraq was a sovereign nation. Yeah, ruled by a dictator. And a silent majority ruled by a militant minority. Ok, it's not anybody's job to get rid of some other country's dictators. It is also not pactical because we have too many dictators.
All these peaceniks don't offer any solutions to eradicate world of oppression. Let us not bring religious angle here. I too consider Bush to be an idiot. I know the reasons given were silly. But still consequences aren't that bad, I feel.
We are looking at another potential war.

I admire "Ahmadinejad". Iranian President. You don't see such leaders these days. I guess he needs a rush of adrenaline, a thrill in life...
I can see Israel attacking Iran and others staying silent if not cooperating. What will be implications? Clash of civilisations. Probably. (whatever that means) Oil shooting upto 150$. World economy derailing. Curbs on immigration.....
I am fine with all that. I just need interesting stuff happening during my life time. Now hate me.

Batman Begins, Kids, ......

I am watching "Batman Begins". For 2 reasons.
1. Because I want to.
2. To see if it's ok for my sons to watch that.

It looks ok till now.


Second Topic. Kids.
I bought a cycle for my second son. The first one already has one. But the first one insisted on sharing the new cycle. But the owner i.e second one refused to share. Though he is not very articulate, he was offering other inducements to his big bro. Butthey weren't working. Inevitable fight follows. Crying...Enter the dad to mediate. A compromise has been worked. With a false hope that, it works, dad goes into sleep.
Let me talk a bit more about kids. Parents have so many expectations aout kids. Kids are so burdened for no fault of theirs. They must become something , because, their dad/mom/ grandparents are something. Failure isn't an option. They must study, they must confirm, they must make money, they must get hooked to right girls/boys, ..
Each generation can only be better. It isn't expected to be radical. It is't expected to go againest world and destroy itslef. It is expected to flourish, to fit.. Huh, such a boring existence. Am I making sense, I doubt.

Billionaire.

I was reading a Forbes article on Billionaires and the time they took to earn their first billion. It seems Warren Buffet took 19 yrs to earn his 1st billion. Ofcourse there are many who have earned it much lesser time like founders of Amazon, Google, Yahoo,...
Important queston is When am I going to be a billionaire? Or should it be "Do I have any remote chance of becoming a billionaire?"
Atleast in Indian currency? I severly doubt so. Yeah, My sons may one day be , if I give them proper training. :)
Another important question is "Do I wish to be a Billionaire?". Yes, as long as it isn't affecting my quality of life and some idealistic crap I keep thinking.
I just want to afford gadgets, books, foreign trips and whatever else my kids require for a good upbringing.
I am neither Gandhi nor a hedonist. I have my own ideas of living with a billion ($ or Rs). In short, I have no problems with with becoming more rich or remaining at same level. :)

Blogging.

I was sporadically into writing diaries when as a kid. Most of the entries , hmm, all entries were immature. Like homework, my discoveries,... and never about personal stuff.
When I was in college, there were few entries in diary. Mostly about the then crush. In retrospect, filmi feelings. :( Sorry , but true.
I have always been an extrovert. Or so I appear!!!
I always rant, ramble about so many things. It was time to reach larger audience. Now don't ask me my visitor statistics. :)
I knew what blogging was, but didn't jump into stuff until a friend asked me to try that. Thank you, Friend.
The next issue is what will I be speaking about. How much personal stuff will get published? If it is just about politics, nations, news .. then there are too many better blogs.
There must be something unique about my life on blog to attract friends & potential friends. But then probably I am a sort of person whose autobiography fits in a single page.:) Or perhaps not. I have come across blogs which are so candid, so articualte, so funny, so beautiful, so relevant, so human...
I wish I could write like one of all those guys/gals I admire. Ofcourse it's more about content that style.
We can always speak about our first sex experience, previous love stories, betray friends by revealing their secrets ;), scandals of all kind,...just to gain more visitors and probably more google ad sense money.
Why blogging is a question to which individual answers have to be found out. But once initiated, it's like business. It has to just grow and garner more customers. The operational details are once again individualistic in nature. Ok, this is getting boring.

Please visit following 2 blogs I found to be interesting.

http://busywithnothing.blogspot.com/
http://divinemiscontent.blogspot.com/

There are many more I like. And they definitely include some blogs of male gender too. ;)

2 links.

I don't know what sort of news paper Mumbai Mirror is. But my blog appears on it's web edition.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=14&articleid=102220052236125001022200522335393

:)


Another link is about Brunei. An excerpt.

"The talk veers to culture. Mohidin says that till the 14th century the official language of Brunei was Sanskrit. Before it became a Sultanate nearly 500 years ago, it was a Hindu country -- part of the Java-based Majapahit Empire. The Hindu influences continue. Though an Islamic country, the national colour is yellow as is the background of the national flag. Mohidin says the culture is Sino-Indianised. Hence the prime minister, a post held by the Sultan of Brunei -- the world's richest man till Bill Gates came along -- is called Pradhan Mantri. The queen is Rajah Stree."

And the link.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2005/oct/21sd1.htm

Dalits.

I as going through an interview of a foreign journalist in "Outlook" magazine. In one of his answers he asked "Is there a Dalit news reader anywhere in Indians news channels?".
Such an important question.

Disclaimer. I am born into a feudal caste. And had a very comfortable upbringing. Except for observations, I have no experience of hardships about 300 million or more people under go in India.

India being a multicultural ,vibrant democracy is not entirely right. We regularly trample upon basic human rights. It was noted somewhere that 100 families dominate Indian political scape. Very right.
Gandhi family (nothing to do with original gandhi),
Ambani, Tata, Birla, Karunanidhi, NTR's family, Jayalalitha, Lalu prasad Yadav, Mulayam singh yadav, Lals in haryana, Farookh abdullah in J&K, Sharad Pawar, Thackarey in Maharashtra, Gowda in karnataka, Karunakaran in Kerala, Patnaiks in Orissa,...
Every states has it's feudal and business families/interests. The other day Manmohan Singh was urging ultra leftists to join mainstream and contest elections. That's sermon from somebody who contested only once and lost. :( He is nominated by Sonia Gandhi. And that is a fact.
Who can contest elections these days? Whoever can afford to spend anywhere between 10 - 60 million can dream of contesting in elections. Apart from managing greedy local leaders of smaller stature.
Why are we pretending? Our hands are tainted with blood. So much so that all perfumes of arabia cannot wash away the stench.
We are happy that a honest guy is our prime minister and another such person is our president. What after these people?
Paswan says dalits & minorities of India want him to Prime Minister and he is confident about that prospect coming true. Lalu too harbours such illusions. And who knows Karunanidhi too.
I just wish that, Communists come into power. So that , those idiots who feed themselves on old dust covered texts understand the realities. I hate those hypocrites above all.
Ok, I will have to stop somewhere. I don't want to waste my life on useless stuff.

Keywords

The referrals foy my blog include google search results. And what searches lead to my blog?
Collage, Narayana Murthy, Deve Gowda, Infosys, sreedhar, arranged marriages, pakistan, economy, telugu,..AND Sania Mirza, Upskirts. :(
And with this post, I have only increased the possibility.

Escapist.

Miffed Narayana Murthy quits BIAL post

October 20, 2005 15:11 IST
Last Updated: October 20, 2005 19:39 IST

A miffed N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies Ltd, has resigned from the chairmanship of the Bangalore International Airport Limited following a remark made by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

Deve Gowda had said that the Infosys boss had made no contribution in the last five years to bring the Bangalore International Airport Limited to fruition.

*
Murthy to be urged to stay back

Taking offence to the remark, Narayana Murthy quit as BIAL chairman on Thursday.

Following is the letter he sent to the Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh informing him about his decision:

October 20, 2005

Mr Dharam Singh,
Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka,
Vidhana Soudha
Bangalore - 560 001

Dear Mr Dharam Singh,

The media reports of October 17, 2005 refer to your coalition partner, Mr Deve Gowda, speaking to the press about lack of my contribution to the Bangalore International Airport Limited during the last five years.

I wish he had asked me personally before going to the press, or talked to you or ascertained it from members of the board. I am disappointed that a former prime minister did not accord me this basic courtesy.

I am pained, more so, that leaders in the government like you did not even clarify my role in the company and the work that has been done. I have spent enormous amount of time and energy in interacting with the government in New Delhi and the government here to make this work. The records prove themselves.

Therefore, I am resigning the chairmanship of BIAL effective Thursday, October 20, 2005.

I thank you for giving me this opportunity to serve the people of the state.

Best regards.

Yours sincerely,

N R Narayana Murthy
Chairman and Chief Mentor
Infosys Technologies Ltd

Deve Gowda & Narayana Murthy.

I despise Deve Gowda. And I don't like Narayana Murthy. The first one is a crook. The second one is a pretender.
Deve Gowda is not worth discussing. Coming to Narayana Murthy, we keep hearing stories about him. How he started the company with a loan from his wife. Oh,yeah ,Indian husbands take loans from wives. And how he is a former socialist/ communist/ whatever.
These days he is busy playing golf with visiting dignitaries at his Infosys campus. Or lobbying with chief ministers of states for more land for new campuses. I have no problems with his business practises. My only problem is with his image in media. probably he is a nice person. But the way, he is projected in media (with help from media managers at Infosys) I have no option but to treat him as a not-so-great guy.
Ok, why a I talking about these 2 guys. It seems Mr Murthy tried to preach governance to former prime minister of India. And that idiot responded a day later by severly criticizing Murthy.
What are options before Mr. Murthy? Going by his character, he may remain distant from Gowda in future. If I were in place, I will use my money to crush Gowda in next elections. We have only one life to seek and obtain revenge. ;)

The article follows.

Gowda takes on Infosys Narayana Murthy
Wednesday October 19 2005 08:55 IST

BANGALORE: On Saturday, former PM and JD-S leader, H D Deve Gowda, sat through a presentation by Infosys chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy on the need for an urban governance model based on rural gram sabhas.

Gowda told Murthy that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka is interested in the development of Bangalore and the IT sector.

The next day, the former PM launched a scathing attack on the Infosys chairman’s urban governance proposal and revealed a recent letter he had written to CM Dharam Singh, alleging land grabbing by Infosys and other unnamed IT companies.

Infosys has refused to comment on Gowda’s diatribe, stating that their chairman will make a statement after examining all documents.

‘‘What is this urban governance focus Murthy is talking of? The views of high profile and elite personalities are different from ground reality,’’ Gowda said.

Criticised for hindering infrastructure development in Bangalore, by the IT sector in particular, Gowda lashed out at Infosys: ‘‘Narayana Murthy has been Bangalore International Airport Limited chairman for five years. Why did it take him so long to get it moving? Murthy is a world traveller. He should be able to come up with a plan to decongest Bangalore’s traffic.’’

The October 11 letter spewed more venom on Infosys. Referring to an Infosys request for about 845 acres near Bangalore to set up a new development centre and township, Gowda alleged that norms were modified to allot the land, which was restricted for agriculture use.

‘‘Some of the IT companies, including M/S Infosys Technologies Ltd have already taken substantial land in the name of IT development in different cities of our states. What exactly is the employment generated against the extent of land allotted to these companies. I have no personal aversion to these IT industries, but the way in which some of these companies having influence and being nearer to the corridors of power have acquired valuable lands is a matter to be looked into carefully,’’ the letter states.

Signature, Swimming, Addiction,Offside.

Signature:

How do you feel when your signature is long and you have to sign 10000 cheques in couple of days? My answer. Notify the bank manager about change in signature. Obviously to a shorter one and start exercing fingers.

Swimming Pool & Drinking Water:
One of many arguments? from Left leaning champions of poor. We should not allow swimming pools in urba areas where many go without safe drinking water. Good. But can we please come up with numbers? No of swimming pools, amount of water consumption,...
Why don't we disallow bigger houses, higher capacity cars, loose dresses, color televisions, or perhaps TVs altogether?
I guess communism is about making everybody equal in poverty. I was stupid enough to believe in communism for a while.

Addiction.

I had an addiction. It was taking time & energy from other things. I never realised that it was addiction and never imagined that it will leave me. But it did. And I guess, I am doing better.:)

Offside.

Though I am very, very good at facts, trivial and non trivial , I take lot of time to grasp few things. Like T9 input on my mobile. I never tried to understand the concept and used to be frustrated at default T9 settings. The moment I realised the intuitive and simple idea I became a fan of that.
Coming to Football, as a kid, I waswondering what offside was. I had a vague idea and vagueness only frustrated me. Today finally I googled the term and understood the whole concept.
Understanding is Joy. Indeed.

Cut&Paste

Incredible! Corruption in India is down

October 18, 2005 18:38 IST
Last Updated: October 18, 2005 19:01 IST

Contrary to popular perception that corruption was on the rise in India, an international organisation on Tuesday said it had in fact decreased in the past one year and placed the country 88th among 159 nations, down by two ranks.

The Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index for 2004 had placed India 90th among 146 countries. India scored 2.9 in 2005 on a 10 to 0 scale of the index indicating the cleanest score and 0 the most corrupt.

Last year India had scored 2.8. The survey is not just limited to estimating monetary value of petty corruption but also ranking public services and states. The study looks into systematic aspects of corruption in public services, Transparency International India's working chairman S D Sharma said in New Delhi, while releasing the report.

Among India's neighbouring countries, Berlin-based TI placed China and Sri Lanka at 78th position ranking it least corrupt than India with a score of 3.2 while Afghanistan and Nepal have been jointly placed at 117th with a score of 2.5, Pakistan 144th with a score of 2.1 and Myanmar 155th (1.8).

Iceland is the least corrupt country with a score of 9.7 while Bangladesh and Chad have jointly been described as the most corrupt nations in the world ranking 158th (1.7).

The United Kingdom has been placed 11th jointly with Netherland (8.6) while United States has been placed at 17th with a score of 7.6 in the index.

As per the composite ranking of states in petty corruption cases involving common citizens and in the 11 public services, Kerala stands as the least corrupt state in India while Bihar tops the list.

Jammu and Kashmir has been ranked the second most corrupt state of the country while Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Assam are also badly afflicted with the problem. Delhi stands 10th in the list.

The study said all services in Bihar are ranked as the most corrupt in the country. Except hospitals, all services in Jammu and Kashmir are also corrupt while in Madhya Pradesh, municipal services are ranked relatively better.

In Karnataka services like income tax, judiciary, municipalities figure among the top corrupt services in the country while in Rajasthan judiciary (lower) ranks among the less corrupt services.

In Assam, police and electricity figure as the most corrupt services in the country. In Himachal Pradesh most services are ranked as relatively less corrupt. Gujarat is ranked as less corrupt in comparison to other states.

In Tamil Nadu, schools, hospitals, income tax and municipalities rank among the most corrupt departments in the country while in West Bengal water supply service is ranked as the most corrupt service in the country.


http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/oct/18india.htm

A Better Collage.

Photos & more photos

Petals around the Rose.

What's that? It's sort of a game, a riddle, a mind bender,..blah,blah,blah. If there are friends among those who read this entry, try google with the words in title and try to understand how you arrive at answers for that game.
And when you do that, inform me. :)

From Railway Station.

I am in railway station browsing net, chatting with friends, watching porn,(now that's a lie). No morals here. It's just too risky. :)
Curtesy laptop and Cellular data card. But I hate my laptop's battery which doesn't give me more than 30 mts.
I am cursed with series of bad laptops. Wish I win a lottery which will enable me to buy 10 models of laptop, so that atleast 1 meets my requirements.
But did I tell you, that I don't buy lottery tickets. ;)

Books

I completed reading 2 books in the past 1 week. They are

1) Alive and Well in Pakistan.
I know the title sounds cruel in present context. Coming to the book, it's a book by one Ethan Casey, an american freelance journalist. Kind of travelogue. He visits Kashmir(Indian side) first and after a while visits Pakistan and stays there working as a lecturere in a college. He befriends some people at local club while playing tennis, he interacts with his students, he grows a beard,...
But nothing enlightening or very entertaining here. You'll not miss anything if yo have missed this book.
I am kind of very interested in the nation of Pakistan. I must have read atleast 4 or 5 books related to Pakistan.
I plan to visit that country. And hopefully write a book about my experiences. ;)

2)The curious incident of Dog in the night time.
It's a very famous book. It's about an autisitc boy, Christopher who investigates murder of a neighbourhood poodle (a type of dog). The investigation leads to many interesting discoveries about his family. His character's unique way of looking at things makes book very interesting. It's refreshing. But at the end, when kid travels from his father's place to London , where his mother lives, it gets a bit boring.
I will recommend this small book.

Here is something that connects me to the main character in the book. I don't look into eyes of the person I am talking to. And I am good at math. Ok, I am not autistic. It's just that I have certain variations built in.:)

Steve Miller , Delphi and coming crisis.

I didn't know who Steve Miller is, till today. A friend has sent me a link about his views on what went wrong at Automotive components company Delphi.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2005/nf20051011_3919.htm

He was talking about various obligations to workforce that is leading to bankruptcy of many US corporations. He says, it's due to globalisation. Most probably true. A manufacturing company has no reason to produce goods in US these days. With countries like Mexico, China, India providing cheaper goods & services it's a scary scenario for rich industrialised nations. Here is an excerpt from the above mentioned article.

"Broader Context

Let me turn to what I think is the broader context in which the Delphi drama is being played out.

The two overarching themes here are globalization, and our aging population.

Globalization is a fact of life these days. We no longer exist in a national economy, but a global economy. This is a good thing, in that it brings rising standards of living not only to Americans, but to all the world's citizens.

But what has been brought into sharp relief is the differing value the global market places on knowledge workers versus basic manufacturing workers. I was struck by what I saw when I visited our Delphi operations in Mexico last week. Our average hourly worker makes about $7,000 a year, while the average salaried worker makes about $35,000 a year. A spread of five times! The same spread, or wider, exists in all low-cost countries.

The implications for America are enormous, and it boils down to this. If you want your kids to enjoy the great American dream, get them a good education. The days when manual unskilled labor can deliver $65 an hour are disappearing.

My recent experiences have been with three industries that are undergoing profound change -- as CEO at Bethlehem Steel, as a board member at United Airlines (UALAQ ), and as CEO at Delphi. Steel, airlines, and autos.

What those three industries have in common is a social contract, worked out over the past half-century with strong centralized labor unions, to elevate their workforces with elaborate defined-benefit retirement programs. Back in the days when you worked for one employer till age 65 and then died at age 70, and when health care was unsophisticated and inexpensive, the social contract inherent in defined-benefit programs perhaps made some economic sense.

Today, defined-benefit programs are an anachronism, and we are witnessing the slow agonizing death of defined benefits as industrial compensation policy. First off, they force people to stay with one employer, even though we have a much more mobile and flexible population these days. The lack of portability of defined benefits is a real issue.

Second, the notion of having all your retirement eggs in one basket -- your employer -- is a concentration of risk that is simply inadvisable for anyone in today's fast moving economy.

Finally, these programs have a way of threatening the existence of traditional large employers. GM is a junk-bond credit these days as it staggers under a burden of $150 billion of combined pension and health-care retirement obligations.

People are living longer these days. And medical science is rapidly expanding the capability to spend vast amounts of money keeping you alive for decades. Of course, that is a good thing. But the question is, how can we afford it? As a society, we must generate enough wealth in our working years to support our income aspirations and health-care needs in our sunset years. It is getting more difficult every year.

In the midst of these trends, the unions in the traditional steel companies and the traditional auto companies bargained for 30-and-out. The theory was, create more jobs by retiring people sooner. And aren't 30 years in a grimy factory enough? But this means that people can start work at age 20, retire at age 50, and expect full pensions and health care till age 90 or so. In other words, enjoy the fruits of your labor for more years than you were at labor. As a society, somebody has to pay. And to the shock of the Big-Three auto makers, they've found that customers won't pay when they have choices.

Beyond Delphi, things are going to get messy for the Big Three in coping with all this. The current labor agreements expire in 2007, and it will be a historical collision point for all these social and economic forces that are at work. GM has already declared it can't wait till then to trim its $80 billion of accrued retiree health-care obligations. Clearly, they are headed down the same Chapter 11 path as Delphi, unless there is dramatic change in their staggering legacy labor burden.

My worries go beyond the auto industry. What I am describing is also embedded in our debates over Social Security and Medicare. The overwhelming voltage in the political third rail of touching these entitlements will forestall corrective action for years, but the problem will only grow. I fear something like intergenerational warfare, as young people increasingly resent having their wages reduced and taxed away to support social programs for their grandparents' income and health-care concerns.

I didn't come here to suggest answers for all this. I don't have answers. But I just wanted you to view what is happening at Delphi as simply a flash point, a test case, for all the economic and social trends that are on a collision course in our country and around the globe.

I cannot avoid the adverse impact this will have on the many fine people who work at Delphi. But hopefully, I can help soften the blow, and help preserve the magnificent industrial assets that a century of innovation and hard work have brought us. "

F*** both parties.

Sorry about profanity. An excerpt from Yahoo news follows.

Pakistan ruled out joining with rival India for a joint rescue operation for earthquake victims in divided Kashmir. The nuclear-armed neighbors have been bitter rivals since gaining independence from Britain, fighting three wars, although they have taken several steps to improve relations since last year.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad, that "there is no population" right on the frontier that divides the two neighbors, "so ... there is no possibility of joint operations."

India on Sunday offered Pakistan assistance for victims of Saturday's quake, centered near Pakistan's portion of Kashmir. Pakistan on Monday reciprocated with a similar offer for victims in India's portion of Kashmir. Neither offer was likely to be accepted given the rivalry and distrust between the two sides.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051010/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_quake

EarthQuake

I had experienced only one earth quake in life. When I was around 10 yrs old. I was having lunch and didn't care to come out.
Yesterday's earth quake was horrible in terms of loss of human life. And since this happened in poor countries, nobody seems to care. US has contributed a grand sum of 100000 dollars. Perhaps first installment. But still? At times I hate all western nations.
India has an oppurtunity to win hearts of pakistanis. It is time for us to help Pakistan in every way we can. It's our duty and it will go a long way in increasing goodwill.

Finance.

One observation from my recent experiences. People will provide you finance when you don't need it. :) And when you want it, they will think twice before lossening their purse strings.
Disclaimer: I am in a situation where I don't need any financing except for my future game consoles. ;)

After a while.

I was in Hyderabad for 2 days. Ostensibly on business. Normally I prefer not to spend a minute more than necessary in that city. I have nothing againest Hyderabd, it's just that I want to be back in my home as soon as possible.
I have some positive opinions about Hyderabad. Good roads, good shopping, famailiar (to me),.. Sadly my 2 day stay shattered some of my long held beliefs. Traffic. It's horrible now. Whatever be the hr, we have traffic jams. What could be the reason? Is it as straight forward as "increase in vehicle population" or is it "changes in traffic regulations?". Whatever be the reason the situation is very bad.
Roads, with recent heavy rains have got spoilt. Why don't we act soon? Bangalore was great. It's a mess now with unmanaged extraordinary growth. Hyderabad used to be reasonably good. But as we are perfectly capable of, we are allowing a mess there too.
:(
Apart from all these, I did my fair bit of shopping and could satisfy my kids. But I am fast running out of options. A call to all manufacturers of world. Please produce more interesting stuff to keep my kids busy and happy.:)

A few more things.

1) A day of hardware failures.

My desktop failed. My son's laptop's DVD drive failed and one of his games refused to open. CDMA wireless PCMCIA card on my laptop failed. Can we have more things failing on a single day. Fixed son's game. Other things will hopefully get fixed in couple of days.

2)Started reading Freakonomics.

Once again broke my self imposed rule of "no more general stuff". After few pages, the impression is positive. Review in 3 or 4 days.

3)http://brainhigh.com/blog/?p=35

A friend's take on envisaged 100$ laptop.

More later.