Further Globalization

I am so confused by whether globalization is good or bad. I am getting the feeling that globalization is like communism - in theory it is good but in reality it has a lot of bad side effects. Ideally it should be removing borders, thus allowing knowledge and richs to freely flow about. Something like thermodynamics: money will flow where it is most needed, resulting in a uniform money through out. But in reality it can drain the resources of poorer nations, resulting in extreme contrasts. Ofcourse we can argue that it has been globalization and the out sourceing which has allowed india to gain riches and become its own powerhouse. But it seems to me the Indias of the world are few and far between. More often than not, resources of a country are drained. Look at Iran for example. How much of a knowledge drain has Iran undergone? Unlike India, people do not return to Iran once they become established and wealthy. Money does not really get sent back to iran. So in the right circumstances, globalization can work. But third world nations generally have so many political and cultural problems that the right circumstances are rare. What do you think?

The other thing was the comment of Brinda about why middle east countries are poor. Basically, Juan is correct. They have raw resources but they don't have the technology to develop these raw materials. So they sell them cheaply to other countries and buy back the refined material at a much higher cost. This was what was happening to the petrol industry in iran during the shah regime. Iran was selling raw petrol to england (i think) and buyin back refined petrol at a loss and this was what Iran had!! Jeerjeerak, do you know much more about this?

Sadat Lecture for Peace

Last night I went to our university's Anwar Sadat's lecture for Peace, given by Dr Mohamed El Baradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Before I say more, let me just say that it was a wonderful lecture. His ideas and view of the world corresponded to mine very well, save for the fact that he could verbalize them a thousand times better than me.

El Baradei is from Egypt and has been in his current position for the 2 other terms. Of course anyone who has been in such a position for so long has to be a great politian and diplomat. He won the 2005 Nobel peace prize.

His lecture was about the state of the world today, with special emphasis on the middle east. The following are some of ideas I picked up at his lecture:

- paraphrasing someone else: the world has never been more at peace (ie fewer wars) and yet less secure.

- there are 4 main reasons for this lack of security - for the world to become a more secure place, we need to overcome:
(1) poverty, a necessity for achieving lasting peace;
(2) Corruption and lack of democracy;
(3) Injustice - the balance between the haves and the have nots for wealth and power;
(4) Artificial polarization that is created because of for example, religion.

- The current islam versus the west clash that has emerged is not because of the clash of different religios values, rather it is inequality. It is easy for the downtrodden to blame their situation on religion.

- Globalization and the interdependence of nations that is supposed to brinig opportunities for all, also has the bad effect that it allows the exploitation of the poorer nations. Globalization has also opened a window so that people can see what they can also have, allowing nations to have artificial wants.

- Security organizations must be reformed to match the emerging threats. For example, the difference between nuclear profileration versus nuclear disarmament.

- Threats from the west drive countries such as north korea and iran to have nuclear weapons. (G: I guess this goes back to the disarmament idea)

- Quoting someone else: "Human security is too important to be left to governments".

Who Let the Dogs Out?!

Oh my god, enjoy the following very funny clip!

System Overhaul

I am going to complain only a teeny weeny bit and then go back to my studies.. but. bloody hell, my computers all messed up. I have really been free with what i install on it and now, it complains to me by croaking and moaning and once in a while freezing me out - well more, freezing itself and showing me what it thinks of me. If only it had hands it is thinking.
I need to reformat my computer and re-install everything on it. But I keep thinking too many things to install, its going to take too much time and also how do i know i have all the softwares still which i installed? I am doomed if I do and doomed if I don't.

So I will procastinate.

But seriously, turning this topic to a bit ph philosophical ping pong, don't you wish life had a re-start button and you could re-start when the system just becomes too bogged down. Or maybe you can.
Well you can't restart everything just like the computer (for example, you delete a file and it is deleted..[I don't want to hear any comments suggesting tools which help resurrect deleted files - this was a weak example i know]).. anyway. Do you like my analogy? ;-)

How Polls are Taken

This was interesting, how a recent poll arrived at 655k dead iraqis:

So how has the U.S. media reported on these shocking-albeit-necessarily-imprecise findings, based on door-to-door surveys in 18 provinces, by the experts trained in this kind of thing? The actual methods included obtaining data by eight Iraqi physicians during a survey of 1,849 Iraqi families -- 12,801 people -- in 47 neighborhoods of 18 regions across the country. The researchers based the selection of geographical areas on population size, not on the level of violence. How strict were their standards? They asked for death certificates to prove claims -- and got them in 92 percent of the cases. Even so, the authors say that the number could be anywhere from 426,000 to 800,000.

Borat

Here is the trailer of the new Borat movie:

I am unsure about this movie - i know that i don't like it and the view of Kazakhstan in the eyes of the world is going to be changed forever. Definitely in a bad way. Why would anyone make something so... vulgar? it is a waste of the world's resources - this guy Sacha Cohen is smart so why does he make these kind of movies?

Personally i think this movie needs to be boycotted.

Update

I have not been posting very much lately because, well I have been busy. Today I had a presentation which fortunately is over. The better news has been that my cousin has been here visiting which has been very good. He has been very good to me and helped me with a lot of my car troubles. He'll be staying till monday.
Then my next visitor will be Dazbend dearest on saturday and mozzer dearest on sunday. What else can a girl want? :-)

Meanwhile, check out this cute putty kat!

The Frisky Hawk

Today I read on Digg that Stephen Hawking is getting separated from his second wife Elaine Mason whom he married in 1995. So I was reminded to look up my personal questions about Hawking - his illness, his wives etc.

First of, he has ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) not MS as I had for some reason assumed. Despite being diagnosed when he was 21 and given a life expectancy of 3 years max, he is right now 64, though he is fully paralyzed. He married when he was only 21. Here he is with his first wife.
One of his earliest symptoms occurred when he lost balance and fell downstairs, hitting his head. Worried of losing his genius, he took the Mensa International test, to verify that his intellectual abilities were intact. Does that seem arrogant?

His marriage with Jane ended in early 1990s when he started having an affair with one of his nurses. Now really, a man in a wheel chair having an affair while there is a healthy woman that is willing to be married to him? Maybe I am being very prejudiced against handicap people, but ... Jane was willing to marry him when she knew he was sick, before he got famous... I don't understand.
Am I so wrong to think this way?
I know once you are famous, you have certain privileges but is this any different to Ana Nicole Smith marrying that 90 year old billionaire?

Another interesting fact I read was that: Elaine Mason's first husband, David Mason, had designed the first version of Hawking's talking computer.

Introducing... Okapi!

You think you have seen everything, but then along comes an animal which makes you question everything you have ever learned. Today I found out about the Okapi.
Although it bears striped markings reminiscent of the zebra, it is the only living close relative of the giraffe. The resemblance it bears to both the zebra and giraffe led some to believe it is a cross between the two, but despite the appearance of certain similarities, it is in fact not closely related to the zebra. Native just to the Ituri forests situated in the north east of the , aka forest giraffe. Democratic Republic of the Congo, it was known only to the local people until 1901.

Here are some funny facts about it:
- has very long (apx. 30 cm or 12 inch), flexible, blue tongue that they use to strip leaves and buds from trees. The tongue of an okapi is long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears: it is one of the few mammals that can lick its own ears.
- Okapis are unusual in their ability to sleep for only 5 minutes in a 24 hour period and yet remain at peak alertness.
- The okapi is the symbol of cryptozoology.

(Cryptozoology is the study of animals that are rumored to exist, but for which conclusive proof is still missing; the term also includes the study of animals generally considered extinct, but which are still occasionally reported.)

Dig me!

oh this is hilarious! I posted a comment on digg and of course now I keep going back to it to see how diggs and buries I have. I am following my real time!
Come on, dig me!!! :-P

Btw there was another article on digg about how stephen hawking will be starring in his own documentary about the big bang - they call it a movie. Anyway the comments were hilarious! immature but hilarious! some where:
- What's the point. Just get Microsoft Sam to narrate it.
- If he does, I'll bet his bang isn't that big.
- I wonder if he'll get a sex scene... etc

Worst Halloween Costume EVER!

read more

This is painful for any kid who wears it... who thought of it...?!!

Psychopaths and Fireflies

Psychopath Test

(Read this question, come up with an answer and then scroll down to the bottom for the result. This is not a trick question. It is as it reads. No one I know has got it right. )

A woman, while at the funeral of her own mother, met a guy whom she did not know. She thought this guy was amazing. She believed him to be her dream guy so much, that she fell in love with him right there, but never asked for his number and could not find him. A few days later she killed her sister.
Question: What is her motive for killing her sister?

Since I want you to think before you see the answer, I am going to talk about something else and then at the end of the post, write down the answer, mmmkayyyy?

So Let me tell you about my new favorite TV show. It is called Firefly by Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy etc. I love the show - it is called a Space Western - very cool no? :-) I found out about it first when we rented the movie Serenity - the movie is based on the series. Bloody Fox strikes again. Fox screwed up Whedon and this show when it didn't show the proper first episode of the series and well lets just say the series got canceled after 10 episodes or something. However the show has a HUGE following and after watching most of the episodes on dvd I am also a believer. There is such a funny humor about the show and I love the cast. I love the fact that it is set in space, that they are rebels against the Alliance and they are good thieves! The women kick butt and the men are noble. *sigh*

It is painful watching each episode as I know I am getting close to finishing the series and there won't be anymore. How could this happen? It is funny, there are all these fan sites across the net with a plethora of rumors that Whedon is going for a second series and they show example scripts. Then there are people who say when Fox asked Whedon to do the movie (when they saw how huge a fan base it had) they made him promise he wouldn't make any more of the series... anyway, this has been going on for a long time but I am only now days becoming aware of it. What are the chances of a second series coming out? not much but I have lit a candle in hope. I have the DVDs btw if anyone wants to watch them. Of course you will have to return them to me because they are now.... my preciousssss!

Answer (remember the question at the top? =)
She was hoping the guy would appear at the funeral again.
If you answered this correctly, you think like a psychopath. This was a test by a famous American Psychologist used to test if one has the same mentality as a killer.
Many arrested serial killers took part in the test and answered the question correctly.

Photos of Me

To include pics in my profile I needs upload some pictures on my blog first. So here is me in all of my glory. Alvaro you lucky man.

To Veil or Not To Veil

Alright it is my night to complain about the lovely governments governing us today. Btw I just realized that in my previous post what i didn't say was that whenever I talk about a country, I am talking about their government obviously. It is just too complicated to make people responsible for their government... hmm, although i know that sentence is true, it is sad that it is true.

Anyway so next source of complaint. I've already talked about the government of Australia and US. Lets go to UK now. Actually this also involves France. A couple of days ago the lovely Brinda sent me this article about Blair backing Jack Straw in "his opposition to Muslim women wearing veils by saying it was 'perfectly sensible' to discuss the issue in the context of breaking down barriers between communities."

It amazes me when non-mulsims insist on women not wearing veils etc. Why do they do that? Really, it comes down to two things: (1) they believe women don't really want to wear them and they are doing them a favor by backing them; (2) they want to deliberately disrespect the beliefs of muslims by forcing them to reject their beliefs. And then they use the excuse of assimilation. Why is it that society wants everyone to be the same? Why is it that the 'different' is accepted only when it is a westernizes difference (does that make sense?). Remember a while ago, the French forcing school girls to take off their veils if they wanted to go to school? why? I still don't agree with their excuse of taking religion out of school. So for example, is it correct if the muslims use the excuse that we don't want there to be differences and so when you come to our country you should wear a veil?

Anyway it is getting late and I am not making sense. But before I go, the last two paragraphs of the story above really annoyed me and made me think that westerners who 'insist' on women not to wear veils are trying to be sympathetic to women:

In his weekly column in the The Lancashire Telegraph he expressed concern that "wearing the full veil was bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult".
Mr Straw said he had been mulling over the issue ever since a veiled woman attended his surgery and said she was pleased to meet him face to face at last.

Oh it gets me when i think about someone insisting they do something they don't want. A tyrant is a tyrant by any other name.

The World Today

Oh I am tired. Long day today and at 5pm I want to finish up - alas i have to stay here another half an hour. So, blog time.

I saw this comic on the left on digg today. Kind of funny - the best part is the name of the comic - ctrl-alt-del! I don't know why they are singling out sony though - it is not as if MS has done a better job - although it IS cheaper so... anyway it's all speculation. It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
Hmm I wonder where that saying came from. Lets do a google on that. Oooh! it is in the context of opera! Here is what they said:

The outcome of any contest isn't known until the final results are in. Thus, don't make premature judgments or give up too soon. Often associated with Wagnerian opera, specifically Brunhilde's 'Fire Song,' in 'Die Walkure,' and the fact that Wagner may seem interminable to nonaficionados. Thus one's impatience would be relieved when 'the fat lady sings.

Anyway. On the news of the day. I read on BBC today that the death toll of iraqis since 2003 has risen to 655,000 based on a US-Iraq survey. It is so crazy when you think of it how the americans simply attacked a country and they have left it in such a disarray. the worst part is that they are not admitting they did wrong. I wonder how many people have to die before Bush et al admit that maybe they were wrong. Once again lets compare the 3000 people who died on sept 11th and the 655k who died because.. well because they didn't have anything to do with sept 11th.
Whoever said the life is unfair spoke an understatement.

Anyway the politics of the world today is such a joke. I am not even going to mention Australia with its racist and america-loving prime minister. I haven't paid detailed attention to what has been going on there. But in US - it is a joke that the republicans have the vote that they have right now. By all rights, they shouldn't have any and yet they still have support. I wonder what will happen election time.

It is a depressing world we live in.

You need more proof? Since N.Korea claimed it tested its nuclear bomb this week, most nations have agreed that they must impose very harsh sanctions on it. N.Korea very much depends on donation to feed its starving masses and starving the masses will have little effect on the power of the dictatorship. This article, which my uncle sent, highlights how at the end of the day, the sanctions that are talked about won't hurt anyone but the innocent.

Women gamers

I forgot to mention this while writing the post about women gamers. What the stat represented was all kinds of games, the small javascript, tetris kinds as well as the MMORPG like warcraft. Now there are people (mostly those who play the latter kind) who would not call the former gamers. Now we have a couple of issues. First of all, why aren't they gamers? Having at least two MMORPG gamers in the audience, can you answer that?

The second issue is what bothers me a little (or maybe a lot), is the fact that it IS true that women are more likely to play the first. Little games, with simple objectives, and not very complicated. I do that. I prefer playing these games than the complicated ones. Well I like complicated ones too that i play on gamecube but if asked what i play most, I say simple and small games. So why is it that women usually play these kind of games? why don't we like (mostly, because of course there are lots of women who play the MMORPG games as well) the complicated one as much as guys?

So my opinion: women are not willing to invest so much of their time to these games knowingly. Each warcraft game that Alvaro plays takes between half an hour to an hour if not more. Now it is highly likely that I sit in front of my compute screen and burst bubbles for half an hour, but I really like the fact that the games are short and I can leave it off any time I want and not in the middle of a game. Now does that say something about my concentration or about my time management? and what i am willing to invest my time on?

If it is the concentration idea, it does get backed up by evidence that men have a higher tendency to concentrate on one topic without distractions for longer periods of time. Oh how I disliked writing that last sentence!

Whenever I find trends which separate men and women i find it fascinating. Why do you think women prefer to play small simple games?

64% of online gamers are women?!

Studies studies,.. you can prove anything you want by doing a study and show some numbers. Regardless a new study has come out claiming that 64% of online gamers are women.
From the article: "The study's announcement release doesn't break down what games they're playing, though we expect sites like pogo.com, which feature a multitude of Flash-based games are rather high on the list. Even more surprising is how many older gamers are playing. While the teenage market dominates in numbers, the study says more than 15 million gamers, about 8%, are actually at least 45 years old."

Some of the really funny comments on /. were:

Bangenge: I think they just counted female avatars.
nutt98: 64% of online gamers play Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Coincidence?
(Fly: tee hee!! southpark reference!)
OnyxIR: My time on IRC has taught me a valuable lesson... On the Internet, all the men are men, all the women are men, and all the children are FBI agents.

On other news, check out the pic on the right of a statue of Hercules in Iran (Kermanshah) that I never knew of!! One of the things which I absolutely love about Iran is its rich history... although some people might say that the rich history has made some think they are better than others but that is fodder for another conversation. I found out about this statue which is carved out of a boudler in Zagros mountains from this site. It dates back to 153 BC.


Ofcourse, following iranian tradition the poor statue has suffered much damage. From the article: "The theft of the statue's head in 1977, which was recovered after a while, as well as the destruction of its hand and body in 1979 are among other damages inflicted on the monument."
Good old revolution - Lets chop off Hercule's hand and show him who's the boss!! good lord!

3D Mobility

So how long do you think it will be before we have flying cars? 3D mobility instead of only the 2D. Obviously the first question is when will they start making cars which fly. Moller International is selling a prototype of their flying car, called Moller M400 Skycar. This wondercar has a max speed of 375 mph and a fuel efficiency of 20 miles per gallon. Quite practical no? Anyway due to some finance problems this prototype is being sold on ebay with a starting price of 4m$. Not bad.
Btw, here is a nice history of flying cars.

Now say we have the car, then what? are we going to start ourdrive on the sky highway?
Nope! That would be too easy. So for today, I am trying to think of all the challenges if we were to start using hover and flying cars.

1 - (and possibly the biggest challenge?) Air traffic!
I mean how tightly controlled are airport traffic regulations and imagine transporting this onto everyday roads. Air traffic regulations must incorporate:
1.1 Do we have layers of streets or will streets be vertical lines?
1.2
2 - ease of use and affordability
3 - environmental issues, like noise and pollution
4 - safety of people on the ground. Is the sky falling?
5 - sky cars need to be even more robust than street cars - engine problems in a sky car can be fatal!

Can you think of other challenges?

Meanwhile here is a quote from Calvin and Hobbes:

Hobbes: "A new decade is coming up."
Calvin: "Yeah, big deal! Hmph. Where are the flying cars? Where are the moon colonies? Where are the personal robots and the zero-gravity boots, huh? You call this a new decade?! You call this the future?? HA! Where are the rocket packs? Where are the disintegration rays? Where are the floating cities?"
Hobbes: "Frankly, I'm not sure people have the brains to manage the technology they've got."
Calvin: "I mean, look at this! We still have the weather?! Give me a break!"

The Hilarity that is South Park!

Last night's episode of South Park was perhaps the funniest ever.

"When Hitler rose to power, there were a lot of people who just stopped playing. You know who they were? The French. Are you french?
"No"
"Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?"

First part:



Second Part:



Third Part:


There are so many hilarious lines. So very many.... What were some of your fav lines?

Stiff Competition

Da Husband aka Dazbend, has proclaimed the following in an email which i was privy to:

"If Roomba was a woman I would be polygamous"

and if only she didn't suck so good.... ok now I am being crude, but seriously a tear drop is gathering at the corner of my eye. about to drop off....

How could he...

on another note, I found this quote by Gandalf which I like very much:

So do all who live to see such times.
But that is not for them to decide.
All we have to decide is what to do
with the time that is given to us. 

Do you believe in Fate?

I was reading this book and one of the characters was asked if they believe in fate.
This was her answer:

"I do believe in coincidences," she said. "I believe that some unexpected things happen to catch our attention, and that what we do with those moments might affect or change the whole course of our life. but I do not believe we are blown about helplessly by a fate over which we have no control. There would be no point in free will if that were so. We all have the power to decide, to say yes or no, to do something or not to do it, to go in this direction or that."

Do I believe in fate? i don't think so because believing fate reduces to believing in a god and a grand plan that we are involved in. (or does it?)

No I don't think fate exists. It is always easier to have someone else be responsible for our decisions so that's why fate has come in. Perhaps that is why religion has come in because we want to put the responsibility of this world onto someone or something else.

Or maybe again we are trying to grandize ourselves by thinking we are important enough to be involved in a plan? no that is a pessemistic view: Depending on our point of reference, we are grand enough. Why is it that we try to find a global point of reference?
In physics, do we have a global frame of reference? I don't think so, but i can't remember for sure. There is light which is always constant. Do we have something which is always constant in our lives? truth is always subjective right?

Profitting from Executions

An undercover investigation by BBC News finds that China has a flourishing trade of organs from executed prisoners. China is becoming the destination of choice for rich foreigners in need of organ transplants. One hospital said it could provide a liver for about $100,000. China has more executions than all other countries in the world combined.



Now coming from another angle, is it bad to use the organs of bad people (assuming that all executed have committed horrendous crimes - the fact that china executes so many is another debate and whether execution is acceptable a different one still)
If someone is dying, isn't it better to serve society? I am not talking about selling it, but making it available to ordinary people the same way as normal organ donations are made.

Ofcourse its a very delicate situation when you make profit from someone's death. If it costs you money then you are more careful.

What do you think?

Poetry

Rumi, it is time to know him: he was babajoon's favourite poet/philosopher.
http://www.rumi.org.uk/

Where is that Moon that never rises or sets?
Where is that soul that is neither with nor without us?
Don't say it is here or there.
All creation is Him but for the eyes that can see.

And imagine this in Farsi!!

Renaissance Festival in Maryland

On saturday, the day that Alvaro left, I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with some of our colombian friends - ofcourse not everyone is colombian, but thats how we all met. Anyway, here's a pic of me with Maral and Biviana.

It was a pretty cool festival - people were dressed up like this guy in his gear - although he looks more from Lord of the Rings than the renaissance times!! and ofcourse the festival provided good opportunity for women folk to wear some mighty low cut dresses. Corset action was the order of the day, where I saw more pressed and dying to get out - which I just realized i didn't take any photos of. :-( oh well! These ladies on the right were more the high class ones. Very uppity I tells you :-P

Finally the real star of the show was Gloria and Victor's baby girl Gabriella who was cute beyond reason. And oh my that stomach of hers was wonderfully rounded, as you can see in this photo where she was standing watching some dancers with Victor.

First post

So the pressure is on about what to have as my first post. All the cool and funny things I wanted suddenly have made themselves scarce.
Anyway the funniest so far has been a couple of PhD comic strips that I read. This one was the best.