Posts from — February 2003

Are you pro-war or anti-war or are you Neal Pollack?! In an absolutely irreverent and anti-idiotarian and funny article, Neal Pollack pokes and ribs the pro and anti war folks in equal measure. With all the serious (and sometimes quite hammy!)stuff being written in both camps, this article manages to evoke a smile and even an occasional chuckle!

I quote some of the points from the article…

My annoyance has been stewing for a while. It peaked with the emergence of Poets Against the War, an overhyped coalition of usual suspects led by Seattle poet and small-press publisher Sam Hamill. Last week Mr. Hamill, with a maximum amount of self-righteous pomposity, staged readings across the country. My first reaction, upon hearing about the protest readings, was, “Oh, no. The poets are against the war. Whatever are we going to do?”

Post-September 11 writing felt like the nation’s collective diary. Even at its worst, it was somehow cathartic and sweet, even necessary. But this war-to-be with Iraq has unleashed a torrent of pompous fulmination–perhaps not as great in volume as after September 11, but twice as pretentious and grating.

Neal first targets the pro-war group…

Now let’s see what’s up over at the New Yorker. I’ve just selected an issue at random from the pile on my coffee table. Oh, here’s this week’s Hendrik Hertzberg editorial about Important Matters That We Face: “A little more time, especially if it comes with a Security Council resolution unambiguously authorizing force if Iraq does not unambiguously disarm, would mitigate the damage to allied unity, lessen the (largely self-created) isolation of the United States, and… “

I’m sorry, Rick. Were you saying something?

LOL!!… could anyone make out what this Hendrik Hertzberg wants to communicate?? ;-)

Then comes the turn of the anti-war peaceniks…

With the pro-war writers, sometimes you get the sense that they’re not only trying to influence their readers but trying to persuade themselves as well. Except in extreme cases, a little doubt crawls around the edges. But that’s not the case with antiwar writers, who just exude smug certainty as they preach to their already-converted audience. They know the secret evil heart of U.S. imperialism, and they’re going to tell us all about it, for pages and pages.

Then this one is plain hilarious…

Meanwhile, in turncoat land, Dan Savage, generally liberal sex-advice columnist and medium-market weekly newspaper editor, writes pieces in favor of the war so persuasive that Rush Limbaugh reads them on the air. Hooray, Dan! You support the president! Now shut up and go test-drive that three-pronged dildo for your next column. I wouldn’t read a sex-advice column by, say, E. J. Dionne, and I don’t want to read a political article by you.

And then… Pollack ends his article with a fervent plea!

So to all of us who deem ourselves writers in this time of war, I can only say, in the immortal words of the great folk singer Kelly Osbourne:

Shut up!

Ever heard of a soundless concert that stirs your emotions?!. A bizzare experiment in soundless music has revealed how people’s emotions are affected by noises they cannot hear.

Scientists have begun analysing the responses of 250 people who took part in the study into the effects of infrasound, carried out at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral last September.

They showed the audience’s emotions intensified as the inaudible sound vibrations, too low for the human ear to perceive, were blasted out during a 50-minute piano recital.

Those feeling uncomfortable when the concert began, found their mood turning to anger.

Others, who had felt happy, started to notice sensations of joy.

Some physical affects were also experienced, including tingling in the back of the neck and a strange feeling in the stomach.

Read more about it here

Music without any sound!!… Ahem! what next?… movies without visuals??!

India ranked 37th in networked readiness. According to a news article on Rediff, among the 82 countries that were assessed by the World Economic Forum for the “state of their information technology system and its effects on economic growth and productivity“, India was placed at the 37th position. Not bad! … especially considering the huge size of the country and the low levels of telecom and PC penetration.

Finland was ranked at the first place because of the high technology usage by its citizens, businesses and the government. It was followed by United States and Singapore.

Among other significant positions, Germany is in the 10th spot, Israel in the 12th spot and Estonia is in the 24th place. The African nation of Tunisia is ranked higher than India at the 37th place!

And for all the brouhaha over the Chinese threat to India in the IT sector, China is ranked much lower than India at the 43rd position!

Michael Jackson saga continueth!! For all the people who said that MJ was an innocent, albeit misunderstaood, man… I ask! What do you make of this!!

CNN reports that a hacker has gained access to as many as 2.2 million Visa and MasterCard accounts. It says that the two companies announced that the hacker breached the security system of a company that processes credit card transactions on behalf of merchants, Visa and MasterCard.

However it seems none of the accounts have been fraudulently used so far. In any case, both card companies have zero-liability policies, which protect cardholders from being held responsible for unauthorized or fraudulent charges.

The culprit however has still not been identified.