I saw this post on Metafilter about the Landmark Education Corporation and was reminded of a close friend calling me up one day and broaching the subject of a “wonderful transformation” that had occurred in him recently. Naturally, I was interested in what he was saying. He said about how we are insincere in our relationships and how we alone can make our relationships work.

After beating around the bush for a few more minutes, he told me about something known as The Landmark Forum. He gave me sketchy details about what the forum was all about and asked me to accompany him as his guest for a guest session one evening. He also told me how his parents had taken the course too.

Now, I detest all these so called self-help or self-improvement thingies. The prime reason is that if you need someone else to help you do it… then it no longer is “self” improvement, is it?! So, I did not commit and just let the matter hang. I did not refuse outright because I could feel that my friend was pretty passionate about this thing. My friend did not press on further. But he started calling me regularly after that. Each time he would ask me if I could join him for the guest session.

But once I decide to do something… I can be pretty stubborn at times. So, many calls later, I guess my friend took the hint and stopped asking me for the Landmark Forum session.

And now… today, I read about some of the feedback by those who attended the Landmark Forum and I was shocked!!

While its true that it “may have” helped lakhs of people worldwide, I’m glad I didn’t go for it!! The accompanying risk (that I now discovered existed) just wasn’t worth it.

A former US Congressman who is supposed to have played a major role in the CIA operations in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation has revealed, in his book titled, Charlie Wilson’s War, that Ronald Reagan looked the other way when Zia-ul Haq went about acquiring nuclear weapons. The logic behind letting this happen was simple, according to the book. If Zia did not help the US on the Afghanistan issue…

“The Afghan resistance would collapse. The Soviets would triumph. The Zia government would disappear and be replaced by an anti-American one in Pakistan armed with a nuclear weapon”

So, in effect the Americans armed Pakistan with nukes because they were afraid Pakistan would get the nukes from somewhere else. Interesting!!

While Narendra Modi was greeted in London with protests by 200 odd people representing South Asia Solidarity, Awaaz and Indian Muslim Council, there were some Muslim leaders who actually greeted Modi’s arrival in Britain with a warm welcome.

Some idiots are actually seeking Modi’s arrest through the court of Bow Street Magistrate, for charges of crimes against humanity. It is the same magistrate’s court that was in the centre of the whole Augusto Pinochet arrest drama in 1998.

Ooooh!! how very melodramatic!!

If you are tired of getting an opinion, from your significant other, on how a dress looks on you, then you might want to hear what a machine thinks about your fashion sense.

The British firm QinetiQ has invented a “smart” changing room that uses digital camera images to tell shoppers what clothes look good on them.

Hmmm… technology!! It does wonders!!

Around six 3D cameras would be installed in each changing cubicle, to take pictures and record precise measurements from more than 1,000 points on their “subject”.

Whoa! … cameras in the changing room??! … No thank you!! ;-)