Perspective of a 9 year old


"I think there are a lot of kids who think about interesting things," Zia says. "It's my guess no one really asks them about it."

Manmohan might be soggy. But he is vengeful. The CBI raids Stalin's house for a car. The car is not new. Rumors are that it was the car used in that soggy movie Manmathan Ambu, Most knowledgeable drivers in Chennai know that car.

An old article in FT over crunchiness vs sogginess. Manmohan is soggy. Not Modi. Mani Ratnam was once crunchy. May be he never was.

I hope the conclave made a better choice than the Nobel Peace Prize committee. Hope !

Are you into the Before and After Pictures ? Not from diets or hair restoration projects, but from the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami. To me the telling picture is #18 - the difference between before and after is just the water and the couple of cars. It is as if nothing happened and the water turned quite.

When we are thinking about Japan, here is how to demolish a building Japanese style.

Remember those swarm of spider like robots flying in Minority Report ? Here is a video from Air Force Research labs on Micro Air Vehicles.



If you think Rand Paul's question on UAV's is important (or not), then think what are the consequences of MAV ? What are the limits of these ? Here is the video from Minority Report.

The New York Times has a article on the subject of UAVs and MAVs:

“It’s not merely the black helicopter crowd of the folks on the far right,” said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups. “What Rand Paul had to say about drones absolutely fired up conspiracy theorists on the left as well as the right.”

Speaking of black helicopters we love the Syma Helicopter. Its missions are limited to our living room and dining room.

Eric Holder clarifies that the President would not have the authority to order a drone to kill an American citizen on U.S. soil who was "not engaged in combat". Everybody is on the same page. 

Bipartisan filibuster of a Senate nomination by Rand Paul over

"Obama administration's lack of clarity over whether a suspected terrorist who is an American citizen can be targeted with a drone strike within U.S. borders."

and the democrats won't go with him

Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois objected to Paul's request that the Senate take up a non-binding sense of the Senate resolution stating that the U.S. government cannot target "noncombatants" with drones on American soil.

The WH may not want to say that explicitly and keep the options open. They don't have to say anything. It is, however, good to remember who was asking the question and who objected, for future.

Writer Sadanand Dhume won't be speaking at the Wharton India Economic forum. He makes a very nice argument why they should have let Narendra Modi speak after inviting him. The surprising thing is Shashi Tharoor has come out against the Wharton's decision. This has got to hurt. At the least no one would want organizing 2013 WIEF as part of their resume, which is what the students were probably looking forward to.

Wharton India Economic Forum cancels Narendra Modi's speech citing reactions of multiple stakeholders, which is a petition organized by three Indian-American professors with 135 signatures.

People forget Ahmadinejad gave a speech at Columbia few years ago. The Indian community's tolerance for opposing views is reaching new lows. Toorjo Ghose (not Ghosh as the article says) one of the three professors who originated the petition says:

"I think it is important to keep talking about what development is. The model that Narendra Modi has put forward is seriously flawed and is based on some extremely egregious flouting of human rights. That is his economic model," 

Why not let Modi talk then ? Let him answer the questions about development.