Day before thanksgiving, but I dont feel like giving thanks to anyone.... the city of my birth is under attack and its been 24 hours and still it continues to live under a threat. I have never heard of such brazen shooting, makes me think have we made any progress in getting rid of these terrorists at all?????

 

2 wars, 911, stricter laws, diplomatic strides.... nothing!

 

They have striked the very heart of mumbai - Taj, Oberoi, VT, Metro.... and we just sit here in front of the TV like dodos. Steps have to be taken, as a friend said - we dont need to bounce back.. but remember this and make sure it doesnt happen again. I am still in shock and motionless... I went to dance show last night but I couldnt get over this feeling of anger and despair... I am having a hard time sleeping, they are everywhere and how are we going to handle this...

 

Some information from SAJA regarding the targets that were hit yesterday:

 

Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City: Mumbai Lost & Found" [more on the book at SuketuMehta.com] is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the city. During one of our webcasts after the Mumbai attacks, Mehta read out two sections that featured places and people that happened to be involved in the events of today. One about the Taj Mahal Hotel, and the other about one of the officers killed during the attacks.

 About the Taj Mahal Hotel (from the 'Powertoni' chapter)
The people I meet who are seeking position or money in Bombay often use this one hotel, this one citadel of Empire, as a mark or measure of their progress upward through the strata of Bombay. The Taj was born out of a slight; because a man was turned away from a fancy hotel. When the prominent Parsi industrialist Jamshetji Tata was refused entrance into Watson's Hotel in the nineteenth century because he was a native, he swore revenge, and built the massive Taj in 1903, which outshone Watson's in every department. It is less a hotel than a proving-ground for the ego. The Taj lobby and its adjoining toilets are where you test your self-worth; theoretically, anyone can come in out of the heat and sit in the plush lobby, on the ornate sofas, amidst the billionaire Arabs and the society ladies, or relieve themselves in the gleaming toilets. But you need that inner confidence to project to the numerous gatekeepers, the toilet attendants; you need to first convince yourself that you belong there, in order to convince others that you do. And then you realize that the most forbidding gatekeeper is within you.

 

Excerpts from the section about Vijay Salaskar, one of the policemen who were killed, and Mumbai's top 'encounter' cop (From the 'Number Two After Scotland Yard' chapter):

Naeem Husain, the crime reporter for one of the leading Bombay dailies, is to meet with Assistant Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar, the top "encounter specialist" of the Bombay police. He takes me along. Salaskar's office is in a little hut all the way in the back of Nagpada Police Station... He seems curiously gentle for Bombay's top encounter cop; he has the demeanor of a middle-class Maharashtrian engineer. But he has almost single-handedly wiped out the Gawli gang, killed five of their top shooters. This is why, says Husain, "Salaskar allegedly has links to Shakeel." Every senior police officer has these alleged links, even Ajay. The gangs watch the record of individual policemen jealously: is he shooting more men of the D-company? Then he must be a Chotta Rajan man. Is he killing off the Gawli boys? Then he must be a Sena man. These rumors attach themselves to a person, and they are hard to shake; the only way to clear your name is to kill some people of the gang you allegedly have links to. Salaskar, when Husain asks him if he has specially targeted the Gawli gang, protests that he has killed Shakeel men, too. 

Husain asks him how many encounters he's been involved in, and what kind of gun he uses.
The cop thinks. "Deaths... twenty."

Salaskar brings a black leather pouch out of a cupboard, unzips it, and then I'm holding it in my hands. It is a six-shooter, and it has a brown handle and a steel barrel. It bears the logo "Titan Tiger", and, below it, ".38" and the provenance: "Miami, FL". On the handle is engraved a bearded Norse god. It looks like a prop in a Hollywood movie of the '50's. I stare down the barrel...

Husain asks him if he had ever been in any kind of personal danger during an encounter. Never, he says. The trick was to fire on the targets "before retaliatory fire." He says that he or his men get very close to the target before firing. He is not a good marksman, he admits, but then he has never had to fire from a distance of more than 25 feet.

 

As Judge Aguiar wrote in his report on the recent encounter, "It is amazing that despite Sada Pawale having fired from a sophisticated weapon, namely, an AK‑56 which is capable of firing 600 rounds per minute and having an effective range of 300 meters, neither A.P.I. Salaskar nor P.S.I. Desai or any of the police officers, suffered any bullet injury... The police officers must surely bear a charmed life."

 

The gangs will never go after the policemen, says Salaskar, not even after a constable. "What you saw in "Satya"  -- referring to a scene in a gangster movie in which a police commissioner is shot dead by the gangs -- only happens in the movies." He doesn't feel personally threatened. "I am fair. I know where the criminals' families are, but I never touch them."

 Husain asks Salaskar about his family; he has a ten-year-old daughter.
 
"Do you want your children to join the police force?"
 
The cop shakes his head emphatically no.

 

Asia Society Fellow MIRA KAMDAR, author of Planet India: How the Fastest Growing Democracy is Transforming America and the World, has been reporting the story all day/evening and is available in New York.

 

"What has become apparent in this still unfolding story," she says, "is that this is an attack of historic proportions.  Altogether, as many as ten different targets across the city, especially in the southern part of the city were hit in this complex, coordinated set of attacks by terrorists toting machine guns and lobbing grenades striking Mumbai's most famous and prestigious landmarks, including the Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, and the main railway station, Victoria Station. Hostages, including Western hostages and Americans, have it is believed been taken hostage...the first time in the history of terrorist attacks in India that Westerners--Americans and Britons--have been specifically sought out. Indian police and army units are attempting to retake the Taj and the Oberoi hotel.  The Taj hotel is an iconic symbol of India and of Mumbai.  A heretofore unheard of group, Deccan Mujahadeen is rumored to have taken responsibility.  It's also important to note the series of attacks elsewhere in India over the past several months in Bangalore, Assam, Delhi, - a drumbeating. But the method--no longer just a car exploding but brazen hotel and hospital takeovers with police shootouts, with at least scores of attackers in the biggest attacks aimed at India's most symbolic monuments, in its financial capital, is unprecedented.  The targeting of Westerners who are reportedly hostages at this point is certainly meant to get attention at the international level, as well as to panic foreign businessmen, diplomats and tourists."

 

Asia Society Fellow PRAMIT PAL CHAUDHURI, Senior Editor at the Hindustan Times, is coordinating coverage from Delhi.

 

One television cameraman he knows of, was shot taking video of terrorists running away in a hijacked police van. Like Mira, Pramit says these attacks are on a whole new scale, "arguably the most widespread and carefully coordinated such attacks since 9/11.  The possibility of an Al Qaeda hand, combined with some local militant groups, cannot be ruled out: 1) the terrorists singled out American and British tourists, 2) they have taken Israelis hostages staying at a Jewish guesthouse, 3) attacking prominent hotels favoured by foreigners and 4) the modus operandi of surgical strikes by armed gunmen directly confronting soldiers is out of character with Indian Muslim radical groups. They have carried out anonymous attacks against specifically Indian targets, have tended to ignore foreigners and have never hit out at Jewish targets."

 

Asia Society Fellow SADANAND DHUME, author of My Friend the Fanatic,  is in Delhi.

 

The main lesson, says Sadanand, “is that this is India's terrorism problem truly going global. India has been suffering from terrorism attacks particularly this year, but both the style and the scale of the current attack makes everything that’s passed before pale in comparison. What it really means is that the world will have to figure out how to deal with this new escalation and new tactics by Islamist terrorist organizations.  So it's a game-changer for India but more importantly for the how the war on terror is fought worldwide.  In addition, the timing, right after the Obama election, tells us that while it may not be an explicit reaction, it’s definitely a wakeup call for those of us who believed that the problem was only George Bush. These groups are motivated and have their own ideology, they are very committed and very organized. We can’t wish this problem away, and in the age of globalized terror, these  terrorists are aware they're sending a message to the US and democratic capitalist societies in the West, underscored by their singling out of British and American tourists.

 

Asia Society India Centre Executive Director BUNTY CHAND is in Mumbai.

 

Asia Society in India is located in South Mumbai where most of the attacks took place. Bunty says "We are shocked and deeply concerned since these attacks were directed at the communities we live and work in. Obviously these attacks were meant to frighten and demoralize Mumbai, the financial capital of India. We hope the situation will resolve quickly and the city of Mumbai can return to normal as soon as possible.  It is important to say that Mumbaikars can best serve the city by going back to business as usual; that said, with gunshots still going off in Mumbai, that may be premature."

Asia Society Associate Fellow SIMONE AHUJA, founder of Blood Orange Media based in Mumbai and Minneapolis, is also in Mumbai.

 

"People are on alert," Simone reports. "But what is remarkable is that trains are running today, Thursday morning, which is quite a statement for Mumbai. However, there are not a lot of commuters on the trains. This is something that has not happened before (after an attack). In the past, you would see people returning to their normal lives, going to work, to school - call it the spirit of Mumbai. But today that's not the case. There are very very few cars, rickshaws and taxis on the road. There's anxiety in the air."

Interesting psychological experiment.. quite stunning results.

 

Cleanliness is next to godlessness

Nov 20th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Soaping away your outer dirt may lead to inner evil

PUBLIC displays of untidiness, such as graffiti, may promote bad behaviour (see article), but when it comes to personal cleanliness the opposite appears to be true. A study just published in Psychological Science by Simone Schnall of the University of Plymouth and her colleagues shows that washing with soap and water makes people view unethical activities as more acceptable and reasonable than they would if they had not washed themselves.

Dr Schnall’s study was inspired by some previous work of her own. She had found that when feelings of disgust are instilled in them beforehand, people make decisions which are more ethical than would otherwise be expected. She speculates that the reason for this is that feeling morally unclean (ie, disgusted) leads to feelings of moral wrongness and thus triggers increased ethical behaviour by instilling a desire to right the wrong. However, as the cleanliness and purification rituals found in many religions suggest, physical cleanliness, too, is linked to moral behaviour, so she decided to investigate this as well.

More...

Fresh from The Economist, hoarding cash is the new fad for corporations to survive in this economy!

 

"Seldom has corporate strategy been turned on its head so quickly. Barely a year ago, cash was a dangerous thing to accumulate: activist investors stalked companies, urging boards to return it to investors, to pay special dividends or to buy back shares. Ever since the 1980s the fashion had been to make companies as lean as possible, outsourcing all but your core competencies, expanding your just-in-time supplier system around the globe, loading up with debt to "leverage" your balance-sheet. Now suddenly the guiding principle for managers everywhere is to gather up whatever cash they can find, and then do their damnedest to keep as much of it as possible for as long as possible. "Just in time" is giving way to "just in case". This reversal raises all sorts of immediate economic problems for politicians, but it also marks a profound change in modern management. In our cover leaderwe look at the consequences "

I am dying to see this movie.. unfortunately its not in Hawaii yet so I will have to wait till I get to the mainland!

 

Here's an interview with Dev Patel.  

 

This is so exciting, I am very fond of this restaurant and have been there many many times... :-)

 

RESTAURANT: Chicago's Vermilion comes to NYC (more)

A friend just sent me this article, I really liked it... its not brain drain, its brain circulation - the ending is especially very poetic. I however dont agree with a lot of this... but then again I am not second generation Indian and even I seem to make up things about India which may not necessarily be true except in my head, a creation of a fantastical India where I can get adjusted as easily!

 

India Calling

We spent yesterday at the Honolulu Academy of Art, which is a very big museum with a really good collection of Indian and South East Asian Art work, some really interesting pieces of Buddha from all over the South Asia and China. It looks like a very small (and old) place from the outside but inside its really well maintained and quite impressive. I saw parts of their special exhibit on textile which was quite interesting also.

 

 

From the website:

The Honolulu Academy of Arts is Hawaii's premier art museum, with a collection of more than 50,000 works. An encyclopedic museum where original works of art can be experienced in state-of-the-art galleries, it has major strengths in the arts of Asia, European and American painting, and graphic and decorative arts. With education as its mission, the Academy also administers the Academy Art Center at Linekona, the largest private art school in the Islands.

 

The tour for Shangri La started from there, but the place has so much more to offer, we are back to the museum today since its Family Sundays (FREE!) to check out more of the western art.

 

About Shangri La (from WIKI):

Shangri La is the name of an Islamic-style mansion built by heiress Doris Duke near Diamond Head just outside Honolulu, Hawaii. It is now owned by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (DDFIA) in cooperation with the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and open to the public for tours; an admission fee is charged.

Construction of Shangri La began in 1937, after Doris Duke's 1935 honeymoon which took her through the Islamic world. For nearly 60 years afterwards, Miss Duke commissioned and collected artifacts for the house, forming a collection of about 3,500 objects. It was designed by Marion Sims Wyeth.

Shangri La collections and holdings

The Doris Duke estate, Shangri La, is furnished with art, furnishings and built-in architectural elements from Iran, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, Syria, Egypt and India. The Playhouse is a reduced-scale version of the 17th century Chehel Setun in Esfahan, Iran. It houses a central recreational room and two guest rooms. The outdoor landscaping blends the formality of an Indian Mughal garden and terraced water features with the intimacy of a private Hawaiian fishpond, tropical garden, and fabulous vistas of the Pacific Ocean. Gilt and painted ceilings from Morocco, vivid ceramics from Iran, intimate interiors from Syria, pierced metalwork and vibrant textiles from Spain to India are among the highlights.

----------

The Jali's are the most amazing things in there, specially the one in the foyer, a huge moroccan style Jali (which means jealous!). As you enter, there is first the replica of the Mughal Shalimar Gardens (inspired by the ones in Lahore, pakistan), then the moroccan foyer with the big jali, the Persian courtyard with amazing tile work, the living room has this collection of arms and chairs (and spanish carpet) which are really something and the otis window -elevator style that can come completed down and allow you to walk out directly to the pool. Next is the mihrab which Ms Duke paid about 100,000 bidding against the MET in 1940s and then the  little turkish room (which is my favorite), the dining room is inspired by huge tents from arabia and chandelier from Paris (created for an indian maharaja). We can also see the 40 pillar palace inspired guest house and the pool from the gardens outside. Another of my favorite was the sunbath room which is inspired by the Taj Mahal, the marble jali's that were comissioned by Ms Duke, rest of it is plaster but it looks beautiful. Ms Duke's bedroom is now available for people to see, but there are some pictures on the website on that one.

Here are some pictures:

Turkish Room (my favorite one)

Living room:

Dining Room:

Playhouse and Swimming pool:

Bedroom that we did not get to see:

Jali's inspired by taj mahal, i couldnt find a better picture..

Website for Shangi La was a virtual tour of the place, its really a well made website.

yes, thats a question most of us should be wondering about, its out tax money and we should have a clear understand of what they are going to do about it, here's something I read in a speect by Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari Remarks before the Institute of International Bankers. This is from the Real Time Economics Blog from Wall Street, which is really awesome!

 

Strategy

Let me begin with our strategy, which is clear and focused.

 

Treasury is implementing its new authorities with one simple goal - to restore capital flows to the consumers and businesses that form the core of our economy. Achieving this goal will require multiple tools to help financial institutions remove illiquid assets from their balance sheets, and attract both private and public capital.

 

Our toolkit is being designed to help financial institutions of all sizes so they can grow stronger and provide crucial funding to our economy.

Implementation

 

Next, let me turn to implementation. Congress passed the new law just 10 days ago, but in that time, we have accomplished a great deal on many fronts. We are moving quickly - but methodically - and I am confident we are building the foundation for a strong, decisive and effective program.

First, Treasury is working very closely with both domestic and international regulators to understand how best to design tools that will be most effective in dealing with the challenges in our financial system. For example, regulators are helping us to identify the quickest and most efficient method to purchase equity in financial institutions so they can resume lending. Throughout this process, we have kept in mind one clear priority: to protect the taxpayers by making the best use of their money.

 

Second, we are using the full resources of the Treasury Department to ensure this program's success. As soon as the legislation was signed, we immediately created seven policy teams to develop several tools and other important elements that are required under the TARP. In each case, we designated team leaders to drive the work-streams and take responsibility for their success. We've broken the teams down as follows:

1) Mortgage-backed securities purchase program: This team is identifying which troubled assets to purchase, from whom to buy them and which purchase mechanism will best meet our policy objectives. Here, we are designing the detailed auction protocols and will work with vendors to implement the program.

 

2) Whole loan purchase program: Regional banks are particularly clogged with whole residential mortgage loans. This team is working with bank regulators to identify which types of loans to purchase first, how to value them, and which purchase mechanism will best meet our policy objectives.

3) Insurance program: We are establishing a program to insure troubled assets. We have several innovative ideas on how to structure this program, including how to insure mortgage-backed securities as well as whole loans. At the same time, we recognize that there are likely other good ideas out there that we could benefit from.

Accordingly, on Friday we submitted to the Federal Register a public Request for Comment to solicit the best ideas on structuring options. We are requiring responses within fourteen days so we can consider them quickly, and begin designing the program.

 

4) Equity purchase program: We are designing a standardized program to purchase equity in a broad array of financial institutions. As with the other programs, the equity purchase program will be voluntary and designed with attractive terms to encourage participation from healthy institutions. It will also encourage firms to raise new private capital to complement public capital.

5) Homeownership preservation: When we purchase mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, we will look for every opportunity possible to help homeowners. This goal is consistent with other programs - such as HOPE NOW - aimed at working with borrowers, counselors and servicers to keep people in their homes. In this case, we are working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to maximize these opportunities to help as many homeowners as possible, while also protecting taxpayers.

 

6) Executive compensation: The law sets out important requirements regarding executive compensation for firms that participate in the TARP. This team is working hard to define the requirements for financial institutions to participate in three possible scenarios: One, an auction purchase of troubled assets; two, a broad equity or direct purchase program; and three, a case of an intervention to prevent the impending failure of a systemically significant institution.

7) Compliance: The law establishes important oversight and compliance structures, including establishing an Oversight Board, on-site participation of the General Accounting Office and the creation of a Special Inspector General, with thorough reporting requirements. We welcome this oversight and have a team focused on making sure we get it right.

 

I just read this in the Economist, something I had not known before, interesting.

 

Akio Morita

Nov 7th 2008
From Economist.com

More than any other individual, Akio Morita (1921-1999) personified the integration of Japanese industry into the global community from the 1960s to the end of the century. Founder and creator of Sony, he moved his family to the United States in 1963 in order to better understand the American consumer and make Sony a truly global brand—a brave move for a man from a then still insular society. He, more than anyone, put Japanese industry on the map.

As a young man Morita had been expected to go into the family’s 300-year-old sake business. But after service in the Japanese navy in the second world war he set up a small electronics company, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, along with a friend from the navy, Masaru Ibuka. Ibuka was to be the engineering genius behind the brand which Morita created.

In the 1950s the company produced a small transistor radio, which was its breakthrough product. The transistor had been invented in America, but Morita had bought a licence from Bell Laboratories to produce it in Japan. By the end of the decade the company was exporting its production to America and Europe.

In 1958 the company changed its name. Morita and Ibuka are said to have trawled dictionaries for weeks before coming up with the word Sonus, the Latin for sound, which they modified to Sony because, it is said, “sony boys” is Japanese for whizz kids. Three years later it became the first Japanese company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The transistor radio was followed by transistor televisions and videotape recorders. But music was the company’s first focus, and Morita, taken by the fact that young people liked listening to music wherever they went, persuaded Sony (with virtually no supporting market research and against the wishes of many colleagues) to come out in 1980 with what became known as the Sony Walkman.

It was a phenomenal worldwide success and turned Sony into a truly household name everywhere. In 1998 it was declared the number one consumer brand in America, ahead of Coca-Cola and Marlboro cigarettes, the more usual chart toppers. Morita would have seen that as the natural outcome of his famous view of globalisation—“think globally, act locally”. In America Sony was American. Only in Japan was it Japanese.

Morita continued to work and play ferociously (he loved water-skiing, tennis and scuba diving), and was due to become chairman of the keidanran, Japan’s powerful but deeply conservative association of big industrialists. It would have been a remarkable appointment for a man who had dragged himself and his corporation into the rapidly globalising world, but on the day his appointment was due to be announced he had a stroke (at the age of 72, in the early morning, while on the tennis court). From then until his death he remained in a wheelchair.

Due to environment reasons I started drinking tap water, turns out there are other reasons why bottled water may not be safer than tap water!

 

Danger In A Bottle Of Water? Study Questions The Safety Of Bottled Water

 

Bottled water is presented as being higher quality water and it certainly
costs more than tap water. Manufacturers and importers of bottled water are
required to ensure that their products meet the state safety and health
standards. Unlike tap water, water bottlers must comply with FDA, EPA and
OSHA standards.

 

Is bottled water safer than tap water? A study conducted by the
Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization, looked for answers to
this question.

 

The study challenges the idea that bottled water is purer and safer than tap
water. While some tap water's safety may be questioned, the findings show
that bottled water is no safer.

 

The Environmental Working Group's study included testing of 10 brands of
bottled water purchased by the group in California, Washington, D.C., and
eight other states and found that two brands violated a California state
standard. The study's lab tests of bottled water detected 38 chemicals
including bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer,
solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium.
Wal-Mart's Sam's Choice contained chemical levels that exceeded legal limits
in California.

 

Three bottles of Sam's Choice purchased in Mountain View and Oakland
contained bromodichloromethane, a carcinogen, at levels from 7.7 ppb and 13
ppb. In the Wal-Mart and Giant Food bottled water, the highest concentration
of chlorine byproducts, known as trihalomethanes, was over 35 parts per
billion. Wal-Mart owns 4,200 stores in the United States.

 

The environmental group filled a notice of intent to sue the chain. The
group wants Wal-Mart to label its bottles in California with a warning as
high concentrations of trihalomethanes have been linked with cancer.

 

Wal-Mart said it stands by its product. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Shannon
Frederick said that the company's lab tests had detected no "reportable
amounts" of the chlorine-based contaminants. He said the company is
"disappointed" that the EWG has not shared more details with the corporation
as they continue to investigate this matter.

 

Also present in the bottled water were the pharmaceutical Tylenol, arsenic,
radioactive isotopes, nitrates, and ammonia from fertiliser residue.

 

Nothing really in our news here but I first found out about this when I was talking to my cuz in Perth, Australia. He was waiting on the newspapers that he delivers because there was a delay due to the news about Bali Bombers... from the guardian:

 

Warning to British travellers as Bali bombers are buried

• Al-Qaida revenge attacks feared in Indonesia
• Executions prompt fresh calls for compensation

Al-Qaida supporters in Indonesia may launch attacks against foreigners in retaliation for the firing-squad execution of three of the Bali bombers, the Foreign Office warned travellers yesterday.

The department's travel advice website was updated after protests spread when the prisoners were taken from their death-row cells on the prison island of Nusakambagan shortly before midnight on Saturday.

Amrozi Nurhasyim, 47, his brother Ali Ghufron, 48, and Imam Samudra, 38, were escorted to a nearby orange grove, tied to posts and each killed with a single shot to the heart, according to the office of Indonesia's attorney general. They had asked not to be blindfolded.

The executions prompted fresh calls from relatives of the 28 Britons killed for compensation to be made available for victims of overseas terrorist attacks. In total, 202 people died on October 12 2002 when nightclubs full of western tourists on Bali's Kuta strip were hit by twin blasts.

Susanna Miller, of the Bali Bombing Victims Group, feared that the executions would only encourage Islamist militancy. "It effectively provides a state-sponsored route to martyrdom," she said. Her brother Dan died in the atrocity.

More...

This is awesome, NYC is full of such secret hide outs where the food is fantastic but dont cost an arm and leg unlike honolulu!

 

Who better than a waiter find the best-value food and the friendliest service? One of the Big Apple's own, the author of the Waiter Rant blog, recommends his favourite diners.

Read more tips to the world's cities in this Saturday's Travel

This is so hilarious, the idea of black liberal guilt :-)

 

Black Liberal Guilt

Now that Larry Wilmore's people are no longer an oppressed minority, he works on his black liberal guilt.More...

Obama Celebrations all over the world

I posted a video some time back about this guy Matt who made a video of himself dancing in like 40 countries... Daily Show picked up on that and added some real Obama Celebration clips and made something really fun.

International Male

For one day it seemed as if the entire world had won the Super Bowl, as spontaneous demonstrations of joy filled the streets.  More...

Very touching article about significance of Haloween to this particular family. I know someone in London who ran away because of the same Idi Amin Decree, what a horrific time in someone's life. I thank god everyday that I was not born in a country like that... makes me want to believe in karma.

 

Home for Halloween

This is amazing...  

 

Pashaura Singh Dhillon sings a beautiful Punjabi poem about 2008 Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. After numerous requests, this version has English subtitles.

When Chocolate Is a Way of Life

Sex toys if you vote... haha!!!

 

Babeland sex toys
Bring your voter registration card, a ballot stub or your "word of honor" and the Seattle sex shop will hand over a Silver Bullet or a Maverick. Don't know what they are? All I'll say is one is worth $15 and the other $20 -- and that's quite a deal, if you're into this sort of thing. Follow the links -- carefully -- for more. P.S. They love promotions. Update: The free sex toys can be picked up through Nov. 11. For out-of-staters, the company has just announced an online promotion -- 20% off your next online purchase when you enter coupon code VOTE08 between now and the 11th.
Seattle location: 707 E. Pike St.

I love these little blog entries that economist has on doing business in other countries. Thats really my dream job, to beable to do business in multiple countries with an ease and understanding of the global markets...

 

The secrets of Sydney

Posted by:

Economist.com | LONDON

Categories:

Etiquette

AMERICANS and Europeans are often struck by Sydneysiders' easy-going, laid-back manner. But Australia’s business and financial capital has a few codes of behaviour which can fly in the face of its image. Here are a few suggestions (part of a series) for first-time visitors.

Meeting and greeting

• Your contacts are likely to get straight to the point of the meeting without much preliminary chit-chat. Don't be taken aback by this: Australians tend to be courteous but direct in discussions. Likewise, do not be fooled by such directness—Australians can be as sensitive as anyone else if you assume too much or appear to be taking them for granted.

• Australians have a dry, laconic sense of humour relying heavily on irony—one more akin to British than American humour. Avoid taking some jokes too literally. You can make a joke about most things, as long as it's in good taste. Political leaders of all hues are fair game.

• Make sure you get some titles right, especially if you’re dealing with political types. The government leaders of Australia’s six states are called premiers. Do not call them prime ministers (as some visitors incorrectly do, including Margaret Thatcher during an official visit, to the barely disguised irritation of her hosts; she later explained she had difficulty with “French titles”). There is only one prime minister, in Canberra, the national capital.

• Another source of confusion for many visitors, and even some Australians, is the identity of the country’s head of state. It is Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. The governor-general (currently Ms Quentin Bryce) is her Australian representative, and not the “effective head of state”, as John Howard, the former prime minister (and fervent monarchist) once claimed.

Working habits

•  Australians work some of the longest hours in the developed world and Sydneysiders’ working days are beginning increasingly early and finishing later. Working breakfasts and 8am meetings are not unusual. The central business district (often referred to as the ‘CBD’—Australians are great fans of abbreviations) abounds with cafés serving excellent coffee, over which deals are sometimes done right through the morning.

• Your business will usually dictate your dress code. In banking, finance, the law and most company offices, ties, suits and jackets are usually expected during business hours for men, and smart business wear for women. Publishers, advertising companies and IT offices are more relaxed about dress.

Eating and drinking

• Business lunches are not the long, languid, liquid affairs they once were. Your hosts will not be offended if you stick with water at lunch, even if they order a beer or a glass of wine themselves.

• Joining a contact for dinner is a more relaxing and popular way of building a business relationship in Sydney. The subject of wine, and the Australian industry's export success, can be a good way of getting a conversation going. It helps being familiar with some of the country’s best-known wine-producing regions: the Hunter Valley (New South Wales), the Barossa Valley (South Australia), the Yarra Valley (Victoria) and Margaret River (Western Australia).

• Australians tend to eat early and restaurants are often full by 7pm. Sydneysiders pride themselves on their city’s food but defining the quintessential Australian meal is not easy.  Be prepared for Asian and European flavours, sometimes on the same plate: one of the city’s most iconic restaurants, Tetsuya’s, specialises in Japanese-French fusion. Tipping is usually discretionary and 10% is the norm, if a service charge has not already been added.

• Sydney’s previously strict liquor laws are in the process of being liberalised.  In some bars and cafés, you are expected to order food with your drink; waiters usually ask if you “intend” to eat, then leave it at that when you answer “yes.”

• Bring-your-own restaurants are not necessarily synonymous with cheap eating. Many of Sydney’s better restaurants allow you to bring your own wine, but you should expect to pay corkage.

Off-duty

• Sydneysiders have a strong sense of their city's importance vis-à-vis the rest of Australia. When you meet them over a drink or dinner after a first business meeting, they will happily explain who's who in the worlds of politics and business. Property prices are a sure-fire way of getting a conversation going.

• Another topic of conversation generally close to Australian hearts is sport. If in Sydney during the winter months, it doesn’t hurt to know the latest rugby union results. Likewise in summer with the cricket.

• The Australian summer's coinciding with the Christmas-New Year holidays can play havoc with business appointments. Most Australian families take their holidays between the week before Christmas and the end of January. If this is the time you're visiting, it may be hard to find the people you want, so make arrangements well ahead.

UPDATE October 3rd 2008: the original version of these tips incorrectly named Michael Jeffery as the governor-general. This has been changed.

How interesting!

 

From HISTALK

Mr. Green Genes is the name of a genetically modified cat that glows in the dark. The fluorescent effect is part of a gene therapy experiment designed to combat diseases such as cystic fibrosis. The scientists claim the special glow does not harm his health. Mr. Green Genes would sure be a cool addition to my Halloween party.

Another interesting article on Saja yesterday was the reviews for Ghosh's Sea of Poppies, I've always likes his prose and would love to check out his new book, here's some details:

 

Now for some reviews. But first, a lavish plot summary, courtesy of the publisher:

At the heart of this epic saga, set just before the Opium Wars, is an old slaving-ship, The Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its crew a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts. In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a truly diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt Raja to a widowed villager, from an evangelical English opium trader to a mulatto American freedman. As their old family ties are washed away they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais or ship-brothers.

An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races and generations. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, and the exotic backstreets of China. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, which makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive - a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists.

 

Shashi Tharoor reviews for The Washington Post, where he says he considers "Indian writing as among the most innovative and interesting anywhere":

Ghosh's purpose is clearly both literary and political. His narrative represents a prodigious feat of research; one does not need the impressive bibliography of sources at the end to be struck by the wealth of period detail the author commands. His descriptions bring a lost world to life, from the evocatively imagined opium factory, the intricacies of women's costumes and the lovingly enumerated fare on the opulent dining tables of the era, to the richly detailed descriptions of the Ibis and its journey. At times, Sea of Poppies reads like a cross between an Indian Gone with the Wind and a Victorian novel of manners. And yet Ghosh has managed a sharp reversal of perspective. His ship, with the author's fine feel for nautical niceties, sails in Joseph Conrad territory, through waters since romanticized by the likes of James Clavell. But whereas those writers and so many others placed the white man at the center of their narratives, Ghosh relegates his British colonists to the margins of his story, giving pride of place to the neglected subjects of the imperial enterprise: colonialism's impoverished, and usually colored, victims.

 

and if you are anything like me and like to pick up books at Barnes & Noble or on the Airport to just start reading, here's what the cover looks like: