I am actually watching a programme on a TV channel about "rotis" that are doubling every seven days. And I am doubled up with laughter.
A word of warning for the gullible - the so-called "roti" seems to be a symbiotic mix of a bunch of bacteria and fungii, and may be contaminated with the more toxic relatives of these buggers. Probably not a good idea to ingest it unless you know how it has been cultured.
It's known as "Kombucha" or the "Manchurian mushroom", searches for these terms should throw up any extra information that you might be interested in. All said and done, it's not a miracle and it's certainly not a "roti"!
What I found amusing is that the people handling it can clearly see that it's texture and look and feel are nothing like a roti, yet they persist in calling it one. And of course, religion and god and faith jump into the fray and then discussing such things becomes impossible - because we are not supposed to hurt the feelings of the people of faith. Never mind that they don't seem to care about spouting rubbish and hiding behind "it's a matter of faith".
The disucssion goes something like this:
"It's only a fungus kind of thing, completely explained as merely being a culture that you grow."
"It's a matter of my faith in miracles and god. This will make the unbelievers and atheists turn towards god and that is a good thing."
One person was even asked whether anything "good" has happened to him (as is claimed by people). The best he could come up with was that his salary was received earlier than usual this month - he HAD to find something good that has happened to him and this is what he came up with. Another person said that there is nothing specific but that there is a general feeling of peace. Another one says that that there a now a *feeling* of prosperity in their house because of this "roti". People will go to any length to justify their "faith" (and dare I say, their ignorance?)
And I wonder why the TV channel didn't run a spot on the Kombucha when the info is so readily available? Are they afraid of busting this "matter of faith"? They certainly know what this is about, especially since an intrepid viewer called up and explained the whole thing and said he has sent them an email with references.
Oct 16, 2006
Oct 11, 2006
Firms accused of evading tax on sale of `light energy'
News from October 10th, 2006. The guv'mint thinks that optical fibres ...er... help in the sale of light energy. And "(t)he Commercial Tax Department has estimated a loss of Rs. 1,200 crore to the State exchequer". I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
A comment on slashdot really captures it all for me:
Like India REALLY needs more government interference and disincentive to investment. ... Good news for
all those US and European workers worried about losing their jobs to
offshoring! India is shooting themselves in the foot.
A comment on slashdot really captures it all for me:
Like India REALLY needs more government interference and disincentive to investment. ... Good news for
all those US and European workers worried about losing their jobs to
offshoring! India is shooting themselves in the foot.
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Oct 8, 2006
Astrology - Part 3!
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/astro/act3/astrology3.html
Some nice points:
Are all horoscopes done before the discovery of the three outermost
planets incorrect? Pluto was discovered in 1930, Uranus in 1781. Are they to be taken into account? Yes, No? Why, why not?
If the astrological influence is carried by a known force, why do
the planets dominate? "...the obstetrician who delivers the child turns out to have about
six times the gravitational pull of Mars and about two thousand
billion times its tidal force."
Some nice points:
Are all horoscopes done before the discovery of the three outermost
planets incorrect? Pluto was discovered in 1930, Uranus in 1781. Are they to be taken into account? Yes, No? Why, why not?
If the astrological influence is carried by a known force, why do
the planets dominate? "...the obstetrician who delivers the child turns out to have about
six times the gravitational pull of Mars and about two thousand
billion times its tidal force."
If astrological influence is carried by an unknown force, why is
it independent of distance?
If astrological influences don't depend on distance, why is there
no astrology of stars, galaxies, and quasars?
The URL also has a bunch of references that indicate that astrology doesn't work.
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Oct 7, 2006
Astrology contd.
Chaos makes a point about astrology in a comment to the last post. He says that the position of the planet will cause a difference in whatever forces one wants to believe in and that is why location and time are important.
However, my point was - why should the influence of the planets *at the time of birth* make any difference to how my life unfolds? Whatever force one chooses to attribute to any planets out there is *still* present. If it affects the babies being born right now, why doesn't it affect other normal people? And if it's forces of the celestial bodies that we take into account, what happens to comets? Don't they have any role in my life? What about the asteroid belt? And in the Hindu way of thinking, what are Rahu and Ketu, the "invisible" planets? http://www.goravani.com/lessons/RahuKetu.html
However, my point was - why should the influence of the planets *at the time of birth* make any difference to how my life unfolds? Whatever force one chooses to attribute to any planets out there is *still* present. If it affects the babies being born right now, why doesn't it affect other normal people? And if it's forces of the celestial bodies that we take into account, what happens to comets? Don't they have any role in my life? What about the asteroid belt? And in the Hindu way of thinking, what are Rahu and Ketu, the "invisible" planets? http://www.goravani.com/lessons/RahuKetu.html
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Oct 4, 2006
Astrology
I was having a discussion about why I consider astrology/palmistry to be junk. Then I came across this interesting statement - with reference to the fact that either gravitational or magnetic effects of the planets would make a difference to a person's life:
The doctor has a greater gravitational pull on a newborn baby than does
Mars. The doctor's cell phone has a greater impact on the magnetic
field around a same baby than does Jupiter.
Another thing I never understood is why the planets would affect me any differently than they would affect anyone else. Why would the fact that the planets were aligned in a given manner at the time of my birth affect me in the present? If it's gravity or magentic fields or anything else that the planets have that affects humans, it should apply to everyone equally at this point in time. Any opinions?
The doctor has a greater gravitational pull on a newborn baby than does
Mars. The doctor's cell phone has a greater impact on the magnetic
field around a same baby than does Jupiter.
Another thing I never understood is why the planets would affect me any differently than they would affect anyone else. Why would the fact that the planets were aligned in a given manner at the time of my birth affect me in the present? If it's gravity or magentic fields or anything else that the planets have that affects humans, it should apply to everyone equally at this point in time. Any opinions?
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Asking for a raise
Saw an article about this and it reminded me of other such things I've come across. Oft-repeated advice is to mention your accomplishments to the boss, the example always given is sales targets. Or number of customers. Or something equally easy to quantify.
What about us software folk? I certainly can't say that I wrote a million lines of code while the boss expected me to only write ten thousand - the boss would laugh in my face. Is there any quantity in a software guy's life that can be quoted as a justification for a raise?
What about us software folk? I certainly can't say that I wrote a million lines of code while the boss expected me to only write ten thousand - the boss would laugh in my face. Is there any quantity in a software guy's life that can be quoted as a justification for a raise?
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Bangalore Bandh
Fortunately, this is something that does not affect me directly anymore, what with me being out of B'lore and all. But I always find bandhs a bit strange. For the life of me I cannot recall any time where a bandh actually had some effect on the policies of the government. This current bandh is supposed to put pressure on the Central government to do something or the other about the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute. I wonder how making a nuisance in Bangalore is going to make any difference to the Central government.
I wonder what the powers-that-were were thinking when they created states on a linguistic basis. Something like longitude is not open to subjective interpretation, but linguistic majority is something I wouldn't want to dabble in. What happens if some reasonably large area of Bangalore suddenly becomes Marathi-speaking? Does it become a part of Maharashtra?
This "states paradigm" has also led to the creation of the domicile concept. I ran headlong into it during my last few school years. "Domicile" for some states meant living continuously in that state for 4 or more years (or some such equally pointless number). If you are not domiciled in that state when you pass your 12th standard Board exams, bang- you're ineligible for the state's colleges! Unless you're a Central government employee's child or one of defence personnel, you're so out of luck. Of course, this runs totally contrary to the IT industry's norm of changing jobs every few years - so if your children are anywhere near the age where the domicile factor comes into play you should stay put where you are.
Back to the bandh... at least it was supposedly peaceful. For all practical purposes, it was apparently a holiday. Reminds me of someone who said that bandhs in Bengal were calculated to be around weekends so that people could have a long holiday. On the other hand, what's with bandhs and buses? News reports say there was "some" damage to BMTC and KSRTC buses. What does some damage mean? Who are the people who go around damaging buses at the least provocation? Why aren't they stopped? Protests is one thing, but damaging public property is a complete no-no.
I wonder what the powers-that-were were thinking when they created states on a linguistic basis. Something like longitude is not open to subjective interpretation, but linguistic majority is something I wouldn't want to dabble in. What happens if some reasonably large area of Bangalore suddenly becomes Marathi-speaking? Does it become a part of Maharashtra?
This "states paradigm" has also led to the creation of the domicile concept. I ran headlong into it during my last few school years. "Domicile" for some states meant living continuously in that state for 4 or more years (or some such equally pointless number). If you are not domiciled in that state when you pass your 12th standard Board exams, bang- you're ineligible for the state's colleges! Unless you're a Central government employee's child or one of defence personnel, you're so out of luck. Of course, this runs totally contrary to the IT industry's norm of changing jobs every few years - so if your children are anywhere near the age where the domicile factor comes into play you should stay put where you are.
Back to the bandh... at least it was supposedly peaceful. For all practical purposes, it was apparently a holiday. Reminds me of someone who said that bandhs in Bengal were calculated to be around weekends so that people could have a long holiday. On the other hand, what's with bandhs and buses? News reports say there was "some" damage to BMTC and KSRTC buses. What does some damage mean? Who are the people who go around damaging buses at the least provocation? Why aren't they stopped? Protests is one thing, but damaging public property is a complete no-no.
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Oct 3, 2006
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