Category: General

As per the news, Indian scientists are planning to send a spacecraft to moon. It this goes as per plan with the government go ahead, it will be a major milestone in our history.

It would have been even better, if they started planning to mars instead of moon. But maybe the distance, timescale and lack of data might have prompted to make the destination Moon. It will be a great day for india and indians when the successfull mission to moon will be accomplished.

Update: Article on outlook about the moon mission.

It takes a friend to show you hope, even if he is sure that there is no hope.

The issue of forced religious conversions is back. This time it is from Gujarat. Forcible conversions are already banned in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Tamilnadu. I doubt the effectiveness of such law in preventing the conversions.

I personally believe that all religious conversion should be banned. If pundits of all the religions claim that all religions are same, then logically the need for conversion does not arise. If they disagree on this, and start conversions, they might start the cycle of religious hatred.

Unverified reports have been suggesting that Saddam might have been a casualty of the heavy bombardment of Baghdad. Even if US troops kill Saddam, I believe they should never let the word out. The moment the US kills Saddam and makes a big news item of it, he will ensure his place in Arabic History books as a martyr for the Arabic cause.

With the shrewdness he has, he might have already recorded a video, to be broadcast in case of his death in war, portraying him to be a victim in the hands of the Cruel west. The West, who attacked his country and killed him, even when he didnt have any weapons of mass destruction. Importantly the video will stress on the arabic cause, to strike a chord in Arab hearts, by showing how he died defending his nation against Western crusaders.

North Korea has started making headlines in the Eastern part of the world. The last thing we need now is a disturbance in that region, which could potentially lead to WWIII. The thought did occur to me, that if I was a North Korean leader, with the only ambition to take over South Korea, I would strike now. Particularly as the US forces and the world are concentrating on the Middle East. What a scary thought!

In other news, Turkey might send its troops into Northern Iraq apparently to prevent the influx of refugees. The main underlying aim of Turkey is not to get rid of Saddam, but to prevent a separate country of Kurds being born in the north of Iraq. An independant country of Kurds, might cause the huge population of Turkish Kurds rising for separatism. Definitely, some diplomatic len-den* has gone in before Turkey allowed US to use its airspace.

*len-den : Horse trading

India is through to the finals of the World cup. I am sure men in blue will be giving the Aussies a really tough time. I want the winning streak of the Aussie team to be stopped by mighty Indian’s. India has improved quite a lot in recent years.

Nothing more to say. Just waiting anxiously for the sunday’s match.

The late night BBC correspondent program began with a series of questions. It was all related to a nuclear capable country in Middle East, which dont have any sanctions against it. The country turned out to be Israel.

Apparently Israel has its own nuclear programme, and it is estimated that they currently posses anywhere between 100-200 nuclear weapons. More than enought to wipe out the whole of Middle East. America apparently are supporting them, turning a blind eye towards these information.

Links:
Israeli Nuclear Weapons – Federation of American Scientists
Israeli Nuclear weapons programme
Dimona revealed
Vanunu nominated for Nobel Prize.

Australia are through to the finals. Though during the match, my Indian colleagues were supporting Sri Lanka, I wanted Australia to win and go to the finals. I think if India gets the World Cup, it should be by defeating the current cup holders – Australia – comprehensively.

Indeed it will be a tough match, but what a win it will be. But before that, the upcoming semi final will be tough for India. The Kenyans have improved quite a lot in their fielding and bowling department. Moreover its a day and night match. I am just waiting for Indians to tame the kenyans in the semis and maul the Australians in the final (hoping for too much, are we?).

Regime change in Iraq is long overdue. If Tony Blair and Bush had to sideline United Nations for this, so be it. Something that needs to be done, needs to be done. Iraq has been playing truant since the last Gulf war, and the UN has been warning the Iraqi regime. But most importantly UN has failed to show that it means business, which the regime has been taking advantage of. It is high time that someone stepped in and do something about it.

Most of the anti-war protesters fail to see, that diplomacy that has been going on for 12+ years after the last Gulf war has failed. Time is ripe for a proper democracy to be installed in the Gulf region, and set as an example for other Gulf nations. If Saddam Hussein is interested in peace, he could leave the country with his honcho’s, and avoid a war.

With the military might of US and UK, its pretty much sure the war will be a short one. The only exception could be the war for Baghdad. US and UK can do better by not making Saddam a martyr. If Saddam has got Weapons of Mass Destruciton, Its logical that he will use it during this war to create regional instability and to prolong the war. Its a possibility that missiles might fly in the direction of Israel or Kuwait, probably laden with chemical or biological agents, which Iraq never had!

The most important issue concerning US and allies will be the post-war scenario. US having committed to rebuild Afghanistan, will have the added responsibility of rebuilding Iraq. How far they remain committed to it remains to be seen. They will have to set up a system, where by which, proper self-rule by the people of Iraq can be established in a short time.

Whenever I change the look of my site, I feel like writing. But then it becomes hardwork to keep up the writing, so I again look to change the look of my site. This time, the design has been entirely by my better-half, and the Movable Type installation and adaptation was done by me (ok, the worst half). It took quite some time figuring out the functionalities I needed from Movable Type. I had to download all the previous entries from my Livejournal site. Unfortunately, I couldnt download the comments from my Livejournal posts.

The idea of the image pattern on the left, is based on the Harmonium design. I have a Harmonium at home, which I experiment with quite a lot. Though my finguring of the keys are still incorrect, I can produce some tunes without much trouble. More about my music experiments will reflect later in the blog as well.

The images used in the design are taken by us over a period of time. To my amazement, I found that the parts of images can be more interesting than the whole image itself. Maybe after some time, I can get the image album also online. But for the moment, let me start writing again.