Finally, the delhi high court ruling ...

Finally, somewhere in India, homosexuality is recognised not as an illness but as a right of a human being. As a firm believer of equal rights, I personally think the time has come for the country to shed its age old Victorian skin and instead recognize the right to equality. The ironical aspect of the whole issue is that this is probably one of the few issues in which all the religious leaders come together in one voice. Culture and such quibblous arguments... The Constitution should protect the rights of people, not the culture (even if it were claimed that homosexuality infringes cultures) More than anything, I hate the "holier than thou" attitude of all these guys who comment on the value of culture.

Section 377 must go. It is high time for it. What someone is in his(or her) private life is no place where law can interfere (except of course if it causes harm to others) Consensual sex between adults, pre marital or post marital, homo or hetero sexual should not be a discussion at all. It should be left to the discretion of the concerned people. Yes !! Safe sex is a concern. It might seem at first sight, hypocritical to condone with whom a person has sex with, while advocating how the practice is carried out. A cursory look will reveal the difference, in the former, there is consensus between the two adults involved, while in the latter, there is a chance, that unknowingly a person can infect the partner with STD. I guess that is a no brainer.

The real issue is whether to permit same sex marriage in view of the religion. Easiest allusion to make, the Indian constitution gives right to religion. Anyone can practice any religion without persecution or interference, in a similar way, a person can choose to be gay/lesbian without any societal interference. It is time, India, to put an end to another prejudice that is so prevalent in the society...

Science and Publishing

I am a phd student ... supposedly indoctrined in the mantra of "publish or perish"... yes publishing is important, albeit, the fun in research is primary. I may not yet have been thrust into the hard edge of grants and tenures, still the naivete in beliving in science for the fun of it.I guess the peer pressure has not yet gotten into me. Yes ! publishing is important but then understanding is primary. At the end, when your paper finally comes out, it is important to understand everything that you have done from techniques to data to the biology (in my case)

As a scientist, there are two golden rules that are a must. One, probe deeper, you will see a whole world in every drop and two, the more important one, know thy limits. For instance, let me say I am trying to understand how to conduct force measurement in DNA. Whilst, I can know the theory behind what I do, the physics behind it, there is now way I will be able to work out the finest detail of how laser works. Crude example and I guess unclear. Yet, I hope to get across the message behind it. However I try there will be always be fundamental ignoranc. Another example, more an extreme case, while I am basically a biophysical researcher, my expertise will not be enough to qualify me to make a statement in atomic physics. For instance, if I need to include a filter to my image, I need to exactly know what the filter will do, the benefits and the limitations of it and not merely a replica of an existing paper

Also, any good researcher should build up on existing knowledge. It is easy to publish papers in bulk by merely varying the parameters of an existing reseach. But the ambition of a researcher should be more encompassing. I am always impressed by the briallance of the mentors whom I have worked with. While Chris and G would have no superficial resemblance, the way they can think is something that I will always admire. The latter has a more of the box thought process, an irregular search into the vast horizons of knowledge.a jaunt that can be followed only by pure reason and intuition. For an onlooker that would seem an incomprehensible path but the end result would be most profound. Chris on the other hand, has the torch of numbers while traversing through the dark abyss of unknown. I have seen him weaving simple numbers into a gaint argument of reason and give a product that would seem so obvious. These are people who really strive for understanding .It would be a crime if I donot include Yamuna into the discussion. Never have I seen someone who is so methodical and organised, two qualities that are mandated if one needs to be a succesful scientist. She is the best person to learn planning and executing an experiment. She is such a pro in it.

Started somewhere and ended it so differently, that is exactly what research is... while the main goal of a lab might be something, you get so distracted by nuances of your experiments that you end up with such delightful ideas that are way beyond what you can imagine.

BHC vs HRC

youtube offers an interesting perspective of the democratic race

Look at the facts of         Hillaryclintondotcom                         barackobamadotcom

number of videos                      289                                                   743

Top Video Seen                I need your advice                   Barack Obama's response to bush
number of views                  649,957                                              1,297,416
Rating of it (no)                  2.5 (3916 ratings)                            4.5 (8806 ratings)
Posted                               9 months ago                                        1 month ago


No of videos over              
     1,000,000                            0                                                        2

No of videos over              
     100,000                             20                                                        43
Of those viewed over
100,000, avg rating                  2.9                                                     4.47
No. Above 4(5)                          0                                              42! (one was 3.5)
No. 2.5 or lower                        10(20)                                                 0

fact to note : Of the 2 of HRC's top video which were rated 1.5 (lowest) were the HRC challenging BHC to debate in Wisconsin which was viewed by over 164,000 people  with 2623 ratings and interestingly the other is the present children ad (released 17hrs ago, the one on the picking up the phone) which has been seen by over 296,000 people and rated by 1761 of them !!! Even a kid can say that more of the young people are appalled by this. Interestingly the Obama response ad added 8 hours ago has been viewed 45,000 times and has a rating of 4.5.

UPDATE :There  is something inherently intersting in youtube. When I saw it  as a list mode, Ringing ad from HRC  gave the following statistics : 296,861 views, 1772 ratings with an average of 1.5. The page itself gave the following statistics 296,861 views, 1774 ratings with an average of 1. The response ad from BHC gave the following statistics : List : 45,913 views, 605  ratings average 4.5 while the page 45,913, 595 ratings with an average of 4. I am not sure why the discrepancy comes.

Note : This is strictly only what is by the candidates itself, Other than what they have posted the most popular video of HRC is the one like 1984 where she is the dictator. This has been viewed 4.6 million times and has a rating of 4 on 5 by 10561 accounts !!! This speaks of her high negativism (another reason could be the inventiveness of the ad) On the other hand the most popular BHC video is "I got a crush ... on Obama" by Obama Girl which has been 6.6 million people, rated by 15,353 times and has a rating of 4. Interestingly this was posted in June last year. The fastest growing of course is the "Yes We Can"  which has a viewership of 5.2 million in just less than a month with a rating of 4 by 28,809 people, has 41 responses and over 47,000 credits the latest just 3 minutes from when I chked last. It is the most discussed and one of the  most viewed videos of this month.

I think Mark Penn and gang really underestimated the power of the internet ... You get the young guys out to help you in the grassroots, you can get a lot of work done. The raw talent harnessed by BHC's campaign is just out of the world. Remember, the media follows the crowd and the buzz of the internet and the yuppy generation is hard to resist

Blogged with Flock

Third one and the most serious

One of the websites that appeals to me the most is wikileaks. It is a fundamental website which supports whistleblowers and helps in revealing secrets which are otherwise buried in dirt. It encourages open government.

It is to wikileaks fame that they "leaked" the prison manual from Guantánamo Bay detention camp. They have help defy the chinese government ban on censorship.  That was all good. Then started the Julius Baer. 
Julius Bear is one of those banks which operate in Swiss and had a Cayman island branch. When reports of the banks illegal activities appeared in wiki-leaks (on asset hiding, money laundering and tax evasion), the big honcho tried to supress the leak. (which also included how the bank snooping on a former employee and how the employee's eight year old daughter faced trauma by what the bank did) When talks with Wikileaks proved to be unproductive (expected), the big guys decided to shut down the site and the technically naive lawyers got an Judge who clearly did not understand the working of the internet to remove the DNS www.wikileaks.org. What was even moronic was that after removing the domain name, the judge wanted the result to be e-mailed to the website (which was something like @wikileaks.org)

This is ridiculously funny as the original site content and the domain names such as wikileaks.in or wikileaks.be or wikileaks.org.uk are still functional and lead to the ip http://88.80.13.160/ The judge does not seem to comprehend that his judgement has no ruling over the internet which is essentially out of all these laws. What was even more funny was the lawyers from the bank apparently inserted an additional copyright clause to cover all document "whether or not such documents and information are authentic, semi-altered, semi-fraudulent or forged" As a fellow blogger was wondering how could forged documents come under copyright law !!! For even more funnier analysis of case can be found here https://s.p10.hostingprod.com/@spyblog.org.uk/ssl/wikileak/censorship_threats_from_lawyers/

But then look at the whole judgement, it is blatant violation of the freedom of speech, an ridiculous judgement which is a violation of the first amendment. Lawyers these days get away with everything. We need to protect whistleblowers who defy every threats they have to make companies and government accountable.

Please Please do blog about this and spead the message

this was irresistable

I found this as a comment in Fox News... just hillarious

"Comment by Ed
February 20th, 2008 at 10:56 pm

Hillary: “Barack, you’re all talk and no action”.

Barack: “Actually, we just defeated your campaign 10-in a row. I call that action.”

Hillary:”Your speeches are empty inspirational rhetoric. I’m in the solutions business”.

Barack:”If you want specifics, refer to my 62-Pg BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE, written a while back. Had you bothered to read it, you’d find that your divisive solutions business is in fact covered by my proposed bankruptcy laws. Similarly, had you bothered to read specifics from National Intelligence Estimates you wouldn’t authorize dumb wars, right?”

Hillary:”I have 35 years of experience.”

Barack: “Doubtful. You’re a Junior Senator too you know, but since you’re getting ahead of yourself, here’s a Senior Citizen discount card to further cheapen this campaign. Anyways,I’ve worked in the streets of Chicago,in the Illinois and U.S. Senate. I’m also running a clean campaign w/out lobby support. So are we even now, Hillary? Besides, what GOOD is experience if its the WRONG experience. If that’s most important to you, then appoint Dick Cheney-Fidel Castro for V.P., not me…..”

Hillary:”You’re a plagiarist!”

Barack:” Actually, I’m a thief. I just stole your voters away and hope to do it again in 2 weeks…”

Hillary:”I’m ready on DAY ONE to run this economy heading towards recession!You’re not!”

Barack:” Hillary, how can you say you’re equipped to manage a multi-trillion dollar economy when you can’t even manage your own campaign finances and people!You know, how you campaign is how you govern…..”

Hillary: DAY ONE, I SAY!

Barack: Apparently you can’t read a calendar. Elections are in November, inauguration in January. There’s 2-months to get “ready”.

Hillary: I’ve got a proven track record of success!Where’s yours, boy wonder?”

Barack: “Eight years to get health care passed and nothing??? What makes us think you’ll be successful now? You voted to name a courthouse after Chief-Justice Marshall, or something like that, right? OK,for starters, I passed the 2006Coburn-Obama Transparency-Act. Since this became law, maybe consider making your Billary joint-tax returns more transparent.”

Hillary:”Anything else?”

Barack:”I propose seniors making less than $50,000/year won’t pay income-tax. Now, Hillary, as a Senior you might be covered!”

Hillary: “You only do well in caucus states!”

Barack: “Define caucus for me, Hillary”

Hillary:”You only win small red states.
I win B-I-G states!”

Barack:” I’m winning the United States.”

Hillary:”Talk is cheap”

Barack: “No, but your negativity is.”

Hillary: “CHELSEA 2016!”

Barack:” Game over Hillary, thanks for playin’…”
"

The New Kid in the Block

I am all up for BHO. Before you draw opnions, it is not for the hope that he offers. Yes, I do enjoy the speeches and the rheoteric but then I am too steeped up in cynical thinking that I am not enamoured by it. Reality I believe is not idealistic.

Yet, why am I supporting BHO ? Look at the race. What he started out against : A candidate who was already crowned as the first women president of the US. A candidate who had the backing of the entire democratic party. A candidate whose last name resonated well with the general public (at least then) A candidate who expected nearly half the democratic (the fairer sex) to be hers for granted. A candidate who could raise millions and millions of dollars and had spent 36 million dollars for her senate reelection. A candidate who was said to be the most powerful women in the planet.A candidate who had more than a 30 point headstart. More than half the people thought her as the best candidate to win in 2008 (It was 17% for him) She had the best advisors in the party.He could not even take up the populist approach, for Edwards had wielded it. Yet from nowhere, he has fought and won many a battles and have actually gained a lead. That is not an easy task.

There are plenty of excuses and reasons. Media bias against HRC is there. I agree. There was this article, I think in NYT which talked about an interesting issue. Whenever there is a HRC picture, it will always be one of wild emotions while BHO was one of the calm thinker. There is a bias, but that is there only because the candidates project themselves that way. Bringing in a new theme, change, no lobbyist, people funded campaign, whew who would have thought those would work except someone who actually believes them.

I hate it when there are columns in every newspaper about two things 1) Afro American Vote : Yes, these days they vote predominantly for BHO. But then consider an year ago, he was still an afro-american, but Clinton was favored amongst them too. It has come a long way for BHO to earn trust amongst them (yes, he was aided by some media and the opposition's own traps) 2. Women : There are all these feminist who say America does not vote for a women. Shucks !!! Why was Clinton popularity high before the IOWA caucus. Yes, it is not that Americans do not tolerate a women. Male Chauvinsim does exists but that is not enough to bring her down. The opposing candidate had to be good. Yes ! I agree the yardstick with which you measure a women's achievement appears to be different from that of a man. She has to walk that thin line. But then, she was all set till this chap came and delivered. Do you think this would have happened had it been just Edwards and Clinton in the campaign ? Nah...

I am very impressed by the intelligence of the campaign. It was brilliant enough to recognise the importance of Iowa and South Carolina. Agreed, they did take New Hampshire a little bit easy. He has done the math right and looked at the importance of small states. Grassroot politics has come back. Even the Clinton campaign is talking about it in Texas. Most of the recent success is almost flawless in execution. I am not saying BHO is the next president of US. But then, he has impressed me with the brilliance

couple of other factors

two other factors
One I did not reckon on the popularity of Yes You Can on youtube and other places, this video watched over a million times can help consolidate Obama's position amongst the youth

One factor that I neglected, which can add to HRC advantage is that most of my predictions are based on population 50 or less who extensively use the internet and not the other side of the society where she is strong.

End of the day, my predictions 55% of delegates to Obama and 45 to HRC

Super Tuesday

Let me see how I fare in my predictions, democrats

Cal :
370 delegates : Polls say dead even contest.
My prediction 220 Obama 150 Clinton

Illinois will eventually by almost Obama

New York :
Though pundits are talking about an Obama wave, NY will be still good for Clinton handing her nearly 3/4ths of the delegates

Massachucetts :
Not a big state, but an interesting one it is essentially Clinton vs Kennedy endoesement. I think it will be dead even.

NJ:
Clinton wins 55 to 45

Georgia:
Again, it is going to be a nearly a tie but the other way, Obama 60 to Clinton 40, despite the predictions that Obama will win it hands down.

The most overlooked crucial parts of the super tuesday are the smaller states like Minnesota can help Clinton. These are more traditional voters who would prefer the Clintons. The excitement generated in the bigger states may not resonante in them and they will help HRC.

The X factors : Moveon.org's endorsement and the tears. Prior to the NH primaries I did correct my earlier statement that if HRC shows more emotions, she is not going to make it. (Incidently I did say "Expect more choking a tear filled campaign for her to get the nomination") Whether it was intentional or not, I will stand by statement : It has view by most men and lots of women as phony. Three fourths of the blog responses are in disfavour of Clinton (and incidently a lot of these people are from Cal or from small towns and what is more intersting is most of the people who supported her are generally from New York and other big cities)
This can quite mean that Clinton has played a bad card (again intentional or not) as these are her strongholds. What was even more suprising to me was compared to the NH incident, this time there was very less people who said "so ?" There were people who cried foul and people who said it was great she showed emotions (and that the inevitable claim that the new media is biased and likes to attack HRC)

Another 16 hrs and we will know...

Some of the best lines and other stuff that do not matter

Reading the comments by various people over the US on the election news, some of the best ones are
1. IF HRC was big bouncer in a bar, then BHC is Bruce Lee
the follow up comment was that BHC was not bruce lee, maybe Chuck Norris

The following were comments after Hiliary moved for "fundraising" to Florida and people of NH responded as to whether they felt cheated

2.You know how you can tell Hilliary is lying? Her lips move....

3.Clinton lie? You don't say. It is more newsworthy to report when they tell the truth.

Someone on Obama snubbing of Clinton in the Union of state address (dunno why this is so relavant)

4. No class, Obama. Don't be that way.
-
I am pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks and money orders," Bush said. "Just make it out to Haliburton."

5. And this is what passes for news these days?

The more sober news :)

IF elections were held on the internet, then BHC is a clear winner. The fact that HRC is in Florida may get her delegates on board for DNC. But a lot of people view this in a negative sense. HRC's bad public policy and for her sake hopefully right move for the DNC. (getting some many delegates in is a big deal) A lot of people at this also are of the view that BHC is more honest than HRC. The main problem that HRC has to deal with if she were to win the primary is the backlash she faces and the high negative vote. A lot of people say they would vote republican (esp if it is McCain) if it is going to be HRC. She needs to counter this. Another factor she needs to counter is the backlash of Caucasian male. Most think HRC cant be trusted. BHC also has the same problem with people albiet a lesser number of them, saying they will vote republican rather than him.

The "snub" did not play much into changing people's mind. Most people (more than half the people) feel the whole thing is blown out of propotion. A tenth of the people implied this reiterated their claims that BHC  was a "child" (So they were evidently not his fans and never had been his fans. The suprising thing was lot of people (a quarter of them) also said not shaking HRC (or in their words"Billary" ) hands was the right thing to do and that they would have done that too.

Disclaimer : I try to stay neutral in this coverage of the fight. The advantage that I have is I am doing it more of my own interest of what people think and am not directly involved in this process. However, sometimes I am drawn by the power of BHC's words and hence say a couple of kind words on his behalf. And for the records, I do not support any of the candidates and I am most inspired by BHC.