You can ignore this post, just a rambling...

I had run on 19 consecutive days before a sore throat and cold declared their hostile intentions on me and lay siege. In those 19 days I ran for 83.5kms at an average of about 4.4kms a day. Actually not a big deal compared to some other things happening around, like this sports doctor from Manipal Hospital running a half marathon (21.1kms) everyday in the month of October or this other guy trying to become the first Indian to run 100 miles or 160kms in 24 hours...

Oh well! I have recovered and started running again, 9.2kms done in the last 2 days...

Johnny Gaddaar

Cool movie to watch, a total mash of ingredients with all the bollywood masala. But wait it has more, it has good acting, it is really well directed/shot and has good music. The title track is really good. Actually the title track totally sums up the whole movie. It’s brash, loud and nasty but still classy and thought provoking.

The movie is about a criminal gang of five trying to pull off a quick deal in a matter of 4 days. But obviously one of them wants to make away with the whole thing and launches a warped plan. As the plan unfolds it leaves behind a series of betrayals and dead bodies. The plot thickens significantly with infidelity, fake notes and accidents galore. And where will it all end of Johnny Gaddaar is the question that hangs in balance, keeping you at the edge of your seat.

“Heyyyy Johnny, Zindagi jua hai khel yaar” goes the title track…

Warming vs Warring

I read a good article revolving around Global Warming versus Global Warring. The article questioned an environmentalist and Standford professor, Paul Ehrlich, and George Shultz who was US president Regan's secretary of state and the head of Bechtel. They each were asked about solutions and the media's involvement in both these topics. Here are the excerpts, the whole article is at the link below. All I can say is, these damn wily politicians, they are the same everywhere...

AMY GOODMAN: Do you see a connection, Secretary Shultz, between global warring and global warming?

GEORGE SHULTZ: Say that again.

AMY GOODMAN: Between global warring and global warming. And what I mean, specifically, when we talk about global warming, fossil fuels, this whole push for using more and depending on oil, what do you think about the connection between the Iraq war and this issue of global warming at home?

GEORGE SHULTZ: I don't think the Iraq war had anything whatever to do with it. The Iraq war and -- whether you agree or not with the invasion of Iraq, the problem is there is a radical movement that uses the weapon of terror, and we have to confront it...It had nothing to do with oil at all.

PAUL EHRLICH: I disagree totally. If you go back in history, our entire presence in the Middle East has been entirely focused on seeing to it that we can keep some kind of control over the fossil fuel supplies. I think Stanford Professor Gretchen Daily said it very well: if you think we’re invading Iraq -- or would we be planning to invade Iraq if their major export were broccoli? We would just have left it. I’m not saying that this was in George Bush's head. God knows what was in his head.

This is article is well worth reading in full, please do by clicking here...

An Inconvenient Truth

A while back I saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth and would highly recommend it to everyone. The movie is about climate change and the global warming issues facing us. It tries to convey to the world that if you think that the impact of climate change is far into the future or just a theory or surely we'll be prepared for it when it eventually happens, then you need to wake up.
We are going to face the impact of global warming in the next 50 years or so. The dangerous changes are not many generations away but lurking just round the corner. The term 'Greenhouse' which we all heard as kids is now more dangerous than terrorists like Bin Laden.
Anyway, the movie does not go into the depth of the issue but wants people to acknowledge the fact that we are leaving behind a world that even our grandchildren may not be able to enjoy...

The rapid increase in energy needs, the complete dependence on fossil fuels and the forever increase in emissions rates prompted some effort between the various countries to contain this impact. The Kyoto Protocol was the result. This treaty is the United Nations international treaty to address climate change. It aims to assign and implement emission standards around the world to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and 5 other greenhouse gases.

Currently in the world the US is responsible for nearly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. That is more than South America, Africa, Middle East and India, all put together. And to make it worse the US is not part of the Kyoto protocol. Two consecutive administrations Clinton and Bush accounting for 16 years of power have not taken the Kyoto Protocol to the American senate to get it ratified.

We have all seen the labels 'EURO II', 'EURO III', 'Bharat Stage II' etc on the back of the cars in India. These stickers are nothing but the emission standards that are being put in place by the participants of the Kyoto Protocol. The table of these various emission stages is pretty impressive, these greenhouse emissions can really be brought down. But the US still does not participate. Their emission standards are the weakest in the world. They are so weak that US cars, as is, cannot be sold in Japan and most of Europe and Asia. Japan is right at the forefront of these standards. They are high above everyone else leading the race to curb our greenhouse gases emissions. Europe is behind and India is a little behind than Europe. Europe is at EURO IV and India is at Bharat Stage III which is equivalent to EURO III.

Animals are always so cute...

Someone I know, my friend, she had some owls nesting in her building. She tried to save them from the building people and the building society but one of owls just died right in front of her. Just a sad sad thing :(

That reminded me of a pup I had tried to save once many years ago. The pup totally drenched in Bombay rains was shivering away to no end. This was in the building I grew up in where we usually always had a host of stray dogs. I wrapped the pup up in one of those 'gunny' bags and gave it some food but it died in a few hours...
That reminded me of the days when I had an adopted dog, Rocket. Eventually we lost him...

Which brings me to one of the most touching of Calvin and Hobbes sequences, well if you are fond of animals. This is a sequence in which Calvin tries to save a racoon but the racoon dies. Hobbes is there to comfort Calvin and gives Calvin a 'tiger' hug but somewhere in the middle Hobbes observes, and I totally agree with this..."I think Animals are always so cute"...