Earth Hour

Look around, and watch your world getting destroyed. Or take a stand and make a difference.

Put simply, out planet is dying the death of a million cuts. If each person contributes even in the smallest proportion it can make a difference. It would take an ignorant person to not know by now what I’m referring to.

Global Warming. Despite being ignored for decades, the issue has found public interest in recent years. Amongst many efforts comes Earth Hour – a stand taken up first by the city of Sydney (Australia) in 2007. By switching off their lights for one hour in the evening, 2.2 million homes and businesses in Sydney collectively voiced their concern for our planet.

Moved by their actions, people around the world joined in the next year. In 2008, 50 million people switched off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

And on March 28, 2009 an estimated 1 billion people took part in Earth Hour. Sitting in my university in Singapore, I watch the lights go off and realised how collective people from different parts of the world were at that instant. Pictures posted at Boston.com reveal the effect in a series of before-and-after photographs – which (starting with the second one ) fade between “on” and “off” when clicked.

This is the official Earth Hour 2009 video:

To learn more about Global Warming, you can check the following websites:

• Global Warming.org – http://www.globalwarming.org/
• The New York Times – http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/
• Al Gore’s ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ documentary – http://www.climatecrisis.net/ (Watch here on Google Video)

World’s Gloomiest Countires

There’s a long list, but I am stuck here:

No. 28 : Singapore

Source: Business Week

The Lost Generation

A good message…

Corruption, Population, Government

It would be interesting for some to note that there is a ‘Bribe Payers Index‘ (BPI) and a ‘Corruption Perceptions Index‘ (CPI), prepared each year by an organisation called Transparency International.

The methodology is not difficult to understand – All sources measure the overall extent of corruption (frequency and/or size of bribes) in the public and political sectors and all sources provide a ranking of countries. Sources include country experts (business leaders, risk agencies, country analysts) and few internationl organisations (Economist Intelligence Unit, World Economic Forum, etc).

The CPI ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. The BPI ranks the likelihood of firms from 22 top exporting countries to bribe abroad.

Some scores from CPI & BPI 2008 are:

On looking at the bribe payer’s index, the last few countries on the list are also some of the most populated countries on the planet. Though the correlation seems obvious, I wonder if there is a cause and effect relationship between corruption and population.

Though I firmly believe that corruption in itself is wrong, I also feel that many nations have realized that they need to firmly stamp down on it. Despite a good conscience, some of the more populated nations are unable to tackle the problem as fast as others expect them to. For example, if one was entering India and was asked to pay a bribe at the customs area in the airport, they have the option to complain to higher authorities and make a legal case of it – take the wrong doer to court. However, as is known, court cases in India – at every level, Supreme Courts, High Courts, Magistrate Courts – take a long time to be heard and resolved. There are cases which are pending a hearing for over 10 to 15 years! So, if this person at the customs is asked to pay up, will he or she actually want to get involved in potentially such a long drawn process?

The fact that it’s a long process to get justice, could in some ways be reflective of the government and constitutional set-up. In the case of India, as the largest democracy in the world, a person guilty of crime would have a number of legal options to seek a delay in judgment. (This framework also indicates the time and opportunity given to the innocently accused to prove their innocence.)

Not to be too critical, but I feel that the Indian government has come a long way in trying to tackle corruption. A few bad apples like the recent case of Mayawati (Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh) taking bribe, and the Satyam scandal only divert attention to a nation that has historically been plagued by this problem. Under a hypothetical scenario, if say the leaders of one of the ‘least corrupt’ nations were put in power in the India, I do not think they would be able to do any better a job than the current leaders. If this is accepted, then the source of corruption boils down to the constitutional set-up.

I wonder if it’s worth trading a free democratic environment for an authoritative pseudo-democracy like some of the ‘least corrupt’ countries.

Al-Qaeda Hails Financial Crisis

Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market’s downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy for crippling America’s economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamic insurgents.

How interesting…. read here.

Some cartoons..

The Best of Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin, the US Republican Vice Presidential candidate, has to be the biggest political mistake on the face of this planet. Unimgainably ignorant and verbally-challenged, her every public appearance just seems to pull down Senator John McCain’s chances of being elected to Presidency.

Palin experience: Mayor of a remote Alaskan town for 6 years, Governor of Alaska for 2 years, and 1 year chairing the Alaskan Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. Thats it!! On the basis of simply her experience, I can’t imagine what John McCain’s team was thinking when they selected her. Taking into account that the 72 year old McCain may not survive his first term in office, it’s utterly absurd to think that she could someday be President of the US.

Things get worse, when she rambles on incoherently in interviews, combining the words healthcare, foreign policy, aid, job creation and $700 bailout plan in the same sentence! I’ve never heard her answer a single question with a related answer because she always seems to revert to using the few ideas that she may have been taught just minutes before the interview.

The web is filled with criticisms and parodies of her incompetency – watch the videos below to find out! (The best: Matt Damon’s question!)

Palin on Foreign Policy

Jack Cafferty Tells Us How He Really Feels About Sarah Palin

CNN Laughs It Up Over Sarah Palin Interview

Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin

So, Sarah Palin – were there dinosaurs?

When the US Senate woke up…

It made the two long-awaited decisions: passed the $700 billion financial bailout plan (which can apparently put an end to the financial mess) & approved the Indo-US Nuclear Deal.

An hour with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran by popular vote in 2005. Known for his rhetoric and ‘controversial’ ideas, he is probably one of the most important figures in the middle-eastern world.

In his second interview at the Charlie Rose Show (telecast on PBS), Ahmadinejad creates the case for a nuclear empowered Iran. He attacks the US government for interfering in the domestic governance & administration of Iraq and other mid-east countries, and questions the responsibility the US has taken upon itself to ‘help’ countries which are apparently in distress. The President also claims that the IAEA is a puppet in the hands of the US which is one of the strongest members. He questions why the US – the strongest nuclear power – does not wish other countries to use the same technology for peaceful purposes. Trashing the idea of any nation actually using nuclear weapons, he claims the Iran aims to advance in nuclear technology as well as biotechnology, nanotechnology, arts, etc.

In the interview, Ahmadinejad also talks about the strategic location of Iran in the middle-east and its role in helping the nations around it. Extending his argument, he questions the interests of the US in Iraq.

Today, news from across the world is (ultimately) biased in favour of the Americans, and we rarely sit up and question what we hear. Why do Americans feel responsible for cleansing the world? Is it really their responsibility?  Do they really have a plan? And, who judges their actions?

There are violent critics on both sides of the fence who could argue endlessly. But, what’s the solution?

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I’ve just been directed to President Ahmadinejad’s blog: http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/

Leaving Baghdad: Culture Shock in America

This is a beautifully written piece by Ahmad Fadam on his experiences in USA.

Having stayed in the US for two months, Ahmad reflects on a number of issues: the freedom he was never aware of when he lived in Iraq, how people take it upon themselves to represent their culture abroad, his rich Iraqi heritage and culture, the ignorance and disinterest of common Americans towards a country they’ve invaded, and yet their amiability and sympathy on recognising him as an Iraqi.

Written in simple english, Ahmad’s deliberations and questions are evoking and moving. It’s a piece you wouldn’t want to miss!

C’est la vie!

Credit: Time Magazine

Meet Sustainable Dave

I wish there were more people who emulated Dave Chameides – Emmy Award winning TV cameraman who stores all the trash he creates.

Keeping it all in his LA basement has made him actually realise the amount of unrequired products he buys. Consequently, he’s reduced buying crap that he doesn’t really need, thereby minimizing waste. And over a period of 8 months Dave has reduced waste production by a phenomenal margin too.

He points out that the garbage from NY is dumped over a 100 miles away. That from LA is dumped 40 miles outside the city. With landfills getting clogged, and recycling progressing at a rate significantly slower than waste production, one can only imagine the problem we face in the future.

Though this is in the context of the US, I’m quite sure that countries worldwide face a similar problem. And a starting step to solve this issue, could be as simple as reducing the garbage we actually produce. Think about it..

Science Made Easy – Videos

I came across an informative and simply explained series on Youtube today. It covers a set of topics dealing with the universe and evolution in a logical order. Finding good videos on Youtube is not difficult, but getting such a set is!

The videos do not ramble about scientific hypotheses but instead sum up a string of complicated scientific discoveries that form the basis of our understanding of the universe and ourselves. Though I do not know much about the narrator/producer of these videos, I did find that the videos aim to counter outrageous, if not hilarious, religious beliefs and thereby add a bit of humour.

Each video is about 9 to 10 minutes long. Have fun!

List of Videos:

1. History of the Universe Made Easy (Part 1)
2. History of the Universe Made Easy (Part 2)
3. The Origin of Life made easy
4. The Story of the Earth Made Easy
5. The Age of Our World Made Easy
6. Natural Selection Made Easy
7. The Theory of Evolution Made Easy
8. Human Evolution Made Easy
9. Human Ancestry Made Easy
10. The Scientific Method Made Easy
11. Creation ‘Science’ Made Easy
12. God and DNA made easy

Interesting Signboards

   See here!

   Its great that Bin Laden is courteous!

 

 

 

The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate US? by Fareed Zakaria

A fabulous article with a different perspective to understanding the reasons behind the Mid-East’s hatred to the US and Americanism.

This article propelled Fareed Zakaria into the forefront of politico-economic debates and analyses. He is considered as one of the more influential and original voices on American foreign policy and politics. Zakaria is an Indian-born, Yale- and Harvard-educated Muslim who moves easily between Condoleezza Rice and Pervez Musharraf, Tony Blair and Prince Turki Al-Faisal. He’s a conservative who is willing to question one of the most cherished principles of the West -democracy – but also a naturalized citizen who believes in America’s world-historical mission.

Today, Zakaria is regarded as one of the Top 20 Public Intellectuals in the world – in league with influential people such as Gulen, Gore and Kasparov.