See through my eyes

2009-03-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

INDISTAN ( INDIA & PAKISTAN) or PAKIDIA (PAKISTAN & INDIA)

Strange idea..but what if? What if India and Pakistan become one nation once again after 60 years of raging hatred and staggering war-fear? What if Pakistan surrenders to its radicalism and India yields to its solitude? By saying this, I am no less than a patriot and no more than an unbiased spectator. Both countries have been engaged in an unproductive "out-smart" game for half a century. We have witnessed bloodbath of not only the human lives but also the loss of humanity and euphoric society. This retaliation game was sowed when the partition was announced. And now our generation is facing a big red tree of religious intolerance.

2009-02-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

Who is stalking?

Last week, after finishing my daily stretches in gym, I happened to find a guy, who was using one of the weight machines. I asked friendly about the advantages of that machine and the proper way to operate it. After the talking, we mutually introduced ourselves to each other. He gave his first name and told me about his work. He did talk about his personal life and his whereabouts.
After this candid conversation, I started thinking. How much information we should safely reveal to the other stranger on our first meeting? To find the answer, first I jotted down the information the guy gave me about his first name and work. Then I did a search on linkedin.com and was able to find his last name, college, past experience,etc. Not knowing his full name , I went to check the local directory and was able to fetch his address. Ok....I scared myself. In spite of lack of psychotic tendency of stalker, I did find everything a serious yet dangerous stalker would like to know.
So the question is - how much information we should share with a stranger? The answer is - never ever tell your full name. Always introduce yourself with your nickname. And do not tell what is your designation or what kind of work you do if you at all are revealing the name of your company. And finally, do not talk to stranger......old saying but true.

2009-01-24T18:34:00.001-08:00

New Relay Moments...............

Last weekend, we had a ballistic kick-off meeting of the Douglas County Relay For Life. In total, 57 members participated. The publicity really paid off well. The next first team captain's meeting will be on Feb 9th. This year, I've decided to take the Online Chair position. Additionally, I am planning to popularize the online fund raising, which is still in its nascent stage in this county. 2009 is not going to be a great year for non-profit organization and fund raising community. With the soaring fear of unemployment and declining economic growth, I strongly feel that the online fund-raising will give that last push to achieve our goal. The community has been very supportive of the RFL ( Relay For Life). For those who never heard of RFL, here is some basic info. RFL does fund-raising for American Cancer Society(or ACS), which is a non-profit organization. Throughout nation, there are many teams. To understand the role of ACS, here is one true story to share. One day, I got an email from a lady who works in the main office - Dillard, OR. She wanted to share the story of her brother. Her brother was inflicted with cancer and went to Portland for the treatment. Unfortunately, the hospital was crowded with patients and there was no vacancy to stay for a night. Then ACS stepped in and arranged a room in a near-by hotel. Her brother got a place to stay for a night and next day he met his doctor. This is just one facade of the role of ACS. ACS is also involved in awareness based education,fund research program, and advocacy. The team of RFL really makes a difference in some one's life. I met so many awesome people. Many ladies manage their family, work and participate with full heart in the event. I only wish that I could extend this effort to other under-privileged countries, including India.

2009-01-18T18:05:00.000-08:00

Curse on Humanity

Almighty God, Bless our souls

For what we have become, Embrace us and console

Lord! You lurk us with pity and surprise,

We have forgotten humanity but still live in pride.

Pain of natural malaise makes people cry,

It makes me feel humanity dies.

I know for sure, Lord, you love our hearts

Enlighten our souls so we see your heart.

Bestow us your courage and your finest blessings,

For we need them to fight back every cause.

I promise to support your children with care,

Oh god! Forgive me if I dare fear.

2009-01-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

Adieu Bush....Bienvenue Obama

How you feel when you were cursed, mocked, and politically victimized through sharp criticism, barrage of harsh questions on ethics, faith and perversion? Yes, I am talking about Bush. Two months back, the news media and entertainment channels were talking about his past records and indelible yet bloody legacy. Now, there is a sudden about face. Oh! He was a wonderful president and he kept us safe for 7.5 years. He never surrendered and showed his enduring courage..blah..blah..I'm not saying that he was not all those stupendous definition of characters. But for crying out loud, why now? What has changed the mighty heart of people? Here is the news flash....we people walk thin line on emotions. We believe what Fox News or CNN says. We believe what others think. And we do not want to use one ounce of our brain to find answers. While the shoe-incident made the president's image vulnerable, his eloquent speech with a sincere praise for Obama and sheer acceptance of past mistakes gave him another chance to cease the staggering storm of criticism on his character. Well...If everyone wants to forget, who am I to care about?

Now comes the halcyon years with the arrival of Barrack Obama, as they now say. Or is it? We will see. But I believe, Obama is not going to wave any magic wand to change the course of our current economic and financial situations. Even though he is going to pull his best intention to fix economy, the vast majority of his time will uncompromisingly end up in solving Israel-Hamas conflict, India-Pakistan standoff, Military operations in Afghanistan, Intelligence reports on the growing threat from Hezbollah, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, and Iran, gilding the torn impression of the US, confrontating Russia on missile defense system, dialectic decision on new and existing free-trades, soaring medical costs and implementing new health care plan, increasing funding for research program such as AIDS, Cancer and fund programs like SCHIP, and rock-solid immigrant plan. The list is long and expanding. The point is - working on the economy is like fixing the broken ship. The chances are either the miraculous and wailing success or total collapse. So it is wise to work on something that we can save. What would I do? Well.....I would not pull up those populous bandage plan such as economic stimulus plan. I would wait for a collapse but then act differently. I would put the money on retooling the general population. Increasing the unemployment benefits with the personal guarantee from the laid-off workers that once their trainings are done, they need to step up and get going. Complement the college-loans with low interest rate so it would eaiser on the middle class family to afford the surmounting education costs. I believe in the laissez-faire system. And hence, once the economy is up and running, the gov should be out of it. Of-course, the general public would pay the fair dues to government, which has stepped up in dire times. Also, I would focus on immigrants - enhancing the GC process so that they could start fueling the economy by buying homes and do not have to worry about fulfilling legal formalities. I would of-course invest in construction. Well..I have a long list but again Obama doesn't care as he got people :-). ©

2009-01-07T23:36:00.000-08:00

Synopsis of the book: Global Capitalism

This is going to be a long boring post. I am reading this book, and I am amazed with the contents. How many times we ask our self this question: Are the recent incidents such as recession, war on terror, etc reminding us about the past similar events?

It does. And this book can usher the reader through the troughs and crests of the business cycle that changed the world. When the wave of the modernization started after the Industrial revolution in Britain, the pie of the economic growth was shared, and later exploited, by many countries. Britain advocated the free-trade to bring the comparative advantages, just as the US did during the Clinton's or Bush's presidency. Downside - The idea of free-trade in the international economy gave enough power to Britain to flex its muscle on the weaker nations. The idea of the gold standard was adopted to not only increase the international trade in diversified economy but also start a global financial engine that has allured the most naive person on the main street in any country. Britain, using its technological advances, promoted its hidden agenda to gain control on the international community through investment in developing countries such as Brazil, China, and Argentina and maximize its profits. As a result of the expansion and rise of Britain, many other European countries such as Germany, France, and Italy boarded the bandwagon in coming years. In order to fully participate in the international community, every other country followed the footprint of Britain, adopted the gold standard, and brought down the protectionism. The economic boom gave rise to cross-border resource and labor transfer. The rise of immigration and its impact on the wages were the hot-button issue even during the pre-1919 era.

This book also talks about the polarization happened due to sheer technological advances in countries such as Germany and growing financial enterprise in countries such as Britain. Although other countries were following the lead, the Western Europe was sure the clear winner. Well, this book focuses less on India; I took this opportunity to bring some changes happening in India at that time. I have not read the book completely so I am not sure if the below information is available or not.

British formed an East India Company that specialized on the free-trade and colonial expansion. When this book mentioned about the surging interest of manufacturers to find more consumers, it reminded me why the moderate freedom fighters, especially Gandhi, asked to abandon the western clothes. Since the gold symbolized the prosperity and abundance, British did follow market demand, which was covered in our history book under the gold plunder age. Since the steam engine was invented and advanced, British built many ports and shipyard in India. British might have created many jobs before reaping the profits of colonialism, but they also understood that the economic changes could put India on the path of growth and prosperity and might increase the standard of living. Hence, British never shared technological knowledge, instituted many tax schemes, brought Kings and locals under insurmountable debts, and bankrolled a massive military. Well, we know that the revolution did happen and the reign was ended. Despite the blood-shed and human cry, I do believe that the colonial India taught us one thing – Unity in diversity. ©

2009-01-04T23:49:00.000-08:00

Well here is one way to get rid of spyware and virus......

Only getting a popup is what you see, not what is happening in the background. You need to remove it.Here is how I have done it.

*Download, install programs and the get the updates. DO NOT RUN A SCAN YET:

Malwarebyteshttp://www.malwarebytes.org/

Ccleaner (will clean up crap after going online)http://www.ccleaner.com/download*

Then after you have done the install and updates, DISCONNECT from the internet. Pull the plug.*Run Ccleaner.*Next, boot up in safe mode (Tap the F8 key every few seconds as the system boots up until the screen with Safe Mode option appears). CHoose the first Safe Mode, not with network.*Now run the above spyware programs. Choose Full scans as oppossed to quick scans.RUN CCLEANER AFTER YOU ARE ONLINE. I dont analyze, I just choose the Run option. Have every user do this.

Note : I copied from another website.

2008-01-31T18:23:00.000-08:00

Title : Role of the Northwest in era of renewable energy ( Entered in the Northwest Essay Competition)

The inquisitive question is not about the circling of looming recession or the sulking face of the economy after the eventual shrinking of recession but about ways to prevent the economic stability arising due to the draconian economic and environment issues. On many counts, the plunging of housing market and oil fluctuation are recognized by many noted economists to be the important ingredients for the recent looming recession. Hence it is evident that after the settling of recession, we will still be asked the same question once again – Are we capable to subdue the possible threats to economic stability? In the recent attempts to answer this question, the Northwest is spreading its promising wings to atleast tap the oil dependency and to take a center stage at this critical juncture. The vastness of resources, the advancement of clean technology, and the progressive optimism and cohesive strength from lawmakers, companies, and general public alike give Northwest an impeccable advantage to build future at the global platform.
As John Keynes once said, the difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds. For many years, the Northwest has been working on renewable energy programs and alternative energy resource projects by creating innovative investment instrument, educating local communities, filling growth gaps with policies and grants, and making subsidized loans available. But at the same time, the Northwest has been facing challenges in shaving off the antiquated methods and technologies, patching up the past debts, and supporting compulsory social and economic liabilities. In the midst of these challenges, the Northwest is still staying on the course of alternative energy sustainability by persistently focusing on wind energy projects, biomass projects, and solar projects.
The wind energy, favored by Denmark, has suddenly given an impetus to many renewable energy projects in various parts of country, including the Northwest region. The success of community wind projects and large projects such as the State Wind Project or Nine Canyon Wind project has not only given a proven option for an alternative source of energy and working model for future renewable energy projects but also increased the earning potential of local owners and farmers and opened a door of opportunities for new products such as Green Tags – an environmental commodities that can be traded in open market. It has also given birth to programs such as Energy Star Homes Northwest – a program that encourages the construction of homes to ENERGY STAR standards. The northwest policy makers have long recognized the latent of wind energy and hence proposed some instrumental laws such as the Energy Restructuring law, which calls for reserving certain percent of utility revenue to invest in renewable resources. Witnessing the importance, some prominent groups such as Bonneville Environmental Foundation of Oregon, a non-profit public benefit co-operation, has instituted many community and commercial renewable energy projects in the Northwest region and other parts of country – a business model that can be used to further fulfill the needs of alternative energy utilization. Many incentive programs are steamrolling to increase participation. For instance, Oregon offers personal and business tax credits, Washington provides sales tax exemptions for renewable energy equipment, Idaho grants a residential tax deduction, and Montana provides corporate income and property tax incentives.
But there is also a rough side to this success. It is widely known that California, Texas, and Iowa are leading contributors to the growth of wind energy projects. This means that the Northwest is still climbing the ladders and will time to match the growth of those states even though wind is natural resource found in abundance. And it also means that the Northwest is in better position to learn from the mistakes of other state projects and can save money, time and resource. Improvements are also required in implementing the tax credits, providing rural cooperation in wind power purchase, creating more funding schemes such as Green Investment Fund – an investment fund by the City of Portland to invest in green building projects - to tap the growth potential. Additionally, by extending the current tax credit such as Production Tax Credit or Small Wind Systems Tax credits, we can entice many businesses and consumers and can drive up the demand for wind energy. The Northwest can also choose such idea as partnership from Minnesota. For instance, Minnesota has created some tax-credit driven projects such as Minnesota Farmer Corporation (Minwind Project) and non tax-credit driven programs such as Flip program in which the owner of the land forms a partnership with a corporate and after specified years gain the control of wind project operation. These projects will definitely bestow benefits in long run. The Northwest can also learn from Iowa, where a utility wind turbine has been successfully implemented on Iowa public school. Taking a step further, the Northwest can implement the similar project on most of the public buildings to broadcast the scope of wind projects. Finally, a large campaign is required to project wind energy as a profitable cash crop. It will urge farmers in remote areas, land owners with capital-holding and local communities at high altitude to participate willingly.
If the possibilities of wind energy are brightening up the confidence of its proponents, then the expansion of solar energy is creating ripples throughout the country and attracting many residential owners, building developers, and large corporations. Like other states, the Northwest has established a foothold in the implementation and growth of the solar projects. When lights glaze on the stage in the Shakespeare Festival, they unequivocally remind us about the success of Solar Ashland – an initiative by City of Ashland to use solar power. When the White Bluffs Solar station was established on the Hanford site – a contaminated environmental site originally built for nuclear facility in Washington, it reflected the priority on solar manufacturing. The Northwest has drafted many interesting programs to promote the bottomless opportunities of solar energy. For example, the Seattle City Life is promoting the Green up program – a program that brings the control of energy conservation projects to the Washington consumers. Through Green Up program, many solar projects have been implemented on schools, non-profit building, and university buildings. Some of these projects have proven to be successful. The Northwest legislature has also shown interests in the promotion of solar manufacturing. For example, the Washington legislature worked on the SB 5101 bill, which targeted the growing demand of solar photovoltaic energy, to introduce feed-in production incentive; Under the feed-in production incentive, the home owners and businesses with solar photovoltaics , apart from other renewable energy systems, will earn 15 cents per KWH of the electricity generated by their renewable energy systems. This bill definitely defines its dominance in the path of energy conservation. On the other hand, the Oregon legislature has increased the Oregon Business Energy Tax Credit to boost the solar manufacturing.
The growth in solar projects comes unconditionally to northwest due to its prime location, but at the same time the growth is measured to be less than satisfactory even though the sunny Northwest is standing high among other regions. For one thing, the photovoltaic panels or solar water heater equipment is expensive. Some tax credits can’t be used as they are attached with strings. Moreover, the over all costs, which includes sales tax and installation cost, discourage many beginners. In order to diffuse the barrier, the policy maker should display a comforting act to reduce the cost as it can be seen in the House Bill 2799 (Washington) to make solar water-heating equipment exempted from local or sales tax. Also, the Northwest policymakers should heed to some operational issues with tax credits. For example, in Oregon, many commercial developers are looking for third party investor to finance the solar projects as not all commercial developers are eligible for tax credits. And now there is a growing concern about the climate change that directly affects the future of solar projects. Bringing onboard many large corporations to utilize solar power is a bright idea but not easy since many big companies such as Walmart that recently activated solar power system in Hawaii want to venture into energy conservation without jeopardizing the business stability. Inspite of all the barriers, the solar manufacturing is having a promising future in the Northwest region.
Last year, among all the renewable energy projects Bioenergy made more news. The United States has witnessed a tremendous growth in Bioenergy arena. In particular, the biofuel, especially Biodiesel and Ethanol, has created more buzz in national and international markets. Recently Boeing and Virgin Atlantic formed an environmental partnership to use biofuel for aircraft. Biodiesel and Ethanol are both environment friendly. Biodiesel is generally made from vegetable oils or recycled restaurant greases and can be blended with diesel to use in any unmodified vehicle. Biodiesel helps reduce air pollutants and toxics. Similarly, Ethanol is produced from grains and biomass and can be blended with gasoline to gain the similar benefits. When the 2002 Farm Bill was introduced, it showcased gravity in the political atmosphere. Through the 2002 Farm Bill, many biofuel education programs and bioenergy research programs were funded, and specialized grants were created to fuel the momentum. On the other side, the Northwest states were already folding their sleeves. Idaho attracted Logen, a world leader in cellulosic ethanol production – another biofuel that is made out of agricultural residues. Sensing the demand of Biodiesel, the Spokane Country Conservation District initiated the establishment of Biodiesel production facilities in Eastern Washington by using locally available canola, mustard, and rape. When the Department of Environmental Quality, Montana, promoted the “Truck in the Park” project in Yellowstone National Park, it sent a positive message about its seriousness and confidence. The biofuel projects in Washington and Oregon have already paved new direction for restaurant waste oil when Sequential Pacific Biofuels, the Oregon’s largest Biodiesel manufacture, and Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative , a group from Washington working on cross-border Biodiesel project, use restaurant grease and fryer oil as a feedstock.
But the Northwest regions are entangled in problems that can hit hard the vulnerability of the biofuel future. Recently, the unprecedented demand of biofuel has driven up the price of feedstock. The corn, a popular feedstock for ethanol, is now considered a valuable commodity but is engaged in the roller-coaster experience in the Chicago Board of Trade. One of the important feedstock i.e. Soybean is primarily found in Midwest but not sufficiently available in Northwest. Any biofuel industry using woods as feedstock faces environmental challenges and restrains from environmentalist. Even in the presence of many programs and credits, the Northwest legislature needs to bring more environmental friendly policies that can be implement at or used by households of varying incomes or businesses. For examples, the Northwest legislature can take decisive step in reducing or eliminating the state fuel tax on Biodiesel as Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota and Texas have taken. Also, more focus is required for technological innovation and research to increase the productivity of biofuel production, which can drive down the biofuel price considerably. More freedom should be given to biofuel distributor and producers to attract growing biofuel companies. The Northwest state can create funding instrument to increase in the investment of biodiesel or ethanol as Iowa and Missouri created a “Biodiesel Revolving Fund” to purchase biodiesel for public vehicles. Finally, the Northwest legislation can pass a mandatory fixed percentage of Biodiesel in diesel to churn the growth of biofuel industry.
Overall, the Northwest is playing an important role to ensure the sustainability and energy security. Even the Cascadia Scorecard, a comparative yardstick to gauge the Northwest’s progress towards sustainability, highlights that the gasoline consumption is improved in the Northwest region. Hopefully, the Northwest progress can be used as an example of excellence and perseverance.

2005-11-01T20:52:00.000-08:00

Walking With Me

Walking alone more closely to memories

Counting friends and foes

Sobbing for destined miseries

And re-celebrating all my successes

Reminiscence is a regenerative art

It knocks time and again.

Today, Reminiscence is stronger than my heartbeat

With each picture of blatant lie or naked truth,

My conscious is wrangling with “true me”

With my past actions of deception or for ambition,

My character is portraying “true me”

With my past ignorance for relationship or for love,

My heart is despising “true me”.

God senses my true belief,

My desire for existence and my struggle for a single dream

God knows the ultimate truth and he knows the hidden throes

I pray, he embraces my soul

2005-10-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

World of New Hopes

From conglomeration of European unions,
To dissemination of Soviet unions,
From the Industrial Revolution of Britain
To the Orange revolution of Ukraine,
From the productive economy of South Asia
To the degenerative economy of East Asia.

I believe, there is always a hope for better world

Where Love is the only religion
And Hate is the only crime,
Where Empathy is the only relationship
And Antipathy is the biggest sin
Where our eyes see only one color
That is the color of good heart
Where oomph eyes at the credence of a person,
And adrenaline rushes for the love of passion,
Where people grim at the time of frustration,
And people bow the Preponderance of mother-nature
Where the red color epitomizes the sanity of heart,
And the white color symbolizes the confidence in trust
Where the blue color measures the depth ness of mother’s love,
And the yellow color typifies the success of love.

I am waiting for the World of new hopes. ©

2005-09-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

Too Close Too Far

Love is always in the air,
And recently, I felt its gravity

Two individuals were staying with each other,
Loving each other
Murmuring about petty things
Then showing full affection

Raising a family of love,
Teaching them the value of relationship
Inculcating the sense of empathy and patience
Teaching the golden rule of money- One cent for you may be One dollar for someone else

Then came the time of ultimate truth,
Accepting the separation from the family
Separating from heart but eternally connecting to soul
Asking everyone to spread the saga of purest love and affection

Everyone scattered searching for a better meaning of life,
Having indispensable power of knowledge
And strong belief in God and its undoubted justice,
The absence of paternal love was always haunted.

Two individuals were still staying together,
No body very near to them
Consoling each other and Loving each other,
Comforting each other with soft words

But time is servile to one master – Death,
Now one individual stayed with lifetime memory of other,
Darkness of loneliness overshadowed the strength of family love,
Teaching of strength fading with feeble love

Then surged the desire of togetherness,
Embraced the conqueror of life to stay with other in eternity ©

2005-09-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

Is consumerism a right medicine for india?

India, now in its heyday, are looking for other viable options to increase the productivity and growth - to increase GDP and to control inflation. Are we overlooking or hiding ourselves from the most proven concept - Consumerism?

If China's economy is boisterously flourishing due the large scale consumer market, Japan - another consumer based country, on the other hand, is still struggling with its trumbling economy - due to the aftermath of consumerism. If US, Britain, Italy and France are squabbling on protectionism, then Mexico, Brazil, Malalysia, China, Russia and India are stretching their growing arms to grab bigger piece of foreign markets. With so much of brouhaha about protectionism and so many cutthroat competitors, who have established indeliable relationship with hearts of occidental consumers, it is imperative for the largest democractic country - India ,where political instability and economical inequality are always in question, to opine confidently about its plans for expansion and to generate unequivocally a natural predilection for Indian specialities among US, Europe, and Asia. But are we ready for a grand finale on the international stage? More to come....
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