So I’ve read The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It is a good read. The final duel sounded a bit like an Indian movie. A bit too much of talking. Perhaps he wanted to clear everything up for the people. Lilly’s other lover’s story made me sad, reminded me of Her. Would I end up like him? No. I don’t want to. The epilogue was the best. I really wish my life could end up like that.
My dad used to tell me grapefruit juice can potentiate some prescription drugs. Although I did not take him seriously then, it seems to be true, in an evil sort of way.OK. So the story of how this works, begins with a class of enzymes called the Cytochrome p450 (see pictures), which removes foreign molecules (e.g. drugs) from your body by adding oxygen atoms to them. Most of the time this makes the foreign molecule soluble in water and thus “flushable” from the body.
Some unknown Chemical X (think power puff girls), present in grapefruit inhibits the ability of this enzyme to oxidate foreign chemicals. This increases the biological half-life (i.e. the time required for half of that substance to be removed from an organism by either a physical or a chemical process) and hence increases the drug potency.Sadly for anthropocentric creationists (SFAC) Cytochrome p450 enzymes are found in all organisms. Bacteria have 20 types of p450 and human beings have around 60. Plants, SFAC have a hundred of them. This is because plants make exotic toxins and pigments to protect them.References: here. here.
I was in the cable car with my parents on 25th May (I think) and I spotted this tornado. Popular rumor tells me there is a tornado once in a while near sentosa. But the government never gives any publicity for this matter because it may hinder the tourism in the Sentosa island.
The Hindu is running a story about how the Indian Government is accusing optical broadband providers for not paying tax for light energy through fibre optic lines. Light energy being a product (not a service) is taxable @ 12.5% VAT.
When the British empire controlled India, they levied a small tax on the production of all salt in the country. It was not that the government made much by this tax, nor was it that the people were burdened by it. But india ran on salt, and by taxing it the British controlled it. It was for this reason that Gandhi lead a march to the sea to do the very simple thing of making salt in oppisition to british rule.
When I read that a government that was created by the power and witness of such acts now wished to tax the production and transmission of light, It makes me wonder if they have even read their history.
“In the richest city in India, with the nation’s economy marching ahead at an enviable clip, middle-class people like Mrs. Prasher are reduced to foraging for water. Their predicament testifies to the government’s astonishing inability to deliver the most basic services to its citizens at a time when India asserts itself as a global power.” –> Link 1
“With water brimming well past the permitted levels at the 350-foot Ukai Dam, according to official records, and the skies showing no sign of relief, the engineers apparently threw open the reservoir’s 21 sluice gates. Water then did what water does. It surged downriver, swallowing this city of three million people like a hungry beast. The diamond lanes of India became a warren of muck and ruin. In less than three days, at least 120 people died. More than 4,000 animal carcasses were later hauled out of the mud. Two weeks after the floods, Surat’s diamond-polishing factories were practically empty of workers, who had fled fearing disease. An industry group estimated the losses at $60 million. Exactly what happened in Surat is still under investigation.” –> Link 2
“The country is running through its groundwater so fast that scarcity could threaten whole regions like this one, drive people off the land and ultimately stunt the country’s ability to farm and feed its people.” –> Link 3
“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.” — George Bernard Shaw
Nothing that was said above has to be right just because somebody said it. But I like to think that Gandhi wouldn’t have wanted independence if he knew those foreigners who had no idea about our land were doing a better job at governing than what we are doing to ourselves now.
I think India is a Gordian Knot, with just harsh solutions to all the problems. If you think you deserve more than what you get I suggest you’d leave India for good.
“Individual ambition serves the common good” — Adam Smith
From “The Hindu National News Update Service“:
Rising interest rates, oil prices to slow down India’s growth: WB
I think the guys at the PTI are having a bad case of PMS.(See the previous post)
From “The Hindu National News Update Service“:
India will continue to witness high growth: World Bank
From “Reuters India“:
Higher rates, oil, to slow India growth – World Bank
I must say I am really excited about all this criticism going around about India. Muwahahha! (I think I must do more of this evil laugh when I blog). Anyway I read this comment which says it all and I think it needs a post of its own:
India is really a sad country, most of us are immune to this, we’d rather not face it. When I first came here as a naive 16 year old 10 years ago the poverty even in a city like Bombay shocked me, there is too much suffering here.
In villages the caste system is alive and well with lower castes living on the periphery and not sharing even the same resources like water. In cities you don’t see it untill its time to get married, then even the most educated Indian becomes caste conscious. We are very religious as a people but not moral, for us sex and public posturing is more about morality, as individuals we have no integrity which reflects in the massive amount of corruption, how other Indians less fortunate than us are treated. For instance you could be praying all day and yet have little qualm in mistreating the people who work for you. The state and its various arms have no respect for the people, unless you are someone important even the most basic decencies are not extended.
This is everday life, there is a VIP culture, a culture of servitude which means that no rules are followed, no system adhered to, anything goes if you have the right connections. Thats why the environment is a mess, and administration ineffective. Whatever little resources is available is wasted.
And you can’t run away from a population of 1.3 billion ever increasing. Even the most talented and commited administration can’t solve this over the next 100 years. We can’t have a welfare state and provide even bassic amenities. We will always judge ourselves by standards that are significantly lower than any western country. I think Europe at the moment is the good example of how to get things right. But indians will point to morality, as if they have a monolopoly on things like family values and caring for kids, what about trying to give people a decent chance at having a life, that’s not important in the face of pretension and posturing. So every small success is magnified. We are insecure so any response to this article can only be defensive. But if we don’t recognize the problem we can’t solve it. We are inadequate, the systems and laws are there but we can’t implement anything because of a overwhleming lack of integrity.
On the business side, the IT revolution has definitely made life better and its another small step. Companies are profesionally managed nowdays, no bosses wife intefering in your work. People are better paid. More people earning means more spending and this has a roll on effect. But we are not innovating, india has not innovated. BPO and IT services is the most boring work in the world, there is money but no challenge at work. We don’t have a culture of R&D, taking a risk, making a product, and taking it to market, we don’t have the appetite for that sort of invstment with no guarantee of returns, so much easier to to mop up service contracts, hire people here and refine a process and take the money. No risks. So don’t compare this to Silicon Valley, thats a bit of a joke. The pharma industry have a similar business model, and here things could get dangerous especially with no effective regulation and human testing.
The entire world is living on science and technology that really picked up with the renassiance. We should not be shy to acknowledge this. Western civilization is the moden world, its a massive achievement for as as humans and as cultures we should learn form this human achievement and not try to posture about our failures so far.
