Monday, February 28, 2011
Afghanistan
Check out Michael Yon's blog on Afghanistan. If you continue clicking on next, you can see his photo blog on the Thailand/Burma border.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Jeff Bezos's Speech to the 2010 class of 2010
A superlative speech by Jeff Bezos to the class of 2010 Princeton Grads. It is very moving and highly inspirational. I don't think I ever saw this side of Jeff Bezos while I was at Amazon (But then I skipped many of the all hands...). Here is the link to the speech
http://www.princeton.edu/main/
Take time to read it. If you are a toastmasters fan, you'll recognize all the elements of a good speech.
Did you know he was a tinkerer and inventor in his younger days?
Also, now we know where all the need for metrics comes from !!!! Note Bezos's passion for estimating various kinds of measures.
http://www.princeton.edu/main/
Take time to read it. If you are a toastmasters fan, you'll recognize all the elements of a good speech.
Did you know he was a tinkerer and inventor in his younger days?
Also, now we know where all the need for metrics comes from !!!! Note Bezos's passion for estimating various kinds of measures.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Extra Time -- Second Half -- 2010 World Cup final--Netherlands/Spain
Replacement by Spain. New guy Torres. Supposedly the golden boy for Spain.
Very good action in this second half.
Red card to John Heitinga of Netherlands. That means he goes off the field. Bad news for the Dutch. They are now down to ten. Spain has a free kick just outside the Dutch goal as a result of the red card. No goal for Spain.
Neither of the teams look like they can score a goal.
6 minutes to go. Free kick for Netherlands. No joy.
Fantastic. Spain nets the goal! What a goal! Real classic. The Dutch look really angry. Was the Spanish striker off side? The dutch seem to think so. The replay also hints that this was an off side.
118 minutes. 2 minutes to go. This is it, I think. Spain should be the World Cup winner, barring surprises.
Must be heartrending for the Dutch. This is the third time they have been beaten in the finals. '74, '78 and now in 2010.
45 seconds to go (2 min of added time).
That's it. Spain are the World Champions.
Very good action in this second half.
Red card to John Heitinga of Netherlands. That means he goes off the field. Bad news for the Dutch. They are now down to ten. Spain has a free kick just outside the Dutch goal as a result of the red card. No goal for Spain.
Neither of the teams look like they can score a goal.
6 minutes to go. Free kick for Netherlands. No joy.
Fantastic. Spain nets the goal! What a goal! Real classic. The Dutch look really angry. Was the Spanish striker off side? The dutch seem to think so. The replay also hints that this was an off side.
118 minutes. 2 minutes to go. This is it, I think. Spain should be the World Cup winner, barring surprises.
Must be heartrending for the Dutch. This is the third time they have been beaten in the finals. '74, '78 and now in 2010.
45 seconds to go (2 min of added time).
That's it. Spain are the World Champions.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Extra Time -- First Half -- 2010 World Cup final--Netherlands/Spain
92nd minute. Quite a melee at the Dutch goal. Spain gets a corner. They should have gotten a penalty kick.
Lots of spirited tackles, though. How can these guys have so much energy after 90 minutes!!! How can they not be exhausted?
100th minute. Great action. Good dribbling on both sides. Spain almost gets the goal! Hits the goal on the outside--deflected by the Dutch defender. Spain get the corner--but doesn't result in a goal.
First half of extra time ( a minute added for stoppage) over.
Lots of spirited tackles, though. How can these guys have so much energy after 90 minutes!!! How can they not be exhausted?
100th minute. Great action. Good dribbling on both sides. Spain almost gets the goal! Hits the goal on the outside--deflected by the Dutch defender. Spain get the corner--but doesn't result in a goal.
First half of extra time ( a minute added for stoppage) over.
2010 World Cup final--Netherlands/Spain
The closing ceremonies were quite impressive.
Starting to watch the game. It's 25 minutes into the game; both teams are evenly matched. Lots of fouls and free kicks. Not exciting play so far.
Disappointed so far.
Half time and no goal. Not even any clear runs towards the goal. Let me re-state that. There were runs towards the goal, but all of them dissipated.
Second half is good so far. Plenty of attacks and counter attacks. Considerable number of 1-1 encounters.
69th minute. What a miss! Anyway Spain gets a corner. But they can't convert it...
Free kick (near the goal) for Spain. 73rd minute. What a useless attempt by Spain. No conversion...
Looks more and more like this will go to the penalty phase.
Spain is more and more on the attack, but they can't beat the Dutch defense.
80th minute. Attacks from Spain quite intense now.
If either team scores now, that's it. They win the championship. 10 minutes to go.
82nd minute. Holy smokes! The Dutch almost got their goal. Fantastic save by the Spanish goalie.
84th minute. Netherlands attacking now. No goal though.
1 minute to go. Will there be a goal? Will this go into extra time?
90 minutes over. Game continuing on added time because of stoppages.
Looks like there's going to be 30 more minutes...Yes there is going to be play in extra time.
Disappointed so far.
Half time and no goal. Not even any clear runs towards the goal. Let me re-state that. There were runs towards the goal, but all of them dissipated.
Second half is good so far. Plenty of attacks and counter attacks. Considerable number of 1-1 encounters.
69th minute. What a miss! Anyway Spain gets a corner. But they can't convert it...
Free kick (near the goal) for Spain. 73rd minute. What a useless attempt by Spain. No conversion...
Looks more and more like this will go to the penalty phase.
Spain is more and more on the attack, but they can't beat the Dutch defense.
80th minute. Attacks from Spain quite intense now.
If either team scores now, that's it. They win the championship. 10 minutes to go.
82nd minute. Holy smokes! The Dutch almost got their goal. Fantastic save by the Spanish goalie.
84th minute. Netherlands attacking now. No goal though.
1 minute to go. Will there be a goal? Will this go into extra time?
90 minutes over. Game continuing on added time because of stoppages.
Looks like there's going to be 30 more minutes...Yes there is going to be play in extra time.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Word Cup 2010 --- Germany v/s Australia
What a match!
Germany scores 4 goals against Australia. German precision was impressive to watch. Germany had possession most of the time. Stats show that Germany possessed the ball 55% of the time, but if you watched the game, it seemed like they had possession 90% of the time.
The first goal from Lukas Podolsky was a classic and a beauty to watch.
The second goal from Mirsolav Klose was an impressive example of a header. How does anyone have the composure to accurately deflect a ball to the goal like that?
The third goal was an exercise in composure. The young Thomas Mueller kicked that goal in what seemed like slow motion in real time. He was very deliberate in the way he kicked the ball to deflect off the goal post. This is delicious soccer!
The fourth goal was the result (I think) of the Australians being exhausted and demoralized. It was disheartening to watch them. Cacau had just come in as a replacement. And he scored off an assist.
It was as if the Australians were paralyzed. They could hardly get possession of the ball and when they did, the Germans were easily able to regain possession.
What a machine! Can Germany keep this up?
Germany scores 4 goals against Australia. German precision was impressive to watch. Germany had possession most of the time. Stats show that Germany possessed the ball 55% of the time, but if you watched the game, it seemed like they had possession 90% of the time.
The first goal from Lukas Podolsky was a classic and a beauty to watch.
The second goal from Mirsolav Klose was an impressive example of a header. How does anyone have the composure to accurately deflect a ball to the goal like that?
The third goal was an exercise in composure. The young Thomas Mueller kicked that goal in what seemed like slow motion in real time. He was very deliberate in the way he kicked the ball to deflect off the goal post. This is delicious soccer!
The fourth goal was the result (I think) of the Australians being exhausted and demoralized. It was disheartening to watch them. Cacau had just come in as a replacement. And he scored off an assist.
It was as if the Australians were paralyzed. They could hardly get possession of the ball and when they did, the Germans were easily able to regain possession.
What a machine! Can Germany keep this up?
Saturday, June 12, 2010
World Cup 2010
Mexico almost lost their match against South Africa! SA managed to score despite all the pressure Mexico was able to put on SA.
Became a nail biter for a while.
Became a nail biter for a while.
All Star Directories
Started work at All Star Directories as Development Manager. It's been a week now. View from my office.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Interesting Liberal view point
I was astonished at this post from a liberal professor on how disappointed he is with Obama. Here is the link David Michael Green.
I think I do understand the disappointment. Liberals seem to base everything on feeling and hope, but not logic. The facts were staring at us in 2008, but for some inexplicable reason, americans elected Obama.
Also, see my comments.
I think I do understand the disappointment. Liberals seem to base everything on feeling and hope, but not logic. The facts were staring at us in 2008, but for some inexplicable reason, americans elected Obama.
Also, see my comments.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Another terrorist attack fails (thank God)
I did watch news last night where they said there was a passenger on flight 253 to Detroit trying to light firecrackers. When they did not mention the passenger's name, I knew it must be muslim and I told Sandhya that it must be muslim. Otherwise they would have mentioned the name of the passenger. Several other red flags were: the flight originated from Nigeria, stoppped over at Amsterdam (lots of muslims there), to Detroit (in a state with the largest muslim population in the U.S.).
Today the name has been revealed and turns out he is muslim. Question is how was he able to get on board with explosives? Will be interesting to see where the security process was broken
A quiet Christmas
Had a quiet Christmas yesterday. This is the first time that we used Amazon.com for most of our gift giving. Sandhya got a $100 gift card from her company that I used to gift myself lots of books! Sandhya also gifted me a set of Teaching Company DVDs. Sandhya and I watched the DVD on probability called 'What are the Chances...'. Also watched a Netflix movie called 'Beyond Reasonable Doubt'. Good movie.
Remarkable that I watched no political news on Christmas day.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Travesty of a Healthcare bill
I am compiled to blog today, because this monstrosity, this travesty of a health care bill has been passed early this morning. This is a bill that is as un-American as it can get. What bothers me the most is the individual mandate on Americans to purchase healthcare from a private company. The founding fathers started a revolution on much less than this.
The second thing that bothers me is the lie that Democrats are propagating about how this will reduce the deficit. I don't know what alternative universe they are living in, but there is no government program on this earth that has been able to contain costs. Government programs and entitlements are like a cancer. They always grow and never die.
And of course, many companies will just opt to pay the fine and take their employees off the healthcare benefits.
There is still hope. Already we are hearing that House Democrats are fearing a tough fight in conference and don't think this will reconciled between the House and the Senate before the State of the Union address.
One can only hope this bill dies an ignominious, slow death.
The second thing that bothers me is the lie that Democrats are propagating about how this will reduce the deficit. I don't know what alternative universe they are living in, but there is no government program on this earth that has been able to contain costs. Government programs and entitlements are like a cancer. They always grow and never die.
And of course, many companies will just opt to pay the fine and take their employees off the healthcare benefits.
There is still hope. Already we are hearing that House Democrats are fearing a tough fight in conference and don't think this will reconciled between the House and the Senate before the State of the Union address.
One can only hope this bill dies an ignominious, slow death.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Five years after 9/11
Can't believe it's been 5 years since 9/11. I vividly recall that morning. We were living at the Avalon apartments on the Alameda in San Jose. For some reason I was late for work that day; I had just come out of the shower and Sandhya gets off the phone and asks me to turn on the TV. She had been talking to her New York office when she was told that a plane had crashed into the twin towers.
I immediately turned on Fox news and there it was on screen. Both of us watched in complete shock the towers burning and then collapsing. I was speechless. The first thing that came to my mind was Muslim Terrorists. And that was the first thing I told Sandhya. She sort of agreed with me, although she is not the type to stereotype people that way.
This is indeed a war of civilisations. The Muslims want to conquer the world and either convert us to Islam or kill us. I sincerely hope the West wins this war of civilisations.
Interestingly, I came across another event that happened on September 11--the year 1565--to be precise. This is when the Ottoman turks were beaten back from the island of Malta by a ragtag group of knights and inexperienced locals. This was probably the singular event that saved western europe from becoming muslim. Here is the link to the posting that describes this historic event.
I immediately turned on Fox news and there it was on screen. Both of us watched in complete shock the towers burning and then collapsing. I was speechless. The first thing that came to my mind was Muslim Terrorists. And that was the first thing I told Sandhya. She sort of agreed with me, although she is not the type to stereotype people that way.
This is indeed a war of civilisations. The Muslims want to conquer the world and either convert us to Islam or kill us. I sincerely hope the West wins this war of civilisations.
Interestingly, I came across another event that happened on September 11--the year 1565--to be precise. This is when the Ottoman turks were beaten back from the island of Malta by a ragtag group of knights and inexperienced locals. This was probably the singular event that saved western europe from becoming muslim. Here is the link to the posting that describes this historic event.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Applied for a Passport
Today we went and applied for a US passport. They said it would take about 6 weeks. I think it will take less time. Let's see.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
A Dream Come True -- We are now American citizens!
It is official. Sandhya and I are now American citizens! This has been a very exiting day for me particularly. Sandhya, of course, is quite blase about it, but for me it has been a very big deal.
The ceremony was at 1pm and went on for about 2 hours. I was a bit disappointed in the ceremony itself, because I thought we'd get an inspiring talk from a good speaker on what it takes to be a citizen, etc, etc. But otherwise, it was well run. The bottom line is we got our citizenship certificates and came home happy campers.
The ceremony was at 1pm and went on for about 2 hours. I was a bit disappointed in the ceremony itself, because I thought we'd get an inspiring talk from a good speaker on what it takes to be a citizen, etc, etc. But otherwise, it was well run. The bottom line is we got our citizenship certificates and came home happy campers.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Passed the citizenship interview!
This is a great day for Sandhya and me. We passed the citizenship interview! We go next week to take the citizenship oath and get the citizenship certificate.
I have been waiting for this for so many years. When I first wanted to immigrate to America and become an American citizen, it was--I thought--a pipe dream. This was way back when we were in Lucknow (what is it now, thirty years ago?). Of course we first landed in Canada and I was quite happy to settle down there. But when I got the opportunity to get a green card to come to the US, it was simply too good to be true! Of course, we sometimes do make our opportunities, and I will admit that I did push Sandhya to also accept the idea of moving here and looked for any possible job opportunities.
The interview itself was very pleasant. The Homeland Security Officer was exceedingly polite and courteous. He first swore me in and then he asked me a few questions to confirm what was in the application. I was also asked to read a sentence and then write a sentence dictated by the officer (this is the english language test). Then he asked a set of questions on the history of the US and the government system, like when was the consitution was written, how many Supreme Court justices there are etc. I got all questions right!
He then congratulated me on having passed the tests and the interview and handed me a piece of paper to bring in next week (Aug 22) .
Sandhya also got everything right.
Looking forward to the citizenship ceremony next week.
I have been waiting for this for so many years. When I first wanted to immigrate to America and become an American citizen, it was--I thought--a pipe dream. This was way back when we were in Lucknow (what is it now, thirty years ago?). Of course we first landed in Canada and I was quite happy to settle down there. But when I got the opportunity to get a green card to come to the US, it was simply too good to be true! Of course, we sometimes do make our opportunities, and I will admit that I did push Sandhya to also accept the idea of moving here and looked for any possible job opportunities.
The interview itself was very pleasant. The Homeland Security Officer was exceedingly polite and courteous. He first swore me in and then he asked me a few questions to confirm what was in the application. I was also asked to read a sentence and then write a sentence dictated by the officer (this is the english language test). Then he asked a set of questions on the history of the US and the government system, like when was the consitution was written, how many Supreme Court justices there are etc. I got all questions right!
He then congratulated me on having passed the tests and the interview and handed me a piece of paper to bring in next week (Aug 22) .
Sandhya also got everything right.
Looking forward to the citizenship ceremony next week.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Mount St. Helens
We visited Mount St. Helens on the week end. Here are some pictures. Very impressive. Everything around for several miles was devastated!
View from the Johnston Observatory (about 5 miles from the volcano)
From right to left: Kevin, Rekha and Me (unmistakable with the pot belly!)
Kevin and Sandhya at the coffee shop in the information center when we entered the national park where Mount St. Helens is situated
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