Dependents

And while we are on the 'Ron and Don Show', let's talk about the other thing they talked about yesterday. Mainly, how the current generation has been busy with the texting or emailing. We have all heard about/read the studies how those laptops and cellphones are encroaching private spaces between friends, families, spouses and so on. There are reports for those who care, that even when some couples are being intimate in their bed, they will answer cellphone or check the text message!! (I just hope they don't get pissed off if that is a telemarketer calling them :))

That deeply worries me. Not because I am sad for the couple (you know, all that "moment's gone" thing), but because I am irrecoverably (seems like it) addicted to cellphone and laptop myself. And when anyone starts talking about how it affects productivity at work and relationships at home, I keep thinking that has to be on my to-do list. Good intentions.

But the problem is I can't do it even after so many tries and retries. While I don't let any of that interfere with my work, more often or not, my breaks mean surfing to my favorite websites (which are currently /., wikipedia, technorati and my favorite bloggers' feeds) to read anything new. And at home, I surf whatever I can, whenever I can. It may not be completely useless actually. I seem pretty well informed than quite a few of my colleagues and friends. But some times I wonder when was it I read an actual newspaper or a book without being interrupted or took a stroll outside or discussed somethings with friends (and not on Google Talk, no) or just did not sit in front of this idiot box.

Same is with cellphone. I remember days when I used to remember phone numbers. Those days are long gone now. Maybe it is also because there is a lot to remember now. But I can't give such excuses because I don't even try to remember. While many will say it is a good thing and that "frees up" my memory for something else useful, it puts you in very awkward positions if you forget your cellphone or if the battery is drained out or something. After one such incident, I started writing down all important numbers on paper. But still, no efforts to remember.

So what was the point here? Yeah. Dependency on machines. Isn't that supposed to be science fiction?

signing off,

Go Green?

I am an avid listener of a our local debate show called 'The Ron and Don Show'. It's kinda like 'Hannity & Colmes'. Or had it been more sarcastic, like 'Even Stephven' from yore.

So back to the point. Today they were discussing, like everyone and their grandmothers, on feasibility of us going green in the near future. After Don made all those patriotic (terror-free gas), genial and humanitarian (global warming, think of your grandchildren) points, he claimed people of Puget Sound may not mind spending 50¢ extra for all those points he mentioned. He said, as people don't mind paying a little extra for pesticide-free organic food, the idea can be extended to environment-friendly green gas.

Good thinking. But as Ron said in countering, and I think so too, the "green-gas" may not be as cheap. Ron quoted a study which says, people may be ending up paying $10/gal for going green/terror-free if one takes into account the supply of domestic oil, globally declining oil reserves, limitations on supply of hybrid cars as other sector is still very profitable (may be not Ford Motor).

And simply put, a common man/woman with average income and family to feed may not be in position to afford that kind of hike in his/her monthly gas expenses. Maybe let us not jump on the gaswagon. Going live on small scale is the key.

signing off,

A Quest

This is silly. But I have been haunted by a particular song for too long now. The worst part is that I don't recollect the song title, who sang it or anything else about it. Anything except that the song is a duet and the video features a woman and a man (presumably the singers) in a white attire against a completely white background. And it used to air a lot on MTv and Channel V (both back in India) when I was in college, most likely '95-'97 period.

Now it was not the greatest of songs, in my opinion. Otherwise a search on Google, Wikipedia and Youtube on such a scale that I have done since last five-six months, should have resulted in something. But then, why does it bother me so much? Maybe just something to do with first few English songs that I ever heard and tried to memorize. See, I have not forgotten many such as this, this or this.

How on earth do you search for song on such basis?

signing off,

Touché

During a lighter moment in the movie Kabul Express, which by the way isn't a must watch, but a way better way to spend your time instead of wasting it over Dhoom2, when Suhel (John Abraham) tells Imran Khan, "But Madhuri [Dixit] is married and has moved to US now", he simply replies, "That’s just it, isn’t it? All our best things end up making their way to the US."

:-)

signing off,