Spanish royal sex cartoon banned

Spanish royal sex cartoon banned I find this utterly confusing, after the Danish cartoon incident we were told that offending people was a fundamental right of every individual in a free society and this right must be protected by the state, those who complain loudly when they are offended are actually bigots and extremists not yet enlightened by the modern ideals of democracy and freedom of expression. A free society, we were told, is where individuals can say or write whatever they want with impunity.

Here we are witnessing a court banning a cartoon depicting the Spanish Royal couple having sex.  There is also a possible jail term for the individuals involved. I find this action of the court not only duplicitous but highly offensive as it deprives me of another one of the fundamental rights in a free society, the right to have some fun at the cost of somebody else.

 

The third kind

I always thought that there were two kinds of successful employees in corporate America – those who work hard, are motivated and contribute significantly to the success of their respective companies and those who just hang around but know how to climb the ladder through personal relationships and political maneuvering. Lately however, I am beginning to think that there is a third kind too, it’s almost a sub-category of the corporate politicians. They are especially successful in innovation driven companies like most technology startups. This is the kind of people who are adept at taking other people’s ideas and presenting them as their own to their higher-ups but in such a way they are never found out. They are not necessarily great at politics or even personal relationships. Working with such people can be an excruciatingly frustrating experience because you don’t want to be the one complaining about it to your manager as that would make you look like a cry baby who is concerned more about taking credit for things than for the success of the project. One needs an acute lack of integrity to be like that but there are people who probably don’t even realize that about themselves.

 

Dr. Yunis’ Nobel Lecture

Dr. Yunis’ Nobel lecture it’s a must see. Very inspiring. I am espcially intrigued by his ideas on social businesses. It is true that traditional economics theory takes a very one dimensional view of human motivation. All the successful entrepreneurs I have come across in my life had a strong sense of social responsibility and were striving for something deeper and more important than just the pursuit of more money. In United States alone, more than $260 billion is donated towards charitable causes every year. By routing even a small percentage of that money to social businesses, we might be able to build and sustain such businesses. I think the contributions will increase signifcantly as many of these businesses can provide decent return on investment.

It’s a fascinating topic and a lot needs to be done before it can become a reality, stay tuned as I learn more about it.

 

What’s gender test anyway?

Indian athlete fails gender test

Indian athelete failed the “gender test”. More importantly, s/he had passed the same test sometime ago. How is the gender determined for these tests anyway, I have no idea. One would think it’d be as simple as a quick glance with the pants down. Is it possible to fail that test, may be it is – http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061208/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_india_condoms_size Of course, this is just a joke, my intention is not to offend anybody.

On a more serious note, gender testing has a long history in sports. Googling reveals some interesting results. For example, determining a person’s gender is not simply a matter of examining his/her crotch. Tesosterone levels can be misleading too. I suppose the only way to be sure is to check the chromosome makeup as that is the only thing that determines our gender for sure. Or is it? Check out this great site on this whole gender testing business – http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/gendertest/gendertest.html

 

What would you give an arm and a leg for!

A well made cricket game for Nintendo Wii. Just imagine playing square cuts, pull shots, sweeps, straight drives, cover drives, block shots with Nintendo’s motion sensing controller. Just thinking of it makes me wanna jump with excitement!!! Here I give you my word – I will buy Nintendo Wii the day I find a good cricket game for it.

My research on available cricket titles for Nintendo Wii does not reveal encouraging results, there is nothing out there at all.

 

Christmas Vs. Holiday

Happy Holidays or Happy Christmas, why is that such a big deal. I have yet to meet a non-christian who is offended by the use of the word Christmas when used to refer to the Demember holiday season. Why then do we see media making such a big deal of this non-issue. Does anybody care! Do you?