G: You want to hear something hilarious?

G: Depressing and hilarious. One of those things.

M: go on

G: So they ask the ISRO chairman why they want a moon mission (launching tomorrow)

G: and the chairman says

G: it is so that they can go see if there is Helium-3 there

G: He wants to get it, send it back here, so that we can use it in fusion reactors

G: Then, he wants to see if there’s water there so that we can establish a moon base

G: And after that he wants to electrolyse the water near the moon base to make hydrogen and oxygen

G: and use that to power a spacecraft to Mars

G: BRILLIANT!

M: practicality fail

G: Totally!

G: I laughed so much

M: rube goldberg wins this round

G: ha ha

G: Oh man, he wants to get He-3 for fusion reactors

G: Ha ha

M: wait isn’t he3 an unstable isotope?

G: Beats me, but a fusion reactor doesn’t exist except in Back To The Future

M: wait fusion reactor he said?

M: oh jeez

G: Totally

G: Mars mission is even better

M: he should have went on

M: go to mars

M: find life there

M: wait for them to evolve

M: then help them built society

M: make spacecraft

G: ha ha

M: come back to earth

G: ha

G: haha ha

M: and help us out with our problems

G: Brilliant!

G: You should email him.

The upgrade to the latest version of WordPress completely broke the administrative section of my blog. I couldn’t find the problem initially and gave up without really trying. Since the main page, posts and comments worked fine I didn’t revert to a backup and put off the fixing for later, even though I couldn’t post or approve any new comments.

I would have gotten around to doing it eventually if I had not started working at a software development company early in December (see next post). I really didn’t have the energy or interest to fix the blog so as usual I asked George to do it.

He got it working again and I was able to reactive some plugins and the shoutbox that I had deactivated as a precaution. I’m currently unable to provide threaded comments (even though WordPress now supports it) since the theme has to support it and I doubt I could add this functionality easily. I’m still going to try though… when I get the time.

I ran into some trouble upgrading to WordPress 2.7 and I think some functions in my current theme were causing the problem. I’ll have to take a look at it when I get some time.

Until then, this is a temporary theme.

Edit: Looks like it was a problem with the upgrade process. The theme is back!

Ever wonder why Orkut does not let you create your own profile layouts and themes? This is why they never ever should.

I was playing WoW when one of my guildmates mentioned blasts in Mumbai. Some idiot is lighting crackers for yet another festival, I thought to myself but the guy said it was bombs. I went to check the usual news channels and they were speculating that it was gang warfare. A few minutes later they claimed it was a terrorist attack… by Nigerians. What was puzzling was the reports of gunfire from many different parts of the city and so it did seem like gang warfare.

The next few hours demonstrated how utterly unprepared Indian security forces and the Government were to tackle the situation. Chaos reigned as frantic reports of attacks from seven different parts of the city reached people. Huge mobs of civilians roamed the city yelling and pointing as policemen stood by helpless and confused. You can depend upon Indians to congregate in huge numbers in dangerous situations instead of going home (the obvious thing to do).

Hours later some officials started arriving and took in the scene at their own pace. I watched as one guy slowly took out flak jackets from the boot of an Ambassador and handed them out. I saw a lot of policemen with their World War 2 rifles when it was clear that the attackers had assault rifles.

From then on it was carnage as poorly equipped and armed policemen went to their deaths versus an enemy they were never trained to engage. The job of the police was to establish a perimeter and wait for people prepared to handle the situation. But of course this is India where cops have gotten used to harassing civilians, taking bribes and conspiring with anti-social elements and politicians to make money.

Where is our elite counter-terrorism unit, I wondered? Where is the Indian equivalent of SWAT or Spetsnaz? Then the ATS (Antiterrorism Squad) arrived on the scene. I should have known it would be a cruel joke. The ATS turned out to be plainclothes cops with kevlar vests and automatic rifles. The vests were procured from somewhere because kevlar vests are not issued to ATS men. How pathetic is that? Almost everyone was chatting away on their cell phones and I wondered if these people have even heard of shortwave radios and secure frequencies. India gives 600 million US dollars to help Afghanistan but law enforcement officials don’t get proper gear.

Finally the Army arrived and and some NSG (National Security Group) commandos were flown in all the way from Delhi. The level of incompetence in the general area dropped a bit as some semblance of order descended upon the place. A whole day later police managed to get the civilians under control and establish a perimeter.

Tall claims of rescued hostages were made and large numbers throw to the media. The truth was that most of those people were not held hostage but simply trapped in different parts of the buildings under attack and had never even seen the terrorists. They were rescued from the building, yes, but calling them hostages implies that the terrorists were holding them. Some of the rescued mentioned that people with British and American passports were taken away by the terrorists. See the worth of an Indian; even the terrorists attacking the country wanted people from other countries as hostages.

By the third day the NSG and the Army were ready to retake the buildings held by the terrorists. They were brave and trained but apparently they couldn’t quite grasp the hostage rescue part of the mission. As they merrily stormed the buildings terrorists were chucking grenades and killing hostages.

You think I’m not being fair to the NSG? Israel commented that the premature storming of besieged places risked hostages, intelligence gathering before engaging terrorists was a failure and that the entire operation was botched up. So it’s not just me but a country experienced in dealing with terrorists thinks so.

And this was the scene at Nariman House:

Indian television had reported jubilantly just after sunset Friday in Mumbai that the siege of the Nariman Chabad House in Mumbai was over, and that all the terrorists were killed — but suddenly, in a dramatic reversal, announced that authorities ordered the wildly cheering crowd to move back: it wasn’t really over after all.

Government commandos had begun to exit the badly damaged building smiling broadly and flashing the “thumbs up” sign at the applauding crowd in the street, with one commander telling the media that the fierce fire fight was finished, with three terrorists dead. A loud explosion, probably from a grenade or rocket launcher, had been heard moments earlier on the top floor of the five-story building, which was badly damaged.

The situation was termed “utter chaos” by journalists, as darkness combined with crowds and confusion to create a mess for security forces who were trying to figure out whether there were terrorists left in the building, and if so, where they were and how to either capture or kill them.

Then it was back to the Taj on day four (or was it five? I lost count) to flush out the last remaining terrorist. Or there might be more than one. No there’s two. Maybe three. But not more than six. If you don’t know how many are inside stop speculating.

Finally Operation ‘Incompetence’ drew to a close and left behind smoking buildings and a lot of dead people - people who had nothing to do with the cause the terrorists claimed to be fighting for. And you know what will come out of this? Better security? More funding and training for security forces? A thorough investigation to find out what went wrong? Ha ha, don’t be ridiculous! This is India. Welcome to India.

Oh wow, this made an impression. Powerful.

Amnesty International

I heard a few seconds of this song when watching Smallville and it got stuck in my head. So I tried to use Tunatic to find out what it was but for some reason the application failed to recognise it. A few days later I realised that IMDB has the information I seek (they list the soundtracks used in every episode of every TV show) and I was able to track it down.

Try it out.

Beautiful Creatures - 1 A.M.

[ Download ]

I know it came out months ago but I just finished watching it again on my PC and felt compelled to review it.

My God, what a movie. Gripping and intense, it pulls you in and keeps you there from start to finish. The plot is unpredictable and full of surprises ranging from OH SHIT! action scenes to poignant moments. Instead of a clichéd good versus evil theme you get a well thought out story that portrays the reality of life in Gotham City and shows the moral dilemmas faced by the characters. And we all agree that Heath Ledger as The Joker was just scary.

Cast: 8/10

Points lost for changing Rachel Dawes to Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Story: 9/10

The movie isn’t about the story, it’s about Batman.

Setting: 4/10

It was just buildings, buildings and more buildings.

Special Effects: 9/10

Skyhook. Batpod.

Music: 6/10

The same music from Batman Begins but was much more muted.

The Dark Knight is an amazing movie but I like Batman Begins better. The music, the characters, Cillian Murphy’s brilliant portrayal of The Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul… it was a perfect movie to me and the only one I’ve seen more than twice.

If you haven’t seen Batman Begins yet drop whatever you are doing and watch that first. Then watch The Dark Knight.