forsv: potpourri of thoughts

Ask Jeeves decides to axe Jeeves

Search site Ask Jeeves is getting rid of the iconic valet that has been its companion since its earliest days.

Citing "user confusion" over what the butler character represents the search site has said that Jeeves will soon be phased out.

However, Ask's research revealed that Jeeves was getting in the way of people realising that the search site had changed and that it can handle many more types of queries than just straightforward questions.

"As a result," said the Ask statement, "the character may be phased out as the prominent icon of the brand, although no timeline or details have been determined."

In line with a series of changes made to the Ask site last year, Jeeves got a makeover which saw him get slimmer and more tanned.

In its statement Ask said that no decision had yet been made on the new brand name it will adopt to show how the search site had evolved.

reliance india call

Now reliance india call goes to UK too. Call anywhere in India, any time at 7.9 pence per minute for landline access number and 8.9 pence per minute for freephone access number. Rates are inclusive of VAT

Well, if you can't even trust a hitman..

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese woman called in the police after a hitman she paid to kill her lover's wife failed to carry out the job.
The 32-year-old Tokyo woman was arrested Wednesday for incitement to murder, the Daily Yomiuri newspaper said Friday.

The woman contacted a private detective through a Web site last November and paid him 1 million yen in cash to murder her love rival, the paper said.

The 40-year-old detective accepted the money and suggested he could carry out the job by chasing the victim on a motorcycle and spraying her with a biological agent in a tunnel.

Police also arrested the private detective and found the alleged target safe and well, the paper said.

Britain's true National Dish - Chicken Tikka Masala

Believe it or not, UK has around 8,000 curry houses which employ 70,000 people - more than steel, coal and shipbuilding put together.

Do you know how much British spend on Indian food? Almost 2.5 million pound!!!!!!!!!!!.

Anyway, Chicken Tikka Masala is the most ordered Indian dish in UK. That's why, it has been hailed the British's true National Dish :-)

The popularity of Indian dish led to choose Vindaloo as the unofficial anthem of England's 1998 football World Cup.

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India ranks 4th on global rich list

(by CHIRDEEP BAGGA & SHANKAR RAGHURAMAN, TIMES NEWS NETWORK)

As the G-8 meet in Gleneagles, there’s a question increasingly doing the rounds: what is the relevance of the group? It was supposed to be a group of the world’s largest and most powerful economies. The plain truth is, it no longer is.

Look at it whichever way you will, the US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Canada and Russia are simply not the biggest economies. Nor can anyone today suggest that China can be left out of any list of the most powerful economies.

If economies are ranked by sheer size, China would be second only to the US and India would come in at No. 4, one place behind Japan and ahead of Germany. How? That’s because the sizes of economies are no longer measured by converting their GDP into US dollars at the prevailing exchange rates. Instead, we have what is called the purchasing power parity (PPP) rate that is used by institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to compare GDPs of different countries. What the PPP method does is to recognise that exchange rates do not properly represent what different currencies can buy in their own home economies and hence distort the picture when we are comparing sizes across countries.

Exchange rates are determined essentially only by goods that are traded across borders.

They would not, therefore, take into account the fact that, say, a haircut in New Delhi or Mumbai may cost just Rs 50 while the same haircut in New York may cost around $20.

Now if India’s GDP were converted into dollars using the normal exchange rate, our barber’s contribution to GDP would be just over a dollar for each hair cut he provides while the New York barber would be weighing into the US economy at $20 per cut.

Using the PPP method, now globally acknowledged to be the most appropriate for such comparisons, China, India and Brazil would all be bigger than Russia and Canada, which are G-8 members. In fact, the Chinese economy alone is almost as big as those of Germany, UK, France and Italy put together. India has an economy that would comfortably outsize those of Russia and Canada put together.

You could argue, of course, that size alone is misleading and per capita GDP is a better indicator. If this were to be used as the criterion, it is true that China, India or Brazil would be nowhere in the picture, being ranked 95th, 120th and 67th respectively in terms of per capita income. However, you would then have to explain why Luxembourg and Norway, the countries with the highest per capita incomes, are not a part of the list. Ireland-ranked 4th just behind the US-Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, may also legitimately ask what other European countries ranked below them (that includes everyone in the group) are doing in the G-8.

To return to the size issue, if ten-year average growth rates estimated by the IMF for 1997-2006 are extrapolated over the next few years, India would catch up with Japan in just three years and overtake it in four years, while China would become the world’s biggest economy by 2014, overtaking the US.

Indians can wear flag with pride

Years after having won independence, Indians are now free to wear images of their flag on their clothing.

But not where it hurts national sentiments - below the belt. The flag can only be displayed on garments above the waist.

The federal government has passed an amendment easing the restrictions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act (1971).

Caps and T-shirts are in but swimsuits and evening gowns are still a no-no.

Neither can the flag be embroidered or printed on cushion covers, gloves, handkerchiefs, napkins and dress material.

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tasneem khalil: standing for my father - reza kibria

Tasneem Khalil, a friend and journalist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Endorses and advocates Libertarian Socialism and Free/Open Software & Publication. Subjects of interest primarily include Culture, Humanity, Alternative Media, Propaganda and Politics.

Shah AMS Kibria, a Member of the Parliament of Bangladesh and former Finance Minister of the country, was brutally assassinated in a grenade attack on January 27th 2005 in his constituency, the town of Habiganj in Sylhet. Reza Kibria, an internationally acclaimed economist, is a core member of the 'Blue for Peace' movement that is now demanding an end to such political killings in Bangladesh. For more info http://www.sams-kibria.org

[this interview with reza kibria — son of former bangladesh finance minister sams kibria, assassinated in january — was to appear in the debut issue of a weekly newsmagazine. unfortunately, for unstated reasons, all the copies of the magazine (except a few preview copies) were sieged hours before the debut newsstand hit (at this stage, it is not convenient for me to spell out more detail account of the episode).

as i believe this interview contains valuable information and opinion that needs public attention and analysis, i am resorting to an internet distribution. i am inviting concerned readers to freely redistribute this piece (and releasing this under a creative commons license).
— tasneem khalil]

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Zakaria shouts out to his homeboys

(via sepia mutiny)

I haven’t seen Fareed Zakaria do explicit shout-outs that often, unlike Gurinder Chadha:

India is still a poor third-world country, but if you read [Thomas Friedman’s] book you would assume it is on the verge of becoming a global superstar. (Though as an Indian-American, I read Friedman and whisper the old Jewish saying, ”From your lips to God’s ears.”)

- Manish

Town with sign language as official language

Architects and town planners yesterday began drawing up blueprints for the first town built entirely for deaf people in the US.

Almost 100 families, from London to Australia, have reserved space in the South Dakota village, where all business will be conducted in sign language.

Future residents hope to become fully integrated in the day-to-day life, with every element designed specifically for deaf or hard of hearing people.

Buildings will incorporate glass for increased visibility, emergency services will rely on lights as opposed to sirens, while shops, restaurants, petrol stations, hotels and schools will be required to use sign language.

Marvin Miller, 33, who conceived the plan, hopes the building work will begin later this year. "Society isn't doing that great a job of 'integrating' us," Mr Miller, who is deaf, told the New York Times.

"My children don't see role models in their lives - mayors, factory managers, postal workers, business owners. So we're setting up a place to show our unique culture, our unique society."

The creators insist that the town, which will have a population of 2,500, will not be the sole reserve of deaf people. The only commitment asked by those intending to move there is that they live in an environment based on sight and American sign language. Opponents fear that the town will only serve to further isolate deaf people.

The town will be called Laurent after Laurent Clerc, a French educator of deaf people from the 1800s. The 92 families who have already reserved spaces will be expected to put down deposits for property within the next few months.

Protect Yourself from Tom DeLay With a Living Will

There are many lessons to learn from the unprecedented intervention by Congress (as led by Rep. Tom DeLay) into the tragic situation of Terri Schiavo.

The first is that the current Congress will intervene in the most private of family matters if it sees political advantage in doing so.

As a result, the only way to ensure that your own views are respected in similar settings is to have an advanced healthcare directive or living will. Working Assets does not provide legal advice. However, many have found helpful the information on these subjects provided by The American Bar Association. and the Living Will Registry

The second lesson is that there is no limit to the sheer audacity and hypocrisy of Rep. DeLay and his followers in this unprecedented intervention, only days after voting to slash billions of dollars from the health program which provides for millions of Americans and which itself saves thousands of lives.

We urge you to demand that your representative save lives by restoring cuts to the critical Medicaid program.

Click here to take action!

**Please forward this to your friends and help spread the word about this important campaign!

Thank you for working to build a better world,

Jennifer Willis
Director
ActForChange.com