Pre Monday morning blues

Why are managers just so idiotic !!  Is it a prerequisite ?

taskkill Error: Initialization failure

I found a solution and it worked for me.  May it help someone else

http://efreedom.com/Question/2-91689/Tasklistexe-Initialization-Failure

======================

In cmd:

net stop winmgmt

Rename the %windir%\system32\wbem\repository to something else

net start winmgmt

======================

coder girl..

nice little track ..

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2009/07/13/coder-girl-a-nerdcore-ode-to-female-programmers/

:-)

IPL, gotta love it

... when you see Sreesanth playing for Punjab and Manpreet Gony playing for Chennai !!

Nano impact

Mumbai cobbler books the Nano.. No, not the low end model, the middle model - LX

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai/Mumbai-cobbler-books-Nano/articleshow/4387327.cms

 

Now, nothing against cobblers as such but - I wonder if there will be a spate of accidents on our roads, given the kind of drivers who will be driving.... I do not claim any statistical data, but by simple observation, we already see that most accidents involve those BPO indica cabbies (apart from rickshaws and again, Tata trucks)

 

Tata isnt known for making safe cars (compare the braking of Indica with Hyundai in any auto mag).  Tata's idea of safety till date seems to be adding as much steel in the body as possible.  Nano does not even have that... 

 

Whats worse - getting hit by a rickshaw or a nano ??

Ten dollar laptop

Do these sarkari type people even know what is a Laptop ???

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/display/20090204170911_India_s__10_Notebook_Appeared_to_Be_a_Flash_Drive.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/India-10-laptop-launch,6961.html#xtor=RSS-181

Nano confusion

First the farmers protest against the car factory....

Tata reverses his decision..
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Singur_not_OK_Tata_reverses_Nano_out/articleshow/3557174.cms

Now they protest his leaving the site...
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081004/jsp/nation/story_9926807.jsp

Yaar yeh log chahte kya hain ??  Just proves that you can never trust the two-faced communists... I wonder what do they have to say about China forcibly grabbing land for factories, highways and stadia??

RIP, Wright

Rest in Peace, Mr Richard Wright.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7617363.stm

Pink Floyd keyboard player and founder member Richard Wright has died, aged 65, from cancer.

Can tax be fair?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairTax

 

A tax proposal in the US congress, that says you only pay tax on what you consume... no income tax or capital gains tax... Eg. you buy a car, you pay tax, you dont buy a car, you dont pay tax... simple. 

 

I wonder if something like this can drive down an economy into recession... I wont buy a car to save tax. Many people will not buy a car for the same reason. The car company loses sales numbers, and shuts down. More people then dont have money to buy something else, and so on.  Maybe yes, maybe no. People still need to buy cars :-)

 

Does that reduce the responsibility of the government in a way? The government says - Ok, you paid tax for what you bought. We are not accountable to you now.

OR no... what business does the government have in a sale between two parties. If you collect tax in a deal between two entities, you are answerable to both of them.

 

Of course, it has its demerits. Most likely, it wont be implemented, but then, even in matters of law (which I expect Indians to excel in, since its mostly bakr bakr) , they have some ideas for improvization...

us and them - can Indian society produce Gates

http://www.pluggd.in/2008/07/microsoft-facebook-google-from-india-can-indian-society-produce-gates-larry-zuckerburg

Founder of Microsoft - Bill Gates, programmer
Founder of GE - Thomas Edison, inventor
Founder of 3Com - Metcalfe, inventor at Xerox
Founder of Ford - Henry Ford, inventor
Founder of Mercedes - Karl Benz, inventor
Founder of Apple - Steve Jobs, programmer
Founder of AT&T - Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
Founder of Cisco - Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, inventors of the router

Contrast this now...

Founder of TCS - Jamshed Tata, businessman
Founder of Mahindra (TechMahindra) - Mahindra, businessman
Founder of Birla companies - GD Birla, businessman
Founder of Idea - Aditya Birla, businessman
Founder of BSNL - Government
Founder of SAIL - Government
Founder of Wipro - Azim Premji, businessman
Founder of Bajaj - Bajaj, businessman

and the list goes on and on

Hardly a few companies in India founded by scientists or engineers.

The difference is that Indian businesses are run or founded by bean-counters or government. Whether a software company, electronics company or a kirana shop, it does not make much of a difference to the founder. The companies work like a kirana shop anyway.
Companies are founded as investments by business families.

In US (or developed countries), companies are run by engineers and scientists. Companies in US are born out of innovation more frequently than companies in India.
American (or lets say, western) companies not just make profits, but they also innovate and research (well, if not all, then a higher percentage of those companies anyway)

Now obviously, the question arises - Are we lacking in ideas or inventions? Not really...
More importantly, its not easy to start a company in India (think corruption, infrastructure, law and order, social security and safety, legalities, etc).

(Please dont call Tata Nano as an innovation. They havent been able to provide decent quality in an Indica car which is 3 times the price of the Nano)

Community bashing again

Some lady in Pune owns a flat. She wants to sell it to a muslim family.  Society objects.  Newspaper and lady bash Sindhis (directly or indirectly).

Read the whole story here - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/291804.html

>> Till date, the building society — Cozy Corner has 16 apartments, 14 occupied by Sindhis — hasn't handed her a No Objection Certificate.

What has Sindhi or the community of the people living in the apartment got to do with it? Really? Does not any other community do this?
Would it have been the same if the majority of the residents were Maharashtrian or Tamils or Bengalis ?  (Except for Gujaratis, of course, who are clearly one of the media's targets)

>> Because the buyers' surname was Hirani, members assumed they were Sindhis, like 80 per cent of others in the society building. But when the buyers introduced themselves and residents realised that they were Bohra Muslims, their faces fell. They openly said they had agreed to the sale because they thought they were Sindhis, that had they known they were Muslims, they would have never agreed," said Kapoor ,

Again the Sindhi-bashing.  I dont think that the word "Brahmin" or "xyz" occur as frequently in Brahmin or "xyz"-bashing news articles, as in this short news article.

>> When contacted, Sanjay Ajwani, chairman of the society, admitted that members were opposing the sale to the buyers. But he gave a different reason, alleging that the prospective buyers had "behaved badly" at the introductory meeting which raised doubts about their "ability to fit in".

Buyers behaving badly - I am not really surprised, call me racist or communal, etc.
Well, the woman wants to sell the flat and needs money, come what may.  Doesnt matter if it is causing inconveniences to fellow residents.  The background of the buyers, how they behave, etc be damned. 
As for me, I have shifted quite a few flats in Pune city. I have been refused accomodation sometimes.  Many societies does not prefer students and bachelors living there. And yes, people with bad behaviour too.  It was not because of my community that I was not allowed to stay.  Definitely, before moving in, if I behave badly, I will be denied accomodation. 
Until recently, I lived in a society with two of us guys being the only non-Maharashtrian residents.  The new society that I shifted to recently kicked out some BPO employees staying on rent because of their rude and bad behavior (they also once puked in the lawns).  Its because of their bad behaviour, not because of the community.  Definitely, the background and behaviour of the prospective residents does matter.

>> As for Kapoor, she is planning to take up the issue with the Human Rights Commission.

Human rights ?? Ho gaya kaam khatam.  As in India we know that its only the muslims who have human rights.  Why, even our moronic PM says so, that they have the first claim on the nation's resources.  All other residents should be thrown out and the society should be given to muslims. 

>> She said she would move court if the new owners of the apartment were harassed because of their religion.

Harass them? Arre bhai, who will harass them? Zinda rehna hai ke nahi kisiko...
Now seriously, how many muslim builders or property sellers sell to non-muslims. 


The above stupid news story apart, its a truth that many societies do not prefer muslims in their neighbourhood. The reasons are manifold, few of them are below -

 - They generally exhibit bad behaviour, and cause inconvenience to other residents.  Residents do not generally complain due to fear of violence.  If they approach the law, the muslim just has to mention "I am muslim, thats why I am being harassed".  The other resident can give up any hope of justice forever, in turn he/she will be harassed by the law machinery and "human rights walas" of the country.
 - They generally do not cooperate with other residents. 
 - This is the worst.  Once they enter a society or locality, they try to get more muslims into that place.  Once their numbers reach a critical mass, they force other residents to flee or sell their property (cheaply) by use of threats and violence.  An aunt of mine actually had to leave their locality in Amdavad in such a scenario.  I have seen so many muslim-only ghettos and localities in Amdavad, Mumbai and Vadodara.  Some even in Pune.
 - Land grab is achieved by building illegal mosques.  A friend of mine living in Amdavad owned land in Vadnagar, his home town.  Muslims illegally built a mosque there and there is no hope of getting the land back though the court case is still going on.  Plus they are even afraid to go back to their home town.

Budget 2008 - Very bad

The bad - Very bad.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/29budget42.htm

Our tax money to fund madrassas in the name of "minority welfare".  Our money funding terrorists.  Our money used to kill us. 

Budget 2008 - Initial impressions

Budget - Good news first..

Income tax exemption limit raised
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/29budget20.htm

The salaried class bears the maximum brunt of taxes. The businesses find out ways to avoid taxes. They hire people to do exactly that. In a business, its easy to manipulate numbers and hide the trails. This is not the case with people who get payslips.  I wonder how many of the neighbourhood "mom-and-pop" stores pay taxes. Funny that large retail companies are not being encouraged, since they will come under audit more easily than the neighbourhood kirana walas. By the way, I have rarely seen moms and pops in these stores.
Sadly enough, no simplification of tax processes. Why the myriad variety of surcharges and exemptions.  Why not fine-tune the income tax rates, get what the govt wants and be done with it. I wonder how many man-hours are wasted by businesses, employees and accountants just to calculate tax, and fill up long winded forms, which do not have enough space to write your complete name and address !!

Farmers' debt to be waived
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/29budget13.htm
If we forget rich farmers taking advantage etc, its a good move. Agriculture and food supply security is one of the most critical aspects of national security. Now, we dont want to be armtwisted by countries like Australia in lieu of substandard wheat that is priced much higher than what we pay our own farmers !!
This may also help reduce farmer  suicides (Why did the haughty and dumb Chiddu wait till now to come up with this? AFAIK, farmer suicides was a big issue since NDA lost elections)

And then the bad..

Reduction of duties on small cars..
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/29budget18.htm
(Why it is bad? You have no roads to drive them on. Later - more on why I think Tata Nano is, ultimately, a bad idea)

NREGA to be extended to all districts of the country.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/29budget10.htm
(More of our tax money goes into the Kaangressi politicians' pockets)


Overall - A populist budget.

Perpendicularity

- It is not just Haj subsidies, crores of our money given as grants to some stupid minority commission, and umpteen minority development schemes which hand out money to jehadis baying for our blood, it also extends to banks.  Banks have to give some amount of loans to minorities as per laws, and most of them turn into bad debts.  Where do the banks then earn money from ? Yes, its us! Double whammy.. our tax money spent on "minorities" because they have the first right on the resources of the nation, plus some amount from our income after tax is also given away to them for nothing! I would infact be okay with this, provided it stops jehadi attacks against us !! But that is not happening either.

 

Remember that everytime your bank cheats on interest rates or sends goons after you, these dhimmis are responsible in an indirect manner.

 

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/03fm.htm

 

- Needless to say, a good number of the bank recovery agents/goons that I have seen in my limited experience are muslims.  Ok, I am a communal bigot, Modi supporter etc (Modi appears courtesy Desi Godwin's laws)

 

- Dumb media walo, ab to chhod do yaar Modi ko... bore ho gaya hoon ek hee analysis baar baar dekhkar.  Haan bhai, Gujaratis are a violent people, Modi had some serious issues during childhood, his psychoanalysis reveals him as a monster, he has equated Gujarat with Modi etc (It doesnt matter that it actually is the media who demonized Gujaratis and Modi together and hence clubbed them together. Modi did not really have to do much, lucky guy)

Disclaimer - I am not Gujarati.

 

 

Perpendicularity

Ok, so the ex-PM of Pakistan, who encouraged terrorism in Kashmir and Afghanistan, has been assassinated by the monster she herself created?  She has been consumed by what she has sown.  Not that I am happy, but I aint sad either.   It just does not affect me, I am more worried about jumping jobs right now (1).  Anyway, she was responsible for the deaths of thousands of my countrypeople.  The Indian media, as usual, will stupidly weep buckets of tears, Manmohan and Sonia will lose sleep, etc.

 

Watching the news, our spineless Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, says - We have lost a friend.  Friend ??

 

(1) - I had a verbal tiff with my manager, and he made life difficult for me. So now, I have some offers in hand and I have resigned.  Some of the offers are good, but frankly, they are way too far from my home.  Really, Pune is beginning to suck bigtime. No infrastructure, taxes are almost as high as Mumbai, travelling is a big pain.  I want to go back to Gujarat, where most of my family lives, and where I did my schooling.  There is hardly any IT industry in Gujarat.  The ones who started operations there, have mostly left.  A big factor is prohibition.  Modi is doing great work for the development of Gujarat, but sadly, he has skipped IT industry.  He did mention lifting the ban on alcoholic drinks in SEZs, but of course, the pseudo-secular , pseudo-liberal Congressis think that its bad to do so in the home state of a certain Mr. MK Gandhi...

 

- Why do companies have to set up offices way outside the city in places like Magarpatta?  Well, even that is ok, but whats the point if there are no decent roads to reach there.  Whats the point if it takes someone about an hour risking run over by drunken truck drivers to reach the ugly place, and too tired to start working for atleast half an hour.

 

- Magarpatta complex in Pune might be good inside. But there are no decent approach roads, and it has ugly, dusty, noisy and polluted surroundings. I wonder why companies even go there?? Ok, lower property prices, but then you get what you pay for...