UFO alert

There is an UFO alert. Read the rest over here :)

More crap from India Today

Aye aye! India Today published their ranking of engineering colleges for 2008. Here is the link. They claim that "factual" rank of "Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai" and "Indian Institute of Technology Chennai" is 21. The same, for Vellore Institute of Technology is 4, Delhi College of Engineering is 6th and National Institute of Technology Rourkela is 14, etc etc etc. Hmmm ... Can anyone explain on what count?

First of all, what is this "Factual rank?"

And hey, know what? These nitwits dont even know the proper names of the institutes they are ranking, that too in top 5 ("overall rank" this one).

Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai. Chennai.

Go check the names first. There is NO IIT-Mumbai. It is still IIT-Bombay. The name of the city changed; the name of the institute has remained the same; check it on their webpage or ask the student, faculty and staff over there.

Same for Chennai. It is NOT IIT-Chennai. It is still IIT-Madras. Go check.

This alone shows how "well researched" these rankings are.

democracy

hehehehe ... This is democracy.

A tale of two owners

One of the attractions(?) of IPL has been the team owners - well, at least the two more audible, visible or high profile ones, namely Vijay Mallya and Shahrukh Khan (with due respects to pretty Preity, high-profile she may be, but she hasnt been as audible as the other two during IPL).

Mallaya's team, as well as Shahrukh's team has been on losing streaks. Mallaya's team has won 3 out of 12, while Shahrukh's have won 5 out of 12. The difference though, has been the way in which losses have been handled. Shahrukh seems to have kept his spirits (and tried to keep the team spirits) high. Mallaya has been brooding over what went wrong, and pointing fingers (to the extent of firing CEO Charu Sharma). Mallaya has of late, blamed the captain Rahul Dravid for team selection and has openly said that Rahul Dravid didnt chose proper players (players of Mallaya's choice).

Net result? Despite Kolkata Knight Riders turning out to be a damp squib, Shahrukh ended up a winner, with his popularity higher than ever (and as significantly, with a stronger fan following for the Knight Riders). In Vijay Mallaya's case though, it is probably worth asking who is a more sore loser - the team owner, or the team?

And they talk of industrialization!!

Jardine (well, not Douglas Jardine but Henry Jardine) sent out a strong message to Bengal. The US-consul general voiced what everyone already knows: a culture of bandh is not conducive to industrialization. If Bengal is to court foreign investments (and Indian investments for that matter), they should cut out bandhs and all "adda" and no work culture. Wonder if the political hooligans will hear this message. probably not.

Payback!

Nandigram paid back CPI(M) in the best possible way! By voting (Booting:) out CPM from East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas. Truth be spoken, CPM deserves much worse; unfortunately, the lack of strong opposition parties in Bengal means overall, CPM still rules the roost.

Burglery with a toy

Never even think of committing a crime with a toy gun. Otherwise you will end up like this chap.

"Dumb"bells

Ever wondered why dumbbells are called dumbbells? They are called so because the original dumbbells lifted by early strongmen where actually churchbells with their clappers removed (and hence muted or "dumb"). This piece of information appears in this wonderful site primarily about Eugene Sandow and other "ancient" musclemen.

How India lives

Rediff has a new series titled "How India Lives". Here is the link to the first post. It talks about the superstitions still prevailing in the hinterlands, and how it robs the common folk of a normal life. The story focuses on a 50 year old lady named Nandai, who believes that she has been possesed with an evil spirit, and now spends her days largely to get herself rid of it. Go ahead and take a look at the link for the rest.

Corruption in the ranks

We always knew politicians were corrupt. Here is one more proof. CPM MP Lakshman Seth has been heard ordering CRPF DIG Alok Raj not to patrol the Nandigram area. Luckily Alok Raj was in no mood to oblige.