On the lighter side-Movies-Trance (2013)-James Mcevoy

An art auctioneer who has been involved in a theft of a precious art painting and who has developed amnesia teams up with a hypnotist to unlock his memory in order to locate the painting. Sometimes violent but very weird, has its moments but not for all tastes. Recommended with caution

On the lighter side-Movies- Vehicle 19 (2013)-Paul Walker

An innocent American in South Africa rents a car and is pursued by corrupt cops who want the car which may contain valuable contents. An average movie with South African scenery. I did not enjoy it too much. Not Recommended

The lottery craze

I went to s small grocery store near my house just to buy a soda and a guy was standing in line so I thought that he will be out in a minute but to my surprise he was dictating what kind of numbers he want on the lottery ticket and he had written the numbers on a paper and he went on and on and I was like man what is this guy doing holding the line for lottery and I started wondering that how the lottery has changed people's perception of how to get rich. He bought eight dollars worth of lottery tickets, which he could have used for some other necessary purpose but the get rich quick scheme never fails. I have already written about the lottery business before but to stand in line while the guy in front of me just keep on buying tickets is shocker to me. Too spend so much money in the hope that you do win some kind of big money is a big incentive for working class folks. But it is not only the ordinary folks who buy lotto tickets but even the ones who are making six figure salaries. I can understand that the lotto functions as an important part of the funding for school districts and other budgetary support but it is an addiction which is not as visible as other gambling areas (and believe me it is gambling but only state sanctioned). But the way people go crazy over lotto just to dream about those untold riches with odds way beyond anything is just ridiculous and incredible. It just shows how much hope there is that people carry that without much work, they can become millionaires overnight.

The dilemma in Resume building

It is my dilemma too. I am talking about how to build your resume when you don’t have concrete numbers to back it up. I mean when I went to a recruitment coach (or whatever you want to call a person who trains a person for an interview for a job), he told me to put something specific in numbers that I did that like increased the revenue or decrease the expenses and I told him that I work in the bank and am not an account officer so my effort to increase and decrease does not come into play and that when he started asking me what I do that I may have done something that I overlooked and it increased the revenue or saved the bank a lot of money or something like that so that employer knows that I am a productive person. Now here I am in a profession and in a position where my input is just a minuscule or even negligible part of the whole revenue and expense structure. So how do you define what you did was quantitatively relevant to what I can achieve in a new position. And it is not only my dilemma but for many positions in an organization where your input is impossible to quantify. The corporation who have pigeonholed so many of the professions into a place where if you don’t have the exact right skills, you are not even considered, how do you get into those corporation and how do you build your resume on truth and not fabricate it to suit some organization rigid criteria of what a person should do to increase their bottom line. I am still trying to figure this thing out.

The hidden effects of European Integration

Now that the European integration has started to go eastward into eastern Europe and trying to include all European countries, they have started to realize that not all European countries are equal in terms of wealth and other criteria for a society well being. This are the hidden aspects of European integration that the European Union intentionally or unintentionally either left out or ignored it when joining in a European Union integration because to them the integration should happen first and then the "minor" events can be tackled latter. It is like a blind marriage where you don’t know anyone and you say that the marriage will be fine after they are stuck together sometimes without their consent. And now there is news that criminal gangs from the old Eastern Europe are increasingly coming to the rich nations of Europe and setting up shop there. Another side effect is that there is increase in human trafficking from the relatively poorer countries to the rich European ones. As organized crime syndicates take hold in the rich countries there will be increase in crime. Other thing is that instead of increasing opportunities in their own poor countries, there will be mass migration to the rich ones and then they will be entitled to the same benefits as the native ones. This is already causing some rich nations to limit benefits to the new economic immigrants. How they will do it in the face of European Union opposition and against their laws remain to be seen. But it seems that with integration come things that you would not have anticipated while rushing towards a goal of a unified Europe.

Career advice from a non-Career Person

I wanted to be career person but some circumstances came in the way and I don’t believe in it anymore. Maybe my circumstances may have to do with what I feel but apart from that being dedicated to a profession without getting any satisfaction out of it, only the paycheck that you expect every other week so that your bills are getting paid on it and you are just getting by is no job either. Believe me that I am not ungrateful as I have been out of job two times in my life so I know how it feels to have a job. But my point is that it is just a job and does not look like a career because to me a career is the one where there is a clear trajectory or path to where you will be in the next few years and I don’t see it in my present job or any job in the future. But to have a career is becoming rarer every year since most of the jobs are not stable or you can enhance your skills in an entirely different area and make more money. Nowadays building a career has become a lofty goal as people change many jobs during their lifetimes and thus staying in a career and waiting for getting ahead has lost its importance. As you want to grow, there is less and less jobs which can offer you that movement as the jobs are being outsourced to other countries. Patience has become one of the casualties as people want to get ahead and make more in the shortest possible time without being stuck in a career which seems like a job. So an advice from me is that if you don’t see yourself moving ahead in a corporate environment in five years time, either you are doing something wrong or you are in the wrong corporation and you should move on because life is too short to live on hope and you should make your own effort in molding your career path if you want to go that way, otherwise create a career for yourself.

Sports as a Profession

Although I don’t play any kind of sports (I am bad in it anyway) I try to follow all kinds of sports not by watching but by reading on the internet. And I started to think that every young kid that you talk to who is crazy about some sports want to join either baseball, basketball, football and few of them Ice hockey as a professional sportsman. Since the sports people make a lot of money, it would be natural to have sports as a dream job where you can play your favorite sport while at the same time earning fabulous money not only as a sports person but also as an endorser for scores of products advertised. But as much as the fabulous sums of money that you get while being a professional, you have only a number of years before you are sent out to pasture because any sports is a rigorous exercise where you can injure yourself more than other profession. Sports can be good profession for young adults but they should realize that not everybody can be a super star and sometimes you are never a super star and your salary would go only that far, but if you are wise enough to make some smart investments with your average sports salary (which can be still a lot) you can live comfortably in your future years which can be a lot of years since an average sportsperson does not last many years beyond 40 or maybe a little more. So as you choose this profession make sure you know what you are getting into because retirements comes very fast even before fifty and if you are not careful with the money you have earned, you will be in a bad shape than ordinary people.

Is being a nerd that bad?

Being a nerd (being overly smart for one) has been given a bad name for a long time now and it is still going on. Nobody wants to be nerd as they show on the popular media, being smart with glasses and clumsy and not being able to fit in with the crowd. They have been portrayed as not being good looking and always being obsessed about something that other people would find unpleasant or unappealing. Why can't a nerd be beautiful and what is wrong with wearing glasses that most of the nerds are made to look like it? And also the amount of bullying that these poor nerds endure at the hands of other people is appalling and nobody seems to care about it. Bullying is not just physical but mental too and when it is time to come to make the complicated decisions these same folks have no choice but to turn to nerds for help. It is way beyond time right now to change the image of the nerds because they are actually the ones running this world. You can have all the strength in the world but you cannot compete with the smartness of a person no matter how weak he/she is. And you don’t need to show the nerds as being not beautiful because beauty and brains can also go together. Nerds have more to contribute to this world then other people because we need the nerds to create smart things and they should be shown in a positive light. Not all nerds need to be on the fringes of society and it is amazing that how they have been portrayed by the media industry the same for all these years. All the nerds are in fact studying in the top level universities and colleges and this should be enough to show the power of the brain over strength.

On the lighter side-Movies-Evil Dead (2013)

The remake of the great original Evil Dead from 1980 has bloody special effects and scares but it seems that the original was far better than this one. Although I watched it but still liked the original one far better. Not Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Bullet to the head (2013) - Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang

A cop and a criminal team up despite their differences against an enemy who have killed both their partners. Routine actioner and nothing special about it. If you want to kill time, fine other avoid it. Not Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-42 (2013)-Harrison Ford

The football great Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play baseball in the U.S. after the end of World War II and this is his story. If you don’t know anything about it, look it up on the internet. Great movie and a persistent reminder that racism is evil in all its forms. Recommended

Desktop vs. Laptop vs. tablets-3

As for my preference it is hard to say since I use all three of them time to time but the majority one I use is the desktop at home and outside tablets. But since tablets don’t have hard drive where I can store my work if I want to (although you can still use cloud based websites to use their services and store your stuff if need be) but for surfing the web I still prefer the desktop because of the big screen advantage, although on the go I will rather use the tablet. All three can be use in conjunction with each other if need arises. The screen of the desktops is getting bigger and bigger but the only disadvantage they have is that you can only use it at a certain place in your house and not move around. For laptops you can essentially move them anywhere in the house or outside but due to the size and weight it becomes burdensome if you are only going to use to surf the web. But now after experiencing the tablet and how much it is handy and less weight to carry I am inclined to have one too (although I have one but my daughter uses it mostly). The crisp clear picture that the tablet has is fantastic. Plus the fact is that it can fit into any school bag and light weight and you can carry around with much trouble makes it a good and necessary companion to carry with. Since there are many different features with various prices, I would rather have the less memory and wireless technology instead of both wireless and 3G because then it becomes more expensive than the laptop (which are now going for less than USD 400.00 sometimes cheaper than tablets). So as I have shown my preference by describing the different advantages and disadvantages of the above three, it is up to you to decide which one suits you better.

Desktop vs. Laptop vs. tablets-2

I have tried all three of them and since I have been using the desktop the most, I am used to it by now and very comfortable with it. It is not to say that the other two are not . In fact the other two I have used it and they are equally useful like the laptop being handy to be carried over in your carryon luggage and you can log on it by plugging it anywhere and since they have become very powerful, they have become more popular then desktop. The only thing I don’t like is the ways you have use your fingers like a mouse for navigation. But this has also been resolved since you can buy an individual mouse and use it surf the web and do your work. And they have become really cheap to do some powerful personal and business stuff. Now comes the tablet, a powerful and really handy way to surf the web and check your email anywhere you want it and it can easily be carried with you anywhere you want. Plus you don’t need to have a hard disk for that since the advent of the cloud computing has made it easier to do everything on the web without the hard drive needed. And you can also store your information not in your hard drive but on the numerous data storage websites available on the web. Initially I was hesitant to use it and I thought what good it will to me. But after using it and trying it, the handy feature of the lightweight and compactness of the tablet has made me a fan of it. I have not tried the other ones available in the market except Apple's Ipad® but I can say that the picture is crystal clear and sharp.

Desktop vs. Laptop vs. tablets

This debate about which one is better has been raging now for a while since the tablets were introduced a few years ago. In between those years, another phenomenon came about when netbooks were introduced. They had limited storage capacity with no hard drive and mainly used for checking your email and surfing the net. They were also slow and cheap so the sales exploded as the cheapness and compatibility of the netbook was more than enough to carry it around and do your stuff without the hard drive and other accessories needed. But as soon as the tablet became available, the popularity of netbook plunged and now very few manufacturers bother to make it anymore. Ultra books are another new phenomenon but it is too early to tell now if it is going to catch up to the popularity of tablets or not. The popularity of the tablets have taken everybody by surprise including the computer manufacturers who are struggling to compete with the tablets including introducing their own version and enhancing the capacity of their computers. But a new report came out stating that the shipment of laptops and desktops plunged drastically last year as compared to tablets which surged ahead and experts have started to predict the demise of this industry which I don’t believe it will be for the near future, although it will decline faster in terms of shipment of computers. I have tried all three categories as mentioned above and have found each of them useful for everybody.

The OBL commission report from Pakistan-4

There is a funny part if you can call it that way that the Army chief was informed of the attack at 2.00 A.M after near 90 minutes the incursion came and then he called the Air Force chief to scramble the jets but by that the U.S. was long gone and the Supreme commander, the President was informed at about 7.00 in the morning. It seems that everybody knew what was happening and were careless enough to show the Pakistani nation that they were caught unaware. And if you stumble across some Pakistani newspapers (Dawn, the nation to name a few) you will see that the government started to deny that it is the not the actual report and it is just a draft and they are trying to figure out who leaked the draft. Who cares by now since the world knows now the competency and the effectiveness of the civilian and the Military authorities there. The excuse was that since Pakistan has never been attacked from the Western front (meaning Afghanistan, Iran) the radars on that side of the border were not on full alert and all the radars were concentrated and fully alert and operational on the eastern side (meaning India). If you are caught with your pants down, you will make thousands of excuses but the most scary part of the report (which is already known to all by now) is that the Pakistani helicopters don’t fly at night meaning you can sneak in and out of Pakistan without much detection by the armed forces. I don’t know if it is true or not because I for one does not believe that the nations which spends so much of its little money on its armed forces will like to know that they are vulnerable at night. Anyway these are some of the highlights and if the government is sincere enough, it will man up to it and make it public and then go about fixing the structural problems in its security because the armed forces of Pakistan is the only institution remaining now working efficiently and nobody wants it to go the way the present Pakistan is going.

On the lighter side-Movies- 3 AM (3D)- (2012-Thailand)

Thai Horror movie about the time 3 AM when the souls are around to freely roam the earth .Three stories related to it titled " The wig", "The corpse bride" and O.T. (overtime) with all three enjoyable and worth a definite watch. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Mutant Girls Squad (2010-Japanese)

Only the Japanese can make these kinds of outrageous gore filled movies with nose guns and butt chainsaws and breast swords. It is about a gang of Mutant girls forming a squad to defend and annihilate the human race. Blood flows at every opportunity but strangely the blood is more cartoonish than ever. Recommended for sheer absurdity and hilarious fun.

The OBL commission report from Pakistan-3

The house where OBL lived was unusually high among its surrounding and the place is less than a mile away from the Pakistan Military Academy, how nobody detected him is a mystery to me and to others. Then the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) who are primarily made up of army officers took over the task of finding OBL and stopped actively looking for him in 2005 when they believed that the U.S. stopped looking and lost interest in him, but it is their bumbling and arrogant attitude that had made them think that the U.S. has forgotten OBL and it may be that because the U.S. may have stopped sharing intelligence with the ISI people whom they suspect was harboring OBL. Another surprising news came out that the Pakistani military helicopters don’t fly at night and so they were not aware of this "invasion by the U.S. forces". And the Pakistani military had all eyes concentrated on India so their radar were directed on the eastern front and they did not perceive the U.S. or the Afghan forces as being hostile enemy and never looked that way for anything unusual. Another was the reason that the U.S. has sophisticated technology that was not in possession of Pakistan. But the main question is that how come the U.S. Navy Seals came in and stayed for at least 3 hours and left without being challenged by the Pakistan Military which had several hundred soldiers around that area and maybe more. Then the lack of coordination between civilian and military intelligence is also a glaring example of the holes in the security of the Pakistani nation.

The OBL commission report from Pakistan-2

So what is in the report that has supposedly upset many people? Nothing new is revealed and no one individually has been blamed but the whole collective failure and incompetency and ineffectiveness of the Pakistan state has been laid bare in front of everyone. It is story of how the state of Pakistan is in a sorry state and deteriorating further despite all the hype that the hyper nationalists have been creating there. It really shows based on the interviews with top Pakistan civilian and military leadership how far they are apart on their duties and how distrustful is the military of the civilian leadership and there is no cooperation among them in terms of security and foreign policy matters. The commission members were one retired judge, one former general and two other people and the picture they portray after interviewing several people is really an eye opener to the world which is the reason why it was never published in the first place. It says that OBL was in Pakistan since 2002 and had several times been able to move from city to city without detection (connivance?) among the population and also wore cowboy hat to disguise his appearance and he had been stopped once by a cop in the car which was speeding but was let go after settlement (bribe?). He settled down in the garrison city of Abbotabad (the equivalent of West Point of the U.S.) since 2005 and the house where he was living was obtained by his confident on an fake identification card and the building was made high against all the rules and regulations of the land.

The OBL commission report from Pakistan

I believe that very few people know that after the U.S. conducted raid in Pakistan on the night of May 02, 2011, Pakistani government set up a commission to investigate how Osama Bin Laden (OBL) came to live in Pakistan and the events leading up to his killing at the hands of Navy Seals (the U.S. Special Ops team) on May 02, 2011. Well it was completed in January of this year and the previous government got it in their hands but as all things should stay hidden in Pakistan so that nobody knows what happened at a particular event it was never made public and the new government which came in June also sat on the report until it was leaked (?) to the Arab news channel Al-Jazeera which published the whole report on its website and then that website was mysteriously blocked in Pakistan, but not before the contents were already made unofficially public. I have not read the whole report but some of the details which have been published is a fascinating read on the state of the Pakistan Politics and Military and instead of focusing on the recommendations of the report, there is now an investigation of how the report was leaked in the first place. From this you can see the priorities that are in place for the Pakistani state and its government and people. And this leaked report has been the hottest topic to hit the Pakistani nation in recent years (until something else comes along the way).

A new study about self employment and employment

A new European study came out about how the corporate world treats entrepreneurs who want to join the work force and it seems that there is a big discrimination against them. This discrimination is because the corporate human resources ignore the people who have made it on their own and recruit people who have been in a similar corporate area where they are used to bosses and following orders. The corporations may have their own prejudices regarding the successful entrepreneurs who may know more than the management since they have to deal with all the aspects of running a business. Is taking an initiative and being successful in doing multiple tasks so bad that the corporations feels that they will not be able to follow the orders of their new bosses or is it just plain discrimination against people who have somehow fallen into hard times and want to join the corporate world that they are now shut out because they were able to provide for their families and now cannot and it is the punishment of the corporate world why the entrepreneurs did not come to them in the first place? This report for once made me upset about the perceived notions and prejudices that the corporate human resources have about entrepreneurs. I believe that hiring an entrepreneur can bring fresh ideas to a company, provided the managers there don’t feel threatened by a successful person who may or may not know more than them. And once you are in the corporate world, no matter who you are before, you have followed certain rules and procedures no matter what you were before in your life. So instead of boxing someone into a certain criteria, you should always hiring someone with an open mind, you never know what kind of person who would be missing if you did not hire them.

The World of Idioms-3

I am back with another post about the world of Idioms and I start with " I want hear from the horse's mouth" meaning the original source of the quotation is the most authentic. Another one "you can't teach old dog new tricks" meaning it is hard to change people who are old and are entrenched in their way of doing things. "As you sow, so shall you reap" this one pertains to the word Karma as you have initiated an action be prepared to face the consequences good or bad. Another one is that "action speaks louder than words" and it is very much relevant that most people are good with words but when it is time to act they chicken out. "A slap on the wrist" is when a judge gives a punishment to a criminal which does not fit the crime because it is so light. “A dime a dozen" is what I call everything which is in abundant like nowadays (relevant to me) MBAs are like that since you can find many and they are not worth their time and effort. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" and it is this that is so much for me as my father passed away four years ago and there is never a day where I don’t miss him and this says that separation makes you want somebody more that you love. If you do something which seems to you easy but to others difficult you can use the idiom "a piece of cake". And finally (for this post) if you buy something which costs you so much money that you feel robbed, you can say that thing cost me "an arm and a leg" which means very expensive and beyond your budget. So check out my previous posts on this topic and see that if you had enough of idioms to go through your life.

Economic policies of nations-3

Although in capitalism private enterprises is supreme but there are certain areas where the private enterprise refuse to participate and does not have the capacity or capital or may not make enough profit to justify its investment and that is when the government steps in and through taxes or by borrowing they collectively invest in such ventures where the public (willingly or unwillingly) become collective owners. For example defense, trains, foreign relations, security are some of the areas where the private enterprises does not want to venture into or they are restricted by their government because these are sensitive areas or they are for the collective good. Capitalism does not mean that there is free for all as the government can impose regulations if it feels that some individuals are abusing their freedom and they are not in the public interest. Governments can also restrict the entry of private enterprise where they fear that it is part of national security. So what is being practiced in the so called capitalist countries is a form of socialism with majority part of the private enterprise. In communist countries what is practiced is also some form of socialism as the government does not have the capacity or the will to provide everybody everything that they need. It should be the job of market forces and demand and supply that should determine economic policies of a state. And Economic policies should be not entirely based on one or the other ism but on the specific demands, needs and wants of the people otherwise people will find their own way to satisfy them.

Economic policies of nations-2

It is the human beings who implement these kinds of systems and since the humans have flaws so does their systems. Look at communism, they said that all people are equal but were they really that equal. Because if you did something fabulous as a citizen, they rewarded you more. The people who were ruling or were members of the ruling party were given choice apartments and jobs as compared to ordinary citizens. The state did not know the needs of the citizens as the goods were allocated at the top. How could the state know what type of needs and wants its citizens have when they are sitting so far from the daily lives of their citizens? It was flawed from the start and was doomed to fail no matter how romanticized or passionate its adherents and followers were. Although there are some groups and few countries holding onto this notion of communism but they know that it is workable in the long run. Socialism is the mixture of some form of governmental control and private control but people confuse socialism with communism and sometimes they are used interchangeably. The last one is the Capitalism where the private enterprise is supreme and there is supposedly no interference from the government as the economic forces of demand and supply becomes the main idea behind the production of goods and services. Although the U.S. is the only country which practices almost near to this form of economic policy but it is far from implementing it thoroughly.

Economic policies of nations

If you live in a country, you must have noticed how the economy policy is shaped based on what their governments believe in. And when that believes is put into place then all the citizens are indoctrinated to follow it as it is a holy grail. For example some countries claim to follow communism, some follow some form of socialism and overwhelming majority follow capitalism. But with all these -isms it is true that no one country follow a complete set of policy based on only ism and in fact that they don’t even call it one but a combination of all. The communists believe that everything belongs to the collective people and these collectivity in solidified in the government or state, nothing is owned individually and the socialism is the combination of individual and state ownership, while capitalism is all the individual rights and ownership and government owns little or none (which is very extreme and nonexistent). Not to long ago, the world was essentially divided into the communist/socialists and capitalism ( I am here not mentioning another ism called Islamism because it is still a combination of socialism and capitalism). And each adherent were passionately advertising their own form as the best form of humanity and saying that the other form exploits human beings and it should not be adopted by anyone. They two groups spent considerable amount of money (not to mention inflicting countless humans to their flawed experiments in economy). And you have now known the outcome of this rivalry.

On the lighter side-Movies-The Host (2013)

Horror/Science fiction movie about an Alien race who have taken over the bodies of humans and the few surviving humans trying to fight their advance. The movie is too slow, boring and sentimental to have much attention span. I had a hard time concentrating on it. Not Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Spring Breakers (2013)-Selena Gomez, James Franco

Forgettable, dark and moody movie about four female friends who decide to take a spring break together and get involved with shady characters. Not worth your time. Not Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Admission (2013)-Tina Fey, Paul Rudd

A Princeton University admission officer tries to amend her life by fraudulently admitting her supposedly adopted son to the prestigious school .Something different for a change. Good solid acting. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Dead Man down (2013)-Colin Farrell

A vengeful man who is working in a mob teams up with an equally vengeful woman to take down his boss in this so so actioner. Slow at times but with good action sequences. Recommended with caution

Are men really are stupid or want to act that way?

Really I mean are men really stupid or they act to choose that way. If you see on television most the men are bumbling idiots who are beholden to their wives wiser ways and the expression I told you so. It is very rare that you see men acting intelligently on the media screen which his opposite to what is happening in the real world. Do the writers secretly crave that the men also act stupidly in the real world too? Or is it really funny to see men acting dumb and stupid and women acting smartly? I am not saying that it should be the opposite that men should act smart and women dumb but it should be on equal basis as not all men are dumb and incompetent and not all women are smart and highly intellectual. And it is not the fault of the men that they are looked at being incompetent or not capable of rational thinking because women believe that their way is the right way. The other thing that I am suspecting is that since for centuries men have always made a decision on the lives of women, in order to compensate for all this time not including women in the worldly decision, now it is being done to say that if women had made the decision, the world would not be in a such a mess. I cannot pass a judgment on that since is history but to say that all the men are stupid and don’t know what is right from wrong is insulting to the intelligent men and to all those women who believe that their husbands, sons, fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles act stupid or are really without less brain power than men.

How come some people get away with lots of things in life?

If you have noticed that some people get away with many things in life and then you say that it is not fair that person got away with something and you are not getting that chance. It seems to you that justice is not being done but are you sure about that? If you see that one person has gotten away with something, you may never know if he can lucky the next time. You may be surprised how some people get lots of break in their lives and there are some, who are constantly met with unfortunate circumstances. I also sometimes feel the same way that some person even if I think does not deserve something, has gotten there faster than me, I start to question if I am unlucky or if he is lucky but since we are human beings we can't help but have these kinds of doubts in life but as I said before fate and luck work in mysterious ways and you may be surprised when you luck pops up in places where you can least expect. So after coming to this conclusion I have realized that the best way is to ignore what other people are getting away with and think about what you have gotten away with lately that may seem innocent or invisible to you and how fate and luck is smiling on you every day that you are alive and well and with your families. Worrying about others will not help you in achieving your goals and may even make you angry, bitter and mad and since these are the traits you don’t need in your life, start thinking about yourself and your loved ones and then the fate of the people who have gotten away with many things to fate and justice will prevail one day (even if you may not see it ).

Twists and turns of fate

Not too long ago the former Islamist President of Egypt was calling for Syria's President to step down as he was being a murderous dictator and he should listen to this people while at the same time, the former Egyptian President overconfident since he was elected by the people, he thought that he would venture outside his country to citizen others even when the people who voted for him got dissatisfied and disenchanted with this rule. Whatever the reason for his ouster, this is just one example of how the fate of one person takes its twists and turns. Even when you think that things are going your way or are going to go your way, never assume that it will be in your favor until it is really achieved. Even if you don’t believe in anything, this is one of the things that you should believe in since in different times of your lives, you will encounter it more than once. You see fate is very complicated and is almost similar to what we call Karma. We also say the fate of nations lies in the hands of a few people but that is not the case exactly. Even with the best of human intentions, the fate of nations can change very fast and out of control of those honest people. For example it was fate that the outcome of the U.S. civil war came as opposed to the ones who wanted to segregate from the United States (well many may disagree with me here) and also you can see numerous things in your life that despite your best efforts turn out to be differently than planned. So when you start something and believe that they should be the outcome, please keep in mind that the fate may have an entirely different outcome.

Military coup in Egypt-2

I did not get this, if you have been elected to govern for the first time and you want to make sure that you get elected again or at least keep your promise, you should be humble enough to follow through with your pledges and promises and be better than the government you are replacing. And instead trying to be the leader you should first fix your own house in order so that people outside the country may perceive you as a leader. Although there can be numerous factors but this maybe more important than others. People wanted change and they wanted more than the promises and by the looks they were no longer going to tolerate incompetency and dictatorship from anyone and so we have this coup. And it has indeed divided the country right now. And what happens next as the former regime's supporters I believe won't sit tight and accept this coup willingly. Now the biggest fear which few people may have thought it about is how the Islamist will react to the overthrow of their democratically elected government. Would Egypt become the next Algeria where the Military denied the Islamist victory in the election and had to face many years of bloody conflict? Would the Muslim brotherhood denied to rule the government become violent and will the Islamic extremists start a campaign of terror to intimidate their opponents? These are questions that need to be asked because if there is celebration, there is anger too that the legitimate will of the people (no matter what little majority voted ) was taken over by the military.

Military coup in Egypt

So finally it happened. After the 48 hour warning by the military, the Islamist Muslim brotherhood government in Egypt was toppled in a peaceful coup and the president was arrested along with the members of his party. It is tragic for the Egyptian people that the so called revolution that brought the Islamist government to power by the same people has been again instrumental in toppling it again. I mentioned some of the reasons which may have led to this, but it looks like it is not over yet as the supporters and the opponents of the previous regime are clashing on the streets and this instability is badly affecting its tourist industry and the economy in general. As of this writing the crackdown is going on in Egypt against the members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the military is determined to go after all their leadership. Although a military coup or takeover is never the solution to the problem the people have but the way celebration broke out in Egypt shows that how much unpopular the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood had become in a year. Instead of delivering on their promise to improve the lot of the people (for which they are known for charitable work and should have been prepared for the last many decades), they went for the power grab and try to regain the leadership of the Arab world by criticizing Syria while their own house was in shambles. The regime of former President Morsi of Egypt became too overconfident and too eager to grab power when the people were suffering economically.

Turmoil in Egypt-2

You see this I don’t understand that the Muslim Brotherhood which preaches that Islam is the complete code of life and if you follow it you can achieve success here in the world and after had never had a government before to themselves and they had at least the last sixty years to formulate some kind of economy policy. And sixty years is enough of time to have an economic policy in place in case you do get the government and it should not be based on fantasy and unrealistic figures but on ground which the brotherhood had enough of an experience since most of their members are working class people. A religion is not only based on punishments only but there should be rewards and benefits of living in an Islamic society. If you have been born into this world, you should be combining both religion and your worldly needs and balance this effectively. Well this economic policy in the Islamic world is for some future topic but for now since the Muslim Brotherhood took over the Egyptian government, the voters who voted for them are also not happy with their performance and wants to change the government. It seems that the miseries of the Egyptian have increased more in the Muslim brotherhood government then it was in the previous Mubarak regime. If this is the case and it seems that way then the remedy should not be to blame others for your failure but to look at yourself and your policies and how it can be improved. Religion or no religion, if a government is unable to deliver for its people then all your excuses will not be heard. So deliver to your people and leave religion out of the government.

Turmoil in Egypt

So the Egyptian Military has given the Islamist Egyptian government to handle the crisis peacefully or they will have to do it for him. So what went wrong in Egypt. It was a promising start a year ago when the former President Mubarak was ousted by a popular wave of Muslim Brotherhood organization and other non-Islamist people who were fed up with the corruption, poverty and the decay of the Egyptian economy and the Arab Spring that was to herald a beginning of new era of peace and prosperity. And there was big euphoria about the Muslim brotherhood coming to power since they have been sidelined for decades and people thought that they will bring peace and prosperity to the Arab world's biggest nation. I have often heard this also that people should give somebody new enough time so they can prove themselves, but nowadays people have become impatient and I believe one year of the Muslim Brotherhood government was enough time to make Egypt better than the Mubarak's regime but I guess I was wrong and so were so many people. But what is the new cause and why people are fed up besides the usual conspiracy theories that the Muslim brotherhood says it is encountering to their government? Well the people are generally dissatisfied with the way things are going on. Crime has increased manifold and the economy is going south (based on the news) and poverty is increasing along with fuel shortages and power outages (again based on news), no wonder people are not satisfied and they don’t have the patience to wait for years now to better their lot.

On the lighter side-Movies-Tai Chi Hero (2012-HK)

Sequel to the blockbuster steam punk martial arts movie about the early days of a Tai chi master whose art is the most popular form in the world today. Good action sequences. Different than other martial arts movies. Check it out. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Solomon Kane (2009)

A warrior who has been damned to hell due to his evil ways tries to redeem himself by helping an innocent girl in the clutches of a wizard. Dreary, atmospheric with good action sequences. Recommended for action fans only.

Hunger in a world of plenty

If there is hunger in America (as I mentioned in my earlier post) there is definitely plenty of people going hungry around the world each day. And to say that the numbers are not growing would be lying. In Africa and Asia, there are growing number of people including an overwhelming number of small kids who go hungry to sleep each night. Its maybe because the population is increasing beyond the capacity of their countries to feed them or they are poor enough that they cannot afford food that this problem is manifesting itself to great challenge for all people. The rich countries, although doing their part cannot still enough feed all the hungry people and there should be an effort to make sure that nobody goes hungry in this world of plenty. I believe that there is plenty of food to go around; it is just the mismanagement part that makes this situation more aggravating. Although giving food aid to countries is a nice gesture but for how long can you keep on giving food when they become dependent on it and know that the world will take care of them and then they cannot improve their own lot. In addition to food aid, there should be help available for farmers to cultivate land on a scientific basis and where there is a constant drought or little rain; there should be constant focus on plants that can be grown with little or no rain. I am positive that things are happening in this regard and the world is trying its best to reduce hunger but the goal should be no hunger irrespective of your social status or financial situation anywhere around the world.

Can we ever escape violence?

This is the question that bugs me quite often. Why can't we be civilized towards other human beings without involving our own biases, prejudices, pre judgments, opinions and all the feelings that we have before we meet someone. Why are we so vulnerable to violence and why can't we control our emotions when it needs the most to be controlled? Why do we have to resort to violence when everything else fails? And is violence the only way to solve problems when we don’t know how to solve one? I guess the answer can never be explained in terms that will satisfy anyone since the human emotions are so complex that nobody has been able to explain what triggers somebody to resort to violence. And it is not just violence against other humans but also self violence that we do when we are in a particular emotional state. By self violence means that if you are in a particular emotional state you tend to destroy things and not hurt people, you are just letting out your anger, frustration, annoyance, helplessness or any other emotion that you feel that will not hurt people but only objects. Although this is not healthy either but at least if you cannot control your emotions, you have an outlet to vent it out. If you have read the human history, we have never escaped violence since the beginning of time. Violence is inherently ingrained in us whether it is against other humans, self violence or against animals. We are a violent creature and it is just a super human being who controls their emotions and not resorts to violence so the answer is a big NO, we cannot escape violence.

On the lighter side-Movies-Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

A half human, half vampire fights vampires to rid the world from them in Japan. High flying fighting sequences with exciting action. Based on a Japanese Magna. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Azumi 2: Death or love (2005-Japan)

That crazy young female assassin is back in action trying to evade the capture by the army of the lord that she killed while trying to prevent war and going on her mission to kill the last lord who wants to continue war. Great action sequences and swordplay. Recommended