Irony

Does anyone else find it ironic that people protesting the deadly soccer clashes in Egypt ended up being shot by the police leading to the 3 deaths and 1,500 injuries? Would the next protest be about the violence at protest about the violence at the protest? This could easily turn into an infinite loop of protests. I respect the people's right to protest, I really do, but I also think protesters need to be mindful of what kind of situation they are in. Violent clashes with the powers that be won't solve anything if those powers have become immune to them. As matter of fact, if they are the ones perpetuating the violence it's better to stay at home and find alternative means to voice dissent. I don't know what the alternative would be in Egypt right now, peaceful protests seems to have gone out of fashion.

The Axis of Evil

There was once an "Axis Of Evil", it's member countries were to be feared for their evil plans and agendas with which the hoped to sow the seeds of destruction and chaos across the world. The three countries that made up that axis were Iran, Iraq & North Korea. President Bush took over Iraq so now they are the un begotten 51st state. You can't call them a member of the axis of evil any more than you can call the USA a member of that axis, no evil doers there to be sure.
So that left us with two members in the Axis of evil, Iran and N. Korea. I was fine with that, as you probably know the original Axis powers were Germany and Italy. You can have an axis between two points because then the axis would be the point through which those two points would rotate and I was happy, for a while... Things started getting weird when the United States decided to take N. Korea off the list, so now we will be left with one country in the Axis of evil. I want to be the first one to coin the term, point of evil. Since that is what Iran is now. It is the singular point of all evil. Iraq and N. Korea haven gotten rid of their evil doers and replacing them with good doers. Sure we have Syria, Libya and Cuba but they are already called the "Rogue States" and you might be hoping that we might be able to get Belarus, Zimbabwe or Myanmar to join the axis but they also have clique called the outposts of tyranny. So with all this said and done, what remains is that the Axis of evil is now a lonely club with only one member. What we needs is a better class of evil doing countries: Those that won't give up their evil doing ways so quickly or easily. I saw the Dark Knight and was all in favor of having the Joker set up a new country, or take over an existing one like Iceland, which I hear might be up for sale very soon, and join the club but then Heath Ledger had to go overdose him self and leave me without any really good evil doers. Other good oxymorons include "Make haste slowly" and "Military Intelligence".
Well, while I bemoan the loss of the axis of evil we should be grateful that we still have the final four, the fantastic four and other such groups and entities that hold true to their names and functions. Of course you could watch the Axis of evil comedy tour and while it is enjoyable, I don't necessarily find it as funny as some of the other comedy shows out there, They do have this half Korean half Vitecong guy who speaks really good Arabic and is a real riot, but besides him the rest are alright.

Zardari

Wall street jounal on Zardari's meeting with Palin:

Palin entered the room first followed several moments later by Zardari, who laid it on thick.

“How are you? So nice to meet you,” Palin said, adding that she was “honored to meet him.”

Zardari remarked that Palin was “even more gorgeous” than he had expected.

“You are so nice. Thank you,” Palin said, seeming to change the subject, but Zardari continued. “Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you.”

The slew of cameras present ask the pair to shake hands again, to which Palin suggested they “pose” together. Zardari offered this gem: “If he’s insisting, I might hug.”

and this guy is the elected president of a country, disgusting. I wonder if his speech to the UN was a way to show the global public that he hadn't fallen for Palin or as a way to make ammends for what he said to her. The guy was known as Mr. 10 %. Taking 10% of every deal he ever approved while his wife held office. He is a convicted criminal who spent time in jail, yet still got elected into presidency.  Not too many people liked his predecessor, but no one can claim that he was a criminal who spent time in jail and had a sobriquet like Mr. 10 %.

source: 

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/24/palin-meets-with-more-world-leaders/

Einstien qoute of the day

I read an interesting quote today made by Einstein "No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it". One a personal level this means that I can't expect to solve a problem that I created unless I alter my self. This is a daunting prospect when one person is concerned and I believe it is next to impossible when an organization or a government is concerned. I believe the current bailout plan being discussed in the Congress is not a solution. It seems more like a patch to keep things going until it becomes someone else's problem.
On a different yet some how related topic, Project management is not something that everyone can step into without training or prior experience. In many firms the only way to reward people who do well in technical positions is by having them move up in the corporate ladder into management/administrative positions. This brings me to my main point; Good programmers do not make good project managers. Some skills overlap, like the ability to think clearly but most are mutually exclusive. Moving a good programmer into a position as a project manager turns out to be a double whammy. You loose a good programmer and gain a bad project manager. Some organizations have found a way out of this by giving talented technical people the option of moving into management positions or staying in the current role with additional perks and benefits that would be akin to the one s/he would receive for moving up the corporate ladder. Google comes to mind as a company that has successfully implemented this policy. This is one of the reasons why I would love to move into a company that has software development as it's core business. My current experience with project management leaves a lot to be desired.