Don't Say I Didn't Tell You

What: Eric, Jack and Ginger
When: October 24th, 25th, 26th.
Where: Madison Square Garden

Pray for me.

Please, God (no, not you, the other one), please: world peace, cure for AIDS, relief to Katrina victims and tickets to the show.

Skill-sets and price-points

Talking-head-lady on CNN, blabbering about FEMA's new man-on-the-ground Thad Allen: "he has the required skill-sets".

What happened to just skills? Did that die out with hunting, fishing, spearing and drawing on cave walls? Why the desire to fill silences and spaces with more words, particularly technical or even mathematical-sounding words?

Noticed how technology salespeople can no longer say "price"? It has to be "price-point". It instantly invokes images of graphs and charts and makes the mere act of providing a cost to the customer sound terribly exciting. "What would this software cost?" "Hmm...let's see, we can come to you at...a price-point (meaningful glance at the customer)..... of $19.95". Wowee, can I buy 10 of those?

As they say on infomercials, "but wait, there's more".

There was this caption-scrolling ticker thing on CNN about FEMA Director Brown moving back to Washington DC to see the "big picture". What? The man gets to sit in DC watching the aftermath on a new large-screen TV? What if Director Brown is tempted to look at very small pictures or perhaps, picture in picture? And what if the picture gets so big that he starts to see the whole planet or the Milky Way? Could he be nominated to the Fellow of the Royal Society of Astronomers?

If that happens, you know, at least he would have one hell of a skill-set.

Link to 4-Star Charities

This is a sticky for the next 4 days. Look for new posts below.

Charity Navigator has published a very handy page with a full list of all 4-star charities that are assisting those affected by Katrina.

Does anyone know a similar resource for analyzing charities in India? (BTW, Charity Navigator ranks ASHA and Association For India's Development - two India-related charities - very highly.)

wheat, wheat, what-cheer, what-cheer

There was this lovely little bird outside my study window. It was bright red, had a narrow, sharp beak and looked like some kind of a woodpecker. But it's almost-absurd redness made me curious. Was this some woodpecker? Or maybe it was some rara avis right in my backyard. I had to find out.

(Above pic courtesy Flickr member Amerune. All rights as per Flickr's terms)

Since Google sadly lacks a real physical interface, by which I mean one cannot shove a live bird into the hungry jaws of the search engine, the "Complete Field Guide to American Wildlife (East, Central & North), By Henry Hill Collins, jr" came to my rescue.

The bird was, of course, the Richmondena Cardinalis, also known as the "Cardinal" or the American Red Bird. "Wheat, wheat, what-cheer, what-cheer" is the whistle of the cardinal.

Another interesting fact about the red bird: a hundred years ago, it was rare to see this bird north of Philadelphia. (source: GospelGazette.com)

What cheer, what cheer.

Life As A Screenplay

Ai-yi-yi.

• Boy suffers from constipation, brings laxative to school. {set-up}


• Curiously, several students complain of "lose bowels" (sic, sick). {payoff, high comedy}


• Teacher suspects a Mickey Finn. {dark clouds gather}


• Beats up boy and his friend with a wire . {Tragedy, Terror}


• Both boys hospitalized. {Horror}


• It was Teacher's Day.{Ultimate Irony}

Thimmappa, saar, Sharan and Rahul will be Sharan and Rahul. Next time, please go wireless.

BoingBoing's Ill-Timed Sarcasm?

BoingBoing posts a snide headline about India's $5 million aid for Katrina relief and this makes some bloggers unhappy and understandably so.

Club810 smells the "R" word, though he is not sure. And isn't that the worst kind of a racist dig at someone? But do BoingBoing's headline and Bruce Sterling's post smack of "elitist snobbery"? And is this "a subtle dig at the Indian people"?

Another blog titled "Random Signs of Intelligence" has similar thoughts. He urges Xeni of BoingBoing to "knock off the smart-ass remarks".

Just in case you didn't notice, BoingBoing's post is based on a post in Bruce Sterling's blog which refers to a report in - guess what - TIMES OF INDIA, thereby making this whole business far less important than getting that $5 million to the hurricane victims.

Personally, I do not think BoingBoing would stoop to such depths.

Fun With Names

I saw this byline in an article in a Reader's Digest (large-print edition) in a doctor's waiting room - "William Speed Weed". This guy must have shattered the Coolth Barrier in high school with a mere "Present, Sir" during roll-call.

And the article? Oh, something about the physical and emotional benefits of laughter.