Ayan's Blog

Yes, it has been a while.  The world has changed in the few months I was goofing off. Of course, now we have Universal Health Care,  equal rights for gays in the military, and our troops back from Afghanistan and Iraq.

No….still the same. All these important issues have not yet been resolved. Right wing nut jobs are still on top. At least with the previous administration, they had the balls to get things done - however ill-conceived their notions were. They didn’t give a damn whether everyone was on board with their policies, they knew they were in the majority and could afford to say - screw the rest, lets get this done. Continue reading

An OLPC?

Remember the $100 computer that was to be given to children in the Third World Countries under the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Project? The cost went up to $200 and then they started a program through which you could buy a PC here and one would be donated to a child in Africa? It was an ambitious project, one that unfortunately, did not succeed.
Fast forward to today. India has announced the $10 computer. This 10″ X 5″ gadget called the Sakshat actually resembles a palmtop. It is a wireless e-learning device with 2GB RAM, Wifi and wired ethernet. Due to some initial hiccups, the cost is currently somewhere in between $20 and $30. India, however, is confident that they can bring down the cost over time.
India will use its initial production to hand these out to primary and secondary school students free of charge. All textbooks will be available free of charge for wireless download on these devices. Imagine the money they will save on textbooks!!!

An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And if you had a 3 ½ inch floppy
You hoped nobody found out!

Compress was something you did to garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You’d be in jail for awhile!

Log on was adding wood to a fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode!

Cut - you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider’s home
And a virus was the flu!

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - Australia

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday

to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to

head off potential terror attacks..

Separately, Rudd angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he

supported spy agencies monitoring the nation’s mosques. Quote:

‘IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired

of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or

their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a

surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. ‘

‘This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials

and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom’

‘We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese,

Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become

part of our society . Learn the language!’

‘Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing,

political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian

principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is

certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God

offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your

new home, because God is part of our culture.’

‘We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is

that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.’

‘This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you

every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining,

whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or

Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great

Australian freedom, ‘THE RIGHT TO LEAVE’.’

‘If you aren’t happy here then LEAVE. We didn’t force you to come here.

You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.’

Why is Conservative America so obsessed with guns? The Second Ammendment states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
A well regulated militia :Isn’t that no longer the case? Do we have to use our weapons to guard ourselves against the almighty British army in our backyard? Can’t we just drive over them with our Hummers? In the words of Ex Chief Justice Warren Burger, “ Americans also have a right to defend their homes, and we need not challenge that. Nor does anyone seriously question that the Constitution protects the right of hunters to own and keep sporting guns for hunting game any more than anyone would challenge the right to own and keep fishing rods and other equipment for fishing – or to own automobiles. To “keep and bear arms” for hunting today is essentially a recreational activity and not an imperative of survival, as it was 200 years ago. “Saturday night specials” and machine guns are not recreational weapons and surely are as much in need of regulation as motor vehicles
The United States has by far the highest rate of gun deaths murders, suicides and accidents among the world’s 36 richest nations, a government study found.
The U.S. rate for gun deaths in 1994 was 14.24 per 100,000 people. Japan had the lowest rate, at .05 per 100,000.
The study, done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the first comprehensive international look at gun-related deaths. Japan, where very few people own guns, averages 124 gun-related attacks a year, and less than 1 percent end in death. Police often raid the homes of those suspected of having weapons.
The study found that gun-related deaths were five to six times higher in the Americas than in Europe or Australia and New Zealand and 95 times higher than in Asia.
Here are gun-related deaths per 100,000 people in the world’s 36 richest countries in 1994
United States 14.24; Brazil 12.95; Mexico 12.69; Estonia 12.26; Argentina 8.93; Northern Ireland 6.63; Finland 6.46; Switzerland 5.31; France 5.15; Canada 4.31; Norway 3.82; Austria 3.70; Portugal 3.20; Israel 2.91; Belgium 2.90; Australia 2.65; Slovenia 2.60; Italy 2.44; New Zealand 2.38; Denmark 2.09; Sweden 1.92; Kuwait 1.84; Greece 1.29; Germany 1.24; Hungary 1.11; Republic of Ireland 0.97; Spain 0.78; Netherlands 0.70; Scotland 0.54; England and Wales 0.41; Taiwan 0.37; Singapore 0.21; Mauritius 0.19; Hong Kong 0.14; South Korea 0.12; Japan 0.05

I need a new laptop. But what should I get? Maybe I should look around for a laptop with Vista Business with downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional? How about Linux? No, I can’t spend that kind of time getting it to work with all the software I use. Maybe I could get a second job and buy a Mac? No, wait. There are no jobs available.

Worry not. Windows 7 Beta is here. Of course, it will only run through August, but something is better than nothing. You can always change the system clock to keep it running beyond that date. Yes, it has bugs. But, it’s still better than Vista. Come to think of it, my trusty old Windows 3.1 was better than Vista. Yes, you can run Windows 7 perfectly on your current hardware. You don’t need to buy a new Quad core machine for it.

Do not install the Beta version on your primary machine. It’s good, but any Beta version is always unstable and has bugs. That’s why it is a Beta version. I used a spare hard drive to test this OS. If you do not have a spare drive, please back up all your data and keep a copy of your current OS handy before installing this OS.

I tested Windows 7 on a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 2 Ghz Pentium Dual Core processor and 2 GB RAM. Continue reading

Did you know?

- To create an “Ambilight Experience” on your Plasma or LCD TV, all you have to do is put a small light fixture at the back of your TV. Plasmas and LCDs use a backlight in order to display bright images. This is what causes your electric bills to skyrocket. Phillips came out with its high end Ambilight range of TVs which had a secondary light at the back of the TV. A small flourescent light placed at the back of your TV has the same effect.
Switch on the external light, go into your Picture Settings, bring down the Backlight strength and watch your bills go down while achieving a better picture.

I keep hearing people talk about Liberals with a tone and body language typically reserved for the worst of our vocabulary. I think its time to remind them of the following:

• Liberals ended slavery ( A liberal Republican! What happened to them?)
• Liberals gave women the right to vote
• Liberals ended segregation
• Liberals gave us clean water via the Clean Water Act
• Liberals are trying to give us cleaner air
• The Mt. Rushmore Presidents–Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt–were each considered radical liberals in their day.

Continue reading

In this blog, I will try and find something for each of you. The $149 TV for Scott, a nice laptop for Cary, Gourmet recipes for Cassie and McDonalds coupons for Erin.

A good network referral?

And of course, for John and Bert, here’s a network referral :):)

Sitting here trying to setup this blog, I cant help but feel Rex staring at me. He feels ignored. He knows in his heart that he is the Master of the House and I am his humble servant. His wish is my command. Yes Rex, you can lay on the couch. I am fine sitting on the floor where I truly belong.

On his couch as usual!!!

Is there anything you would like? Perhaps a nice piece of bacon?