A Bend in the Lane

Actually they are not. I've always been terribly dissapointed with Indy Jones - he finds treasure and he never claims it for his own. Ditto with Nancy Drew (who by the way is so annoying with her model citizen act, calling the authorities after discovering ancient treasure). Well one guy on some Gold Prospectors forum was mightily peeved over ownership rights of found gold and vented his frustration thus - A)They would come under the antiquity laws. B)They would come under national treasure laws C)They would come under normal treasure laws. D)They also would be under normal mining laws. E)They could come under native repartition laws also. F)Some how, the Jesuits could have a claim too. I say, what is the point of breaking your back while trying to find The Dutchman mines or Oak Island's money pit, when you actually cant keep the gold? I mean isn't that being dumb? I know the journey is all exciting and yadayadayada but isnt that like saying something dumb like "I wor...

To live in times when names like Lehman Brothers; Merril Lynch will no longer exist. In times when an omniscient insurance company teetered on the edge of collapse and finally gets taken over by state! Egad! I am finance-challenged. Despite that, I cant help but feel a growing sense of dread in the pit of my tummy, and a perverted tingle of excitement - one that 49ers may have had when setting out to 'go west' to find gold in caravans, in boxcar trains. Except that we ain't going west. And there aint gonna be any gold awaiting at the last stop. And the only people who shall come good out of these times are the kind who sold water then.

My blog format is screwed. Blogger sucks :-( Or i suck :-(

Folks! Today is Big Bang Day. The very day when the LHC ("Big Bang Machine") will be switched on (two years behind schedule) at CERN. And, possibly, as we speak, the condition in that 27km tunnel will be similar to the condition of the universe about a billionth of a second after Big Bang! The greatest scientific endeavor since we landed on moon.

You may have heard of the highly publicised involvement of Emile Zola in the Dreyfus Affair in France. Interestingly, not many people know about the infamous Great Wyrley Outrages and the subsequent crusade of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to free George Edalji ( a Parsee + Scottish 'Indian' man). Even Wikipedia does little justice to this fascinating case. The Edalji case has almost been forgotten, while the Zola was eulogised as "a moment of conscience in humanity" for his involvement in the Dreyfus scandal. It's puzzling cuz, both cases were similar - A popular literary figure (Zola, Doyle) crusading for justice, working against establishment and government to free the accused (Dreyfus, Edalji) who was being discriminated due to his religion/race (Jewish, mixed blood-Catholic). If you get a chance, pick up the Booker nominated "Arthur & George" It does the case justice.

...when your collegemate's wee-little brother adds you as a friend on Facebook.

I dont know too much about Sen. Joe Biden. (We shall soon though now that he is the Democrat Vice Presidential nominee.) But, I thought he was a witty when I heard his famous one-liner about Republican Rudy Giuliani's Presidential campaign in 2007 - "There's only three things he [Giuliani] mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11." Also, heard he is a powerful orator. That should be helpful cuz personally, I think oratory is not exactly Obama's forte. He has too many pauses, "err", "umms" in his speeches. Interesting days ahead,