Thursday, August 23, 2007

Nokia and batteries

I am not sure why people say that this battery recall is going to hurt Nokia. I rather think that if there is something wrong with my phone I would like the handset manufacturer to be someone who comes out in the open and says so before any lasting damage is done. Is there anything more to this whole thing than meets the eye?

A Zen Story

Anyone for a Zen Story? Well....there was this zen master whose master passed away. He started crying and lamenting the loss. One of the people present asked him "Why do you cry so much when you are yourself a master?"

He said "I am mourning my master because he was an extra-ordinary man".

The person asked "What was so extra-ordinary about him?"

The zen master said "He was the only extra-ordinary person I knew who considered himself ordinary!"

2 amazing news items

Someone has said "It's not a news if dog bites man but it's news if man bites dog". These days media has pretty much pulled out all stops when it comes to delivering the "Breaking News" but I found 2 pieces in the printed world that rather amused me.

The first one was about this border town in Mexico - this whole town thrives on the industry of sending illegal immigrants thro the Sonoran desert into Arizona. There are grocery stores where you can purchase eatables and water to tide you over the long trek. Moreover, a bank has opened a branch for people whose relatives in US send money for the journey. As Mr. Spock of Star Trek would have said "Fascinating!"

The other news was about the Indians (not red Indians but people who are from India) in US who were rather irked by the immigration authority USCIS over the delay in processing their green card applications. What did they do? They sent flowers to the Director of USCIS - as a "Get Well Soon" gesture. Those folks who have seen the Hindi movie "Lage raho Munnabhai" will recognize this as a form of Gandhigiri. Isnt it funny that these people who want to stay in US have to resort to "Satyagraha"tactics by the Father of the nation - Mahatma Gandhi?

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Runaway Jury

I have seen many court room scenes in which the presiding judge asks the members of the jury if they have reached any verdict. They say they have so the judge asks the defendent to rise. And then the leader of the jury finds the defendent either guilty as charged or not.

But I had no idea that an elaborate process exists for jury selection and that both the sides - the plaintiff as well as the defendents - appoint jury selection consultants. But John Grisham's "The Runaway Jury" talks about this and many other things......I know I am going to like this book :-)