Year: 2009

How Patents stifle and go against Human nature

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Coming to the US has introduced me full force to the Patent system prevalent in the country. “Intellectual Property” as it is called rules large aspects of America’s legal system. Almost anything can be patented – right from software, to hairstyles (as my wife told me), to business practices. Coming from a country where such things don’t enter most people’s minds, I’ve been able to observe it from outside, and have realized that it’s contrary to the very thing that makes humans special.

It’s a travesty and an insult to the natural behavior of humans and goes against the very impulse that has propelled humanity to the top of the food chain. Don’t believe me? Read on!

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Converting WordPress Tags into Categories

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It took me a little while to figure out how to convert tags into categories in my WordPress blog, and here’s hoping that someone else doesn’t need to search as much. Basically I found that too many of my tags were long term “slots” and I wished that some were categories instead (poor planning I … Read more

"The Gathering Storm" Prologue Review – I love it! (Wheel of Time series)

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The prologue for “The Gathering Storm” – the twelfth book in the “Wheel of Time” series – has just been released and I’ve just finished reading it. Just one word for it – fantastic. Brandon Sanderson filling in for Robert Jordan does a great job in presenting lots of major characters including some juicy Forsaken … Read more

Patents standing in the way of Combating Climate Change

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As we approach the Copenhagen conference in December 2009, we’re finding a divide between developed countries like the US and developing countries like India and China. This is because rich nations want poorer countries to commit to drastic carbon emission cuts that the latter are unwilling to do without assistance. Clean Technology and Intellectual Property … Read more

Rape and Men’s Psychology

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This is a post, which I admit reveals rather more about myself than I would like. Nonetheless, I have something to say. More so because not a single site or article on the Internet says what I feel is the truth. Not even close. The time has come for someone to stand up and stick out his neck with the facts.

First, my formal position on the whole rape issue. I do not condone rape. It’s a violation of a person’s privacy. This article is merely an examination of mostly subconscious responses in more or less every man or woman I have spoken to and is academic in nature. So no flaming please!

Here goes…

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SC hearing on Article 377 postponed from 14th September to 29th

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I really wish the media would take the trouble to keep us posted of important court cases when they’re scheduled for a hearing. We were all waiting for the SC to arbitrate Article 377 on the 14th of September 2009 and when the date arrives, no report in the media to keep us informed of what happened. Luckily, my Google Calendar is set up to notify me a day before the date approaches, and so when I found there was no mention of it, I decided to dig the records for myself.

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The Real cost of Natural Resources

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A strange way of viewing man’s activities on earth occurred to me a few days ago – the economic point of view. We often hear of moral or scientific arguments but not many economical ones. Let me explain what I mean.

Natural Resources – Artificially low prices

There’s something skewed about the price we pay for the products we consume and the fuel we burn. To take an example, I bought a plastic bag today at Aldi’s (I had to – needed to walk 2.5 km back home with groceries) for 10c. It’s so cheap that one wouldn’t mind paying for it at all.

And yet, that plastic bag poses a real problem as far as its effects go. Depending on the type of plastic, it can take anywhere from 20 to 700 years to decompose naturally in a landfill and it’s incredibly difficult to recycle. You don’t want to try burning it either because quite apart from the horrible smell (as anyone who has smelt plastic burn can attest), it could – again depending on the plastic – release toxic dioxins.

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