EU is fining Microsoft $1.3 billion for violating anti-trust order. Microsoft is accused of charging too much for selling software information to developers interested in developing applications compatible with Windows. The $1.3 billion fine is the highest fine ever charged by any one from any company.
Showing posts with label Current Affairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Current Affairs. Show all posts
2.27.2008
2.23.2008
2.15.2008
Danish newspapers reprint Mohammad cartoons
There are people who learn and then there are those who do not. Freedom of expression does not entail slandering and provocation. I grew up with a simple saying. 'Your freedom ends where my nose begins'. Must the Danish poke their fingers in other people's noses.
http://mobashirahmed.blogspot.com/2008/02/danish-cartoons-re-appear.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/world/europe/14briefs-cartoon.html?ref=world
Mr. Westergaard, the 'artist' who drew the cartoon currently being reprinted in over a dozen newspapers in Denmark said “Naturally I never imagined these kinds of reactions.” I fail to see how much imagination he needs to understand the reaction his creation. Is it not plain common sense that religion is a sensitive issue world over. And how much imagination does one need to figure out that people think emotionally and not rationally about religion. Then why must their emotions be violated and why must the things they hold most sacred be desecrated.
It makes me think about the hypocrisy of nations who put a ban on holocaust imagery yet fail to see how offensive caricatures of a religious figure held sacred by millions of people will lead to no good.
Northern Illinois University Shooting
Just a year after Virginia Tech it happens all over again. What is it? A legacy of violence. Can we have gun control...PLEASE? Five dead and sixteen wounded. May we find peace and not go around killing each other.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7246003.stm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/niu_shooting
2.09.2008
Are we hitting a recession?
When it comes to a recession you always have the optimists talking about waves and cycles. This is just low growth or this is just the trough of the economic wave/cycle. Whether a dip or a trough or slow growth...a recession is a recession. And when it hits, it hits hard.
I am no economic expert at all. My networked economy class often leaves me puzzled. Not to mention that so do so many other things. Any way, in my arbitrary and unqualified opinion makes me believe we are in a recession. Yes, my friend, buckle up. We are diving low!
Yahoo! recently unveiled plans to lay off a 1000 people (i.e. almost 7% of the its workforce). Say 'Yahoo!' now would you. Macy's also recently announced to lay off about 950 employees (with 'benefits' of course). RealNetworks laid off just 10. Fidelity (the largest mutual funds firm) lays off 250. Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. let go of 123 employees. Electric sheep company lays off 22. Pfizer Exubera lays off 123. KWQC-TV6 lays off 12. I could keep going but I think you get what I am saying.
I know people from my department who graduated this last summer and are still looking for jobs. I know people from my hubby's school who are unable to find jobs. I know people from a close friend's school who are busy job hunting months after graduation. And let me tell you these people all went to great schools.
To quote my head of the department.
'I graduated from Columbia amidst a recession. I could not believe we were in a recession till my 4.0 failed to get me a job'.
So yeah t'is a bad time to graduate.
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Just found this online. US economy grew at a rate of 0.6% in the last quarter of 2007. Bravo!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7217769.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7217227.stm
2.15.2006
A 'blasphemous' cartoon and so much talk.
I am none to talk for I am not a believer. Yes, you are right. I cannot empathize with Muslims. I was born a forced outsider. Overtime I have given up on trying to be a part of you all.
So here goes what the outsider sees. I see a cartoon. I do not find it funny. I do not find it offensive too. It's just a cartoon. Even children know not to take one seriously. Then why fret over it so much.
I was out with friends last evening when parents called in one after another, each one panic stricken.
'They killed two people on the Mall road'
'They put the assembly on fire'
'They are looting a bank and torching the remains'
They? Who are they? How about a moment of honesty here? How about taking responsibility for once?
WE killed two people.
WE put the assembly on fire.
WE looted a bank.
Yes, WE, the blessed followers of the dearest prophet of God. WE, the believers.
I learned an important lesson yesterday. A lesson that defines me for who I am. A lesson that draws the lines of discrimination that no similarties can erase.
WE, hold religion dearer than ourselves - dearer than the two men we killed - dearer than the assembly that mocks representation - dearer than the national bank.
I felt afraid yesterday. I felt betrayal and disbelief.
These roads are paved by my tax money. These green belts adorn memories of my journey. These trees have given me shade on hot summer days. These traffic lights have blinked for me time and again.
This is my city. This is home. Why must I feel afraid in my own city. Why must I feel afraid in my Lahore.
On a less sentimental note I fail to see how it all adds up. We killed our own to defend a face maligned by our own deeds. We played right in to the trap. What better way to prove the prophet as a messenger of peace than killing your own people and torching your own buildings.
On account of being a heretic once again, if I happened to be the prophet, I would value human life above my name. Since your prophet must have been more chaste and righteous thn me, how can you ever explain this carnage in his name?
P.S. Two days back I asked my students how many of them felt strongly about this whole cartoon business. Half of them raised their hands high and stiff. I asked next as to how many have seen the cartoon. All hands dropped within a second. I remember witnessing the same when an instructor at college asked how many people want salman rushdie stonned to death.
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