Annoying emergency call bug on the iPhone

Three major releases of the iphone OS have come. Still No one seems to have encountered this annoying bug that seems to have bitten the iphone.

Lets cut it to the chase. If you have a six/four digit pass code set up on your iphone( You will have it if you have set up exchange with a profile on the server side), you have a seven or zero in your pass code and fat finger the pass code by hitting emergency call button that is next to 7 or 0, Your correct pass code is not authenticated any more. I mean the iPhone will refuse to validate even if you enter the correct pass code, once you hit the emergency call by mistake. Obviously, the only other way to fix this is to power off the phone and power it on again or change the pass code such that it is devoid of the digits around the emergency calls.

Because the active sync server has user profiles which has the password requirement set up, I cannot get rid of the password requirement. Further more, I don't even see the different times under Require pass code section. Of course, I could change my pass code and not worry about this, but I really should not have to.

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How to fix "The update “Safari” can’t be saved."

K, I have been a bad boy for some time with a cluttered desktop and did not update to Safari 4. So I thought lets get it done and chose software update. Well, I got an error that pretty much you might have got now.

The update “Safari” can’t be saved.

You do not have appropriate access privileges.

The Installer package has been moved to the Trash. To try again, open the package from the Finder

So I looked around to see where these downloaded items are stored. Well, they are stored in /library/updates before they get deleted after the update. So The safari directory was owned by 502 and my user id did not have write access to the directory and hence the download of the update was failing. why the user id was 502 is a different story. It is very easy to get user id's mixed up on a mac. So Don't sweat and run the disk utility to fix permissions.

Simply change the permissions on the folder after becoming root. Open terminal become root by running sudo su - and then run chown -R "username' folder name as shown above.

You could do the same thing, if you get an error for quick time saying "the update "quicktime" can't be saved".

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Is Roger Federer "the greatest of all time"?

If you ask me or John McEnroe, the answer is a resounding yes. So it depends whom you ask. Whether you ask some of those Federer haters or ask those who shudder at phrases such as Greatest of all time and those who has some other standards in their mind only their hallucinations can reach.

(*) Made to the finals in 15 of the last 16 Grand slam events at the age of 27. Let's compare to Pistol Pete or Rocket Rod. B T W, I don't like these comparisons but Pete won his last slam in 2002 at Flushing meadows when he was 31. Laver, did not retire until 1979 but does not have a champion ship after 1969. Just shows how much Roger dominated the game in 5 years.

(*) Made 20 of the last 20 Grand slam semi finals. Laver, Lendil made 10 or 11??

(*) Pete Sampras, the closest contemporary of the greatest of all time nominees did not get to the french open finals once. To get there 4 times in a row for some one who is known as a grass/hard court player is unbelievable. I feel that Roger's game on clay appeared diminished to his grass/hard court game only because of Rafa. Look at how Roddick, Hewitt, Safin (all former number 1's) did at the French open.

(*) During Laver's time, 3 of the 4 slams, except Roland Garros used to be on the grass. Roger showed his dominance on all three surfaces.

(*) People who have been called the greatest of all time have said Roger Federer is the greatest. Bjorn Borg, Laver, the man himself and Pete Sampras have all said so. Do you think these guys are nuts to call some one else greatest player of all time?

(*) Laver accomplished a calender career slam in 1969, but if I argue that Laver did not had the competition Roger had in the form of Rafa on clay, it would be as foolish as the argument that Roger did not have the competition other than Rafa and hence is not the greatest player of all time. What if's do not have a place in history.

(*) Rafa is a great player but the reason why he thrives against Federer is he has strategic advantages and he generates the top spin and forces Roger to use his single handed backhand. If Roger were so weak in those areas, many other players would have exploited and pushed off Roger. Rafa does this best and Rafa is fearless. Roger, how ever, is an emotional boy (Yeah! You gotta look at him when he cries)

(*) It does not matter whether Roger defeated Rafa in the french open final. He defeated the same guy who defeated Rafa. Apply the rule of transitivity. You have your answer. Of course, I would have loved that.

(*) I believe there is more to come from Federer. Pete was 31 when he got his 14th and it was 2 years after his penultimate slam. Great players go through a period of hiatus and evolve to the new players and generation and win. Federer has not gone into any sort of hiatus yet.

You like it or not Roger is the king! Greatest of all time so far!

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Rafael Nadal loses to Robin Soderling in 4 sets

What can I say? There is going to be a new champion at the Roland Garros this year. Whether it be Soderling or Roger whose confidence might have just shot over into the skies knowing that Rafa just lost or Murray who is just enjoying being below the media radar. Associated press writes Nadal has been ousted.. Oh give me a break! ousted and drubbing are not the words for a 4 set match with 2 sets that went into tie break.

I have always hated one side of a great rivalry. Whether it be India Pakistan Cricket match, Redskins Cowboys NFL game or the Lakers Kings of 2002 time. What is so special about the Federer Nadal rivalry for me is, I just can't hate Nadal no matter how much I want to. No matter how much I like Federer, Nadal is one of a kind, hard to find. When the whole world just watched and eulogized what a great player Federer is and won 13 slams, he stopped Federer from reaching heights of tennis, heights that probably would have been unreachable for decades to come. Imagine, if Rafa were not around, Federer would have been sitting with 18 slams, career slam and a golden slam and counting. I would love Federer to get there but the way Rafa has stopped him is simply awesome. Is the fitness freak finally losing the kind of fitness he needs to be the number one? I dont know but as I always said, he just cant maintain that for ever and if he does not have his fitness, he is not invincible.

What is shameful is that I was not able to watch the Soderling Nadal match live. Jeez! Neither ESPN2 nor NBC/ABC was carrying it live. Tennis Channel was showing the Verdasco and Davydenko match in Suzzane Langlen with Nadal on the brink of elimination. Shame on you Tennis Channel!

Now Bud collins and his friends can put the Career slam to rest and Rod Laver can open up champagne if he wants to. Bud is good but talking about career slam with 3 more slams to go is a little bit too early. If Nadal had won the French and Wimbledon, Bud could have had the mouthpiece all for himself at Flushing Meadows to get as many people on to the Vamos Brigade. Even I would have jumped on it.

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Does the NBA draft lottery make any sense?

On the outset,It might not make any sense as the team which lost most number of games might not get the first pick. But the way it is right now allowing 14 teams to play the lottery does not make any sense to me. Well, The Houston Rockets might have given away some games long back to get a player like Hakeem Olajuwon.I understand and agree that with out the lottery, there will be a fight to be the cellar dwellers of the NBA and the games during season might pale in comparison to the draft lottery day.

I dont see a reason why a team which has the sixth worst winning record should be allowed to pick second over teams that finished with the worst and the second worst record. I am not saying that just do what the NFL does. Go ahead and make up other rules to determine who gets to pick the 1st pick. Simply Ping Pong balls cannot determine the fate of franchises. I hope some owner speaks up against the dictator Stern. Why should the team with 14th worst record even have a shot at the 1st pick? I know the chances are very less mathematically but why do we even need to have the team which has won more than half of the games in the lottery. Just because it has not made the playoffs. Give me a break! In the last 15 years, the team with the sixth-worst record has won the lottery as often as the worst team. Last year Chicago had 1.7% chance and ended up picking 1st in draft.

It amazes me that in this day and age lottery determines who gets to pick first, second and third. IMHO, only the the teams with the worst four losing records should get a shot at the first three slots or even just have the lottery among the teams with the three worst records. A lottery will still server the purpose of discouraging teams to give away games but will not punish teams such as the rebuilding Sacramento Kings or injury ridden Washington Wizards.

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What is a LED TV?

LCD's are not super expensive any more. But the market needs some thing that is super expensive right. LED TV's are one such super expensive item just like LCD's were two years ago. After all, the company's need to make their R&D money right? Just like LCD's started in 3000USD range and slowly came down to 1200-1500 range and now into 800USD range, LED TV prices will drop slowly. I am pretty impressed by the Samsung LED TV at Bestbuy but I am in no rush to get one.

Anyways the main difference between a LED TV and LCD TV is the source of the light. LCD's use CCFL's as the source for their backlight, A LED TV uses LED's as its source for backlight. By using LED's as their source, LED TV's improve the contrast of the picture. This is one of the short comings of LCD TV's and a reason why LCD's are not suitable for rooms where there is very little lighting. All that and 40% less pwer consumption for a difference of whopping 1500-2000USD.

Phil Connor of LCD TV buying guide has a great write up but I dont understand why Phil thinks that the LED TV's consume more power than the LCD's He probably has compared some comparable TV models. LED TV's are supposed to consume less power when compared with LCD TV's.

Phil says.

POWER CONSUMPTION

The LED TVs we've come across have used quite a bit more power than a traditional LCD TV in the same screen size. LED TVs approach plasma displays in power usage. ADVANTAGE: LCD

Does any one else know?

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Canon Vixia HF20HD versus Sony Sony HDR-CX12

Which one to buy? I have 450$ worth of Sony Card points,it is very tempting to buy the Sony because I will get the Sony HDR-CX12 for about 300USD on the internet.

Canon beats Sony on some of the features and falls short on some of them. I am just not able to make up my mind. If you arrive here by chance and do have good knowledge of the Camcorders, Please feel free to chime in.

(*) Memory card space is 32GB for the Canon and a paltry 4GB for the Sony and If I am not mistaken, the most that can be added at another 100USD is 16GB to the Sony. So that is 12GB more for the Canon than the Sony. Canon scores!

(*) 24Mbps bit rate for the Canon and 16Mbps for the Sony. Again Canon Scores! But I wonder whether this will be a real factor. Will we be able to figure out the change?

(*) Canon has 15X optical zoom compared with the 12X optical zoom of sony. Canon Scores!

(*) Sony has the smile shutter technology, which can be considered great and worst feature by different people. If you have little kids, probably its worth. Hey you can disable it if you dont want. Sony scores!

(*) Sony records in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. Canon records in Stereo. I just cant understand how Canon missed this. Sony scores!

(*) Sony has a 10 Mega pixel inbuilt camera. So I can carry just my camcorder alone. Of course, hoping that I have space. Sony scores!

(*) Sony has a 5.66MP Optical sensor resolution compared to the Canon's 3.89. Sony scores!

(*) Sony is about 3 ounces heavier than the canon but seems to be strong.

I will keep adding as I find more but for now I am leaning towards the Sony.

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June 09 visa bulletin - what to infer

What to infer from June 09 visa bulletin? EB-2 India is screwed along with EB-3 India. All those pundits and speculators who were thinking that EB-2 India and China will become current in a year or two, wake up and get real. I do not expect EB-2 India situation to be very similar to EB-3 India going forward. By that I mean that EB-2 India will essentially stall at some date and will move a month or two in a year, unless recession helps the retrogression. So far, the recession has not helped retrogression at all. Jun 09 bulletin indicates that very clearly. Here are some educated guesses on why this is happening.

There is almost no over flow from EB-4 and EB-5. Approximately 8000 of these visa numbers used to spill over into EB-1 and then EB-2. Not the case any more as USCIS has woken up from sleep and is approving the EB-5 cases. There is a significant pent up demand in the EB-5 category for the past 2 years and that is now being met.

Unlike last year, this year there is no spill over from Family based category. Last year there were approximately 22,000 visa numbers that became available in the EB category. USCIS approved a lot of 05/06 EB-2 I & C applications leaving 03/04 applicants in the dungeon.

EB-1 itself and EB-2 ROW continue to demonstrate strong demand. That means no spill over from either of the two categories. EB-2 ROW members know that EB-3 ROW is doomed as well and are filing in EB-2. EB-3 India applicants with old priority dates are filing in EB-2 again. Again, Recession is not helping Retrogression yet. So EB-2 India will get its usual 7% of the 28% of 140,000 visa numbers. ie a paltry 2800 odd. Go figure how many years it will take to become current.

I expect the July 2009 Visa bulletin to mirror the June 09 visa bulletin. I would not be surprised if EB-1 India gets a cut off date. If at all, there is to be any forward movement for this fiscal year, that will come in Aug bulletin but I do not expect that a lotto is due this year, as we had in the last 2 years.

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CIR winds started to blow??

Will they continue to blow for some time and gain some traction or Is this just a white house staff gaffe. The acronym CIR is considered risky politics by many in the current economic situation. How ever, Julia Preston on NYT reported that President Obama wants to initiate a debate on CIR as early as May. Well, That's a lot different from "President Obama wants to get CIR done this year", as a part of fulfilling his campaign promises. I took the report with a grain of salt. How ever, WSJ reported that Rahm Emmanuel, who consistently pushed for the reform in the second term, has jumped on the bandwagon.

Just about when it started to feel like this has got some wheels, TIME magazine reported what Robert Gibbs said.

“That story could have been written a year ago based off of what he's said on the campaign trail… I don't think [Obama] thinks it could be done this year.”

Nick Shapiro lamented..

“The President has consistently said that he wants to start the discussion later this year, because our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. But the economy comes first, that's why we're so deeply engaged in that now—we will start an immigration discussion later in the year.”

Will President Obama and his team be able to gauge what the moderate Americans feel about the CIR in these tough times? If they can, Will they be willing to risk any of their political capital on CIR? Well, May is not too far. we will see.

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Delta airlines screws up and refuses to refund

k, I am mad, really mad with the Delta airlines and its customer service. I was on a flight out of Atlanta on Friday and changed my travel to Thursday over the phone. I cant do it online. So this lady over the phone charges me 227USD and puts me on the flight for Thursday evening flight.

I show up at the airport about 1 hour ahead of time and go to the self check in kiosk to get a boarding pass. Guess what! I could not get one. As some one who prints boarding pass ahead of time or uses the self check in in the worst case, I was stranded in the line with people with different issues in addition to people who were standing in line to get a boarding pass. I am not kidding. Airlines ought to slap a 5$ fee to issue a boarding pass, if the customer refuses to use the self check in kiosk and does not have ticketing issues. Any ways back to my story, I was booked on Friday evening flight again for 227 USD.

Holy Crap! This guy tries to fix in the computer and cant, has to call the line he has access to and waits for 15 minutes to get me it sorted out. The guy on the phone puts me on the flight that is leaving in 10 minutes. 10 minutes left and the Customer service manager starts saying, if you take the boarding pass and miss the flight and would like to stand by for the next flight you will be charged 50 USD again. Holy Crap! Stunned and dismayed I took the boarding pass for the flight after 3 hours. The flight I am supposed to be on leaves on time and the flight I am put on is delayed by 30 min. Great!

So I called the Customer service relations at Delta and explained the whole thing and asked them if they would do a partial/whole refund. Customer Service clearly did not want to refund the money and the way the guy handled the issue, I feel that Delta probably should get 650USD every week from me for the next 6 months or so. I am going to take it to UNITED. Bye Bye! Delta. Here I come United!

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Why does IBM wants to buy Sun?

Of all the companies that could potentially gobble up the setting SUN, IBM emerged as the front runner. I was so busy with work at a customer site and this news really made me feel like throwing up. The only reason IBM wants to acquire SUN is to get rid off competition in the server market and get a total control on the 13 billion dollar revenue. There are many pieces of Sun that will eventually die.

IBM will kill Netbeans IDE and push Eclipse.

IBM will push Websphere ahead of Glassfish and it will eventually die.

B T W, Who controls the entire tape market?? IBM + Storage tek is probably more than 80%.

The sparc will probably die eventually. I feel that POWER chips are probably a little ahead of the game compared with the old Sparc chips but the new Chips such as Niagara and Rock are excellent.

One good thing that might come out of this is the Power Chip/Solaris combination. Even though Solaris has been open source for more than an year now, the acquisition might make it easier for the Power/Solaris combo.

Sun did not do the right things they needed to. Sun has been a huge proponent of Open source and thought that they could raise money in services. IMO, Sun does not need to get sold. All Sun needs is a shake up of people at the helm and get a different culture in place. The care free blogging culture gets a good name but does not ring the cash registers. If most of us do agree that IBM can take Java and Solaris and make money of out them, why can't SUN? Just because SUN does not have the right strategy and right people??

(or) Has SUN just started a bidding war among its potential suitors by inviting Big Blue to the table knowing that eventually the deal will not go through? This might just be the froth on the cup of Java. The real Java might be meant for Cisco or even possibly Apple.

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Indian premier league goes out of India

Me and my close friend were watching Federer and Nadal face off in the Australian Open 09 finals and I remember Mary Joe Fernandez talking about China wanting to host Australian open. I don't exactly remember the reasons behind the whole discussion but had a pretty good laugh about Australian Open in Shanghai or Beijing. Now we have the exact same situation in here. The much touted Indian premier league will be held in England or South Africa. So much for the passionate cricket fans in India who throng the stadiums across the India. Oh, B T W the Indian fan can still the watch the game from 4 pm to 8 pm IST.

So the terror groups did succeed in moving cricket out of India along with Pakistan, at least for now, in the name of elections. What bothers me is that there is no assurance that another such event would not happen right before another major event. Call me a cynic or pessimist, but I remember waking up to the news that 40/30/20 people were killed in Kashmir as a daily normal news. We will see whether our politicians have learned any thing after the Mumbai attacks. We will see whether our politicians will continue to play politics with people's lives or control the terror sponsored by in state and out of state actors. Mumbai attacks costed 187 lives and 4000 crores in lost business. No wonder, we stand to lose business again in the name of lack of security.

It is so sad that the Indian PREMIER league is dominated by a bunch of executives who cannot even foresee an year ago that the elections would coincide with the schedule and security might be an issue. Being the behemoth it is, why does not the IPL hire (possibly its own security to form another perimeter inside the government security) some sharp guys and let these old a$$ samosa eating, chai sipping stupid executives to the back burner?

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Why does not FCC go after deceitful ads?

As a regular ESPN watcher, I am getting disgusted with three ads. It seems to me that neither the networks nor the FCC seem to care about what is going on with these ads. Clearly, the networks lack any moral obligation to say NO to these junk fraudsters and the FCC wont go to business unless Janet Jackson shows goes nude on live TV. Any way, the ads that are pissing me off big time are

Finallyfast.com?? Finally What?? Total Rip off once you install the program. Finally screwed with all the bank and credit card accounts. These guys might have formed an alliance overseas to utilize the information stolen using finally fast. I don't know how many people have been swindled by these guys. The dork comes on with an iMac and boast about increasing the PC speed and internet speed. Any one who works a minimum with computers knows that this product is a total rip off. Here is one curious Paul, Who called and this is what he got to hear. Sell! Sell! Sell!

cash4gold.com?? O M G! I dont even need to start on this. I am very late on to this. Who ever is out of touch with market, mainly women and elder folks, will fall in the trap and their shady practices. Internet is littered with cash4gold ripoff reports. So I am not the first one to be pissed off.

Nutrisystem ads with NFL players are a total joke. Chris Berman lost 41 pounds. Mike Golic lost 51 pounds. What the hell? Both are biggest jokers. Not only these idiots make shit load of money on the network, but IMO are absolutely propagating lies. If you look at either of them. both of them get themselves tuck their shirts into pants and claim that they lost 40/50 pounds. Dan Marino, Mike Golic, John Kruk, Don Shula, Cris Carter and Sean Salisbury. Who is next?? Albert Haynesworth? Jeez! Gimme a break!

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April 09 Visa Bulletin offers hope

Hope! As Morgan Freeman famously says in Shawshank Redemption, "Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane" How ever, I will be Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) and will hope that the Apr 09 Visa Bulletin will be similar to Apr 08 Visa bulletin in terms of forward movement.

As you may know Apr 08 VB moved India EB-2 from Unavailable to Dec 03 and the forward movement was maintained along with EB-2 China for the rest of the year. Currently, EB-2 China is at 15 Feb 04 and the BIG hope is that EB-2 India will also move forward to 15 Feb 04. April is the first month of the third quarter of the DOS fiscal year and DOS has to not only use the left over visas from the first two quarters but also need to make sure that the numbers are not left over in huge numbers by the last quarter. That's why it is safe to predict that the State Department will move the EB-2 India & China dates forward. We will see whether the State Department will move the EB-2 India and China dates in lock step for the rest of the fiscal year from 15 Feb 04 or will move India forward and bring china backward to a date such as Aug 15 04. I believe DOS is getting better and better designing the year end lotto and hopefully this year lotto will be much smoother than the last year's.

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Pakistan and its terror groups

I have always stayed away from commenting on issues such as terrorism, radical Islam as I felt that there are so many experts on these issues and they are working hard to get this issue sorted out. I had some opinions but never put them out because it probably would not make much sense as I am looking at the issue from 10,000 feet. But the direct attack of Pakistani militants on Sri lankan cricketers has appalled me and left me with disgusted and loathsome feelings for Pakistan as a nation (nothing intended towards Joe Bloggs from Pakistan). Not just as an Indian,but as an ardent sports fan, it just stirs up my stomach. The degree of lawlessness in this country is tantamount and the government's lack of interest in addressing it any level, other than lip service, leaves me flabbergasted.

The only thing the Pakistani government does is take money from the US (billions) in the name of solving the crisis. IMO, US is partly responsible by throwing funds at a country like Pakistan to help solve the problem. It is very naive to think that Pakistan is using the hard earned tax payer money in the US to solve the crisis of the world and stop being the epicenter of the world. Seriously, Why would Pakistan want to solve this problem? What is this country famous for? Nothing.. A country that ranks 9th on the list of failed states index has no other solid means of generating revenue. The lunacy in Pakistan will not stop and I am afraid how this will continue to affect India.

Pakistan as a country is well behind India and who knows whether this is simply state sponsored terrorism. You get the idea.. We cant move forward. Lets drag India down as well.. Mumbai attacks were the first step and now these attacks were probably planned against the Indian team as well. ICC Referee Chris Broad is saying that the Pakistani Police fled leaving them in the barrage of fire. The way these terrorists were able to go up and down the middle of the city with arms in hands kinda tells how much the state of Pakistan wants to fix this or how much the state of Pakistan wnats this to continue. Indian team was supposed to tour Pakistan and when India dropped out, Sri Lanka was naively generous and picked up the slot. I just can't imagine Sachin Tendulkar or any other cricketer in the line of fire for no reason. If Pakistan and its government are not doing any thing and have let militants target innocent sportsmen or people, rest of the world should respond by imposing serious sanctions on Pakistan. Why just North Korea or Iran? Why not a country that does not do any thing and inflicts pain on neighboring countries?

Mumbai attacks costed 4000 crores in the form of lost business along with invaluable and innocent lives. Now there are talks of players from Australia,New Zealand,England questioning the security arrangements in India as well. These concerns are serious and legitimate. India and its home department must wake up to what's happening in the country and the country beside them, which seems to be determined to bring other ships down along with it. Pakistan or its rogue elements wants India to be viewed as a potential place of problems such as terrorism, riots and lawlessness so that the growth India has been enjoying comes to an end and possibly start a downward spiral. As I am writing this post, Muralidharan, Sri lankan spinner is echoing my doubts on whether these attacks were carefully planned and helped by the rogue agencies. I will go a step further and say, I would not be surprised if these attacks were planned for the Indian team and the terrorists and rogue agencies did not want to go their planning and executed no matter what. Jeez! 39 bullets from both sides of the vehicle and the vehicle does not have any security who would have fired back. On the flip side, we have idiots such as Hamid Gul blaming the Tamil Tigers along with Indian intelligence. Bravo! Hamid, Every one does not work as your rogue Inter Services Intelligence does.

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Rahman wins two oscars as expected

While I am happy for one of the most prodigal son's of India, the award for the song "Jai Ho" does not stop amusing me and in my honest opinion belittled some of the greatest songs Rahman has composed so far. Today's awards to Rahman might have put Rahman's name on the Hollywood map and made his name popular from the Americas to the Australia, but to me Rahman just put these elusive awards behind him, not because they eluded him, but because the stupid academy might never get to hear the gems that will come from Rahman.

Hey! It takes a Hinglish movie to get on to the biggest stage. A Bollywood movie's background score or the original songs were not worth the oscars.

I thought the oscars would let every one hear a beat of the Mausam and Escape. Alas! The show's music director did not like the beats and the background score for the chase as much as I did. :) I am wondering why Rahman was not sitting along with the crew and came off the side to receive the award. Did he just arrived late? Vikas swarup was pretty much ignored. Hugh Jackman was refreshing in turning the opener into musical and the song with Anne Hathaway was awesome. As expected, Slumdog Millionare swept the oscars this year,8 wins with 10 nominations. Gotta watch the documentary on the short subject Smile Pinki.

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Is George Mason University a small sub urban commuter school?

I am pretty tired of the 20th century educated journalists who keep writing off George Mason University as a small suburban commuter school out side of DC. GMU is back again in the news for its recognition to diversity. Ryan Allen, A gay student has been chosen as the home coming queen and the stupid AP reporter goes on to write...

Student Ryan Allen beat out two women for the title

at the small school in suburban Washington, D.C.,

famous for its run to the Final Four a few years back

For heavens sake, Lets get real.

(*) GMU is the second largest university in the common wealth of Virginia.

(*) GMU's Economics Department and the School of Law are top tier programs.

(*) GMU has 4 campuses including one in the middle east.

(*) 4th most diverse university in the US.

(*) A complete list from Wikipedia is here.

Bottom line: It is NOT just a small suburban commuter school outside Washington DC.

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VFS Website and its worst design

I nominate VFS India Website as one of the worst websites across the internet. I was scheduling an appointment and I started out in Firefox. I get greeted with an unfriendly error message

Cast from string "undefined/undefined/undefined" to type 'Date' is not valid

What is that supposed to mean? I made sure a couple of times that I am entering the information and the CAPTCHA image correctly. Well,It did not take much time to figure that the incompatibility/error occurred because Firefox was not tested. I switched to Safari on my mac and it was gone. Now what this tells me is that there is almost no Quality Analysis/Testing by who ever built this website. Use the infamous IE or try your luck with Safari/Opera etc..

Other rants

(*) Items that are not listed with an asterisk when you fill the DS-156 form are understood as non mandatory. How ever, when you hit submit it will force you to enter NA in some of the fields.

(*) The DS 156 form does not like commas,hyphens and other punctuation. It is very common to have a hyphen in home addresses.

(*) I was staring at the CAPTCHA image to be refreshed every time the page is refreshed and to my dismay, it displayed the same image.

(*) The process goes through a bunch of screens. What a piece of crap?

(*) Does not ask whether you want to schedule appointments for multiple people in the same slot until you fill in the form for one person.

Bottom line! VFS Website sucks!

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Effects of Amendment SA306 to HR1

As you may know, Amendment SA306 to HR1 prohibits companies that received TARP funds from hiring non immigrant workers. It does not take a genius to figure out who will be hardly hit by such protectionist amendment. The American Business schools and their international students will suffer. Statistics show that approx 111,000 students joined Business schools in 2008 and in similar numbers in 2007

(1) International students who get an MBA from a US business school with a major/emphasis on finance will have to go out of the country unless they work in a different field of management, some where else other than the TARP funded companies. They cant even work on OPT for the TARP funded companies. Forget H1B. The amendment's text says non immigrant visas and OPT is an extension of F1 Visa. Imagine the gamut of thoughts an international student might have right now. Hiring on wall street/financial firms is almost at a stand still and now this is just a white wash. If you are going to be a MBA graduate this summer or next summer, talk to your Dean and see if he/she has some clout on the hill. You can also find the list of all companies that have received TARP funds so far here.

(2) The best and the brightest will realize this and will start going to LBS,INSEAD,ESADE and probably other Canadian/Australian Schools. Again US schools will end up defeating themselves without the competition from other schools across the world.

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Companies receiving TARP funding cannot hire Employees on non immigrant visa

Has the era of protectionism just began in the US? The Xenophobic ilk of Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh can declare a victory of Amendment SA306 to HR1, which is the first defeat for the whole country. This amendment prohibits companies that received TARP funds from participating in the H1B program for two years. Are these companies are on hiring spree to start with? No, they are laying off people and there is already scrutiny on organizations that try to hire foreign workers if they laid off American Workers in the past 6 months. This amendment is nothing but pandering to the xenophobic right. In the wake of recession, immigrants have been hard hit just as the US citizens and Permanent Residents are. How ever Mr Grassley, who opposes almost every type of immigration teamed up with Bernie Sanders and came up with an amendment to the stimulus bill based on a biased report from Rita Beamish and Frank Bass.

Greg Siskind, one of the top immigration attorneys in the country gave a fitting response to AP. Greg did the analysis that Rita and Frank were supposed to do(oh well! I am being naive here, they wanted to run a biased report) and provided the summary of the results. Banks seek to fill .04% of their workforce with H-1B workers. The horror!

Mr Siskind makes another excellent point

But how much does 3500 even mean? How many workers are there in the banking sector? Quite a lot, actually. According to the Labor Department, even with the economic downturn, there are still more than 8 million workers in the sector. And as of last year around this time, unemployment in the banking sector was just 3.2%. Most of the workers included in the 21,000 were brought in during this extremely low unemployment period

What is more insensitive is, the same H1B workers pay all Federal/State/SSA/Medicare taxes because their countries do not have totalization treaty. Most Asian countries from where these workers are do not have such treaties with the United states. While this law does not seem to be retroactive any extensions of visas for individuals who are already employed by these institutions does not seem possible and probably have to find a new job.

On the other hand, this legislation by Grassley seems only good enough to score brownie points with the xenophobic community. Grassley could get to the TARP funded businesses because they are funded by tax payer money. Grassley cannot dictate who the firms hire as contractors as those firms did not receive the TARP money. What disturbs me is that such a paradigm changing amendment passed on a voice vote with out debate. Time for immigrants to roll up their sleeves and take part in advocacy or otherwise you will wake up one fine day to hear news that will impact you and your family magnanimously.

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