Astro - This is the astrological prediction of my character based on my star sign [Indian System]

Name: Aslesha (16°40' to 30°00' Cancer) [Also called ailyam]
General Characteristics: Motivated by dharma represents the kundalini or serpent fire located at the base of the spine.
Translation: The entwiner - to embrace
Symbol: coiled snake, circle, or wheel
Animal Symbol: Male Cat
Ruling Planet: Mercury
Nature: Rakshasa (demon)
Presiding deity: Ahi - the naga or serpent of wisdom

Favorable: Philosophical; intelligent; versatile; clever; independent; has a number of different jobs; entertainer; learned; leadership qualities; can accomplish much when motivated; good income; mystical; puts great energy into things that interest them; seductive nature; benefit from spiritual work.

Unfavorable: Mental instability; worrisome; depressed nature; deceitful; non caring attitude; impolite; tactless; unpopular; lacks social skills; rule breakers; hoarding mentality; possessive; secretive; talkative; lacks appreciation; scattered and unproductive; reckless; disconnected; temperamental; lie to serve their needs; vindictive; introspective; reclusive; ungrateful; blunt.

I think there is a lot of overlap in what is predicted and what I believe I am. :)

got it from here.  ¶ 7:08 PM 0 Comments

  On incest and rape Most of societies in existence today consider incest to be a sin/bad practice.
Western thought claims that incest is bad for society and they provide us with two reasons.

1) The bad traits gets expressed.
2) Since the genetic material is similar, one single disease is enough to wipe out the whole society with out much genetic variation [presumably because of incest or inbreeding.]

Taking the first point, If the bad traits gets expressed easily during the incest, so should the good traits,
in fact the chances of the good traits getting more expressed in the society are high since the concentrated bad trait would cause the unfitness or demise of the member carrying it.

Now looking at the other side, If the breeding occurs in a large group, the chances for the bad traits to become concentrated or the good traits to become concentrated are lower, which means that the capacity of the population fluctuates around a mean. [Remember that there is a lower cutoff level for bad traits --death or no-mating] which means that the smaller groups go higher up [i.e. evolve positively] from the mean faster than a larger group. [Both due to the non reduction of bad traits and due to non (or reduced) selection of good traits due to insufficient strength of expression.]

This effectively gives you a preference for small groups which are self-sustainable [the smallness of the group is counteracted only by the need for self sustenance and the need for redundancy -- if a member is killed, then it should not result in discontinuation of the whole group].

Now let us see what would happen if this preference continues,
here the second objection comes into force, that is a disease that is able to take advantage of the genetic makeup of a particular individual will be able to claim the whole group. and if there are no inter fertilization of the diverse groups, then the good genes of the group will be lost if the group is decimated, since no other group will have that particular gene. Thus it becomes in the group's interest to pass the genes to other groups. This kind of transactions will be rare and forced as the group receiving the genes will have no interest in having it as it would affect the expression of the good genes of the group.

thus I believe that inbreeding and incest [for there is no reason to distinguish between both from an evolutionary point of view] actually help in making the group competitive and forced-mating [rape] is a way of the nature to make sure that the genetic pool is mixed from time to time.

We find multiple examples of incest in nature, the members of the same brood in animals most often live together after the separation from their parents, and they are partners in everything including sex until a better reason comes along (which has to defeat the member of the brood first) thus it seems that incest is the default in nature.

What you can't say

[This Idea's seeds happened to grow from Isac Asimov's Foundation Series.]  ¶ 2:58 PM 2 Comments

  Gmail again On the gmail,
Opera is not supported.

Other than that, Now I am a member of google's three services,
orkut - [Search for Rahul Nair]
blogger
and gmail

It would be great if they could provide some sort of common account for all their services .. [some thing like msn passport or yahoo id for all yahoo services.] or centralize their services.

But other wise the mail interface is great and neat. and fast, though it seems it has a tendency to go down often. but that is expected in beta i guess.  ¶ 10:18 PM 0 Comments

  gmail Ding dong ding......... :) :) :)
I got an invitation for Gmail ....... :) :)
wow... i feel like tap dancing over a tin roof....... :D  ¶ 8:46 PM 0 Comments

  On PM's chair again. Interesting news
Pioneer link
The gist is that Sonia was forced to climb down due to three clarifications sought by the Indian President.
As quoted from Article:
[quote]
Article 102 of the Constitution says: "A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of either House of Parliament - (d) if he or she is under any acknowledgment of allegiance or adherence to a foreign state." Sonia Gandhi, in her affidavit, had declared she owned a house in Italy and may thus invite, the term "adherence" of the said provision.

Under Article 103, the President is the sole adjudicator on the issue who has to decide on such matter in consultation with the Election Commission.

Section 5 of the Citizenship Act, dealing with the reciprocity clause for a person who registered herself as an Indian citizen, says the said person could not enjoy more rights than those available to an Indian born person in that other country if he/she acquires citizenship of that country, like Italy for instance.
[/quote]

What ever the case may be, I believe that what has happened is good for India. As mentioned in the previous post, It has already helped put left out of the decision making seat [they were the only real threat to the reforms] and will help Dr.Manmohan Singh continue his policies in the best interests of the nation.  ¶ 12:36 PM 0 Comments

  Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? Sonia Gandhi Refuses to be the PM.....

Does any one remember these lines?

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.


I guess it is a master stroke by Sonia, By suggesting Dr.Manmohan Singh as the PM
candidate, She has effectively removed the left from their King Maker status for BJP now
will have no option but support him to save face. [Their whole attack on congress was focused
on the foreign origin of Sonia and what they did during their rein was to effectively embrace the
policies of Dr.Manmohan Singh.] Left, is the only party that is opposed to the policies of reform
to which both BJP and Dr. Manmohan Singh subscribe. So by removing them, she has cleared the way
for smooth functioning of the govt.

While these are plainly obvious for all to see, the master stroke
lies in the fact that she has effectively robbed the opposition of the highest issue they made out,
that of the foreign citizenship. Now, since it is the time of economic ascendency for India, all
that the country needs is a sympathatic govt at the top to achieve the high gear. If that works out
then the India Shining campaign that BJP used can be reused by congress and achieve a majority on its
own after five years.[I believe that the disaster for BJP was the bad alliances rather than the quality of
governance].During the next election, it is sure that BJP wont be able to use the origin card on sonia
because she wont be thought of as PM candidate. If that happens she can easily attain the PM post with
out the rider that the left front currently attaches to it.

I guess we will just have to wait and see to what all this leads to [ny ways Dr.Manmohan Singh is the
only person in that party who is worth anything.]  ¶ 12:47 AM 1 Comments

  an email I am averse to the dynasty politics but when I get emails like these , I cannot but respond..

here is the email
-------------------------

This is some information on prospective PM of India - Sonia Gandhi that
every Indian and at least every India lover must know.

1.. Sonia Gandhi is ONLY a high school graduate. It is not even sure if she is Matric pass or fail. Cambridge University has confirmed that they have no Sonia Maino on their alumni list.

2.. Her sister, Nadia Mario, who had never visited India before rushed to New Delhi, after Vajpayee govt.fell, to be by her side amidst reports that she might soon become India's Prime Minister.

3.. Should Sonia Gandhi become Prime Minister, her relatives in Italy would be fully entitled to round-the-clock protection by the Black Cat commandos at the Indian taxpayer's expense.

4.. She worked as an house maid in UK while taking classes to learn English in some no name school. She was from a poor family in Italy but now has almost as much money as Bill Gates (guess whose money is it).

5.. During the 1971 war, while all Indians stood ready to fight for the Indian cause Sonia Maino and her husband Rajiv Gandhi went on vacation in Italy.

6.. In 1977, when Indira Gandhi and Congress lost elections, Sonia Gandhi with her children and husband in tow took refuge of Italian embassy in New Delhi. Only after Indira Gandhi, Sanjay and his Indian wife Maneka convinced
her that they came back.

7.. Sonia married Rajiv in 1968 and was eligible to become Indian citizen 5 years later yet she did NOT become Indian citizen till 1984 I.e. 16 years after her marriage) This late bloom of Sonia's love for India also was
out of political consideration. In 1984, Rajiv, was heir apparent and most likely next Prime Minister. It would be awkward for a PM to have a foreigner wife. Voila, Sonia became an Indian Overnight.

8.. She has not given a single interview or offered any ideas on a single issue facing India now. Her only qualification is that she married a Gandhi. No newspaper has taken up the issue; no political party is opposing
this, people are falling in line as if this is nothing unusual.

9.. Sonia became an Indian citizen in 1984 but did not surrender her Italian citizenship. She continues to be simultaneously a citizen of India and Italy as Italian law does not require her to surrender her Italian citizenship
or passport. Simply put, Sonia is a dual citizen of India and Italy now dreaming of becoming the next Prime Minister of India (she can also legally become the prime minister of Italy!).

And here is my response.
--------------------------------
Please try and grow up,
try to accept the fact that she is our defacto PM already and any slander that we spread about her from now will only reflect on ourselves.

The anger that you feel would be more justifiably spent directed to the organisation that put her in the helm rather than to the person called Sonia.

What ever the qualifications of Sonia are, have the gumption to accept the will of the majority of India who do not see the flaws in the person of Sonia a sufficient detriment to cause her downfall or the downfall of the party which alofted her to the supreme post.

If India was meant to be rigid meritocracy rather than a democracy [as your first comment implies] we would probably have had that written in our constitution that we so proudly presented ourselves on the occasion of our becoming a repeblic. In fact if Mahatma discarding his angavastra is any indication, it is better to be nearer the actual condition of the poppulance rather than to be sitting in an ivory tower of honorary titles [which ofcource what the education degrees are. They are not the absolute benchmark upon which to test a persons lifetime knowledge]

Your second point, of her sister being at her side at the time of her most exiting&/stressful time [for the premier ship of India has a damocles sword perpetually hanging over it] demonstrates her ties with her family which we as Indians are so often proud of.

on your third point, Would you rather have it that the protection be removed and thus the Premier of India
be in effect be guided by her concern for the physical saftey of her family while deciding on matters of national
importance which may cause the enemity of worlds desparate organisations on her? Remember, the protection afforded
to the members of the family of a high official is not a status symbol perse, rather it is a device that the State
uses to make sure that its drivers are not motivated by any factor other than the well being of the State

The forth point that you raised gives me hope that she is much more closer to the common man than I had given her credit for, We *ARE NOT* an aristocracy which looks down upon manual labour, and if any thing that raises her esteem in my eyes. The subpoint that you note will be a concern if you can prove that it was acquired illegaly
from India, however, If two nation states [both India and Italy] can not find any thing illegal about her families money, then I am inclined to suspect that what you have raised is nothing but slander in its purest and darkest form.

On the subject of her taking refuge in the Italy, If in the aftermath of emergency, the anti-gandhi feelings ran high, I cann't blame her to think of the protection of her children first instead of putting on a mask of false bravado, Remember that she is a mother first and last. Had I been in a foreign country rocked by internal turmoils whose vortex was your own family I too would do the same. [And her concern is eminently born out by the sad incidents later]

Would you rather have an Indian throw away his Indian citizen ship for the slightest excuse? Would you do that? Ofcourse I know that many of us do that at the slightest pretext, but love of one's mother country cannot be constructed as a bad thing. Infact if any thing tells me that she would be a good Indian, It is the fact that she was a good Italian first.
She became Indian when she absolutely had to, and I don't find that necessarily bad.

The second last Issue that you have outlined is the only genuine concern that exists, and I hope and pray that she has able men at her side who are able to guide her and strengthen her hands and also to let the fate be a little more lenient to that family which has already suffered a lot.


For the last one, If it is illegal, then the courts of this country are strong enough to set it right. It is for nothing that the judiciary is one of the guardian triad in our constitution.
~Rahul~

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  Elections in India Hmm atlast my country[India] has gone through another election and has thrown up quite a few surprises. Personaly I feel that Sri Vajpey had done a really good job during his term and cant understand why he had to loose. Perhaps there is truth in the analysis that it was the urban - rural divide that brought about his government's downfall; that and the Gujrath tragedy. What ever it is, I fail to see any leaders in the current winners who is man[woman?] enough to fill his shoes.
While I do not have any problem with the foreign origin of Sri. Sonia Gandhi, I do feel embarrassed by the fact that a great organisation the congress was during the early 20th centuary should be destroyed to such an extant that there is no capable leader amoung them who is able to take the up mantle on their own capasity.
Perhaps it is because of us being a democracy that the subtler benefits of governance are often forgotten in the shrill voice of short term effects.  ¶ 9:39 PM 0 Comments