"Implosion is a process in which objects are destroyed by collapsing in on themselves. The opposite of explosion, implosion concentrates matter and energy. An example of implosion is a submarine being crushed from the outside by the hydrostatic pressure of the surrounding water".
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto must rank as one of the worst days in Pakistan's short history to date. The country is reminding me more and more of Yugoslavia, and we all know what happened there.
It seems that the vision of Jinnah’s democratic nation-state will remain an unattainable utopian one. The experiment has failed.
Friday 28 December 2007
Wednesday 26 December 2007
Southall Sikh Temple
Images from my recent trip to England, which included a visit to the Southall Gurdwara. I was in total awe of the re-design and architecture, which was built to replace the previous temple on the same site.
Wednesday 19 December 2007
Meeting dynamics
I just stepped out of a meeting at the office today and I noticed how people put others down......it goes something like this....
If you ever want to put someone down and and categorize them as an uncouth peasant, just choose one of the following statements:
[After 20 minutes of detailed discussions]........
Person A says: "I think we need to step back and look at the big picture" (The implication here is that everybody has their nose so close to the detail they cannot see significant trends)
Person B retorts: "I agree somewhat, but we need to step back even further and understand the wider context"
Person C joins the fray (not wishing to be outdone): "Actually we need to get back to the core basics and go back to the beginning"
Finally, Person D chimes in with their own unique twist: "We need to approach from the bottom up, as top down approaches are now redundant".
If you ever want to put someone down and and categorize them as an uncouth peasant, just choose one of the following statements:
[After 20 minutes of detailed discussions]........
Person A says: "I think we need to step back and look at the big picture" (The implication here is that everybody has their nose so close to the detail they cannot see significant trends)
Person B retorts: "I agree somewhat, but we need to step back even further and understand the wider context"
Person C joins the fray (not wishing to be outdone): "Actually we need to get back to the core basics and go back to the beginning"
Finally, Person D chimes in with their own unique twist: "We need to approach from the bottom up, as top down approaches are now redundant".
Tuesday 18 December 2007
The Joy of Car Pooling
Who does it here ? I have currently been car pooling with 2 other visible minority chaps and this is our 4th month of car pooling - and we each drive every third week in rotation.
Pros:
1) One's driving expenses (petrol and mileage) go significantly down.
2) You get to know the other person(s) very well.
Cons
1) You get to know the other person(s) very well....
2) The other pooler's car may not be in a road worthy state (eg bald tires, bad brakes, weird noises, no auto breakdown policy coverage)...
3) One guy talks non-stop about their homeland which in my opinion should be re-named 'Absurdistan'.....
4) You get to hear some animated conversations at 130 kph (esp where one of them is a vegan Hindu 'Om Shanti Om' type and the other is a pro-Hizbollah jihadist carnivore)....
Pros:
1) One's driving expenses (petrol and mileage) go significantly down.
2) You get to know the other person(s) very well.
Cons
1) You get to know the other person(s) very well....
2) The other pooler's car may not be in a road worthy state (eg bald tires, bad brakes, weird noises, no auto breakdown policy coverage)...
3) One guy talks non-stop about their homeland which in my opinion should be re-named 'Absurdistan'.....
4) You get to hear some animated conversations at 130 kph (esp where one of them is a vegan Hindu 'Om Shanti Om' type and the other is a pro-Hizbollah jihadist carnivore)....
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