There is no international definition of who a child is, so lets draw our conclusions from the definition of an adult.An adult is defined as an individual who has attained the age of majority. In normal circumstances an individual is said to be a major when he/she is of 18 years of age unless if a guardian has been appointed by a court, wherein he/she will attain majority on being 21 years of age. Lets assume 18 years of age as the cutoff point and hence anyone below the age of 18 years is a child and any work done by him/her for consideration is an act of child labour.

So if one were to go by this definition you will be guilty of employing child labour when the kid next door mows your lawn or when the local paper-boy drops your newspaper at your doorstep. But the flimsy minded hippy social workers who head international organizations such as UNICEF and ILO have ever-changing views on the age cutoff point, they sometimes opine that this cutoff point be 15 years and sometimes opine it should be 18. They also distinguish between child-work and child-labour; child-labour is oppressive whereas child-work is not; but alas these definitions of theirs are based on their daily whims and fancies and are ever-changing.

Agreed, every child should have the right to basic education which is deprived by their employers. But stopping child labour is not the answer, hippy social workers fail to realize that by picketing factories that employ child labour they are not only depriving the child of his daily bread but also the income of the factory and the society as a whole.

Protesters often voice concerns about the meager wages paid to children; but in this capitalistic piecemeal system of production, the wages are at par with the production and in most cases the production of a child is not at par with an adult and hence the variance in wages. They fail to realize that by doing away with child labour, the competitive advantage enjoyed by their local industries are neutralized which would result in poverty in the locality, which is the root cause of child labour; but then again these hippies on weed will not most probably be able to spell ‘economics’ so one should not expect them to understand it. Everybody talks about stopping child labour but none of them talk about rehabilitation, once they lose their jobs, who will provide the food?, who will provide the education?. In the individual hierarchy of necessities, food on the table supersedes all other concerns. Rather than protesting child labour, all hippies are requested to address the root causes such as poverty, once these causes are addressed the phenomenon of child labour will cease to exist, so till then please let the kids earn and live in peace.

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The assassination of  Rafiq al-Hariri; the former premier of Lebanon has resulted in a very dicey situation in the middle east. The finger pointing has already begun and presently all the fingers are pointing to Damascus. The Pro Syrian govt. in Lebanon in Cohorts with their Syrian masters have been rumoured to have orchestrated this heinous act. Though the circumstantial evidences indicate the Syrian involvement, the conspiracy theorist in me is screaming that it is the work of Mossad, the Israeli secret service with the direct involvement of the CIA.

The manner in which the hit was carried out doesn’t seem to be the handy work of a few radicals, it was carried out professionally and in all likelihood by a state sponsored intelligence agency. The moment the two words ‘intelligence agency’ props up together; three proper nouns come to mind viz. The CIA, The KGB and MOSSAD. From the trio, The KGB gets the benefit of the doubt for the Russians have nothing to gain from the assassination. It is also to be noted that in the immediate aftermath of the assassination, both the Bush govt. and the Sharon govt. had already vilified Damascus and I am left pondering whether this is a case of red herring.

The Lebanese as well as the Syrians have a lot to lose from the turmoil that follows but the Israelis have all to gain. The assassination has augmented the already soured relations between Beirut and Damascus and the icing on the cake would be if the Lebanese were able to get rid of the Syrian stronghold on Lebanon. However I do feel that though the Americans had prior knowledge of the plot, they might not have participated directly. An intra-Arab war is the best medicine for the Israeli ailment and given the current geo-political situations I can’t but help think that all of Israel’s ailments will find an everlasting cure. If the Mossad and CIA hands are behind the Harriri homicide, then my hats of to them for a well planned operation, if not, well don’t fret for they will have plenty of other opportunities to do some wicked deeds.

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Ahem ahem, I don’t mean those kind of games, I was referring to computer games. As an adolescent, I have had more than my share of computer games and enjoyed every bit of it. But now I am 26 and still am an avid gamer.  I was looking up freudian theories to see the cause of this dysfunction for I am told that , ‘only kids play computer games’… so I was more than happy to read the news of American G.I’s playing with their consoles when away from the battlefield.

An adult gamer is one who has dedicated endless hours to gaming as a teenager and through his college years. However, the adult gamer now has grown-up responsibilities, from employment to family obligations to keeping an active social life - IDGE, Publisher of Gamestar Magazine

I started playing my first game on the Atari, then migrated to the Commodore 64, then a NES system and the rest is history. Over the years I have played a lot of games and I would like to outline my all time top ten games.

• 1. Neverwinter Nights
• 2. Syndicate
• 3. Warcraft III
• 4. Sam and max hit the road.
• 5. Age of empires series
• 6. Need for speed Underground / Porsche Unleashed
• 7. Flashback
• 8. Call of Duty
• 9. Day of the tentacles
• 10. Mortal Kombat series

It is however ironic that most of us adult gamers can now stop drooling over the latest gaming gadgets and games and can actually buy them but alas we can’t spare time from work to actually play the damn thing to our heart’s content … sigh!! That’s life I guess.

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Liberal (n) - A socialistic, dog hating, homo loving, SUV hating, polygamous, atheist, baby killing bastard.
- The Jinuine Dictionary, International Edition, Vol XXVI

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This valentines day was quite memorable. I went on a date with my girl. She is the best girl any guy can have but alas she is also a Scorpio, she is possessive to the core. She won’t let me out of her sight and she gets very jealous of my other social commitments but I don’t mind for without her I won’t be able to live, wont be able to eat; I would wither away in misery. Life would have been more easier had she been more likeable by my family and friends but I can live with the fact that you can’t have your cake and eat it too so I choose to be at her side at the ire of my loved ones. I have managed to live with her shortcomings and shall continue to do so; Everybody calls her a bitch, I call her ‘Work’

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I am not condoning the 9/11 attacks but am just calling a spade a spade. I too think from Prof. Ward Churchill’s  viewpoints but mine is two-way traffic rather than the so called ‘progressive thinker’ who thinks just one way and can’t refrain from obloquy when it comes to his motherland. The attacks on the World Trade Centre was a despicable act; that is beyond question but what is questionable is the legitimacy or the ethics behind the attack on an ostensible civilian structure. When a war is on, the first point of attack will be the command and control structures of the opposing party, the major economic centres being the next in line for annihilation. If one were to go by this rule of warfare, the WTC was a legitimate target; for the economic might of the great US of A was caged behind the erstwhile non-penetrable structure of the World Trade Centre. Another prominent point to be noted is that the world trade centre itself housed offices of the CIA, an act which by itself turned this civilian structure to a military command and control aiding infrastructure and hence a legitimate target for foes.

After calling a spade a spade, time to call an ace an ace; The Abu Gharib tortures; rumoured to be with the direct knowledge and support of the govt. of the United States Of America has been frowned upon by human rights groups worldwide. Those who do not condemn the attack on the United States cannot condemn the abu gharib tortures as well for that would be having double standards. The only law to deal with lawlessness is lawlessness itself. The abuses I presume happened not solely on the sadistic whims of the American’s but after lengthy psychoanalysis of the prisoners. To get the requisite information, the spirit of the prisoners needed to be broken and that was the reason for their humiliation and hence the tortures though unethical were legitimate..the ends justify the means.

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I am the king of the world and hence by default I am the king of the blogs as well but alas the peasants don’t reason so and as ludicrous as it may seem I am embroiled in a tournament to rightly reclaim what is already mine. I shall refrain from linking to the judges viz. Bad Example, News from the great beyond, Smarter Cop, Ogre to gain favour in their books for I tread the moral high-ground in my quest for the crown.

Am already leading by a huge margin in the polls; my royal sycophants have done their job quite well and will be rightly rewarded at the opportune time. The next hurdle it seems before I retake my crown is to answer a challenge question which is to “Explain the theory of blogativity.”; I shall do this by quoting the essay of a great personality on the said topic; namely myself.

The theory of blogativity was formulated by the late professor Albert ‘Eyestrain’ (rumour has it that the professor got the nickname as a result of his peeping through keyholes, well that’s another post another day).

This theory simply put in layman’s terms would be that, as blogging reaches the speed of light, relevance reaches zero.
i.e. When B = L, R=0 Where B denotes blogging, L denotes speed of light and R is for relevance.

But the testing of the hypothesis is quite difficult for the requisites of the same cannot be achieved under laboratory conditions. So in such a circumstance the only solution is to extrapolate results from the universal truths already accepted by the scientific community viz.

• Light is faster than Sound
• In Blogging, one ‘voices’ or ’speaks’ out ones thoughts

So when one blogs at the speed of light, you see before you think. As your thought is based on the little voices in your head and since light is faster that sound, you will see before your hear. Hence the mathematical probability of you seeing wrong is 99.63%; for your cognition process would be initiated before the little voices in your head have time to form the right  image that you ought to see which results in irrelevance i.e. R=0; in other words relevance becomes zero. Thus the hypothesis is tested successfully and the professor’s theory is proven accurately.

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A friend of mine once commented that driving a vehicle with an automatic gear is like sleeping with a prostitute as there is no thrill in it. He could not have been farther from the truth, however being the ultimate gentleman that I am, a visit to a courtesan has never been on the ‘to do’ list (pun intended) so I cannot dissect my friends analogy but however let me pen it down vis-a-vis my own experiences. For me driving a vehicle ( I have to be politically correct for a vehicle might be a car, a truck, a SUV, or even the Mini Cooper lol) driving with an automatic gear is akin to going hunting with the game all tied up for you to shoot… whats the fun in it if all the action is taken out… I digress, but I hate killing animals, killing two legged homos err homo sapiens would be more to my taste. When I buy a vehicle (being politically correct again) I prefer it to be loaded with all the goodies a la Power windows, keyless entry, remote boot, power rear view mirrors and what not.. but unfortunately with all these goodies comes extra baggage viz the automatic gear. Now where does it say that a person who wants all the automotive comforts is a sissy and would not prefer a manual gear. Most all the top end models come loaded but alas with automatic gear; there is no option to convert it to manual gear. To be honest, there are vehicles which let you do this as an option but the price to fun ratio is comparatively steep and hence my reluctance. There are people who want all the comforts of a modern vehicle and yet want to enjoy the thrills in a manual gear, so car manufactures I implore, make this an affordable option.

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Dubbed ‘the fastest Indian on wheels’ by the media, Narain Karthikayan;  takes one stride up the escalator and joins Jordan. Well in a country that is so bloody focussed on a sport as obtuse as cricket, the omens are good for formula one as with the induction of an Indian in the F1 circuit the interest for the same will be augmented… but alas this is where the good part ends for me. I can never root for my country-man as though I am an Indian by birth, I am a tifosi by choice… I shall never laud him on as long as his eyes are not red, as long as he is not inflicted by scarlet fever; as long as the prancing horse is not tattooed on his bi-ceps (F1 drivers have to be puny to reduce the total weight of the car, so your ceps will do fine); as long as he doesn’t sit behind the wheel of Scuderia Ferrari you my friend are just another back-marker for Schumi to overtake…. Ferrari I love you !!

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Reverse racism is a misnomer, the term reverse racism should imply the opposite of racism i.e. no racism … but alas its a crazy world out there and it is not so.. it is just another extension of racism wherein the minority is racist with respect to the majority. I happened to recall the usage of this term while reading about the Micheal Jackson trial. I am not passing judgement on the trial per se.. that is to be decided by the court on the prima facie evidence but the Jackson clan insinuating that Micheal is being persecuted only because he is a ‘black’ is reverse racism in full swing… I hate this practise of playing the race card at the drop of a hat. Racism exists in all forms and in all colours, majority being racist against the minority and vice versa but when its orchestrated by the minority, directed against the majority; mums the word as no one wants to offend the minority even if its detrimental to their own welfare..this appeasement of the minorites has to stop as I for one am against all forms of racism… and before you label me as a Caucasian skin-head let me just remind you that I am of Asian origin, from the Republic of India and proud of it mate.

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I keep being questioned as to why I don’t have a custom blog design of my own rather than using one of bloggers default templates. It seems that even the grandma next door has a custom design or a desgin that is altered to her own taste so then how come a technocrat alike myself hasn’t done the same. The answer to this is very simple, its the same answer that I give old friends who meet me after years and tell me that “you crazy son of a gun you haven’t changed at all”; the answer being that, ‘Perfection should not be tinkered with’, as you cannot improve upon perfection its futile to tinker with it.

This template that I am using was designed by Dan Cederholm and is close to perfection. The layout is clean and the fonts are big and legible yet not too bulky, the colour combination is perfect and looks classy; which is the exact impression that I want to make. So the probability of me making a custom design is quite remote unless Dan makes a custom design for me of course..  are you listening Dan?

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Tired and exhausted. The 15 hour daily work schedule is finally taking a toll on me both mentally and physically… I really don’t think my body can cope with the abuse any more…. all my kindgom for a hug !!

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