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I am waiting here (At Stern reception hall infront of one of the hunderds of network pcs on the hallways!) to get on a bus to go here [Iroquois Springs], as part of this[PTLF]. Unfortunately, harini couldn’t accompany me (sorry baby!) and will be missing her (And she swears that she will do more than flipping channels :)) ). Hoping to have some fun and good time with fellow Sternians.

Its only been two episodes of “My name is Earl” but I think it is hilarious and well written. I always believe in karma and the ‘be/do good and good will happen’ prophecy. Earl hickley (nicely carried away by Jason Lee) who simply wades his life in petty crime gets an spark of enlightenment from an obscure TV show. He decides to take up an arduous task of ‘correcting’ every mistake he ever did in his life. It strikes him that it is all becoz of his karma and quickly creates a list of his unpaid past deeds ranging from littering the streets to sending someone else to jail for a cheap robbery that he failed to complete!

The story unfolds as he tracks down one by one the items in the list and attempts to cleaning up his karma. With such a out-of-the-box theme, the writer has a lot to play with. few though, but the other characters fit quite nicely into the story trying to help Earl close on his deeds. The screenplay is quite slick with Earl’s voice over keeping us engaged with an retrospective views. In a way, Earl is doing what a lot of people would perhaps want to do but would never do. If thats true, then it brings a perfect fantasy series to NBC on tuesdays. No wonder 8 million americans glued to it last night.

Earl is followed by “Office”, an american remake of the hugely successful british show with the same name. I was lucky enough to have watched the british version on bbc last year. But I have to admit that the US version is equally well done. If you want a glimpse into an office where a filthy, jerk, jackass is a boss, ‘The office’ is place to stop by on Tuesdays at 9.30.

NBC has new show coming/in the making that would grant wishes; to individuals or a community. More details here. The calls for wishes boasts that there need be no limit for what can be wishes and that money will not be an issue. I guess we would have to wait and see if this is going to be another reality show where someone would wish for a day to spend with Britney spears. Lets hope it goes farthest into the american society to make a difference.

My insurance company sent me this message that i thought would help everyone, especially those in the US.

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Emergency personnel are resourceful when it comes to saving lives. Did you know that paramedics often turn to a victim’s cell phone for clues to a person’s identity? When every second counts, you can make their job easier with one simple word-ICE.

ICE is an acronym for In Case of Emergency. Label an entry in the contacts list in your cell phone ICE. Include the name and phone number of the person that emergency services should call on your behalf. The few minutes it takes to add ICE to your cell phone could save your life.

Many paramedics know what ICE means and they look for it immediately. ICE your cell phone TODAY!

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This may be pretty obvious to a lot but still neat…

1. Go to Google UK .
2. Type the word “failure” in the search box.
3. Click on the “I’m feeling lucky” search button [or check out the first item in the search results ]

This is no fun. Whatever web page that comes up at the top has the largest number of references across the world websites from the word “failure”! Must be a universal honor i guess.

Anyday I would recommend Economist for a serious magazine reader. Today, I was catching up with the back issues left unread because of our India trip. Usually, I skim through most articles and read in detail those the interests me. But almost without fail I read the letters to the editor, more so for the literary style than the actual message.

In July 30th edition, there was an interesting article (someone has posted a copy) on “Intelligent Design“, the opposing theory to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Whoever might have first proposed Intelligent design, but their argument is that everything in the universe and beyond, including we humans, are/were concieved, designed and created by an intelligent designer ‘up there’. A lot of us refer to that designer alternatively as ‘God’. I am no expert in Darwin’s claim or the concept of intelligent design, but I do believe in God and faithfully surrender to the ultimatum.

A lot of Darwin’s (his’ is supposed to be scientific theory while intelligent design is kind of philosophical) supporters dismiss intelligent design by questioning how one could design a system with so many flaws, pointing to thousands of known stupid “flaws” in the system. Sometimes these arguments are indeed unquestionable. One such argument showed up in the letters to the editor of the August 27th Economist and it was witty and funny. I thought I should share it and let yourself answer it based on your beliefs.

Note the author is arguing against intelligent design and presumably supports theory of evolution. “SIR – Why would an intelligent designer place fast-growing hair on adult males? is there some intelligent reason for designing men, but not women and children, to have beards? And if there is such a reason, then why do many adult males go through the trouble and expense of shaving on a daily basis? – Steven Beadle, Arroya Grande, California”