14 June 06 - 15:09Interesting take on gun rights

Every once in a while one comes across an article that reflects ones own thinking so well that it's almost spooky! This is exactly the feeling I got while reading this article on the "American Handgunner" website. I make no bones about the fact that I am as pro-gun as one can get, BUT and this is a big BUT – I simply DO NOT buy the argument that citizens possessing guns either prevents a tyrannical government from coming to power OR helps replace that government with a better dispensation! History is littered with enough examples to disprove this argument – just look at our own neighbourhood... Afghanistan is chock a block full of weapons in the hands of civilians, but that hasn't helped it move anywhere close to a free and fair democratic society!

The author extensively quotes from Etienne de la Boetie's "The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude" and one cannot help but draw parallels with India's fight for independence. It seems so much like we have exchanged one set of oppressive rulers (the British) for another (the Politician-Bureaucrat combine)! Boetie's essay seems to have an explanation as to why we Indians have so readily accepted this new dispensation without so much as a whimper. Why is it that so few of us are bothered by our governments repeated infringements of civil liberties? Why does the vast majority not protest the rampant corruption that ails our institutions? And why, why is no one even willing to listen (let alone act)? Boetie's essay seems to have some pretty interesting answers... a disturbing analysis of human nature – check it out and draw your own conculsions.

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10 June 06 - 02:44The science of love

Stumbled upon this excellent article describing the science behind love. It starts off with "OVER the course of history it has been artists, poets and playwrights who have made the greatest progress in humanity's understanding of love. Romance has seemed as inexplicable as the beauty of a rainbow. But these days scientists are challenging that notion, and they have rather a lot to say about how and why people love each other."

And further down "Scanning the brains of people in love is also helping to refine science's grasp of love's various forms. Helen Fisher, a researcher at Rutgers University, and the author of a new book on love*, suggests it comes in three flavours: lust, romantic love and long-term attachment. There is some overlap but, in essence, these are separate phenomena, with their own emotional and motivational systems, and accompanying chemicals. These systems have evolved to enable, respectively, mating, pair-bonding and parenting."

After reading the article, what is placed before you in a rather cut & dried fashion is that there really is no such thing as romance or love, we are all just hooked onto the pleasure that these chemicals in our brain give us and you/ your girlfriend/ boyfriend/ spouse/ partner/ mate/ or what have you are NOT in love at all - its all just a form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)! They speculate that doctors might someday even figure out ways to make people fall in and out of love, without the associated pain! Gee wow! Isn't science simply wonderful... I recall once being told by someone that no one falls in love unless they want to... wonder if that person was talking about the same damn thing...

Anyhow, check it out here and form your own opinions

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09 June 06 - 01:20Software Wars

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08 June 06 - 20:10Stop IE!!

STOP IE! If you're tired of hearing your friends and acquaintances telling you that Internet Explorer is probably the best thing since sliced bread, look no further! This is an entire site listing out the many flaws in Internet Explorer - bugs, security vulnerabilities, non-compliance to web standards etc. Of course you can find all of this information at other websites and online forums BUT number ONE - it is all in one place AND number TWO they point you to the alternatives available, in a very objective manner.

Check it out here.

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