Is this...

the biggest scoop of the week or what?

(I guess, when it comes down to writing one sentence per post, it's time for me to tweet. Hmm...something to think about.)

Post-mortem Politics

A week or so ago Ted Kennedy, the last of the Kennedy brothers died following a prolonged illness. The American media and several prominet politicians were going berserk eulogizing how America had lost its symbol of progressive American liberalism and listing all the reasons described in the most decorative detail possible as to why he was "The Lion of the Senate". So, I got interested and looked on Wikipedia to know more about him and ended up having a fascinating read. So apparently, "The Lion of the Senate" had chickened out when it mattered most. More importantly, he got away with a sentence of two months for his gross negligence of causing an accident and then failing to save a life that was put in danger directly by his actions, leading to an excruciatingly painful death. Now, this is not a single moral lapse that was a blot on an otherwise perfect life in the public eye. Several other instances of misuse of political clout have been documented over time. So I wondered if there was really anyone who would portray a honest picture at the time of his death. I found this piece which makes some bold comments on his shortcomings as a politician and as a person while touching upon several issues that were comfortably bypassed by the mainstream media. I won't claim to know everything about the writer of this piece, and I won't discount the idea that he may have his own interests to protect in writing it. But, it was a piece that had to be written by someone.

Moving on to the Indian political arena, YSR's life has met a violent end while on his way to Chittoor on an official duty. Notwithstanding the fact that his administration was rocked by numerous scandals, pretty much everyone irrespective of their political affiliation has expressed deep regret at his loss. The competitive post-mortem spirit among the Congress(I) party members to surpass the previously held record for the number of deaths in the event of the death of a mass-leader and create a legend using bloated statistics has already been pointed out. But latest reports suggest that the numbers have been scaled up further. Of course, the report indicates that there was no independent confirmation of this [the number of deaths] and that [YSR] has surpassed in death the popularity of actor and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder NT Rama Rao who died in 1996. But then, who cares about facts anyway. I won't go into the pointless details about how all of his political rivals who vociferously differed with him on various issues have commended him as a great administrator. However, I wish that someone writes a balanced piece on his legacy before everyone forgets him.

An interesting contrast is how the American media associates Ted Kennedy with words like liberalism and freedom whereas the Indian media prefers such gems like "the champion of the poor" and other similar socialist-leaning monikers. In the end, it is all about using the situation as means to meet your ends. The media needs to cater to the people who like to hear nice things about the dead and politicians need to further their careers by all ways possible.

CSI and Se7en...

I was watching too many crime-related videos/news over the last weekend, both fictional and real (unfortunately, words will never be sufficient to sympathize with human suffering). In what might seem like an extremely macabre way to do so, I think the makers of CSI preach a fundamental philosophical tenet ;)...that, no matter what we look like on the outside, we are just the same flesh and blood on the inside. The details are pretty graphic of course, even though all the images that are usually shown as part of the autopsy are I assume...just fake! I hope some of you has watched at least one episode of CSI by now with its hard-to-believe story-lines and human bodies dissected like it's a vegetable or something. Go watch it, if you haven't already. It is intelligent crap that makes you wonder why you watched it. But there you go, I let an interesting snippet slip through, about my TV-watching habits. I'm hooked on to silly and over-the-top crime-related TV shows.

As if this was not enough, I watched the 1995 movie...Se7en. But, it was an altogether different experience. I had heard that it is a critically acclaimed movie and I wondered why a thriller is rated so high by critics. Then, I found out. It is a thriller/horror movie that actually transcends both genres. I particularly like movies which engage the viewer with a single emotional thread running through out the story and Se7en has that morbid under-current with some impressive photography to send a few chills down your spine. It has some pretty gory images, but not just for the sake of it. The cast (Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow) is wonderful and the actor who plays the villain (if you haven't watched the movie yet, don't try to find out who the actor is and what the story is...) is too good. You can pretty much guess what is going to happen next as the climax unfolds, but it will leave you with a feeling of dread as the story reaches its end. I would have definitely got scared more, if I had seen it when it was originally released, but that's just me :)...So, 4/4 from me for a real thriller.

I always...

...find these kinds of studies and their results to be quite amusing. Because, in many cases, it's the fundamental error of declaring association as causation. Numbers are thrown at you, particularly percentages, but there is usually no mention of any confounding variables. The article specifically states that little information is available regarding differences in survival among the various types of people who are unmarried, which is perhaps the most necessary evidence to decide whether or not potentially suicidal people should avoid marriage in order to get cancer. I am sure such people would be readily willing to be a part an experimental group in a controlled study. Hmmm, something for the policy makers to think about...

In other health-related WTF news, in a startling revelation by researchers, it was found that smoking ups active TB risk and men are finally catching up in the one area they have been lagging so far. Stay tuned folks, there are more juicy stories coming up.