Archive for July, 2008
Californication
Taking an (enforced) break from the world wide web and blogging (and email, youtube…). As the blogposts (to be read) pile up my inbox there was one email (blog posting alert that is) that caught my attention. Subject: Gas Consumption: California vs. China, India. This post from Sepiamutiny.com throws an interesting and probably alarming statistic — That California consumes more Gasoline per year than China or India.
But, at least with transportation fuel, you’d be wrong. California alone uses more gasoline than any country in the world (except the US as a whole, of course). That means California’s 20 billion gallon gasoline and diesel habit is greater than China’s! (Or Russia’s. Or India’s. Or Brazil’s. Or Germany’s.)
This excerpt is from another blog that the sepiamutiny post links to. Read the whole thing here.
Read it.
Divider and Rule
Barely 250 meters ahead was the U-turn that would enable the rider to be where he wanted to be. 250 meters the side I was on and 250 meters on the other side — A ride of half a kilometer would all that would take him to respect the law.
But yet he kept waiting on the side of the road, the same side as I was. The problem with this section (on this side) is that vehicles come at a higher (than usual) speed and for the pedestrian, it is quite a challenge to cross the road. This is not so, once you are half way through because the other side has an intersection down the road, which prevents the vehicles on that side to speed up.
So while I waited, and I waited approximately 4 minutes to cross the road, this seemingly well educated man on his bike waited too. Engine turned on and quite ready to put his bike on the divider in the middle and then cross over, at the first opportunity.
Needless to say, a 500 meter ride instead would have taken much less time and given a lighter conscience.
As I arrive in the middle and stand on the little space on the divider, so does this man, on his bike. We wait for the traffic on the other side to ease up.
I look at him and ask: “Why are you doing this?”
The guy is expressionless.
He looks down, then looks behind him and gets his bike on the same side he was on. With that little guilt that I saw in his eyes, he rides ahead, on the way, quite literally if I may say, to follow the law.
I stay where I am. I look straight and there is another guy on the other side. I notice he is trying to say something.
With sign language, he asks me if its okay to ride his bike over the divider.
Bottom Line
Copyright Declaration line written on the bottom of the cover of a DVD movie:
We, (company name) have made this video film and are owner of the copyright in such work for the territory of all India including Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim.
Is it only me who finds this (line) strange or is there, indeed, something strange about it?
Comments and thoughts welcome. In fact, required.