Sony and Bose = Flaunt material

Alright! Here is some thing very different from my routine metaphysical ranting and ramblings ;-). We purchased a 40-inch LCD television Sony KLV-V40A10 and a Bose Cinemate Digital Home Theatre Speaker System. Though I have not put every thing together as of now, the stuff looks pure flaunt material. The speaker system is not exactly one of the best that bose has to offer but it is certainly the best for the price and not to forget the various features packed in the unit. For more info on the T.V. and the Speaker System just click on the image and you will be taken to the company website.

But the problem is that the Cable T.V. signals are so bad here that any top of the line T.V. will never be put to the limit. More over the cable transmits mono audio which is no good for pushing the Bose system. There is the Hathway set-top box thingy in the market nowadays that promises MPEG quality video and stereo sound output which will be much better that the traditional cable TV but it failed to work in my house because we have got in-wall cable wires which are not setup properly.

There is a lot of work to be done to get this thing up and running to a good quality show but till then I leave you with the pictures of the T.V. and the speaker system.

Some more good quotes (dogs)

I found these set of quotes on dogs. Some of them might be a little senti, but they make a lot of sense (especially to the ones who have had dogs). Thought I will post them here:

1. Money will buy a pretty good dog but it won't buy the wag of his tail. - Josh Billings

2. Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in. - Mark Twain

3. The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too. - Samuel Butler

4. Dogs have more love than integrity. They've been true to us, yes, but they haven't been true to themselves. - Clarence Day

5. A dog is the only thing on earth that will love you more than you love yourself. - Josh Billings

6. Animals are such agreeable friends--they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. - George Eliot

7. A dog's best friend is his illiteracy. - Ogden Nash

8. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. - Mark Twain

9. What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, what counts is the size of the fight in the dog. - Mark Twain

10. The reason dogs have so many friends is because they wag their tails instead of their tongues. - Unknown

11. There is no faith which has never yet been broken, except that of a truly faithful dog. - Konrad Z. Lorenz

12. Our dogs will love and admire the meanest of us, and feed our colossal vanity with their uncritical homage. - Agnes Repplier

13. "The greater love is a mother's; then comes a dog's; then a sweetheart's." - Polish Proverb

Terrorists: What's to be done?

Terrorists are amazing people. They are very clear about what they want to do and have no doubts in their minds. They have no “un-absolutes” in their life and are either on one side or the other. There is no middle path for these guys.

I wish they use this kind of fervour for the benefit of the society instead of killing innocents (for those terrorists who do that).

Terrorism is but one side of the coin where the overall ideology is very narrow and heavily in favour of one thing (or way to responding to external "stimuli"). In other words terrorism is extremism. The other side of the coin is absolute non-violence (like Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology) which is again a kind of extremism because it is heavily in favour of one kind of approach no matter what .

What most of us have been suggesting is the middle path. Middle path will be, that we first talk and do good justice to it and if talks fail, neutralize them with over-whelming force. Force can neutralize individuals but it cannot wipe out an idea. You kill a few, a few more will come and then a few more and then more and so on. The mindset of the people (terrorists especially the religious fundamentalist types) you wish to talk to might be set in stone and they might not compromise. Whether their demands are fair or not, their ideology may attract many followers and continue to live in the long run.

As I see no path promises a complete solution. A few questions linger on:

How do you deal with extremism? Do you reply with extremism (Not necessarily violence as there is this other side to the coin) or walk the seemingly impossible “Middle-path”.

Most important of them all:

How do you destroy an ideology?

Remember one thing: not all terrorists or naxals are bad. Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad and many others were called terrorists by the British government (when they ruled India) but they were and are heros to us. Even to this date we study about them in our history books under the sub-heading “Revolutionary Terrorism”. It’s all about the point of view.

I remember reading some where about the American Independence struggle. It is said that the declaration of independence was signed by a set of men and sent to the then king of England (George I guess, dunno the number though) and then they fought a war with GB and won their freedom. Those men went on to become great freedom fighters, father of the nation and some got their picture on the currency notes much later. Had they lost the war and if they were caught alive, they would be termed as terrorists and would be executed by the British and today we would remember (if we would) them as terrorists.

With reference to religious fundamentalists who are terrorists I know one thing that violence can be used to control it but not finish it. The remedy for such terrorism might be religion itself. The followers should be made aware that the basic postulate of a religion is not to destroy or kill but to create and preserve. Religion should be presented in a form that motivates people pursue higher studies and realize that mission of every person born here is to futher the cause of mankind by unravelling the mysteries that exist in this universe. And this can only be done in the form of cult movements of religious renaissance like the bhakti cult or the sufi movement. Religion is the opium of the masses and if this opium can be used to spread/ create terrorism it can also be used to curb/ kill terrorism.

A passage from Bible

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."