In any other country, this would've been a case study for industrial safety and regulations. But in our It-happens-only-in-India, this is case study for gross injustice and apathy from the government. All those people who can burn down cities for an accident or crime of a smaller group or those who can torch buses and shops after the call of a prayer, where are thou? 25 years since the Bhopal gas tragedy and there is still no light on the case. It drags on across generations and our robust judicial system has been handling the case. Not sure if this case will ever see a judgement. Any other country would have blacklisted the concerned company and taken the matter seriously with the parent country. But, in India, the death of 8000+ people in 3 days is not that big a crime. There has been no concrete action. There are reports that the ruins of the company continue to pollute the surrounding environment. Not sure if the government plans to build a memorial in there, a living practical one, where people can go and experience for themselves as to how it feels to live amidst the toxins.

Instead of the India Shining or the Mango Man(aam aadmi) campaigns, we need a Wake up India!! campaign.

Related links..
BBC
IBN
DNA
TOI

Hey LJers,

I just wanted to let you all know that we are going to be performing some mogilefs maintenance over the next few days. We will be upgrading our current version to latest stable as well as changing some db config information to better handle the amount of files we are currently hosting. This shouldn't cause a big impact on site stability, but you may see some minor delays with userpic / scrapbook images appearing or other requests associated with our mogilefs. We would love to not have that happen, but unfortunately with some of the steps we need to take we have to cause a delay with images. I figured this was a better solution than taking down all of LiveJournal because well lets face it, we all need our daily LJ fix ;)

Thanks,

prashanthks's last post is about Arranged Marriage. Earlier he had even posted about Love marriages. Marriage in itself is a very tricky topic to deal with.

( Why is it tricky? )

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On a different note, there is a "Calendar Contest" being held by our company. This is internal. They are inviting photographs for the same. I am wondering whether I should participate or not.

Tweaks and enhancements

1. In order to improve site security, we've temporarily suspended the ability to change passwords for old email addresses that haven't been used for over six months. For further information and support, please visit our customer care page.
2. We've launched a new mobile site with an enhanced UI at m.livejournal.com. View spotlights, post to your journal, read and post to friends pages, and more, no matter where you roam! Please let us know what you think, since this will eventually replace our existing mobile interface. You can update your mobile preferences on your account page.
3. We've upgraded from Beacon to Facebook Connect to improve dual posting. If you've already signed up for Facebook Beacon, you're good to go. If you wish to update your Facebook Connect setting, visit Account Privacy settings and scroll down to the option labeled: "Send information about my updates to Facebook." You can choose Always or Ask each time. Remember to save (on the bottom left corner of the page). To learn more, check out FAQ 249. While we're on the subject, if you happen to be visiting that side of town, please join our Facebook fan page for a touch of home away from home.
4. You'll now receive the Writer's Block Question of the Day in the body of email notifications. To sign up for Writer's Block notifications, visit writersblock and choose the Watch Community option. Next, update your Writer's Block notification settings by checking the box to the right of "Someone posts a new entry to writersblock."
5. Paid and permanent users can now view, add, and edit Notes of commenters. Notes will appear beside the username of comment posters (instead of stars) on S1-themed comment pages.

Send some lovin' thanks to your friends with our holiday vgifts!

Photos of the week

We're so delighted with the immense talent of our growing, global lj_photophile community that we've decided to introduce a poll. Each week, we'll choose a half-dozen photos (based on user comments and staff feedback) and ask you to select a photo of the week. The winning photo will be announced in the next newsletter. If possible, please limit photo size to 350x350 to ensure that images display properly on friends pages. We want to thank you again (and again!) for sharing your passion.

Check out this week's photo poll and more fantastic user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks for joining us. To our American friends, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. To all of our international neighbors, we'll eat a little extra for you!

Its always a pleasure to listen to some thoughtful music in between all the work, but when the songs are as powerful as this one, it is special.



( The wonderful Lyrics )

rechristened had posted about a few things, which mentioned Tintin comics. Just out of curiosity, I was trying to search for them and managed to find all of them online. I still find it more interesting to read things from the book and not the laptop. Still, something is better than nothing :P

Click here to go to the Tintin world

Bollywood need not look beyond the desi political spectrum to churn out suspense thrillers. There is already enough masala being stirred within the political circles and it keeps getting better by the day. Madhu Koda became famous overnight. Despite the thousands of crores, he is still out under the blue sky, maybe busy planning his escapade in the future. Even murderers are let out on parole, owing to Political clout, so this guy was just smarter than the rest to make so much money. Somebody got jealous and booked a case against him :P

The best statement of the year came from Telugu Desam Party. If the Reddy brothers can armtwist BJP in Karnataka, then they can buy 300 MPs for 10 crores each and form a government at the center. Wish the Reddy group was smart enough to act on it. They could rule the country for 5 years and get all the mining contracts and dig up all the forests during those years. After that, they can build castles in the air and fly away as angels. Mr. Yeddy will be desperately waiting for anything that can dismantle the money power of the Reddy bros.

The political mindset is that of a business. No wonder that almost everything they operate is run like a business. Public education, health services, transportation, water, sewage, etc. everything is a business which should give profits and not service to the people. Great people say, be the change you want to see. In this damn environment, what change can you be?

Postcard winners!

We wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude for sending so much joy our way. Frank is still blushing with excitement over the love notes, proposals, propositions, and occasional intimate photos sent from his admirers around the world (China, Norway, Japan, and Poland just this week)! At his request, we blindfolded Justin, one of Frank's BFFs, spun him around in five dozen counterclockwise circles, and asked him to point to ten random postcards/envelopes pasted to the wall. After a brief trip to the bathroom, he chose the following lucky winners, to whom we will give a six-month paid account token (for paid, basic, and plus users) or, for our permanent account holders, a $15 voucher for the LiveJournal gift shop.

So, without further ado, the winners are:

1. seraphene
2. fotog
3. boykitten
4. seshat_6
5. anti_aol
6. lisalees
7. katrinkacat
8. mistyboston
9. _woody_lein
10. another_slender

Bugs, Tweaks, and Enhancements

1. We fixed a bug from the last release that was causing screened comments to become unscreened if they were edited
2. If you happen to be gaming around the corner, check us out on Facebook and be sure to spread the word!
3. We've added new vgifts to celebrate Thanksgiving! Check out our feathered friend, below!

Give more with charitable vgifts

In honor of national adoption month, we're offering a charitable vgift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that provides healthcare and adoption to orphans suffering from life-threatening diseases. LiveJournal will donate 100% of gross proceeds from the sale (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries vgifts in the Virtual Gift shop. We'll keep you posted on how much we raise!

Photos of the week

We're delighted to showcase yet more incredible photos from some of our brilliant LiveJournal photographers around the world. Keep posting (and tagging). And be sure to show some love by commenting on the awesome view at lj_photophile.

Check out this week's photos and more amazing user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. See you next week!