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Helbrecht

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  1. Helbrecht
    April and May have been killer months for us Indians, literally.
    The death toll is at 500 and counting. Not a large number but then it is the cause that is depressing, we are undergoing a heat wave that has lasted most of two months now. The place i live in has recorded its highest ever temperature so far in May, 43 C was common enough for us in the summer but this year we have touched 45C and gone beyond it a bit.
    In certain parts of the country people have been dropping like flies, mainly those engaged in manual labor out int he fields and mines. A jogger collapsed while i watched yesterday and a high flying business executive walked off an air liner out into the sun and fell dead.
    Weather, has gone loco it would seem. Earlier days of April we were all !@#$%*ing about how unseasonal and early rains were no good and the mango harvest would be ruined. Now we be all pleading for a shower.
    got to go now, need a shower.
  2. Helbrecht
    Source: What Was So Bad About the Gold Standard?
    Like everything else under the sun, the response to this is "It Depends".
    Out here Gold has value because the women folk cannot do without it. If our women one fine day simply threw away their golden ornaments, i believe the world price would crash so drastically, it would beggar anyone still on the gold standard. I have read statements from bankers and traders which put the estimated quantity of privately held Gold in India (majority of which is in form of jewellery) in excess of 18K Tonnes.
    That figure seems too conservative if we take the 2011 total of total imports of the precious metal into this country, 997 tonnes. Due to measures introduced by the government (some would say re-introduced) the expected figure for this year is expected to peak at 500-550 tonnes. The reason the government wants to rein in this import, is that this is adding to the current account deficit. Till a couple years back as part of the mid 90s liberalization wave, the import duty on Gold for individuals carrying it with them was relaxed to the extent that one could bring back into India upto 5 Kilograms of Gold and pay nominal duty on it. Prior to that, Gold import duty used to be much higher (which lead to the rise of various Mafia types which made their money and name smuggling gold into India). Now today the duty is stiffer and the quantities permitted per person are down.
    The thing is, all of this is like a band-aid on a decapitation. Culturally we are geared to see this metal as the only safe-bet. When a child is born, the parents start salting gold away. Every festival or major occasion in your life, you had better be buying your woman some bangles/pendant/whatever or something. It forms the most common SIP (even if the person is not thinking in terms of SIP). A small time farmer, with an acre or two his name, when he sells his crop, he buys a bangle for his wife/daughter with whatever is left over. If it is a wedding, you are either on the receiving or giving end of gold jewellery as a gift. Maybe on both ends. Certain communities have a bare minimum socially acceptable gold gift to the bride by the grooms's family and the bride's family standard in palce. Gold is all pervasive. Women spend hours on the phone talking about it, it keeps the telecom majors in play The publishers of jewellery catalogues do a brisk trade merely selling subscriptions to the catalogues with new designs.
    It is an asset that people can mortgage in order to finance other assets or to start a business. One of the reasons finance against gold is so readily available is that once you mortgage the ornaments of the lady of the house, you are guaranteed to bust your behind and work to get them back ( and the financiers know this). Conversely it is the funding method of last resort. You would also encounter the phenomenon where a person would not raise finance at all (even for sure bets) because it would involve mortgaging his familial ornaments. Many parts of India it is seen as a pretty low down thing to have to do. Generally looked down upon and a sign of really having had made a mess of things and being totally down and out. Which is again why you would do your level best to pay off the loans and get your gold back. The finance company knows that the price of gold will move upwards so they are sitting pretty if you default on your payments.
    So yeah, regardless of gold import reductions desired by the government and the economists etc, there is no way in hell that the appetite for this metal will go down in this part of the world, and it certainly is more than a paper weight. India produces like 1% of all the gold in the world and holds like 10% of the world's stock of Gold.
    Oh and the government holding in Gold is at about 330 tonnes.
  4. Helbrecht
    Hi there
    Just thought i would let you all know (in case you guys dont). Whenever i watch CN related content on youtube, youtube always reccomends that i also watch content related to Norway.
    I guess that is what is called, scarred for life, eh? I wonder if it works the other way round as well.
    Cheers.
  5. Helbrecht
    While there are a lot of good artists in the CN community, there are a few that come to mind immediately when i think of CN art.
    Be it forum signatures, alliance flags, forum banners, forum tags whatever, there is one who has such a vast body of work all over the community, creations of his being used by so many that i feel he deserves special mention.
    I talk of course about the snappy Bazilian. D34th.
    A treasure trove of his work can be found at the following location on the internet.
    D34th's Graphics Portfolio : It is on the New Polar Order Forums so you might require to register to view it. A small trivial inconvinience (registration process) but in my opinion, well worth the effort if you enjoy looking at art that the CN community throws up.
    Cheers!
  6. Helbrecht

    Holy Crap!

    By Helbrecht,

    Or "sorry jerdge but now do you see why i had to leave the GPA".

    Someone pls shoot me.
    This is on a full work day when i am rushed for time and have too much going on to be able to breathe properly.
    I think i need help.
    PS: jerdge is the best.
  7. Helbrecht
    Rape is considered to be a heinous crime, one of the worst things a human can do to another. Society is unanimous in its condemnation of the act, and the convicted.
    Unfortunately, this condemnation and abhorrence for the act by society is not a deterrent, and neither is the law and order apparatus. Rape happens, and with alarming frequency. The where, why and the how of it are as varied and numerous as can be.
    Recently, a couple of days back, on a moving bus in New Delhi, the national capital of India, a 23 year old girl was gang raped. By the bus driver, the conductor and fellow passengers, 6 accused in all. The victim was not only raped, she was beaten up and otherwise brutalized.
    She has been shifted to a city hospital and the doctors report that it is a miracle that she will live. Currently she is on life support as she is having trouble breathing for herself. Although conscious and able to communicate, the medical team has her on suicide watch and round the clock monitoring for any change in her fragile condition. The accused have been detained under sections 365 (kidnapping or abducting), 376 (2)(g) (gang rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 394 (hurting in committing robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. One of the accused has confessed to the crime and has requested the death penalty for himself. The victim was not alone, she had a male friend with her who was thrashed by the accused and thrown off the moving bus.
    While the wheels of justice shall turn and the perpetrators of this atrocity shall eventually be brought to book, it does not do much to mitigate the trauma and the sense of violation being borne by the victim.
    In a country like India, which is a land of paradox at the best of times, this is one of the most confusing and anger inducing dichotomies as far as treatment of women is concerned. On the one hand you have cultural and mythological deification of women, with a place of reverence bestowed upon the fairer sex, and on the other hand you have this, this.. abject mistreatment of women. People undertake long arduous pilgrimages to pay their respects to Goddesses at shrines all over India, walking days and weeks to reach the Goddess and to make their obeisances, and then some of these same people go against everything they profess to believe in, and commit this heinous act.
    There is stringent legislation in place with severe punishments for this crime, yet it goes on unabated.This particular crime, has brought to light a lot more issues with the way we function as a society and as a nation.
    Multiple things went wrong, not just the law against raping people:
    There is a law which states that no vehicle will have tinted glasses or films on their windows, so that cops can see if there is crime in progress as the vehicle goes by since they cannot stop each vehicle to check. This bus in question, had tinted glasses. Now a bus simply cannot come onto the roads without a permit. Before granting a vehicle a permit, the transport department of the city is supposed to inspect the vehicle and thereafter keep on inspecting it every month. How then did this rapemobile ply the roads of the capital?
    Thats not all, one only has to look out the window to see that majority of the vehicles have tinted glass windows. What purpose the law if one lacks the will to enforce it.
    There is a service which the delhi police supposedly provides, female police officers on buses and trains after sundown, specially in the late hours when the number of people commuting decreases. What happened to that, on being asked of this when this particular story broke, there was no comment from the police.
    There were apparently other people on the bus when the teasing started, and they chose to disembark at the next stop, rather than confront the perpetrators.
    The media went to town, in what is widely regarded as a probable election year. The Delhi government is under siege, with protests quickly devolving into pitched battles between the law and order machinery and protestors who started pelting stones at the Chief Minster's Residence. There are of course political undertones to this as well, with opposition parties out in full force with their youth cadre's leading the stone pelting. The law cracked down on the protestors and water cannons etc were used to disperse the rioters/protestors. Arrests were made, so were complaints of police brutality.
    One rape that hit the media, has everyone up in arms and in a tizzy for various reasons, righteous anger, political opportunism and 10 seconds of sound byte fame. What then of the many rapes which occur all over the country, most not even getting reported due to the stigma attached to being raped. Peer and family pressure causing most victims to hang their head and swallow their pain instead of reporting the crime. With an insensitive media which has in the past published or aired details and photographs of victims when a news item gets top billing. What are they trying to do, are they trying to prevent future victims from coming to the fore and lodging complaints by setting an example of how a life can be ruined just because someone dared to complaint? The accused are given the courtesy of walking about with hoods over their face to protect their identities till the sentencing, but why is the victim's face and history splashed all over the media.
    Thankfully in this case, the media so far seems to have retained their senses. Although a particular TV news channel had their camera crew and reporter chase the victim's mother on the hospital grounds trying to get her to comment. On being accosted by hospital staff the reporter said she was just dong her job. So very sensitive to the plight of a raped girl and her family.
    Sometimes, it is just not worth it to wake up in the morning.
    links:
    http://timesofindia....ow/17676910.cms
    http://timesofindia....ow/17676003.cms
    http://timesofindia....ow/17675903.cms
    http://timesofindia....ow/17674257.cms
  8. Helbrecht

    Gah!

    By Helbrecht,

    Incorrect : "Without further Adieu" : Adieu is farewell... without further farewell?
    Correct: "Without further ado"
    Incorrect: "Shear stupidity" : a shear is a scissor or a hedge trimmer. It is also a tool to cut the wool from a sheep. Now if one were referring silliness involved while tending to farm animals or hedges, it would be correct.
    Correct: "Sheer stupidity"
    Incorrect: "Rouge attack" : rouge is either a cosmetic or a color, unless one is referring the act of being assailed by cosmetics bearing communists, this is wrong.
    Correct: Rogue attack"
    Incorrect : "I should of done it" : whatever does this mean?
    Correct: "I should have done it"

    Go forth and sin no more.
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