It's a funny old world we've got.. isn't it..?
Who would have thought 50 years ago that the India would be launching it's own rockets to the moon..
This one's a scientific fly-by.. three orbits and away..It's meant to map the moon more thoroughly.. But more significantly, it puts India ahead in their race to launch a manned mission to the moon..
India.. China.. So many people..
And how quickly things move these days..

Is it the Mayan Calendar which predicts the end of the world in 2012..?
Some odd ideas on how to please their Gods, but amazing astrologers..
Just another date to remember..

It's an odd thing.. what with the political pundits showering us with polls and projected state-by-state percentage rates.. and the prediction that John must take at least 6 key states.. and that overall it looks like Barak's ahead..
And the preparations for what's expected to be one of the largest voter turnouts in decades, with cautions of delayed results already even with the new computerised voting system..a trend one can only hope will never take the fancy of the House of Parliament by the way..
Considering the saturation depth the American public has been plunged into for these last few weeks..with political commercials outnumbering Pepsi or Pizza Hut.. with more money spent on Barak's campaign than has ever been spent before..this from Barak's own people..
Throughout the day there are going to be millions who normally would 'give it a pass..' who will, perhaps for the first time, head out to their polling stations..
They may go firm in their mind who they're going to push that button for..or they may go only with the 'feeling' that one or the other candidate should win.. and then there are those who won't really decide who they're going to vote for, until they stand for a moment in that polling booth..and envision the faces of John McCain, and Barak Obama.. and decide on the spot who they trust the most to handle 'the world of filth'..to paraphrase..that they each, individually, have to go home to.
It's been said before here.. but it's still one of my favourite Pierre Elliot Trudeau quotes..
When asked during one of his later campaigns by a reporter if he were worried about his apparent lagging in the polls.. he turned and said "Polls are for dogs..", and walked off without another word into the snow..
It was a winter day. None of us really wanted to hang around for a long question and answer anyway. We had our clip..
A slight digression.. but to return to the original thesis..
Americans, with no disrespect intended, are really not in a fit state to be making this kind of decision with all the rest of what's going on...and their prime mover, is fear.
It was a bad year in the mid-west.. floods.. record tornado's..freak weather.. that when all taken into consideration leaves you with a lower and expected overall crop yield.. and the end of a lot of farmers who's crops were destroyed..who haven't had the relief they were promised, such as it was..who can't pay their mortgage..
Canadian wheat's at a premium..
Where California..itself having the 5th largest economy in the world.. is asking the Fed for money.. Where recession is accepted, but the effects not quite understood..
Each and every voter who steps into their polling booths will either be committed..or undecided..
Yup.
But they'll all be afraid.

One final note here..
It cannot be said that there religious leaders concerned with, and speaking out against terrorism..
Wednesday was thee opening of the 83rd session of Indian Philosophical Congress at Gujarat Vidyapeeth..and the need for emulating Gandhian principles amid concerns on growing violence and acts of terror dominated the first day discussions..
In the inaugural session, Gujarat Vidyapeeth Chancellor Sudarshan Iyengar pointed out that while the growth of consumerism is eating into the fabric of social ethics, "the social values are also greatly threatened by the rising greed of individuals, which is one of the basic causes of conflicts"...
Dr Iyengar inter-related the principles of anasakti (non-attachment) as explained in the Gita with the Gandhian ideology. He said the values like satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence), brahmacharya (celibacy) can still provide a healing touch to the ailing humanity.
Indeed.