09.19.09
Posted in Webmaster's Rant at 10:45 pm by Ajay Pamneja
Going Green is a big farce!
Are you sick of some of the bigger corporations and organisations with those big ‘going green’ claims? I am.
Let me cite a few recent conversations and issues I have had and will let you understand my feelings on this. I live in a
London borough, which claims itself to be ‘a better place to live’.
Not sure from which angle - is it the constant in-fighting amongst the elected councillors or claims of corruption within the local papers or is it because of the council’s inability to deal with constantly growing problem of filth and rubbish all over the place.
Apologies, I am digressing from my main topic of discussion (but, these big claims and corporate strap lines with no substance get me going!!).
I have always been a bit confused why I could not recycle my used yoghurt pots and cereal boxes in the council provided recycling containers as most other councils encourage this or so I thought! While talking to a temporarily recruited agent who was visiting the local residents discussing the ‘recycling’ issues, the truth came out. I discovered that the councils are only interested in recycling the items which they are able to sell off! Confused? The items collected from the residents are passed on to other commercial organisations that use these to produce other goods after the necessary treatments and other processes. This is the reason why I cannot recycle my cereal boxes and yoghurt pots, because these commercial interests are not looking to process these leftovers. The council are not offering you the recycling services out of the goodness of their hearts or because they believe in ‘Green’ issues. It is purely a commercial enterprise for them and if it is not profitable, they are not interested. OK? Agree that they have made an investment in staff and equipment to collect the items that they do recycle, but who do you think paid for it? Them? I doubt it. Why is your council tax on the rise every year? The words ‘fat cats’, ‘MP’s Expenses’ and ‘Councillor’s expenses’ come to mind.
Another example is these online, self-service invoices. All these claims trying to be ‘more green’ by not sending out paper invoices to the customers by these fat cat Utility companies are a complete non-sense. In my naivety and ‘I trust all people’ thinking, I opt for online-billing (also called paper-free billing by some) with all suppliers of services who offer this facility. This includes BT, who you are about to hear about. At some of the properties, I manage, I have opted for paper-free billing, which as the name suggests saves BT from having to send me their monthly or quarterly bills and the obligatory additional pieces of paper to sell me other services products from their group or ‘carefully chosen’ partners i.e. anyone who is willing to pay them a fee to use their database. I recently discovered that I am only able to access the previous six month’s invoices when I log into my account. I needed some older invoices for tax and reporting purposes. So I thought, no problem, I will send out an email and get the older ones sent to me as pdf documents, which means that I still won’t be causing some paper prints. A company in the field of communications, surely, must have systems in place to do so. Hey no. I was so wrong. I received an email reply (surprisingly the very next day, which is ‘a result’ by BT standards), suggesting a charge of £4.60 plus VAT for every invoice if I wanted from over 6 month’s ago. Now, where is the justification in that? Is the process too laborious to generate an invoice for something I have already paid for, that they need to charge me such an extortionate fee? The only alternative is that I print out the invoice as it becomes available online for me every month/quarter, but I was trying to save paper in the first place by opting for the paper-free option. The purists amongst you might claim that computer systems with huge storage facilities also consume energy, but which is the lesser of two evils?
I rest my case.
Is being green only viable if it is commercially profitable for the big organisations? Do they have the right to preach us, ordinary citizens, to change our life styles to be more green if the above is an indication of their own behaviour?
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08.18.09
Posted in Events at 8:14 am by jimharry
In recent years, online gaming has developed rapidly in
China. Many people believe that online game produce positive effects on economic growth and we should try our best to promote online game. But what these people fail to see is that online game may bring about a disastrous impact on our life. As for me, I’m firmly convinced that too much tourists bring harm to the life. �
The bad impact of online game, take wow power leveling for example on the life has mainly expressed itself in various ways. One way is the process of exploiting a new scenic spot. In order to attract players, a lot of artificial facilities have been built, which have certain unfavorable effects on the life. This process usually breaks the ecological balance of the area. In some mountainous places, trees are being cut down to build hotels for others to see and explore the beauty of the mountains. Then land slides and mud-rock flows come up. Another way the development of online game has damaged the life occurs when games go to scenic spots. Some Worlds of Warcraft power leveling game players don’t have the awareness to protect the life, and ignorantly throw their garbage here and there. Some people even kill the local wildlife to eat, which badly damages the balance of the natural life. �
It is wrong to sacrifice the life for the growth of online game. We must keep in mind that too much play brings harm to the life. We need to find a balance between satisfying the needs of online game and reducing to a minimum the pollution they cause.
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09.08.07
Posted in News, Media & Society at 6:18 pm by Ajay Pamneja
I was proven right again. It is so bizarre that I have not got around to writing another blog until another big cricketing day today.
The day started off as the series deciding, all-gripping ODI between India & England. India already having (just) won the Test series, this was being dubbed as what would be an icing on the cake, if India were to win it. India had managed to come back from 3-1 down to 3-3, level pegged with England in the ODI series. Having managed to follow all the games in this series, I was not convinced that India could do it. It was only in the 6th ODI that they showed some desire to win. There were some wonderful batting performances by the individuals and the fielding beginning to look better than the local village team.
How come that the England bowlers were able to contain the runs during India’s innings, despite all the big names currently playing for the squad. Dhoni was the only one able to offer any resitance! tendulkar was unlucky to have been given out, when he clearly was NOT. Will Umpire Dar be given teh same treatmet which followed a recent football game involving Chelsea where the referee was taken off his duties? I hope that ICC take necessary action. After all, this is not the first time this happened during this series; and more than once to Tendulkar. Indian fielding was back to its shoddy levels. Despite knowing that they were playing with a moderate total, why could they not apply themselves a bit more to the task of the day make the game a bit more interesting. England seem to cruise through and I am surprised it took them 36 overs to reach the total. Indians had given up long before and they were not even trying. The fielding seem to deterirorate. I was alluding to this missing ‘desire to kill’ in my last post. England were definitely the better side in all aspects of the game and achieved a well-deserved win. Congratulation to them!
My conclusion that it is down to our communal psyche of those who have grown up in India. We grow up as obedient, respecting and non-agressive people because of the culture and religions in India. Why is there such a small minority of entrepreneurs in the massive population of India. This is because to be that, you need to be ruthless and ‘hungry’ and sometimes slightly less caring. We do not grow up with those traits as the norm. This is why Indians have not been able to compete with the West in the world of Sport. Despite being close to the finishing line, some of us give up and let the competition go through. Apart from when it comes to commerce, obviously, because, we are caring towards our families as well and we have to amass a lot of wealth for them (and ourself).
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07.31.07
Posted in News, Media & Society at 11:30 pm by Ajay Pamneja
‘Team India’ - what a joke!
They lost three wickets in their chase of an imminent victory at Trent Bridge on the 31st July 2007. The top batsmen in the world (that is how they are rated) struggled for what seemed like hours to make a mere 63 runs on Day 5 of this match. The young ‘inexperienced’ English bowlers deserve all the credit for keeping these ’stars’ under check. Isn’t it time that the Cricket Authorities in India realise that the players brought in to represent the country need to have some ‘fire’ in them and the killer instinct to go out and achieve, rather than wait for things to be handed over to them! Sreesnath, Dhoni & Yuvraj Singh are the only ones who get close to that team, we really need! Although India won the game, they were so uninspiring and pitiful to watch. Feel very sorry for the England players; bad luck in both the test games in this series so far.
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07.29.07
Posted in Events at 2:49 am by admin
If you have visited a club, a concert or bought an album and want to talk about it, then this is the place.
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