so with Katrina & Rita making it a 'one-two' blow on the American Coast and its refineries, what does it mean for the Oil Prices and the world economy?? first it was Katrina that wrecked the states of Mississippi and Louisiana and shot the world oil prices to over $70 per barrel, and now Rita seems to be heading towards the Oil refining capital of the US (i.e. Texas) next with an even more dreadful force. ouch!! somehow i have the feeling that we shall be seeing oil touching new heights in terms of cost. $70 per barrel is only the beginning. get ready to cough up more for your car folks or maybe horses would be a cheaper option. guess that the OPEC has done its homework in terms of diverting attention from the immense profits that they are earning. it is very convenient for OPEC to raise their crude supply to the maximum of 2 million barrels extra per day. since there won't be any refineries left to process the crude into petrol and other by-products, i don't see how the world oil prices are going to subside or even stay put at where they are. this only gives the Oil Sheikhs 2 million X $70 plus per day profits (i.e. $14,00,00,000 per day). hurray for the so called efficient market system.
one thing that eludes me is that why in the name of God do the other countries have to cough up extra for what can be termed as American losses?? right, so America looses all its refineries due to the hurricanes and so they can't process their oil, but then why should this cost other countries? if America wants they can pay $70 + per barrel, but other countries don't have to pay that much. if it comes down to simply refining crude, i guess that India and China have enough refineries to not only manage their own demand but also export it to America if need be. also let us not forget the refineries in Europe. i'm sorry if i am sounding anti-American in this regard, but i simply don't believe in having to bear the cost for something that is not directly liked to us. Bush didn't want to sign the Kyoto, so now let him pay for the rising oil. i say let the efficient markets prevail in the true sense and let crude be accessible to the capacities of Asia. no one wants to pay in extra dollars for what can be paid for in local terms. maybe its simply time we realized that the time for American dominance in the world economy has begun to fade. no doubt that after the two World Wars (especially the 2nd) America had the resources and ability to control and manipulate the world. but things have changed a lot since then. this is simply what we call evolution in economics. dominance and leadership changes over time. from the Spanish galleons of the 15th and 16th centuries to the British Pound dominance of the 17th and 18th centuries to the great Americanization of the world of the 19th and 20th centuries. it is now time for someone else to take over the mantel of the world economy. we got rid of the gold standard and now i suppose it is time to do something about the dollar standard. this is the story of economics and it has many characters. one dies, the other takes over. as simple as that.
coming to other things now. i don't know if Germany is ever going to be able to decide who is going to be the next Chancellor. the two party leaders seem to be locked in an ever lasting battle. people are talking of various coalitions for the ‘Christian Democrats and the Greens’ to the ‘Christian Democrats + the Greens + Mr. Schroeder’. guess the Jamaica-Coalition may sound pretty colorful but it sure is not what is needed at this hour. learn from the Indian mistake. never allow two opposing parties to from a coalition if neither of them have a clear majority. they only manage to make things worse with their infighting and ideological differences. guess if things don't work out soon there are going to be fresh elections.
elections and decisive results remind me, this time around the boys (i.e. the Mauritian gang) stood for the Student Union elections in the University and guess what?? we won all the seats. yes, all 10 of them starting from the Union Office bearers to the Faculty Reps in each faculty. for heaven's sake, even Siven won!! so i guess that this year is finally going to be different from the rest. ;D
anyways, i guess that i better quit here at this point. i think that i have angered a certain Miss America enough. i don't want a reward on my head and Bush bombing Mauritius by tomorrow morning. it was nice to hear your voice today Gordon, though the connection sucked. have fun in SA. i still maintain that only the Indians are good cricketers (all right maybe even the British after the recent Ashes). :D
so much for now.
ps: got your mail Mitty...nice pics. you sure are having fun. also, a big HI to Andy!!
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Thursday, September 22, 2005
this FU*#@!%*&*$## shit of a blog...help!! anybody...
this blog just keeps on getting messed up...now something's terribly wrong with the format...i have no clue of how to fix it. so help me my computer geek pals (and yes, don't ask me to change my template, cause i won't do that)...
just tell me how to get my fucking blog straight again...
tch tch...this thing's impossible.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Friday, September 16, 2005
wednesday saga...
yesterday was a real funny day of sorts. it all started with my 9:00 am class being postponed to 10:30 am. so far good for me cause that meant that i could enjoy the precious early morning sleep for a bit longer. but things started to go haywire from then on...i managed to over sleep and hence barely made it to the bus stop in time for the 9 o' clock express. from there it was the usual walk through Port Louis as i made my way to the Victoria Bus Terminal. after missing one bus by just a few seconds, i had no other alternative but to take the 141- Bord Cascade via Reduit bus. hmm, no problem, not yet.
well anyways, so the bus starts and moves out of the terminal. we take the motorway and from the waterfront roundabout we take the left towards Bell Village.
well so i finally make it to the uni like 4 minutes before the class thanks to the express transport. and guess what? well, the class got cancelled in typical University of Mauritius style and that meant that since morning i had done nothing but waste my time and effort in whatever i had done so far. to add to my misery the only internet functional computer lab in the uni had classes and the cafe was jam packed with people because of the elections. hence there was nothing that i could do. couldn't even go home since i had another class at 12:00 and since i was supposed to meet Wolfgang at 2:00 and catch up on some Table Tennis. so i finally convince Rishi to some with me and we grabbed some dholl puris and mine frit and a bottle of phoenix and spent a good 1 hour in the usual party spot. after that it was back to attending lectures and then TT at 2:00.
Wolfy managed to beat me by just one set this time and hence i owe him a beer at Buddha Beach this weekend. this is going to be Gordon's last weekend and we are having the going away BBQ tomorrow. so i gotta get my butt down to Flic n Flac. this time i am the braai God.
well folks, guess that pretty much sums up my day. oh yeah, also the cat managed to get out of the house again yesterday night and that caused all sorts of mayhem in the Das household. finally we found him down in the parking and so i had to go down and yell at him and make him run back up the stairs into the house and under the bed. silly cat. but we all love him.
keep blogging and keep in touch.
:D
well anyways, so the bus starts and moves out of the terminal. we take the motorway and from the waterfront roundabout we take the left towards Bell Village.
korak sa!but then God knows what possessed the bus driver from this point on cause he simply refused to turn right towards Bell Village and instead took the left back towards the bus terminal. so everybody thinks that maybe there is some kind of problem with the bus and that's why he is going back to Victoria. but to everyone's surprise the guy simply drives through Victoria terminal and takes the same route back to the motorway and towards Bell Village. so everyone's like, hmm???...but then ONCE AGAIN he turns left towards Victoria and heads back to the bus stop!! this time everyone was like 'what the fuck'. he simply races through Port Louis traffic and makes it back to the bus stop. now, everyone was like "stop the bus and let us off...what are you guys up to?" so the bus driver stops at Victoria and we all jump off the bus (yeah, literally jump off) and there's this one guy going 'Pilon' and 'Gogot' and getting all mad at the bus conductor and driver. this was too much for me and i could not control myself any more and burst out laughing. i wasn't the only one, there were these two other guys as well who couldn't stop laughing. well finally the entire matter got sorted out, don't as what had happened, cause the entire episode occurred in creol and i could understand only the 'pilon' and 'gogot' part. anyways, the NTC guys got this other bus out and drove straight to Reduit. so that was good.
well so i finally make it to the uni like 4 minutes before the class thanks to the express transport. and guess what? well, the class got cancelled in typical University of Mauritius style and that meant that since morning i had done nothing but waste my time and effort in whatever i had done so far. to add to my misery the only internet functional computer lab in the uni had classes and the cafe was jam packed with people because of the elections. hence there was nothing that i could do. couldn't even go home since i had another class at 12:00 and since i was supposed to meet Wolfgang at 2:00 and catch up on some Table Tennis. so i finally convince Rishi to some with me and we grabbed some dholl puris and mine frit and a bottle of phoenix and spent a good 1 hour in the usual party spot. after that it was back to attending lectures and then TT at 2:00.
Wolfy managed to beat me by just one set this time and hence i owe him a beer at Buddha Beach this weekend. this is going to be Gordon's last weekend and we are having the going away BBQ tomorrow. so i gotta get my butt down to Flic n Flac. this time i am the braai God.
well folks, guess that pretty much sums up my day. oh yeah, also the cat managed to get out of the house again yesterday night and that caused all sorts of mayhem in the Das household. finally we found him down in the parking and so i had to go down and yell at him and make him run back up the stairs into the house and under the bed. silly cat. but we all love him.
keep blogging and keep in touch.
:D
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
sunday night damnation...
this time around it was a different BBQ. not in the sense that we actually did anything out of the ordinary, i.e. is if you count chugging from a 1 liter beer mug a normal thing to do. but more of it later.so this weekend Gordon decided to have a BBQ at his place. was supposed to be the last BBQ with Gordon as our braai master. its time for him to go and he still hasn't packed his bags... :D
anyways, let me give you folks a quick flashback on the plans for this past weekend. friday and saturday was supposed to be Buddha Beach time and then sunday was the BBQ. can't tell you all much about friday and saturday since i wasn't there having been stuck at home doing this last minute assignment (the lecturer bombed us with this on friday and we had to submit it on tuesday, i.e. today). had to attend lecturers all friday and then work till 4:00 am on saturday to complete my assignment. so i decided to catch up with the party troop on sunday.
the sunday morning call to NodroG enlightened me on the wild saturday night that i had missed. seems like after Anne got back from SA (now SA has replaced Mauritius as Anne's favorite spot on earth), she and Gordon hit Buddha Beach with the new Germans in town. guess that they had a lot of alcohol (sambuka's and beer to be more specific) and a crazy blond tourist doing the semi-strip on the table in the new Buddha Beach nightclub (*note*all interested parties: Gordon has the pics). in short i found them all to be a bit sick the next day when i arrived and swearing on God never to drink Sambuka again.
later that noon we (i.e. Gordon and I) went down to the beach and caught up with Wolfgang and Lars (two of the German boys). Anne was busy moving her stuff from Gordon's house to Uma's and so she kept on popping by every now and then, but mostly it was just us 4 dudes chilling out on the beach. the German boys had this new volleyball and so we decided to battle it out in 'Top Gun' style beach volleyball (Wolfgang & Lars with their shorts and ray bans playing the duo of maverick and ghost and Gordon & I in our asskicking gear simply being us). turned out that the Germans lived up to our expectations of being the Wankers United duo as we kicked the shit out of them in two sets...finally around 5:30 we turned our winning asses towards home, and lo! Anne managed to catch us on the way and somehow figured out a way of making us walk back all the way to the beach to watch the sunset. anyways, it was worth it. so what if i had to hobble all my way walking on the broken corals barefoot.
so as it happened, Phillip got himself a new long board and a kite as a present from some friend. so of course he had to come and show it to Gordon. Gordon in his true professional kite boarder style gave the new gear the thumbs up and Phillip is now ready to conquer the waves and the wind.
soon we got the BBQ started and as it turned out we ended up with a shit load of meat and beer. but amazingly all the beer simply disappeared by the end of the night. it was pretty cool, the BBQ, with Anne and her snorts, Lars with his giant beer mug, Dinesh and Shameema, Phillip and Analize, Uma (whom i saw for the first time since she returned from India and who was sick in typical Amu style), Kevin, Kestern (or Casey as i know her), Richard (the new Brit at MGI) and the usual Gordon and I. so what if Gordon managed to burn most of the meat and quite a bit of the bread, it still rocked.
well the next day was monday and so the usual working day for Gordon and Uni time for me. so there's nothing interesting that i can think of.
seems like i shall have to stop here for now. time to go and try and grab some shut eye. have an early morning class tomorrow.
till next time then. take care and remember the good times on the island. miss you all...
ps:
also...weird title huh? well i had to save this post in between so that i could catch the tuesday night English movie on MBC (you guys know). this time they showed 'Angela's Ashes'...hope that they do better next week. anyways, so i had to save this post and this is the first thing that popped into my mind as i clicked on 'save as'...and so it remains...Sunday Night Damnation.
anyways, let me give you folks a quick flashback on the plans for this past weekend. friday and saturday was supposed to be Buddha Beach time and then sunday was the BBQ. can't tell you all much about friday and saturday since i wasn't there having been stuck at home doing this last minute assignment (the lecturer bombed us with this on friday and we had to submit it on tuesday, i.e. today). had to attend lecturers all friday and then work till 4:00 am on saturday to complete my assignment. so i decided to catch up with the party troop on sunday.
the sunday morning call to NodroG enlightened me on the wild saturday night that i had missed. seems like after Anne got back from SA (now SA has replaced Mauritius as Anne's favorite spot on earth), she and Gordon hit Buddha Beach with the new Germans in town. guess that they had a lot of alcohol (sambuka's and beer to be more specific) and a crazy blond tourist doing the semi-strip on the table in the new Buddha Beach nightclub (*note*all interested parties: Gordon has the pics). in short i found them all to be a bit sick the next day when i arrived and swearing on God never to drink Sambuka again.
later that noon we (i.e. Gordon and I) went down to the beach and caught up with Wolfgang and Lars (two of the German boys). Anne was busy moving her stuff from Gordon's house to Uma's and so she kept on popping by every now and then, but mostly it was just us 4 dudes chilling out on the beach. the German boys had this new volleyball and so we decided to battle it out in 'Top Gun' style beach volleyball (Wolfgang & Lars with their shorts and ray bans playing the duo of maverick and ghost and Gordon & I in our asskicking gear simply being us). turned out that the Germans lived up to our expectations of being the Wankers United duo as we kicked the shit out of them in two sets...finally around 5:30 we turned our winning asses towards home, and lo! Anne managed to catch us on the way and somehow figured out a way of making us walk back all the way to the beach to watch the sunset. anyways, it was worth it. so what if i had to hobble all my way walking on the broken corals barefoot.
so as it happened, Phillip got himself a new long board and a kite as a present from some friend. so of course he had to come and show it to Gordon. Gordon in his true professional kite boarder style gave the new gear the thumbs up and Phillip is now ready to conquer the waves and the wind.
soon we got the BBQ started and as it turned out we ended up with a shit load of meat and beer. but amazingly all the beer simply disappeared by the end of the night. it was pretty cool, the BBQ, with Anne and her snorts, Lars with his giant beer mug, Dinesh and Shameema, Phillip and Analize, Uma (whom i saw for the first time since she returned from India and who was sick in typical Amu style), Kevin, Kestern (or Casey as i know her), Richard (the new Brit at MGI) and the usual Gordon and I. so what if Gordon managed to burn most of the meat and quite a bit of the bread, it still rocked.
Thanks bru...you are the best no doubt...
well the next day was monday and so the usual working day for Gordon and Uni time for me. so there's nothing interesting that i can think of.
seems like i shall have to stop here for now. time to go and try and grab some shut eye. have an early morning class tomorrow.
till next time then. take care and remember the good times on the island. miss you all...
ps:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAFIZ...hope you are having fun in England. too bad you ain't here and that we can't party like last time for your birthday. ;D
also...weird title huh? well i had to save this post in between so that i could catch the tuesday night English movie on MBC (you guys know). this time they showed 'Angela's Ashes'...hope that they do better next week. anyways, so i had to save this post and this is the first thing that popped into my mind as i clicked on 'save as'...and so it remains...Sunday Night Damnation.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Saturday, September 10, 2005
everybody bow to the new Prezident...
well so i guess that its official...at least in a sense...i am going to be the new President of the Economic Society in the University of Mauritius. hah, everybody take a bow.i know, i know, you all think that it is the end of the world and that the people out here must be crazy to want me as their new President. but alas, i am the only one capable enough to handle this task... :D
any ways don't have any misconceptions regarding the Economic Society. understood that till now it has been a very low key and inefficient organization. but things are going to change. i want to maximize my last opportunity at leaving my mark at the Uni. let's just say that i have 'plans' and i am going to make these lazy folks to slog to my ideas (dear University friends, do not take offence to this comment, this 'lazy' title applies only to some folks who don't want to do any thing and only complain about the Society). so guys if you have any ideas that you think will be a good plan of action for the To-Be-Mauritian Economists, then let me know. as for a little insight into what i plan to do, i can only say that i want to get these folks to speak in English...speak to the public in English. this university desperately needs good public speaking and debating opportunities (for heaven's sake we had better exposure to all this at the high school level in India). and i guess it's time we made being aware of the latest developments in the world a necessity for all students. so beware all members of the Economic Society, i am going to put you all on a podium and unleash your verbal skills. and yeah, of course we shall be chilling out a bit and partying. but i am leaving a lot to the popular demand of the members. after all we believe in a free market with equal and fair representation where all transactions occur on the basis of demand and supply with minimum government interference to maintain stability and keep the negative market externalities in check. ;D
so Fiz dada is in London now. good for him..bad for London. all i want to say to you Fizzy is that i really miss the times we had on this island and good luck for the coming 3 years (i still don't know how on earth did they give you a 3 year Visa)...it's gonna be hard, but it's gonna be fun. so go get some Brit Chicks...allez Fizzy...boonga boonga time in london. maybe you can catch up with Timo and then,
any ways don't have any misconceptions regarding the Economic Society. understood that till now it has been a very low key and inefficient organization. but things are going to change. i want to maximize my last opportunity at leaving my mark at the Uni. let's just say that i have 'plans' and i am going to make these lazy folks to slog to my ideas (dear University friends, do not take offence to this comment, this 'lazy' title applies only to some folks who don't want to do any thing and only complain about the Society). so guys if you have any ideas that you think will be a good plan of action for the To-Be-Mauritian Economists, then let me know. as for a little insight into what i plan to do, i can only say that i want to get these folks to speak in English...speak to the public in English. this university desperately needs good public speaking and debating opportunities (for heaven's sake we had better exposure to all this at the high school level in India). and i guess it's time we made being aware of the latest developments in the world a necessity for all students. so beware all members of the Economic Society, i am going to put you all on a podium and unleash your verbal skills. and yeah, of course we shall be chilling out a bit and partying. but i am leaving a lot to the popular demand of the members. after all we believe in a free market with equal and fair representation where all transactions occur on the basis of demand and supply with minimum government interference to maintain stability and keep the negative market externalities in check. ;D
so Fiz dada is in London now. good for him..bad for London. all i want to say to you Fizzy is that i really miss the times we had on this island and good luck for the coming 3 years (i still don't know how on earth did they give you a 3 year Visa)...it's gonna be hard, but it's gonna be fun. so go get some Brit Chicks...allez Fizzy...boonga boonga time in london. maybe you can catch up with Timo and then,
"Timo will give you a boonga boonga". :D
the latest one to get off this island is Gordon. in an already long list, this is surely a name that will be missed sorely. Bru, thanks for all the good times (and the bad)...Buddha Beach, Kenzi and Keg & Marlin will miss you a lot...but i guess that every time i drink the water at home i will remember you and thank my lucky stars that you did not mess up the water up North. by the way, you did a good job. but i don't trust the one's who are going to run it from now onwards. so see you later this weekend and of course on Wednesday.
have no doubts, i am going to miss you bru.
Tanzania's waiting...allez Springboks!!!
well folks i have nothing much to say. the past few days haven't been too special and worth mentioning. though i must say that it was cool to chat with you Timo the other day. thanks for passing me Fiz's UK number. have fun in Italy.
oh yeah, i almost forgot. i have also entered my name for the Table Tennis tournament at the Uni. time to kick some ass!! wish me luck...i guess that i have a pretty fair chance. after all, i ain't that bad.
all right then...take care folks and keep commenting.
ciao
ps: what's up with you Heathcoat? no news from you since such a long time...agreed i haven't mailed you, but then also what are these blogs for? so get up and smell the coffee. time to blog my kitten.
well folks i have nothing much to say. the past few days haven't been too special and worth mentioning. though i must say that it was cool to chat with you Timo the other day. thanks for passing me Fiz's UK number. have fun in Italy.
oh yeah, i almost forgot. i have also entered my name for the Table Tennis tournament at the Uni. time to kick some ass!! wish me luck...i guess that i have a pretty fair chance. after all, i ain't that bad.
all right then...take care folks and keep commenting.
ciao
ps: what's up with you Heathcoat? no news from you since such a long time...agreed i haven't mailed you, but then also what are these blogs for? so get up and smell the coffee. time to blog my kitten.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
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