The Golden 80s

Whenever the state of Kerala reports an outbreak of vector-borne diseases like Dengue and Chikungunya, the media goes on an overdrive and as usual looks for culpable scapegoats. Following public, political, and media pressure, on September 24, 2011, the Kerala chief minister held an emergency meeting and directed waste management measures on a war footing among others. Here comes my discomfort. It may be because I am ignorant. Vector-borne diseases and contagious diseases are different ball games. What we are witnessing in Kerala is outbreaks of vector-borne diseases such as Dengue and Chikungunya, and the state’s total failure to either control, anticipate, or study the issue at hand. Knee-jerk reactions like more doctors in affected areas, urgent waste disposal measures, and local body meetings (a group totally incapable of dealing with the situation) follow suit from various quarters, and for the media this is just an issue to up the TRP ratings. This is sim...

While metal has disappeared from prime time music television, the cyberspace has hundreds of unheard, rare, and new bands rocking real hard. Some of the new bands are pretty good playing a style that critics may say retro. But the songs of some of these new bands are good and much much better than the two-chord alternative stuff that channels bombard you with. The following bands and songs, a mix of new and old, are real gems.  Talon's All I Ever Needed is a great straight-edged mid tempo/melodic song with good guitar solos and pure vocals from Chandler Mogul. The songs make me feel that I have missed this band. Talon rose from the ashes of Voxen , says Melodic Rock , and invites fans of Dokken (my favourite) and Hericane Alice to lend their ears. Both are very good bands. Melodic death metal band Evergrey is another great find with powerful melodic songs with classic guitar solos.Click here to listen to A Touch of Blessing . The vocals at times resembled the good old MSG. ...

I did not have any idea about the origins of the phrase, First come, first served, until a mistake in an email I read got me thinking. The Daily Writing Tips has an excellent article on the history of the popular phrase, which is converted by net-savvy geeks to FCFS. The same geeks create the mistake, first come, first serve. To read the mistaken phrase is definitely irritating at times. So, first come, first served, and no more first come, first serve.

Countless emails, often from the big bosses of the corporate world, contains the nauseating mistake "revert back". "....Revert back to me if you have any questions." This is what I saw a few days back in an email from someone whose name shoots everybody's BP up. The verb, Revert, here is used in the sense, to go back in thought or discussion . Therefore, revert back is a redundant expression, as the word implies the sense of going 'back".  So, do not revert back, just revert.