keeping up with dr. k

today's my first official day as a tier 5 temporary worker at AI. exciting times. will share more about the day later.

but first. it's been a while since i've reported on the notorious dr. k. the latest from the hague:

PROSECUTION, JUDGES IN KARADZIC CASE STAND-OFF
Stalemate as prosecutors decline trial chamber’s request to trim charges ahead of trial.
By Simon Jennings in The Hague (TU No 617, 25-Sep-09)

Prosecutors bringing the case against former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic at the Hague tribunal have stood their ground in the face of pressure from judges to cut the indictment.

In the last court meeting between parties on September 8, pre-trial judge O-Gon Kwon, made a number of suggestions as to how the prosecution could limit the time it needs to present its case - including dropping charges related to alleged opportunistic killings in Potocari in the run up to the genocide in the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995.

The existing indictment drafted on February 27, 2009, outlines five such execution incidents involving Bosniak men and boys on July 12 and 13 during the course of the wider Bosnian Serb operation at Srebrenica.

The judge also suggested that the number of municipalities in relation to which the prosecution plans to present criminal evidence should be cut from 27 to between 10 and 12.

However, prosecutors wrote to the three-judge panel on September 18 arguing that “those further reductions would have an adverse impact on the prosecution’s ability to fairly present its case”.

Kwon’s proposal that the prosecution cut the indictment further after it had already agreed to make certain cuts in response to a request from the judge’s predecessor on the case, Lord Iain Bonomy, sparked angry protest in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.

Members from some of the conflict’s victims’ associations took to the streets last week and set fire to pictures of tribunal judges outside the city’s United Nations office.

There is concern that if prosecutors limit the amount of evidence presented and reduce the number of crime sites covered during their case, this will jeopardise their bid to prove the most serious charges against the former president of the Serb-dominated region of Republika Srpska.

Karadzic faces an 11-count indictment, charging him with two counts of genocide for the forcible permanent removal of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats from large parts of Bosnia as well as for the 1995 massacre of approximately 8,000 Bosniak men and boys at Srebrenica.

Read the full story.

greetings from heathrow

i'm presently sitting in the midst of a group of university of exeter freshers who are being coordinated and shipped off to their residences via shuttle bus. the customs officer was delighted that he wasn't going to have to process yet another student visa when i stepped up.

my flight over was grand. i was seated next to a lovely english couple from lincoln, england. we had a nice chat. and lest it be thought that i only write complaint letters, i am actually going to write a letter of commendation to air crapada. their selection of in-flight entertainment today was fabulous. i watched three movies in this order: the pool (from their "world cinema" selection), victoria day (from their "canadian film" selection) and "grey gardens" (from their "avant garde" selection) (i don't really get this last one, but whatever.) also, among the choices for TV show comedies were episodes of "fawlty towers". amazing.

my first observation as i look around the airport is that approximately 25% of the graduating classes of schools all over india have just arrived on the shores of england. the guy next to me just asked me if am from india. he's from gujarat, india & studying chartered accounting at LSE. i offered him a pound to make a call from a payphone but he refused to take it. unfortunately, i don't have a cell phone so i can't loan it to him. but i would. he's looking around for his ride. it's kind of crazy to think that i could have been one of these students too. maybe next year. or maybe not.

my motivation to apply to graduate school for fall 2010 is seriously dwindling. i don't think i can muster up the energy to do applications for admission and for funding and start harassing potential referees. argh. they probably weed out the lazy people like me just by making the application a multi-stage process.

well i should go take a look for j.m. and m.r.
just reporting that i got here safe & sound.

leaving tomorrow!

my visa came through and then it took about forever to get my flights booked but i am finally leaving YVR tomorrow for LHR. i arrive in london on sunday at 10:30 AM. a direct flight on air crapada -- at this point, i would have taken a cargo ship to london! my first day in the office at AI is tuesday!! in the midst of a major packing throwdown. i have 2 checked bags and 2 carry-on (though i haven't actually tested whether my carry-on items will actually fit in the 2 bags i have allotted for this task. fortunately, since the flight is direct, i won't have to wander around in strange airports killing time and causing further damage to my spine, neck and shoulders by hoisting extraheavy carry-on bags. of course, how i get my things from LHR to j.m.'s and m.r.'s place sunday morning will be interesting. and, i predict, sweaty. anyway, i just had to share my happiness with all of you.

also head's up nyc!! i am probably going to be in nyc for a week around t'giving this november. will keep you posted.

yippy skippy!

hiking the chief

a while back, i went for a hike near squamish, bc with s.b. and a.k. the hike -- the stawamus chief -- was definitely a work-out (at least for me). a.k. seems to be running up it, in my estimation. and my tired old body, wayyyy out of shape, was groaning and creaking for days afterwards. but it was good pain. we made it up to the first peak. of course my camera ran out of batteries at the top! i am proud to report, however, that i did not need helicoptor evacuation. you have to climb 2 ladders and use chains to walk up sheer rock. the most impressive route to the top is to rock climb the face of the cliff. and at the top you can see tiny specks of colour -- people climbing up the rock.

i recall my hike because having gone to the ymca here in slurry two days ago for a yoga stretch class advertised for all levels, including absolute beginners, i am now creaking and groaning again! but the ymca is amazing - it's huge & shiny & new & has a coffee shop inside it (an esquire's) -- it puts the y on atlantic avenue to shame.

At LONG LAST

I just received my passport back from the British High Commission with my visa approved!! I am now back to being internationally mobile! SO EXCITING. It's a cool-looking visa actually. I will now promptly return to the online survey the High Commission asked me to fill out. I was scared to do it until I had my passport in hand. Yes, a little paranoid.

HOORAY!

hot for bollywood ...

actors.

Well, Two of them anyway. And both are Bollywood royalty.

Ranbir Kapoor -- The latest generation of the Kapoor Dynasty (son of Neetu Singh and Rishi Kapoor. His family tree in Bollywood goes back five generations.)



Saif Ali Khan -- If the Indian government hadn't abolished royal entitlements, Saif's father (Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the famous cricketer) would still be the 9th Nawab of Pataudi. And Saif's mom is the infamous beauty, Sharmila Tagore (she debuted in the Satyajit Ray film "The World of Apu").



Why settle for a coffee-shop crush which at least bears the possibility of once in a while face-time, when I can crush on people I have no chance of ever meeting?

trials, tribulations

the visa saga has an update. on monday, i went to the visa application center in vancouver operated by "worldbridge" (aka WB = worthless bottomfeeders): the entirely useless service that the british are using to process visas in canada (and a bunch of other countries). and when i say useless. i mean it. the british high commission has nothing to do with you until you've met with WB, been fingerprinted and had them essentially spellcheck your application. (i honestly can't see what value they added to my application -- they checked off that my address was correct and told me i needed supplemental materials, but didn't know what those supplemental materials were). wow. gee thanks. i don't know my own address and, having perused your website about 15,000 times i can tell you that "it's not all on there" and the "frequently-asked questions" section doesn't even begin to cover the half of my questions. i bet mine were frequently asked (and met with blank, cow-like stares). but i digress.

anyway, after WB looks at your application for a hot 15 minutes, gives you electronic fingerprints (though i kind of was looking forward to smudgy ink fingers, leading stranger to wonder what i'd been "booked" for) and pushes you out the door less informed than you were when you walked in, you have to submit your application package to the high commission in ottawa ON YOUR OWN. yes, WB doesn't even do that much. i couriered it and checked that it arrived. it did. at 9:35 am the next day.

so we're off to the races then.

i have a huge knot in my stomach - i'm anxious that the bank letter from citi isn't going to be the ridiculous information they wanted in the ridiculous way they wanted it. that's the number one reason people are rejected. i explained all i could in a cover letter, so i hope for the best.

on a lighter note:

i've been watching 24/7 indian programming. not quite 24/7 but close. one notable game show that airs on sony entertainment asia: "10 ka dum" ("the power of 10"),

"10 ka dum" is hosted by salman khan, a bollywood actor who has lately been on the decline. the show, however, is a raging success. and has led sony entertainment asia to a third-place ranking in the indian television media circus.

in round one, two competitors or teams face off to guess the percentage (closest wins) of indians surveyed (by an IPSO polling service in india) on a series of questions. winner of the first round goes on to (surprise!) the second round, where they face a series of similar questions. instead of coming closest to the correct percentage of indians surveyed, they have to give an answer within a percent range and the correct answer must fall within that range guessed. like "who wants to be a millionaire" you can always walk away and take your earlier winnings. as the value of the questions increases, the range within which your answer must be to be correct narrows. For Rs. 10,000 (about $204.60 USD), you must be correct within a range of 40%, For Rs. 1,00,000 (about $2,460), within 30%; For Rs. 10,00,000 (about $20,460), within 20%; For Rs. 1,00,00,000 ($204,600), within 10% and for the final prize of Rs. 10,00,00,000 ($2,046,000), you have to give the exact percentage.

* india seems to be the only country which uses different numerical separators. weirdos.

the notable thing about the show is the questions they ask! hilarious. last time i was watching they asked:

"what percentage of indian women surveyed said that they had hit their husband with a rolling pin?"

"what percentage of indian men surveyed said that they loosen the button of their trousers before they sit down to a meal?"

"what percentage of indian men surveyed say they bring their wives tea in bed?"

"what percentage of indian men surveyed say that they have used the ladies room?"

"what percentage of indian people surveyed think the story of their romance would make a blockbuster bollywood movie?"

etc, etc. you get the gist. hilarious!!

today's contestants were a trans-sexual versus a male-model a la zoolander. where do they find these people? oh yeah, there are 1 billion to choose from.

amazing.