Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

I admire USA for the way their law enforcement agencies try to deliver justice. That sends a clear message to those who live in the USA, that if they commit a serious criminal offence, there is a good probability that they will go to prison for it. This fear of bad consequences for breaking the law, I think, goes a long way to make the USA a country where laws related to serious crime are respected by most residents. Of course, there would be some exceptions where the rich and powerful get away with illegal acts due to high-powered lawyers and influence-peddling. But, in general, I think USA stands out as a large and powerful country where serious crime typically has bad consequences for the perpetrators. The Sherin Mathews case really shows how great USA law enforcement can be. The Dallas, Texas law enforcement folks fought for justice for a 3 year old who was adopted from India, by Indian immigrants (Indian-Americans) to USA. Sherin Mathews was reported missing by her father, Wesl...

Readers may want to read my recent post on another blog of mine: Paperback version of Autobiography of an Indian Software Techie and Spiritual Aspirant – Part 1 released on Pothi.com; Updated ebook versions too, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/06/paperback-version-of-autobiography-of.html .

Great to see English cricketer Stuart Broad say "Enjoy retirement Legend @yuvisofficial 🙌🏻 🏏" to Indian cricketer Yuvaraj Singh on his retirement Stuart Broad said this here: https://www.instagram.com/p/ByhoxAplvDc/?utm_source=ig_embed on 10th June 2019 Here's a small clip of Yuvaraj Singh's retirement announcement: Yuvraj Singh announces retirement from International cricket, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZLSXyKAtjU , 1 min. 24 secs, published on 10th June 2019 by Hindustan Times. I think it is really great to see such friendship between rival Indian and English cricketers. Yuvaraj Singh and Broad are famous in Indian cricket history for one over of Stuart Broad in the inaugural T20 World Cup on 19th Sept. 2007 in Kingsmead, Durban, South Africa (Match scorecard: http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8604/scorecard/287873/england-vs-india-21st-match-group-e-icc-world-twenty20-2007-08 ). Yuvaraj smashed six sixes of six balls of that over. Here's the...

Prior to World War II (1939 to 1945), I think it is European powers of Britain and France that were the dominant military powers of not only Europe but also of many other parts of the world through their colonial empires (including India) and spheres of influence (including China). I believe that USA military power then was considered to be lesser than that of Britain and France. World War II on the European continent shows how ugly the conflict became between European countries with almost all countries in Europe choosing or being forced to choose one group against another. Further, the grouping also varied through the war. Europe descended into chaos with its governing principle being military might is right with horrific claims of racial superiority and/or ideological superiority being used to indulge in wholesale slaughter and extermination of people of certain religions, ideology and/or ethnicity, particularly in Eastern Europe. Human civilization showed some of its worst ani...

Ravi: Firstly, I would like to say that I am for peace and against war, unless in self-defense, and that I am neutral in the political blame-game between USA and Russia, the two biggest military powers on the planet today in 2019. So me putting up this post should not be viewed as me being supportive of President Putin of Russia against USA. No. I repeat, I am just neutral. I could have chosen not to put up this post to avoid charges of being supportive of one or the other country, in my posts. But I repeat that I am also for peace and against war, unless in self-defense, and so in the interests of doing my tiny, tiny bit to promoting peace on the planet, I am putting up this post. From 24 seconds into this video of a meeting between news agencies heads and President Putin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LHaScqvdzU , around 10 mins, published by Russia Insight on 7th June 2019, President Putin is asked by a top man of TASS (English translation of (presumably) Russian words):...

Battle of Stalingrad - 42/43 - WWII Documentary, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jolmJ_DLLPE , around 45 mins, published by WW Documentaries. A transcript snippet from the concluding part of the video, from around 43 mins [Note that the main part of the Axis soldiers in this battle were Nazi German soldiers.]: The battle for Stalingrad lasted more than seven months. It resulted in more than 750,000 Soviet casualties and more than 850,000 from the Axis soldiers. Of the 500,000 civilians who had once populated the city, only 1500 remained. It was the winter of 1943 and while victory in Europe would not be official for more than two years, the inexorable German slide into defeat had begun. The Soviets defended Stalingrad and within 26 months put Berlin under siege. The D-Day invasion turned the tide in the West but if the Soviets had not turned the Nazis back at Stalingrad, the war might have had a very different end. The impact of the Battle of Stalingrad on the course and outco...

When author of post or comment is not mentioned, it should be assumed that it is me (Ravi S. Iyer). Update: To save time, I am usually not providing my FB post links but only contents. I am also not hyperlinking links. So readers will have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link. Interesting "interrogation" (to use Boris Johnson's word), of candidate for British PM, Boris Johnson, by Sophie Ridge of Sky News. Around 20 mins, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPSXegbEutM ================================= Great to see this! My prayers to God for peace between USA and North Korea, and South Korea as well. Video is slightly over 10 minutes and shows President Trump of USA crossing over the border into North Korea (first USA President to do so) and walk a few steps in North Korean territory with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Then they come to South Korean side, meet up with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, and walk int...

HBO's miniseries on Chernobyl has brought back the focus to this horrific 1986 nuclear disaster. Readers may want to see this article: ‘Chernobyl’ Ends Its HBO Run As The Highest Audience Rated TV Series In History, https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2019/06/04/chernobyl-ends-its-hbo-run-as-the-highest-audience-rated-tv-series-in-history/ , 4th June 2019. I have not watched the miniseries yet (as it is not available for free on youtube which is my main video viewing platform). But I recently saw its trailer: Chernobyl (2019) | Official Trailer | HBO, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9APLXM9Ei8 , 2 min. 38 secs. I also recently saw the following documentary, or rather what seems to be part of the documentary, on it: National Geographic Documentary 2014 What Really Happened at Chernobyl Full Documentary HD 1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ4qOMN527s , around 45 mins. Based on what I saw in the HBO trailer, I have some concerns about the HBO miniseries being an over-dram...

From https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/gig-economy : "A gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements. The term "gig" is a slang word meaning "a job for a specified period of time" and is typically used in referring to musicians." The article gives more info. on gig economy, with the work involved in such an economy being referred to as "gig" work/job. I think gig work may be OK for well established professionals but it may not be great for beginners and for those who seek a secure job over decades. I was essentially an independent (so I had a one-man business; in today's labour language I was a hi-tech contract worker) software development consultant and trainer from Mar. 1993 to Aug. 2002, though for most of this period I had a steady arrangement with one customer-company. After Aug. 2002 I retired from commercial wor...