Category Archives: Ramblings about this & that!

Just my random thoughts on stuff :)

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December 9, 2009

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The Story of the 3 browsers

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome web browsers are in the league of the most popular web browsers in the world today. It wasn’t long ago when Microsoft enjoyed having the web browser that most Internet users were familiar with, with no real competition in sight for a long period of time. However, with the start of the new millennium, the browsers Opera and Firefox became common. Even though I did install Opera browser once on my laptop, the features just never appealed enough for it to become a ‘favorite’ browser of mine. Based on my browsing experience with the three browsers, I present to you some of my likes and dislikes of the 3 browsers.

1- Internet Explorer:

Like any faithful Windows OS user, Internet Explorer was the browser that started me off on my journey through the world wide web. With the introduction of tabbed browsing in version 7 of the Internet Explorer, browsing became a better experience where I didn’t have to juggle thousands of browser windows to browse through the various links of interest to me.

Likes:
a) Love the fact that IE allows switching between the most recently used tabs when  Ctrl+Tab is used. This is pretty useful at work when I have to continuously switch between two tabs that are rarely be opened in consecutive order of use.
b) Easier to add custom search engines compared to Firefox. Even the most novice users would be able to follow the instructions found here to add search engines for the most commonly searched through or browsed through websites.

Dislikes:
a) Quite slow when compared to Firefox and Google Chrome. I began to notice the differences in speed once I started using Firefox as my choice of browser.
b) Tends to freeze up sometimes when too many tabs are opened, which is a common happenstance for me, mostly at work.

2- Mozilla’s Firefox:

I started using Firefox after starting to see reviews that Firefox is a much better and faster browser compared to IE. And my experience with the said browser did prove that and much more.

Likes:
a) Of course, the ‘faster’ browsing experience is my ultimate favorite with this browser.
b) Experienced more secure  browsing via this browser, i.e. less chance of spyware and adware making its way into my computer and start slowing things down.
c) Even if Firefox is closed unexpectedly or crashes, it restores the tabs that were open at the time of crash or closing upon being reloaded.

Dislikes:
a) I have found that Firefox too tends to freeze up at the most inopportune moments. Makes it cumbersome at moments when I am so deep inside the multiple layers of browsing.
b) If I want to switch between the most recently used tabs, I have to download an add-on which does this for me. I would like the browsing experience much more if external add-ons do not have to be installed to have this rather useful feature that makes the browsing experience a much more fun and easier one.
c) Adding custom search engines might be difficult for users who are not technically savvy.

3- Google’s Chrome:

This is the current default browser that I use on my laptop now. I started using Chrome a few days back when Firefox kept on crashing and making a headache out of my web browsing. I would have to say that Google Chrome is pretty cool and gives a really fast loading time as well.

Likes:
a) I love the loading speed.
b) Love the fact that I don’t have to load Google as my homepage to start searching on my mundane information quests. I just have to type in my query in the address bar and viola I get the search results from the Google Search Engine.
c) Its a cool feature that I have observed on Chrome that even if I am unsure of the web address of a particular website, once I start typing in the address bar, Chrome quickly lists out possible web addresses from which I can choose the website which I am actually trying to load.

Dislikes:
a) There are I guess various developmental bugs in Chrome still in its latest versions, which annoyingly kept me from installing and using Chrome on my work station. I gave up after 2-3 tries. Bummer!

Since I have been using Chrome as my web browser of choice for a very few days, I haven’t come across any other feature that kept bugging me and making me wish if it weren’t so. So for now, I will just Google Chrome my way across the world wide web and guess on the way I will learn about more cool features that would make my browsing experience worth my while.

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December 8, 2009

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Is there any such thing as unbiased journalism?

I have always wondered about this: whether it is possible if ever to have unbiased journalism or reporting within a society. Of course the role of journalists in the democratic society which we are trying to live in today is of vital importance. The responsibility that is laid on the shoulders of news reporters is in no way a small one. They are the ones who should provide the society with vital, reliable and accurate factual information on current events so that the ordinary citizen can form their own opinions on what goes around them. The mission however noble it may seem on paper, is not what actually happens in the real world. No matter how ever much we may try to stir up the idea that unbiased journalism is what goes on in the ‘democratic’ societies today, its the sad truth that this is not what actually happens in reality.

We don’ t have to look much further to see this fact in real life. Here in the Maldives, however young our democracy maybe, it is the inevitable truth that the media in our country reports always in favor of the political party or side to which it favors. In Gayyoom’s presidency, the state run media Television Maldives (TVM) faced never ending accusations of reporting in favor of the 30 year dictatorship in the country. Now that the tables have turned, TVM still faces accusations from now the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and its allies stating that its a propaganda machine of the current government.

However on the other side, we have the private channels such as DhiTV, and God knows how much DhiTV tries to portray the current government as a dictatorship much worse than that of Maumoon’s and a government capable of heinous crimes such as those committed by Adolf Hitler during the World War II. Now mind me, I am all in for constructive criticism of the government as any fool can understand, such criticism or feedback can only in the end benefit the ordinary citizen. But what galls me to no end is the manner in which DhiTV tends to present their news bulletin. News that is supposed to be all about facts, figures and interviews from the sources behind the news item. However, DhiTV tends to present the news items in such a manner that all I can hear at the end of each news item is that so and so happened because of President Mohamed Nasheed or America is facing dollar shortages due to the poor economic policy outlined by the government established by the Maldivian Democratic Party. Ridiculous!

I guess some might point out that with TVM reporting in favor of the government and DhiTV the opposite, things sort of balance and even out in the end, which is not how I see it. Divided as we have become ever since the new government was elected effective 11th November 2008, the vast difference between the reporting styles to which more fuel is added by the rivalry between political parties, tends to create a greater divide amongst the people. Most of the times, it becomes headache to turn on the TV and watch any local news because God knows what arguments it would stir up within the audience.

Even looking a bit farther into the ripe age of democracy that the United States has reached, one can’t help but see the same pattern there too. Fox News which is famous for blatantly criticizing the Obama administration ever since Obama was elected in 2008, has sometimes bordered on the line of ridicule. Words exchanged between the White House and the Fox news channel might seem amusing at times, but the stark reality behind the risible facade is that unbiased journalism is just something written on paper with no evidence to back it up. That democracy and freedom of speech is a big joke if he-said-she-said and ultimately finger pointing and the blame game is all that is left at the end.

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December 6, 2009

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Dressed for work??

Its around 7:45 am in the morning on a Sunday. Most of the people who have to be at work by 8:00 am are rushing and zooming about on their way to work. And lo and behold, there goes the employees who belong to the Ministry of Fashion & Clothing Accessories. Believe me, I am not joking. There goes this parade of young women, barely out of their teens or in their teens, dressed for work, in a pair of low hipped figure hugging jeans, which leaves nothing to the imagination, topped off with a shirt that can barely hold their upper body inside (lord have mercy on those buttons that try so hard not to pop out).

To carry off the look, the hair would have the ‘I just tumbled off the bed after having the best sex of my life’ look together with a couple of gold or silver jewelery on the hands which would give out an eye blinding glare if it ever catches sunlight. To go with this look, from the ears there will dangle earrings the size of a 32″ LCD television. The next thing you know, when these ‘hot’ experts in fashion arrive at work, there will be oooh’s and aaah’s from those of the same group, commenting on their choice of attire to work, and a plan to go for more shopping once work is over at 4:00 pm.

Most of the youngsters today really have no clue on how to respectably dress for work. Its disheartening to see the citizens of the ‘100% Muslim’ country dressed with bare scraps of clothing as if at any moment the onlookers would find themselves seated in an arena with a ramp the size of Majeedhee Magu, and at any minute the young women would start sashaying there way across the ramp.

Even in those countries, whose up and coming trends in fashion that we try and keep up with, have a dress code for work which doesn’t include a healthy view of the receptionists cleavage. Female workers ought to respect their body more than that, rather than giving cheap shows to every one who works with them as well as those who come in contact with them at work.

It wasn’t long ago that I along with a couple of male workers at my workplace got an eye full of our colleague’s butt crack all the way down. Disturbing image I tell ya! But she really had no clue, or maybe she just enjoys the thought of men panting at her backside like dogs in heat.

What a person chooses to wear outside their workplace is of no concern to me, but as professionals who have a duty to carry out, which in no way includes wearing teeny tiny scraps of clothing that barely covers the essentials, we ought to start dressing like professionals too. Maybe those who are hooked on western fashion ought to take a long hard look at what those they follow in countries like the U.S., U.K., Australia etc. chooses as their work attire. I believe that we could really learn something from them!

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December 1, 2009

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Condition of Marriage

Believe it or not, this is something that happens all over the world regardless of religion, culture or belief system. Of course, we bond with our better half for many a reason. Love which is often confused with the lust factor, convenience or the desire to have children  are some of the main reasons why two complete strangers get together and vow to be committed to one another for the rest of their lives.

However, it is of the norm to find the ‘happy couple’ ridden with all sorts of problems and eventually a high majority of them opt for a divorce either amicably or otherwise. When children factor into the equation, this decision becomes a much harder one, especially if both parties involved love their children and want what is the best for them.

So in the end, often when children create hiccups in the divorce paradigm, it is not uncommon to see that couples opt to re-marry and try to work things out, the reason being ‘for the sake of the children involved’. However, in most of these cases, rather than supplying their childhood with good memories that they would always cherish, the well-intentioned deed backfires, leaving the whole family in a constant pool of chaos, heartbreak and pain. Constant bickering between the parents, the continuous blame game which escalates the level of tension at home tends to drive their children away from them, and in the end some of these children do end up committing nefarious deeds which in conclusion means a life lost, that otherwise may have benefited our society in ways we have never imagined.

In other less drastic but equally affected cases, the children grow up knowing that there was no love lost between their parents, and the latent hostility between them, scars the children for life. Often when they embark on their lives with their partners, the insecure feelings inbred in them during their childhood, manifests & rears their ugly head, and in the end their lives too are blackened with the after effects of their parents’ marriage, which was embarked upon, in the hopes of providing their children with the best they can offer.

Parents should understand that, no matter how much they may try to hide the friction of the sort that can breakup a marriage from their children, they are pretty intuitive and pick on even the most subtle signals that show cracks in the perfect facade that their parents try to put up. In the end, such marriages can do more harm than good, and if they really want what is the best for their children, it would be better in the long run if they try to come up with a workable schedule of spending enough quality time with their kids and being there for them whenever the need arises, even though the parents may not stay together, so that the end result is a happier and a more stable family life experience.

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November 23, 2009

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Swine Flu.. Yikes!!

Ever since the news that a citizen of Raa Atoll Inguraidhoo died of the effects of swine flu, I have been in a constant state of ‘panic’ over the lack of awareness amongst ordinary citizens on how rapid the transmission of this virus is, which has effects similar to that of a common cold. Due to its rapid spread throughout the world, risk groups have been identified which include young children and old age people and those who have underlying health conditions which can worsen the effects the H1N1 virus has on our body. And the fact that the person who died had contact with a lot of people during his last few days, few of whom have already been tested positive for H1N1 is quite worrying.

With 12 confirmed cases of the flu in the country, 5 of them still ongoing treatment, the stories of people with high flu visiting the hospitals seem to trickle in. Within such a congested community as ours, prevention of the hike in the number of cases lies within us citizens. We need to be more aware on how this virus transmits, the precautions that we can take and pray that we are spared the effect of this virus which is reported to have mutated to a form that is resistant to the medication that is currently available in the market.

Mass gatherings should be avoided whenever possible, and those who have flu like symptoms should stay at home until the worst is over. It is the nature of us Maldivians to just ride out the cold symptoms with a bunch of Panadol tablets. And even when the cough symptoms persist, with the sound of booming cough bringing tears to the bystanders eyes, even then the policy is to ride the storm out. However, this should not be the case especially when the pilgrims on Hajj would be returning to Male’ within the coming week signaling the start of the Hajj flu season.

Doctors have advised that the best thing we can do now is practice better hygiene, i.e. wash your hands as frequently as possible with soap, preferably a disinfectant soap such as Dettol or Life Bouy, and if one develops flu like symptoms, regardless of the fact that it may or may not be Influenza A, to stay at home and avoid contact with large masses of people and take enough rest so that the body can get on with the job of healing itself.

I was appalled at the thought of the thousands of spectators in the Galolhu Football Stadium on Saturday night, when the exact number of cases of swine flu as well as how the person who died after contracting the disease actually got the virus in the first place remains in a grey area. For now, we should adhere to the advice given out by the health professionals and pray to Allah that our country be spared of this virus that could wipe out a huge chunk of our population if we aren’t careful about it.