Rats!

You have to hand it to GMail's Webclips.

Just today, it came up with

, a story about famous Beverly Hills cupcake bar Sprinkles (who one hadn't heard of till that point) suing another cupcake bar (they're apparently all the rage in the U.S. now) for copying something in the icing design.

Intrigued by the existance of multiple cupcakes-only places (and famous ones at that), one looked up Sprinkles' website, and found a load of TV interviews where the owner justifies charging US$3.25 for a cupcake. (The cupcakes have even been on Oprah - that's how famous they are).

Phew!

As if stories about $3.25-cupcake-wallahs weren't enough though, Webclips followed-up with this gem an hour later

'Ah!', one thought. 'There go the Chinese again, eating something one wouldn't classify as edible'. Another surprise this time round. It was actually a story about how Indians (Biharis, if you want to get specific) may be eating rats soon, because food is getting costlier.

The perspective-shift one had to between reading the two stories was seriously scary.

One part of the world queueing up for cupcakes that expensive, and the other part unable to afford basic rations.

Can these two events be happening in the same world? The mind boggles!

Gender-selection online ads in India. Issue or non-issue?

One just read about this piece of litigation. The Supreme Court of India issued notices to Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google for violating a law that prohibits the sale or promotion of gender-selection kits in the country.

Now, one is fundamentally against gender selection, and believes any reasonable human being would be against gender-selection, female feoticide, and female infanticide.

However, one wants to give these companies some benefit of doubt here. Here's why:

1. All these companies are sticklers for doing the right thing. They maintain a list of things you cannot advertise on their networks, and stick by it. These aren't exactly shady people willing to lay their grubby hands on every last paisa that comes along. Google's list, for instance, is up here, and worth a look.
2. Also, their terms and conditions state that you can't advertise for anything that's illegal. (eg, Google India T&C here -- states "Customer shall not, and shall not authorize any party to, ... advertise anything illegal or engage in any illegal or fraudulent business practice." Clear enough.)
   

All-in-all, in the interests of fairness, one believes:

• this happened because some operations person on the ground didn't have 'gender-selection kits' on her blacklist, and approved the ads to be shown. And it didn't go on that blacklist because someone probably did the lazy thing, and created their India blacklist by copying that of some other country.
• MS/ Y!/ G would do well to add 'gender-selection kits' to their not-accepted blacklists -- and review those lists completely for other such gaffes, while they're at it.

So: Legally, is this an issue?

Certainly. By allowing such ads to run, these companies have violated the laws of a country they do business in -- something their well-staffed legal departments are there to prevented them from doing.

But: Does my Supreme Court need to get involved?

IMHO, No. This could have been solved by sending a polite "I see you're goofing up legally" letter to Y!/G/MS instead of filing petitions. The justice system of the country is already overburdened, without having to deal with Pesticide-in-soda variety litigation that is more drama and less substance.

Let our tax money be put to better use, guys!

Off to Chamonix!

The Internet is a wonderful place.

Just this morning, random surfing led one to read about the Ultra Trail Tour du Mont Blanc (or UTMB) -- supposedly Europe's toughest marathon, with people running over a 120+ kms of trails circling the Mont Blanc* Massif. Its 2008 edition is happening in a few weeks.

"It'd be interesting to see", one thought. A bit more surfing, and one was deep within their site, reading a page where they were looking for volunteers.

On an impulse, one signed up, and was accepted into their tech team. Ergo, one is getting an insiders view at a sporting evant, and as a nice little bonus, an all-expenses-paid trip to one of the world's poshest ski resorts, Chamonix (in France), from where the UTMB sets off on the 28th.

Can't wait !

* Mont Blanc, or Monte Bianco in Italian, is Europe's highest peak and is 'shared' by the French, the Swiss, and the Italians.