My Insights

Now this is what I’m talking about. Yes you read it right … Canada may allow small amounts of marijuana. The decision (bad decision) to smoke marijuana has a serious penalty attached to it as of now. Canada is just decriminalizing the offense and making it a ticketable offense. “possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana, about half an ounce, would become punishable by fines of up to the equivalent of about $290 U.S. for adults and $182 for minors” (from washingtonpost.com). So in effect, if you are found possessing weed, you would get a ticket as opposed to getting arrested and getting a criminal record. This is reasonable as far as I think because I don’t think that possessing or smoking weed is a criminal act … its just bad for you like cigarettes and shouldn’t be done. The government should try to influence the decisions of people through programs and education but by no means should the government penalize ‘cruelly and unusually’ if a person does decide to smoke weed. Even our constitution guards us against cruel and unusual punishment … how is criminalization of marijuana justice then?

Its going to be my first weekend in a long time on which I got to do absolutely nothing. It is relaxing to just sit around, watch some James Bond and then go for a drive in the rain with the dark clouds peeking at you from the moonroof. Its just relaxing. On a side note, it is a good time to test your ABS brakes: the roads are wet and you’re going fast, just slam on them and see if you can make the car skid. So I had some pictures that needed to be developed and so I decide to go to Walmart to get them developed. Now you have to understand that I have never in my life turned in film for developing. So I go upto the desk like a million times to ask stupid questions and then finally I drop the packets in there and guess what? I forgot to take off the receipt from the packets. So I sat there for about 20 minutes (after opening the drop box), going through what seemed like millions of packets and finally found mine. And then I had a good laugh. That was my funny weekend story. Lets see what tomorrow has to offer.

Well, Gokul’s constant efforts to pursuade me into the professional blogging world have bore fruit. I recently started playing around with movabletype, a software that can be used to post and organize entries on a weblog like pranavsharma.com. Yes Gokul, I am already working on a layout and hopefully there should be something concrete within about two weeks. I am also most probably moving the website to hummingbirdhosting.com (still contemplating, 80% done) if Gokul is still willing to share his account. So get ready, cuz the new pranavsharma.com would blow your mind away.

I thought it would be fun … naaah! I am talking about the stupid bartending book that I received in the mail. Apparantly, as of now I have to do a lot of something I hate: memorization. The book is designed to be straight forward and to the point but let me read you a few lines: The paragraph I will talk about is titled ‘Canadian Whisky’. “Guess what country this comes from? If you said Slovakia, you would be wrong. Yes, it comes from Canada and yes, there is no e in the spelling just like scotch whisky. Some of the popular brands include: Crown Royale and Black Velvet.” This is the entire paragraph. Can somebody tell me HOW is this to the point and where the hell did Slovakia come into the picture? Are my customers really going to give a horse’s ass about whether or not there is an ‘e’ in Canadian Whisky? If you wanna say something about the whisky, then say something about how it is brewed or how it is malted and what kind of drinks can be mixed with it. By the way, I can see that there is no ‘e’ in whisky cuz I can read the title you moron. In any case I guess I will have to show some patience with this because the rewards can be very fruitful.

I was wrapping up my History Exam when my friend Matt, who had just exited the room screams … “it’s over! do you realize that?” He was a bit too excited for school to be over. Heck, why not? I know I am, now that I have full time to devote to the things I love doing. Not that I didn’t do the things that I loved last week, its just that the feeling of guilt was so much that I didn’t enjoy doing the things I love doing. All my Exams went well and I am just excited because school is over. I hope all of you reap the fruits of your hard work and for those who are not done yet, hang on, just one more day. Good Luck and have a wonderful summer. Congratulations to the graduates too.

Adolf Hitler, one of the most notorious tyrants in the history of civilization. What is least known about him is the fact that he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease as some of you may know it as is characterised by tremors in certain parts of the body. Hitler’s condition was apparent by the lack of movement in his left arm. Some guy called Dr. Abraham Lieberman studied about 300 hours of videos on Hitler and declared that the first symptom of Hitler’s condition was apparent in 1934 (age 45). Parkinson’s disease not only induces tremors in muscles but can also cloud the patient’s thinking. Around 1940 (age 51) or so, Hitler was diagnosed by his doctors as having Parkinson’s Disease. The disease did not have a cure at that time and the diagnosis meant certain death. Hitler knew that his time had come and in an effort to realize his dream of conquering all of Europe, he rushed into World War II. During the war, Hitler’s condition had worsened and his disease was taking its toll on him. It is pretty much a known fact that the inability of the Germans to respond in time to the 1944 Normandy invasion changed the course of the war and led to the fall of Germany. Many neurologists believe that Hitler had lost the ability to reason and grasp quickly due to his disease and this in part contributed to the downfall of Germany.

Hitler had micrographia, a small, compressed and cramped handwriting characteristic of Parkinson disease. (parkinson.org)

For further reading, see parkinson.org. Please search google for further information.

I tried studying, didn’t work. Somehow I can focus on every freaking thing besides my books. I just develop this splitting headache as soon as I pick up my books. Its like the books are emitting a headache pulse from them. And then in under a minute, I find myself on the couch with the TV on. What is up? Shouldn’t I be on the table behind my books. “Nah Pranav, just watch this show … only 1/2 an hour and you’ll feel much relaxed when you hit the books again.” Its like the devil in me has taken me over. I can’t seem to get it out. And I’ve been sleeping a lot too. Something like 11-12 hours a night. I think I should get back to the books now.