Desi In Toronto

There had been rumblings in the IT industry that the Moore’s Law in the chip industry is now going to be invalid. As most of you know that the Moore’s Law is:

The most popular formulation is of the doubling of the number of transistors on integrated circuits every 18 months. At the end of the 1970s, Moore’s Law became known as the limit for the number of transistors on the most complex chips. However, it is also common to cite Moore’s Law to refer to the rapidly continuing advance in computing power per unit cost, because increase in transistor count is also a rough measure of computer processing power.

But looks like the man was a genius. Or was he plain lucky? Guess we will never know.

Intel Corp. and IBM have announced one of the biggest advances in transistors in four decades, overcoming a frustrating obstacle by ensuring microchips can get even smaller and more powerful.

The breakthrough, achieved via separate research efforts and announced Friday, involves using an exotic new material to make transistors — the tiny switches that are the building blocks of microchips.

The technology involves a layer of material that regulates the flow of electricity through transistors.

“At the transistor level, we haven’t changed the basic materials since the 1960s. So it’s a real big breakthrough,” said Dan Hutcheson, head of VLSI Research, an industry consultancy.

“Moore’s Law was coming to a grinding halt,” he added, referring to the industry maxim laid down by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years.

The result of Moore’s Law has been smaller and faster chips and their spread into a wide array of consumer products that now account for the bulk of the industry’s $250 billion in annual sales.

A rant…..

Another racial incident on TV.

The popular British reality show “Celebrity Big Brother” has had plenty of disputes in the past, but none of them have sparked more of a debate outside the walls of the house than the past week’s events. Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has been seen as a victim of racism in the house after verbal attacks from her house mates.

And that set the ball rolling. Politicians, media, mothers, fathers, children etc. all got involved on how the show is bringing out the racist in the contestants. The Indian TV news channels had nothing else but the row on Big Brother.

But my question is, what’s new?

Racism exists in all societies. I have faced it here in the “multi-culturistic” society of Toronto. My non-white friends have faced it in Toronto and other parts of Canada and USA.

Everyone is a closet racist.

Heck, no one is more racist than an Indian!! Talk to one north Indian about south Indians and you will hear the words “darkies (in Hindi, of course) “at least 10 times in one minute. Ask an Indian about Africans and you will be shocked and surprised to hear the words “Nigger” from the chocolate folks of the “divine” country.

I think there is nothing wrong in showing the true nature of human beings via TV. I abhor reality TV but if a social issue is on display, hell, let it play out cause that’s what we are….stupid, low brow humans. To have the media jump up and down and salivate on a complete non-issue like this is stupid and degrading to their professions (as if they could be “degraded” further!!). This is exactly what an Indian politician and other personalities need. They will say :

“Those westerners have no culture.”

“These are the western values. We should teach them about values.”

In the meantime in India people are dying of hunger, children are being forced in prostitution, wives are being burnt for lack of dowry, poverty is rampant and spreading. No one gives a shit about that news. Our rich celebrity is being bullied in a show (that paid her a retainer) so let us all rally to her defense.

And, oh the 3 year old girl eating garbage in front of our house, hell, at least she is eating. Switch on the TV.

I think this article has it absolutely right.

Claims that Indian actress Shilpa Shetty was bullied and subjected to racist taunts by other contestants made headlines around the world.

More than 40,000 people complained to British media watchdog Ofcom, questions were asked in the House of Commons and protests were held in India.

“This was in danger of being the most boring BB that we’d had in many years – maybe ever,” Lygo told Broadcast magazine. “We were thinking ‘Oh dear – what can we do?’

“And then suddenly … this argument erupted which was taken on by the media and erupted into this extraordinary story.”
……………..

While one minister accused Channel 4 of passing off racism as entertainment, Mr Lygo said it was “fantastic” the show had sparked a debate on racism in Britain.

“Would I prefer it had been raised in the beautifully controlled perfect way of (current affairs program) Dispatches? Yes – but it’s not going to cause this sort of debate,” he said.