SMS tweets

Posted inMedia
About a year ago, I’d announced that I was on Twitter, a social networking site that offers “micro-blogging” by allowing users to post updates that are less than 140 characters long. Twitter originally set a 140-character limit so that “tweets” would be compatible with the SMS messaging. I’d also described how the Twitter experience could be enhanced if our mobile cellular service providers would tie up with Twitter: If B-Mobile, say, were to allow Twitter to recognize their network, then users would be able to “tweet” using SMS’s, and “followers” would be able to receive updates as SMS’s. And…

Social forestry

Posted inNature
Social Forestry Day is good time to reflect on the health of our forests, and to help nurture them by planting trees around our homes, schools, villages, towns, and in barren hillsides. So we – my family, that is – were happy that we had the opportunity to do something different yesterday: we saved a few trees! Yes, I’m being dramatic, I know. What we did do was uproot a few of the smaller trees (small plants actually, especially rhododendron) along the Taba - Langjophakha road and transplant them in front of our house.  The trees were destined to…

Unanimous support

Posted inLegislature
Support for the Royal Monetary Authority Bill was unanimous. Every one of the 66 MPs present in the Parliament today endorsed the Bill. But if the Bill is so popular, why hadn’t the two Houses each passed it on its own? Why was a joint sitting needed? In fact, there were differences. And the most critical one concerned the chairperson of the RMA Board. The RMA Board comprises of seven members – the governor, two deputy governors, and four other members. The governor is appointed by His Majesty the King at the recommendation of the prime minister. The two…

Parliament passes Tobacco Control Bill

Posted inLegislature21 Comments
Yesterday, as expected, the joint sitting of the Parliament passed the Tobacco Control Bill. Support for the Bill was almost unanimous. 61 of the 65 MPs present and voting endorsed the Bill, whereas only 4 of them rejected it. I was in the minority. Tobacco control is a good idea. But the Bill that we just passed is not. The main principle in the Bill does not make sense: that people are permitted to consume tobacco, but that the sale of tobacco products is illegal. And that the sale of tobacco is illegal, but that tobacco consumers are permitted…