[India-hating Time "satirist" Joel Stein might not like this, but Sunday was India's Independence Day! Happy Independence Day, India! These are some schoolchildren performing for the celebration in Bangalore. Pic via AP.]

In Bangalore, India's high-tech capital, two people have been killed and at least nine injured in sychronized bomb blasts. A police commissioner told the AP that the seven grenade-like blasts occurred within minutes of each other across the city. Bangalore is home to several U.S. tech companies' Indian offices, as well as outsourcing firms which do business with the U.S. (Photo by The Hindu)

Microsoft's Bangalore office was stoned yesterday (not the fun "hey guys, hey guys, let's make ads with dinosaur heads and then grab some munchies" way but the "oh shit they're throwing pieces of the landscape at us" way) when the city broke into riots. A Bangalore-born actor's death sparked pandemonium in the streets. But before saying "That's what you get for globalizing," remember the many riots that rocked Silicon Valley in the past century:

¬ Having blogged that Facebook should take the $750 mil and run, dot-com expert John Battelle backtracks when the Harvard Crimson calls. The key to looking prescient: always have two contradictory opinions to point back to. [Harvard Crimson]
¬ Marissa Mayer gets interviewed — in German (or translated, at least). Philipp Lenssen of Google Blogoscoped translates the highlights. Says Google's VP of search: "Nobody ever writes about how we constantly improve our ranking system!" Because it'd be such a riveting story! [Google Blogoscoped]
¬ Kansas City is the new Silicon Valley. [MSNBC]
¬ Wait, Bangalore is the new Silicon Valley. [DNA India]
¬ New York Times Valley correspondent John Markoff (pictured somewhere up there) reads Valleywag. I hope he's commenting as "openwag". [POP! PR Jots]
¬ Things MC Hammer says in his guest post the Google Video Blog: "He [his character in a music video] is willing to do 'all tricks' if she 'speaks it from her lips.' This willingness is possible only if he gets to know her. He seeks commitment, romance and sensitivity." Things Hammer says in the video: "Girl, I need to know your name." Now that is commitment. [Google Video Blog]