Spammers

I fail to understand some spammers. Why make the effort when you can't/don't describe what you are trying to advertise. I saw this in my office mail account today.

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More republican crap

Excerpts from CIA director Michael Hayden's recent interview.

Al Qaeda is essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the world.....
........Near strategic defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al Qaeda globally -- and here I'm going to use the word 'ideologically,' as a lot of the Islamic world pushes back on their form of Islam..........
........Counter-terrorism successes extend even to the lawless region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where bin Laden is believed to be living...........
.......Despite the optimistic outlook, the Post said Hayden expressed concern that the progress against al Qaeda could be halted or reversed because of what he views as growing complacency and a return to the mind-set that existed before the Sept. 11 attacks.........
.......Our lord, his highness, the great president, George W. Bush has enlightened me in this matter and provided me with all the insight into our successes and future prospects. No other proofs or reports are required to back my claim except my complete faith in Him

Myanmar to now accept all aid workers

It disgusts me to read this news. The Junta have decided to protect their powers in lieu of the lives of potentially millions of people. We sometimes conveniently assume that the military is meant to protect the lives of their countrymen. And what took Ban Ki-moon such a long time to get there?

Although one thing worth appreciating is the pressure that the international community (especially UK and USA) put on Myanmar.

Beer Festival

I had a great time last night at the annual Cambridge Beer Festival. Good beer, good weather and lots of people. I started with Regatta - a light summery beer, not very bitter (I don't like bitter). I found it a bit bland but was generally good for a starter. I then tried out and quite liked the Festival Special Beer from Elgoods brewery (they said that its name will be decided after a competition). Finished off with Sparta from Milton brewery..was good beer as well but don't remember much about it.

Dinosaurs and extinction

There are theories attempting to explain the cause(s) of Dinosaurs' extinction. Popular one of course is the meteorite collision theory. There are others though that at least we Indians will never agree to. Here is one that I found in London Museum of Natural History

We have an allotment!

We have now gotten ourselves an allotment! I should get some photos before we do more work.  

Our current plans..

Restaurants in Cambridge

Here is a review of some of the restaurants in Cambridge that I have been to in the recent past. I hope to keep them updated with time.

Bombay Brasserie
Avoid this one. Terrible food, crap ambiance, average service.

Visited: Q4 2007
Address:


Dojos
I think that this one is a pick and mix kind of restaurant. You choose the sauce and decide whether you want to have it with Rice or Fat noodles or thin noodles. Overall, its quite cheap with decent food. Generally good for takeaways. I especially like the salad rolled up in rice paper and also the Yasai kare gohan/udon.

Grumpy service though and you usually end up sitting bum to bum with somebody from the table behind.

Style: Oriental noodle bar
Visited: 2005, 2006, 2007
Address:


The Rice boat
A good restaurant with authentic food. The menu is very different from the typical Bangladeshi restaurants. Slow service, a bit pricey and can be busy over weekends.

Cuisine: Authentic Indian
Visited: Q4 2006 and Q1 2007
Address:


Wok & Grill
Very Good, clean buffet style Oriental cuisine restaurant. I am not expert in authenticity but this feels great. You can choose the vegetables/fish/meat/poultry along with the sauce and take it to the chefs who will cook it for you in front of your eyes. It usually tends to be busy so over weekends book a table..

Visited: Q1, Q2 and Q3 2007
Address: Trumpington Road


Gardenia (Gardys)
Takeaway shop, not a restaurant. Very good.
I wonder why people eat from those night life vans when Cambridge has one of the best Falafel places that I have ever been to. Lots of choice, good food, well located and modestly priced.

Visited: 2005, 06, 07
Address:


Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Belongs to a chain of restaurants. This restaurant mostly has burgers on the menu along with some salad. The burgers are really nice but the place is quite small. Its also a bit pricey. Try out their recommendations/specials. The service was awful but I have only been there once (at an odd time) so, they might have other staff during weekends.

Visited: Q4 2007
Address: Regent Street


Al Casbah
One of the best restaurants in Cambridge. Very tasty food, not very expensive. Small and crowded.

Take care: No card payments accepted and you are not warned adequately. Get sufficient cash before you start eating.

Visited: Q3 2007
Address: Mill Road

Mac OS X Leopard

I upgraded to Leopard recently and I would say that this is probably the best update that I have seen so far (comparing to Jaguar and Tiger). The interface is so polished and well thought about. The layout of the system (for example network connections) is simple, uncluttered and yet packed with features.



Some of best bits that I have discovered so far are the sharing options that are available. It took me just a couple of clicks to see and control the entire screen of another mac from my mac. It again took me only a couple of clicks to create a computer to computer wireless network (802.11g) and login to another computer to access files. All the computers (including windows based) in the local network appear in the finder of the mac and can be accessed as if its just a drive on my machine. Spotlight search is incredibly fast. I can go on and on about this.

I used Vista for a while and frankly, it feels like a bunch of gimmicks put together with not much regard to intuitiveness.

LoL

A very funny read..

Sporting events this weekend

So much sport to watch this weekend..

Saturday: Rugby world cup final between England and South Africa

Saturday: Cricket T20 between India and Australia

Sunday: F1 last match of the season qualifier on saturday and race on sunday

Karnataka Politics

If you have been following up on the political developments in Karnataka, it won't take long to figure out how immature and undignified politics is in Karnataka (could be extended to the entire country in my opinion).

We have a Chief Minister who is guided by the ex-PM (Why a person who has occupied the PM position goes down to this level is beyond my grasp). Most politicians across all parties either have a criminal record or they have been accused in the past. They have no skills or education whatsoever in administration of state/people. Youngsters like us on the other hand don't care, can't be bothered to enter politics and will not get involved.

The world sees a developing economy at a rate greater than 8%. The reality is that the standard of life, the core principles of living and the adoption of the Gandhian ideologies are at a level so ugly that I just can't think of any words to describe them.

There is no way this is going to change for the better in my lifetime...

Time to be practical?

I read this article on how an astronaut is trying to gather information on how to pray in space.

While I am considerate towards religious sentiments and I believe that every individual has the right to follow his/her religious beliefs and practices, surely, in examples like these, these people have duties towards their countries and the taxpayers who have financed their journey to the rim of our planet and beyond.

One then needs to ask if a line should be drawn somewhere that recognizes the religious sentiments but at the same expects followers to be practical and not to waste much time on such "details".

Of course I am not pissed off

So what if Apple introduced new ipods today? Mine is just as good as the new nano..isn't it? Its only a month old after all..

Nice photography

I happened to hit this page on Flickr. Nice photography, especially the ones in Egypt (look for the Cairo skyline - ancient and new) and the London eye @ night.

Should I buy an iPhone?

I would say, wait for a while. Prices will drop a little, software will mature and more than anything else, you will get to read proper reviews before you spend a lot of money (rather than reviews based on speculations and peanut sized phone specifications).

I would also say, a phone like the iphone is absolutely necessary for the market. It should wake up all these sleeping, terrible phone manufacturers - set a new bar for them to aim for.

Movie reviews

Updated


Pirates Of the Carribean - At World's End
I liked it. Jack Sparrow is cool as ever. I didn't like Kiera Knightley's expressions. She just doesn't seem to know how to act (not that I do but there are certainly better ones out there).

4/5

Oceans 13
Better than the last one (i.e. Oceans 12) but not as good as the first one. Plot and cinematography feel very similar to the first one. The plot is a bit more complex. Al Pacino does it soo well.

Boy, is Brad Pitt looking old or what...Also, no Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones (the producers must have done some cost cutting :) )

4/5

Fantastic Four - Silver Surfer

Cool graphics but way too much importance to the love life of Jessica Alba and the stretchy guy. They are not even romantic, no chemistry...
I remember liking the previous one more.

2.5/5

We have GOD or rather, we lost GOD

As much as I would like to comment more on this, I believe that the root cause of this could be a psychological problem and its not nice to make fun of it.

Times of India reports:

Court quashes man’s plea to be known as 'god'

Mumbai: A man claiming to be “god” and wanting recognition of his “divine status” on Thursday failed to get the judicial endorsement he had sought.

The Bombay High Court rejected 30-year-old Dharmendra Mishra's application, saying it was not in its jurisdiction to respond to his prayers.

“I am Vishnu, Buddha, Christ. I know everything that goes around,” said Mishra, who also pleaded with the court that he should be given the reins of the country and the UN as he was god.

The matter came up before a division bench of acting Chief Justice J N Patel and Justice S C Dharmadhikari, who dismissed Mishra's plea.

Mishra, a resident of Kurla who works in a call centre, claimed in his petition that he had written to President Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterji, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan about his divinity.

He claimed in his petition that his wife is “Laxmi”, and she recollects her previous births. Mishra also told reporters that he was ready to undergo a cyanide test and claimed he would not die.

Programs shot with HD Cameras - worth the price of a HD TV

Wired.com clears up some assumptions that we have made about wildlife programs until now. Apparently, the wildlife hunts where one predator chases its meal is usually not a single act of hunting. Many such hunts by the same species of the predator are stitched together and we end up believing that its the same hunt. You can read more here.

With the introduction of HD Cameras and TVs, this is changing. BBC's upcoming Planet Earth program seems worth watching. An excellent ad for this program, which is on YouTube is embedded below. Watch it..its really nice.

BTW, I don't think buying a HD TV should be high up on the shopping list..yet (for somebody with averagish savings). Prices are bound to go further down due to competition.

Office Open XML vs ODF

Its not breaking news anymore that Microsoft is making an attempt to open up and standardize its document format. One might ask if there are existing standards that Microsoft could adopt or even further develop by interacting with the community. The answer is 'Yes there are' and 'No, Microsoft wants to come up with its own "standard".

I read a well written and detailed article explaining why one should really hope that Microsoft is not succesful in its latest attempt in this area

Buying MS Vista

I saw this on Macrumors forum. I am guessing that Apple will do a new version of their 'I am a Mac and I am a PC' ads along similar lines..

Re-growing cut fingers

Accident Victim says: "I lost a finger in an accident...booo hooo..."

Pig says: "Here, take some extract from my bladder and apply it on your wound. You will get your finger back (at the cost of my life)

Well, apparently this might be possible sometime in the near future. Want to know more? Read this.

Pheromones

I got this from 'How Stuff Works'. Its a very interesting read on Pheromones and its connection with the immune system.

The debated topic of human pheromones still carries some weight in the field of love research. The word "pheromone" comes from the Greek words pherein and hormone, meaning "excitement carrier".

In the animal world, pheromones are individual scent "prints" found in urine or sweat that dictate sexual behavior and attract the opposite sex. They help animals identify each other and choose a mate with an immune system different enough from their own to ensure healthy offspring. They have a special organ in their noses called the vomeronasal organ (VNO) that detects this odorless chemical.

The existence of human pheromones was discovered in 1986 by scientists at the Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and its counterpart in France. They found these chemicals in human sweat. A human VNO has also been found in some, but not all, people. Even if the VNO isn't present in all of us -- and may not be working in those who do have it -- there is still evidence that smell is an important aspect of love (note the booming perfume industry). An experiment was conducted where a group of females smelled the unwashed tee shirts of a group of sweaty males, and each had to select the one to whom she was most "attracted." Just like in the animal world, the majority of the females chose a shirt from the male whose immune system was the most different from their own.

Whats after this life?

This is a question that comes to my mind quite often. A question like this tends to get an answer based on beliefs of the person answering this question. Some say that you will be born again, some say that you will be judged and sent to either heaven or hell while others (like me) tend to believe that its the full stop to another life.

The same question popped in my head today but this time under a totally different circumstance. Our pet dog back home in Bangalore had to be put to a never ending and premature "sleep" today. Sitting here, all I could do was to hope that he slept well and that he is happy?? wherever he is. Well, if I think about this from my "pragmatic" point of view, the latter part of my last statement doesn't make any sense. But at this point in time, I don't want to believe the "pragmatic" myself.

Anyway, the fate of attachments: we know that we will have to let go one day and yet we don't see any point in living without them. Rest In Peace Rubel...you will be missed..

This wierd weather

Its confusing me. One day its freezing with snow, frost and all. The next day, its comfortably cold. Well, if this is my situation, I wonder what our flora and fauna are going through. I can hear some birds thinking, "Should I lay eggs or not?". Some trees cursing, "Dammit, I just spent so much energy into these new leaves and its getting cold again. All this for nothing.."

If any of you are still wondering if climate change is all but just hype, think again. Well, actually, stop thinking and do something about it.

Jobless or what?

Reuters says:

A Hindu wedding ceremony of 18 dogs has been called off in India after hardline religious groups and animal rights activists said it was a mockery of the religion and cruel to the canines, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

The marriage of nine dogs to nine bitches to promote canine culture was expected to take place on Sunday in the northwestern town of Jaipur, the Times of India reported.

But the wedding which, according to Hindu rituals involves sitting in front of a sacred fire and exchanging flower garlands, was canceled after groups including People for Animals (PFA) criticized the event.

The marriage would also have included a procession and a huge feast with a special dance party. Event management company B Positive and the Pink City Canine Club were organizing the spectacle.

"In my opinion, marriage of dogs is cruelty on animals," the newspaper quoted the PFA's chairman Naresh Kadyan as saying.

"People hold the front legs of the dogs against their will and force them to dance, which is cruel. The lights, noise, sound used in these kinds of events also hurt them."

The organizers said they were sorry for hurting people's sentiments but added they still planned to go ahead with the other events, including a beauty pageant for "unmarried dogs."

The money that they spend on such stupidities can be so useful for humans or even animals in need of care and attention.

Merchants of Bollywood

The Merchants of Bollywood is a theatrical performance delivered all around the world by the Merchants of Bollywood team. Its a fictional story based on the real life of Ayesha Merchant, grand daughter of the famous Shantilal Merchant.

The dance performances are splendid even though most of them are borrowed from latest bollywood movies. However, the lack of a strong story line gets obvious during the second half of the show. A story usually should have a placeholder for some dances but in this case it feels as if the dances are put in haphazardly just to show how well they can dance. Its watchable once but for £20, I won't watch it again.

Casino Royale - All fizz, no taste

This James Bond is fit for action but not suitable for delivering dialogues with style. The story itself isn't too bad. I would rate it 2.5/5.

A Self Parking Car built with Lego blocks

It did cause some 'dents' at the end. Nevertheless, amazing achievement

Money first, secure software next (or maybe never)

So, the security software makers such as F-Secure, McAfee, etc are unhappy about Microsoft Vista. In fact, they are so unhappy that they published a one full page ad in Financial Times (www.ft.com) stating that Microsoft Vista poses security risks. Their claim is that a single company like Microsoft cannot be trusted to protect 95% of the Desktop PCs which are out there in the world running Windows OS. Anti-virus software producers such as themselves should be given the opportunity to protect

Microsoft has apparently strengthened the Kernel in Vista. It is now harder (if not impossible) for anybody to fiddle with the Kernel. These changes (for the better in my opinion) hits the Anti-virus software market because Vista would probably not need Anti-virus software, at least not right from the start.

Strange world this. The "protectors" such as McAfee want Microsoft to write up flawed or weak Operating Systems so that there are viruses and worms out there that can exploit these flaws. These "protectors" would then sweep in, at a considerable cost of course, and protect us from these viruses, worms and what not. Its tempting to think that the "protectors" might be the ones creating these viruses in the first place.

One more reason for me to be happy with Mac OS X :) Although this one is a bit bizzare.

USA, the sneaky big brother?

I read this article in www.wired.com. Apparently, the US government is aiming to eavesdrop into any communication lines (anybody's phones, emails, etc) and search any house within the USA without any court approval.

Its not like they haven't been doing it already. Wired.com says

Bush has acknowledged the NSA program monitors Americans' international phone calls and e-mails without court authorization, but says the program only targets communications where one side or the other has suspected terrorist connections

Now which acts of an individual would qualify him/her to be a suspect of terrorism is of course decided by the US government. So, if they have the technology and the resources, they would probably be monitoring everybody (or maybe they already are).

I don't quite care much about it except that if I write an email and send it using GoogleMail, I would like to know if US the Government would have the rights to read it without my permission (because Google is based in USA).

That said, I don't quite know what Scotland Yard and MI5 are doing. Hopefully they will continue to be more sensible and respect our civil rights unlike their American counterparts.

Cartoons on current issue

Time has great cartoons on current issues. You can find them here

Using Science to justify the presence of God

I typed exist into google search (looking for exist xml database) when I happened to notice the third hit: Does God Exist. I thought, umm...interesting. What is this site about? The summary on the google results page said Bimonthly online journal that provides scientific evidence for God's existence. I definitely had to take a look.

Well, the first line claims that the lecturer will try to prove existance of God by using logical, practical and pragmatic proof purely from a scientific point of view. Ok, sounds good, go on then.

The first question that the lecturer tries to answer: What is God? He creates an anology of a human being in 'flatland' where the flatland is a 2 dimensional space. A human being is part of this 2-dimensional space (red flag 1). He then introduces a 3 dimensional sphere into this flatland. Since the human being is in 2d space, he claims that the sphere can only be seen by the human being as a 2d object. If the sphere claims that it is 3d (red flag 2), the human being won't believe it because he/she is not in 3d and he/she does not see things in 3d (red flag 3) and does not understand what 3d is (red flag 4).

There is science here, yes. The science is about all objects having 3 dimentions and we being able to percieve it in 2 or 3 dimensions based on our line of sight. That is pretty much where science ends and personal belief begins.

Red flag 1 - Why would you compare humans and life to 2d? What justifications do you have for that? I don't see any science here.

Red flag 2 - Sphere (aka God) claims that God is 3d. umm.. I haven't heard any such claims :)

Red flag 3 and 4 - Why would humans not be able to see 3d even if they are 2d? Any real scientific justification for that?

In my opinion, whatever the lecturer is talking about is utter bullshit (no offence meant to anybody who agrees with him or believes in what he says. This is just my opinion). He takes the questions that we have, comes up with non-scientific answers and builds an anology in the scientific world to conclude that science can be used to prove God.

I tried to read his "pragmatic, scientific and logical" answers to 'Who created God?' I gave up.

Oh well, another preacher who hasn't quite understood by himself what he wants to preach to others.

If you are interested, you can find these pages here.

Go Zidane....!!!

I have never supported the French team in this world cup. Why? Because my mind feels that there is a lot of arrogance in this team (and its supporters) and I don't particularly appreciate the style of players like Thierry Henry or Franck Ribéry. But there is one person in the team that stands out and its obviously Zinedine Zidane. Players like Ronaldo, Ronaldino, etc can pull of major stunts and passes but for me the class with which Zidane plays is simply unmatchable.

He deserves a good exit from the world of football and he is very close to getting it.

Prison Break

Reuters says:

ATHENS (Reuters) - A helicopter landed in the middle of the high security Athens Korydallos prison, picked up two prisoners and flew away in a Hollywood-style escape that has left Greek police stunned.

A criminal on the run hijacked the helicopter Sunday to get his brother out of prison, police said. Vassilis Paleokostas, 40, who was serving a 25-year sentence for kidnapping and bank robbery, and an Albanian convict escaped.

"The guards thought it was a surprise inspection by ministry officials and did nothing," a police official said.

The helicopter pilot, who said he was forced at gunpoint to undertake the mission, flew the inmates to a nearby cemetery and they made their escape on motorbikes. Greek police have launched a manhunt for the convicts.

Now, why didn't they think about this in the Prison Break Drama Series? Much more easier than having an encrypted tattoo on your body ;)

Read about it from the Reuters webpage

Will I always do the right thing?

I have always believed in myself, that I will choose to do the morally right thing when I have a choice. But of course, I am only human!

I suppose all of us learn more about oneselves from certain situations in life. Our mind realizes some of the qualities that we have developed but weren't completely aware of. One such situation in my life was in Chennai during Sep 2002. I was in Chennai for my UK student visa. It was the time when the only UK Consulate for the southern states of India was in Chennai. I believe there are extension counters in different cities now. Anyway, if I arrived into Chennai by train on wednesday, the 4th of September 2006. I stayed in a hotel which was a short auto ride from the UK consulate. That evening I took an autorickshaw to the consulate, just to know where it was so that I can make an early start the next day. All seemed fine and I don't remember seeing many people around the consulate, possibly a few people standing around. I went back to the hotel and had dinner. All the while, I was remembering my previous painful visit to chennai when all my future plans were squashed by a ruthless Consul who denied me a visa to the US (I now feel that it was actually for my own benefit :) ).

I started early on thursday and reached the consulate by auto. I was shocked! The whole population of chennai seemed to be standing (in a queue) outside one small house, which was the UK consulate. Damn, I was late. Humbly, I joined the end of the queue, quietly looking around and hearing my neighbours who seemed to be from Bangalore, my home town. I heard that some people ahead had been maintaining a list, an unofficial one, sort of a queue management system. Meanwhile, more people were joining the queue behind me. It was becoming uncomfortably evident that none of us, so far behind in the queue, would make it inside the consulate that day. Word spread that the consulate takes in 200 people a day for interviews. I don't know if that number of right but clearly there were more than 200 people ahead of me in the queue. I requested my neighbour to reserve my position in the queue while I was away to get my name entered in that unofficial list - just to make sure I could get a chance the next day. Otherwise, I would have to wait until the next week, which meant going back to Bangalore and then coming again. I had 2 weeks to go before I had to travel to London for the induction day. Looking at the queue, I was not comfortable about getting a visa in time.

I asked around and somebody pointed me to a girl, whom I found to be bold and confident, sitting on the pavement and writing something on a sheet of paper. Many people were around her, asking her some questions. Her answers seemed to be reassuring them. I requested her to have my name in that list she was maintaining. She said that the list was already long enough for the day and had entries for people who were way behind in the queue than herself. It was clear to me that I wouldn't get an interview that day. But I wanted to make sure that I could get into the embassy on friday at least. She suggested that some of us maintain another list. Somebody had to volutneer. I asked for the last position noted down in that peice of paper. There were many people between myself and that last position. More than 200? Maybe not but somewhere close. I didn't even know if 200 was the actual figure for the number of applications accepted per day. 100 seemed logically acceptable. I didn't know my queue position for the next day. I only knew that I wanted to get in.

There were some other people who had some initiative to start a list for friday. None seemed as confident as her. I wanted to take some initiative, I spoke with other people around I felt that there was support for the list. The guys from Bangalore ahead of me in the queue were part of these interested people. There was also another girl who was equally interested in seeing such a list. I suggested to help maintain such a list. Soon, I realized that I would be the one leading, not just helping - something that I didn't ask for to be honest. We started with the list. We wrote down everyone's passport number and name against a position number. There were people unhappy about the idea. Some said that they had a bad experience while waiting for the thursday queue while some others mentioned that anything unofficial is of no use. I told them that it would be ok, that it would work out and that such a list is to their own benefit as they won't have to wait in the queue throughout the night for the next day. They can retire for brief periods for food, loo, sleep, etc. But we all made it clear that the list only gives them opportunity to retire for brief periods without worrying about loosing their position in the queue. I don't know what made me so confident. Was it because I thought that the idea was good and workable? Was I not thinking about different constraints that existed for that list? The main constraint being the unpredictable human behavior? Was I naive? But then, we had no other choice.

The list had around 240 entires. My position was around 140. I was uncomfortable with that position. If this is how I felt, one can imagine the feeling that somebody at position 200 would have. Will they still want to be part of the queue system? Will they not try to jeopardize it? Its something that I didn't think about at that time. Of course, I lacked experience. The consulate would do nothing about it. They said it was not their problem. Anyway, it was noon. We asked everybody to get back at around 4 pm. We had planned to go over the list. It was pure instinct that made me do this. We felt the need to express our control over the queue. We felt the need to show how it will work out the next day.

It was obvious to me that I needed to spend the night on the streets with so many strangers. I was ready to do it. I went to the hotel, checked out and got my suitcase to the consulate. We spent the day talking with other people, mostly talking about the queue system and also our plans once in the UK, the visa interview process, etc. Day was passing by and people who were in the queue for that day were slowing coming out of the consulate. When the day ended, we realized that there was a considerable amout of fall-back from thursday's queue and those people were to stay in the queue for the next day. As a result, my queue position for friday slipped down. The inner-me was questioning often whether the queue list was in my best interest, my consciousness refused to let me think more or do anything about it. The right thing to do, morally, was to continue with the list no matter what. But what about other people? Will they stick to the list even though they realize their chances for Friday? I found out at 4 am next morning. Until then, I was sitting on the pavement with my suitcase, getting bitten by musquitoes. The queue-check at 4 pm went ok. Many people were missing and we expressed our unhappiness at them although there was nothing much we could do except tick against their name later on. The girl who was managing the previous list was waiting in the queue for friday as well. She mentioned that there were many people not on the queue who managed to get in on thursday.

The guys from bangalore ahead in the queue suggested sharing a room for a short sleep and to freshen up for the next day. The cost was a fraction of what I spent for the hotel the previous night. The hotel was dodgy, I was worried about my stuff but the couple of hours of sleep that I caught were quite deep. We got back to the consulate at around 4pm to realize that there was some commotion. I was familiar with many people on my list but somehow I felt that there were many people there who were not on the list. They were talking about not accepting the list and storming the queue. The ones who were on the list were loosing faith. Some people started running towards the starting point of the queue and suddenly everybody started running towards the beginning. The guards called for reinforcements. There was a light police control measure (lathi-charge) which pushed everybody into a new badly formed and badly organized queue. The ones in the list were behind, the ones not on the list were ahead and the ones who were not there during the run-to-the-gate, were very upset when they turned up later. When I went for a short sleep, I left the list with the girl who was supporting the idea. The girl said that she "forgot" the list at her aunt's place where she went to freshen up. The police woudn't even care to look at the list. It was also a sensitive issue because the lathi-charge happened in front of the UK consulate. Perhaps they didn't want it to be printed in the papers the next day. Officials higher up in the chain had turned up. Like any other place in India, the police force seem to think that they are next to God and we, the civilians have no value. Anybody approaching to talk to them were spoken to quite badly.

If my position in the queue before was doubtful, now I was convinced that there would be no way I would get an interview. I asked the girl to get the list from her aunt's place. She didn't seem to show much interest. Maybe because she was behind me in the queue and she knew it was of no use to her? Don't know but I definitely remember not pushing her much for it. She might have had it in her bag after all but I didn't care either. I felt that the inner-me had gained more control over my mind, probably like everyone else and all that it wanted to do was somehow, selfishly get ahead in the queue. So ahead, that I would get an interview. I left the new queue and was roaming around to somehow manage to get in. Some people from thursday's queue had still managed to retain their position even after the run. Some people from our list had managed to get ahead in the queue, possibly by using techniques that I was trying. The other bangalore boys were among them. I asked them if I could join with them. They refused saying they didn't want to jeopardize their positions! I asked the guy behind them if he is ok with me standing in the queue ahead of him. Strange question but he said yes. I remembered him, he was in the list, way behind me. I guess he was happy with my intentions and he decided to let me in, possibly as a gratitude to my efforts? Don't know.

Well, at the end, I got in on Friday, I got my visa with ease. Many people were surprised that I got in on Friday. Many people were unhappy that they didn't. I never spoke to those boys from Bangalore again. But I will always remember the experience. My mind will want to do the morally right thing, I have no doubt about that. Its the inner-me that I am not sure about. The selfish human behaviour, which will devise ways, manipulate situations just to make sure that I survive, that I get what I want. Even in this modern era, the basic principle of life - survival of the fittest, gets applied in so many situations in life, we don't even realize. Its this principle that I fear will make all human beings forget the moral stories being taught to them at every step of their life.

I learnt a lot from the experience, a lot about me, a lot about dealing with people and mainly that most people want to be led by somebody. But they will follow the leader if nothing goes against the basic princple of life.

One of the worst emotions of life

The emotions arising from loss. The loss of a child, a partner, a parent, a sibling, a relative, a friend.... whoever means something to us in life.

Nightmarish! I was really touched by the photos above which were taken in Moscow. It shows the grieving relatives and friends of victims who were buried under a collapsed roof. Courtesty: International Herald Tribune

Count your sheep

Funny one. I saw this at CountYourSheep.com

Well done

Recently, Bangalore City Corporation (or whoever is currently incharge of maintaining the roads) announced that Rs.100 would be paid to anyone reporting a pothole in certain sectors of Bangalore. And what did some Bangaloreans do? Went and dug some potholes!! Cheerio. It happens only in India :)

Did I hear "Fair World Trade"?

America complains that Europe is being partial to Airbus by offering low cost government loans. If its all about fair world trade, what about the huge agricultural subsidy that America offers to its farmers? These subsidies lower the price of agricultural produce. And who suffers the most? Poor farmers in poor countries, in Africa for example, who cannot compete with such low prices.

Truly, America needs to put its house in order before pointing its finger at others.

The renaming craze

Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai, Calcutta to Kolkatta and now Bangalore to Bengaluru - this is just too much. Instead of focussing on infrastructure issues, our Chief Minister decides to rename our city, moving away from a name that is world famous to something that makes no sense, no difference. Most kannadigas call Bangalore as Bengaluru anyway. How does it matter? Why do we have to be fanatical over such silly issues?

Apparently, Mr.Chief Minister consulted "prominent kannada litterateurs" before ordering this change. Did he consult Public Relations experts? Did he care a damn about how famous the name "Bangalore" has become (because of IT ofcourse) and what impact this renaming will have on the city? This government represents the people, the decisions of this government should be based on the choice of the majority of our people. Did he care to ask what the people want?

I grew up spelling Bengaluru as Bangalore and nothing will make me change that. I am from Bangalore, not Bengaluru.

Confidence or Overconfidence?

Being confident with one's thoughts is important. Being overconfident can be disastrous. So, how do you realize where the dividing line is?

I have come across many situations, both at work and while having casual discussions/debates, where I have been really confident with what I believed in or the way I analysed the matter of discussion. Many a times, I have gone wrong. During such situations I often ask myself as to why I was so confident. What should I do in order to avoid facing a potential "foot in the mouth" situation due to this kind of confidence or rather overconfidence?

So, what I am doing wrong? Is it just lack of experience? Or is there a need to improve my reasoning and analysis? Do I need to question every belief of mine no matter how strong it is?

Mar adentro*

A conversation with Tommy reminded me of this movie that I had seen many months ago. I must say that it was one of the best movies I have seen so far. Its based on a very controversial true story of a young man who injures himself while diving into the sea and is paralysed neck down. He then fights with the law to end his life with dignity. Deserves 8.5/10. Highly recommended.



* Translates to 'The Sea Inside'

Asta la Vista

Wonder how BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) on the next release of windows (Windows Vista) looks like?

Ants eat away woman's eye in hospital

REUTERS Says:

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - A woman receiving treatment for diabetes at a state-run hospital in eastern India lost one of her eyes after ants nibbled away at it, officials said on Tuesday.

The patient recovering from a post-surgery infection shrieked for help as the ants attacked her on Sunday night, but nurses told her it was normal to feel pain from the infection.

On Monday, the patient's family saw a gaping hole with swarming ants in it when they lifted the bandage on her left eye.

Authorities of the Sambhunath Hospital in Kolkata said they were probing the incident.

"It's not uncommon for ants to attack diabetic patients. We have set up a committee to investigate the unfortunate incident," hospital superintendent A. Adhikary said.

Scampering rats and stray cats and dogs sharing bed space with patients are not uncommon sights at India's overcrowded state-run hospitals that are used by millions of poor and middle-class people.

I am speechless...or have I not been in touch with reality? Did I hear someone asking why India is still called a "developing nation"?

Cricket crazy India - The 'Chappel' effect

'Chappel' has more or less the same pronunciation as a word in kannada, which means Slippers.

Heartwrenching

On the other side of our border:

This earthquake has changed my life. I had three sisters and two brothers but now I am left with two sisters and no brother.

On October 8 I was at my office in Karachi when my mother called me and said a very strong earthquake had hit Islamabad, northern Pakistan and Kashmir.

That evening, we went to Islamabad and straight to Margala Towers to look for my sister. It was complete mayhem. We were told that our best hope was to contact the local hospitals.

Margala Towers
Our worst nightmare came true in the hospital mortuary. My mother and I spotted my sister's locket around the neck of a dead woman. Her face was disfigured beyond recognition.

When my sister's body was unearthed from the debris, a young child was found holding on to her. This was my 11-month-old nephew who also died but, unlike his mother, his face was unhurt. We recognised him immediately.

By then we had heard nothing from my brother who had gone to Balakot. I rushed there myself.

For the second time in 24 hours, my worst nightmare became a reality. A young man had rescued two bodies from a destroyed car.

My brother had died.

Return to Kashmir
I returned to Kashmir with a relief team.

What I have learned is that my personal loss and grief is nothing to what these people are going through.

My personal loss and grief is nothing to what these people are going through
In the small hours of 23 October we reached Naran. We saw people taking refuge in makeshift tents. Dozens of people were so badly injured that it would have been criminal not to stay and give them treatment.

In Jhelum Valley things were really bad. The doctors in our team told us that at least 17 children needed immediate treatment. But how could we take 17 kids back to Muzaffarabad? We had only just arrived on mules after hours of a very arduous journey.

Mahrukh and her 'lala'
In the group, there was a young girl called Mahrukh. Her father, mother and sister died. She was left with her brother, whom she lovingly referred to as "my lala" (my dear brother).

Children in Muzaffarabad
Her lala was running a very high fever so we decided to take him and 16 other children back with us to Muzaffarabad on the mules. When she saw that we were taking him with us, Mahrukh said to me, "Adnan, this is all I have, please make sure my lala gets well".

The journey was tiring and it rained. Children were getting sicker. Our doctors said they needed to be hospitalised.

But there is a huge gap between what we want and what we have.

The one thing we did not have any control over turned out to be the lives of the children we had taken with us. Seven died either on the way or after reaching the medical camp in Muzaffarabad.

Mahrukh's lala was among those who did not survive.

I was really depressed, I didn't know how I could face Marukh. I failed to save what she said was the only thing she had.

We came here to save lives but we've ended up giving back dead bodies to people who had little anyway.

Unbearable cold
People from all over the world have contacted me after reading my diary and they have been asking me how to help. I tell them only one thing: get here as soon as you can because the clock of death in this region is clicking fast.

This is everyone's moment to save humanity.

It's getting unbearably cold here in tents in Muzaffarabad. We don't have enough warm clothes for the team.

We came here to save lives but we've ended up giving back dead bodies

Mahrukh, whom I had started calling Farhana (the name of my sister who died in Islamabad), developed a very high temperature.

I received an urgent call from a doctor on our team who said Mahrukh's condition was deteriorating fast. We rushed to the hospital.

But now, Mahrukh, that beautiful young girl, is not with us.

Another life is no longer.

How would we feel if this had happened to us? If these people were part of our family?

Its high time we do something. Its time to at least donate...

Care.org
Oxfam
Relief International

source: BBC report

From Dependency to Interdependency

Dependency in any aspect of life can cause so much pain and irritation. I was supposed to get some help with moving into a new house today. In return for that help, I hadn't thought of something that I could offer. Clearly, this is dependency. The helper is at liberty to change his mind as there is nothing that he can gain out of this situation.

The result: The helper won't be able to live up to the promise due to some reasons today. Thats alright as such situations arise and cannot be helped. What makes me unhappy was that the promise was mercilessly forgotten. But then, maybe my expectations are too high?

Surely, I will live, I will help myself out. But, I don't want to forget the lesson to be learnt here. This life can be full of dependencies. One cannot be totally independent no matter how hard he or she tries. Planning backups for such situations is possible but probably not ideal in all situations because the actual problem is the dependency itself. The one who succeeds is the one who learns to convert these dependencies into interdependencies. I could have thought of something to offer to the helper so that he doesn't forget the promise. That would have been equivalent to converting dependency into interdependency.

Thanks to Stephen R. Covey's book: The seven habits of highly successful people . It had all the theoretical explanation. Here is the real life situation.

Retake, Retake, Retake.....

Just got back after a video interview of our project for our company's DVD. My hands are shivering as I type. It took me one hour just to answer 6 very simple, very basic questions. I am so happy that I don't have to face the camera for a living!

A presentation in front of a live audience of 50 people is so easy compared to sitting in front of a camera, which is not live and only 3 other crew members are sitting in front helping you talk, is so darn difficult. I wanted the answers to be perfect. I wanted a retake for every long pause, every hrmmmm, the slightest mis-pronunciation, everything. I have probably never been so self-conscious in my entire life!

No more work for the day! My mind refuses to concentrate on anything.

The fate of rail crashes

I am appalled by the state of Indian Railways. The number of crashes, the lessons learnt from these crashes, the actions taken, everything is so very disappointing. Ofcourse the rail network in India is big but that doesn't mean it can be disastrously managed.

This topic comes to my mind after reading the recent court rulings over the the Hatfield crash in the UK in 2000. 4 people died because of the crash and 150 were injured. The court has now imposed a fine of £13.5 million (~108 Crore/Khokha ;) Rupees) to be paid by the responsible companies on account of negligence. If we compare this response with the one that rail accidents get in India, I get so very annoyed. I probably don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of rail accidents that happen within a 5 year span.

Is anybody still wondering why India is still developing? Are we all doing our duties as citizens of India? I do feel bad that I am sitting here in the lap of a rich country and not doing anything for the country that I was born in.

Is it time we knell the death toll for our State "managed" rail system? Or should we tackle these politicians first?

Clocky

Gauri Nanda, a student at MIT, has come up with this Alarm clock with wheels and wrapped in carpert (as seen in the pic). Apparently, when you hit the snooze button, it runs around the room making sure that you get up (to throw it out of the window). It won her the lg Nobels award.

Good Thinking!

More info here

Chariots of Fire - 2005

This year's charity run was organized to raise money for Children's Hospices in Milton. I took 13.5 minutes to finish the run this year, 80 seconds more than last year. Very Disappointing indeed :( Anyway, our team took nearly 1 hr 10 minutes and stood 108th amongst a total of 400 teams.

The Four Brothers

Worth watching. Sometimes a bit 'hollywood'y but that didn't bother me much. Apparently, its quite similar in story line to 'The sons of Katie Elder'.

A well deserved 7/10.

Ishna - month 8

Pasta recipe (Beginners)

Ingredients:

Required:
1. Pasta shells/spagetti/gnochi/etc..
---quantity is dependent on your stomach size ;)
2. Onions - 1
3. Vegetables (of your choice)
--- recommended ones are: mushrooms, babycorn, peppers(any color ;) ), carrots, peas, asparagus)
4. Oil (olive oil highly recommended)
5. Pasta sauce (commonly available in store)
--- recommended: bolognese, roasted vegetables, pasta sauce with red wine, the ones with basil
ps: not all are suitable for vegetarians.
6. Garlic - either crushed or paste
7. Salt and pepper

Optional but recommended:
- Mozzarella cheese
- Olives
- basil leaves/ powder

Process:
Preparing pasta requires two intial parallel processes ;)

process 1:
Boil enough water (should be twice the amout required to submerge pasta which you will add later). The amount is usually quite substantial.

process 2:
Dice onions, cut 1/2 chillies, chop vegetables of choice, Take some oil in a large pan (large enough to fit all the ingredients) and put it on flame.

process 1: when water is boiling:
Add pasta shells, stir a little, add some salt (around half tea spoon). Bring it back to boil. Its highly important that you watch over the pasta. If it is let to boil for too long, it gets too soft and spoils the dish.

process 2: when oil is hot:
Throw in the diced onions and stir until slightly fried (golden brown). When brown, add garlic and stir. Then add all veggies, stir and let them cook. Check on process 1

process 1: when water is 'just about boiling':
Its very important for pasta shells to be cooked to the right degree. The correct way to check is take a shell out and bite into it. Uncooked pasta shells are whiter/lighter in color compared to cooked ones. When you bite into the shell, did you feel that the pasta was hard to bite into? Look inside the pasta (cross-section) and see if there are traces of uncooked pasta (i.e. parts which are lighter in color).

The correct degree of cooked pasta:
Every pasta cook has choked on this one time or the other. Pasta shells when cooked should be springy; you press on them and release, they jump back (quickly) to their original state. You probably have to be an italian by birth to get it perfect :)

Back to process 1:
When you think pasta shells are cooked, switch off the flame, take a strainer and strain out all the water. Retain only pasta shells, gently shake them, add some oil and shake again and let them remain in the vessel. Go back to process 2.

process 2: (end of parallel processing. its only process 2 from now on)

- When vegetables are cooked, add pasta sauce. How much of pasta sauce? That is by intuition and practice. Add enough to partly (75%, not completely) submerge the vegetables in the pan. Usually a medium sized bottle of pasta sauce should suffice for 3-4 servings worth of pasta. Stir well.

- After stirring, add salt (based on intuition, taste and dietary requirements).

- If you wish to use olives, add them now

- Add the pasta. mix well.

- If you wish to add mozzarella cheese, do so now (add small chunks of it). And stir
(I personally recommend doing this)

- If you wish to use crushed basil. Add it now. I haven't tried basil leaves until now

- If the thickness of the underlying sauce is ideal, remove from flame and serve.

Bon Apettit'e!

* Italians and other perfect pasta makers might not agree with this recipe completely! But this is the closest I have gotten so far.

Collaborative Editing

How many applications are available which provide online real-time multi-user document editing? How many of them are free*? I don't know of anything else other than SubEthaEdit, which is both. It just works! It uses Bonjour and does the job pretty well!

For macs only!

*non-commerical use only

Google to enter the telecomm battlefield

Expect top class innovative communication stuff from Google in future. They have plans to take on the Telecomm industry and guess what? Their plans are to adopt the open standards route for communications (H.323, et. al. maybe?). The battle is bound to get hotter than ever and end users have nothing to loose but only gain!

I am really looking forward to this.

Source: FT

Doggie Li's Unleashed

Unleashed starring Jet Li, Morgan Freeman and others. Don't watch a movie if you don't like to watch it. Doesn't matter if it is "free" :)
Bad movie - came out when it was half way through.

Security issues OS: wasn't this expected?

The amount of time we leave our computers connected to the net is increasing. The scope of things that we can do online is increasing. This is common knowledge now. We stay connected to the internet longer than ever before. What started off with an occassional dial-up (a typical home user) has now reached a stage where it doesn't cost anything to leave our machines connected (or even downloading something off the net all the time). Did Mr. Gates not not expect this while designing Windows XP?

I remember reading stuff from his book "The Road Ahead" where he showed us a kaliedoscope pointed at the future: Optical fibers, huge memory, faster computers, internet everywhere, etc. Someone who sees so much ahead into the future couldn't sense the need for strong security features in an OS? That too when it runs on around 80% of all the computers in the world?

Or is all this just a big trick to keep M$ and other related businesses running? Windows Vista eh? Lets see what trick you got in that hat of yours Mr. Gates. First beta release of Vista (previously looonghorn) shows that nothing radically new has been put in place for security. Many things (graphics, trash levels, etc) are already available in OS X and seemed like they are nicked (whats new about that eh?). Not good!

The Rising - More fiction, less facts

A good movie. Although, most bits don't go well with what historians have to say. Mangal Pandey protested during a parade and tried to shoot himself but was later executed (hurriedly). The arrival of Rangoon regiment, etc. are pure fiction (not to mention Mangal's personal life). The First war of Indian Independence began on 10th may 1857 when soldiers from Meerut revolted.

And its not a ballad.

Mysore - First wireless city in India?

Apparently, its true. Mysore now allows Wi-Fi access from anywhere within the city. It uses 802.11g standards, which cater for a theoretical speed of 54Mbps and has 3(?) stations within the city. At Rs.750 per month and a rate limit of 128 kbps on the end user, I think, is quite good for a start. But, we can expect scalability issues to crop in as soon as the consumer base (100 in total now)increases. Maybe they will switch to 802.11a then? I wouldn't mind trying it but I have major concerns about coverage. 2.4 GHz, I think, is not ideal for WANs and MANs.

Famous quotes

Need I tell you whose quotes these are?

1. 20 marks kosans that is whatever till I covered.
2. Are u understanding what I telling?
3. For me there no class on Friday means for my class
4. Please all of you attendance.
5. Why are u talking to besides people.
6. There is no class for my class on Friday.
7. Where is there ? ( What is that ? )
8. You answers kosans only when I ask yours.
9. U don’t listen to what and all I tell you.
10. What vahkik ????? !!!! ( what loukik ? )
11. Array ‘a’ contains 100 elements . I wants to 100 elements .
12. Next time what answer you got ?
13. First thing u should know this thing , then only u can do that thing.( scolding Manjesh)
14. We come to know that is how much means it requires storage of memory.
15. All that we don’t know that one.
16. How many pograms are u executed in C++.
17. Which is wuch as ……..
18. Rows and columns only you can’t tell that one…
19. Total space pogram requires divided 2 parts.
20. Yesterday he had come it seems, u were already went.
21. Why u are sitting so congested?
22. Instance means that’s whats that meaning.
23. Nesht class , I will check up all of you…( does she mean a physical ???)
24. It returns true if I,j, reggists.
25. Next week u have to take out the print outs what and all u did it.
26. Whatever I done in class , I given for test.
27. If u was silent u could hear.
28. Why u are thinking so?
29. Praveen !!! did it , over ?? How much finished ??
30. Even if u close your face , I can see ( To loukik)
31. All of u understand how I calculated ?
32. After this pogram taking , I will leave.
33. Manjesh what I told u , to find it out the space ( while doing space complexity).
34. I will ask kosans nest class. If u won’t answer I won’t allow u sit in the class.
35. Already mainly solely concentrate on..
36. Do u understanding now ?
37. Forgotten already C++, what u studied ?
38. Unix will take Apsara.
39. OOPS will take NSN.
40. Next we taking another pogram for matrix.
41. What u think yourself.
42. For u no need to come for nest classes for my class.
44. Raghukishan is the last warning , if u talk , I send u out.
Raghu’s response: (Actually in kannada)
hey man ! did she take the attendance ?
45. Meghana , I’ll sit u in 1st bench.
46. your exams has come the dates, are u saw ?
47. What finish all if u say sorry ? ( literally a kannada to English translation)
48. Don’t get confusion.
49. You doesn’t do nothing in class.
50. 1st only you are coming for the late.
51. Now onwards if u come for the late for the class i.e after 10 minutes, I won’t allows you for the class.
52. Do it ( problem) and see it what u will get it the profit for this problem.
53. If u don’t answer kosans I asking , I send u out for the class.
54. All should be upto the silent when he explaining.
55. You be keep quiet.
56. We have to write it as before, before before calling this before one.

Courtesy: Manohar and Rajesh

OS X hacked. Tiger can now be made to run on x86

The developer version of OS X Tiger has been hacked. It can now be made to run on any x86 machine. Apparently, its much much faster than many Apple machines. Although, all peripherals won't work because of driver issues. Step by step instructions to do so can be found here:
http://www.uneasysilence.com/os-x-proven-hacked-and-running-on-an-ordinary-pc/

Well, the instructions to install OS X are so complex and unreliable that many people would prefer to either buy a mac or wait and see if Apple will open up and sell their OS separately. I can only imagine whizkids doing this and I read somewhere that previous versions of OS X were hacked as well.

Border control needs to change

I need to travel to Poland for work. By being an Indian citizen, I automatically belong to the list of citizens who need a visa to visit almost every country on this planet. Due to unreliable visa processing agencies (for Polish visa), I had to go to London myself to get a visa and I can't quantify the trouble that I (and my countrymen) have to go through to get visa for some of these countries. I had to stand in a very illogical queue for a loong time in the hot sun on a working day when I have so many things to do at work. Upon my turn I was told that I will only be given a single-entry visa which holds good only for the planned number of days for the meeting and a single entry only! Having a UK work permit, a long term US visa, a Schengen visa does not provide any advantage either. Its time we re-think on border control. Maybe not for all cases but decisions for visa shouldn't be categorical, rather on a case-by-case basis.

Charlie and the chocolate factory

Hmm...this is a good movie and is quite funny but I think its meant for kids. I liked many dialogues delivered Johny Depp and the 'bad mouthed' grandfather.

Expect genetically modified rice soon

Scientists have worked out how how the 400 million "letters" of rice DNA are arranged. Source: BBC

In future, we can probably expect to see rice grains in fun shapes? hmm...Which one would I go for...a dog, a cat or hmm...a sports car as my rice grain? :) Frankly, I don't like many of these genetically modified vegetables available in the market. They are bigger in size and have deep colors but they don't taste as good as the "virgin" ones.

6 Months and going strong

I got my Apple powerbook in february this year. Many people asked my why I chose mac and also mentioned that they wouldn't spend their money on a product prices mostly as a fashion accessory!

6 months have passed without a single crash, or an OS error, haven't heard of a single virus, no need for an anti-virus software, nothing! I upgraded to Tiger (OS X 10.4) in may. Installation took 40 mins or so (I think) and was as simple as installing any other application! I had to do nothing but click twice.

Unless forced at a gun-point, I won't switch back to any version of windows on any of the laptops/desktops that I might buy in the future. Its a pity I have to be with one at work though :(

Fantastic Four

My rating: 3/10.
My advice: If you have a choice, consider it strongly :)

R.E.M @ Hyde Park

We had been to a concert where R.E.M and others played some real good music couple of weeks ago. The concert was in Hyde park, London and was very well organized. Originally scheduled to be held on the 9th of July, it was postponed because of 7/7 bombing incidents in London. We went by car till the suburbs of London and then took the metro. I experienced some psychological fears but those were far lesser in comparision with what I felt this week when I was in london.

Some of the songs that I liked (in order and only the ones I remember):

* Losing My Religion

* Leaving New York

* Everybody hurts

* Man on the moon (I smiled at this one as I kinda believe the conspiracy theory)

In quest of perfection

Don't you like it when things just work???

And if these things provide you an array of features designed to make the most complex things simple and easy, don't you just love them? I am compiling a list of products (software, hardware, etc), companies and other bits that I have encountered in my life that make me just love them (and say Wow! that is just great) for the near perfect level of engineering/service that they offer.

* Apple and apple products
Apple, I think, deserves to be on the top. The experience that it provides both in terms of hardware and software is just exhilarating. My experiences have been with the Powerbook that I currently have, Mac OS X Tiger and many other bundled software.

* Canon Ixus
Canon cameras, mainly the Ixus range are designed to make better photography simple to achieve. The size, the look, the interface and the results are simply the best.

* Google, gmail, google maps, etc
Google sets a high standard in the things that it does. Gmail has improved mail clients beyond expectations and its still in beta!

Any additions more than welcome.

The perfect cup of tea

How do you prepare a perfect cup of tea? Ofcourse, perfection in this case refers to ones taste. Everyday I use the same quantity of water, the same tea bag, the same amount of sugar (two tea spoons to keep my sweet tooth happy) and the same amount of milk. Looking at it with pride, I walk back to my desk. Some days I finish it off with happiness because it really tastes the way I want it to. Some days (like today) I wear a disgruntled look on my face wondering what went wrong. Why am I facing this terrible torture of having to drink a bad cup of tea? What can I do to ensure a perfect cup of tea when I need it? :(

Edinburgh in summer

Last time I visited Edinburgh was in January 2003. It was just after my first set of exams. Scotland was cold, I didn't want to spend much money and only a few months had passed since I came into the UK. Much has changed since then. Edinburgh is much more prettier in summer and so is the rest of scotland for sure. The photos that I took from my mobile phone don't do justice to this beatiful city though.

Is this summer?

I really wonder. Weather has been all time worse since I came to the UK. We have had a maximum of 2 weeks of decent weather with good sunshine and acceptable temperature since May. And its already JULY!!!!! Apart from being wet (which is usual for UK), its coooold.. max temp is well below 20 and min has dipped to around 10 in the last week.

I miss India.

War of the Worlds (2005)

As there are more than one productions of the original "War of the worlds" book by H. G. Wells, its probably appropriate to associate the movie with the year of production :)

< Blooper_Warning> This blog discusses the storyline in the movie and may be considered by the curious ones as a blooper. (even though the original novel was 'pen'ed back in the 19th century)< /Blooper_Warning>.

I found the story to be fundamentally flawed. The storyline seems rather short and to make it last for 2 hrs, Spielberg has introduced a whole lot of supposedly emotional scenes (wonder if someone from Bollywood was involved ;)). Vast number of tripod like creatures (similar to the ones shown above) were burried underneath the ground millions of years ago. One fine day, lightning strikes and these tripods wake up and begin exterminating earthlings. The question is, how did Aliens know the structure, shape and composition of human beings so many years ago? Even to the extent of knowing that our blood can be used as some sort of fertilizer?? The ending to the movie couldn't have been more abrupt; our microscopic friends come to our rescue and that is the aliens collapse.

I liked the first 45-60 mins and found it to be quite chilling. But then the focus was turned on to Mr. Cruise, his two misbehaving kids and the budding emotional bondage between them. That is when I couldn't take it. And those kids, Oh-My-God!...couple of times during the movie, I felt like slapping them. The younger one screams for everything and the the elder one is very annoying.

The tripod in the image (isn't from the movie), aliens, etc can be seen in the movie but images aren't shown in any of the promos (trying to keep the 100+ yr old suspense I suppose)

A generous 2/5 for the movie. My 2 pence worth opinion is that Spielberg could have focussed on trying to explain the strategy of the aliens and the aliens themselves which was comparitively clearer in the "US is the savior of the world" movie (The Independence day).

The Matrix: A different perspective

I happened to read the following from Don Veto's blogs

I groked matrix reloaded and now got it.

Forget all the philosophy in the movie and the double meanings of names. Think of the matrix and machines in terms of software and rule based algorithms.
I believe, like Morpheus is so fond of saying, that the matrix built by the machines is just a complex adventure game, or Multi User Dimension or MUD.

The first Matrix as told by agent Smith was a perfect world where everyone was happy, everything was right, everything was simple, basically a pointless MUD game, therefore a game you can finish very quickly and gets boring very quickly also. Imagine if that boring easy game was your life and you quickly mastered it? You would lose purpose, hope, and happiness. Everything would be boring and pointless; you probably would get depressed and go insane. That is exactly what happened in the 1st matrix version made by the machines.

The new matrix, or could I say matrices, where more developed and morsuitablele for struggling humans, you had the illusion of difficulty, the struggle to succeed, the struggle to merely survive, a regular hard life which is what everyone in the matrix is experiencing. Now the story of the first matrix was the story of hackers who began to realize that they where living in a MUD/ Matrix, got out of the matrix and mastered the game since they where able to analyze and comprehend the matrix at a very low level.
Neo, the one showed potential to understand the matrix at an extremely low level even bypassing the rules of the game / software / matrix and being able to for instance stop bullets, flying likSupermanan and destroying agents. The MUD/Matrix was not designed for that.

In the Matrix I we are shown the Matrix as the real world and then it is revealed that it is not a real world but a very good simulation. Morpheus and Trinity are still playing by the rules of the game but with great skill, Neo is told that he is the One, meaning the best game player around. Neo starts understanding or believing his skills and doing what was previously thought to be impossible.
In Matrix Reloaded, we see the different game stages, with characters of the Matrix telling them what to do next. As in any MUD, the simulation is good but not good enough to cover all events so you have to guide the players through clues.

Try to think like software and you will understand how the matrix behaves, causality is simply and if - then statement, or a case statement.

Neo is the only One who showed independent thought, blinded by his love for Trinity, to take the door sending him back to the matrix. With that result Neo became the controller of the matrix and managed to stop the probes while he was in the real world. Neo somehow mastered the game and ended up controlling it.

My current conclusion is that many different perspectives of the actual storyline are possible. I would have had to watch the series at least twice or thrice (which I haven't) to come up with my own perspective and I am not completely convinced by the one above. So for me, Matrix is still all about dodging bullets, superfast fighting, walking on walls, flying through space and all the similar lot.

Weekend in Taormina

Took a short break last weekend and went with friends to Taormina in Sicily, Italy. In the list of best places that I have been until now, this one figures on the top! We landed at Palermo on friday, rented a car and drove to Cefalu and then to Giardini-Naxos. Naxos is around 5 Kms from Taormina, one of the best places in Sicily. It is located on top of a hill overlooking the sea, with a cape at the foot of the hill. Lovely beaches, clear water, a very lively town, excellent weather and great food. I am definitely looking forward to going back again.

I couldn't make up my mind about which camera to buy in order to use one during this trip and I am now waiting for photographs from my friends' camera. The photograph above (courtesy University of Messina) is that of Isola Bella, which is located at the foot of Taormina and is a very beautiful nature reserve.

The Smiths are in town

I watched this movie on tuesday and wasn't impressed. Jolie is ofcourse superb and Pitt's acting is good. But the storyline is worth half an hour and has been stretched out into 2 hrs although you don't quite feel it that much. I came out of the theatre thinking "So what was the story?". Too much (unnecessary and unrealistic) violence, where bullets fly everywhere and bad guys get hit first time around but when Jolie and Pitt and firing at each other, even a million shells aren't enough. Oh well, its just a movie! I give it a generous 2.5/5. (2 because of Jolie and .5 because of Pitt's acting ;-))

Balanced Scorecard

A very interesting read from a management point of view.

Which one?

Sony Cybershot DSC L1...

or Canon IXUS50 ?

Back home, we have a Canon IXUS II. No doubt, Canon cameras are great. I saw Praveen's Sony L1 and liked it as well. Can't make up my mind...Sony is cheaper, 4 mpx while Ixus50 is 5 mpx. But I am not very keen on higher mpx as they increase image size. The things that impress me in Ixus50 are the large LCD, DIGIC II processor and various shooting modes.

Carnival De Cuba

We were in London last sunday to take part in the annual Carnival De Cuba on South Bank.

People were dancing salsa, tango, merengue, etc. on the streets...

This kid couldn't resist either...

And thats when my mobile's battery went flat. Well, this happens when I need to use it the most. I really need to charge my mobile phone often :-D. I am quite impressed with the quality of pictures my mobile phone produces although newer ones can do even better I suppose.


We really enjoyed the carnival. Food was cheap and good, different kinds of drinks - strawberry and rum mixed together, mint with some kind of spirit, etc. I would like to go there again.. :-)

Mac will marry Intel as well

Its official. Steve Jobs has spoken about transitions to Intel architecture beginning this year and completing by 2007. Xcode 2.1 will be released today which supports coding on both platforms. The dream is to have one binary which can work on both architectures!!! Interesting... Is this the beginning of 'The End' (for Micro$oft)?

Personally, I don't have any strong opinions for or against this. In fact I feel that this is a very good move by Apple. Apparently, all major releases of Mac OS X for last 5 years were compiled on an x86!

Strawberry fair

With some initial reluctance I finally decided to join my friend and we went to the annual Strawberry fair held in Midsummer Common. This is my second visit to this kinda fair. Last year when I went there, I didn't quite like it mainly because of cleanliness and hygiene issues. Although the name might suggest something related to fruits, its actually nothing to do with strawberries (I think). I browsed through the organizer's website to figure it out but with no luck. So, this overcrowded fair was lined with stalls serving food from various cuisines, clothes and accessories. We found a stall selling fruits and also tender coconuts. If I remember correctly, the last time I had one was when I was in India in december. We tried out these at the cost of £2 each. Although low on quantity, the water was quite sweet. We then got it split into two halves. He made a spoon out of the outer shell in order to have the inner skin ...just like back home :-). I did enjoy the fair this time (more than last year) although it was overcrowded and very dirty.

Star Wars III

Watched this movie on sunday. There have been very rare occassions in my life where I have been totally engrossed in a movie and by its characters. This movie figures in that list. I must admit that I was (and still am) a 'star wars illiterate'. Hope I am not alone :-).

I felt that the storyline was averagish. Infact it kinda reminded me of some bollywood movies where twins get separated at melas (a.k.a carnivals) and they grow up to take revenge against the bad guy... :-).I couldn't hate the characters of Anakin and Chancellor Palpatine more. Visual Effects, I feel, have been better than in any other movie so far.

The walk back home including a refreshal of the movie, the chanting of the music and drawing out the imaginary LightSaber (a.k.a tubelight) accompanied by the low frequency ''ghhhhhheeeeennn'. Coincidentally, this noise is similar to the ones that some fluroscent lights make. Atleast the one in my kitchen does. Wonder where George Lucas gets his ideas from? ;-)

In Detroit

First time in Detroit, the so called the motown or the motor capital of the world (US?). I am here for a week long workshop in Ann Arbor. The flight was not bad. I flew with KLM from London to Amsterdam and then with NWA. Movie-on-demand for economy class, good food but not-so-friendly cabin crew. After arrival, we headed to a National car rental 'farm' and picked up a chevy malibu.

Damn this jet lag. Its 5am and I can't sleep and am hungry. Its all very quiet and am doing some casual browsing when I notice the regular 'click clunk' noises from my powerbook's hard drive. Afraid of loosing my hard drive, I did some googling and discovered to my comfort that this is quite normal on powerbooks (and also other laptops). The culprit for these annoying noises is the Advanced Power Management (APM). To save power, the hard disk heads are parked very often. Infact even between keystrokes and also while the system is idling. The solution for this is an APM Tuner. For G4s, Mr. Eiji Maekawa’s APM Tuner has been much appreciated. After installing it and setting a value to its max, the hard disk became much quieter. However, doing so is not recommened when running on battery power and it needs to be set everytime the system reboots.

More info on APM
http://www.macopinion.com/columns/roadwarrior/02/07/30/
http://www.ehmac.ca/showthread.php?p=208929

Mr. Eiji Maekawa's APM Tuner is no longer available at the original website. The one below is for MAC OS X. Find it here:
http://freespace.kb-hosting.de/smat...ner_X_1_0a2.zip. give the Readme files in the package a good read before starting anything.

Had a friend for dinner

I would be careful with the above words if I were in Germany :-)...A late start to my weekend by getting up at mid-day and then meeting a friend for a cup of tea....no punting unfortunately...this damn weather is great when I have to stay indoors. Ended the eventless day with a dinner with friends, one of them leaving to spain for good. Hope to see some sunlight tomorrow atleast....

Just another weekend???

Well, the temperature here shot up so suddenly! It was freezing last weekend and now its 17deg C??? Had been really waiting for it...I guess the enthusiasm when spring 'springs in' increases with each passing year.

So, the weekend is here and I don't know what I am going to do. Just came back home from the usual friday evening visit to the pub and there is so much household work waiting.. I guess thats what I am going to do over the weekend :-( ....Punting would be nice...For those who do not know what punting is all about, a punt is a long, a very long thin stick with which you push the floor of the river (yes, the river has to be shallow) and move ahead. Steering is done by submerging the tip of the punt at a necessary angle, pointing at the direction that you want to turn. The actual fun is when you are learning to punt. There are many such learners with whom you lock your boat and sometimes one of them falls off. Moreover the river is quite narrow...Its usually great fun...

I am really hungry now...so will start cooking....

My first blog

I can't say that I love to read blogs but interesting blogs are so much fun. Now I definitely want to try blogging to experience this 'new found craze'. So here is my first blog. It comes with a promise to myself that I am going to try to update it as 'regularly' as possible (an abstract promise ;-) ). Now I shall go away and invite people to read my first blog....