C'est La Vie!

Blog Movement!

2010-05-27T15:24:00.000+05:30

Finally, I've moved my Blog to the Wordpress Platform. Hope, you all like it. For now i'm not de-activating this particular account, but all further posts will be now put only on wordpress Account. Let me know what you think about it.

Here's the Permalink to my Wordpress Blog: http://relativeconstant.wordpress.com/

Apple iPad: But Does It Have Wings?

2010-01-28T15:44:00.004+05:30

Were this anyone else, I’d say they had a snowball’s chance in hell of making it, but this is Apple, which likely has a patent on hell snowballs, so let’s chat about the Apple iPad this time.

Acer Chairman J.T. Wang among the many people in the tech world awaiting the debut of Apple's (AAPL) new tablet computer. "I'm eager to see what Apple has done," says Wang, the top executive at Acer, the world's second-largest PC vendor behind Hewlett-Packard. Trust Apple to create Hype for almost everything and have the crowd salivating weeks, even months before the actual release of their Products. So was the case with their latest kid: The iPad.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the company's highly anticipated new tablet device, called the iPad, at a media event in San Francisco. This ultra-thin tablet, a 9.7-inch capacitive, fingerprint-resistant touchscreen display, 0.5 inches thick, weighing at 1.5 lbs. is powered by a 1 GHz processor built by Apple. The device has built-in speakers and a microphone, but no camera, and can get upto 10 hours of battery life when surfing the Web on WiFi. iPad will allow users to surf the web, check email, play games and watch videos, among other things.

The iPad is scheduled to arrive as early as March 2010 and will be available in Different Flavors. The WiFi-only version of the iPad will be available , while the WiFi/3G version will be available in three months. The WiFi-only devices will be sold for $499 for a 16 GB model, $599 for 32 GB and $699 for 64 GB. The 3G models will start from $629 for the 16 GB, $729 for the 32 GB and $829 for 64 GB version. The device is fully unlocked and supports GSM micro-SIM cards.

It doesn't enable traditional wireless voice services, Which means that you'll still need your iPhone to make those Calls. Also,if you're already on a Data Plan for your Iphone there is no way of clubbing it with your iPad Data Plan. You'll have to subscribe to the Pre-Paid Data Plan separately for iPad. Apple and AT&T continue to be attached at the hip, The question here is whether AT&T can handle the additional data load? Its struggle with the data onslaught from iPhone users has been bothersome. For Indian Consumers, the only option they have is to use Home/Office Wireless network for serious surfing as most of the Network Providers are still not on 3G yet. Also the fact, that it runs all iPhone/iTouch Applications, many consider it nothing but an obese iTouch. With Networking Capabilities of course.

The problem for Apple, much like it was for the iPod, which it got done, and Apple TV, which it didn't, is getting access to the media folks who want to watch and play with on the device. there are already Kindle reader Applications available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but then Amazon even doesn't have the perfect content for its very own Kindle. for instance, the always popular Harry Potter books are not on Kindle. Imagine That. Plus, the fact that Apple never likes the idea of anyone else owning any service critical to their device in the first place.

I wouldn’t bet on Apple to fail, though. It does that very seldom, and given this may be Steve Jobs’ swan song product, there likely will be more emphasis on getting it right than on any product that came before it. This thing could actually become an eBook, smartphone, and netbook killer, and if it did, what a swan song for Steve it would be.

Coming of Age: Nexus One. RIP iPhone

2010-01-18T15:07:00.006+05:30

Android and the Nexus One are charging at full steam. If Apple isn’t careful, it could eventually find its cell phone in second place.

OK! Not just me but Cnet UK said it too: iPhone is the worst phone Ever! There. Period.

And now with the Google (and HTC) Nexus One out it's time the Folks at apple get a wee bit concerned. I mean, yeah, iPhone has like Zillions of Apps for almost everything, it doesn't do anyone good if you can't make decent phone calls with it. For all these features that make smart phones live up to their names, the iPhone does a bang-up job. Just don't try to actually make a phone call on one. Here's what Cnet had to say about it and in their own words I Quote:

Say what? iPhone call quality is bad

Call quality on the iPhone is pathetic, and it's mostly because of the tiny speaker. It has to be aligned with your ear canal with the accuracy of a laser-guided ninja doing cataract surgery, or else the volume cuts down to nothing as the sound waves bounce uselessly around your ear shells.

Dropped calls and data gaps

If, like Will Smith in Enemy of the State, you're trying to avoid the eagle eye of Big Brother, the iPhone could be for you. It drops calls, fails to connect and doesn't even ring sometimes -- not for everyone, but more often than any other phone we're currently using.

You can't answer if it doesn't ring

Perhaps the worst of the iPhone's problems is its ability to sit there stealthily and ignore incoming calls. With no ring or vibrate to clue you in, your friends and family are redirected to voice-mail... or just treated to silence. If you're in a two-iPhone family, it can be a case of the deaf leading the mute.

Phone battery life

Battery life is the first casualty of smart-phone development, as the power of 3G, GPS, Wi-Fi and heavy-duty processing sucks the power out of over-miniaturised cells. But the iPhone was the first to really flaunt its slim body while you watched the bars drop almost in front of your eyes. A couple of hours of Google Maps over 3G and you'll be lost in the woods without even the possibility of phoning for help.

Smart Phones: Coming of Age. Enter Nexus One

Here's the real Deal: Google and HTC in collaboration have come up with their own version of the Smart phone - The Nexus One. Call us geeks, but we can't hear the word "Nexus" without thinking of the Utopian dimension in Star Trek where all wishes were fulfilled. So How does Nexus one Stand up against our most popular Defending Champion iPhone?

Heavyweight Champions no more

3Gs weighs 135 grams while the Nexus weighs about 130 grams, no significant difference.

Hardware in your Pocket

The processor of the iPhone works at a clock speed of 600 MHz processor while Nexus One works on the speed of 1 giga Hertz. RAM inside of Apple’s device is about 256 MB in memory and the one of the Nexus is about 512 MB. In front of Nexus one Tech Specs iPhone is just craptastic. Score one for Geeks.

The Art of Networking

Both devices support HSDPA network of the cellular operators, and they support the download speed of 7.2 mega bytes per second. Upload end of the iPhone is about 384 K Bytes and the one of the Nexus is the 2 mega-bit. Score two for Geeks. Yaay!

Look At Me

The iPhone comes with 3.5 inch screen and supports 16 million colors at a resolution of 480×320 pixels. On the other hand Google’s device comes with a screen 3.7-inch with a resolution of 800X480 pixels. The Nexus screen display makes the iPhone pale in comparison.

Got Juice?

On the iPhone, unlike other devices, there is an internal battery that can not be replaced - Compared with the iPhone, Nexus comes with a replacement battery. More importantly: Nexus has a stronger battery, which provides a longer time between charging.

Shoot Me!

Here the cards are clear and open: Nexus five mega-pixels sensor against three mega pixels in the iPhone, the existence of flash compared to the total absence on the iPhone, but also performance wise- Google’s camera obtains images better, more alive and sharp. And also important: Google’s camera device can also shoot at night, where the iPhone can not do even with the third generation of the device.

Bottom line: no surprises. Nexus’s camera wins with his hand on top.

Multi-Tasking and Parallel Parking

Running parallel applications is essential for busy people . Apple has not managed to do it well, or in fact – not at all. Push messages on the screen, are really poor solution for an innovative company like Apple, and operating parallel applications on the device of the iPhone is not possible.

It’s frustrating especially when playing a game and to getting an SMS message that jumps on the screen – and throws you out. Android on the other hand can do that easily, especially with Google’s powerful processor.

Nexus wins this round in a knockout.

In fact, on Mashable the Nexus One Annihilated iPhone in the readers Vote.

So if I hadn't just poured in my Pocket money on the Dinghy N97 I would've been buying myself The Nexus One. After All I'm an Out and Out Google Boy anyway. Well maybe, Nexus Two when it comes around.

The Hoaxes and What people will believe

2009-07-31T12:29:00.004+05:30

Sometimes it is so irritating what people will put on the net and others believe! I've been literally spammed with emails about these two revolutionary expose that should put rest of the world to shame. Let's listen to the hoax first and then let's list down the facts.

But before I'm alleged for plagarism, let me put my credits in line. Thanks to Sufi S. who've put the information on the net and debunking these claims.

Hoax of Mr. G Vaidyaraj and his Diamonds

"Shock for the Nation !!! (Believe it or not) Do you know that India is the richest country in the world! (They don't even get their Grammer right!)

Right now, India is the richest country in the world! Wondering how? It's
really amazing.

It's due to Mr. G Vaidyaraj, who donated all his wealth, about which he
actually did not know. He is a descendent of Raja Krishnadev Raya from Mysore district.

For the last 300 years or so, three stones were worshipped in his house.But nobody tried to see what it was, except this person, who is a lawyer by profession. One day, when there was nobody in his house, he took the stone out to see what it was that they worship.
Due to the dust deposited on it, from many many years, it looked only like a simple stone. But when he touched it, some portion of the stone was cleansed. And he saw a bright ray of light.
He saw something which attracted his attention. And he was amazed when he cleaned all of them.The whole room was filled with light. He discovered they were diamonds of about 4600 carats each.

He informed the Govt. of India and the news is censored with its security (Did These Guys ever leanr English?). It's now deposited in a Swiss Bank. (Why? Indian Banks are not safe Enough?) The cost of single diamond exceeds the GDP of USA + UK. India can buy
virtually 7 developing nations. Even World Bank does not have enough money to buy it. One diamond costs thrice the debt of World Bank over India. One such diamond can buy 10 Bill Gates to you. And the World Bank has proposed the Indian Govt. that it can pay India in Installment if it wishes to do so.
India's GDP is 34.25 billion dollars.
Bill Gates property is 95 billion dollars approximate so that is the way 'nature changes' (Huh?).
Our Prime Minister has refused to sell it. He said it will be sold or mortgaged for credit when we need it. Otherwise right now we have no problems.

You can go through Times of India with a small column on it a week ago (Give me the date if you've really read it!). Star TV presented a 115 min documentary on it about 15 days ago.
The Hindu with its half page article in it. After that it was censored as classified."

Now the Facts:
someone decided to do a little bit of search in internet to find out more about this and typed in "proud to be indian". They found out that this is a mantra that is chanted again and again, as if it took some repetition before you could believe it?

Google said "proud to be indian" has been indexed 14, 300 times.

Not happy with that, they did some cybersearching on G Vaidyaraj and his diamonds. Vaidraj + diamonds yeilded only 976 results. But its amazing to take a look at what they are. Click on the previous link to see the results. While the whole email was pasted virtually everwhere, no one had either proved or disproved the claims mentioned in it.

Now Dig This:
"The cost of single diamond exceeds the GDP of USA + UK"
Well now, here's the thing. The GDP of the USA is $11.75 trilllion. The GDP of the UK is $1.174 trillion. Adding those together you get $12.984 trillion. Now if you divide that by the diamonds weight of 4,600 carats, you get a cost of $2.8 billion PER CARAT. Some time ago someone brought his wife a half carat diamond, and it did not cost him $1.4 billion for it!

Now for some simple arithmatic:

"India can buy virtually 7 developing nations."
Meaningless statement. which developing nations? Tuvalu? Viet Nam?

"Even World Bank does not have enough money to buy it."
Why would they want to? What would be the point?

"One diamond costs thrice the debt of World Bank over India."
Make your mind up! First you say that it's worth $12 trillion, now you are saying they are worth 3 X $42 billion = $126 billion. Way less than $12 trillion we think you'll agree!

"One such diamond can buy 10 Bill Gates to you."
Here you go changing your mind again. Bill Gates is currently worth $43 billion (ish). Which now makes your diamond worth $430 billion.

"And the World Bank has proposed the Indian Govt. that it can pay India in Installment if it wishes to do so."
But why would it want to? What would be the point?

"India's GDP is 34.25 billion dollars."
No it isn't. India's GDP is $568 Billion.

The Hoax of the Indian boy in his 12th standard who disproved Einstein's "Theory of Relativity".

The Story goes as: "Shocked? Read on... Sudarshan Reddy has theoretically proven the existence of a sub-atomic particle, which can travel at speed greater than that of light, thereby challenging one of the fundamental postulates of the 'Theory of Relativity'. In his recent research paper submitted to the Institute of Advanced Physics (IAP) at Trieste (Italy), Sudarshan has proved the existence of a class of sub-atomic particles called leptons', which can travel faster
than light. The international physics community is shocked by this discovery.

Dr.Massimo Martelli, President of the IAP has this to say about the paper submitted by Sudarshan. 'After long, careful and critical analysis, I can confidently say that Sudarshan's re search papers show tremendous leap in our understanding of physics. His investigation mounts up on 'leptons'.

His work builds substantially on the work of Einstein and others in the field of relativity.' When physicists from Princeton University tried to measure Sudarshan's IQ with an IQ-meter (at the American Embassy in Delhi), the meter broke down. Sudarshan, incidentally, is the brother of
Madhu Reddy, the Indian whiz kid who developed an operating system superior to Microsoft Windows. We should all be very proud of these boys."

There is no such thing as the Institute of Advanced Physics in Trieste.
Dr. Massimo Martelli is a Cardiologist, not a Physicist.
There is no such thing as an I.Q. meter.
Sudarshan doesn't exist. Neither does his supposed brother, Madhu.
Anyone who thinks making a superior OS to MS windows is a Wizz, doesn't really know what he's talking about! Hasn't he heard of MAC - OS.
Burst you Bubble? Ces't la Vie!

Blinding Love

2009-02-13T22:34:00.002+05:30

If love had a taste what would it be?

If it had a color what would I see?

My days are dark without the spark

And painted grey in the shades of clay.

What do you feel when it rains outside

To me it's the same without my pride.

I gave it all nothing in return

Feel within the fire burn.

It's not of love, passion or desire

To such a fate how can I retire?

Being someone and no one at all

To such a state when did I fall?

With faltering steps and the empty feeling

With all this time where's the healing?

Being together yet junctions apart

Love is a scythe in my bleeding heart.

I feel not pain the wound is numb

It goes unnoticed with people some.

My smile or tears it did not matter

Vulnerable as glass it had to shatter.

For love is weak but desires strong

Hate befits in the matter long.

Farewell cynics, welcome Valentines

2009-02-13T00:55:00.003+05:30

(Advisory Note: Again -I'm not trying to be an MCP or proving superiority, or blaming the fairer sex. Last year, I read an article from a Girl on Merinews which Pissed me off bad! So I submitted this article too which got published. I thought it all ended there - until someone (surprisingly happens to be a female again) popped up on the grid sharing similar cynical thoughts. Now I am not one of those 'Creative' writers who'll write a new article as a reactive response. So I'm just re-stating what I said the last time. And why not, It was well said then - holds true today too).

Visit the link below to read the original post on Merinews.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=124306&category=Lifestyle>&catID=7

IT IS THE season of love with lovers cooing lovey dovey in each other’s ears on Valentine’s Day. And as they say one can feel ‘love is in the air!’ But hey, wait, I hear someone shout... they exclaim, “love? There’s no loving in Valentine’s Day! It’s all about sex, sleaze and seduction! Its materialism incarnated.” Well, of all other words, the word I expect to hear last was - materialism. Alas! Another black spot on the pink color of Valentine! Sure, there’s a lot of sex and sleaze and one-night stands associated with this wonderful day (and to which some would say, making it all the more wonderful), but materialism?

Maybe yes. But then I wonder which part of our life is not affected by it? Doesn’t the whole world seem to be running behind the American Dollar? People take up jobs more on the basis of pay rather than the content, girls marry guys because “...Oh so what he’s fat and bald? Everyone’s got flaws. But see, he’s an NRI too...”

Open up your eyes people - materialism is everywhere. And no festival, society or place remains unscathed by it. But isolating Valentine’s Day by marking it as a celebration of materialism isn’t the right thing to do.

As for sex, sleaze and seduction – they too are just around the corner. They don’t just burst out revolving on the day of Valentine’s. It’s only on that day the cynics (who probably don’t have a date) decide to notice how appallingly pathetic the world is. Some one mentioned somewhere about the Valentine cards being an invitation for date who fits our definition of attractive. Well first, we don’t date unattractive people. Accept it ladies. And second, it’s a start and you never know to whom a simple date may lead you to – perhaps, your soul mate for life?

Just because people spend hundreds and thousands of dollars (or rupees in our case) doesn’t make it a materialistic issue or having a causal relationship makes the whole society scandalous. The world is changing and so are our lives. Long gone are the days when there used to be just candies in the stockings on Christmas and a birthday cake (only) on your birthdays. Children of the rich now expect PS-2 or XBOX or maybe even the latest model of a cell phone on the shelf. But then again, it’s only a matter of perception that you chose.

Practically thinking, when did a rich kid wait for Christmas for laying his hands on their spoils, even when we look back in time? And the lesser privileged don’t dream of them even on a Christmas. And so holds true for a Valentine’s Day too. It’s about capacity and the capability to which you feel comfortable to spend for the one you love. Period. You cannot persuade Brad Pitt to celebrate Valentine’s Day with just flowers nor can you convince a mere peasant to celebrate Valentine’s Day with anything but flowers. There are still (and trust me, many) who still say it with flowers. And yes, they pay for it (rather be blamed for being materialistic than to be blamed for stealing flowers and ruining your neighbour’s garden). I know what you’re going to say... “Flowers ain’t that bad, it’s the expensive diamonds and the extravagant candle light dinner we’re talking about!” But then listen people; it’s not a choice we guys make. We know that mere flowers and a good sense of humor won’t get us a date.

It’s our lovely ladies who will have to lower their standards and look into our well, ‘un-materialistic’ charming qualities and settle down for flowers. And thanks to Valentine’s Day, our poor farmers in Pune aren’t that poor anymore.

As for those who cry upon our lost cause and drifting away from our culture (aping the West to be more correct) – I have news! Thanks to globalization and our fast adaptation of the West today, we’re what we are becoming a more prosperous India! And if it makes you feel better, you have a choice to look towards and East (Japan, Korea Taiwan, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia…) where they celebrate Valentine’s Day too and say “Hey, we’re successfully aping the East now (pun intended here)!” Or perhaps, you like the conservative countries where Burka is still on vogue and Valentine Day a Taboo?

Have a Lovely, Romantic, Happy and Extravagant Valentine’s Day!

Season of Love

2009-02-11T01:07:00.002+05:30

So St. Valentine's Day is just around the corner - roses and chocolates selling at atrocious prices and still running out of stock, people turning cheesy and buying from a new perfume to entire new wardrobe just for this special occasion. And why not? This is the time to celebrate love. And don't tell me that you don't need a special day to celebrate love - because the likes who've told me this have spent the most for valentine's day already.

But just to be in the spirit, I've decided to act cheesy myself. Being cheesy works - trust me. I've got out of tough spots with my girlfriend by being delicate along with being a romantic idiot at the appropriate time. Key phrase here is Appropriate time.

But enough of this banter - here's my first dedication to this Romantic Festivity:

No matter how cloudy be the night

Or hardy storms the beasts of might,

there is always comfort and solace

within her arms embrace.

Deceit and tricks or the world in vain

longer may be the darkest lane,

With time i have learned to trust

warmth of love and patience just.

The off time hell of moody swings

along with the chaos it brings,

Is just a color or a shade

of this loving angelic maid

with all its glory, it has its downs

But on love - how can I frown?

she stands by you in pain and pleasure

among moments of joy you always treasure.

forsake the sins that I've done - Heaven on Earth I have one.

What's with the vampires?

2009-01-12T22:56:00.003+05:30

I wonder if the Vampires ever considered using Sun screen lotions with SPF 30+ which blocks harmful UV rays, both UV-A and UV-B? Or is it just incorrect advertisement on the part of Cosmetic manufacturers. In fact, here's an idea for a Sun Protection product - "A lotion so effective that even Vampires use it"! And then they could have Endorsements from Vampires like, Edward Cullen, "I first started using this amazing Sun Screen lotion when I got it as a birthday present on my 40th Birthday..."

The Lycans can also endorse the product saying that how soft and silky their fur has become in just seven days that it glows in the moon.

And then the commercial could end with an Offer like "... first 500 hundred callers will also get a free pair of anti- Radiation Sun-glasses from Ray-Ban. Beware of Imitators - It could be hazardous to your er, health"

Of course, Blade won't profit from such commercials since he's already a "Daywalker".

Hasn't the world already has enough theories about mythological creatures like vampires and werewolves that we need authors to come up with new ones every now and then? I mean if I am to be an Avid follower of the Vampire's coven and lover of Dark literature - How do I know which theory to follow. They don't really have an “All you need to know about Vampires” Encyclopedia, and since the volturi clan is being so secretive about protecting the secret, I doubt they would list a visiting centre's address in the phone book.

Like recently I was reading the Twilight saga and here it is - A brand new theory about Vampires. According to author Stephenie Meyer: "Vampires in the Twilight series, possesses superhuman beauty, strength, speed, endurance, and agility. Their scent and voice are enormously seductive".

So much is common with all other vampires from other books. But instead of being burnt in the Sunlight the Vampires here shine like Diamonds when exposed to it. They have Bullet proof skin and they're immune to Silver, Holy Water and don't shrink at the sight of a Cross.

So how do you kill them (Twilight series Vampires)?

The only sure way of doing it is by tearing them into pieces and burning every part of theirs. Which essentially can be done by other fellow creatures, children of the moon a.k.a. werewolves and shape shifting wolves, since humans don't have the strength nor the tools to do it. (Yet, Edward Cullen was able to inject himself with a syringe and take out some of his venom and pump Bella with it). Interesting.

So much for Blade coming around and slicing and dicing them with his impressively sharp sword, silver stakes and ammunition made out of silver nitrate or which emits UV light upon impact. In fact, this puts the very existence of blade in question - Blade is Half human, Half Vampire. But so is Bella Swan's daughter from the book The New Moon. And they're entirely different.

And what's with the Silver nitrate? I mean of all available salts of silver why silver Nitrate always? Why can't we use Silver Oxide instead? The bullets will be virtually maintenance free.

Then the question comes about UV light. Well Sun isn't the only source of UV light - Half of the vampires would be dead the moment they step into a Night club (And they love to visit night clubs). Neon lights and fluorescent tubes are supposed to have the same luminosity as Sun light and it they aren't already cringing away from all the sign boards on the streets, is it Vitamin D then to which they're fatally allergic to?

And how does this Vampire Venom/virus work exactly especially on the physically beautifying part? Every Vampire turns out to be Attractive as hell. Imagine them coming up with another Commercial like "New Anti-ageing treatment - You just don't look young, you stay young!"

Or maybe like "No matter who your parents were and how ugly you were in high School, with this new improved Vampire Formula you'll dazzle in the Sun - literally!!"

So if I am fat and balding, being bitten by a Vampire gives me a well toned body and good long hair? Which again raises the question - Do Vampires need a hair cut?

I still feel sorry for Blade...

Square Root of Three

2008-11-12T01:37:00.004+05:30

This definitely would come under the lame poems category if you sing it to your valentine. But for some reason, I found the poem very interesting and good. Maybe, that's the geek inside me speak (and perhaps the poem was meant to be for geeks only) but then again, it's a well thought - of poem 'arithmatically' if not romantically. Read on...

I’m sure that I will always be

A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,

Why must my three keep out of sight

Beneath the vicious square root sign,

I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,

with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321

Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,

Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,

Together now we multiply

To form a number we prefer,

Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds

With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued

Your love for me has been renewed

--- Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Welcome To Pittsburgh

2008-11-06T22:41:00.002+05:30

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the eight-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571. The city's downtown retains substantial economic influence, ranking at 25th in the nation for jobs within the urban core (and is sixth in job density).
The characteristic shape of downtown is a triangular tract carved by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, where the Ohio River forms. The skyline features 151 high-rise buildings, 446 bridges, two inclined railways, and a pre-revolutionary fortification. Pittsburgh is known colloquially as "The City of Bridges" and "The Steel City" for its many bridges and former steel manufacturing base.
While the city is historically known for its steel industry, today it is largely based on healthcare, education, technology, robotics, fashion, and financial services. The city has made great strides in redeveloping abandonded industrial sites with new housing, shopping and offices, such as the SouthSide Works. While Pittsburgh faced economic troubles in the mid 1970s as the steel industry waned, modern Pittsburgh is economically strong. The housing market is relatively stable despite a national subprime mortgage crisis, and Pittsburgh has added jobs in 2008 even as the national economy is in a significant jobs recession. This positive economic news is in contrast to 30 years ago when Pittsburgh lost its manufacturing base as those jobs moved offshore.
In 2007, Forbes Magazine named Pittsburgh the 10th cleanest city, and in 2008 Forbes listed Pittsburgh as the 13th best city for young professionals to live. The city is consistently ranked high in livability surveys. In 2007, Pittsburgh was named "America's Most Livable City" by Places Rated Almanac.

44th President of the USA

2008-11-06T22:30:00.001+05:30

So finally, after months of campaigns, speeches, speculations, polls, skepticism it came to an end last night - Democrat Barack Obama wrote his name indelibly into the pages of American history on Tuesday, engineering an upheaval to become the country's first Afro-American President-elect in a runaway victory over John McCain. The 72-year-old McCain quickly called his opponent to concede defeat and congratulate his rival in the longest and most costly Presidential campaign in American history.

And since the speculations come to an end - autopsies begin. My News feed is flooded with articles like Why McCain lost or End to the Palin - McCain relationship, 10 reasons why Obama had to win....

C'mon, wasn't the pre-election exciting enough? Can we all now rather worrying about why Obama won and McCain lost, be concerned about how our new president is planning to steer the most powerful democracy in the world out of the troubled times? Stop spamming my inbox with news articles of poll results I already know. Everybody is sharing the same article again and again. My Google reader alone has the article "The US elections--World parties as Obama wins" sent to me by 52 peers as article I should read!

Congratulations Obama for being the 44th President of the USA. We're expecting a lot from you. I do hope you will be able to cap the inflation, stabilize the stock market and get us out of this credit crunch. And the global economy depends on it.

Fallingwater

2008-11-03T20:21:00.003+05:30

Fallingwater is the name of a very special house that is built over a waterfall. Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect, designed the house for his clients, the Kaufmann family. Fallingwater was built between 1936 and 1939. It instantly became famous, and today it is a National Historic Landmark.

Why is it so famous? Think about it! A house that doesn’t even appear to stand on solid ground, but instead stretches out over a 30’ waterfall. It captured everyone’s imagination when it was on the cover of Time magazine in 1938.

Fallingwater was entrusted to The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963 by Edgar Kaufmann, jr. who said, upon its dedication: “As the waterfall of Bear Run needed the house to enter the realm of art, so the joint work of art, Fallingwater in its setting, needed the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to enter a new life of public service…. I believe the Conservancy will give nature, the source, full due, and art, the human response to nature, full respect.”

If you're interested in conserving the place then you can become a Friend of Fallingwater at the level that is most comfortable for you. Beginning at the $100 level, you’ll enjoy a suite of privileges and benefits at Fallingwater and through the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy as well.

You can also make Donations otherwise or you can even sign up as a volunteer if you're passionate about Fallingwater.

And if nothing else, you should make it a point to visit this place at least once. It presents itself beautifully and very differently in every season. With Frozen creek and snow covered landscape in the Winter to the lush green landscape and cool flowing water in the Summers. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy really care about the natural environment and use recyclable products which in a way even moves you to do the same.

Go trek, hike, sketch, paint, click pictures. If you're an outdoor loving person then mark visiting this place in your "... Things to do before I die" list.

Summer Classes for Men

2008-09-06T09:36:00.004+05:30

(This is what my girl sent me the other day...)

Summer Classes for Men at
THE ADULT LEARNING CENTER

REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED
by Friday, August 17th 2008
NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMIT ED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM

Class 1
How To Fill Up The Ice Cube Trays--Step by Step, with Slide Presentation.
Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

Class 2
The Toilet Paper Roll--Does It Change Itself?
Round Table Discussion.
Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.

Class 3
Is It Possible To Urinate Using The Technique Of Lifting The Seat and Avoiding The Floor, Walls and Nearby Bathtub?--Group Practice.
Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 4
Fundamental Differences Between The Laundry Hamper and The Floor--Pictures and Explanatory Graphics.
Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.

Class 5
Dinner Dishes--Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Kitchen Sink?
Examples on Video.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning
at 7:00 PM

Class 6
Loss Of Identity--Losing The Remote To Your Significant Other.
Help Line Support and Support Groups.
Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM

Class 7
Learning How to Find Things--Starting With Looking In the Right Places And Not Turning The House Upside Down While Screaming.
Open Forum
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.

Class 8
Health Watch--Bringing Her Flowers Is Not Harmful To Your Health.
Graphics and Audio Tapes.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 9
Real Men Ask For Directions When Lost--Real Life Testimonials.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined

Class 10
Is It Genetically Impossible To Sit Quietly While She Parallel Parks?
Driving Simulations.
4 weeks, Saturday's noon, 2 hours.

Class 11
Learning to Live--Basic Differences between Mother and Wife.
Online Classes and role-playing
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined

Class 12
How to be the Ideal Shopping Companion
Relaxation Exercises, Meditation and Breathing Techniques.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

Class 13
How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy--Remembering Birthdays, Anniversaries and Other Important Dates and Calling when you’re Going To Be Late.
Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 14
The Stove/Oven--What It Is and How It Is Used.
Live Demonstration.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.

Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.

Happy to Help

2008-08-06T18:13:00.003+05:30

The questions below about Australia are from potential visitors. They were posted on an Australian Tourism Website and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have an excellent sense of humor.

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK).

A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)

A: Depends how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)

A: Sure, it's only three thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Australia? (Sweden)

A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)

A: What did your last slave die of?

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (USA)

A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not... oh forget it. ..... Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA)

A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia? (UK)

A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA)

A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Can I wear high heels in Australia? (UK)

A: You're a British politician, right?

Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany)

A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)

A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees. (USA)

A: It's called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them.

Q: Do you have perfume in Australia? (France)

A: No, WE don't stink.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia? (USA)

A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (France)

A: Only at Christmas.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)

A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it first!

Rate me at Humor-Blogs.com

Daughter's ESP

2008-08-06T15:58:00.002+05:30

A father put his three year old daughter to bed, told her a story and listened to her prayers which she ended by saying "God bless Mommy, God bless daddy, God bless grandma and good-bye grandpa."

The father asked, "Why did you say good-bye grandpa?" The little girl said, "I don't know daddy, it just seemed like the thing to do."

The next day grandpa died.

The father thought it was a strange coincidence.

A few months later the father put the girl to bed and listened to her prayers, which went like this: "God bless Mommy, God Bless daddy and good-bye grandma."

The next day the grandmother died.

Oh my god, thought the father, this kid is in contact with the other side.

Several weeks later when the girl was going to bed the dad heard her say, "God bless Mommy and good-bye daddy."

He practically went into shock. He couldn't sleep all night and got up at the crack of dawn to go to his office. He was nervous as a cat all day, had lunch sent in and watched the clock. He figured if he could get by until midnight he would be okay. He felt safe in the office, so instead of going home at the end of the day. He stayed there, looking at his watch and jumping at every sound. Finally midnight arrived; he breathed a sigh of relief and went home.

When he got home his wife said "I've never seen you work so late, what's the matter?"

He said "I don't want to talk about it; I've just spent the worst day of my life."

She said "You think you had a bad day, you'll never believe what happened HERE.

He asked "What??"

She said "This morning our neighbour James suddenly died.

The Dark Knight – Enlighteningly Dark

2008-07-22T13:47:00.002+05:30

Holy Smoke! Till now I thought that superhero movies are all about action, bloated egos and special effects but not deep. The dark knight which is sequel to the 2005 Batman Begins is without question one of the most demonic, pure incarnations of nightmarish instant classic movie. I am so very over awed by the movie and still so very reeling that I cannot even put my own thoughts together and pen down anything which could be coherent even at the slightest level. I am just putting together below what I’ve heard other people say or write about it. The Dark Knight' offers a glimpse into the darker places within each of us, which might be cathartic for some, but others will simply be afraid. It is a supreme achievement in its genre. It doesn't transcend its comic book origins, but rather faithfully represents them, wholly unembarrassed to deliver its story on its own terms.

It deals with the so-called post 9-11 era and America's response to 9-11 if you want to look at it with a political undertone. Think about it - joker is the ultimate terrorist, all he cares about is destroying order; he doesn’t care about tangible things such as money or gaining power like the other mobsters. He tells us that when he burns huge pile of money in front of the mobsters, he’s introducing us to a different class of villain. That’s what the terrorists did on 9-11; they didn’t attack America because they really wanted to kill a couple thousand of people in the world trade centre or in the Pentagon, but wanted to destroy symbols of our society. They wanted to set off a chain of events, change the world order that they perceived to be unfairly dominated by America. These people and the joker are despicable and deserved to be stopped because killing people is not the way to effect change but the parallels are impossible to miss.

The political undertones are so obvious, Lucious Fox objecting to batman's use of the sonar technology to hack into to all of Gotham's cell phone conversations. Batman stating its only for this short term use, this movie is a social commentary on the patriotic act, use of torture to combat terrorism, and just the entire way the world has gone about attempting to stop the threat of terrorism.

Heath Ledger's Joker self-mutilated danger junkie, misery loves company chaos freak in hellish warpaint may be gone, but will never be forgotten. The oft-mentioned violence is not of one of gore, but more of the heart—and thus potentially more terrifying.

The main thing is that it is a very dark movie. So dark that it binds you to your seat even when the show’s over.

IN MEMORY OF GEORGE CARLIN

2008-07-14T19:01:00.002+05:30

You have probably read these "rules" before, but when I received them today I decided to put them here as a tribute to a man that I thought was a one of a kind, rare person. He was no "saint" - he never professed to be one. He just always told it "like it was".

GEORGE CARLIN'S NEW RULES FOR 2008

New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings... Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days --- mowing my lawn.

New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Lobster?

New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keep sakes of your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: Do you have two of them? Good! We're done.

New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There’s a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket... water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a 'decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet,' Ooooh, you're a huge asshole.

New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering My PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you Spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to 'beef with broccoli.' The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN Recently televised the U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait, they're already doing that. It's called 'The Howard Stern Show.'

New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&Ms. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.

New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what’s playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.

New Rule: And this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, Dude. I just want to wash my hands.

New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear '27 months.' 'He's two' will do just fine. He's not a cheese. . . . And by the way, I didn't really care in the first place.

New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than Minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, 'Do you want fries with that?'

Rest in Peace, George.

iPhone3G – Phone, iPod, Internet and More

2008-07-10T16:46:00.002+05:30

Go ahead and get yourself one. Seriously! I mean it.

You have to admit (I too have to admit it and I do so vehemently and irrespective-of-my-previous-post) iPhone definitely has the Wow factor!

And no matter what the Non-iPhone-Cell-Phone-User community (myself included) has to say or crib about its limitation (read my previous post), people will buy it, no matter what! Most of them will buy it just for the Zing, and I hate it. Like one friend of mine who has the 1^st Generation iPhone uses it to simply text and call. He eternally hopes that his flashing of his iPhone in clubs will get him the much needed attention from the fairer sex. Get real dude! On other thoughts, let me know if it works! I can do with some female attention myself. It might be the motivation which may drive me to buy an iPhone.

Then there are those (who command a lot of respect from me in a way) who probably have dissected their iPhone ‘n’ number of times and put it back again and have uncovered features which Apple Developers wouldn’t know themselves existed (few of them helped me list down the limitations of the first Gen iPhone). Like the one who’s been desperately trying since the dawn of iPhone to somehow get some crappy local GPS software to work with his iPhone. Good luck pal!

So why Am I writing this post?

Well, one to let those know who’ve taken a hint from my earlier post that iPhone sucks! I admit – it doesn’t suck that bad and you never know what the next-Gen iPhone has to offer (on the limitation side yet!). Go ahead and buy one if you want to, personally I don’t care. Apple isn’t going to pay commission to me for every iPhone they sell nor will they stop me from blogging against it. They perhaps (if ever they visit my blog) would know that hardly anyone actually reads the stuff I put here.

So why buy the iPhone? I’ll stick to my earlier post and still say that don’t get the 1^st Gen iPhone even if someone gives it to you for free. I won’t - I’m kinda’ idealistic that way. It’s not worth the trouble of moving your contacts, mails, settings etc to a new phone and then frustrating yourself with it later. And I’ll be smirking and saying “I told you so…”

Okay, coming back to point again, why buy the new iPhone?

Well, for starters, it’s half the price (at least with the AT&T plan). I’m not sure if it’s available without a plan in the States, but it sure is available in other countries but with a heavy’ premium’ price (of course)! Then it’s twice as fast because it’s 3G. Or at least that’s what they (at Apple) say. My Nokia N70 is also supposedly 3G and it’s still the slowest phone I’ve ever owned. Anyway, so no more clicking on your contact list, going for a cup of coffee and coming back hoping that it would’ve opened. I thought of putting some technical details about the speed test but that would be a bore and as if this blog isn’t already such a drag.

Also, they’re kind of clairvoyant – they fixed quite a few of the limitations which I cribbed about in my previous post (even before I posted it) :D

You now do have a text box search support in the contacts along with the older cute index thingey. You can now select MULTIPLE items at least in the mailbox and do mass move and delete.

They have a better (than before) email attachment support. You can now even open power point files in your mails. They’ve thrown in a scientific calculator and complete dictionary sets for multiple languages (I care only for the English one still).

They’ve added push email, calendar and contacts from work if they’re on a Microsoft exchange server. Lookey here, Apple’s endorsed Microsoft. Who says, MS sucks. Well I do, but then that’s beside the point. So with these features and plus a few more like enterprise-grade networking capabilities for Cisco IPSec VPN, WPA2 and even 802.1x authentication. So if you own a blackberry you might ‘just’ think of trading it in for an iPhone.

Then they’ve got GPS as a standard application and you can access the App Store (applications for iPhone from Apple) through your iPhone. And if you’re ready to pay and subscribe to MobileMe, you’ve got your synchronizing problems solved. Well, I personally think MobileMe will be a really cool feature, especially if you're a geek like me who likes to tow a dozen of devices everywhere you go.

If you’re still speculating whether to buy an iPhone (rudely ignoring whatever I’ve already said) then you might want to consider Samsung Instinct too. It comes with a plan from Sprint in the States for about $129 USD (even when iPhone was priced at $399 and above). It’s quite a competition to the iPhone as well as to the LG Vu.

Otherwise, go ahead and buy one if you want to. With the price cut down, one can venture into the unknown. You know what - I might even go ahead and pick one too for myself. If nothing else, I can still try flashing it around in a club trying to get some female attention.

PS: This is a very ‘iPhone’ cool link I found. The very first 10 people to own a 2^nd Gen iPhone in the world. Check ‘em out!

The Very First iPhone 3G users in the world!

Why I hate iPhone

2008-07-09T19:09:00.004+05:30

I love Apple. Seriously. I in fact, would endorse and with quite a bit of pride too, different products Apple has to offer. Take for instance, I prefer using Apple Safari on my Windows box and not IE or firefox; iPod is a must when I workout (Fitness One plays pathetic songs) or when I am on those long haul, you-can-do-nothing- while-on-board, international flights. And I was quite ecstatic when I heard the first time iPhone’s being released.

Why? Well, for starts it’s from apple; then there are those cool ads you see on the net and on the TV as how and what all you can do with your iPhone; then the fact that I am a total complete gizmo freak that too in a typical ‘nerd’ kind of way. (I have like a dozen or more cell phones; My PC is jam-packed so badly with peripherals that most of them just hang out of the box with a mesh of wires so tangled up that I would’ve have to cut through half of them if ever I have to move it to someplace else… you get the idea).

So my friends were surprised when they saw me coming out of an apple showroom without an iPhone. And while iPhones are still a rage, I was surprised to find that the iPhone is a lot more limited than I expected. And I’m not talking about lack of wireless broadband support, either. Perhaps, I should’ve put this post earlier. You never know – it might’ve saved someone’s green-backs.

It turns out that, despite Apple’s claim that “This is not a watered down version of the Internet” on the iPhone, it is a watered-down version. I don’t even need to get overly technical. The iPhone doesn’t support Flash. Seriously? No Flash support? I can't live off YouTube videos. Even when using YouTube, you can’t save the clip on the phone. Its support for JavaScript is limited to five seconds. It doesn’t handle frames well. A lot of Web sites won’t display properly, or even well, on the iPhone.

Then why can't you select just a specific bit of the text? Why delete all those characters?

I am browsing the web or perhaps, visit the iPhone Wallpaper gallery. I find my image I want. And then I... wait, I can't download it? I can't choose to set it as wallpaper? I have to go to my PC, browse to the URL again, download the photo, purchase and install iLife, import the photo into iPhoto, set it to sync with the iPhone, open up iTunes, hit sync, then browse to it on my iPhone and set as wallpaper?

Let’s talk about the camera now shall we? My girl friend’s ancient Sony Ericson k750i has better quality than the iPhone’s 2 MP camera! There are absolutely no options available – No zoom, no exposure and no resolution control. I take a little pride in my photography skills but c’mon, any movement and you get a blurry image. No video capture? That does it!

How we all love texting! So here are some notes on iPhone’s SMS incapability. No MMS - which century are we living in btw? You can't forward the SMS; can’t call chat-buddy from SMS view - WTF? Can't send phone numbers via SMS; when receiving phone numbers/contacts, e.g. VCARD, you can't save them to contacts; crashes if receives alphanumeric SMS sender; can't click on MMS notification to go to Safari to view.

Other not so nice limitations

You can't select multiple ANYTHING, which becomes most prevalent in Mail. So if you have 10 messages you want to delete, you have to individually delete every one of them.

No Contextual Menus - Where are they? You'd think holding your finger on an item for a couple seconds would bring up a contextual menu with items like Delete, Copy, Move, etc depending on what you had selected. These menus are also not available via a button anywhere - they just aren't there. This brings me to the lack of copy and paste functionality.

There is no way to save files which are attachments in your Mail, nor from Safari.

They want Business users? I am a power user and I can do with a text box kind of search which can find names, company, categories, anything?

They give you a Bluetooth headset, a f***ing expensive Bluetooth enabled phone and no voice Dial? Bluetooth stereo headsets work perfectly well when you are on a call. But due to a redundant Bluetooth stack, you cannot stream your music. What good is Bluetooth then? You are not calling people all the time, but you are listening to music all the time.

I agree that iPhone is still quite a buy due to the wow factor, but I guess, I still would want to stick to my O2 XDA II for some more time.

The Beer Prayer

2008-07-08T17:36:00.003+05:30

(Found it floating on the web and had to put it here.)

Our Lager,

Which art in barrels

Hallowed be thy drink.

Thy will be drunk,

I will be drunk,

At home as in the tavern.

Give us this day our foamy head

and forgive us our spillages

as we forgive those that spill against us

and lead us not into incarceration.

But deliver us from hang-overs,

for thine is the beer,

The bitter and the lager

forever and ever

Barmen!

The inevitable 'Change'

2008-06-30T15:22:00.002+05:30

They say that change is the only constant (and hence the name of my blog). I’ve heard so many times people exclaim that they need change to happen. But do we really like change? I think, being creatures of habit, we of all hate changes. We are in fact, are scared of change, when our existence depends on it.

Though we loathe at the idea of being governed by habits we humans like any other nature’s creation are a creature of habit. Have you ever noticed that we always will keep our wallets or keys in the same place every day, or take the same route to work or home? Even at work, we have predictable patterns and preferences of how we begin our day. Some like to read the news the first thing, while some would check their mails. Some would rearrange their stuff, while few will head straight for the coffee machine.

Of course, there are things we do change. Like our clothes every day for hygiene purposes or cell phones from time to time. But that’s either that our previous one is mal functioning, or it doesn’t have the features you want or maybe it’s not hip enough. Maybe, if you’re like me, you’ll change it just to break the monotony of using the same device. But these changes are only to our peripheral being or towards our superficial interaction with the society. We all hate to come out of our comfort zone otherwise.

History as we know has often showed us that the ones who don’t change are the ones who face extinction. And this reason alone drives us to accept the change, whether we like it or not. Like in 2000, when a lot of Software engineers went out of jobs because, they were not equipped well enough to handle the new technologies. Or you pick up a new process; introduce new schemes to stay a step ahead of your competitors.

Yet, there are those who in spite of the changing times survived being what they are. Consider the species like the cockroach and many others from the reptilian family. They adapted to the change but did not go through radical metamorphosis as many others. The key word here and to which I want to emphasize is ‘Adaptation’.

Adaptation by definition is: “to make suitable to requirements or conditions; adjust or modify fittingly”. Ninety nine times to one, a change can be predicted. Rarely did you hit an inflection point without having a hunch or visibility into it. Whether you have enough time to adapt to it then becomes the point in question. And that’s what we’ll talk about in the next post.

'Touchy feely’:: article by Chetan Bhagat

2008-06-13T13:56:00.004+05:30

(Well, I have seen this article circulating for past couple of months until it recently bumped in my inbox again. Since, I do not have anything better to put up - I decided to post this today! One word of caution - people only claim that this has been written by chetan Bhagat... No where did I find a proof that it was actually written by him. But still, it's a decent read)

I remember the incident - I was in a restaurant and one girl in our group
was especially charming. So I, like any other male, tried to put on a
wooing act. You know the routine, a nanosecond extra eye contact, a few
more nods to whatever she says, and attempts to throw in those one-liners
which you know you wouldn't if she weren't there. And it seemed to be
working. She leaned forward when she spoke to me, and every now and again,
we'd have a small conversation of our own, separate from our group. She
laughed at my approach with the fork and knife, and I teased her about her
hair band, which had little teddy bears. Yes, we were flirting. A while
later, she asked me the question what did I study? I said engineering,
without any particular meaning attached to it. And then like a cold metal
rail, she went stiff.

My jokes weren't funny any more. Her eyes wandered to everyone else.

What was it?

Why? Why? Why?

Two days later, I still couldn't get over my great start that had
dissipated listlessly upon mentioning my education. Engineer? What was
wrong with that? My mom had wanted me to become one since I was five! I had
to call her. 'So what happened to you that day, hot and cold, missie?' And
then she said, trying to be nice, 'Well, it's just that I am skeptical
about engineers as friends. I don't know, they can be, you know, very
logical and everything...not very touchy feely'.

Not touchy-feely. Now what the heck did that mean? Well, she obviously did
not mean it literally, since girls don't really suggest that sort of stuff,
certainly not in the first meeting across the table. I guessed it was
something to do with feelings, sort of having an emotional side. The
stereotype being, the nerdy guy who sees relationships like laws of
physics, to whom love is just a bunch of chemicals going crazy in your
brain, and getting to know a person means obtaining their bio-data.

It's time to set the record straight.

It's true that a lot of what engineers study (and they end up studying
quite a lot), has to do with formulaes, laws and numbers. No matter how
hard we try, some of the vocabulary we read all day gets into our language.
So when my mother said, 'Are you getting married next year or not?' I was
liable to say, 'Well, at this moment in time, the probability is relatively
low,' and felt it was completely normal to say it. And when my sister went
sari shopping and couldn't explain the shade she wanted, I told the
shopkeeper the percentages of pink, orange and red in the sari.

Yet, ladies, I don't think we're bad at relationships, love and getting to
know people. We too, can be touchy-feely, as that is part of our education
as well. The reason for this is that most engineering students live in the
this 'touchy-feely' thing. Relationships. Imagine eating, sleeping,
brushing your teeth, bathing (ok rarely this one) and partying with the
same people all the time. So, when you are kicking that bathroom door down
for the tenth time, or when you stand in line for 'gulab-jamuns' in the
mess, and when you are done with the vodka bottle and sharing all your
secrets, you know it is good practice. Yes, hostels maketh the man.

So, next time you are in a flirtatious situation with the techno types, go
on, flirt a bit more. Of course, I am biased towards my kind, but if you
find the conversation turning too geeky, just ask them, 'So, what were your
hostel days like?' and chances are, you'll see a heart behind the
calculator. Coming back to my missie, I thought of what would make me win
her over. Flowers... too cheesy. Music... don't know her taste (nor trust
mine). Teddy bears... don't even go there.

Desperate for some good lines, I just turned it right back at her. 'Yes, I
know what you are saying about engineers. The thing is, unless people with
depth like you start hanging out with us, we won't get any better. Can you
meet me some time for some touchy/feely... oops, I mean coffee/tea?'

She giggled. When they giggle, you have won.

- Chetan Bhagat

The Road to Nowhere

2008-06-05T15:02:00.000+05:30

From Michigan West...

Today’s one of those days when I have this strong urge to reflect my thoughts and to pen down something, no in fact, anything in my blog but my astute lack of creativity and a total void in the left lobe of my brain has left me with no ideas but to stare blankly at the clean white interface of my text editor. I know it’s one of those days when no matter what or how much I try I cannot get even a glance of an inspiration. I’ve been holding out onto this idea – of blogging about nothing for a good (rather, bad) time. I guess the time has come – This could be the marking of the death of the inner writer I have within me.
And why this intense urge to write? Well, the other option would be to try fixing a piece of code - a task which for past two weeks I have failed miserably at. I know I won’t succeed at it today also or at the least right now. So why not sit squat, pretend that I am working and write out this blog itself. Maybe, I am looking out at this blog to be the vent of all the frustrations I’ve been holding up since the dawning of this script in my life.
Now the worse part it, as soon as I am done fixing it –and I hope I would be able to since the deadline is already crossed, I have to move to a new line of work which I have no clue about and to a place where I am considered to be an ‘expert’ of all sorts. Me and my big mouth! So much for working happily ever after.

Hmmm, I already feel better or maybe I've accepted the inevitable! Now where's that Script I need to fix? Well, lookey here...

Frantic Dilemma

2008-05-29T14:49:00.000+05:30

“To acquire balance means to achieve that happy medium between the minimum and the maximum that represents your optimum. The minimum is the least you can get by with. The maximum is the most you're capable of. The optimum is the amount or degree of anything that is most favorable toward the ends you desire.” -- Nido Qubein.

But how do I know what’s my maximum? Do I have to push down myself to the limit until I break down to realize my potential? What if I cannot get up again? Or even if I do strive out to find my best, what if it’s not good enough? How can I just pull out at the last moment when I’m going full-speed and can’t stop myself from crashing? Is staying in my cocoon and being safe is better or risking out everything my only chance?

People I’ve heard talking out about balancing life and work are the usual out-of-the-mill types. Though they’ve done better than their peers and risen in rank, it’s mostly just because they’ve done more than others around them to make them stand out. Well, at this point you might be thinking isn’t this blog about ‘balancing’ the whole crap and not hitting either extremes. Well, it’s not! Or maybe it is, for me whose life seems to be about hitting extremes of late. There are those bursts of energy in me which keeps me from collapsing even when I know I’ve burnt all the fuel and now I’m running on reserves. Do I wait until I burn it all or wait to catch my breath? Wouldn’t life by then have moved farther away and all the work done by me to catch up with it is all futile? And from where do I gather the force to decelerate myself at this speed? It’s like riding a bike full speed, downhill and realizing you don’t have brakes on. Do I jump off and be content with couple of bruises than being a total wreck, or do I cling onto it hoping to be able to steer and control even at speeds I’ve never been on before? What if an angel is watching over me and I might get away with it safely? What if there’s not? Is it my destiny to see to it till the end or to crash and burn and never get up?

Why I fret so much about it when I can lead a normal, day-to-day life like everyone else? Well, you’ve answered it yourself. I’m not your regular just another kid on the block. Most of us have a vision and are the hunger to achieve it. Let’s just say that right now my vision is to have a vision and my hunger for its fulfillment is insatiable.

Whether the attitudes that I have are parasitic or symbiotic, I still have to figure out and it’s still a long way downhill with lots of time before I decide to bail out.

yours truly,
A messed-up mind

The Mood Pendulum and the Theory of Relativity

2008-05-23T13:24:00.001+05:30

(This document is marked as work in progress (W.I.P.) and is a draft version 0.1)
The thing about mood swings is that we men do not have the same biological frame of reference of those of women and hence, we fail to hold any empathy to what they’re going through.

Okay, we might be able to get it that it’s one of the days when nothing’s going right for you girls. But often have we not tried and though failed every time to try in to please you pretty girls? It’s not that we’re indifferent in any way – it’s just that, what’s the point? No matter what we do, we get it wrong. And to top it up, either our efforts go unnoticed or we get condemned to the depths of frustration with the acrid sarcastic feedback that they (our efforts) aren’t enough.

I am sure than many resourceful and geniuses have spent quite of their time on trying to work out a plan around the swings. I’ve tried to capture quantative as well as qualitative data of many of my good friends to try and find the dimmest glimmer of hope of finding a predictable pattern in the realms of mood swings. But even after days, weeks and months of observation I’ve gained no ground. Not on any two days have any two moods been repeated in the same manner than before. And there is absolutely no defined time-interval indicating the next mood swing. Nor have I been able to notice any sociological, facial or body language change which would indicating us men that the next mood swing is in progress. In fact, the mood swings have happened over such short intervals that I’m not even sure I can even measure the time period.

When Einstein came up with the theory of general relativity, and predicted that nothing can move faster than the speed of light, I’m sure he hadn’t considered the moods of a lady. To quote an illustration from theory of relativity, Einstein said that in our world where everything has a speed lesser than that of light we have the cause and effect. This means that one has to shoot a gun before the bird dies. This is what happens in our 'normal' world. He speculated though in a world in a parallel universe where there are things moving faster than the speed of light there would be an effect and then a cause, which considering our previous example would mean the bird would die before the gun is fired – or in other words, the gun was fired because the bird died. Now over many years of experience of co-existing with the fair members of homo-sapiens, I’ve noticed many a times that the Effect almost invariably precedes the cause! Something happens first and you get blamed for it. So much for parallel universe and theory of relativity.

While I mull more over the thought (and I should be because it is believed that anything which does not verify the theory of relativity is wrong), I may be able to apply theory of relativity over our little problem if I make certain assumptions and approximations and consider certain paradoxes – but the only conclusion I’ve been able to come to is that either the theory of relativity has an exception (which is a dreadful thought) unless we consider the metaphorical reference to our medieval literature and assume that a woman holds a universe in herself. This will explain the effect and cause scenario and if we consider the individuality or every woman to be different, it may even explain the unique ‘mood swingness’ among women. It does have some certain flaws like the existence of a universe within a universe and other non-trivial singularities. Otherwise, another assumption can be made that women are aliens who’ve come from a parallel universe whose space-time continuum is entirely different from ours and the observations made in one universe do not hold any consequential relevance in the other. This may even explain the fact, that why we men are never been able to understand women. But it may also indicate that we men are under attack by aliens from other universe wanting world domination and us surrendering into complete slavery with no freedom of action or thought.
(I am also trying to come up with a nomenclature to identify the universe within a lady. The conventional method of identifying a lady and communicating within other fellow men for further observation is something like “36-26-36-red skimpy dress-located 9 O’clock”. Most of the men can easily aware of these universal conventions. Women on the other hand, do not bother yourselves with it please. Like I earlier said, any observations made in our universe are of non consequential relevance in your universe and any attempt to comprehend it will lead you to interpret out intentions with disastrously wrong results! )

Being low on resources and of limited social acceptance in the world of our friends from the ‘other universe’, my research has to go a long way. It is but very imperitive though that this crucial work must continue for the sake of happiness of ‘mankind’. Because as of now, irrespective of whether we’re the ones incapable of understanding them or they failing to realize that we don’t ‘get it’, we men, are always the victims. So much for Gender equality!!

Something About Friends – A prelude to a long story

2008-05-21T12:23:00.000+05:30

Friendship they say can show many colors. Men, on one hand treat friendship like football kicking it around and there never will be cracks. On the other hand, Women treat friendship as a delicate piece of glass and it often shatters. Even so, one has to wonder why two friends part ways and more so on a bitter note.
I’ve had friends of sorts like most of us. We’ve had childhood friends, friends in school. Then we meet new people and make friends when we’re in college. We find colleagues who are our friends and friends who’ve become colleagues now. In this crowd of acquaintances, there will be few in front of whom we can think aloud without feeling stupid. To them one can tell one’s deepest desire and despair and not feel haunted anymore. But then best friends have known to be one’s nemesis too. Remember Julius Cesar and Brutus? Brutus always was able to justify his action in the name of greater good and well being of his compatriots. But can we all do the same when we’ve betrayed our friends for our own selfish needs? Not always.
But then what is an act of betrayal and what might be an act of treating your priority and individuality and desires above those of others (especially friends) for your own good?
Love they say happens only once and you should let nothing come in between you and your love. But what happens when you and your best friend are in love with the same person? Or say you and your friend are both fighting for the same dream job you’ve always wanted? Talking more extremely, what happens when you and your friend find each other on the opposite sides in a war? Who will make the sacrifice and who will triumph? Will beating your friend in a race or such situations be called an act of betrayal? On might argue that all the above illustrations wouldn’t be comparing apples to apples. Fighting the war is your duty and for the job is professional competition. But is it still when you know taking a shot a second late deliberately will get you killed but might save your friend. Not taking an interview will get your friend a job and may leave you unemployed and missing a date can leave you without love and very lonely for the rest of your life? It is here where I’ve always thought that a metaphorical reference to the Darwin’s theory of “Survival of the fittest” suits best.As a social animal in today’s aggressive society one has to compete and conquer and run a race against many other alike us. So why is it get different when the guy you’re competing is a friend? Perhaps, in a perfect world one would never cross path with his friends but in this real sad world there’s just one spot on the top you can let a friend have it or it could be you. No worries.

Designer Collection, NIFT Bangalore 2008

2008-05-15T05:34:00.000+05:30

Having a lot of friends in the Fashion and apparel industry, I’ve had more than one chance to interact with the more glittering side of our world. Though not an artist myself and never a genius in recognizing art, I still somehow find the glamorous world of fashion intriguing and interesting. And now I am much drawn to it after last night. Apart from Pretty faces and scintillating beauties walking the ramp, I for once understood that creativity can inspiration can come from anywhere and in any form. Colors wrapped in satin and silk, blended with themes reflecting on remote regions of the world to the more environmentally aware I saw that the youth isn’t just about looking pretty anymore or myopic in its local society. These young aspiring designers and to be famous designers of tomorrow showed and indicated that one has to be aware of a world beyond their neighborhood and to be looked upon in a global and more importantly responsible progress, which sometimes can mean retracing the steps we’ve taken so far.

Travel Spree

2008-04-30T02:32:00.000+05:30

Life, as they say takes you places. And recently, it has been taking me places where I never expected to be and that too geographically! In the past few months, I’ve set foot in four different continents, six different countries and a hell lot of cities. The experience, well minus the work – fabulous! From the oriental Asia, Uncle Sam’s territory to exotic Egypt it has been quite an experience and a big number on my miles and more card. I’ve seen lakes and deserts alike where they span endlessly seeming to meet only the horizon. I’ve spent days on the shores of lakes big enough to drown cities and oases with Nile as the only source of water. I’ve stayed more in Hotels and service apartments in last year than time spent at home. I’ve spent enough hours on flights, airports and cars and subway trains than all the hours of flying earlier put together. Questions asked to me have morphed from “When are going?” to “When are you (Finally) coming back?” and to even the dramatic ones “Are you coming back at all?” Across the towns the staff at half of the Subways’ and pizza hut know me and at star bucks instead of asking, “What will you have today”, they say “The usual?” Over the time, I’ve become platinum member for Marriott, Gold member for Hertz. Well, I’m still working on my Lufthansa miles, though. This is what I think I almost always wanted - To see the world and live the good life.

Cairo Landscaping

2008-04-27T03:54:00.000+05:30

Not that I blog that often but whenever I do I try to put in a pic or Two. And with the recent discovery of mine of the fact that I can embed slide shows from the Picasa Web in my blog, I decided to be more exploratory and presentable with slideshows in my blog and not just pics. And I’ve always been a shutter bug of sorts.

So when I blogged about The Necropolis and not about anywhere where else in Egypt, people pointed it out. Of course, there’s more to Egypt than the pyramids but unfortunately for those expecting more and me obviously, I spent all my time being a pendulum between my work place and my hotel. So I am putting all the other pics (presentable if any) on this blog and album and hope those visiting Egypt through my blog like them.

Most of the pics are taken from my hotel room. I was staying at the Semi-Ramis Intercontinental Hotel which looms over the Nile River. Lucky for me, my room was Nile Facing on the 17th Level which made the view breathtaking. Some of the pics are from the drive from Cairo to Giza. Again quite a few are of my hotel which has been taken from the street, a couple of them at the Museum of Natural History at Cairo and a number of them are from the streets of the Old Cairo.

Cheers!

The Findlay Trip

2008-04-26T19:59:00.001+05:30

I’ve always had a thing for travelling and almost any reason’s good enough for me to step out of my neighborhood. So when I got the chance to come and work in Findlay, I was more than just being enthusiastic about the whole deal. For one, it’s been some time that I’ve got decent work to do and I was quite seriously bored with my Arse squat in Bangalore and more significantly, a new town to visit.

Though, I’d expected it to be a town somewhat smaller than the ones visited by me earlier in the Uncle Sam’s territory, it unexpectedly came out to be as a refreshing change to be in somewhat quiet place. With the onset of Spring I was counting on a lot of outings and outdoor stuff. Though the weather till now hasn’t been quite on my side and somewhat deary, things have started to look brighter now.

Haven’t been able to locate a lot of places of interest in the near vicinity yet (with considerable intervention to the weather too) I plan to do a little more excursion in my free time. I’ve been able to locate a couple of local bars in the neighborhood of my hotel and for now they’re keeping me satisfied.

Into The New Year...

2008-01-02T15:21:00.000+05:30

Breaking the Glass
by Douglas A. Cox

Like snow in a globe the memories swirl
Of the year gone by,
Fast the hour glass empties now
The time just seems to fly

I think of things accomplished
And those things left undone
The glory of the moments past
The battles lost and won

But tomorrow is what calls me now
This strong new voice I hear
That beckons me to come ahead
Into this brand New Year

To rise above my experience
To see things I've never seen
To step off into the mystery
And be what I've never been

So here's to our great adventures
And all that there is to see
Not what we were just yesterday
But what we were born to be

Glances at Necropolis

2007-09-18T05:37:00.000+05:30

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now Cairo, Egypt in Africa, and is the only remaining member of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is believed to have been built as a tomb for Fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (hellenized as Χεωψ, Cheops) and constructed over a 20 year period concluding around 2560 BC. The tallest structure in the world for over 3,800 years, it is sometimes called Khufu's Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu.

This Ancient Egyptian necropolis consists of the Pyramid of Khufu (known as the Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Cheops), the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) a few hundred metres to the south-west, and the relatively modest-size Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinus) a few hundred metres further south-west, along with a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as "queens" pyramids, causeways and valley pyramids. The Great Sphinx lies on the east side of the complex, facing east. Current consensus among Egyptologists is that the head of the Great Sphinx is that of Khafre. Associated with these royal monuments are the tombs of high officials and much later burials and monuments (from the New Kingdom onwards), signifying the reverence to those buried in the necropolis.

Do girls ever listen?

2007-09-16T23:10:00.002+05:30

I have been thinking about how much fun girls always have been (or maybe my Pheromones were speaking for me) but recently, I’ve been exposed to the more ‘Complicated’ side of them and a continuous habit no matter how hard you try to break of not listening? I am surprised here and can really have a vote here as is it me or girls just don’t listen?

I’ve been stumped that no matter how articulate one may be it is almost impossible to explain a female counterpart the notion of practicality. Somehow their ‘intuitive’ thinking and our sense (as in a guy) doesn’t really go hand in hand. Tell her to do something from a practical point of view; she won’t because it’ll conflict with her line of thought. Write down instructions for her and she won’t follow it. Afterwards, when it doesn’t work she’ll blame you for being so vile that you’ve given her a plan so flawed. No wonder Einstein found it easier to work on the theory or relativity than on the theory of relationships.
You do something wrong, you get fired for that – accepted behavior.
She does something wrong and you accept is as a part of life – difficult to accept but not improbable.
She does something wrong and you get fired for that – again, difficult to accept but not improbable.
Anyone does anything wrong and you get fired for that – wow, try that for size!
And, somehow, to most guys in relationship this has become a part of life. Perhaps, their pheromones levels are way too high to feel anything but generous towards the females.

In my short life with whatever experiences I’ve had, more often I’ve found myself at my wit’s end asking myself the question – What Did I do (now)?
Somehow, I’ve always been the one seeking apology and thinking that somewhere something was wrong only to realize that it was me and my understanding of the word apology wrong. As per dictionary.com, Apology is “a written or spoken expression of one's regret, remorse, or sorrow for having insulted, failed, injured, or wronged another”. Also, if you care enough to look beyond that, there is another definition – “an inferior specimen or substitute”. Well, how about that! Girls do have a better sense of the language and somehow, they don’t need to study it in School or pickup a dictionary for that. Genetically speaking, if the chromosome pairing of the last pair is ‘XY’, the first part of the meaning holds true otherwise, it’s the latter one. So a girl asking for apology is out of the question. And to trace this root of evil perhaps, we need to go back in time when some philanthropic anthropologist said that Women are more superior to men. Today, I think it was just his hormones speaking for him.
It’s always like this even when we make a comment based on the gender (like this blog I’m posting) – we’re being sexist or chauvinist. Had it been a girl writing an article like this – she’s being a feminist!

One thing at the end I did understand, there’s no point complaining! Shut up and you’ll enjoy good sex well, most of the times. Otherwise like me – you’ll be sleeping on the couch.

Humor-Blogs.com

Men vs Women - An Epic Battle! | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Happy Programmer's Day

2007-09-13T17:53:00.000+05:30

Happy Programmer's Day to all my friends and geeks.

Programmer's day is a 'holiday' on the 256th day of the year celebrated mostly by computer programmers (reason: 256 = 2 to the power of 8 = the number of values representable in a byte of data). Traditions include drinking, behaving silly, playing Demo Ball, coding silly programs, mini computer games, playing with old computers, etc. That, of course, includes the condition that the developer who chooses to celebrate, needs to have done decent coding on all the other days and had tried the best not to behave silly on the other days. For those programmers who are used to the 'celebrations' in their every day lives, this 'holiday' becomes unjustified! Programmer's day usually falls on September 13th; on leap years, it is September 12th.Some people feel that counting should start from 0. However, even if you count from 0 it does not change the fact that there are still only 256 bits in a byte. Therefore, if you start counting at 0 then the 256th day falls on the number 255 which does not change the day that the holiday falls on.

US Grand Prix - 2007

2007-06-20T01:37:00.001+05:30

Was there ever any doubt that we would see a McLaren victory? Absolutely not. If the cars were reliable and did not collide with one another or someone else, these were going to be the two cars that would lead the way. We suspected that Lewis Hamilton was lighter in qualifying. But by how much? And could Fernando Alonso use that advantage to grab a victory. There was plenty to look forward to.As things turned out, the strategies involved were very close to one another. Hamilton did have less fuel than Alonso but it was only a lap. This meant that the battle was probably the most intense we have seen so far between the two McLaren team-mates. They fought for every tenth of a second. Every backmarker offered the chance to snatch victory.The cars were so evenly matched that it was really down to a metre here and a metre there. Astonishing.But what a pleasure as well.

Some may say that cars circulating closely is boring but they are people who do not understand what they are seeing. Hamilton had the advantage at the start but he did not make the most of it. That allowed Alonso to have a look at finding a way into the lead. Lewis moved once to make life more difficult for Fernando and that was that. Alonso decided to have a look around the outside but Lewis had that covered. The lead was his."The first stint was extremely close," he explained afterwards. "I managed to pull a slight gap and maintain that."Who was going to be the first to stop?That was a question that was not answered until lap 21, when Hamilton went into the pits. He did not stay there for long and was soon on his way. By then Alonso was leading. We waited to see how much further he could run but the next time around, Fernando came into the pitlane. It was not enough to make much of a difference.

The Ferraris did not have a very different strategy so we knew that they were beaten and Heikki Kovalainen's Renault, which led the race at this point, was never a serious contender. When the first stops were done it was Hamilton ahead of Alonso once again but this time things were looking a little different."In the middle stint the tyres started to grain," Hamilton explained. "So Fernando was right up my tail. Whatever I gained in the infield I would lose on the straight. He fought very well. He was very professional. But then I was able to pull a gap and maintain it."And the race reached the halfway point, the McLarens found themselves having to thread their way through a battle being fought by a group of backmarkers, headed by Tonio Liuzzi. The Toro Rosso had held off Alexander Wurz's Williams for the whole race, with a car that was short on downforce in an effort to stay ahead by running less wing on the straights. Hamilton lost a little time - maybe half a second - as Liuzzi hurried to get out of the way and into the pits. But that was all that was needed to give Alonso a sniff of a chance. He got a better run than Lewis in the final corner and the two went side-by-side down all the way down to the first corner, inches apart at 200mph."I was a bit nervous about that and saw he was coming," Lewis said. "I knew I had to make sure I made just one move and made it stick. I went to the inside and knew where I had to brake, and so long as I did that he had to stay behind. But he was on me for the next few corners after that."And then he faded again and Lewis was able to impose his will.

Alonso was beaten."The grid positions were the key of the race," he said. "I had a good car all through and it was close this time, especially the start. But I didn't manage to overtake Lewis and from then on when I was following him I lost downforce and it was difficult to get the tyres in the condition to push all through the stint. You damage them more when you are following. On lap 38 it was one or two centimetres between us, probably. It was close but it's difficult to overtake at this circuit. I had only that one chance and it was not possible, so that was the race over."The second stops changed nothing between the two men although for a moment Massa inherited the lead for Ferrari.He pitted soon afterwards and then rejoined third, and had to spend the rest of his race holding off Kimi Raikkonen."We can't be satisfied with third place," Massa said. "I did my best and I am happy to have got on the podium. We need to work out how to improve the car to get ahead of our closest rivals."Kovalainen finished fourth."I think the result is the maximum we can achieve at the moment. We cannot beat McLaren and we cannot beat Ferrari, but I think we can fight with BMW. I'm happy about my race."Heidfeld was less pleased. He had a spin early on and lost ground and then ultimately retired with an hydraulic failure.Behind Kovalainen, the points were collected by Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber and by Sebastien Vettel.

Return to the college – chapter 1

2006-08-31T17:02:00.000+05:30

Looking back in retrospection, I can actually see myself taking the role of a student again for quite some time now. Well more in NIFT than I did in my own college on the sincerity part. Starting out by helping few friends to get over with their C exams to making full projects and typing out project reports on topics of garment expertise seem to become quite much a part of my life now. I can in fact tell you the difference between different denims or weaves, knits, twills and where to buy what if you need to buy fabric cheap.

I still do night outs but not for my own projects anymore; either its work that keeps me up or some God forsaken assignment which is there in the term course of the students of NIFT. Those who know me wouldn’t ask why and those who don’t wouldn’t be visiting this blog at all.

Well, it isn’t the role of a student only that I play in NIFT. I am now adept in giving crash course lessons in C, C++, computer architecture and couple of more things. By the end of the season I’ll graduate in MIS, DBMS and probably in Visual Basic 6 too. Like I said before, it all started with my helping people with their power point presentations, then their ITP projects and then finally doing an ITP project all by my self - That too in the name of someone else. Rather, in the name of two someone else’s.

Well, it hasn’t been an easy journey. Earlier, I had only one head to feed whatever I called knowledge into and now I have many. Interestingly it has been quite a mix too. I’ve seen people who need enough material that they can “reproduce” in their exams to those who want to understand enough to get them through the exams and to finally those for whom I still need to understand how much is enough. Some like to have coffee while studying and some beer. In fact, most would rather have beer first and then the session (referring to the first kind in the interesting mix I was talking about earlier). I started with training only one in the first semester to ten in the fourth and it has its price and as well as rewards. My title in the college has moved slowly, sluggishly even from being just a “jerk” to “He’s some jerk”. Well thankfully I haven’t yet attained the title of “He’s the jerk” till now. At least in a way I wouldn’t want it to be.

Anyway, with four more semesters of my “return to the college” left, I wonder what lies in store for me.

My partners in crime

2006-08-16T02:16:00.000+05:30

I had loads of fun in college. I guess everyone does. And when those days are over and we’re banging our heads on a regular basis on our workstations rather than on Rock n roll you know those days is history for ever. Well, almost for ever… Recently, I had a re visiting to those moments… Well not to the college exactly but to the life I had in college.

And to take me there were these two wonderful, devilishly though imps who had come to make my life hell… Er, I mean heaven. It was fun and though I did miss being in college with them me missing these moments spent with them more so. From partying late night and long drives to Nandi Hills in the dead of night… sloshing ourselves completely and remembering nothing of it was just a part. From philosophical discussions and confessional walks to sinful indulgence we did it all. Not a road where we didn’t burn rubber and not a disc left in town which we didn’t go painting red.

Fagging at the corners of our street and smoking cigars in pubs was so very like us. Pulsating music in the night to pulsating hangovers in the morning was something we woke up to every morning. No, I think it was waking up in the noon and then running off to work then. Checking out the chics and passing snide remarks. Picking up on girls at the parties and regretting for those we didn’t try on. From tasting wine to smoking hookahs and buying whatever cheap beer we could with the left over money we had. Eating left over pizza of last night to cooking food (rather messing up the dinner) or sleeping on ready to eat food.

They’re gone now but still left me with te same swinging mood I can’t get out of. And I hope it stays till the time the visit me.. again.

I Walk Alone

2006-04-20T18:19:00.000+05:30

It was the very night. I had my love on one side and the rest of the world on the other. The song was perfect – “Coming Back to Life” by Pink Floyd. The lyrics pounding in my head, my life a complete mess and the only love of my life sitting right next to me. From the feel of it, this looks like a total romantic mushy blog entry. But it isn’t. Because at that very moment, I decided to let her go and choose the world instead.

What? Few exclaimed, some shrugged their shoulders but mostly they mocked. I had become the jester and the joke itself. Should I be really bothered, I don’t know. Maybe I can bring in another of the Floyd’s and say that I was "comfortably numb”. No, life wasn’t moving that fast. Rather, it was not moving at all. It had come to a stand still and still everything was a blur. Who ditched whom or who was dumped wasn’t the question. But the answer was – My love life had ended there. Or was it that I chose another – I don’t know and I’m sure I won’t be able to figure that out for many years to come. But I guessed I had to do it. People say they’d “do ANYTHING for love” and that’s exactly what I didn’t want to do. In fact, I don’t want to do anything except just sit there and let life catch up with me? Where have all my friends gone? Most of them with their girlfriends or wives. I don’t blame them. I have always been “Hat ke (Translated: Different).” Does being different mean being a fool? Maybe, in this world where everybody competes to prove superiority I stand apart. “Just six feet from the edge”… And I am still not thinking.

I had figured out quite well and definitely long back that what might have driven GnR to write “I used to love her”, what made Ramones and then later Metallica sing “Die Die My Darling”. I could never figure out U2 singing “With or without you”. I know now what they meant. Guess, today’s my lucky day… or that’s what I feel. From today “… I walk alone” in “the boulevard of broken dreams”.

“… Guess this is my happy ending.”

Quarter Life Crisis

2006-04-10T14:50:00.001+05:30

Being a twenty-something

It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at wat ur studyin or ur job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.

You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone! but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you're doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you are scared just to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that every one reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. Send this to your twenty-something friends... maybe it will help someone feel like they aren't alone in their state of confusion...

Its called "Quarter-life Crisis." nothing is constant......except change.
what's life without a few risks? keep playing the game!

My GOD - The Figure of My Faith!

2006-03-23T14:57:00.000+05:30

[Something Else that I picked up from the Net... you see, I am one of those who are restricted to a limited creativity. Which I definitely don't want to be a reason for a restricted Blog!]

GOD!
As a Software Engineer I believe in only one Almighty, "GOD”!!

Actually it’s the "GOD” that binds all of us ITens together...

It’s this "GOD" that gives us Hope of finding and satisfying our needs (or requirements).

It’s this "GOD" that gives us strength and courage to develop new things.

It’s this "GOD" that gives us the confidence of saying "Yes, I can do it!", In front of our bosses.

It’s this "GOD" that nourishes us with all the food (for thought) and knowledge.

It’s this "GOD" who has enough power to get us out of trouble when the chips are down.

Its this "GOD" that provides us with a single figure of faith no matter to which religion or community we belong to...

We will be in the middle of nowhere without this "GOD".
Oh mere “GOD”....... Andhere raaston ka tu Sitara hai!, (translated as: You are the star that guides us on these dark roads!)

Here I ask you to see with your own eyes to what GOD means to me.... Scroll down along with me...
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G O D

Google Oriented Development

Life From The Window Of A Bachelor

2006-03-21T11:50:00.000+05:30

It was not "someone" who called me a bachelor the first time. It was "something". The brown official-looking envelope I received by registered post that day had my degree certificate in it. 'Bachelor of Engineering', it announced in somewhat gaudy letters as I stood smiling. Bachelor!

Till then I was a boy, a brother, a student and a whatnot -- but not a bachelor. All of a sudden, that important piece of paper had given me a new identity.

I know you are dying to tell me things like 'this bachelor is not that bachelor', but believe me, the very next day my phone rang. It was my real-estate agent, an uneasy reminder to the approaching expiration of the initial company accommodation. "Sir, you are a bachelor, aren't you?"

"Sure, I am," I said, almost adding, "and now I have proof of that, if you need."

"Sorry sir. The owner is not willing to give the house to bachelors. But don't worry, sir, I have many other houses. You see..."

So that's how it is. No country for the people of Palestine. No food for starving Somalis. No trees for migrating birds. And yes, no houses for poor bachelors.

They are not welcome in residential areas. Bachelors party and make noise round the clock. They go after the neighborhood girls. They don't respect the norms of the colony. They come in groups...

Anyway, I learnt my lesson: Bachelors don't have all the civil rights that 'normal' citizens enjoy. But then, what do we have that makes many a married guys cherish the memories of his long-lost bachelorhood?

Palestinians have to cling to their land. Migrating birds are bound by directions. But a bachelor has few restrictions. Except for renting an apartment and walking into those stupid 'couples only' clubs, he can have everything else.

He gets up at any time and sneaks into the office unnoticed when others get ready for lunch. He sits to almost any time in front of the computer without worrying about anxious where-are-you calls. He stays away from the house for days and no questions are asked. He does whatever he wants on the weekend, in the company of his friends...

Yes. Friends are the most important aspect of any bachelor's life. Without them he practically has no existence, especially if he's staying away from home.

But then one day, over the thundering music and the first round of cold beer in a dimly lit pub, he announces his plans to get married to this cute girl that someone else had found for him. Over the double cheers, the naughty comments and laughter, I become aware of something that hurts me somewhere. My friend's getting married. Of course it's something to celebrate. But then, that also means he's leaving the gang!
[I can see these symptoms on few of you]

We attend his wedding, the most colorful function of his life, in full spirits. All of us! We give him gifts, wish him good luck and retreat to our good old world, one member less. It does not take much time before we find him reduced to much-delayed replies to our bunch of mails -- and as for phone calls that come only once in a blue moon.

For my part, I watch the pile of wedding invitations in the corner of my desk grow at an amazing, alarming pace. Before I know it, most of my cool buddies are gone. And the rest of us soon realize that we are not always welcome to the new circle the married men have formed. So we seek solace behind those office doors where the sun never sets.

I do meet my married friends occasionally- in the office, on a casual walk, or in a busy restaurant. They are my friends still. And they are still friendly as much as their new lifestyle and added responsibilities permit.

But…, Oh heck! That's my telephone. I think it is my real-estate agent again.

I am shocked when you use the word F*ck!

2006-03-10T20:48:00.000+05:30

The contents of this blog post may seem to be offencive to some people. Its upto the reader's discreetion.

[Below Here is a transcript which I have taken from an Audio Clip! I confess that it’s not at all a creative effort from my side, but I had to put it up as this was too good to have all alone. So here it is:]

F*ck is one of the most beautiful words, English language should be proud of which. No other language I think has any such beautiful words. One Tom from California has done a great deal of research on it. I think he must be the famous Tom of the Tom, Dick and Harry Fame. He says, “One of the most interesting words in English language is the word F*ck. It is one magical word; just by its sound it can describe pain, pleasure, hate and love”.

In language, it falls into many grammatical categories. It can be used as a verb, both transitive, “John F*cked Mary” and Intransitive “Mary was F*cked by John”. It can be used as a noun, “Mary is a fine Fuck”. It can be used as an adjective, “Mary is F*cking beautiful.” You see, there are not many words with the versatility like the word f*ck.

Besides its sexual meaning, there are also the following uses:

Distraught – I got f*cked at the car lot.
Ignorance – F*ck if I know!
Trouble – I guess I am f*cked now.
Aggression – F*ck you!
Displeasure – What the F*ck is going on here?
Difficulty – I can’t understand this f*cking job.
Incompetence – he’s a f*ck off.
Suspicion – What the f*ck are you doing?
Enjoyment – I had a f*cking time.
Request – Get the f*ck out of here!
Hostility – I am going to knock your f*cking head off!
greeting – how the f*ck are you?
Epathy – Who gives a f*ck?
Innovation – get a bigger f*cking hammer.
Surprise – F*ck! You scared the shit out of me.
Anxiety – today is really f*cked!

It can be very healthy too If every morning you do it as a transcendental meditation. Just when you get up the first thing you should do is to repeat the mantra “F*ck you” 5 times. That’s how I keep my throat clear!
I guess that’s enough for the day.... Ciao!

Hallowed Be My Name!

2006-03-06T19:44:00.000+05:30

Hello World!

No, this is not the output of a C program picked up from a crappy ‘Teach yourself C programming in X days (where ‘X’ is a Global Unsigned Integer variable)’ book.
This is my greeting to you – the lesser Mortals of this Cyber World!

I have now decided to make my presence felt in this world of Hexadecimal code. (This is just a metaphor. The code can be in Decimal Octal or Binary also. Chances are that it might ever be encrypted with some obsolete algorithm). My existence on the Internet now has a purpose (stronger than the one before) which is more than just binary (or ternary in that matter) in nature! I have finally come out of my silent ‘Samadhi’ (aka Meditation in a more profound manner) to give Gyan to those lifeless souls wandering in the lost highways of this digital world!

I will enlighten all who come to me and in time, they too will grow (almost as) wise like me. I shall reach out to those who haven’t still found me and guide them to my home (… page). At times, I have to come down from the pathways of the cyber world as an avatar in the real world to offload chunks of information for those souls who haven’t yet come and discovered the Internet!

But let us not waste time here with puny words as they often fall short and inadequate to express even a fraction of me. For now, let’s just look at the bigger picture in its whole eternity as you who respectfully and with faith follow for I shall save You from the perpetual blue Screen Error you seem to continuously fall into.

Welcome to the Jungle – My World!

Shopping with my Girl Friend

2006-03-02T16:43:00.000+05:30

Last Sunday, I made plans to go out for movie with one of my female friends. For some apparent reason and some insistence, I decided to give her company for shopping too. I guess, the reason was that I needed to shop too. This is what happened:

10:45 AM - she decides to shop for some apparels for herself.

10:52 AM - I still can't figure out why we have start so early!

11:20 AM - we enter Garuda Mall.

11:25 AM - We decide to do her shopping first as there are 'only' 4 hours before the movie show and she needs that time to shop.

11:30 AM - Decide to visit Pantaloons first.

11:32 AM - Black t-shirt right length too tight.

11:42 AM - Maroon t-shirt right fit but too short.

11: 43 AM - Green t-shirt in right length and fit but not available in pink. Pink has been declared as the favorite color.

11:45 AM - I suggest pink t-shirt that seems to be of the right fit and Length. Severe feedback received on the unsuitability of color of piping. I was then requested to refrain from further comments or input.

11:47 AM - We find a wonderful yellow t-shirt. She loves it. Things are now starting to look good. She asks me if she was looking fat in it. I simply mentioned that the arms seemed to be a bit too tight.10 minutes of heavy criticism were delivered on spot which was equally split for me and the t-shirt. Mothers of both briefly referred to.

11:50 AM - Pantaloon found to be severely short on choice, colors and sizes. She looses her anger on security guard. Cashier however is politely spoken to as he is cute.

12:00 PM - Westside endowed with our attention and time. Initial reaction positive. The lighting highlights complexion well and air conditioning is just right. Saleswomen aren’t hot babes. Things are looking good.

12:05 PM - Kurti in orange has bad red embroidery.

12:06 PM - Kurti in orange without embroidery is too plain. I suggest a nice brown sleeveless shirt. I was then curtly reminded of previous request to "SHUT UP WHEN I AM DECIDING!!!"

12:07 PM - Kurti in orange with just the right embroidery. Hurray! No wait… She already has a similar top. Damn!

12:08 PM - Pink t-shirt is perfect but way too tight. Pink is a horrible color. I agree. Maroon is actually the favorite color. (I am hungry.) I agree to that too.

12:15 PM - NO ONE WEARS T-SHIRTS ANYMORE! “Absolutely!” I say. Button down shirts here we come.

12:16 PM – she Asked me if the neck was too deep. I took my time to decide and for that I am almost slapped. No guys around to notice, Phew!

12:20 PM – I Suggest a lunch break. A heavy plastic hanger with metal clips comes flying right at me and misses my right eye by inches. Sorry!

12:30 to 2:30 PM - Finally the perfect blue loose shirt with a spot-on neck and an immaculate print design on the front. She tries it on and asks how it looks. I tell her she looks like Phoebe in one of the episodes of season 4 (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.). This time hanger did not miss. Ouch!

3:00 PM - Paid for the top and it's in the bag now. We proceed towards the men's section.

3:05 PM - Two shirts, one t-shirt and a pair of jeans tried, packed and paid for. She complains of too much delay and possible missing of the movie. I briefly mention that it was difficult trying to shop with one eye in bandages!