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..that I should chase my dream:

Fun via this.
And here are my two most favorite quotes from the same genius(click on the pics to enlarge) :
/BlogPics/Info.jpg/BlogPics/Miracle-Einstein.jpg

Via Swaroop

And the above will result in :

Heck, my full time job does not make me that rich (obviously) …
and then there is a good earner from blogging.

KEEP ON LOVING YOU (Reo Speedwagon)

You should’ve seen by the look in my eyes, baby
There was something missing
You should’ve known by the tone a’ my voice, maybe
But you didn’t listen
You played dead, but you never bled,
Instead you lay still in the grass, all coiled up and hissing

And though I know all about those men
Still I don’t remember
Cause it was us, baby, ready for them
And we’re still together

And I meant, every word I said
When I said that I love you, I meant that I’d love you forever
And I’m gonna keep on loving you
Cause it’s the only thing I wanna do
I don’t wanna sleep
I just wanna keep on loving you

And I meant, every word I said
When I said that I love you, I meant that I’d love you forever
And I’m gonna keep on loving you
Cause it’s the only thing I wanna do
I don’t wanna sleep
I just wanna keep on loving you
Baby I’m gonna keep on loving you
‘Cause it’s the only thing I wanna do
I don’t wanna sleep, I just wanna keep on loving you

This was the top song in US on the day I was born. Wow. Now I know

More fun:
Jealous Guy - Roxy Music was No 1 in UK chart.

I was dreaming of the past and my heart was beating fast
I began to loose control
I began to loose control
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m just a jealous guy
I was feeling insecure you might not love me anymore
I was shiverin’ inside
I was shiverin’ inside
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
I didn’t want to hurt you
I’m just a jealous guy
musical interlude
I was tryin to catch your eye
I thought you was tryin’ to hide
I was swallowin my pain
I was swallowin my pain
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m just a jealous guy

Thats it. It is all clear.

Ps:Lyrics from here and here

Work(deadline).
Holidays(festival).

Rain.

Hello, can something be changed ?

Looks like it is Chennai’s turn now after the heavy rains at Bangalore.

It has been raining here from yesterday afternoon. Heard that trains (Chennai-Bangalore) had been cancelled for the previous weekend. Lucky that I had not come home.But this weekend it is Diwali and planned since long.

It looks dark even during the day. No power.

Wish I was in school and it was holidays now!

Thanks to this, here is an almost complete set of placemarks for Bangalore. Don’t forget to take a tour (view-play tour) and enjoy

Related Earlier Post

Got the wordpress.com invite at last. Just reproducing the post I put there. [Am not discontinuing here (negimaki) with all the additional advantages and of course with Gallery Surprisingly, for the first time I got my preferred username! ].

Finally am here….WP has always rocked. From the day one I have liked it. With this wp.com, am sure blogger is going to have a tough time.

Few comparisions with the normal WP:

1)Powerful and simple features are available here

2)Post writing interface is very good. The look and style of many configurable items are now provided on the sidebar hence reducing the unnecessary scrolling. On the fly category creation to photo upload, all features and interfaces are neat

3)Photo upload. *Speechless*. Had not expected this

4)Easy way to select the themes. On the downside, selected themes can only be used. One point for me to remain with my WP

5)No plugins here. Major reason for me to stay back at my WP

In conclusion, beats blogger hands down in features. Providing WP and its features but yet by keeping it simple should attract more people towards WP. Long live WP.

Sometimes I ask questions to get answers, as I do here.
This time, I got answer ready-made. When I qualify for 5 out of 6 reasons with out doubt, I deserve to get no-comments.

..but it might be best to avoid a career in either law enforcement or IT recruiter - was the verdict given after taking this small quiz. One has to identify a computer language inventor from a serial killer. I scored 6 out of 10.

What I did this summer by Paul Graham
Some of interesting sentences here. But do read in full.
…success in a startup depends mainly on how smart and energetic you are, and much less on how old you are or how much business experience you have.
..if you let motivated people do real work, they work hard, whatever their age.
…People this age are commonly seen as lazy. I think in some cases it’s not so much that they lack the appetite for work, but that the work they’re offered is unappetizing.
Like good athletes, they don’t work hard because the coach yells at them, but because they want to win.
As well as working hard, the groups all turned out to be extraordinarily responsible.
These guys want to get rich, but they want to do it by changing the world.
As hard as people will work for money, they’ll work harder for a cause.
…startups run by hackers tend to do better than those run by MBAs.
competitors are rarely as dangerous as they seem.
The main function of your initial version is to be rewritten.
It was surprising– slightly frightening even– how fast they learned.
Power is shifting from the people who deal with money to the people who create technology..

Getz set to go with Sania mania Hmm..

You Can Talk Good Ideas Out of Existence - Vikram Seth [Via Indian Writing]
..it’s pure chance whether you are born a man or woman, pure chance whether you are born Hindu or Muslim.So you just have to consider that we could have been born as each other and therefore there is no particular reason for aggrandising yourself just because you happen to be born a man, because you happen to be born a Hindu, or in a particular class of society.

I write a book that earns a good advance every six or seven years and in the meantime I try to live off that.

[All the following are Via Simplicity]

Samy, their hero
I was never that good at JavaScript, but most developers that know one language can pick up other languages pretty easily. The worm was my intro to and first time using Ajax, and I learned a few other things while developing it.
I’ve never created a worm or planned to in the past.
I absolutely wanted to stop it.
The chances of very harmful JavaScript being out there is slim, but possible. JavaScript has also allowed so much useful interactivity on the web that it would be annoying to live without.

My outsourced life
Hilarious. Read full. I wanted to give excerpts…but there are so many hilarious moments that it is best while reading.

Blogging Predicted by 19th Century Russian Prince
“Houses are connected by means of magnetic telegraphs that allow people who live far from each other to communicate,” Odoevsky wrote.

Even more interestingly, Odoevsky suggested every household would publish a kind of daily journal or newsletter and distribute it among selected acquaintances, a habit which Russian bloggers immediately recognized as blogging.

Dark Underbelly of Technology

And you can blog because everything you say is so interesting it should be shared with everyone.
E-mail, while encouraging sloppy writing habits, certainly has the advantage of immediacy.

Technology might make it possible to work at warp speed, yes, but that doesn’t make it healthy.
Technology was supposed to free us, not enslave us.
So take a little break. Get some sunshine.

Somewhat as an extension of the above :
Scientists Finding Out What Losing Sleep Does to a Body [Also via Pradeep]
With a good night’s rest increasingly losing out to the Internet, e-mail, late-night cable and other distractions of modern life….Right away I got a hint that someone is scolding me by serving bitter truths and research.

Tricks to remembering names
Be interested

Picture it written on their forehead

Showering keyboard - step by step Worth a try!

While browsing when I find something interesting to share with people it is always difficult task to copy the hyperlink, paste that in an email and then sending those to the friends. I often forget that I would have copied some link earlier.

Of course there is del.icio.us (and a simple firefox plugin) through which not only can I bookmark for myself for the later use, I could ask my friends to keep a tab on that so that they would know what am I finding interesting. But there is a problem here. Unless they check out what have I bookmarked, not only will they not know about it, and also I never get to know whether they did see it or not. Also I feel the need of sharing particular links with specific people. Not all links would be relevant to all. Few days ago I had asked Pradeep about the possibility of such a topping/plug-in for del.icio.us. To see my exact requirement being answered by another software is a relief and a good feeling!

Here comes Stumble Upon (via Nbk). I reluctantly started using it but am happy with it now. The features are all simple. It adds a toolbar on the firefox using which it is easy to send the link via email in one simple step. Along with an addition of the comment. Of course for my bookmarking I can mention that “I like it” and it gets recorded.

There is also networking in the form of friends and fans. The preferences/settings/profile user interface is simple and easy, thanks to javascripts.

Whats more..there is a Stumble button which keeps taking you to different pages of your interest (which you can choose from a number of groups like the communities in orkut) and it can get addictive! I found few repeat pages, but I guess that will improve over time. I know few people, who wonder about my addiction to browsing and tell me that they do not know what to see on the net. We are from different worlds. Parallel lines. They never see what I see and I can never see what they do not see!! They do not know how to spend time on internet and I get news ways to keep myself glued!

As with any software, my needs would never get complete. And here I would have liked maintaining mailing lists (to ease sending links).

And finally here is my page of it.

It is been pouring in Chennai for the last few days. I really like it when it pours in the night and gets neater in the day so that I can travel to office safely and comfortably. If it is a weekend, the more I wish the skies to stay clear so that planned outings during weekends (which would have been kept pending or being planned earlier) are not hampered.

So today, when the skies cleared up, I, as usually, lazily, started towards office. No idea what made me start so late by estimating the usual time to get to office. Jam, it was one crazy traffic jam on the way. People got frenzy and started deserting the lanes and occupied the opposite lane too. Now where do the oncoming vehicles go? And unless they move, we can not move! I stuck to my lane as I know the other lane has to merge back to this one few yards ahead. I might get an easy flow. Why do not people act with little thought during these time and wait a little which would make everyone’s life easier ? Now all are stuck for an infinite amount of time.

I look around. Everyone seems to be equipped to face the rains. Some are packed in raincoats. Some are covered under umbrellas. Helmets. Varying colours of caps. Plastic covers. Folded pants and what not. And there am I, in the formal attire, in freshly pressed clothes, leather shoes and without any clue of covering. No helmet, no raincoat.

Clouds which seemed to have been waiting for some fool like this, started opening up little by little. Then did I realise what a position am I in. First of all I am late to office, delayed further by the maddening jam, now these raindrops are threatening to drench me!! God, why do not you clear the road only for me for a minute so that I can cruise through to office ? The tension is building up.

Just then, my lane, as I mentioned above, started progressing. As an arrow left from a bow, I sped to office even as the rain drops were trickling. Just when I parked my vehicle and entered the building did the cloud open up. Boy, was it rain ?!

I looked at the sky and smiled. I was victorious and sort of proud.

It rained for most part of the day. When it stopped for long time in the evening, I decided to leave. The skies are quite clear now. Now I am rushing to my house. There, suddenly out of no clue, as if the clouds remembered my wicked smile in the morning and were waiting to take revenge, bursted. I had left early to make use of some time. To wait for the rain to stop is not going to help. It is raining heavily and I would loose my time. No signs that it would stop for another hour. To cry and accept my defeat is not my way. I continued and enjoyed getting wet, soaked and finally drenched.

I get inside the compound, park my vehicle and the rain stops completely. I look at the skies.

Did someone smile at me?

Two virtues whose importance can never be overemphasized:
1) Time management
2) Discipline
Two vices whose detrimental effects should never be underestimated:
1) Laziness
2) Negligence

I have followed Rashmi’s Youth Curry and Gaurav’s Vantage Point since a long time. When I had seen IIPM exposed in JAM magazine, I did not think it would create such ripples.
Few days back I read about the so called email legal notice post ,and as he ends the post with a laughter break, I switched off and forgot about it.
A few days later when I saw he r-e-s-i-g-n-e-d from his job for 2 reasons: Firstly, my intention to stand by my posts, since I believe in freedom of speech. The second thing dear to me is IBM’s well-being did it really hit me. Man, this has become serious. I was so shocked that let alone blog about, I could not utter a word.
Burning laptops and resigning ?
Just emailed few links and slept over.
After hours, a big fight has broken out, what with whole of blogosphere extending the support to the brave people.
Its been everywhere since then - from local blogs to international blogs, to main stream media. It is at these times, the power of blogging and networking is realised. As mentioned here, we know what the fight is all about, but I really wish something results from this fight.

I extend my support and best wishes to Rashmi, Gaurav and the big-fight.

And while on the subject, tried to mail this poem to Gaurav:

Carry On!!
By Robert W. Service.

It’s easy to fight when everything’s right,
And you’re mad with the thrill and the glory;
It’s easy to cheer when victory’s near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It’s a different song when everything’s wrong.
When you’re feeling infernally mortal;
When it’s ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:

Carry on! Carry on!
There isn’t much punch in your blow.
You’re glaring and staring and hitting out blind;
You’re muddy and bloody, but never mind.
Carry on! Carry on!
You haven’t the ghost of a show.
It’s looking like death, but while you’ve a breath,
Carry on, my son! Carry on!

And so in the strife of the battle of life
It’s easy to fight when you’re winning;
It’s easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
When the dawn of success is beginning.
But the man who can meet despair and defeat
With a cheer, there’s a man of God’s choosing;
The man who can fight to Heaven’s own height
Is the man who can fight when he’s losing.

Carry on! Carry on!
Things never were looming so black.
But show that you haven’t a cowardly streak,
And though you’re unlucky you never are weak.
Carry on! Carry on!
Brace up for another attack.
It’s looking like hell, but - you never can tell;
Carry on, old man! Carry on!

There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,
And some who in brutishness wallow;
There are others, I know, who in piety go
Because of a Heaven to follow.
But to labor with zest, and to give of your best,
For the sweetness and joy of the giving;
To help folks along with a hand and a song;
Why, there’s the real sunshine of living.

Carry on! Carry on!
Fight the good fight and true;
Believe in you mission, greet life with a cheer;
There’s big work to do, and that’s why you are here.
Carry on! Carry on!
Let the world be the better for you;
And at last when you die, let this be your cry:
Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

Bit late, but here is the pic from the Gauri-Ganesha festival.
Festival/Ganesha005.jpg

And here is the album:
Festival/

Who doesn’t want to fly ?
That was the 5th sentence in my 23rd post which was the result of a curious and investigative effort to understand what in aerodynamics stops bumle bee to fly and how does it overcome it. Curiosity led to the finding that the famous quote is not factual.

People are curious and no wonder the highest hits I have got is for that post.

Ps: Posting of 5th sentence in 23rd post is according to a meme

Being bachelor is tough. Had to face several difficulties in Chennai. During the hunt for the house, I call up the owner:
“Sir, we are looking for rented house, and you have advertised in the paper..”
“Bachelors ?”
“Y..” (Could hardly finish saying yes)
“Not available”. Cut.

One owner finally did enough investigation and accepted to rent the house. With TV and enough free time I thought I could have a nice time..But wait, cable Cable owners here want you to buy their set top box and hence they do not show any paid channels. No Star, no zee, no proper movie channels, no sports. It sucks. Even after we pay them we get to watch only free channels. I can’t list what all I am missing on this front.

Missed the colourful play of Sania who is climbing rare heights, a historic win of England over Aussies in what are being said to be “wonderful test matches”, games of Federer, on the way to become one of the greatest players the game has ever seen,his addition of one more jewel to the crown.

There is a CD Player ..some hope…wait! no VCD libraries

To hell with these…and got an access to the system (flatmate bought it). When tried to get broadband connection from Airtel, had one hell of experience. Talking of call centers I have had terriblest experiences with Hutch and now Airtel. The problem is unawareness of their own schemes and policies.
Here I go…
What happened is this: Ordered for broadband connection and even after repeated reminders none of them turned up for whole 15 days. Every time they would give one number which makes no sense. Finally we only contacted a person who had earlier gone to our friend’s place to install broadband and that person came at last. But he said there is a problem to provide internet for bachelors. So we have to give 3k as security deposit. Huh! This was terrible. We had even proposed to buy the modem, instead of renting, if that was their concern. But he said it is a policy and suggested we tell the inspector who would come to verify, that we are a family!
I tried to speak to the customer care officers to clear the matter and get that waived off.

I: Hello [explains the problem]…this is the problem. No where on the pamplet is the mention of security deposit. Why is this not transparent ?
L: I will put you on hold and get the clarification….(Airtel jingle..the best part of the call)
L: No sir u have wrong information. I will let you know the latest rates.
You don’t have to pay security deposit.
I: Ok..
[gives latest rates, no security deposit]

I called the agent (A) and told him that they are telling me that no such deposit is required. He asked me to confirm again.

I: Hello..can I speak to L ?
S: L is busy. How may I assist you ?
I: [explains all]…….this is the problem.
S:I will put you on hold and get the clarification….(jingle)
S:Thank you for being on hold. You have got the wrong information and I apologise for that. Everyone has to pay security deposit.
I : (What the ?! ) Oh is it ? But L told me something else.
[And it went on a bit further, but made no sense ]

I called up as a different person to a different number…ordinary person and asked about security deposit. No one mentioned anything about it.

I again call up
L:How may I assist you ?
I: Can I speak to S ?
L: S is on another call..how may I…
I:See, I spoke to u earlier..u said no security deposit for anyone and S tells security deposit for everyone…What is the issue ? Are you all not given complete and proper information ? How can one person’s idea differ from other’s about the same service ? Can I speak to your supervisor ?
L:I will put you on hold….(jingle)
L: I apologise. You have got wrong information, no deposit for anyone.
I:But S said so.
L:I apologise. I clarified now with concerned person. The information I gave is completely right and you can rely on that.
I:Can you get this word to agent ? I want my work done that’s all.
L:Yeah sure..
Tries conference call which does not work.

I am tired and call up agent myself and explain him everything. He gives me another number (his boss).

I speak to him and he clarifies there is security deposit.
I:But why…I am buying the modem
B:It is not for that. We charge for bachelors
I:Can you justify the security deposit ?
B:There are many cases of bachelors making huge bill say of 60k-80k and
running away without paying the bill.
I:See…I am a decent fellow from a respectable software company…
B:We don’t even exempt Infosys Wipro .
I:See, I have taken house on adv/rent and made an agreement, you can take his guarantee.
B:There is no provision for any waiver and you have to pay the money.
I:Is that final ?
B:Yes
I:Ok then, I am not taking your service.

It is not about money.

There is absolutely no logic in it. It is so trivial. If I want to cheat them 80k by making huge bill and running away, I will as well pay the 3k security deposit and make a bill of 83k !

Oh yeah..there is hope…BSNL suddenly slashed rates and waived off some charges. And heard the process is quite fast. Though the wait for the modem was unbearably long, it is ok. At least they don’t have problems about me being a bachelor.

So..finally am on broadband.

BlogPics/eyeOs.jpg What am I doing here ? Viewing this page inside WebOS which is opened inside a WebOS and which is again opened inside another……..
I like the colours ! EyeOs

It is too late to speak about it, but let me do my bit.

In its new avatar, google desktop search has become google desktop and packs some stuff in the sidebar. Of which I like photo slideshow just too much. I keep reading some stuff and doing some stuff on the comp and suddenly my eye would have had a glance of a pic and after sufficient delay, the mind [in its multiprocessing mode], gives some time and recollects some information about the photo. I suddenly stop doing whatever I was doing and go and see that entire folder and sway back in the time for sometime. And then get back to work, fresh. It feels so good. I would have forgotten some photos, I might have never seen some. Usually photos do not convey much information (unless it is from a professional photographer) but the persons present in the photo, the events related to the photo give some good feeling about it. And it is such a boring exercise to go and see the slideshow of each photo I have. It is always better when someone comes after you rather than you go after them. [And for this same reason - things coming to me- do I like and use POP3, Bloglines, Rssfwd/Feedreader etc]

Then there is Google Earth. What do I say about this. People who know me well also know very well, how “geographically challenged” I am Unless I frequent a place a minimum number of times, no matter what, I will not be able to locate the place on my own. Does it have to do with memory or something else, let me analyse during some other time. But the fact/conclusion is I get terrified at the idea of going to new location in the city on my own. And with the updated Bangalore in the software I guess now I can set things straight. Even before Bangalore’s update I had spent hours together on the software and this time when I had been to home, it occupied 90% of the computer usage time! I located my house, the college (wow, it really looks beautiful from the top), the path I used to take to home(2) from college, the travelling path to my offices, locating friends’ houses and what not.(One requirement I have from the software: A way to “mark (and send) the route” and not just put the placemarks) And with each path would be associated some incidents and some memories [Considering that I have not been in Bangalore for long, I have very limited incidents to recollect at any given part of the city. ] and what easier way than this to get lost in the past ?!

Another software I used and liked was Picasa. I did not know that it was so rich in features! Good, my photos look much better than what I was capable of clicking!

Some other links that would have taken up my free time were: 1, 2,3,4,5,6
Update Feedreader from Google

And finally some complaints. Did not hear good reviews about this I could not use/test/try google talk as none of my friends are using it or are available online when I am online. But with the invisible mode off, I would not use it much. Talking of invisible mode, I am usually in invisible mode in Yahoo messenger and I have always felt the need of another option in yahoo along with these three (in stealth settings):
1) Online
2) Offline
3) Permanently offline
The other option I wanted was “Permanently online ” to selected people. Sriram too had the same thought when it struct to both of us that, Permanently offline itself is to be used for what we are in need of. Usually we both will be invisible mode to each other and unless he sees me online he would not go and change his stealth settings for me (and same here). So it would result in neither of us seeing and starting the conversation. Instead, he should make the stealth settings as permanently offline to all others except me (for eg) and he should never use invisible mode (and same setting on my messenger). After realising the solution, it seems so obvious and trivial, but actually I had never given a thought about it.

Update: Evaluated and using Google talk. It is good, better than yahoo talk. Clarity is great and delay is not noticeable. I speak to my brother(teach him C++, debug his programs!) and talk with parents as if I am at home (for 2 hours at stretch, sometimes).

“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”

This is a biographical book on famous physicist and nobel prize winner Dr. Richard P Feynman.
His Lectures on physics (3 volumes) are popular books. Any low day, browsing through few pages of that would resurrect the mood in me.During one program on BBC, a interview of his friends revealed some insights about the person.
But this book show many facets that one can hardly imagine.Highly inquisitive Feynman nursed a great love for Physics, but book covers his many other eye-popping experiments and experiences. Be it about safecracking,drumming,drawing or learning languages, or at various responsibilities, this man did so much in his life will make any reader envious and dreaming about it. He lived so many lives.
His honesty is another point to be appreciated. I would love to have the freedom with which he could make choices, the way he could live and work!
Except for the last chapter (Cargo cult science ) which is out of place, the whole book is entertaining read. Apart from death of his wife and re-marriages of which there are just passing references, most of it are detailed and I enjoyed them. Safe cracking, drumming, painting chapters I just kept asking myself - ” did that actually happen? Wish I experience something close to it.”
Only places I feel sad for the man was when he came in interaction with the work that involved government and all his work goes down the drain - that of
selecting textbooks. It exposes many layers of corruption, irresponsibility and negligence that are applicable even today to various Government undertakings. 13 signature may look blunt and silly from outside but it re-inforces two points - One, about red tapism. Second, How stubborn Feynman could actually get and how committed was he to his words. In honesty and this stubbornness, the book reminded me of Gandhi’s autobio.
I particularily like the entire chapter on safecracker, an incident where his father walks upto a midreader and gets to know his tricks by flattering him(hey–I too try such stuff ; will tell you some other time), the incident where Feynman finds the vulnerable outlet by fluke, his experiences in Brazil, the Nobel episode (imagine a person saying “Yeah..but I am sleeping; why don’t you call me up in the morning” when he was informed that he had won Nobel prize), lucky numbers, attending biology/philosophy classes, learning other languages…oh too many to list.
Miracles, which often happened, I feel, tried to match his genius and mischiefs. At the end, it is a life LIVED, lived to fullest and in colour.

Related Links

KannadaAudio has some wonderful collection of audio. Apart from film songs, there are other collections like - devotional songs, folk songs, Yakshagana, Harikathe, Drama, Vrathas, Discourses etc. Whats more there is also 24 hour radio channel ! It is a good site to be bookmarked for Kannada Music. My downloading like there is no tommorrow costed me a whopping bill (though it is another matter that they messed up with the calculation and I was within limits.)

I searched for freeware recorders to record/rip those .ra files, so that I can play them on my Music system. But none of the freewares are good. They either record while playing (which would take a hell lot of time and sometimes end up in error), also I can not time division multiplex those recordings. Without any option I had to look at shareware. A peek at the shareware gave me a good software which is primarily a downloader - HiDownload. One useful feature was it could download the multiple links in the playlist/script. It came with a ra2mp3 converter (again a shareware) but does the job well.
Two bugs I noticed: The converter to mp3 would delete the earlier mp3 present at that path before it starts new conversion (which meant I had to constantly move files to other folder). HiDownload while downloading the links, does not put the corresponding files into the folder specified but puts in the default location.

In an effort of trying to understand that which is difficult. Love,hate and girls. Here, here and here