Archive for January, 2006
links for 2006-01-29
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Engineer’s bike goes 0 to 60 mph in five seconds.
That cycle will surely take you for a ride !!
links for 2006-01-28
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I am particularly interested in testing (TDD) in embedded systems.
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Analysis and conclusion says it is not, but down the lane what if no fuel is available and alternate energy is the only source ??
Say right, point left
While showing directions, why many of them, point towards left and say right or vice-versa.
links for 2006-01-27
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(Probably) World is flat in 4 points ..
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in New york
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Suicide note on blog …
links for 2006-01-26
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Like slashdot ..but with not only tech news..
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Scores of qualified NRI professionals are returning to India under a programme called Indicorps to share their time and skills and give a little back to the country their parents left behind.
links for 2006-01-25
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#3 !!
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Some uses of RSS listed.
To do something well you have to like it
Good Essay: How to do what you love.
Will just post the extract that I liked and what I would like to highlight.
- To do something well you have to like it.
- The main reason they all acted as if they enjoyed their work was presumably the upper-middle class convention that you’re supposed to.
- By the time they reach an age to think about what they’d like to do, most kids have been thoroughly misled about the idea of loving one’s work
- Work still seemed to require discipline, because only hard problems yielded grand results, and hard problems couldn’t literally be fun.
- Here’s an upper bound: Do what you love doesn’t mean, do what you would like to do most this second…But the fact is, almost anyone would rather, at any given moment, float about in the Carribbean, or have sex, or eat some delicious food, than work on hard problems.The rule about doing what you love assumes a certain length of time.
- Unproductive pleasures pall eventually. After a while you get tired of lying on the beach. If you want to stay happy, you have to do something.
- As a lower bound, you have to like your work more than any unproductive pleasure
- To be happy I think you have to be doing something you not only enjoy, but admire.
- What you should not do, I think, is worry about the opinion of anyone beyond your friends.Prestige is the opinion of the rest of the world.
- That’s what leads people to try to write novels, for example. They like reading novels. They notice that people who write them win Nobel prizes.
- If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, the way to do it is to bait the hook with prestige. That’s the recipe for getting people to give talks, write forewords, serve on committees, be department heads, and so on.
I somehow am reminded of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. I mean, by his accepting President’s post, he or the post gained nothing. If any, it increased the value of the position. But if he remained scientist for 5 years, he or nation would have achieved something.
- The other big force leading people astray is money.
- The test of whether people love what they do is whether they’d do it even if they weren’t paid for it– even if they had to work at another job to make a living.
- How many even discover something they love to work on? A few hundred thousand, perhaps, out of billions.It’s hard to find work you love; it must be, if so few do.
- In fact, if you admit to yourself that you’re discontented, you’re a step ahead of most people, who are still in denial.
- More often people who do great things have careers with the trajectory of a ping-pong ball. They go to school to study A, drop out and get a job doing B, and then become famous for C after taking it up on the side.
Oh! So many examples I can recall!
- Sometimes jumping from one sort of work to another is a sign of energy, and sometimes it’s a sign of laziness.
- Plenty of people who will later do great things seem to be disappointments early on, when they’re trying to find their niche.
Lot of hope
- One is to try to do a good job at whatever you’re doing, even if you don’t like it. Then at least you’ll know you’re not using dissatisfaction as an excuse for being lazy. Perhaps more importantly, you’ll get into the habit of doing things well.
- Another test you can use is: always produce.
- Are you writing pages of fiction, however bad?
Hmm….
- you have to make a conscious effort to keep your ideas about what you want from being contaminated by what seems possible.
- It’s painful to keep them apart, because it’s painful to observe the gap between them. So most people pre-emptively lower their expectations.
- if you took a random person off the street and somehow got them to work as hard as they possibly could at drawing for the next twenty years, they’d get surprisingly far. But it would require a great moral effort; it would mean staring failure in the eye every day for years.
- Another related line you often hear is that not everyone can do work they love– that someone has to do the unpleasant jobs.
- Most unpleasant jobs would either get automated or go undone if no one were willing to do them.
- One has to make a living, and it’s hard to get paid for doing work you love. There are two routes to that destination:
the organic route: as you become more eminent, gradually to increase the parts of your job that you like at the expense of those you don’t.
the two-job route: to work at things you don’t like to get money to work on things you do.
- The two-job route has several variants depending on how long you work for money at a time. At one extreme is the “day job,” where you work regular hours at one job to make money, and work on what you love in your spare time. At the other extreme you work at something till you make enough not to have to work for money again.
Working what you love in spare time and regular day time job is known as Sex and Cash theory.(page 13 in the pdf).
- Life tends to get more expensive as you get older, so it’s easy to get sucked into working longer than you expected at the money job.And the best paying jobs are most dangerous, because they require your full attention.
- Which route should you take? That depends on how sure you are of what you want to do, how good you are at taking orders, how much risk you can stand, and the odds that anyone will pay (in your lifetime) for what you want to do.
- Don’t decide too soon. Kids who know early what they want to do seem impressive, as if they got the answer to some math question before the other kids.
I am constantly being worried of this. I see people having very clear goals early on. And main aisa kyon hoon…
- Now she has a life chosen for her by a high-school kid.
- When you’re young, you’re given the impression that you’ll get enough information to make each choice before you need to make it. But this is certainly not so with work.
- So unless you’re fairly sure what you want to do, your best bet may be to choose a type of work that could turn into either an organic or two-job career.
Yup.
- If you work hard at being a bond trader for ten years, thinking that you’ll quit and write novels when you have enough money, what happens when you quit and then discover that you don’t actually like writing novels?
- Constraints give your life shape. Remove them and most people have no idea what to do: look at what happens to those who win lotteries or inherit money. Much as everyone thinks they want financial security, the happiest people are not those who have it, but those who like what they do.
- Whichever route you take, expect a struggle. Finding work you love is very difficult. Most people fail.
- If you know you can love work, you’re in the home stretch, and if you know what work you love, you’re practically there.
- anything you work on changes you.
Scary!
links for 2006-01-23
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(Via email from SK)
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Priced between Rs 15,000-21,000
Max 25kmph -
India’s day has come
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links for 2006-01-22
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India is in news in international media…for wrong reasons.
Flashback and Goal setting
Like last year, I do a flashback and goal setting. Oh yes, this year there will be a performance review of previous year too…
Review of Goal setting:
>>Read 10 (at least) novels/general books. And at least 4 technical books
I failed on technical book count. But will make more than that this time. Other books I did not keep a count but must have reached that.
>>Wake up before a fixed time in the morning – any day/any weather/any going-to-bed-time
Huh. Serious failure for 5 months after I came to Chennai. Have to restart now.
>>Visit/ spend time with “relatives”
Well….I had only 6 months time in Bangalore…..and failed in this one too.
>>To *reduce* money spent on movies. Instead watch “plays” and invest in “books”
Well, did go to plays. But relocating from Bangalore meant I could not watch as many plays as I would have wanted. Money spent on movies was increased, but only relief is equal or more amount of money is invested in books.
Flashback:
- Bought Camera, Music System
- Toured Wayanad, Hyderabad (1,2,3,4), visited Chennai. Hey..thats quite less and I was expecting more
- Changed job and relocated to Chennai
- Applied to Masters
- Blog related: Moved from Blogger to WP on negimaki, Changed to my own domain.
- I became Blogger 2 in Economic Times! because I wrote something about Bangalore name change in this post
- I suggested/urged/inspired (last one is important to boost my confidence..it suggests I am not such a loser after all) few of my buddies to start a blog. But many of their blogs remained just that - a start - with only a few starting posts and dead ever since then.
And finally goal settings:
In addition to default goals (The failures of previous goals):
- Go on at least 4 tours
- Take food at same time everyday.
- Donate blood at least 3 times.
links for 2006-01-21
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I observe the wrong usage of “me” very very commonly. Next time I will direct them to this!
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Ha ha ha…….
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For a quote lover like me, any link with quotes is good This is simple yet effective.
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Good one. Simple.
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Often all (non-finance(non-bank etc) people) are fooled by the jugglery of loan and confusing terms. This is a simple article that addresses and clarifies few such issues. I had also come across Credit bank cheats (ok, you call it business) article.
links for 2006-01-20
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Do tell me what it is
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As usual, an extract + reaction will follow, if time permits.
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Martin Luther King, Jr, much quoted man and his much quoted speech. Dreams everyone has, but the commitment to it will make a difference, world has witnessed it! Jan 15th is his birthday.
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Extract :
- Don’t start a business if you can’t explain what pain it solves, for whom, and why your product will eliminate this pain, and how the customer will pay to solve this pain.
- Don’t start a business by yourself.
- Don’t expect much at first.
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There are two types of laughters.
Genuine laughter is innate, whereas forced laughter is learned; genuine laughter is stimulus driven, whereas forced laughter is self-initiated.
Sankranti and the weekend that was
A quick record on my previous weekend.
It was as usual hectic with meetings but enjoyed the time.
Saturday is, again as usual, completely reserved for the family and to remain at home. No meetings this day (Not even Lord Venkatesha (@Devagiri) is given time, why care about others!). Relax, see films (Scooby Doo, Kill Bill in fast fwd mode), browsing. Oh yes, pack/eat “ellu-bella”, traditional sweet to be distributed on Sankranti.
Sunday after a smart hair cut[I feel so much better now!], it was time for Carom, Cards with my bro and meetings. First RV came home, a bit late than expected (many friends like to keep me waiting…), but wonderful time was had, showing around the house/my room/few books I have. Next it was my turn to keep DS and GP waiting. I rushed to the “My tea house”, where with DS, GP, CS , CV, SY, DN, MBK was spent rest time - with great amount of fun (as usual) and with meaningful talk too. I think I dominated the proceedings, must take care next time not to step on others’ shoes/time. Next it was a visit to SP’s house and amidst talk of past-future, some savouring (?!) of chocolates too. An unexpected barge-in visit to SP confirmed I had Monday under my dispose and control.
Monday started with an early morning jog-cum-meeting of SV, NBK. I appreciate myself for utilising the time and thinking out a slot, convenient to all parties. This will repeat!
Later it was a visit to Forum and roaming around alone first and then food at Pizza Hut joined by ex-colleagues -RS, SMS, SCR, HKR, HMR. First meet I was having after I had left, so lot of catching up with updates and listening to Germany experiences happened. Good time was had. In the second session was joined by .C,RR,VS and roamed around exchanging happenings in our lives.
Thank you, all of you.
Almost during my complete presence, broadband was down. On second thoughts, am not complaining personally, but the response and service was pathetic.
To start with
Been thinking of posting links of blogposts, along with my commentary/views on it, just for my bookmarking purposes and to direct my friends (who visit here) to those particular posts[something similar to what I would have asked them in person "did you see that?"]. Of course, you do know the blogroll I follow, but this is bit different. This just points to particular posts. These posts will be under the category Blogmela!
Rest assured, this is very rarely updated and I would want this to be out of front page (along with del.icio.us links, but will be present in feed), so that front page will have only my original postings about my life and thoughts.
To start the mela, what else would have been a better occassion than to point at Sidin whose page just got added Freelancer(!!) at the end of REC Trichy -> BE Metallurgy -> Auto Comp -> B2B Portal -> CAT -> IIMA -> ATK.
Given his talent and popularity, it is a good decision.
But brave one too.
The reasons are numerous. But in the end I decided I needed to do what I was happiest doing.
Even if some of you have not visited his blog, his posts have definitely reached your inbox - be it world famous hilarious post of “The Travails of Single South Indian men”, or To BE or not to BE . His other interesting posts are Memoirs of MBA ,LEM to slaughter , the recent one Games fat people play.
links for 2006-01-18
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Dont miss.
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Fun!
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Yet another (so what ?) list of free good downloads.
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Must see for my tech friends
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Differentiates between what a scientist does and what an engineer does.
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Yeah…this is exactly what I was looking for. Sbd had given me a circuit which did the same job and I never used it
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In the near future, telephone, television, radio and the web all will be delivered to your home via a single broadband connection. Soon, broadband will be an indispensable part of economic, personal, and public life. US is poised to be a follower—not a leader
links for 2006-01-14
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When am I going to use this ?
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Automattic has projects like WP. Whoa!
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I have a similar question…have not yet posted it..
links for 2006-01-13
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Time to seriously follow the tips. I end the day very tired basically because of itching in my eyes. Is it because of staring at screen or because of AC, I do not know(I have earlier experienced pain due to AC)
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On blogger meets.
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Turn your gmail account to mp3 player(Havent tried).
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Constantly updated firefox extensions
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China wall seen from moon, yawning is contagious, animals predict natural disasters,lightning not striking twice,humans using only 10% of brain, men thinking of sex every 7 seconds –ALL MYTHS.:) He he I always knew:) More on list, could not go through
Celebration
For me, new year day or a festival has least significance. As many say, it is going to be one another day. Just after the clock strikes 12 in the night there is not going to be dramatic change in our lives or to this world. Only important day for me would be my birthday which is very different to me alone.
But, point is not that. Celebration and festivals are important. One simplest reason is that it provides a milestone and reminds us that time has indeed flown.[1] But important reason is that it brings so much diversity and colour to otherwise normal routine life. It might be just another day tomorrow, but today is something special. In preparation, in anticipation and in celebration lies little joys of life.
Sometimes, the forward I get would be related to what is going on in my mind. This time it hits it right on::
What does it cost to have a celebration….
A winter evening.
Four friends.
One barsaati.
Four glasses of chai.Hundred bucks of gas.
A rusty old bike.
And an open road.Maggi noodles.
A hostel room.
4.25 a.m.3 old friends.
3 separate cities.
3 coffee mugs.
1 internet messenger.Rain on a hot tin roof.
Pakoras deep-frying.
Neighbours dropping in.
A party.You and mom.
A summer night.
A bottle of coconut oil.
A head massage.
Gossiping about absent family members.You can spend
hundreds on birthdays,
thousands on festivals,
lakhs on weddings,
but to celebrate
all you have to spend is your Time.
Yes, time is what we need to spend. But unless something forces us to do it, we would not. Thus it is important to celebrate everything - from small achievement to big festival.
[1] I am sure most of us will remember the previous year of the same festival/day and think how soon we have come here and say “it was just yesterday..that it happened..” I often think, that speed is because we can condense the series of normal days to one. There is nothing to remember about them. If we had 365 separate special days [as in festival days] where in each day would make us remember it, next year event would not look as yesterday.
Power and Responsibility
Responsibility without power is like goggles to blind.
Honks
Why do “Indian” drivers honk more - when unnecessary and when it is not going to help ?
links for 2006-01-10
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gets solved by Dr. Dantzig unknowingly
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List of 10 sites. Changing content on internet. This no doubt has made internet this much richer.
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AB Baby
Big B is the person of the year 2005, all polls claimed. He was extra-ordinary in Black, Viruddh, Kajra re, and so on. But wait, he is Big B and he is supposed to be brilliant. Except for shocking blunder of choices like Mrityudaata, he has always been best. He is the star of the millenium and how can you just reduce to person of “the year”.
Some persons achieve so much that, in my book, I would stop looking at them objectively, critically. For eg, Sachin Tendulkar, the genius, has passed all tests and has passed that mortality and has become an immortal, a legend. If he hits a century in a brilliant manner, it is neither new or unexpected. If he goes out for duck too, it is not a news because it does not proove anything.
I remember Lata and Asha ‘retiring’ from awards because it did not matter anymore. Anyone and everyone knows they are the best.
So, in my view, the previous year went to Abhishek Bachchan![1] He carried Bunty Aur Bubli well and then came with a neat and different performance in Sarkar! To end the year, he has Bluffmaster - it did not offer him too much to do but he is topping music charts! To recall, along with BigB, he was seen often in aTV earlier the year in Kajra re.
More importantly, he has come out of shell and proved himself. His earlier dancing inability has been overcome with some smart choreography and camera. He too suffered from some bad choices earlier, but now everything is going right for him. It might be too early, but looking at past 2 years, he has done quite well and this year looks promising too.
[1]Saif was very good in Parineeta and he had Salam Namaste too. But he was in news for wrong reasons too. And I saw only Waqt of Akshay and not very impressed.
links for 2006-01-09
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WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?
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“Best thing to happen to firefox since firefox” …looks promising and interesting
links for 2006-01-08
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Viru’s blog !
links for 2006-01-07
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Beautiful
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Empires of the Minds by Denis Waitly, Journey into Light by G Venkataraman, A Brief History of Time by S Hawking, Parallel Worlds by Michao Kaku and The Best of Indian Physics by Dr Siddharth
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but the real value of RSS is in infrequently/irregularly updated sites — it saves you having to rememember to go and check for new stuff. I (Nbk too), look for least new posts in bloglines and read & clear them. I guess subscriptions work best for those “friends-only” subscriptions, where you would not want to miss any posts and when delay is not going to create monstrous harm. So, subscribe to mine
