Moving on to Wordpress

A long pending decision made, with due guidance from Ferrari. I am moving my public blog from Blogger to Wordpress. Now you would ask me why?

1. Feature provided by Wordpress to categorize posts
2. Better editing features, better blog features
3. Much more advanced choice of templates
... and many more!

Ofcourse, Blogger is more tightly integrated with browser tools like toolbars. But I can live without it.

And finally to start afresh, to stop what I longer want to blog about, to begin writing earnestly what I am becoming more passionate about, to do away with rankings, ratings and all the blah blah that I am no longer concerned about...

In a few days from now, you would see my new Wordpress blog. I will be migrating many good posts from this blog to that one. I will no longer maintain different blogs for photographs and writing pursuits. It would all be one.

Look for the final "redirect" post! & I would personally email all those who are passionately following my blog and have blogrolled me.

Man's fascination with Internet

From the book "God's Debris" by Scott Adams.

As we speak, engineers are building the Internet to link every part of the world in much the same way as a fetus develops a central nervous system. Virtually no one questions the desirability of the Internet. It seems that humans are born with the instinct to create it and embrace it. The instinct of beavers is to build dams; the instinct of humans is to build communication systems. Rationality can’t explain our obsession with the Internet. The need to build the Internet comes from something inside us, something programmed, something we can’t resist.

Amazing thought, what do you think?

vonamor? Check out the free PDF version of the book.

God's Debris by Scott Adams

Well, I actually do not know where to start. Hmmm... let me give it a start though.

When I was probably 14 or 15, something in my head started to go click-whirr. It was not the sound of something gone wrong, not the sound of something gone loose. It was the sound of something that made me think and analyse. Something that started looking at everything from a metaphysical and a philosophical angle. Why, you may ask. I do not know, is my answer. It just happened, is how best I can answer your question. Anyways, since that time, I have engaged myself in many pursuits that try to seek answers to the unknown - occult, metaphysical subjects, philosophical theories and writings, reading the vedas, writings of wise men like Thiruvalluvar, Einstein etc, reading the Bhagavad Geeta, discussing at length, divining at a greater length... etc etc. All these have led me towards no certain goal, but have certainly refined my thinking process and alleviated me from a lot of daily life level issues. Because of being able to see a "big picture". To have gained the power to enjoy the inherent "goodness" in everything. To be able to look beyond the materialness and into the depth. I have not become anything different than what most know me to be as. I am not a philosopher or a saint or a preacher or something along those lines. I am just a "thinker". I love getting lost in thoughts. I love to think and reflect deep into many of the "philosophic" questions. You can call it as a mind exercise. I have also seen an obvious benefit in doing that. Being creative and inquisitive, being able to foresee issues, being able to visualise a concept etc. You do not call these side-effects. Do you?

Anyways, here's the actual reason to write all the above yada yada. Rarely has a light reading ever made me think deep and into the issues that are above commonplace. Like the existence of God (which I unquestioningly believe). Like the speed of light. Like the choice of free will. You do get to read about these in the vedas, the Bhagavad Geeta, and in other philosophical writings. But this book in question is so amazing because it discusses all those complex questions in a much simpler way. Something like having an everyday discussion with a layman. "God's Debris" by Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert comic strip.



You should read it once. You do not even have to buy it. It is available as a free PDF. If you may, you can even buy a hardcover at a local bookshop. I have read this book, and I intend to buy a hardcopy version of the same to grace my bookrack. And also for future readings. And if you want a review, here's one.

After reading this book, I am trying to divine on one question - Am I philosophically skeptical OR am I skeptically philosophical? I will let you know when I discover.

Happy Reading!

PS: There is a sequel to this book. It is called "The Religion War". If someone has read this book, please let me know. God's Debris is quite aptly named a "thought experiment". Religion War, on the contrary, has been described as a story with an actual plot happening in the near future. I am raring to have a go at it.

New limits to being workaholic!

21 straight years at the job without a single holiday? And he is proud about the fact. And states he derives a lot of satisfaction out of his dedication. Accepted that he may derive happiness out of his consistency, but... there are many questions.

Factory worker eyes Guinness Book- The Times of India

1. The article claims that the worker is a personnel manager's dream come true. Really? I thought personnel managers are also responsible for the employees welfare by ensuring that they are not overworked or overloaded. How come this employee escaped the manager's attention? There are exceptions to the rule. But 21 ways years is too long a time!
2. What about the concept called as work-life balance? Does it apply only for IT workers?
3. What about the family? Were they also so enrolled into his workaholism? Did they not want vacations? Did they not want to see places like everybody did? I, somehow, felt a little sad for his family.

What is your opinion? I would love to hear about what you think. Post a comment.

Did success go to the Indian team's head?

You might have noticed the absence of posts of-late. Too much work, miscellaneous areas where I have been focussing a lot... etc. Moreover, I am moving to my own new apartment. So, a lot of time and energy is being directed for that.

Usually, when India is doing well in cricket, I would take a small time out to write about it. But with the way Indians are playing in the Windies and giving away the series to Windies... I am forced to break my silence. What the heck does the Indian team thinks it is doing? What happened to the "invincibility" that was so much becoming a part of Team India's characteristic? Why are the players looking down now? Dravid seems to be looking at it postively, which is good for him as a captain. Also, such things happening now is better than much later. I mean, closer to the World Cup.

Dravid smarts from Windies wallop

Good news is Kaif is finding his groove back. Sehwag is shining now and then, but more regular than before. Dhoni seems to be getting the carribean beat just now. Overall, team needs to find its spirit again.

It's time India got back to its winning ways!

Check-In kiosks from Jet Airways

I was probably talking about this a few blog posts back. And here it is.

My favorite Indian airline, Jet Airways, has begun offering check-in kiosks where we can swipe any card that has a magnetic data strip at the back with our information in it. Bank Debit cards, ATM cards, Credit cards, Frequent Flyer cards... anything will do.

Read this news piece on CNN-IBN, do watch the video available in the article. Just swipe your card to fly Jet!

Maybe MakeMyTrip.com's India office should change their slogan to "Swipe, Click, Go!" :-)

"twilight" by Kruthika

twilight
Originally uploaded by echostyx.

This pic evokes the poet in me...

oh, where did the burning embers go
the oranges, the reds, the skies aglow
tsk, said time, tis time for the moon to show
along with the stars, the symphony of the night!
and a prelude to that, is this beautiful twilight...!!

Thanks Kruthika for this lovely pic!

Here come the rains!

And finally rains have arrived in Bangalore, providing much needed respite from the blistering heat that has been baking the city for the last few weeks.

Check my metblog post for more... Here come the rains! @ Bangalore Metblog.

Bill Gates' words of wisdom

We love to hate this man. For him being stupendously rich. For him being the owner of Microsoft that makes Windows, the OS that many love to hate, but cannot afford to sideline. All the riches and life experiences have brought forth the Plato and Socrates in Bill Gates.


Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation

Rediff showcases some of the noteworthy quotes by Bill Gates. I would admit that there are some quotes that are worth remembering. Check these for example.

1. Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.


2. If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.


3. Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.


4. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.


5. Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.

For more: rediff.com: Bill Gates' words of wisdom

All successful people always have something to share about their learnings in life. And they always admit that their failures taught them a lot. It is therefore only ironic that we do not look at our society's failures and learn from them on what not to do. Or is it that the failures (atleast we call them so) are those who did not adhere to the already known rules? Can it not be that there are new learnings to add to our rule-book? There always is.

And that, my friends, is today's fodder for thought!

ePassportPhoto - the Internet passport photo booth

Got your picture? Need a passport photo? And you want to do it on your own?

Here's your answer.

ePassportPhoto - the Internet passport photo booth - make free passport photos online from digital images

So, there are UFOs!

UFOs. Do they exist? Are they just figment of human imagination? Are we alone or we have company in this vast universe?

Looks like some answers are provided by a Brit hacker who swam into the NASA systems to look for evidence.

Hacker fears 'UFO cover-up'

Read up the transcript of the interview that happened on BBC's show called "Click".

Expectedly, NASA continues to deny it. But we know how much to trust NASA.

New Disclaimer for the internet

Disclaimers. We have seem them at so many places. At the beginning of teleserials, at the beginning of movies, adventure sport shows, websites, freeware software etc etc.

Nelson Rocks Preserve, a private outdoor recreation area, put up a disclaimer on its website in a very creative manner.

This inspired a business lawyer and trademark agent to rewrite the disclaimer for the internet. When you read it, you will find a marked similarly to the disclaimer on Nelson Rocks site. This, obviously, was intended.

New Disclaimer for Internet

Some of the parts of this disclaimer are very true and relevant in today's context and some parts make for a humorous read. Check these for example.

// Ads for things you don’t want and other objectionable content can arrive from nowhere. This can happen naturally, or be caused by people around you that are being used as bots. Spam and disgusting images of all sizes, including huge images, can arrive, or pop-up with no warning. Use of spam filters is advised for anyone approaching the Internet. They can be purchased or rented from us. They won't save you if you get hit by something big or on a port you left open. A whole DOS attack might collapse on you and squash you like a bug. Don't think it can't happen. //

Read the entire text at the link above for more of these. It is a very well written piece. Next time you want to put up a disclaimer, you may want to take cues from this one. :-)

This guy surely loves driving a lot!

How would it be if I told you that your daily commute to office is just 300 kms oneway? A round trip of 600 kms to office and back home? Wouldn't you get psyched out at the mere thought of it? I would, despite the fact that I love driving a lot.

Somehow, David Givens does not think so. He won a $10,000 award for "America's Longest Commute" contest. Read the page below served by topix.net.

Longest commute? 186 miles to San Jose

Excerpts...
// For two years, a keen desire to get home to his wife and their 7½-acre ranch has prompted the 46-year-old electrical engineer to commute every workday, from the Sierra through the Central Valley to the Bay Area alternating over Pacheco Pass or the Altamont Pass, depending on traffic.

That's 3½ hours one way, a decent trade-off, insists Givens, for living the outdoor lifestyle he and his wife relish in the pristine mountains of Mariposa County.

'It's actually exhilarating,' Givens said of his journey, likening it to TV commercials 'driving a fancy car down Highway 1 with the top down. I enjoy taking the curves. It feels like I'm a professional driver going down a closed course.' //

With that kind of a scenic drive, a great car to beat that distance, a strong urge to be home with wife and enjoy a ranch life, I would still have second thoughts. I would probably look for a Virtual Office setting than drive up and down each day.

My first editing experience on Wiki

Shivanasamudram is a beautiful spot near Bangalore where there are 2 grand waterfalls - Gaganachukki and Barachukki. This was being discussed in Bangalore Metblogs in the post titled "Places to visit near Bangalore" written by Amit.

After reading the comments and various internet resources, I realised that everybody was wrong about Shivanasamudram. That the waterfalls located near the Hydel Power Project was the only one and the western and eastern branches of the waterfalls were identified as Gaganachukki and Barachukki. Fact is Gaganachukki and Barachukki falls are separated by a 1 km distance. Even Wiki did not mention it right.

Somewhere information had to be corrected. And therefore I decided to see where can information be updated. Of all information sources, Wiki was the only one where one could edit the content. So, I edited the document that talked about Shivanasamudram.

It was quite easy. One has to intelligently note the formatting and take advantage of linking URLs within the content. The format is intelligible to the Wiki's content parser. If you enclose content within [[]] parenthesis, then it is treated as a link and if you click on it, then you launch a new Wiki search for that keyword. And that is absolutely cool. Similarly with images. It is a good idea to use Wiki Commons and upload your images to Wiki. Ofcourse, you need to register to the service. But it is worth it. Once registered, you can upload snaps or other media content to Wiki and link it up on your Wiki post. The Wiki Help is also very well written so that even a person with little understanding of English can manage to follow the instructions.

The result of the above is what you see when you search for Shivanasamudram on Wikipedia.

Quite neat and simple. Eh?

Love is blind. How blind?

As much blinding to make a 33 year old man marry a 104 year old woman.

104-yr-old bride for 'lovelorn' 33-yr-old

Excerpts...
// Age is no bar for love. This was proved when a 33-year-old man in Malaysia tied the knot with a 104-year-old woman, who had married 20 times before.
Muhamad Noor Che Musa married Wook Kundor in February saying their marriage was based on mutual love and care.
The ex-army serviceman from Kuala Berang in northern Malaysia felt the 71-year age gap will not pose any barrier to their relationship as after marrying Wook, he had found 'peace'.
"But this is Allah's will. My intention towards Wook is very sincere. I am not after her money as she is poor. Her only asset is her deep religious knowledge," he said.
"Through her, I can deepen my knowledge of the religion while at the same time help her master the Romanised script," he added. //

He could have adopted her as a mother and lavished the same amount of attention and affection. Couldn't he? What's idea behind this marriage? Is a marriage really necessary to proclaim love? Is a marriage necessary to validate his feelings towards this woman? Marriage is a man-made creation. What happened before that? Did man not express their love for a woman?

World's Longest Alphabetical Email Address

I took out the hostname out of the title. Because it was 63 chars long. 63 is 11 + 52. 52 is 2 times 26. 26 is the number of alphabets in the English language. So? Somebody thought that it is very creative to have a hostname like that. A-Z and then the same thing over again, followed by alphabets from 'a' to 'k'. 26 + 26 + 11. Weird? Absolutely! And probably the same reason, the promoters are able to sell the concept.

I took out the hostname again. 63 chars long hostname? I can't get over the shock yet. And that's what seems to be the USP of this email service provider.

Sign up for the World's Longest Alphabetical Email Address

Why I would not choose this email?
- I would be tired by the time I typed the hostname in my email address. Ofcourse there is a copy-paste facility available here and there. But using it practically would be enormously difficult.
- There are better ideas. Anonymous Email Addresses. (a la email address of North Dakota in the novel "Digital Fortress" by Dan Brown)
- Any pride that would have been present in using a web-email facility would be completely lost. To think of having to mention this to your friends, relatives contacts... etc. To see them getting messed up, and God save you if they request you to write it down for them. :-)