Why o why

Does Google read people's minds? If it is attempting to do so, it *might* not be reading mine right. But it is nevertheless interesting to see what Google suggests when you type "why".

Is the question of "Why did I get married?" the most asked why question?

Well, the other question keywords also bring up interesting results.

why should mobile software cost so much

A simple notepad application is not packaged default with Windows Mobile. How much does it cost to get one of them, $14.95.
How much would it cost if you were using a Windows Vista/XP to find a notepad application, typically free.
So why the disparity?

I have a few theories, but as always they are my theories and hold little water (or gas) :)
1. The customer base for Mobile software is much smaller than that of desktops/laptops
2. The mobile OS landscape is very segmented and there is no single giant market share holder, to make it easier for people to build free applications
3. Probably the OS vendors charge money to provide their API and simulators for people to build software and test them

However, here are some reasons why, it should be not that difficult to build these applications
1. Mobile applications tend to be simple and not a whole lots of bells and whistles and should not take a man-year to build them
2. Java is available on almost every single smartphone in the market. So, the OS landscape should not matter to anyone.

Reality: they still cost a bank. and my question still remains....

Afterthought

As per Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary afterthought is:

Main Entry: af·ter·thought
Pronunciation: -"thot
Function: noun
1 : an idea occurring later
2 : something (as a part or feature) not thought of originally : something secondary

As per my definition, afterthoughts are moments of small but annoying pain, realization, moments of clarity. I searched online for afterthought and I do not see any research done on this aspect of human cognizant life. There are two possibilities of how our civilization could have trodden down this path of apathy towards afterthought.

1. May researches considered afterthought as their topic to spend government and industrial funds aimlessly and as an afterthought did not bother to pursue it.
2. Or may be no one ever considered afterthought as an interesting topic of discussion. This could only result in someone in afterthought realizing about it, spending their lives on it and right before publishing their results in afterthought about the afterthought chosen to abandon the idea. (read on for why this could have happened)

In short, I hate afterthoughts and they seem to be following me everywhere I go and popping up in the most simple and inane situations. I also notice that the hatred towards afterthoughts decrease with time. That I think is the key to why so many decisions don't look as bad as they should after having more water down the bridge.

Nyways, I started out wanting to rant more, but as a prethought, I shall stop.

nlog zeitgeist

When I looked at my blog posts, the page said I had 100 entries. I was shocked, that I had rambled off so much, without anyone caring or wanting me to :)

Knowing I have been quiet and giving the world what it deserves (less of my crap), I set out to plot my trend of how many posts do I have every month. Oh boy, this is what I ended up with. I thought I was better at Excel that I just realized. Had to spend almost ten minutes to get this friggin graph paint, the way I wanted it to. Darn, thats one more thing I "think" I know, but I dont. (someone call me out on my English, but then, I am a fob)

Now, its time to shi*, sha** and sha* before I head off to work.

working ..... out......

i think its time someone creates a service or a mechanism that lets you think about working out and your body actually gets some exercise.

i certainly would be the first subscriber (if no one beats me to it, which has never happened to me...., i am a nice guy, so i tend to finish last and start late as well).

this morning i woke up at 7am, but did not really get off from my bed for an hour. i was thinking about working out. wow, i feel so fresh already. if i had this new new mechanism, i could have run a few miles and benched a few pounds (definition of few: an indefinite but relatively small number;)

alas, i have to go out to work out. which is something i swore i would do this year, but i live in this alternative world on a far off frozen planet where a year last only a week.

A few movies to watch ....

Letters from Iwo Jima Clint Eastwood, filmmaker has made a World War II movie from the Japanese perspective. I have a natural liking to gray-scale movies, may be because I fit on the darker side of the band. Japanese movies to me like art. more of poetry and play of light, but a movie from the eyes of the quintessential American, would certainly be interesting to watch. Bolstering the story line and the director is a 8.3 on the IMDB rating, though it has only 624 votes.

Little Miss Sunshine A more commercial movie and lot more votes 23,000 of them with an average of 8.1 on IMDB is quite impressive. At the same time, Lord of the Rings has an average of 8.8. I cannot say I like the LOTR movies to rate them that high. Movie based on a dysfunctional family on a road-trip. Steve Carell with his dark beard adds to the darkness in the humour. I particularly like the irony in the name, the poster and the content.








The Departed "May be yes, May be no, May be go f*** yourself", the screenplay in this movie is absolutely brilliant. A Martin Scorsese movie, should I say anything more? But with a *heavy* starcast, simple plot playing ying-yong with the good and the bad, screenplay and music do not make you realize you just watched a 2:30 hr movie. A couple more quotes from this movie ...

"Who am I? I'm the guy that does his fuckin' job! You must be the other guy!"
- Mark Wahlberg

"When I was your age they used to say you could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying to you is this... When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?"
- Jack Nicholson

What punishment should you give to suicide bombers?

That's just one of the questions Ali G asked the former CBI Chief. I don't believe this guy.

I have to get myself to see the Borat movie. Here's one interview of his:

Glory-ous days

Was heading back from Bangalore and the saw an amazing sight during take-off, shadow of the airplane on the cloud surrounded by colored rings. I thought it was first a circular rainbow caused by the airplane by some kind of a diffraction.

I came back home and later found out that its a totally different and more complicated phenemenon called Glory.

Glories are always directly opposite the sun, centered at the antisolar point and therefore below the horizon except at sunrise and sunset.

Look for them whenever mist or cloud is beneath you and the sun breaks through to shine on it.

Glories can be seen on mountains and hillsides, from aircraft and in sea fog and even indoors.

They are formed when light is scattered backwards by individual water droplets.

They have a bright centre but not nearly as bright as the corona's aureole. Their rings are delicately coloured like those of the corona's, blue on the inside changing through greens to red and purple outside. The ring intensities fall off much more slowly than those of the corona and sometimes three or even four rings are visible.

Shadows converge on the antisolar point and so glories are nearly always accompanied by your shadow or that of the aircraft you are in. When the shadow is grotesquely distorted by perspective it is called a "Brocken spectre".

- http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/gloab.htm

Blend of blogging and Wikipedia

Not sure if you folks have already heard of this news portal OhMyNews.com, a Korean startup thats based on citizen journalism providing a different twist to the Wikipedia concept.

This lets commoners like us compile and submit stories about international events and opinions on current events. OhMyNews provides a very professional view of the news content, for a little while I was not sure if this was based on citizen journalism or professional journalism.

One of the things that struck me it has an high adoption in major hubs of civilzation and certain not-so hubs such as Lhasa and Tehran. (Later I realized this is highly influenced by local media and reigning political climate). Also there is absolutely no significant representation from the world's biggest democracy. http://www.buzztracker.org/

So if some of you are itching to write or want to write about India, it might help (however small) the imbalance that Kabul is third on the top ten news locations in the world :)

* New York (10%)
* Washington (06%)
* Kabul (05%)
* Khartoum (05%)
* Tehran (04%)
* Hong Kong (04%)
* Toronto (04%)
* Chicago (03%)
* London (02%)
* Baghdad (02%)

Source: Buzztracker.org

i am searching for a shoe that looks like this....

if you have a question such as this, what would you do? where would you start?
online, if you know the make/model of the product.

what if you do not know more details and only have a visual image of how it should or does look like? you would not think of searching for it online, nah, you rather ask your friends. hopefully not for long.

i had come across a internet service a few months back which when i saw blew my mind.
riya.com led by Munjal Shah, would let you upload pictures to their website, like snapfish or anyone else. no biggie. the difference however was that they would recognize the people and objects in the pictures automatically (you had to train the tool and assign names to your friends initially). this in my mind was mind-blowing. how can you recognize a pattern of pixels and know who that person is? now riya.com is taken it to the next level.

behold riya 2.0 and the visual search. the features of new portal are fantastic. yet another amazing idea and hopefully they execute it well.

here is a link to the ceo's blog, explaining a lot about the new features.
http://munjal.typepad.com/recognizing_deven/2006/07/riya_20_roadmap.html

the most impressive/radical part of their strategy of disclosing all about their new product, well before its out. quoting the ceo, "We just believe inclusiveness and transparency beat paranoia and fear everytime".

chanakya quotes

Some quotes supposedly of Chanakya, that I got in an email forward.

***************************************************

"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and
Honest people are screwed first."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC 75
BC)

***************************************************

"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350
BC-275 BC)

***************************************************

"The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. !
It will destroy you."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no
friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350
BC-275 BC)

***************************************************

"Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions -
Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful.
Only when
you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go
ahead."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure
and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind.
But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is
your temple."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth."

Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status.
Such friendships will never give you any happiness."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next
five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a
friend. Your grown up children are your best friends."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a
blind person."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected
everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

chanakya quotes

Some quotes supposedly of Chanakya, that I got in an email forward.

***************************************************

"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and
Honest people are screwed first."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC 75
BC)

***************************************************

"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350
BC-275 BC)

***************************************************

"The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. !
It will destroy you."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no
friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350
BC-275 BC)

***************************************************

"Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions -
Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful.
Only when
you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go
ahead."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure
and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind.
But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is
your temple."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth."

Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status.
Such friendships will never give you any happiness."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next
five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a
friend. Your grown up children are your best friends."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a
blind person."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

***************************************************

"Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected
everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275
BC)

Amazing Kid playing Pool Billiards

Amazing Kid playing Pool Billiards. This guy is unbelievable, when I was age, English only meant the language, actually till a few years back.

how green is grass?

Did not know they have such ads.

my kind of an appetite

Scorpions, skewered alive, then dropped in boiling oil, where they cook almost instantly. Very crunchy on the outside, yet smooth in the middle and they smell of the rather elderly oil they were cooked in.


Dried frogs, steeped in hot water to make a sort of stew or infusion and fed to sick children


Did I whet your appetite? here is the entire article on BBC

Dont work too hard at your job

Dont work too hard at your job, you might get dinged for doing so.

Look what happened to this Chief Promotion Office, dint know a position like this one existed.
here

Best BMW M5 commercial

Keep you wondering what they are going to do and how they will compare the M5 to the fastest car on earth. Really nice job.

instant messaging

instant messaging has been a boon to me. mostly.
i dont need to mail or call anyone for little things and to have short conversations. sometimes long too. i might sound too anachronic with this blog, but what the hell.

some of the niceties for me with messaging are:
1. you dont need to respond to anyone, you can claim you dint see it. always be invisible or appear offline, so no one knows when you are around and when you are not.
so, it goes without saying, i hate messengers which give out, if i am online or offline.

2. you can start conversations without t usual "hi, hello, how are you doing"

3. and to close a conversation, you gotto exchange a few lines, after which you can say "nice, good" and give long pauses in between replies. and volla close t window and you are done.
i dont like all those goodbye rituals

and ...... i think i will stop myself from boring others to death.

rusty

i have not blogged for such a long time that my fingertips have turned blue without any creative use.

none of these news articles are my creation anyway. but its a good read. and who would even conceive these bizzare stories unless they were real.

more at Yahoo Odd News wonder how I can get even with them.

• Beer burglar's snoring leads police to him Wed Jun 21, 5:05 PM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand - A burglar who broke into a small grocery shop in northern Thailand was caught after he hid under the store owner's bed, drank a few beers and started snoring, police said.

• Dog craving doughnuts blamed for fire Tue Jun 20, 10:01 PM ET

  RIDGEFIELD, Wash. - A dog with a craving for doughnuts was blamed for starting a house fire in this city north of Vancouver.

• Geriatric love triangle murder case opens Tue Jun 20, 9:58 PM ET

  ATLANTA - A 79-year-old grandmother who used a cane to walk to her seat in the courtroom Tuesday was painted by prosecutors as so consumed by a jealous rage last year that she shot her ex-boyfriend four times in the head.

• Bear eats oatmeal in woman's kitchen Mon Jun 19, 9:19 PM ET

  WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia - It was a real-life version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears — only in reverse — when a woman came home to find a young bear eating oatmeal in her kitchen.

Clock of Cloak

Sounds straight out of a science fiction movie. walking around and not being seen?
wow. is this even science or just some geeks talking themselves into something stupid.
cos, i often seem to talk myself into crazy stuff and i dont even need to get started on whether i am geek or not.

Here is the entire article

Here I am....

A really hilarious video of George Bush with George Bush....

11 New! President Bush Impersonation - 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner

11 min 24 sec

An excerpt from the annual White House Correspondents A*sociation dinner. President Bush’s presentation included an impersonator, Steve Bridges, who "interpreted" the president's remarks for laymen.

Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.

this is probably the best line i came across this entire week, or probably this month or a long time...

"Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself." - Baz Luhrmann

makes you reflect on yourself.

The lyrics are from "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" was a single released by Baz Luhrmann. The song features a spoken-word track set over a mellow backing track. The song lyrics, which consist of a litany of humourous but practical advice, were apparently drawn from a newspaper column by Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/graduation.htm

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.
Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded.
But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are not as fat as you imagine. Don't worry about the future.
Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind,
the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you. Sing. Don't be reckless with other people's hearts.
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy.

Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive.
Forget the insults.
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters.

Throw away your old bank statements. Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life.
The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives.
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees.
You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either.
Your choices are half chance.
So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can.
Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it.
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get,
the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise.
Politicians will philander.
You, too, will get old.
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable,
politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders. Don't expect anyone else to support you.
Maybe you have a trust fund.
Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse.
But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia.
Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off,
painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

is it 'cos i is black?

started a perfect sunday morning at 9am, the weather could not have been better. and what was i doing, surfing. (un)fortunately surfing Google video for funny and soccer videos. chanced upon the Ali G interview with Beckham and Posh Spice.



it was hilarious, so started a two hour Ali G video hunt and everyone of them was ridiculous and funny.

and his fav line, "is it 'cos i is black?" and he actually half welsh and half jewish. nevertheless, the producers of the show and him have invented a really stupid comic which would make you watch it again.

he interviews real and famous people and asks totally stupid questions that not just push the boundaries but crosses the boundaries past that....

here are some of them i liked ...

blogging and work

is there a correlation between blogging and work? is the amount of work you do is directly proportional to the how much you blog?

well, i think, if you are either too busy at work or totally jobless you would not blog (atleast good and original material). however if you are moderately loaded you will find time to come up with some interesting content that you would like to share with the world.

having said that, i am trying to now explain two things about myself. why i did not blog for sometime now as well as why i am able to blog today :)

time to bare my heart out

Personal DNA. hmm, my friends told me to try it. what i dont know about these tests are, when i am answering the questions

a. am i disclosing the person i think i am
b. am i disclosing the person i want to be
c. am i disclosing myself

i have no idea yet. someday ....

till then, heres a very cool presentation of a questionaire to find out your personal DNA.

and if you are jobless enough to look at mine...
click here

boondoggle

word of the day, or the year, depends on how you look like it.

so boondoggle, the word, which I got to know only today, thanks to my moutain of ignorance, sums my life up.

what a waste of time even writing this blog....

laser monks

well, i was pleasantly suprised when i was reading the flight magazine, which i had read twice before and discovered an unread interesting story. it was about these eight monks in wisconsin who have a multi million dollar office supplies business.

wow, a non-profit organization that has 20 warehouses across the country and is expected to have a $10 million sales soon. their mission, eliminate high markups on every day supplies needed for offices and the best part no advertising. supposedly its word of mouth, which is probably the best marketing strategy.

here is their website www.lasermonks.com

the only problem, i could not find a good deal on my ink catridge. well....

not a puzzle

I have told most of the people I know already about this puzzle, but still wanted to blog about it.
Friend of mine got me hooked onto it and every weekend, I spend atleast couple of hours on this site.

Supposedly one of the toughest puzzles online and the inspiration for many other famous puzzles. Only 94 people have been certificated for finishing the game for the first few months of its creation. That's about 0.001% of all. Notpron has 138 levels. 35 positive, after which there are 35 negative and once you solve all of them, you enter the greek levels. I am far from them right now.

Here is the starting page notpron and here is the forum which has hints to solve the levels, but no spoilers.

this is totally true... admit it, you liar

welcome to .... reality