Bangalore's "town planners" have either learnt their town planning skills from nomadic people or are nomads themselves and hence inherited the knowledge.
How else can one explain the arbitrary nature of solutions they come up with to 'solve' the city's infrastructure problems.

Happened to see the trailer of a new hindi movie called Fight Club. No idea what it shares in common with Brad Pitt starrer Fight Club (1999). Will it be half as good as the original?

Just an arbitrary question.....Had this Manjunath, the whistle blower on the petrol adulteration menace, not been an IIM graduate...would there have been the same hue and cry over his death?
Same question on the IIT graduate Satyendra Dubey who exposed corruption in roadworks.

Is it that only IIT-ians and IIM-ians have the integrity in the world?
Would the same noise be generated if the whistle blower had been from some less known institute?

Happened to see The Lion King over the weekend. For some reason...whenever I see Pumbaa the warthog, I am reminded of only one person (no offence meant).



Update :
This person reminds me of Timon the meerkat.



Hakuna Matata!!

Niels Bohr - 26
Wolfgang Pauli - 21
Werner Heisenberg - 23
Alber Einstien - 26
Paul Dirac - 24
Alan Turing - 26
Donald Knuth - 25
John von Neuman - 23

The number next to the name is the age at which the person obtained his PhD.
Going by those numbers.....I am a failure!!! :-(

Tour de France, or Tour de Lance?

Someone hit me. Hit me hard. Punch me in the face even.
I need the pain. I need it to take my mind of other things.

Book Tag Stuff

I got tagged 3 times over on this, by Sanket, Mandar and Ambar( All three were supposed to defend their Master's thesis yesterday. Hope this isn't an obit post to them :-D). So I finally decided to put up this book tag meme.

Number of books I own: I have no idea. Most of the books I have are those that I have borrowed.
Then there are Project Gutenberg, Univ. of Virginia online library and the Univ. of Adelide online library.
Why buy, when you can borrow or download.

First book ever: The first few books I read were the Hardy Boys stories in school. The first fiction novel I read must be Kane and Abel.

Last Book Read:
Fiction: Animal Farm.
Non-Fiction: Get better or get beaten. Something to do with Jack Welch strategies for GE's phenomenal success when he was heading the company.

Five Books which mean a lot to me: Hmmmmm.
This seems to be a question out of the movie High Fidelity. Anyways...

Collection of O'Henry short stories. Currently reading. Very good.
Animal Farm.
Calvin n Hobbes: Collection of all strips from 1985 to 95. Best timepass.
The Emperor's New Mind: On consciousness. Combines lots of fundas from Computer science, Quantum physics, Mathematics, Chaos, Biology, Psychology...etc.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. How can I forget this. This also total timepass reading. For the eternal inter-galactic explorer!!


Now, the five people I'm passing on the meme to:
One more High Fidelity question!!

I have no idea. Do I have to? If i decide the list, I will update the post. Till then the list is empty.

Mail sent by me:
Hi xyz ,
How are u?

Reply obtained from xyz:
Hi,
This is with reference to your mail sent on 9th of June 2005, inquiring about my health. I would like to inform you that I am fine. Since I was not in town over the weekend I was unable to inform you earlier. My apologies.

Regards,
xyz

The Kasmiri Separatist "Leaders" are leaving for Muzaffarabad today. And apparently they also have been invited by Pakistan and plan to visit the country. And the separatists have been given Indian passports.
Good.
Let these fellows go and talk to the Pakistani government how to make Kashmir part of Pakistan. Once they come back, throw them in behind bars, charge them of treason (they are Indian citizens since they have Indian Passports and they are doing "desh drohi" activities) and then get them executed.
Kashmir Problem Resolved. Period.

No more Wintel, now for Mac-tel

A few days ago this Reuters article spoke about possible collaboration between chip giant Intel and Apple. Then came this Paul Otelini statement. Intel seems to be wooing Apple.
Why?

The last few Intel products for the desktop market have had a few problems resulting in recalls, the semi conductor industry seems to have hit "stable" or "diminishing returns" stage, MS Longhorn is asking too much from the hardware and integrated graphics can't provide it. In discrete graphics nVidia and ATI are leaders coming up with ever more powerful graphics processors, AMD is coming up with lower power laptop/desktop processors and higher performance in the server market. So the logical step....look for a new market.

We can extend this to take x86 processors + chipset instead of Intel alone. So in come AMD, Cyrix etc. x86 processors are most commonly used in desktops/laptops and Mac OS is touted as the best for end users (geeks prefer the command line of *nix clones, so they are not excluded).

So will we see the marriage of the two? Can an "Intel Inside" desktop have Mac OS X running on it? Lets see...
(Just hope it will be affordable if it does come up :-))

ISRO!! I salute.

See this link.
Why do people believe a stain caused by seepage to be an image of god. By the way, do they also understand the structural damage that seepage can cause? Or do they believe that God will save them if the roof of the underpass collapses?

• I want to quit my job.
• I want a real job.
• I want to pilot a Sukhoi.
• I want to drive a fast car and own it too.
• I want to drive a fast bike also.
• I want a search tool for exclusively searching the blogosphere.
• I don't want to use it though.
• I want to put up a project on sourceforge.
• I want lots of money.
• I want a life...so...
• I want to die!

Right to Freedom

Traffic snarls are the main complaint that residents and visitors of Bangalore have. I personally feel one can manage slow moving or heavy traffic but not indiscplined drivers, especially the 2 wheeler riders weaving in and out of lanes.

One of my colleagues was in M$ Hyderabad, had this incident to narrate and it beats most other bad driving examples:
Some motorist, while driving put on his right indicator but continued going straight ahead. Actually he did not stop till the next trafic signal, where a fellow motorist asked why he hadn't turned right though he was indicating he would. The first motorist replies "It is my bike and my indicator. I have the freedom to do whatever I want with it!!! What is your problem?!"

What can I say.

ಕಾಲೆಜು ಗಲಾಟೆ - part 2

As mentioned in my previous post, this post is ಕಾಲೆಜು ಗಲಾಟೆ (College galata for those who can't read kannada) - part 2 : World Sorority Day. What needs to be noted is that the anonymous reply sent by Ishwar & Co in the previous post, was not sent by Ishwar at all. The "& Co" was a hint to help people identify the actual senders of the mail, which, comfortably did not happen.
Same case in this mail.
So here goes: World Sorority Day. (I wanted to post this on the 21st of this month. Somehow slipped my mind). I have made a few small changes to protect privacy and embarassment ;-)
*************************************
Sub:Is there a Turing Machine for Sisters' love?
From: sender''s
To: Group distribution list
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 16:35:21 +0530


Twenty-two years ago I made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when I shall redeem my pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.

At the stroke of midnight hour, when the whole of Sai Gardens sleeps, I will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, then an age ends, and when the soul of a genius, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment I take the pledge to the still larger cause of
sorority(sisterhood).
Genius and intelligence bring responsibility. This is my blessing, and this is my curse That responsibility rests upon me, to uplift the downtrodden masses of IIIT-B to atleast one-tenth my level. Fear not dear ones, you are in MY safe hands.

The achievement I celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await me. Am I brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future? The most IMPORTANT day in the calender of IIIT-B has come at last, and I am the most IMPORTANT person.

After this arduous struggle, I have everything that anyone can ever need - genius, incredible smartness, unbounded handsomeness, irresistible physique, omni(im) potent capabilities. Well, almost. My heart grieves, my dear friends, for alas, though I have been bestowed with everything, I have been deprived of the treasure, of a loving SISTER. Well, that was till I joined
IIIT-B.

But now, no longer am I deprived, for now destiny has it that I be surrounded by 27 loving sisters. Thank You God for making me feel so impotent.
A thousand carats of diamond, all the books from the lost library of Alexandria, Aishwarya Rai - these sound trivial in the wake of my new-found treasures - my dear sisters, the apples of my eye, the CPU of my comp, the petrol of edwin's bike, the pongal of my kadamba. Gifts shall only bring me transient pleasure... True, Eternal bliss shall come from the loving words of "ANNA" coming so melodiously from my gudiyas' lips.

PHOOLON KA TAARON KA SABKA KEHNA HAI
LAKHON HAZAARON MEIN MERI BEHNEIN HAIN
SAARI UMAR HAME SANG REHNA HAI! (sob sob sob............)

If you find one pitiful soul weeping at the Sai Gardens fountain, flooding it, it can be nobody else, but the poor me! If anything can lighten my burdened heart, it needs one thing- just one thing. The eyes of my mind can picture all my 27 sisters surrounding me and wishing me "happy birthday ANNA". It is then, that i would attain MOKSHA.
And a little request. Henceforth, let Feb 21st be observed as the "WORLD SORORITY DAY" in honour of the most lovable brother on earth, which happens to be ME!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
HAPPY BIRTHD(sob, sob.........)
HA(sob, sob.) To (sob, sob..)
(sob....sob.........)
sender's name
(God's gift to Sorority, Defenitely)
*************************************************

ಕಾಲೆಜು ಗಲಾಟೆ

kmail - sendmail - MS Exchange server formed a potent combination for a group of pranksters to send prank mail, all in light hearted humor. Long forgotten, the following mails has been retrieved from the sent mail folders and trash cans of mail clients.

Born from the trashes like a phoenix rises from ashes :-D

**********************************************************
Hi,

My network cord is missing and i will be very grateful if anybody finds it and returns it. It is missing from room no 105. I was sitting near the window on the right side facing Explorer building.

Thanking you
Yours faithfully,
Vivek Venugopal B

Anonymous Reply

Hai Bhuvan... (means Namaskar in Sihalese)

Before going into the details, you need to know a bit of mythology. Lord Hanuman did not know his strength , until Jambavan (The bear, not beer) told him. Exactly the same pertains to you. You do not realize your capability.

Your network chord is not missing but probably stolen by someone who wants to strike a "chord" with you. You fail to realize the "ramifications" (no pun intended) of this event. This may just be the beginning. So better be careful about your belongings (especially your desk-note, as someone may like to strike a note with you).

All the best in your quest for glory.
This was written sitting in IIIT-B, North East end (we think at 30 degree 23' 56" north, 76degree 3' 33" east, also facing Explorer building)
Thanking you.

Yours
sincere, obedient, faithful ,thankful, grateful.....,.........,................,...

Anonymous Well Wisher
Ishwar & Co.
*****************************************************
Next installment : ಕಾಲೆಜು ಗಲಾಟೆ-part 2 World Sorority Day ;-)

Marvin = _____

How often is it that we have tried to associate a fictional character with someone we know? Authors themselves base characters and events on people, places and events that they know of or heard of, like Harry Potter named after J.K.Rowling's childhood friends. Here is a small list of characteristics.

• Paranoid
• Depressive
• "I hate the world" attitude
• "For god's sake leave me alone" attitude
• Continually whines about his troubles.
• I have a brain the size of a planet and it gives me a headche to think at your level!!

There are clearly the traits of Marvin, the Paranoid Android from the literary world. From the real world there is this one person, the paranoid homo sapien......( whom I prefer not to name on public domain), a 100% match. But Ishwar would agree with me.

Hey Ishwar! Come lets get some vodka.

When it comes to anti-employer cribbing,

There probably are few things that are more satisfying than standing with the lead technical architect of the company and criticising the company for the shitty products it has made and the shittier ones that are in the pipeline.
;-).

42

For a quite some time my profile has been showing the total number of posts on my blog as 42, though the actual number is more. 42! hmmmm, interesting.

Valuable

What value add do the following give to society?

• Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor.
• Fashion designers
• The Miss Worlds and Miss Universes; they propose to use their beauty for upliftment of the downtrodden and world peace; mwah mwah.
• Religious Heads.
• Project Managers.
• 1 TB (yes TB as in TeraByte) email space providers

Continuing on the same lines, how have the following contributed to our standard of living?

• Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V
• Hotmail ( a measly 2 MB mailbox space ever since I got my account :'( )
• MMS enabled mobile phones.