Monday, February 28, 2005

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)
*************************************************

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

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 ;-)

Thursday, February 03, 2005

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.


Tuesday, January 11, 2005

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.
;-).

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

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.

Friday, December 10, 2004

U.S. Patent No. 6368227

U.S. Patent No. 6368227
Covers the method of swinging on a swing. So if you are in the US and want to sit on a swing, get ready to pay royalties to 5 year old Steven Olson.
Doesn't come much as a surprise, given that someone patented fire and wheel.

I think i can apply for a patent on "A liquid chemical prepared by the complex atomic conjunction of molecular hydrogen and molecular oxygen, that supports and sustains the highly organized auto-cannibalizing system naturally emerging from conditions common on planetary bodies, and consisting of a population of replicators capable of mutation, around each set of which a homeostatic metabolizing organism, which actively helps reproduce and/or protect the replicator(s), has evolved and derivations thereof"

For more info on such patents and the flaws in the US patent system: IEEE Article on US patents

PS: How many patents does 6 year old Calvin have? His dad is a patent attorney.

Monday, December 06, 2004

An Astrological Predicament

There is this never ending debate if Astrology is a science or a non-science. It is funny, how one can think that one's life is governed by stars, planets and other cosmic bodies. People even go to the extent of identifying common behavioural traits under every sun sign. But I have a question to ask:
Let me assume that astrology has its credibility and is something to be believed. And that cosmic dust has more role to play in my future than the decisions I make. Now, as far as I know, astrology uses a predefined set of planets and stars and their locations in the sky.
But what about the stars and planets that have been discovered recently?
I mean, if Mars and Jupiter can influence the course of my life,
What influence does the asteroid belt that is in between them have on me?

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Zaheera sheikh and her siblings have been changing their stances as witnesses in the Godhra riots more often than they change their clothes.
First it was she, then her elder brother, her elder sister and another brother.
Have they been bribed? Well that is what this NDTV news article claims.
If not money, atleast mirinda has exchanged hands. Arre bhaiyya, Mirinda ka
Taste aisa chaye character fislaa jaaye.

Hmmm, think the family can replace the Blue Man Group as brand ambassador's of the drink. ;-)

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Get rid of the monstrosity named Internet Explorer.
Use Mozilla Firefox.


You need to use it to know how good it is and what it supports.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Around a week back, a group of students of Reykjavic Univ released a patch to enable the Linux kernel to suppiort C++. what does this mean to kernel hackers?Well firstly, most hackers dont code C++. they code C :)and Object orientation is a paradigm free of programming languages. Yes, C may not have support for concepts like objects or inheritance etc directly, but the same can be achieved by the programmer himself. (Ref: Object oriented programming in ANSI C) It may now be able to code with "Objects" itself rather than just following the paradigm in C.Even in C++, there are only a handful of things that need runtime support, RTTI, dynamic casting, exception handling etc. The rest of the stuff dont.

Still, it will be defenitely interesting to see how this patch gets used (Getting Linus' green signal is the first hurdle). Linux is a monolithic architecture. Can this development mean that soon we have Microkernel linux and exokernel linux-es?


Slashdot discussion thread

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

I fail to understand how some people can quit job in a company that is at the cutting edge of aviation and join a company that had its origins in exchanging love letters. ugh!

Anyway, congrats and all the best.
The Congress Govt removed the Governor of Tamil Nadu because he did not host an independence day tea party.

ROTFL

Why is the congress trying to prove its ineptitude over and over again? It made a mockery of the political-administrative framework (democracy) we live in, in Karnataka and more recently Maharashtra. So much of bickering as to who will do what in a yet to be formed government.

Anyway, we need to hand it to our politicians, than when it comes to politicking, they are top dogs!

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

The Bakra Story

I wanted to give some serious buildup to the link that follows. Couldnt come up with anything.
Peoples, Kindly read:
Ambar's Bakra Story

Friday, October 15, 2004

The Great Tam Bram galata

Tam bram marriages are amusing, very amusing. The various rites and rituals that are followed under the watchful eye of the vaadiyar are really funny.

Take for instance, seeing Arundathi star at say 10 am in the morning. The vaadiyar points in a certain direction and everyone looks up and nods in affirmation. There are other very notable events in a marriage; singing sita kalyaana vaibhogame the moment “paatu” is uttered, the sudden shouts “gatti melam gatti melam”, visiting the nearby “kovil” in a car, though it is right next to the marriage hall; the umbrella, the fan, the walking stick and other paraphernalia given to the (poor?) groom, the list goes on.....
Above all this, the poor groom has to endure liters and liters of smoke.

And this is just on the day of the muhurtam. Hindu marriages span a full 2-3 days. Phew!

And then there is that thing called the “Reception”. God knows who is being received. All one is interested in (at least I ) is who the caterers are and what the menu is ;)

It is interesting to note what people are doing while the marriage is going on. If one observes, there are a specific set of activities that each age group is involved in. The less than 14-15 yr olds are playing, running around all over the place in the marriage hall. The 15-20 yr olds are getting seriously bored badly, coz they are too old to run around and too young to go out alone (even in a group). The 20+ yr olds are either accompanying the 30 yr olds who are running errands or looking at 20+ yr olds of the opposite sex. 30 yr olds are either running errands or not to be seen at all; they have gone out to improve business in the nearest “potti kadai”.
The 40 and 50 yr olds are literally running the show, managing everything, the 60 yr olds supervising.
Any age group above that is sitting, trying to identify people, relatives or strangers irrespective and attempting to dig out long forgotten relationships with them. Most of the time they are successful.

Well, there is one tam bram marriage coming up shortly, lets see if things are any different.
Btw, my best wishes to the bride and the groom.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

"Anthro" Agassi

Playing a sport for the first time is an experience. I dont think it would be much different than the first steps I took as a kid or the first words I spoke. Well, obviously one doesn't remember those. And I dont know whether one would like to remember the day one plays a game for the first time. Its kind of a mixed bag you see.
I have mostly, played cricket with some basket ball and volleyball and badminton interspersed in between (for want of a cricket bat or ball or both actually) for most of my life.
Playing tennis and playing cricket are just as different as... well...playing tennis and playing cricket.
In cricket one is advised to play the ball from close to the body. And instinctively, I did exactly that, get close to the ball to play it. And due to that, I matched my more experienced colleague stroke for stroke. There was hardly anything different between my style of play and his. Just that what he hit fell in the court and what I hit went over the enclosure.
Anyway these are just early days. And given my abilities and talents; well.... get ready peoples, a new star is rising on the tennis sky.
Look out for the next senior citizens tennis champion!!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Hmmmm........

What YA!!
If the text in the image is not readable -
This is a model created by ccientists from the RAND to illustrate how a home computer will look like in 2004. And this model was made 50 yrs ago.

Begs a simple question to be asked: Have we come along in a "big" way or in a "small" way?