It happens only in India

Rather puzzled seeing IIIT-Bangalore playing host to the 20th Intl. WWW Conference while the conference is actually being held in Hyderabad. Usually, an educational institute in the host city, hosts the conference; so would have expected IIIT-H or some other university in Hyderabad to play hosts. Well, all I can say is "it happens only in India" ;-)

Airport wifi

Boston's Logan International Airport has free wifi, but for that one needs to either take a survey or watch an sponsor advertisement. Well, 30 seconds, so I watched the ad. Chicago, O'Hare, there were hajjar SSIDs. In Beijing, one needs to get a user id and passcode from the airport lobby office.

Whatever it is, no comparison to Vancouver International Airport! No ads, no username, no password. Just connect, and browse. :)

Pita pizza ;)

1. Unleavened bread - Pita/Roti
2. Sauce spread on it. I used pasta sauce.
3. Finely chopped onions.
4. Grated carrots
5. Grated chesse - I used Cheddar and Gouda.
6. Salt, pepper
7. In the oven for 10 mins, allowing the cheese to melt.
   

Quick to prepare and fingerlicking good. *drool* :)

Pesto-potato in gravy

An attempt at improvising with cooking, proved rather successful - made basil pesto-potato in onion-tomato gravy. Quite easy to make, though it did take a bit of time. Should warn anyone intending to read this recipe further (and have the balls to try it later :P) - I don't measure. I use my cooking experience to infer how much of salt and spice is required.

So, brave hearts, here goes...

1. Boil nugget potatoes until cooked.
2. Remove the skin, and chop the potatoes into 2-3 pieces if you feel like it. I would, coz that increases the surface area.
3. Add basil pesto and coat the cooked potatoes. You could use some other pesto too, but basil pesto has a wonderful aroma to it. :) Besides, if you stop at this step and add salt and pepper to the potatoes, you have yourself a nice side dish to munch along when drinking beer.
   
4. Grind blanched tomatoes, onion, ginger and garlic into a paste.
5. Heat olive oil an add the paste and a bit of water (if you want a slightly diuted gravy). Pesto is made with olive oil; and contains generous amount of it too for preservative purposes. So, watch the amount of oil you use to cook the gravy. I didn't account for the oil in the pesto, so the dish had more oil than I would have liked.
6. When the gravy is about half done, add in salt to taste. And add the pesto coated potatoes. If you roll the potatoes around the gravy, the pesto will spread out. The other option is to not do so, so that the pesto sticks to the potatoes.
   
7. Cook on low heat, allowing for the flavour of the gravy to infuse into the potatoes. The oil will soon separate from the gravy, and the dish is done.
   
8. Your choice : adding angrezi spices - thyme, oregano etc to the dish towards the end.
   
9. I had it with rice.
   

Mamta launches dharna against ICC

The ICC has decided to move the India-England match scheduled to be held at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata to the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. The ICC said that the delay in the stadium renovation work forced them to take the decision. Following this announcement, Mamta Banerji, called for a press conference and announced that the Trinamool Congress will hold a dharna to protest the decision as it affects the employment opportunities of the people of Kolkata.

She said "This decision of the ICC has taken because Vijay Mallya gave the Sharad Pawar and ICC peoples free beer. It is not the right! If match is not here, many people have no work. Parking boys, policeman, groundnut shop, popcorn shop, pickpockets, beggars - all peoples have no work. Central government, state government should answer."[sic]

She also added that the scheduled dharna would be peaceful and no CPI party members or offices would be harmed.

PM acts to reduce food prices in India

Despite food prices in India rapidly leading to a crisis situation, there appeared to be no attempt by the Government to tackle the situation. Not even a press release was forthcoming from either the Agriculture or the Finance ministries; nor did the PM's office speak.

However, it has come to light that the PM's silence on the issue was intentional and the PM was not sitting inactive. Inspired by the likes of Irom Sharmila, Dr Manmohan Singh had undertaken the "Vow of Silence" or maunvrat till the prices of food items reduces. The silence which was mistaken for inaction appears to be the action itself.

However, the maunvrat was not without its share of issues. The SGPC Sikh religious governing body excluded meetings from the vow allowing the PM to speak. However the PM insisted on no-exclusions vow leading to a standoff. This conflict of interest between duty and austerity was resolved when leaders explained that duty is also a part of religion and the PM relented to speak for 5 minutes in every meeting to put forth his views and vote on resolutions.

BCCI puts Lalit Modi on IPL auction

The player auctions for IPL 4 are scheduled today and as few as 12 players are being retained by their current franchisees. Add to that is the introduction of 2 new franchisees - Pune and Kochi. As the auction action heats up, the BCCI today entered the fray by placing its best "player", Lalit Modi, in the auction pool.

At a base price of 22 crores, Modi is the most expensive player. However, BCCI Treasurer N Srinivasan said that the price would not deter buyers. He said "1 Modi is equivalent to 100 other players (think Rajnikanth in Basha). Sachin and Dhoni are at a price of 1.8 cr each. We calculated 2 cr * 11 players would be a reasonable price for Modi. With his match fixing and betting contacts, you can win the IPL 4 without taking the field even. 22 cr is a small price to pay for the glory of winning IPL 4".

All 8 franchisees are reportedly considering the offer seriously.

Sreesanth gets Australia bowling coach offer

After witnessing the performance of India's maverick bowler in the test series against South Africa, Australia has approached S. Sreesanth for the role of bowling coach for the short time between the end of India's tour of the Proteas and the start of the 2011 World cup. The Cricket Australia (CA) spokesperson Peter Young, addressing a conference yesterday said "We realise that this is a short time frame, but after his impressive performance in the series we decided that his services would help the Australian ODI squad." Australia has been going through a bad run in the recent times with England retaining the Ashes after winning the Boxing day test. Another important factor that influenced CA's decision was James Anderson statement that the tricks he learnt from Zaheer Khan helped his bowling in the ongoing test series.

S. Sreesanth initially declined to comment, but later confirmed the offer after Andre Nel wished him over the phone and requested that he break the news to the press. It is also learnt that seeing the Aussie batsmen struggle against Graeme Swann, CA approached Murali Kartik to bowl to the team at the nets and expect to hear from him in the next couple of days.

Zeno... my philosophy guru.

According to Philosophy Guru, my reccommended philosophy guru is Zeno of Citium (not Zeno of Elea).

Your recommended philosophy-guru is ZENO OF CITIUM.

Key fact: He taught in a stoa, the Athenian supermarket, and hence founded the school of philosophy called Stoicism.

Must have: An interest in everyday life, for it is there that you learn life's big lessons.

Key promise: An ability to face anything, no matter how disastrous.

Key peril: To be "stoical" is to turn your back on passion.

Most likely to say: "If you have integrity, no-one can harm you."

Least likely to say: "Forget prudence! It won't help you anyway."

Connected?

Was reminded of this dialogue by Jhanvi in लगे रहो मुन्ना भाई:
इन्टरनेट की दुनिया के तो "touch" में है, लेकिन पड़ोस में कौन रहता है, जानते तक नहीं
मोबाइल, लंद्लैन की भरमार है, लेकिंग जिगरी दोस्त तक पहुंचे, ऐसे तार कहाँ है?


We live in a connected world. But are we really connected?

An antacid tablet reacts with water in space

Inferences...

Social networks have become prevalent - there is one for every purpose, career, travel, books etc. People are spending a lot of time on it, sharing minute details of their lives on it. So I had a question : Can the information that is shared by a person on social networking sites be used to infer that person's personality. Specifically, can the photographs that a person shares on such sites be used. The profile pic is probably the first one anyone intending to do such an analysis could look at. Follow that up with the photos one posts, looking for specifics like : how many have people in it, how many are of family, how many have that person itself, what is the mood of that person in the photograph, what activity does it show the person doing?

Can one draw an inference like : X's photos always have X. So, X is a very gregarious person. But X's photos do not have family. So X guards his/her privacy when it comes to friends and relatives.

Maybe something else like: Y's photographs do not show him/her, therefore "place some inference about Y".

Or something rather obvious: Z's photos show Z in lots of outdoor activity. Z likes adventure.

I bet such a study has already been done or is in progress in some psychology/sociology department in some university. The question is how could such information about us be used for/against us. The most obvious being targeted ads. But as a revenue model, that is so passe. Something's gotta give and something is definitely in store for us. Sooner rather than later.

3 idiots

Managed to watch the movie in its entireity. I guess that statement sums up my 'review' of the movie that has been the subject of many positive reviews, topical discussions and resounding financial success. The movie is an adaptation of 5 Point Someone. I've seen the theatrical performance by Evam, which was wonderfully done.

The movie definitely makes its point against the Indian undergrad education system. But as a cinematic experience, it was a letdown, especially after what Rajkumar Hirani has given us in the past - the well made Munnabhai movies. One can understand some amount of drama added to the script to cater to popular taste, but a cast that has two 40+ year old men playing the part of 20 year olds is difficult to digest. The ridiculous wig and accent that Boman Irani's character had were probably not necessary. Not to mention many recycled jokes - which we shall forgive. The last straw was the newborn baby coming 'back to life' (?) when it hears 'All is Well'.

Chetan Bhagat is alleging that he wasn't given due credit. If I were him, I would actually not bother about credits and actually try to distance myself from the movie.

Simply put: "Movie देखके मज़ा नहीं आया".

If I have to see '3 Idiots', I'll look at myself in the mirror; thrice over. That's sufficient.

Hitler reacts to auto strike in Bangalore

Obviously, this video is filled with kannada expletives and swear words, and is not recommended for young viewers (less than 18 yrs).

Social Networking

Indian companies say social networking sites (like Facebook) are affecting productivity. Not surprising. But,
the 'revelation' has come ~3 years after the PhD-Comics strip below.

Skhizein (Jérémy Clapin,2008)

Wow!

For all his flaws, Modi seems to do good too

The Gujarat assembly has passed a law that makes it mandatory for people to vote in local body polls. This MUST be extended to larger levels - state and general assemblies. This bill does add a fair share of work for government agencies - ensuring that all the eligible people in the constituency are listed in the voter's lists and maintaining up-to-date. And for the citizens, ensuring that their names are in the list corresponding to the constituency they reside in. Its generally accepted that India has been repeatedly plagued by low voter turnout, especially in the urban areas (though I need to show figures to prove this). 62% (in 2009 General Elections, as reported by The Hindu Business Line) is still too close to 50% for my comfort. I couldn't cast my (postal) vote 'coz my name was missing from the voter's list, though apparently it mysteriously re-appeared on the day of voting. Let's see how effective this move is.

Life in the Freezer

GUBA has the 6 episode BBC series Life in the Freezer (1993) dealing with the life of the flora and fauna on and around the Antarctic continent. Yes, Sir David Attenborough does the narration. :) The videos are embedded below, chronologically from parts 1 through 6.



http://www.guba.com/watch/2000878117



http://www.guba.com/watch/2000878176





http://www.guba.com/watch/2000878527



http://www.guba.com/watch/2000878524



http://www.guba.com/watch/2000878175



http://www.guba.com/watch/2000878186

The Knack

TheKnack
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