Your blog is not a place to merely post links to other blogs, but couldn't resist posting this one here.
How to Do what you Love
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Where's the Globe Warming ?.
Certainly not in UK. It's snowing in October. First there was this travel warning for Birmingham in office, then there was the BBC weathers snow icon. We ignored it religiously as it has failed us before.
But by 8:00 in the night came the call. "See outside, do you see anything?", asked Murali. I couldn't just spot the empty street. "It's snowing here" he was excited for sure.
Too bad snow didn't came out way, but it will, eventually. knowing the English weather, it could be tomorrow , next month or even next year. But it feels like the winter has already begun. I could spot an inch of snow on top of the cars coming from up north.(In UK, such feelings are mostly short lived, come next week, we might see the summer weather again)
Anyway, the Global Warming books are not going to sell well this year. Why don't someone write a book on Global cooling or going with the current state of affairs, Global warming Recession ?
But by 8:00 in the night came the call. "See outside, do you see anything?", asked Murali. I couldn't just spot the empty street. "It's snowing here" he was excited for sure.
Too bad snow didn't came out way, but it will, eventually. knowing the English weather, it could be tomorrow , next month or even next year. But it feels like the winter has already begun. I could spot an inch of snow on top of the cars coming from up north.(In UK, such feelings are mostly short lived, come next week, we might see the summer weather again)
Anyway, the Global Warming books are not going to sell well this year. Why don't someone write a book on Global cooling or going with the current state of affairs, Global warming Recession ?
Monday, 27 October 2008
Blogs. So 2004 like ?
Came up on this article on Wired today which argues that blogs are so...hmm .. 2004. This, just a day (and a rather rainy one) after i was trying to convince narthana that goining to shops and shopping is so 2000 like to escape the weekend shopping.
The arguments are plain and simple. What made blogs attractive is the ability of having personal opinions on issues from people who are independent of the media circles. blogs became extremely popular but the mainstream media soon turned to blogging. When a media firm employes full time bloggers to blog on issues, it is difficult for the part-time, blogging-for-fun armatures to match up to that.
Wired argues that on mediums like Twitter, where one post can contain only 140 words, the twitters (if I can call them that) are in level playing field with the pro's.
The argument looks good first, but I don't see why the media moguls can find some expert twitters who can focus full time and make better twitter trails to beat the armatures.
I agree that maintaining a blog on US election/Financial crisis and beating the big players would be a day dream. But personal blogging is here to stay.Where else can we publish the personal stories and opinions so quick and relay it to the world?. And for aspiring writers like me, where else do we write and get the feedback?.
So Blogging is gonna stay and make me happy. meanwhile shopping out too will stay making the other half's happy !.
The arguments are plain and simple. What made blogs attractive is the ability of having personal opinions on issues from people who are independent of the media circles. blogs became extremely popular but the mainstream media soon turned to blogging. When a media firm employes full time bloggers to blog on issues, it is difficult for the part-time, blogging-for-fun armatures to match up to that.
Wired argues that on mediums like Twitter, where one post can contain only 140 words, the twitters (if I can call them that) are in level playing field with the pro's.
The argument looks good first, but I don't see why the media moguls can find some expert twitters who can focus full time and make better twitter trails to beat the armatures.
I agree that maintaining a blog on US election/Financial crisis and beating the big players would be a day dream. But personal blogging is here to stay.Where else can we publish the personal stories and opinions so quick and relay it to the world?. And for aspiring writers like me, where else do we write and get the feedback?.
So Blogging is gonna stay and make me happy. meanwhile shopping out too will stay making the other half's happy !.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Autumn colour tracker.
To a man who is averse to cold as much as I am, passing of summer and the start of autumn is not something to look forward to. But one thing I defenitely look forward to this autumn is the colours it will bring. I hope the predictions that a hot (??) summer would eventually lead to better autumn colours are true.
After a wonderful trip to Box hill & Richmond park with Murali & Family, I was googling to find a good place to visit for the autumn foliage.Sometimes, you have the luck to find the exact thing you are looking for, and that's how I felt when I found the Forestry Commisions Autumn Tracker.
With places to visit in autumn marked on the UK map and tracking the colour change in each place through a legend of 5 colours, this looks like the comprehensive guide to autumn colours in UK. They also have the top 10 places to visit and promises to change it as the autumn progresses and colours unleash.
They say satisfaction is a hard thing to achieve and it really is. After 15 minutes with the site, I wish I had a post code search which shows us our nearest autumn spots.
anyway, a nice site if you are planning for an autumn colours trip in UK.
After a wonderful trip to Box hill & Richmond park with Murali & Family, I was googling to find a good place to visit for the autumn foliage.Sometimes, you have the luck to find the exact thing you are looking for, and that's how I felt when I found the Forestry Commisions Autumn Tracker.
With places to visit in autumn marked on the UK map and tracking the colour change in each place through a legend of 5 colours, this looks like the comprehensive guide to autumn colours in UK. They also have the top 10 places to visit and promises to change it as the autumn progresses and colours unleash.
They say satisfaction is a hard thing to achieve and it really is. After 15 minutes with the site, I wish I had a post code search which shows us our nearest autumn spots.
anyway, a nice site if you are planning for an autumn colours trip in UK.
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Ad Block Plus.
This post is with the assumption that you are using Mozilla's Firefox browser. If not, probably, it's already time to change over.
This short post is to let you know the most useful add-on I have come across in Firefox. The Ad Block Plus Saves us a lot of time and unease by blocking out the banner ads & the sounds announcing that you have won an Ipod for free. Try it out.
Ad Block Plus
Once you select the filter from your region, it will block out most of the banner ads. You can also add the remaining banner ads by right clicking on it and selecting Adblock.
Obviously, there are 1000's of add on's and you'll find quite a few to your taste and choce, but this one had an immediate impact on our browsing experience. specially on sites like Rediff.com
While a lot of us are happy to have a better browsing experience, theere are worrying sounds from the industry that If it becomes a standard browser feature, (which a lot of add ons do in later releases) it has the capability of kinlling the internet revenue of sites and in turn make internet less profitable. articles like below, highlights the same. And who is at the wrong end of innovation this time, Google !
Ad Block Plus Threat
The microsoft reaction looks interesting. We will have to wait and see how the game develops.
This short post is to let you know the most useful add-on I have come across in Firefox. The Ad Block Plus Saves us a lot of time and unease by blocking out the banner ads & the sounds announcing that you have won an Ipod for free. Try it out.
Ad Block Plus
Once you select the filter from your region, it will block out most of the banner ads. You can also add the remaining banner ads by right clicking on it and selecting Adblock.
Obviously, there are 1000's of add on's and you'll find quite a few to your taste and choce, but this one had an immediate impact on our browsing experience. specially on sites like Rediff.com
While a lot of us are happy to have a better browsing experience, theere are worrying sounds from the industry that If it becomes a standard browser feature, (which a lot of add ons do in later releases) it has the capability of kinlling the internet revenue of sites and in turn make internet less profitable. articles like below, highlights the same. And who is at the wrong end of innovation this time, Google !
Ad Block Plus Threat
The microsoft reaction looks interesting. We will have to wait and see how the game develops.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
My experiment with counters
There is no higher pleasure, for me, as a blogger to know that my blog is being visited by people known and unknown. As much as I enjoy writing these entries, it's always nice to know that people read them.
So,curiosity got the better of me on last weekend and i knew it was time for a hit counter on my blog. So I Search on Google. As it so often does, Google comes up with links full of information. In short, this is what I understood.
1. The good news first. Hey, getting a counter on your site is easy !
2. In the old version of blogspot, you had to go to one the "counter" sites, create a login id, chose a counter and then point it to your Blog address. What's more, the site will give you a piece of HTML code and you need to paste it in the HTML source of your blog.
3. You an in for an easy ride if you are writing blogs now. All you need to do is to sign in to blogger, go to the layout section, click on "Add New Gadget", select a hit counter and Bingo!, you have a counter on your site.
Easy for the new age Blogger, right?. oh, How I wish all these fancy stories they tell us were true. Sadly, they are not. Blogger has some gadgets which appear to be counters, but on adding them either I get an empty white box or a box with a random number. The gadget section is filled with count of people in Malaysia to global counters to count down to Doom's day but not a single decent hit counter.
Okay, So much for the great gadgets, it's back to basics. So, I went to Netbb.com a website which has a clean interface and offers a good counter as well. 10 minutes and one HTML copying-and-pasting later, I have a counter at the bottom of the site. Job done !. It may not the best solution. Sites like Google Analytics offer lot more, but all I want is a counter, so it's just fine.
This short experiment took place on last Saturday. Looking at the counter today makes me a happy man. 82 Hits in 7 days. Even if I assume that I visit my site 4 times a day on an average, that leaves nearly 50 hits on my site in 7 days. So, If you are planning to have a blog, having a counter might be a good idea. Each hit clearly inspires you to write more.
So,curiosity got the better of me on last weekend and i knew it was time for a hit counter on my blog. So I Search on Google. As it so often does, Google comes up with links full of information. In short, this is what I understood.
1. The good news first. Hey, getting a counter on your site is easy !
2. In the old version of blogspot, you had to go to one the "counter" sites, create a login id, chose a counter and then point it to your Blog address. What's more, the site will give you a piece of HTML code and you need to paste it in the HTML source of your blog.
3. You an in for an easy ride if you are writing blogs now. All you need to do is to sign in to blogger, go to the layout section, click on "Add New Gadget", select a hit counter and Bingo!, you have a counter on your site.
Easy for the new age Blogger, right?. oh, How I wish all these fancy stories they tell us were true. Sadly, they are not. Blogger has some gadgets which appear to be counters, but on adding them either I get an empty white box or a box with a random number. The gadget section is filled with count of people in Malaysia to global counters to count down to Doom's day but not a single decent hit counter.
Okay, So much for the great gadgets, it's back to basics. So, I went to Netbb.com a website which has a clean interface and offers a good counter as well. 10 minutes and one HTML copying-and-pasting later, I have a counter at the bottom of the site. Job done !. It may not the best solution. Sites like Google Analytics offer lot more, but all I want is a counter, so it's just fine.
This short experiment took place on last Saturday. Looking at the counter today makes me a happy man. 82 Hits in 7 days. Even if I assume that I visit my site 4 times a day on an average, that leaves nearly 50 hits on my site in 7 days. So, If you are planning to have a blog, having a counter might be a good idea. Each hit clearly inspires you to write more.
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Google Chrome.
Google Entering the Browser Market. Before I write my thoughts, I thought you should read this. An excellent way to present their new browser,named Chrome.
Google Chrome Cartoon
The Chrome has made us happy already by running our application much faster than FireFox or IE. With Google getting into the browser act, I wonder what would happen to FireFox?
Google seems to be paying a handy amount of money to Mozilla for keeping Google as the default homepage and search option. Google seems to have paid nearly 80 % of Mozilla corporations revenues in 2006 (56 million out of the 65 million).
With Google starting to pursue it's own browser, Mozilla would be feeling the heat already.
Google Chrome Cartoon
The Chrome has made us happy already by running our application much faster than FireFox or IE. With Google getting into the browser act, I wonder what would happen to FireFox?
Google seems to be paying a handy amount of money to Mozilla for keeping Google as the default homepage and search option. Google seems to have paid nearly 80 % of Mozilla corporations revenues in 2006 (56 million out of the 65 million).
With Google starting to pursue it's own browser, Mozilla would be feeling the heat already.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
When will we have the "Indian" Desktop PC ?
For the last three years, there are two definite dialogues which happen between me & my father every time I visit home.
Me : "Achan ennanu njangalude aduthu varunnathu?" When are you coming to Visit us ? (To then Mysore/ now London)
Achan : Samayam akumbol varam. (When it's Time). The Time, obviously never comes and it's his way of dodging the question in a nice way.
Dialogue No 2 is on buying a computer. Like many retired middle class men in kerala, Achan also was smitten by the share bug couple of years ago and in a way, that's keeping him busy & active. From the opening bell to the closing time of Indian share market, chakyarampurathu house is a busy place. There are so many funny stories made by my brother on the same that I will reserve it for another blog.
Acahn does his business by watching TV and calling up the share broker and placing the selling/buying order. I always thought it could be more easier through a computer.
Me : Acha, ee share business cheyyan oru computer vangichu koode?. (Father, why don't you buy a computer to do your share business?).
Achan : Samayam akumbol varam. (When it's Time)
Me being the lazy son i am, never took the matter any further. But this time, I have decided that I am going to buy a computer at home on my next visit. With both me & my brother far away, it would make it easy for us to communicate and would help them to watch us photos online. Achan can do his share business on it if he pleases. With smart cousin's around, It will never be under used.
Okay, so, a Laptop or Desktop?. I decided to go with the Desktop for the following reasons.
1. We are not planning to move it around.
2. We can have a bigger resolution Screen, which is better for the eyes.
3. It's comparatively cheaper & as we will be buying it from the nearest town, and known vendors,service would be better.
"But you have to buy a UPS too" says Prashanth, my brother. No surprises there. With the power situation at home (daily planned power cuts & sudden unplanned ones) we need a UPS so that computer can be shut down safely whenever the power is cut.
But then, the laptop does not have this problem. the variation in voltage could be an issue but having the battery charged while we are on power ensures that it's not damaged by power going off all of a sudden.
In the western world were Desktop PC's were invented, there is uninterrupted power and hence no need of a backup mechanism. But in countries like India, why no one is thinking of having a battery backup option for the PC?. having done that on laptops. it should not be a technological issue. Having a battery inside the PC and getting it charged while on power like the laptop will altogether eliminate the need for an external device like UPS.
I find it hard to believe that with huge potential markets like India, China, Africa & South America(Places where I assume there will be power shortage) no PC manufacturer has taken a stride on this direction. Google didn't show us anything concrete on this topic as well.
Can the markets neglect such an economical and better option for long?. I think Not. Or is it that i missing out on a basic concept?. Either way, Do you think we will ever have that "Indian" Desktop?.
Me : "Achan ennanu njangalude aduthu varunnathu?" When are you coming to Visit us ? (To then Mysore/ now London)
Achan : Samayam akumbol varam. (When it's Time). The Time, obviously never comes and it's his way of dodging the question in a nice way.
Dialogue No 2 is on buying a computer. Like many retired middle class men in kerala, Achan also was smitten by the share bug couple of years ago and in a way, that's keeping him busy & active. From the opening bell to the closing time of Indian share market, chakyarampurathu house is a busy place. There are so many funny stories made by my brother on the same that I will reserve it for another blog.
Acahn does his business by watching TV and calling up the share broker and placing the selling/buying order. I always thought it could be more easier through a computer.
Me : Acha, ee share business cheyyan oru computer vangichu koode?. (Father, why don't you buy a computer to do your share business?).
Achan : Samayam akumbol varam. (When it's Time)
Me being the lazy son i am, never took the matter any further. But this time, I have decided that I am going to buy a computer at home on my next visit. With both me & my brother far away, it would make it easy for us to communicate and would help them to watch us photos online. Achan can do his share business on it if he pleases. With smart cousin's around, It will never be under used.
Okay, so, a Laptop or Desktop?. I decided to go with the Desktop for the following reasons.
1. We are not planning to move it around.
2. We can have a bigger resolution Screen, which is better for the eyes.
3. It's comparatively cheaper & as we will be buying it from the nearest town, and known vendors,service would be better.
"But you have to buy a UPS too" says Prashanth, my brother. No surprises there. With the power situation at home (daily planned power cuts & sudden unplanned ones) we need a UPS so that computer can be shut down safely whenever the power is cut.
But then, the laptop does not have this problem. the variation in voltage could be an issue but having the battery charged while we are on power ensures that it's not damaged by power going off all of a sudden.
In the western world were Desktop PC's were invented, there is uninterrupted power and hence no need of a backup mechanism. But in countries like India, why no one is thinking of having a battery backup option for the PC?. having done that on laptops. it should not be a technological issue. Having a battery inside the PC and getting it charged while on power like the laptop will altogether eliminate the need for an external device like UPS.
I find it hard to believe that with huge potential markets like India, China, Africa & South America(Places where I assume there will be power shortage) no PC manufacturer has taken a stride on this direction. Google didn't show us anything concrete on this topic as well.
Can the markets neglect such an economical and better option for long?. I think Not. Or is it that i missing out on a basic concept?. Either way, Do you think we will ever have that "Indian" Desktop?.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Good bye Beijing.
Such a wonderful Olympics. What more can I ask when all 4 of my Olympics wishes have been granted. It has been a truly entertaining two weeks. Made more entertaining by the No Focus group discussions.
So, Greatest Olympics Ever ?: Haven't seen enough to compare. But possibly the grandest opening ceremony I have seen. Definitely in terms of scale.
Michel Phelps / Usain Bolt? : When someone jogs through the second half of an Olympic 100m final celebrating through the final 10 meters and yet runs the fastest in history, it's easy.
Sorry phelps, for an average viewer, it's Usain. period.
So, Greatest Olympics Ever ?: Haven't seen enough to compare. But possibly the grandest opening ceremony I have seen. Definitely in terms of scale.
Michel Phelps / Usain Bolt? : When someone jogs through the second half of an Olympic 100m final celebrating through the final 10 meters and yet runs the fastest in history, it's easy.
Sorry phelps, for an average viewer, it's Usain. period.
Friday, 22 August 2008
Trading Death : The Lord of War
"You do not avoid work by sitting idle, you avoid it by doing something else" says Paul Graham. It's on on one of these "something else" moments that I stumbled on this movie, "The Lord of War".
Expectations can play a part, like anything in life, in you liking a movie, and my expectations were indeed low when I started watching the movie. But from the very second dialogue (There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11? ) I was impressed.
The movie charts the Life of Yuri Orvalov, played by Nicolas Cage, a Russian arms dealer. Yuri starts by selling arms to local mobsters in Manhattan and becomes a master arms dealer. There are sub plots of Love, a cat and mouse chase between Yuri and the honest cop Jack, and the turmoil of Yuri's family & his brother.
I liked two aspects of the movie. One, it's presentation. Shot in docu-drama style, most of the story is narrated to us by the main chartacter. Dialogues are short and crisp and pack the punch. The script is neat and moves the movie at a brisk pace. shot in different locations of the world, it's a mini tour of the Arms Dealers world.
Secondly, the movie refreshingly refrains from taking a moral stand or logical conclusion. There are no pointed out villains, or heroes. It tries to show the world of Arms dealers, dictators, genocides, honest cops, corrupted officials and leaves the user with the choice of conclusions. No good-over-evil victories, just the different view points.
Yuri knows well what people do with his arms, but he knows too well that if not him, someone else will do this job. And as he points out to his wife, it's not only money, he does it because he is good at it. On the other hand the director shows us the mental turmoil of Yuri when his family leaves him. But still, he goes on. Through yuri's brother the director shows us a person who is affected by the out comes of the arms deals.
If you would like a sneak peak at the global arms dealing, and the lives around it, I suggest this movie to you. Be warned, you'll have to draw the conclusions !.
Expectations can play a part, like anything in life, in you liking a movie, and my expectations were indeed low when I started watching the movie. But from the very second dialogue (There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11? ) I was impressed.
The movie charts the Life of Yuri Orvalov, played by Nicolas Cage, a Russian arms dealer. Yuri starts by selling arms to local mobsters in Manhattan and becomes a master arms dealer. There are sub plots of Love, a cat and mouse chase between Yuri and the honest cop Jack, and the turmoil of Yuri's family & his brother.
I liked two aspects of the movie. One, it's presentation. Shot in docu-drama style, most of the story is narrated to us by the main chartacter. Dialogues are short and crisp and pack the punch. The script is neat and moves the movie at a brisk pace. shot in different locations of the world, it's a mini tour of the Arms Dealers world.
Secondly, the movie refreshingly refrains from taking a moral stand or logical conclusion. There are no pointed out villains, or heroes. It tries to show the world of Arms dealers, dictators, genocides, honest cops, corrupted officials and leaves the user with the choice of conclusions. No good-over-evil victories, just the different view points.
Yuri knows well what people do with his arms, but he knows too well that if not him, someone else will do this job. And as he points out to his wife, it's not only money, he does it because he is good at it. On the other hand the director shows us the mental turmoil of Yuri when his family leaves him. But still, he goes on. Through yuri's brother the director shows us a person who is affected by the out comes of the arms deals.
If you would like a sneak peak at the global arms dealing, and the lives around it, I suggest this movie to you. Be warned, you'll have to draw the conclusions !.
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