Caught on tape: Infamous gaffes

Some of the most infamous gaffes made by famous people throughout modern history.

The best one:
------------------
Former US President Ronald Reagan's warm-up joke before a radio broadcast.

During the sound check he announced: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased
to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia
forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."


Link: BBC NEWS | Europe | Caught on tape: Infamous gaffes

A sad sight after the end of the Ganapati festival

In India, the Ganapati festival is held every year. After the festival ends, the idols of Lord Ganesha are immersed in the sea. But these idols are mostly made of non bio-degradable materials. So they don't dissolve. And so the lovely images of the God become twisted and macabre.

SAD ....

Link: Ultrabrown : The Battle of Kurukshetra (updated)

Global Fire Power

GlobalFirepower (GFP) provides a analytical display of
information based on sources from all over the globe. You can compare countries side-by-side on factors such as

• Yearly military expenditure
• Aircraft
• Missile defense systems

etc.


Link : World Military Strength Ranking

Unfinished Tolkien work to be published in 2007

Snippet from the news site:
--------------------------------------
An unfinished tale by J.R.R. Tolkien has been edited by his son into a
completed work and will be released next spring, the U.S. and British
publishers announced Monday.

Christopher Tolkien has spent the past 30 years working on "The
Children of Hurin," an epic tale his father began in 1918 and later
abandoned.

Link: CNN.com - Unfinished Tolkien work to be published in '07 - Sep 18, 2006

The World's Most Photorealistic Vector Art

This is really amazing. These are not photos / drawings, but images generated using vector art. Forget the technical part of how they are generated. Just enjoy the pictures ....

Link: Basang Panaginip: The World's Most Photorealistic Vector Art

Basic rules of email writing

Basic rules of email writing

This post is pasted from an email which my wife had written. (I won't disclose her name and email id ;-) ).

Good stuff. If people follow these rules in their professional career, it would make everyone's life much better ...

It is imperative that we all know certain basic rules about email writing.

• In the To field, always include the name(s) of the person(s) who is(are) expected to take action on the mail. If your name is in the To list of any received mail, then you are expected to reply and/or take action on that mail.
• In the CC field, always include the name(s) of the person(s) who is(are) NOT expected to take any action on the mail but are only in the loop for sharing the information. If your name is in the CC field, you need not reply and/or take action on the mail, but you are still expected to READ it! This is mostly for non-participating audience in a discussion or for senior members such as lead and managers.
• Please note that people have mail rules or filters defined based on To and Cc fields in their mail clients. They may only read mails where their name is in the To field on a daily basis and others they may be reading at later time. So if you need someone’s immediate attention, make sure you include their name in the To field.
• Only include those people in the Cc list, who really need to know about the mail. For eg., if someone has completed their induction session for a new joinee and is informing me, my name should be in To list and the new joinee’s name and his/her coordinator’s name should be in the Cc field. No one else needs to be copied on this information.
• Do not use too many informal or casual language, emoticon, exclamation marks in your mail. Do not mark anything in CAPs or BOLD unless you want attention brought to it. If you use it too often, people will start recognizing it as your style and will not take it to mean emphasis when you REALLY want to emphasize something.
• Try to keep emails to the point and short. Structure the mail into logical points and insert paragraphs where necessary. Your aim is that the recipient should read your mail. Make it easy for him/her to read!
• Run a spell check before sending. There is a facility to do this in Outlook.

The Actual Facts about the Mcdonalds' Coffee Case

Remember Stella Liebeck? The Mcdonalds' coffee case related old lady? The actual details of the case are given on this page. It does not seem to be as clearcut a case of a frivolous lawsuit as I had originally thought ...

The Actual Facts about the Mcdonalds' Coffee Case

Things to Eat Before You Die?

A list of culinary delights from around the world .... absolute must-haves (or must-eats)

Link: Things to Eat Before You Die?

The Best Time to Buy Everything

When is a good time to buy? See below:

Link:
The Best Time to Buy Everything (Deal of the Day: Personal Finance) | SmartMoney.com

Top 10 blogger lies, Top 10 reasons nobody reads your blog

These 2 pages are hilarious :-)

Link1 --> Top ten blogger lies

Link 2 --> Top ten reasons nobody reads your blog

How to remove Logos from your PDA / cell phone with sugar

Tired of being 'branded' by the logos on your PDA / cell phone? Use your noodle, and some sugar to get rid of them ...

Link: How to remove Logos from your PDA / cell phone with sugar

10 Reasons To Drink More Water

A nice article that shows the benefits of drinking more water.

Link: The Ririan Project™: 10 Reasons To Drink More Water

55 Ways to Have Fun With Google

A book that tells you many (ok, 55) ways to have fun with Google.

Snippet from the site:
<SNIP>
You probably use Google everyday, but do you know...
the Google Snake Game? Googledromes? Memecodes? Googlesport? The Google Calculator?
Googlepark and Google Weddings? Google hacking, fighting and rhyming? In this book,
you’ll find Google-related games, cartoons, oddities, tips, stories and everything
else that’s fun.
</SNIP>



Blog: Official Google Blog: 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google

Book available as free download: http://www.55fun.com/

Books for all: Google offers full book downloads

Google is making available for download all non-copyrighted material, such as Shakespeare's works.

Article: Books for all: Google offers full book downloads | TG Daily

Google site: http://books.google.com/

Apple Human Interface Guidelines

Apple Human Interface Guidelines

A set of guidelines from Apple on how to design great user interface for your software.
Very nice. Recommended reading.

Link: Apple Human Interface Guidelines

RAW vs. JPEG

When shooting digital snaps, the eternal question arises: RAW format or JPEG format?
Unlike classical philosophical questions, this one does have an answer based on your situation.

Read on ... RAW vs. JPEG

Naya Shivala by Muhammed Iqbal

A very nice philosophical poem by Muhammed Iqbal

Original Link: Naya Shivala (with English Translation) by Muhammed Iqbal at Old Poetry

Reproduced verbatim below:


Sach kah don aye brahman! Gar tu buraa na maaney
terey sanam-kadon ke but ho gaye puraaney
apnon se bair rakhnaa tu ne bhton se seekhajang-o-jadal sikhaayaa waaiz ko bhi khudaa ne
tang aa ke main ne aakhir dair-o-haram ko chhodawaaiz ka waaz chhodaa, chhodey tirey fasaaney 

Patthar ki mooraton mein samjhaa hai tu khdaa hai
Khaak-e-watan ka mujh ko har zarraa devtaa hai

Aa ghairiyat ke pardey ik baar phir uthaa dein
bichdon ko phir milaa dein, naqsh-e-dui mitaa dein
sooni padi hui hai muddat se dil ki basti
aa, ik nayaa shiwaalaa is des mein banaa dein
dunyaa ke teerathon se oonchaa ho apnaa teerath
daamaan-e-aasmaan se us ka kalas milaa dein
har subh uthh ke gaayein mantar wo meethey meethey
saarey pujaariyon ko mai peet ki pilaa dein
 

Shakti bhi shaanti bhi bhakton ke geet mein hai
dharti ke baasiyon ki mukti preet mein hai



English Translation

 A New Altar

O Brahman! Should I speak the truth if you don't mind?
The idols of your temples have gone antiquated.
You've learnt, from the idols, to harbor animosity towards our own people;
the God too has taught his preacher the ways of violence and war.

Having got fed-up I left temple as well as mosque;
[I] left attending the lecture of the preacher as well as your story-sessions.
You think that God resides in the stone idols
Each speck of the motherland is God to me.

Come, let's, once again, remove the curtains of unacquaintedness;
let's help the separated beings meet again [and] remove the motif of duality.
The territory of heart is vacuous for a long time.

Come, let's make a new shrine in this land.
Our shrine should be taller than all the shrines of the world!
We should make its spire touch the edge of the sky.
We should sing, each morning, the amiable hymns
[and] make all the worshippers drink the wine of love!
[Both] power and peace are implied in the songs of the disciples.
The salvation of the people of the world lies in love!

A Java based CMS (Content Management System)

A Java based CMS (Content Management System)

An open-source (Java) project for building a CMS.

Check it out. You might save some serious $$ using this one ...

Link: currentcms: Current CMS

Eyewitless News: Save Pluto

Worth1000.com has come up with a contest. The theme? Pluto, of course. The poor planet that was kicked out of the Solar System by a bunch of astronomer bullies. Photos that advertise the ninth planet ...

Link: Worth1000.com | Pluto photos

The Greatest Swiss Knife ever

The Greatest Swiss Knife ever

A humongously huge swiss knife that has all the things that you could possibly wish for. The only problem is now to find humongously huge pockets to put it in ...

Link: What a knife !!

Great snaps of libraries around the world

Great snaps of libraries around the world

The article is titled "Hot Library Smut". But don't worry, this isn't X-rated stuff. It is just a collection of photographs of libraries around the world.
Check out the "STIFTSBIBLIOTHEK ST. GALLEN" one. Awesome ...

Link: Library Snaps

Update: 'Hitler' restaurant changes its name

Finally, common sense has prevailed. The owners of a restaurant named after Hitler in Mumbai has decided to change its name.

Link: BBC NEWS | South Asia | Climb down by 'Hitler' restaurant

Java: Swingweb

Swingweb is a web-application framework that enables AWT/Swing application to operate inside
a web container and presented as a web application to the web browser, purely in HTML/CSS/javascript.
The swing application will render and behave in the web-container the same as it would as a desktop application.
There is little knowledge required for the developer to start developing swingweb application as long as
they are familiar with swing UI development.

Link: Swingweb - Swingweb - Introduction

Wasim Raja - A breathtaking strokeplayer

Wasim Raja passed away. A fine tribute to a fine cricketer.

Link: Cricinfo - Wasim Raja - A breathtaking strokeplayer

Why I Love Apple

A nice article on why Apple products are a pleasure: the painstaking attention to details.

Link: Wired News: Why I Love Apple

50 Most Common Interview Questions and Answers

50 Most Common Interview Questions and Answers

A list of standard questions that are usually asked in interviews (and the recommended answers). Worth a read.

Link: Bhuvana Sundaramoorthy’s Blog » 50 COMMON INTERVIEW Q&A

The Fries that bind us --> Amazing Starbucks and McDonalds map

The Fries that bind us --> Amazing Starbucks and McDonalds map

Self-explanatory map. Take a look:
Starbucks and McDonalds map

Jet Powered Beetle !!

Jet Powered Beetle !!

A guy called Ron Patrick has modified his Beetle to have 2 engines: the normal one in front and a jet engine in the back. You have to see this to believe it !!

Link: Jet Beetle

Row over Hitler-themed restaurant

Row over Hitler-themed restaurant

The Jewish community in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) is outraged by a new restaurant named after Adolf Hitler.

The restaurant, Hitler's Cross, opened last week in the city's outskirts, initially displaying a giant poster of Hitler at the entrance.

The 5,000-strong Jewish community say they were insulted and want the owner to change the name of the restaurant.

The restaurant owner says the poster has been taken down but he told the BBC that he would keep the name.


I know that freedom of speech is important, but it should be used responsibly. Hitler is someone who evokes pretty strong responses from many people ...


Complete article at: BBC article about the restaurant

Russian solves historic math problem, shuns prize

Russian solves historic math problem, shuns prize

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- A reclusive Russian won an academic prize Tuesday for work toward solving one of history's toughest math problems, but he refused to accept the award -- a stunning renunciation of accolades from his field's top minds.

Grigory Perelman, a 40-year-old native of St. Petersburg, was praised for work in the field known as topology, which studies shapes, and for a breakthrough that might help scientists figure out nothing less than the shape of the universe.

Full article at: CNN Article

Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer

It seems that our brain has a boot-up sequence just like a computer.
Well, considering it was designed by the best engineer ever (God), it doesn't amaze me ...

LiveScience.com - Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer

5 HTML elements you probably never use (but perhaps should)

A set of 5 uncommon HTML tags that are very promising.
E.g. the <optgroup> one. It allows you to group the <option> inside a <select> box into categories. The categories themselves are not select-able, but the elements themselves can be selected. Nice.


Link: 5 HTML elements you probably never use (but perhaps should)

Ten (Okay, 13) Questions with Libby Sartain, Chief People Yahoo!

Ten (Okay, 13) Questions with Libby Sartain, Chief People Yahoo!

An interview with Yahoo's global head of HR. See what it takes to get hired at Yahoo!

Link: Ten (Okay ...

Coffee as a Health Drink?

Coffee as a Health Drink?

A study suggests that coffee might have some positive benefits as well. Hmmm .. how come periodicially there always are studies published that contradict each other?

Link: Coffee as a Health Drink? Studies Find Some Benefits - New York Times

10 Ways to Make Your Digital Photos Last Forever

10 Ways to Make Your Digital Photos Last Forever

10 tips on saving those precious memories ....

Link: 10 ways to ...

50 coolest websites

50 coolest websites

A list of Time Magazine's 50 coolest websites.

Link: 50 coolest web sites

5 Steps To Being More Photogenic

5 Steps To Being More Photogenic

A nice article that shows you how to look your best in photos.

Link: 5 Steps To Being More Photogenic

Dhirubhai gave management a whole new 'ism'

A very nice article about Dhirubhai Ambani on rediff.com. Reproduced verbatim below.

Original Link:  Dhirubhai gave management a whole new 'ism'


Dhirubhai gave management a whole new 'ism'

A G Krishnamurthy in New Delhi |
February 03, 2006 06:06 IST






Dhirubhai Ambani was no ordinary leader. He was a man who gave management a whole new "ism".

There
is a new "ism" that I've been meaning to add to the vast world of words
for quite a while now. Because, without exaggeration, it's a word for
which no synonym can do full justice: "Dhirubhaism".

Inspired by
the truly phenomenal Dhirubhai H Ambani, it denotes a characteristic,
tendency or syndrome as demonstrated by its inspirer. Dhirubhai, on his
part, had he been around, would have laughed heartily and declared,
"Small men like me don't inspire big words!"

There you have
it - now that is a classic Dhirubhaism, the tendency to disregard one's
own invaluable contribution to society as significant.

I'm
sure everyone who knew Dhirubhai well will have his or her own little
anecdote that illustrates his unique personality. He was a person whose
heart and head both worked at peak efficiency levels, all the time. And
that resulted in a truly unique and remarkable work philosophy, which
is what I would like to define as Dhirubhaism.

Let me explain this new "ism" with a few examples from my own experiences of working with him.

Dhirubhaism No 1:
Roll up your sleeves and help. You and your team share the same DNA.
Reliance, during Vimal's heady days had organized a fashion show at the
Convention Hall, at Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi.

As usual, every
seat in the hall was taken, and there were an equal number of impatient
guests outside, waiting to be seated. I was of course completely
besieged, trying to handle the ensuing confusion, chaos and protests,
when to my amazement and relief, I saw Dhirubhai at the door trying to
pacify the guests.

Dhirubhai at that time was already a name
to reckon with and a VIP himself, but that did not stop him from
rolling up his sleeves and diving in to rescue a situation that had
gone out of control. Most bosses in his place would have driven up in
their swank cars at the last moment and given the manager a piece of
their minds. Not Dhirubhai.

When things went wrong, he was the
first person to sense that the circumstances would have been beyond his
team's control, rather than it being a slip on their part, as he
trusted their capabilities implicitly. His first instinct was always to
join his men in putting out the fire and not crucifying them for it.
Sounds too good a boss to be true, doesn't he? But then, that was
Dhirubhai.

Dhirubhaism No 2: Be a safety net
for your team. There used to be a time when our agency Mudra was the
target of some extremely vicious propaganda by our peers, when on an
almost daily basis my business ethics were put on trial. I, on my part,
putting on a brave front, never raised this subject during any of my
meetings with Dhirubhai.

But one day, during a particularly
nasty spell, he gently asked me if I needed any help in combating it.
That did it. That was all the help that I needed. Overwhelmed by his
concern and compassion, I told him I could cope, but the knowledge that
he knew and cared for what I was going through, and that he was there
for me if I ever needed him, worked wonders for my confidence.

I
went back a much taller man fully armed to face whatever came my way.
By letting us know that he was always aware of the trials we underwent
and that he was by our side through it all, he gave us the courage we
never knew we had.

Dhirubhaism No 3: The silent
benefactor. This was another of his remarkable traits. When he helped
someone, he never ever breathed a word about it to anyone else. There
have been none among us who haven't known his kindness, yet he never
went around broadcasting it.

He never used charity as a
platform to gain publicity. Sometimes, he would even go to the extent
of not letting the recipient know who the donor was. Such was the
extent of his generosity. "Expect the unexpected" just might have been
coined for him.

Dhirubhaism No 4: Dream big
but dream with your eyes open. His phenomenal achievement showed India
that limitations were only in the mind. And that nothing was truly
unattainable for those who dreamed big. 

Whenever I tried to
point out to him that a task seemed too big to be accomplished, he
would reply: " No is no answer!" Not only did he dream big, he taught
all of us to do so too. His one-line brief to me when we began Mudra
was: "Make Vimal's advertising the benchmark for fashion advertising in
the country."

At that time, we were just a tiny, fledgling
agency, tucked away in Ahmedabad, struggling to put a team in place.
When we presented the seemingly insurmountable to him, his favourite
response was always: "It's difficult but not impossible!" And he was
right. We did go on to achieve the impossible.

Both in its
size and scope Vimal's fashion shows were unprecedented in the country.
Grand showroom openings, stunning experiments in print and poster work
all combined to give the brand a truly benchmark image. But way back in
1980, no one would have believed it could have ever been possible.
Except Dhirubhai.

But though he dreamed big, he was able to
clearly distinguish between perception and reality and his favourite
phrase "dream with your eyes open" underlined this.

He never
let preset norms govern his vision, yet he worked night and day
familiarizing himself with every little nitty-gritty that constituted
his dreams constantly sifting the wheat from the chaff. This is how, as
he put it, even though he dreamed, none of his dreams turned into
nightmares. And this is what gave him the courage to move from one
orbit to the next despite tremendous odds.

Dhirubhai was indeed
a man of many parts, as is evident. I am sure there are many people who
display some of the traits mentioned above, in their working styles as
well, but Dhirubhai was one of those rare people who demonstrated all
of them, all the time.

And that's what made him such a
phenomenal team builder and achiever. Yes, we all need  "Dhirubhaisms"
in our lives to remind us that if it was possible for one person to be
all this and more, we too can. And like him, go on to achieve the
impossible too.

Hitachi disk testing utility

A nifty utility from Hitachi that tests your hard disk for errors. Creates a bootable CD / diskette that one can use to check your hard disk for errors.

Link: Hitachi Support | Downloads

How to make shadows on the wall

An illustrated guide to making shadows (meaningful ones, of course) on the wall.

Make a rabbit, a deer, etc.

Link: How to make shadows on the wall

Star Trek Inspirational Posters

A list of funny inspirational posters depicting scenes in Star Trek.

Link: Star Trek Inspirational Posters

Delete files forever

Delete files forever

How to get rid of files from your PC / Mac for ever !! (no, emptying the recycle bin doesn't do it )

Link: Wired 14.08: How To: Secure Your Data

7 reasons the 21st century is making us miserable

7 reasons the 21st century is making us miserable

Some valid points raised as to why we are more miserable than our parents and grand-parents...

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/misery.html

Lake Peigneur (disappearing lake) History Channel footage

Lake Peigneur (disappearing lake) History Channel footage

Amazing footage !! Watch it to believe it ....

Link: YouTube - Lake Peigneur (disappearing lake) History Channel footage

Job-hopping? Watch out!

A nice article that warns against the perils of shifting jobs mindlessly, without regarding all the consequences ...

Link: Job-hopping? Watch out!

If I had my life to live over -- by Erma Bombeck

Reprinting this here as the words are simply too beautiful ...

If I had my life to live over

• I would have talked less and listened more. I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
  
  
• I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
  
  
• I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
  
  
• I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
  
  
• I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
  
  
• I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
  
  
• I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.
  
  
• I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
  
  
• I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
  
  
• I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
  
  
• Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
  
  
• When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
  
  
• There would have been more "I love yous".. more "I'm sorrys"... but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it... live it...and never give it back.

--In memory of Erma Bombeck who lost her fight with cancer.

Link: If I Had My Life to Live Over

The World’s Forgotten Territorial Disputes

The World’s Forgotten Territorial Disputes

A list of the disputes between countries that don't get as much exposure as, say, Palestine or Kashmir. But these exist nonetheless ...

Foreign Policy: The List: The World’s Forgotten Territorial Disputes

Paleogeography and Geologic Evolution of North America

Paleogeography and Geologic Evolution of North America

This is a site that tracks the ancient landscapes of North America

Snippet from the site:

The images presented here show the paleogeography of North America over the last 550 million years of geologic history. The 40 images shown here are selected from a suite of approximately 100 maps that are in time slices mostly 5-10 million years apart.


Link: Paleogeography and Geologic Evolution

Why would a developer become a manager

A rant by a lady called Katie Lucas in a discussion thread ...

------------------------------------ START POST -------------------------------------------------

"Why would you want a great developer to become a manager in the first
place?"

Well, this particular developer is becoming a manager for the
following reason:

Job requirements for engineers have an alphabet soup
attached to them. I've been rejected for jobs because the version of Sybase I
last used is too old, and this is for a role where SQL isn't even the core
requirement. The SQL standard hasn't changed, but agents can't figure that out -
they just want people who've used the latest version of Sybase.

I get
turned down for UNIX dev roles because the version of VB I've used isn't the
latest -- because they add a VB background to all the dev position requirements,
and it's got the be the latest version of VB.

I've just got bored of
having my technical skills outdated every six months. If I take my eye off the
ball and Microsoft announces a technology and I don't immediately ram it into my
CV or pick the wrong job, a year later I'm near unemployable.

I'm fed up
of my career being this bizarre stamp collecting exercise where I get judged on
how many of the acronyms I've been near lately and not whether I've gained any
deep experience in anything.

Frankly, I'm getting too old to play this
stupid game anymore. No-one wants to hire a software engineer with a decade of
experience to start work in C#. They'll train 2 year experienced people to use
C#, but if you've got more experience than that, you better show up with
experience in C# because any other experience you have is irrelevant.

I'm
tired of my entire experience being torn up and thrown away every couple of
years because agents and HR departments can't figure out that a developer who
can write C++ can also write C# and Java with very little training -- but what
can you expect? These are guys who think Visual C++ isn't the same language as
C++.


I looked at being a tech writer. I quite like writing -- I've
got a background in creative writing, it's something I quite like, and I've done
tech writing around IT projects before. Unfortunately, although I've written
stuff and studied writing and so on, I'm not qualified to be a tech writer
because the version of PageMaker I last used is too old... I suddenly have these
visions of people saying to a re-incarnated Dickens "Look, you've only used
quills. What the hell kind of writer are you? We're only considering people with
experience with Biros version 4 or above."

I've noticed that things like
"Project manager" experience doesn't get thrown away in the same way. No-one
says "Oh, but that was a year ago. We manage projects COMPLETELY differently
now. That experience doesn't count", whereas they do with, say, SQL. It's like
SQL is a whole new langauge with each version of Oracle.

Apparently,
being a successful software engineer currently means that you pick a tech, ram
some experience on your CV and then bail after a couple of years before that
becomes "old tech". Every couple of years you need to pick a technology (which
probably hasn't actually shipped at that stage) and bet on it. And you must bet
right every time.

You never gain deep experience because that would mean
missing an acronym off your CV and who knows when you'd need the
acronym.

I've been offered two jobs; one will get me a PM background. One
will get me a bundle of technologies. The latter is a good role, but how can I
tell if those technologies will leave me employable in two years time? They
might be completely outdated by then and useless and irrelevant like my
experience with SQL on Oracle 8.

It'll get me a couple of years of Java,
for example. But how can I tell if Java will still be an employable skill in
2007? I mean, I've got Java at the moment, but no hope of a job using it,
because I don't also have J2EE and anyway the Java I did was 1.1 and everyone's
after people with experience in newer versions...

Apparently I have no
worthwhile experience to show for 10 years in the business because everything's
the wrong version or doesn't have the right condiments or is just a tool no-one
uses anymore. Any actual background I've got in things like "being an engineer
who gets software written" is irrelevant. It's like assessing a builder on
whether they've used Black and Decker tools and not on whether their houses are
still standing. Or like assessing Dickens' writing skills by the fact he used
quills and not biros.


Soft skills like PM don't get outdated by FUD
from Microsoft. They don't come with version numbers which can drift out of
date.

Really, they're the only alternative if you're the sort of person
who can't assume you'll bet on the "right" technology every two years for the
rest of your life.

So this developer is becoming a manager just so that I
can start building an experience history to remain employable with, because I'm
fed up of fighting hard to keep even a couple of years of "relevant" background
on my CV.




[As a complete side note, reading the job pages in
the paper I came across an advert for a "housing policy officer". Now, bear in
mind 'm used to adverts which say "Reqd Skills; C++, UNIX, Windows, VB, MFC,
ASP, STL, ATL, Multithreaded, C#, .net, CVS, ClearCase <etc>"

This
one said "You should have a higher-second or first degree and  a track record of
generating effective housing policies."

Wow. Pay was pretty much a match
for being a software engineer.]


------------------------------------ END POST -------------------------------------------------

Original post: Katie's rant

The Universal Packing List

A site that generates a packing list for you depending on what type of journey you are taking, how many days you will stay, is it an international trip, etc.

The Universal Packing List

Find source code online

Programming is a waste, do only copy-paste.

This site allows you to find source code in many languages to "use" in your project.

Link: http://www.krugle.com/

Movie Review: Lady in the Water

Movie Review: Lady in the Water

I saw a movie recently --> M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water". Here's my review:

Summary: Utterly disappointing.

M. Night Shyamalan's graph continues it's downward spiral. With this movie, Shyamalan reaches a new low. The story tries to combine thrill with fantasy, and fails completely on both accounts. All throughout the movie you keep on waiting for something to trigger it into becoming a gripping tale. The trigger never comes.

The start of the movie has a hint of a message. We are told that there exists a great Blue World (the sea). People there live in harmony, whereas our world (land) lives in conflict. We have forgotten the lessons of love, beauty, peace, etc. And the Blue World will remind us.

The reminder / message never comes throughout the movie.

The central character of the movie is the messenger from the Blue World. All that this lady does is look incredibly pale (I guess because she was underwater from birth). She stares vacantly at everyone (where am I?).
On land she is clad only in a shirt that she gets from the guy who discovers her. She constantly rushes under the shower to stay under water (homesick?). She refuses to wear anything below the waist ( I guess that is the message that we have forgotten on land :-) ).

The sad part is that the story had potential. It could have been made into a good film. But it ends up as a wasted opportunity.

All in all, see it only if someone gives you free tickets (even then it may not be worthwhile).

The Most Important Software Innovations

A list of some well-known and some not-so-well-known computer science/technology innovations.
Nice reading...

Link: The Most Important Software Innovations

Excel shortcut keys

A pretty good list of all shortcuts in Microsoft Excel.

Link: Excel Keyboard Shortcut Keys. Hot keys shortcuts

The online museum of online museums

A site that lists all the museums that have an online presence.

Link: Coudal Partners

10 quotes by Winston Churchill

There are many more, but these 10 are my favourites:

1. "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."
   

2. Bessie Braddock: “Sir, you
   are drunk.”
   Churchill: “Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.”

3. "The Americans will always do the right thing... after they've exhausted all the alternatives."
   

4. "Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones."

5. "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing has
   happened."

6. "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” ( Reference to World War II
   )

7. "We are a small island but we are not a small people."

8. “Never, never, never, never give up.”

9. "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

10. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Deadly Poisons, Ingested or Inhaled

A list of the top 10 poisons that work by ingestion or inhaling.

Note: just posting this as information. I am not responsible if some weirdo misuses this information.

Link: Wired 14.08: START

Performancing for Firefox

I use this, so I am advertising for it. Simple.

This is a great Firefox extension for bloggers. Makes blogging really easy. You can drag and drop elements from websites onto the blog entry as well. Works with multiple blogging sites (any site that supports the protocol).

Link: http://performancing.com/

Concentration

An article that explains many things regarding concentration such as:

1. Poor concentration
2. Your body / health and concentration
3. Maintaining concentration
4. Tips
   

Link: Concentration

How to Find What You Love to Do

How to Find What You Love to Do

A nice article that shows you the steps to change your job if you really are not meant to be in the one that you are currently in.

Link: How to Find What You Love to Do

Customizing Mozilla Firefox

Customizing Mozilla Firefox

Make Firefox do a lot of useful things by adding extensions that suit you.

Very nice article. Detailed list of useful extensions.

Link: Mozilla Firefox - Have it Your Way!

Biomotion lab

See the demo of a person walking under various conditions. Flash movie. Well done.

BioMotionLab1.8

Take your electronic goods apart

A site that shows you how to dissect electronic goods. They don't show how to put it back together, though.

Disclaimer: Don't blame me if you can't put your goods back together :-).



Link: Take It Apart dot net

Doctors' / Medical slang

A lot of terms collected from docs in the US and UK .. some are funny.

Doctors' Slang, Medical Slang and Medical Acronyms, Veterinary Slang, Veterinary Acronyms

95 Theses of Geek Activism

A list by a guy called Devanshu about what geeks should do ....

http://www.scienceaddiction.com/2006/07/23/95-theses-of-geek-activism/

Knowing where to tap ...

Ever heard the story of the giant ship engine that failed? The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.

Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster.

He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do.
After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life.

He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.

"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"

So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."

The man sent a bill that read:

Tapping with a hammer .. $ 1.00

Knowing where to tap...... $ 9999.00

Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort in your life makes all the difference.

India struggles to catch China

An article that shows how far we have to go before we catch up with China.  Sad but true.
God willing, we will get there. But there are many miles to go .....

BBC NEWS |  India struggles to catch China

How much caffeine is present in ... ?

A list of most commonly drunk caffeine products and the amount of caffeine therein.
Coffee, grande (16 oz.) Starbucks has 550 mg. WOW !! Might as well take caffeine intravenously  :-).

Nutrition Action Healthletter - Caffeine: The Caffeine Corner

Logarithmic image transformation

An algorithm to transform images. This can be used in a graphics program.

I don't understand the maths part behind it at all, but the effects look neat.

Link: Logarithmic Image Transformation

Top 10 free and cheap productivity tools

10 tools to make your life easier and more productive.

Top 10 free and cheap productivity tools

GUID Creation on Windows

GUID Creation on Windows

Information on how to create GUIDs on Windows, in case the need arises.

Functions:

1. UuidCreate() -->
MSDN link for UuidCreate()

2. UuidCreateSequential() -->

MSDN link for UuidCreateSequential()

3. CoCreateGuid() (COM) --> MSDN link for CoCreateGuid()

4. EXE to generate GUIDs : guidgen.exe. Microsoft link for downloading GUIDGen

5. Site that generates GUIDs for you: http://www.guidgen.com/

6. GUID structure explained: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.guid.aspx

Biomedical Image Awards 2006

Some beautiful snaps of microscopic structures of various living organisms.

Link: Biomedical Image Awards 2006 - Gallery

Science Facts that People Get Wrong

Some interesting facts that are misunderstood.

E.g.
Pressure cookers force heat* into the food, cooking it quicker.

Wrong --> Heating water under pressure raises its boiling point so that the
steam is at a temperature greater than 100C. It is the higher temperature that
causes the food to cook quicker.

Read on ...    Science Facts that People Get Wrong

Five Steps To Kicking Off A New Software Project

5 great tips on what to do (and what not to do) when you have a new project to start off.
Worth reading.

Link: Technology As If People Mattered : Weblog

Avoid Taking Undeserved Credit

Integrity in the workplace involves a lot of things. One of them is NOT taking credit for something that you have not done (or not contributed enough to take credit for it). Read on if you are interested ...

Integrity Series: Avoid Taking Undeserved Credit · The Retrospector

Top 10 Ways to Motivate Geeks

Practical tips on how to motivate geeks in your company. Worth reading.

Top 10 Ways to Motivate Geeks · The Retrospector

Invisibility shields moving into the realm of possibility

It may be possible to have invisibility shields. Scientists are exploring ways and means of achieving this goal.
Note: They are nowhere near having a practical device as of today.

Out of Sight: Science News Online, July 15, 2006

How to help someone use a computer

Nice tips for computer-literate folks on helping people who are laymen when it comes to computers.

How to help someone use a computer

The most dangerous road on Earth

Bolivia’s Yungas
Road is officially the most hazardous on earth. And
all this while I thought India had the most dangerous
roads!!

Pictures of Yungas Road, Bolivia

[India's National Anthem] Are we still singing for the Empire?

One accusation against India's National Anthem ("Jana Gana Mana") is that it was written in praise of an British King, George V. This controversy refuses to die down. The article below refutes these allegations and categorically states that Rabindranath Tagore would never have written a song in praise of a British Emperor.


Link:
India: Are we still singing for the Empire? by Pradip Kumar Datta


Article reproduced verbatim below:

www.sacw.net | September 8, 2004

[India's National Anthem] Are we still singing for the Empire?

by Pradip Kumar Datta *

One of the many targets of Sadhvi Rithambara's infamous hate cassette -- which did so much to provoke feelings of resentment against Muslims -- was the national anthem. She described it as an act of 'gaddari' (treachery). Hindutva allegations against the Jana Gana Mana are not new. But they have begun to circulate anew with fresh intensity with the growth of the Hindutva brigade in the 80's. And have entered the conversational common sense which has begun to treat these as if they were established evidence. Quite recently a friend of mine abroad alerted me to pro-Hindutva websites such as www.freeindia.org that had convinced his otherwise secular students that the anthem had been originally composed for Emperor George V. Even more recently, another friend reported that she found herself isolated in a ladies party in Kolkata when she tried to defend the anthem from these charges.


The jingoism of the anti-Jana Gana Mana campaign is based on an appropriate irony. The charge actually rests on false evidence given by the pro-British press. The song was first sung in a session of the Congress in 1911. This session had decided to felicitate George V since he had announced the abrogation of the partition of Bengal, thereby conceding the success of the Swadeshi agitation, the first modern anti-colonial movement that had started in 1905. The day after the session the nationalist Indian papers normally -- and accurately -- reported that a Tagore composition had been sung. The Bengalee -- along with other Indian newspapers as well as the report of the Indian National Congress - reported that it was a "patriotic song". The following year the song was published as "Bharat -- Vidatha". A contemporary commentator in the vernacular Bharati described the song as one in "Praise of the Dispenser of human Destiny, whoÖappears in every age." He probably came closest to capturing its spirit. This song was to later become known as Jana Gana Mana.



The confusion about the song was stirred up by the ineptness of the pro-British Anglo-Indian
press. Their inefficiency was not surprising (The Sunday Times once ascribed the authorship of Bande Mataram to Tagore and described Jana Gana Mana as a Hindi song!) On this occasion the Anglo-Indian press -- led by The Englishman - almost uniformly reported that a Tagore song had been sung to commemorate George V's visit to India. The reports were based on understandable ignorance since the Anglo-Indian press had neither the linguistic abilities nor the interest to be accurate.

Actually, two songs that had been sung that day. The Jana Gana Mana had been followed by a Hindi song composed specially for George V by Rambhuj Chaudhary. There was no real connection between the composition of the Jana Gana Mana and George V, except that the song was sung -- not written - at an event which also felicitated the king. The Anglo-Indian press [luckily for Hindutva enthusiasts and unfortunately for secularists!] heard Indian songs much in the way they looked at foreign faces: they were all the same!

Initially the controversy seemed a non-starter. Contemporaries obviously found it hard to associate Tagore with servility. Tagore was known for this opposition to the government. Indeed, shortly after the Congress session the government passed a circular that declared Shantiniketan to be a "place altogether unsuitable for the education of Government officers" and threatened punitive measures against officers who sent their children there to study.
Undoubtedly helped by these measures which shored up Tagore's nationalist reputation, the song steadily acquired wide acceptability among nationalists in all parts of the country - especially after its translation into English as "The morning song of India" by the poet in Madras. In a survey made just before the poetís death in 1941 at Mumbai, respondents
felt Jana Gana Mana to have the strongest "national characteristics" although Bande Mataram was found superior on some other criteria. The dirt thrown by the pro-British press seemed to have been completely wrung out when Netaji Bose's Indian National Army adopted it as the National Anthem; this was followed by Gandhi's declaration in 1946 that "the song has found a place in our national life": that it was "also like a devotional hymn".


But it was not as if it was all smooth sailing for the story of Jana Gana Mana's popularity. The first round of controversy -- this time by the Indians themselves - had been stoked in 1937. But it became a much more general one from the late 1940's when a debate broke out over what was to be the National Anthem. A section within the Congress wanted the Bande Mataram, a song that was popularly associated with the national movement. But Bande Mataram was controversial since its invocation of the nation as a Goddess went against Islamic theology which forbade the worship of any God other than Allah. Also the Bande Mataram had been successfully converted into a sign of communal antagonism by Hindu communalists (with the enthusiastic participation of their Muslim counterparts who regarded the song as a horrible provocation) and even chanted it as a slogan in riots.

In the 1930's, a Congress sub-committee had short-listed some "national" songs that could be sung together with or instead of Bande Mataram. It was then proposed (on Tagore's initiative) that the first two stanzas of Bande Mataram could be sung. But this catholicity was not felt to be feasible after independence. Occasions involving foreign diplomatic missions or the Defence forces required that a single "National Anthem" be played by a band as a signature of the country. The Constituent Assembly was deputed to select the anthem. It was in the ensuing
lobbying to knock Jana Gana Mana out of reckoning, that outworn and salacious bits of colonial misinformation about the song began to be recirculated.



Jana Gana Mana was chosen as anthem in 1950 over Bande Mataram as well as Iqbal's Sare Jahan Se Accha - although Bande Mataram was given "equal status". An important reason was that Bande Mataram could not be played by bands. Additionally Jana Gana Mana enjoyed an international reputation. It had been greatly appreciated in the United Nations at New York where it was first played as an orchestral arrangement in 1947. Many said that it was superior to most national anthems in the world. Within the country the overwhelming majority of the
provinces supported its nomination.



But there is also an underlying reason that is really responsible for the controversy popping up at regular intervals. The words of Bande Mataram feature India as a homogeneous Hindu nation. Jana Gana Mana evokes the country as composed of a multiplicity of regions and communities united in a prayer to a universal lord. After all, Bande Mataram was composed by a colonial administrator who could only visualize the nation in Hindu terms: religious identity was the only available idiom for conceptualizing the nation then. In contrast, Tagore had seen the riots that broke up the Swadeshi movement and had divined the obvious: religious nationalism easily divided anti-colonial struggles. Jana Gana Mana can be seen as one of the fruits of Tagore's search to find an alternate inclusivist definition for the nation. Incidentally, it was one of the harbingers of a decade that was to see Hindu and Muslim politicians draw together. In short, the two songs embody different ideas, histories and aspirations of the country.

In fairness, the last word on the affair should really be given to the poet himself (incidentally he had composed the music for Bande Mataram). Answering a friend's query about the origins of the Jana Gana Mana in 1937, Tagore said that a loyalist friend had requested him to write a song in praise of the King. He had felt anger at his friends presumption about his loyalism. It was this anger that led him to compose Jana Gana Mana. He had written a song to a superior authority, the "Dispenser of India's destiny". Tagore concluded. "That great Charioteer of man's destiny in age after age could not by any means be George V or George VI or any George. Even my 'loyal' friend realized this; because, however powerful his loyalty to the King, he was not wanting in intelligence." I may add here that we normally sing the first verse alone: the third verse of the song refers explicitly to the eternal lord.



Tagore said that he felt too pained by the unjustness of the charge to come out with a public refutation. Perhaps he was wrong. He could have considered the issue of survival. Not just of his public reputation. But also the survival of self-confidence in some of his future citizens who believe that they venerate their masters fifty years after independence. And that they can sing songs to a King, dead for an even longer period.


(Readers interested in more information may look at P.Sen's India's National Anthem)


* Pradip Kumar Datta teaches at Delhi University.

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Sleep

Some interesting tid bits about sleep.
Most important one: Change your mattress after a maximum period of 10 years.

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Sleep

How to concentrate on writing

Tips on how to concentrate when you are writing a book or something important. Common sense tips, but then again, common sense is NOT common :-).

Bad Language / How to concentrate on writing

Warriors of the Net

A great animated movie (made in 1999) by Sony Ericsson that shows how TCP/IP makes the internet work. Definitely worth watching.
Only problem is the file size (72 MB).

Warriors of the Net clips

Spiderman 3 teaser

A preview of a movie that I am waiting for eagerly - Spiderman 3 !!

YouTube - spiderman 3 teaser

The Laugh Song

Completely inane !! Yet made me laugh. Those 2 girls are so identical .....

YouTube - The Laugh Song

Free Download Manager

Download manager software - free and nice !! I use it personally, so I thought I should advertise for them ...



Free Download Manager

Top 10 Web Developer Libraries

Some nice libraries that you can use in your web applications ...

Top 10 Web Developer Libraries - Cameron Olthuis

Great Limericks

Winners of the APS contest for limericks - some nice ones.

Limerick Contest Finalists & Winners

Confucius says ... (Doctrine of the mean)

Excerpts taken from "The Doctrine of the Mean" by Confucius:

"Sincerity is the way of Heaven. The attainment of sincerity is
the way of men. He who possesses sincerity is he who, without an effort,
hits what is right, and apprehends, without the exercise of thought;-he
is the sage who naturally and easily embodies the right way. He who attains
to sincerity is he who chooses what is good, and firmly holds it
fast.


"To this attainment there are requisite the extensive study of
what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful reflection on it, the
clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice of
it.


"The superior man, while there is anything he has not studied,
or while in what he has studied there is anything he cannot understand,
Will not intermit his labor. While there is anything he has not inquired
about, or anything in what he has inquired about which he does not know,
he will not intermit his labor. While there is anything which he has not
reflected on, or anything in what he has reflected on which he does not
apprehend, he will not intermit his labor. While there is anything which
he has not discriminated or his discrimination is not clear, he will not
intermit his labor. If there be anything which he has not practiced, or
his practice fails in earnestness, he will not intermit his labor. If another
man succeed by one effort, he will use a hundred efforts. If another man
succeed by ten efforts, he will use a thousand.


"Let a man proceed in this way, and, though dull, he will surely
become intelligent; though weak, he will surely become
strong."


...


Sincerity is that whereby self-completion is effected, and its
way is that by which man must direct himself.


Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity
there would be nothing. On this account, the superior man regards the attainment
of sincerity as the most excellent thing.



Full story at:

The Internet Classics Archive | The Doctrine of the Mean by Confucius

New System Blocks Unwanted Video & Still Photography

Paparazzi beware !! You can be blocked !! (And that would be a good thing, too...)

Newswise | New System Blocks Unwanted Video & Still Photography

Top 10 Strangest Luxury Gadgets

TechEBlog » Top 10 Strangest Luxury Gadgets

Ever wondered what the idle rich can buy with their idle money? Go check these gadgets out (and feel sorry for your poor existence )...

Command line reference for Oracle, Windows, Linux and OS X

SS64.com

Very useful if you deal with the command line a lot ...

Top Ten Accidental Discoveries

Top Ten Accidental Discoveries

A list of many discoveries made by accident that have helped make this world a better place. Well, the list does include popsicles, but I think that has made this world better, too ;-).

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

YouTube - Star Trek vs. Star Wars

Great video - what happens when the USS Enterprise meets the Death Star?
Really well made ...

50 Weight Loss Tips ~ Chris Pirillo

Nice, practical tips on losing weight (and keeping it off).

Shayari from Khushwant Singh's autobiography


"The Dawn", a Pakistani newspaper, has an article that contains a lot of Shayari from Khushwant Singh's autobiography.

Note: I am not endorsing the contents of the entire website. I just liked this article and that's about it.


Entire article posted below:

---------- START ARTICLE ----------------------

Is Khushwant Singh a ‘hypocrite and a liar?’


KHUSHWANT Singh likes to quote from Urdu and Persian poetry in his autobiography, Truth, Love and a Little Malice. He begins with Hakeem Makhmoor in his prologue:

I told no one the story of my life

It was something I had to spend;

I spent it.

He does not give the lines in the original Urdu.

Then in the chapter on Lahore, he gives us these oft-quoted lines:

Paida hua vakeel toa Iblees nay kaha

Allah nay mujhey sahib-i-aulaad kar diya.

I have heard these lines thus:

Paida hooay vakeel toa Shaitan ne kaha

Lo aaj mein bhi sahib-i-aulad ho gaya.

No matter what, Singh has got the second line all mixed up.

In his interview with Tikka Khan, he quotes the general as having given him the following lines:

Shauq-i-tool-o-peych iss zulmat qadeh mein heh agar

Bengalee ki baat sun aur Bengalan kay baal dekh.

He translates them thus:

If you like to add length to a story, put a twist in its tail,

Hear a Bengali talk (endlessly) and gaze upon his woman’s long hair.

Again,

Nishan-i-mard-i-momin ba toa goyam

Choon marg aayad, tabassum bar lab-i-ost.

(You ask me about the signs of a man of faith

When death comes to him, he has a smile on his lips).

Iqbal comes next:

Jahaan mein ahle imaan soorat-i-Khurshid jeetay hein

Idhar doobey, udhar nikley; udhar doobey, idhar nikley.

These lines have been quoted so often by so many that they have lost all meaning. They don’t sound even trite now.

Saadi comes in handy, too:

Sana-i-khud bakhud guftan

Na zebad mard-i-daana ra

Choon zan pistan-i-khud malal

Kuja lazzat shavad baqi?

Singh’s translation:

It does not behove a man of wisdom

to use his tongue in praise of himself

What pleasure does a woman beget

If with her own hands she rubs her breasts?

Urdu again: Woh waqt bhi dekha tareekh ki ghariyon ne

Lamhon ne khata ki thi

Sadiyon ne sazaa payee.

(The ages of history have recorded times

When for an error made in a few minutes

Centuries had to pay the price).

Then he advises a certain Pakistani minister how to face the thekedars of Islam:

Mullah, gar asar heh dua mein

Toa masjid hila ke dikha

Gar nahin, toa doa ghoont pi

Aur masjid ko hilta dekh.

(Mullah, if there is power in your prayer,

Let me see you shake the mosque!

If not, take a couple of swigs of liquor

And see the mosque shake on its own).

Khushwant Singh quotes from Ustad Daman, too. But since some of his lines (Khushwant’s, not Daman’s), are suspect, I’ll let them pass.

Iqbal again:

Dhoondta phirta hoon mein aye Iqbal apney aap ko

Aap hi goya musafir, aap hi manzil hoon mein.

(O Iqbal, I go about everywhere looking for myself

As if I was the wayfarer as well as the destination).

An unnamed Urdu poet is then quoted:

Too dil mein toa aata heh

Samajh mein nahin aata

Bas jan gaya teri pehchaan yehi heh

(You come into my heart

But my mind cannot comprehend you

I understand this is the only way to know you).

Shaad Azimabadi comes in next:

Suni haqiqat-i-hasti toa darmian se suni

Na ibtada ki khabar heh, na intiha maloom.

(All we have heard of the story of life is its middle;

We know not its beginning, we know not its end).

Singh says that there is “an amusing saying ascribed to the Sikh trading community once settled in Potohar (now in Pakistan), which was known for its adherence to religious ritual as well as its sharp trading practices:

Jhooth vi asin bolney aan

Ghut vi asin tolney aan;

Par Sacchey Padshah

Tera naa vi asin lainey aan.

(We admit we tell lies

We also give short measures;

But O True King of Kings,

We also take your name).

Iqbal yet again:

Khuda tujhe Kisi toofan sey ashna kar dey

Keh terey behr ki maujon mien iztirab nahin (May God bring a storm in your life.

There is no agitation on the waves of your life’s ocean).

In the end, he ascribes a couple of famous Ghalib lines to Iqbal — Rau mein heh rakhsh-i-umar ...

At his age, I suppose he can plead not guilty to seven murder charges and be happily let off. Misquoting Ustad Daman? I am sure the Ustad would have been the first to laugh the matter off. As for mistaking Ghalib for Iqbal, I have known many others to have done so. But I must give a break to Truth, Love and a Little Malice and see what a friend has to say about Khushwant Singh. A. R. Nagori, the painter, calls me a ‘dear friend’. I am honoured, of course, but the letter he has written to me from Karachi has left me not a little sad.

Referring to my piece on Amrita Sher Gil (Dawn, September 16), Nagori says:

“Amrita Sher Gil died on December 6, 1941” and not in September 1939 as ‘conjectured’. As the conjecture was mine and not Khushwant Singh’s, I stand corrected. I will, however, need further evidence on Gil’s death and not merely a statement.

Then Mr Nagori says Amrita Sher Gil died on the “first floor of the Ganga Ram Mansions next to the Dayal Singh Mansions and behind Fazal Din Chemists on The Mall and not on top of the Fazal Din Building.” Mr Nagori says so because he “used to spend some time at 29, Ganga Ram Mansions facing Amrita’s flat.” I plead guilty again. But, as Mr Nagori will appreciate, all this was rather before my time.

Nagori calls Khushwant Singh a “notorious hypocrite and a liar.”

He writes: “Amrita was, like all genuine artists, straightforward (and) blunt in expression”.

Khushwant Singh says in his autobiography: “Politeness was not one of her virtues, she believed in speaking her mind....” Mr Nagori has said almost the same thing. If anything, he has used a stronger word (‘blunt’) than Mr Singh who merely wrote that she (Amrita) “believed in speaking her mind”.

Telling an untruth at 88, anyhow, is a far more forgivable sin (if sin it can be called at all) than the lie direct spoken deliberately with malicious intent.

So, I’ll say this to my friend A.R. Nagori: I don’t know whether Khushwant Singh is a hypocrite or not, but if he is a liar, he is quite the most delightful liar I’ve ever read. As he says in his prologue:

“My only chance of not being forgotten when I am dead and rotten is to write about things worth reading... I have no pretensions to being a craftsman of letters. Having had to meet deadlines for the last five decades, I did not have the time to wait for inspiration, indulge in witty turns of phrase or polish up what I wrote... All said and done, this autobiography is the child of ageing loins. Do not expect too much from it: some gossip, some titillation, some tearing up of reputations, some amusement — that is the best I can offer (emphasis added).

I ask you now: is it the writing of a hypocrite? If it is, I am one of the original hypocrites.

The only thing I don’t like about Khushwant Singh is that he has willed that he be buried rather than cremated. Just imagine!

--------------- END ARTICLE -----------------

Great free online cryptography course .

University of Washington has made the whole Cryptography Course available online for free. All the presentations, videos (mp3, WMV), homework, quizzes etc. are available online.


Course Introduction page, homework assignments:
CSE P 590TU: Practical Aspects of Modern Cryptography, Winter 2006


Lecture slides, homework solutions and video archives:
http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590/06wi/lectures/

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Web's first edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. From MIT.

The oops list

Pictures and clips of things gone badly wrong - definitely worth a visit.

The Scrutinizer

The Scrutinizer is a service that allows you to analyze, assess and validate any link using various tools and testers on the web.

Why use it?

Rather than creating direct links to various validators and link analyzers, one link can be used to submit to all of them. It simplifies the task of figuring out which application needs what type of URL (Domains only/HTTP/No HTTP) and also saves time and space by freeing up the code from unneccessary URLs.