C E N S O R S H I P

The South Korean government has restricted access to many blog sites (blogspot.com, blogs.com, blogcity.com, etc) in an effort to restrict the South Koreans from viewing the Kim Seon Il beheading video. So I'm not able to access by own blog from here. Though I can create and edit posts (blogger.com is not banned), I can not access my blog.

Until this changes I might not be able to follow up comments.... so please bear with me.

Filled with mixed emotions this morning.

Adventures of President Kalam.

Prez and The Board Result

Which reminds me of my Class 12 board results. I was shit scared that I'd get 60% or something! I was in Lucknow at my mama's place and was sound asleep. I was woken up early in the morning by a call from my mother. Went rushing back to Kanpur straight to my school notice board.... and there it was 90.3% aggregate! What the fuck?

But what's the use of Board results nowadays? Every college worth its salt has an entrance exam. Just get a decent score in boards, say above 80%, and it is not difficult, mind you. The exam papers are so damn predictable. You dont need to learn, you need to strategize. Which portion to study, which portion to skip. What to write, how much to write, which heading to underline, etc, etc. It's all about your strategy!

What is not predictable though, is the grading of answer sheets. In the Maths exam for my 10th Class Boards, I had not attempted questions worth 25 marks. And my final score was 78! Beat that! In 12th class my Computer Science paper was 100% correct and I get 96. Ha!

I think Board exams are just a joke. But parents make such an issue of it... kids commit suicide over their board results! I cant get it. If you're from the Science stream all you need is a meagre 55% marks to be eligible for IIT-JEE or any other pre-medical exam. I'm not too sure about Commerece or Arts, though.

Prez and the Rapist

Now this one, really pissed me off. Leaving a rapist off the hook (or noose!). I mean, first of all the conviction rate for rapists is so damn low! And when they do get convicted you show mercy! Rapists, IMHO, should be given the worst punishment possible. Flog them in public, castrate them, pull out their nails, hot rods in their eyes... anything is less.

Down with RAPE!

From The Times of India

Scotching speculation over his retirement from active politics, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday said his surprise remarks on Wednesday night indicating such a course were made in "jest".

Addressing the concluding session of the three-day BJP National Executive here, he said his remarks in Marathi had raised a furore and that they were "made in jest".

Vajpayee also asserted that there was "no power struggle" within the party. Kursi ki ladai nahin hai , he said.

HA!! HA!! That's really really funny.

Helpline for the suicidal

Just had a small chit-chat with a person on my Yahoo! buddy list... I dont know who he is and where he came from... he's just there!

crazyabz: i am killing myself
nandz: great!
nandz: I wont stop you
crazyabz: no no no , i mustnt
nandz: just mail me a video of how you killed yourself
crazyabz: ought to
nandz: I'll plant myself in the background and read something in arabic and declare myself a terrorist
crazyabz: hmmm
crazyabz: but why wud u do that
nandz: this way, two of us get famous!
nandz: great plan man!
nandz: go ahead
nandz: kill yourself!
crazyabz: read smthg frm the bible and say ur white and u hate muslims and everybody else
crazyabz: only then i will be a part of our great plan
nandz: yeah
nandz: we'll start a world war man
nandz: the third world war!
nandz: sexy plan
nandz: okay DIE fast!
crazyabz: thanks man

To Google or not to Google?

Just when I awarded "Nanda's Award for the Best Internet Company" to Google, I come across this post.

I was going ga-ga over Google...

Free Internet Search...
Best Internet Seach...
Free Blogging...
Free Photoblogging...
Free 1GB e-mail account + blazing speed + great UI + Google Search!

Seriously, how much revenue can they generate with their AdSense technology!

GMail....

I got some spare invits... leave a message (with you full name and current e-mail ID) if you want one.

Wish you were here

We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.


One of my favoutire songs. I never seem to get tired of it. I'll never really know what it means. But these lines seem to take me to some place within me... there's just something that this song does to me.

Another role developed...

This time it was a Kodak Gold ISO 100. I thought that the pics would be razor sharp, but I was disappointed - a lot.

Most of them are hazy, even the ones which I exposed according to the light meter recommendation. Either the photolab is messing up like hell, or my lens sucks. It might also be the film, cuz the ones I've taken in bright sunlight are the ones which've come out good. I think I should go back to an ISO 400 or atleast a 200.


Getting artistic while putting out the clothes to dry! This one was taken with the cam on the clothes stand, down to a shutter speed of 1/4th second. Not great, but this is one of the few pics which isn't hazy!

Later.

Taking down Microsoft

Just read this interview of Scott Collins (of Mozilla/Netscape fame). It was a rather different interview. I mean most of these IT interviews I've read are either highly technical or crammed with business jargon.

This one was philosophical. Check out one of the quotes...

There's only one thing powerful in this world enough to topple Microsoft, if toppling Microsoft is your goal, and that is Microsoft. People and empires, they fall under their own weight, because they're the only ones heavy enough to take them down. I think we are seeing the beginnings of that, a tremendous backlash in the marketplace towards software companies that are taxing their users, hugely in the cases of these giants like PeopleSoft and Oracle, but even those that tax the middle class like Microsoft does.

There's also Microsoft's hubris, that they have all the answers, that they know what's right for you, but yet we keep getting more and more security patches from them, because they don't actually know what's right for us. And Ballmer is saying that they didn't make any mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, I've certainly made my share, and I'm certain that Microsoft has made their share. And to say that the virus culture was different two years ago, that's not true. Viruses were bad two years ago just as they are now; it's the same environment and the same hostility. Microsoft didn't do the right thing then, it wasn't a different culture, and they made a mistake.

Pride comes before a fall, and it is their hubris in knowing what people want, and saying "we know what is good for you," that is eventually going to pull them down. It's not going to be that somebody else actually knows better, because Microsoft actually does have a pretty good idea of what one generalized virtual person wants. But I think in the new world it's not about one big program to solve everybody's needs, it's about a zillion tiny programs all stuck together. Stuck together one way for you, stuck together another way for me that do the right thing. I think people are becoming savvy enough where they don't want a general program, they want something customized, they want a software kit that does what they want. Maybe if you're a business, it's not that every employee has a software kit, but maybe you are willing to spend to have two IT guys take an existing software kit and make it exactly what your business needs.

Microsoft is going to make it so painful for people to have exactly what they want that they'll give up. Some of them will live with what Microsoft gave them, and others will turn to systems to where they can get exactly what they want. And since no two people want the same thing, it's going to be a world of putting the pieces together. Microsoft will be the fall of Microsoft, and that's when the little pieces that cooperate with each other will thrive. Will Mozilla beat Microsoft? No. Can Mozilla thrive? Yes. What will make Mozilla thrive? Microsoft's fall under their own weight.

How do I use this thing?

That's the labelled diagram of my flashgun. It's got freaking more controls than my camera. If anyone knows how to use this thing then please tell me. I wasnt able to find a manual on the net. (PS: It was a bitch drawing this in Photoshop) TIA.

Feminism?

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately. I feel many of the popular ones are of "feminists." Now, I really dont know how I came to this conclusion - statistically speaking I might be way off mark... but this conclusion is based more on intuition rather than statistical facts.

Somehow, I noticed that the psyche of these self proclaimed feminists (they might not like being called feminists, but I'll call this certain "class" of females, feminists for the want of a better word), is pretty similar. I mean all that they write about is...

1. How they are not taken seriously as compared to their male colleagues in their workplace?
2. Discrimination against women in any other social setup.
3. Sexual harassment, sexual abuse, rape, marital rape, molestation, etc.
4. Potrayal of women in media.

That might not be an exhaustive list, but you probably get the idea of what I'm talking about.

Most of these women are well educated and in control of their lives. Yet, to prove themselves they have to use male insecurity and discrimination as a yardstick for everything in their lives. They use the very things that they so vehemently oppose, in a patriarchic society, to measure their achievments.

I think, it's more like a tabloid. Tabloids sell on sleaze. The feminist talk sells on sleaze too.
Quoting from Wonderbug's Blog

Do you know what it feels like to be raped? Not the polite ‘sexual abuse’ term that a reader used. The real thing. The type when you lose half the hair on your head and all of your soul. The type when your vagina burns so hard you cannot sit for all of the next day. The type when bruises all over your body remind you of how lowdown wretched you are, and how being woman can be such a crime. The type when you scrub yourself over and over again in the bathroom trying to wipe out every shred of skin you have so that you don’t have to feel it ever again. The type that leaves you hating sex and hating yourself more. The type that makes every night an ordeal, and you shiver with trepidation every time dusk falls.

Sleaze, or not?

Here's one song which gives me the high whenever I listen to it... "I just want you" by Ozzy Osbourne. It sets the adrenalin pumping. I love the rush of going out and achieving something, might be anything at all.

Read through the lyrics, they might sound juvenile, but the song doesn't.

There are no unlockable doors
There are no unwinnable wars
There are no unrightable wrongs
Or unsingable songs

There are no unbeatable odds
There are no believable gods
There are no unnameable names
Shall I say it again, yeah

There are no impossible dreams
There are no invisible seams
Each night when the day is through
I don't ask much

I just want you (2 times)

There are no uncriminal crimes
There are no unrhymable rhymes
There are no identical twins or
forgivable sins

There are no incurable ills
There are no unkillable thrills
One thing and you know it's true,
I don't ask much

I just want you (4 times)

I'm sick and tired of bein' sick and tired
I used to go to bed so high and wired, yeah - yeah, yeah, yeah
I think I'll buy myself some plastic water
I guess I should have married Lennon's daughter, yeah - yeah, yeah, yeah

There are no unachievable goals
There are no unsaveable souls
No legitimate kings or queens, do
you know what I mean? Yeah

There are no indisputable truths
And there ain't no fountain of youth
Each night when the day is through,
I don't ask much

I just want you. (Lots of times)

Long Live Rock n' Roll...

Have you heard "Heartbreaker" by Led Zeppelin? I love the riff... and the funky guitar solo in the middle of the song!

Here are the lyrics... copied unabashedly from some site for your viewing pleasure...

Hey fellas have you heard the news?
You know that Annie's back in town?
It won't take long just watch and see
How the fellas lay their money down.
Her style is new but the face is the same
As it was so long ago
But from her eyes a diff'rent smile
Like that of one who knows.
Well it's been ten years and maybe more
Since I first set eyes on you;
The best years of my life gone by
Here I am alone and blue.
Some people cry and some people die
By the wicked ways of love;
But I'll just keep on rollin' along
With the grace of the Lord above.
People talkin' all around 'bout the way you left me flat,
I don't care what the people say, I know where their jive is at.
One thing I do have on my mind, if you can clarify please do,
It's the way you call me by another guy's name when I try to make love to you!
I try to make love but it ain't no use.
Give it to me, give it!
(Guitar solo)
Work so hard I couldn't unwind,
Get some money saved;
Abuse my love a thousand times,
However hard I tried.
Heartbreaker, your time has come,
Can't take your evil way;
Go away,
Heartbreaker.
Heartbreaker.

The Obzerver Cometh.

An interview with The Obzerver.

The Sunday Herald for Important Things: For the benefit of the poor souls who've been waiting for so long, holding their bowel activity for what seems like ages now, simply dying to know more about you, would you care to introduce yourself?
The Obzerver: I'm The Obzerver. I don't always exist. And it's not that when I'm not existing I'm non-existant. I'm still there. Somewhere.

SHIT: Surely, you could be a little more lucid than that!
Obz: Screw you! You buggers never let me sound cool. I gotta build a fan following you know!

SHIT: Alright, alright! Just be a little more specific.
Obz: I've got a HUGE ego. So you better not mess with it. In fact that's all I have. Some say it's "Alternate". But I prefer to use that word with reference to a particular genre of music.

SHIT: So, you said that you don't always exist? How can that be possible? Are you some kind of ghost, vampire or other useless shit like that?
Obz: Muahahaha! Here comes the cool part.

I'm not a vampire,
Nor a man,
I go higher,
Higher than you can.

I'm not matter,
I'm not mind,
And I dont care,
Which ones behind.

Or over,
For that matter,
'Cause I'm neither,
And I'm both - former and latter.

Duality,
They gave it a name,
Confused,
Matter or wave.

Bah!
I scoff,
It's me,
And I have miles to go before I sleep.

SHIT: So you're a poet?
Obz: No, you fool! I'm the Duality! The crux of the world, the cosmic forces, the universe and all other cool words that I know.

SHIT: I can't understand. First you say that you dont exist. Then you say you have a HUGE ego. Then you come up with that shitty poem, and start blabbering about "Duality".... get to the freaking point!
Obz: Sum it all up you idiot! Go figure...

Getting cranky clicking away.

The beautiful lamp posts all around the POSTECH campus. I really like this shot. Taken perfectly. Stands out against the pitch black sky.



This one's great too. Love the variation caused due to the depth-of-field



Another depth-of-field experiment.



A nice reflection in the POSTECH Admin block

Random.

I think I'll make this into a Photography blog - I'm getting crazy about Photography these days.

Been reading and looking at a lot of photographs. Check out BetterPhoto.com and have a look at their contest finalists/winners.

This one's my favourite :-)

Keep clicking.

On a seperate note, I found this nice quote at the end of my Gaussian output.

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there -- Josh Billings.

Nice thought.

Computer Mania

Literally going crazy spending too much time on the computer. I had left the computer for good about a year back and now I'm addicted to it again.

It's really a sad way to spend your day, sitting and staring at a screen. Your world confined to just 15 inches of an LCD screen.

In my hostel too I see people doing the same thing... throwing away their life for a dumb machine. Trying to get better download speeds for some stupid movie they're leaching off some FTP server. Why do these guys whore their machines for such dumbass leaches anyways? Or else if they've got a new comp they're trying to install Linux... for god knows what reason. They're never gonna boot into it, the next time they run out of space for movies, songs or cool videos that partition will be the first on to go.

I think computers will eventually end up doing more harm to our society than good. In IITs it's already begun I think. Chatting with the guy next to your room on a messenger instead of simply going up to him and saying a Hi! Simpy discussig stuff on the newsgroups, belting out theories and arguments by the dozen, and not even turning up when General Body Meeting are called to discuss issues. Why? Cuz that would mean leaving your precious computer and the movie or your CS game for a couple of hours and going out of the room.

And computer games, they're the most fucking addictive thing I've ever seen. AOE, CS, Warcraft, Civilization, Quake... folks spend the whole night fragging each other in virtual maps or building empires. What they dont realize is it's their life, this precious student life that they're wasting.

There's a flipside to this though. Getting addicted to a particular activity related to computers can introduce you to a whole new community. For example, gamers have their own community. By playing these multiplayer games on the LAN you become "pally" with a whole new set of people. But I guess that's the problem. After some time you end up having a social circle which consists mostly of those people. Cuz most of the time you're stuck to your comp screen and cut off from your room mate or the rest of your wing.

And then there's this bunch of downloaders. Who will go to any limits to download the latest "cool stuff" off the net or any FTP server on the LAN. And I guess they're online 24/7 on iitk.sharing.vidoes or iitk.sharing.music or whatever.

It's really sad to see people buy comps so that they can "learn" - and all they learn is how to install Windows for the n-th time. How to download and install stuff and how to use their comps as home theaters.

I guess I'm really not practising what I'm preaching right now. These days I'm really stuck on to blogging. It's fucking addictive. But I have yet to see a downside of this addiction. I blog for only about 30 mins a day, but I spend hours reading others' blogs. But I guess that's not much to do with computers as it's got to do with reading. And I guess reading is a good habit to cultivate - atleast that's what my mother told me :-)

Later.

Hooked to blogging...

With so much of free time on my hands during the weekends I'm really hooked on to blogging. Not writing stuff of my own - but reading others' blogs. I must say it's a nice pastime - and very informative as well.

Found a couple of really interesting ones... I guess I'll add them to the links section on my blog.

Oh wait... there is no Links section on this template....SO I guess I'll just put them here on this post.

The Desi Bridget Jones Diary Nice name :-)
Vishal Patel's Website - it's not actually a blog but it's rather the most interesting home page I've ever come across. Be sure to read the Tasha files atleast. I'm sure you'll die laughing!
Sex tips for geeks - that's the weirdest place to find such stuff, Eric S. Raymond's home page. For the uninitiated he's one hell of a hacker and a Linux guru. One of his most famous essay's is The Cathedral and the Bazaar. I never expected him to write this kind of stuff :-)

So I guess it's not actually blogging but reading stuff that I'm interested in. Ah - back to being a voracious reader at last!

Nandz.