Bio diversity

If you think at a macro level, bio diversity means many species can co-exist : Tropics and equatorial regions are bio diversity hot spots and Ecuador is one such nation.

But here is an interesting situation in Ecuador :

Beneath the lush green equatorial forest, there are nearly 1 billion barrels of crude oil.

How can the Ecuador government resist this black gold extraction and making the economy prosperous ?

Check out the slide show and read this article on Ecuador's forest

Books I'm reading

For the past few days, I am reading :-
a) Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
b) Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.
in parallel.

Both books describe the 1930s and 1940s and opposite philosophies , I would say. Too early to judge/compare these books , right now but my thoughts are now on Gandhi.

Some parts of "Freedom at Midnight" evoke strong emotions, but some parts of the book (if very credible) just describe Mahatma Gandhi's very complex character. I just cannot understand why he did what he did. Some of his actions represent what is called as the "conscience of india" . Deep down in our DNA I have seen many people (especially the older generation) who have that "sacrifice is everything in life" kind of attitude. But he is a leader who is more like a working class hero - who understood India so well!

The Third Reich , on the other hand (once again, if the book is very credible), describes the mind of a maniac. A military demagogue who is misled by some of the most cranky philosophies and blind patriotism is able to convey his strong emotions to his countrymen. But once again a great leader and a master strategist. We can learn quite a bit from this book.

Today, the heights of boredom have been reached at office. One of those days .... Wasting time seems the only thing which I've been doing since morning.

Pity. There is work to be done. But then I am just plugged off.

Current Music : Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay

Sunday Morning.

Things to do. What else to do?

Things that are done.
Things that could be done.
Things that cannot be done.
Things that could be done.
Things that can't be undone.

It is so easy to say I am not responsible. Because if you have to say "I am responsible", you might have to say "I am irresponsible". - Stephen Covey

Current Music : No doubt - Sunday Morning.

The new Coke Ad

The new coke ad featuring Imran Khan and Kalki Koechlin had some really de ja VU kind of music. I had heard the riff somewhere. Sometime ago....

Firstly the song is an old song.....There is a remix version of the original Rafi Saab's rendition of Tumjho Mil gaye ho

Regarding the bass riff, it was one of Aqua's effort sometime ago , which did not feature their trademark cartoon feel - The code ad's riff is very similar to Aqua's Turn Back Time.. Listen to the bugle (or the clarinet or whatever wind instrument)....

But interesting remix...

It's official

I have completed the coursework for my Master of Computer Science degree at Illinois Institute of Technology - Specialization in Computer Networking And Telecommunications .

:-)

The results for my Spring 2010 are out, I did not get the best marks(screwed up the subject which I would have liked to do really well), but good enough to complete the course. phew. It is a tough course and it feels good to add 2 years of academic education to your life. Would recommend this one to someone who is really motivated and would like to set their ass on fire even though work is piled up at office.

Now I will wait for the certificate. But as shown in 3 idiots, education is about the journey rather than the degree. MS was just like engineering, but a LOT more deeper. But definitely way better than the BE in terms of depth. To be frank it did take a toll on my weekends and I effortlessly get up at 3am these days. I bunked a few social gatherings (which have made the extended family angry), but seriously it is too much these days and I do not regret "not going" to a function AT ALL. Of course I will make up my absence and indifference and all that.

Steve Jobs and his thoughts on Adobe Flash :
Thoughts on Flash.

Is really iPhone dictating the mobile market so much ? He is just bossing over Adobe. This is real ganchali

Once upon a time there was a boy who used to go to school. He was little different from the others. He was devout and pious. He used to smear a lot of vibhuti on his forehead, he practiced yoga early in the morning in the valleys and used to run to school. He also wore the rudrakshi mala. The other boys ridiculed him.

They would ask him what would he do when he grew up. With a straight face he would reply, I will be a swami one day.

Then one day, he visited the village tent. He saw a movie in the tent. The heroine wore a tribal dress and showed some subtle expressions on screen and his life was changed. His textbooks always used to have fotos of gods. Now came the foto of the heroine of the movie. The gods and the heroine. Both were his favorites. He had told his friends that he will meet her at any costs.

Then one day, after his tenth exams, he left his town forever. He was away for 2 years. Rumors told that he traveled North and met the great rishis and the agoris in the North. He began to "radiate with enlightenment" [1] - He became really famous. He had a clear vision - and a belief about his spiritual influence on thousands of people.

Meanwhile the heroine of who wore the tribal dress suffered personal life problems and she became unacceptable to the item number hungry audience. Her second marriage was also unhappy. She struggled with her career and life....But a strange thing happened.

And the boy cam back as Swami Nithyananda. He was rich and powerful. With his grit and determination he won his high school sweetheart- The actress Ranjitha and he went on to fool and rule his followers.

DMB

Nostalgia .... late 2003-early 2004. Hosur Road , traffic jam - red signal - Oasis Green Maruti 800 - Gloomy mind all the time and Dave Matthews Band in the stereo. Take the left hitting the throttle and singing aloud....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=380D8-IzLB0

Feel like laughing.

Those days!

Doesn't Dave Matthews look like Tom Hanks ?

Voice #1:
Here I am - this is me...There's no where else on earth I'd rather be

Voice #2:
BohLing BohLing BohLing BohLing

Voice #3:
Daytha Daytha Daytha

Voice#4:
And theeee And theeee And theeee And theeee

Integrating iPhone's applications on the iPad is a visionary idea. iPad (or atleast its clones) is here to stay. iPad is more of a "application consuming gadget" more than a "application developing gadget". So you will still have your laptop, but you will have a networked gadget.

The best is that it is powered by 3G(what we are working on ;-) ). 3G and LTE are technologies which are just PERFECT access technologies for this. Because there is limited browsing which you can do with a Mobile Phone.

Watch the video here :

A look at Apple's iPad with David Carr of 'The New York Times' and Walt Mossberg of 'The Wall St. Journal.

Does anyone have any other opinion ? I have read a couple of news sites and I like the concept. But not sure until someone has really used this gadget.

Intelligentsia

Shashi Tharoor is one of those intelligentsia whom I really do not connect with. Others in this group are Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Girish Karnad, MS Sathyu, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das and all those types of people.

They are all intelligent, I agree. But somehow I get repelled by these sort of people. They speak their mind, they land themselves in trouble. The world is divided when it listens to these people - People are enraged, some people appreciate, some people (like me are amused). Sumne mai mele iruve bittkondu vaddadodu

Shashi Tharoor might be a prolific person and an exceptional worker, but the twitter bird has shot galeej droplets on his face and left him searching for his hanky. I particularly did not like his opinions about RK Narayanan which I read sometime ago.

Nonetheless, two individuals (Tharoor and Modi) with inflated egos meet and sparks are meant to fly.

Dido

There is a Dido song which I listened sometime ago. The tune was distinctly Indian and now I found it on Youtube.

The video is interesting. A lady taxi driver in Mumbai in moods of Loneliness and contemplation. Not sure if there are any lady taxi drivers in Mumbai. The actress is a brilliant actress - Shahana Goswami. Her role was so small in the movie "Rock On!" but her performance stayed.

Nonetheless check out Dido's video with an Indian touch :-
Dido - Let's Do The Things We Normally Do

Tehelka v/s TAAQ

Very unlikely opponents, right ?
Snippets

Here is what Tehelka says abt Indian Rock Musicians :

Indian rock music, fundamentally, is rooted in affectation, not origination....Our homegrown rock is almost exclusively upper middle-class territory — and its practitioners don’t seem to have much on their minds. Often bankrolled by indulgent parents, and decked out in the requisite accoutrements and peripherals — a tattoo or two helps —

And TAAQ :

how do Indian bands approach songwriting, where do they learn to play their instruments, where do they rehearse? How do they finance gear, studio time and production efforts? What level of initiative does it take for a band to bag concert dates at Hard Rock Cafe or Blue Frog, or plan a five-city tour? Or to cut an album and market it independently?

...Perhaps Sidhu might want to consider exploring these areas instead of expending two thousand words on a subject he believes is not worth writing about. That's laughable.

A very good website

Check out this site :-

www.cheervoucher.com

It is an application that is able to send Gift Vouchers directly to a Mobile Phone and the receiver can go directly to the store and redeem it.

It's catered to both, people gifting each other within India ... and NRIs sending gifts back home to India.

The best part is that, it has also Gifting Partners :-)

It is developed by my friend and ex-colleague from Infy, Rohit Rawal.
Really good idea...

Hogenakkal random pic.

Had been to Hogenakkal Falls. Drove abt 194 km from Bangalore. Electronic City road was simply awesome ... Swift flew down the National Highway. Toll Bridge to E-City is kickass. But the fare is pretty high (38 Rs.)

I had taken one of my Finnish friends (from Oulu) there .... It happened to be the hottest day in the past 25 years according to the meteorology department.

There was water. But I was really exhausted ...Taking the boat ride was wonderful experience.

Got an Head Molish and a shoulder massage. And then had Vegetable Hyderabadi Biriyani back in Bangalore. Nights are really hot and spicy food is delicious but it is a no-no.

Today morning as I drove through the traffic, I landed below the mysore road flyover to see lots of red spluttered all over the road. Was it a dog ? Was it a cat ? As I was about to go "eww" I realized it was pieces of Water Melon.

Summer is very hot this time. I do not see any mangoes or jackfruits my two favorite fruits. Not even in the Ganesha fruit juice stalls - nowhere. Power cuts are everywhere. Every night I am tired of attending Mosquito-Concerts.

People are going on an tree cutting rampage with 210 trees (all of them over 150 years of age) being chopped to the ground. Really, I cursed the guy who approved this felling of trees. And there is this really beautiful painting (on the wall) done by the street artists. I see and enjoy the detailed mix of the greens and yellows of the oil colors used as I ride to office. Today, on that painting one stupid f*ck is urinating on the painting. And then later, near the high court garden which has many floral parks, I see petty florists stealing the flowers and putting it in their bags (the security guards are nowhere to be seen).

No point yelling here in the blog. Somebody should take the action. Not sure whether there is a shortage of public toilets or is it plain Indian bad habit.

A nice romantic song

Fastball is a very Beatlesque band. And one of my curent favorites of Fastball is the song Fastball-You're an Ocean.

If you liked Fastball, try Out of My head and The way by Fastball.

The lady in the song fits the lyrics very well ;-)

Google puts the Ball in the Chinese court

Well, finally there is one corporation which has to guts (stupidity in someone else's sense) to take on the mighty China. Google, starting this week has begun uncensored search by routing all the traffic to Google hong kong website. Though this is a bold move, the outcome for sure is known, Google hong kong will be blocked (working as of now).

What prompted Google to take a massive step in fighting against the laws and policies in China?

1. Was the attack on its website so bad? Did it not have the tech prowess to withstand such attacks.

2. Did Google realize that their revenues from the Chinese market will be capped to < $1billion (currently around 60% of that), even though they have captured 1/3rd of the market and were the fastest growing company in China

3. Or did Google decide enough is enough. We are an American company with great values and we need to maintain those values

4. Or is it that the US govt is twisting Google's arm (in a suttle way) to increase it pressure on China

whatever it is the latest move will be considered as Google taking head-on even though the re-routing is complied by the law..

i really dont think any company in the manufacturing sector/finance/other services could have taken such a move.. and clearly Google is showing it has the balls to do it

ps - apologies for the title being so sexist.. but it clearly conveys the message

Hair today

As a kid, one of the most loathed tasks was getting an haircut. I still recollect the burn the razor left on my neck, and the hard combings of my drunk barber during some of my juvenile nightmares

Coming back to the point, back then there was a lot of effort to keep your hairs from standing up. The usual ingredient used was Coconut oil, the more sophisticated being Brylcreem and the punishment for some kids used to be Castor oil..

20 years later, the creams and the gels are used to make the hair stand up. You go to sleep, ruffle your hair, wake up, see something standing and you carefully apply some gel to keep up the standing hair..

who cares for the short-term changes as it would eventually be "hair today gone tomorrow" .. (Credit goes to SP to pulling that one-liner) and most of us would be shaving the skull as well.