tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-370598162024-03-07T18:34:39.076-08:00mind=body=soulOf all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
- (Mark Twain and me)Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-73045938630211480652011-01-03T21:23:00.000-08:002011-01-03T21:33:18.615-08:00touch Wow, it's been more than 1.5 years, since I touched my blog. Just like 'touch'ing a source code which I hadn't made changes to in a long time, would like to do the same here =)Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-44513349589156016312009-05-20T05:07:00.001-07:002009-05-20T05:07:30.368-07:00Ubuntu bughttps://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-77107904669269206562009-04-11T19:27:00.000-07:002009-04-11T19:55:47.822-07:00is the tax system fair? its pretty common sense that the tax is proportional to one's income, but is it fair the person is not getting the benefits proportional to the tax?<br />the govt probably spends the same amount per person in providing benefits like roads,running schools and other govt entities, but why is the (tax) charges so varying?<br /><br />ofcourse we cant have a tax system where each person is taxed based on the benefits (s)he is consuming, bcos that wud leave 0 benefits to most ppl and extremely high tax to the families and rich ppl. and also we cant have a flat tax system, where each person pays the same amount irrespective of amount, bcos the taxes paid by rich being averaged out would mean ridiculous tax for the poor. <br /><br />hmm, looks like there could be no tax system which could be fair afterall, unless ofcourse if it wants the govt and citizens to be doomed.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-35399378381260094222009-03-27T14:34:00.000-07:002009-03-27T14:39:50.190-07:00How companies (normally) screw their customers1. Insurance companies:<br />Method adopted: Give customers a false sense of security and if they come back on a claim, overwhelm with time/effort needed on their side by asking for more evidence or try to make simple policies sound complicated and hope they give up.<br /><br />Personal exp.: <br />I have been going back and forth with my health insurance and hospital care on a claim(for a cough, which they conveniently said "you can use whatever syrup you would normally take and oh btw, please pay us 950$ for the 2 minutes of consultation with me" ) for over 5 months and my car insurance company for 1.5 months to get a simple answer("Will this be covered by the other insurance company or do I have to get it done myself". Is that so difficult to answer?)<br /><br />2. Most online subscriptions:<br />Method adopted: Make the subscription recurring automatically and make that info almost unknown by auto-selecting etc. Make the unsubscribe, not through a website but intervene a human. Eg: Call a toll-free number or email support etc inorder to cancel something.<br /><br />Personal exp.:<br />I was naive enough to enroll in a credit protection agency which while signing up for a new credit card, they automatically decided thats right for me. They charge only 3$ or so p.m, and I have to call and wait on the toll free for 30min in order to cancel it. Finally I did it after almost a year. The small amount works good for them, as customer wouldn't mind to cancel it immediately. When I asked few ppl about vonage - "Don't even get me started on thier cancellation policy" was all of thier reply.<br /><br />3. Claiming rebates/discounts etc:<br />Method adopted: Similar to #2, basic idea is to capitalize on customers' laziness. Good sales tactic to make seem the price lower.<br /><br />Personal experience: <br />Not only did I not mail lots of rebates,but I did submit a rebate for my camera with everything perfect, haven't got any rebate. Of course, if I spend some insane amount of time in follow up, I can get it, but is it worth it? To most people not, either the amount is not that big or mostly they are just lazy.<br /><br /><br />To all companies: <br />Please don't say "We value your customers more than anything, they are our first priority" or crap like that which don't mean anything to us anyway, when the way you treat them seems like your motto should be "We screw our customers and we really enjoy doing it". <br />In addition to providing a quality product so we cant stop bitching about you(apple),make it easiest to return (amazon/costco) or easiest to unsubscribe membership(netflix) or better yet tell me whats good for me like suggesting competitors(zappos), then you have me for life(well, atleast few more sales directly or indirectly). This may seem like losing out on your business but ironically does the opposite(I dont know why; maybe its consumer's psychology or loyalty or their love to occasionally hear a tiny amount of transparent truth from a gigantic corporation ). Not only that - we tell our friends and blog about you. Thanks for listening to my rambling which you are clueless about anyway.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-43392587721052626332009-03-26T23:40:00.000-07:002009-03-27T14:34:24.482-07:00one ceo i admireJeff Bezos. (ofcourse second to Craig Newmark).<br /><br />EDIT: <br />This should have not really been a blog post.<br />Anyway like any reader would ask "Why?" - reasons are simple, not just the way they run the companies, but thier attitude towards thier employees mostly and also customers and personal views in general. Ofcourse I know these only from reading blogs and listening to thier interview over a period of long time.<br />I would write a big blog on this, when I feel like it sometime later :)<br />It has got nothing to do with my love of Amazon or Craigslist as products although I wouldn't discount a small bias :)Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-8310125096683802272009-03-01T16:25:00.001-08:002009-03-01T16:46:24.172-08:00Brand advertisingi was trying to recollect the brand name of the consumer(household/food) products i use on a regular basis and many of them daily. in 30s, hardly i cud remember beyond berkely farms and after a min - tide and tropicana.<br />all the other brands i remembered were already that i knew before i was in US.<br />for eg, still i dont know the brand names of things which i use almost daily like salt,egg,bread,oil,ketchup,noodles etc<br /><br />though i have to personally visit the grocery store and pick the items one by one myself, i dont even recollect the name of any of the brands. i just recognize them by cover of the box or can or watever. in fact, i wud be easily tricked by an immitating low quality brand.<br /><br />in india, though i was mere carrier of grocery items, in the sense i never had to pick any items, my mom wud just gimme a list and i wudnt even be in the store to pick up, until everything was put in the bag and the bill was ready. inspite of that i remembered and still remember most of the brands for many consumer items which i havent used or even heard abt once in the last 6yrs.<br /><br />the reason being that i wasnt slapped with that much ads due to my zero TV watching and unconsciously ignoring ads on webpages. so much the TV advertising is effective on brand recognition.<br />inspite of television ads being so untargeted and stuff moving online, i still think for brand recognition nothing works better than TV ads(atleast for me). maybe due to the fact of watching video ads are obviously better for memory esp if some of them funny/catchy etc and if not by accident, who clicks on ads on webpages anyway?.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-7743384198491200982009-02-17T15:25:00.001-08:002009-02-17T15:25:40.220-08:00Its a common sense that happiness out of doing <br />something is affected by the expectation of doing it, prior to actually doing it.<br />But how much is the expectation contributing to the actual happiness than the actual 'thing' itself?<br />I think expectation plays an even bigger role(not just a small role) than the act itself.<br /><br />For eg, a person maybe thinking that he'll be happy if he gets a new car or a house. But after he gets that, the happiness he gets out of it was probably dictated *more* by the expectations and perceived notions prior to getting the car than the actual happiness derived out of its possession. Hence the happiness will last only shorter and probably cause disappointments caused due to expectations.<br /><br />So, key to happiness is to play with your expectations. (this was probably obvious but we might have underestimated the role of expectations in happiness). Going by this I think, people who do a lot of planning ahead or organized could be less happy in general.<br /><br />We could try to play with expectations slowly. For eg, when choosing a movie, don't try to chose a movie based on reviews,plot or asking friends. Most of the times, when you hear lot of good things about the movie you are surely not going to like it as much if you had chosen the movie by random. If you see movies at random, you will also end up with a lot of bad ones which may make you appreciate the good movies even better, which brings up another theory that, in order to be happy u also have to be (or expect) sad many times.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-4476749793204093472009-01-27T22:03:00.000-08:002009-01-27T23:34:21.914-08:00whats in a name?There are few disadvantages of having a name that starts with 'A'. The most<br />obvious is being called very early while taking attendance in a class(name roll being always ordered alphabetically almost always), which means you have to get early to a class after a break and so on.<br /><br />Another disadv in the past couple of years, people calling me at odd times like 10am, only to realise that I was automatically called because they didnt lock thier phones while keeping in the pocket or somewhere. This happened to me twice today. Although I couldn't understand how, 2 buttons get pressed(one for contacts menu and then perhaps if my name was first in thier contact list).<br /><br />That said, there are also a few advantages with an 'A' name. You can get done with your lab exams soon.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-53389925910944666372009-01-20T17:19:00.000-08:002009-01-20T17:22:30.214-08:00job listingThis is how a <a href="http://www.getafreelancer.com/projects/Perl-CGI-C-C/Lisp-Developers-Lisp-Really-Yes.366601.html">job ad</a> should look like. It shows a lot of attitude and culture of the people hiring. Long one, but worth a look.<br /><br />When Iam ready switch and if these guys were willing to pay more, I would love to work with them.<br /><br /><br /><br />Contents pasted below,<br /><br />~~~<br />To Apply for this Job<br />~~~<br />Please simply copy, paste, and respond to this advertisement by creating a GetAFreelancer Private Message with the following information, "I would require $1500- $2200 for working 200 hours per month without any benefits whatsoever. Because I choose to participate in the '10 Hour Probationary Period' please provide me with the first 2 hour test."<br /><br />~~~<br />Rate and Hours<br />~~~<br />We will pay each developer $1500- $2200 for working 200 hours per month. That is 7.50 US dollars to 11 US dollars per hour.<br /><br />Please do not bid for this project if you require a higher rate.<br /><br />~~~<br />Overview<br />~~~<br />We are currently looking for 1 or 2 or 3 very clever, full-time software application developers (not mere coders) to work with us 200 hours per month for at least a year but hopefully longer.<br /><br />~~~<br />Work whichever hours of the day you prefer<br />~~~<br />We will permit you to work any hours of the day you prefer. In other words, we do not care which hours of the day you work.<br /><br />~~~<br />What a long advertisement!<br />~~~<br />We've received lots of questions and had lots of problems. Therefore, we have continually updated this advertisement. We believe strongly that, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."<br /><br />~~~<br />Why do we keep reposting this job on GetAFreelancer?<br />~~~<br />Why not?<br /><br />We like to consider many candidates. The world is full of software developers. Furthermore, we offer an attractive job: working from home doing cutting edge software development.<br /><br />However, most applicants who apply for this job don't meet our standards. Therefore we reject them. In this regard we are not unique; we are normal.<br /><br />If you are young and inexperienced you may find this paragraph strange, unfair, or difficult to believe, but in the software business the vast majority of candidates who apply for jobs as software developers are rejected. Really.<br /><br />If we reject you and if you are wise you will use rejection to build character and humility; if you are foolish you will become enraged and bitter because your pride has been wounded. The world is full of enraged and bitter men who walk around with wounded pride because they have been rejected. You are free to join their ranks if you like. As the saying goes, "Misery loves company."<br /><br />~~~<br />10 Hour Probationary Period<br />~~~<br />We have found that most candidates who apply for jobs on GetAFreelancer are either not really serious (perhaps they are upset with their boss and “Internet dreaming” about a better job somewhere "out there") or or not sufficiently talented (such as, the vast majority of PHP coders). To quickly and easily weed out these candidates we require that you successfully complete our 10 Hour Probationary Period.<br /><br />We will assign you one 2 hour project which you must complete and submit to us within 24 hours (not including Saturdays and Sundays) . Therefore, if we assign a project to you on Friday, you will not need to complete and submit to us until Monday.<br /><br />If we are satisfied with how you have performed then we will assign you a second two hour project which you must complete and submit to us within 24 hours (not including Saturdays and Sundays).<br /><br />If we are again satisfied with how you have performed we will repeat this process three more times until you have completed five such two hour assignments.<br /><br />If we are satisfied with how you have performed then we will pay you for 10 hours in the amount of 5% of your monthly rate for 200 hours and then you will advance to the 30 Day Probationary Period.<br /><br />However, if we are *not* satisfied with how you have performed then we will *not* pay you any monies whatsoever for the 10 hours you have worked and we will terminate our relationship with you.<br /><br />In other words, we require that you work 10 hours for us yet risk receiving no compensation whatsoever. Therefore, if you are not willing to risk working 10 hours for free, you should not apply for this job.<br /><br />~~~<br />Steel Bank Common Lisp (SBCL)<br />~~~<br />You must develop software for us using Steel Bank Common Lisp (SBCL) http://www.sbcl.org/. Our development server runs Apache and mod_lisp.<br /><br />~~~<br />But I don't have any Lisp experience?!?<br />~~~<br />Of course, we assume you have practically no experience developing with Lisp. We know that very, very few developers use Lisp. Therefore, we recommend you review "Practical Common Lisp" http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/ and "Common Lisp HyperSpec" http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Front/Contents.htm<br /><br />~~~<br />Lisp? Why Lisp?<br />~~~<br />Why did we choose Lisp? Isn't Lisp almost, well, almost a dead language? Sort of. We realize that Lisp is hardly used in software development except by a very small group of elite software developers. We chose Lisp for one simple reason: we believe it is the best tool available for building most of the software we need. In other words, we think Lisp is a great language. If you study Lisp we suspect you'll think it's a great language too.<br /><br />~~~<br />Are you sure you want to use Lisp? Really?<br />~~~<br />Yes. We did not inadvertently or naively choose Lisp. Not at all. We very carefully weighed the pros and cons of various languages and chose to use Lisp.<br /><br />~~~<br />If you prefer to use Java or .NET<br />~~~<br />If you prefer to use Java or .NET then you definitely should not apply for this job. We do not like those languages at all. We feel strongly that those languages are like diseases. However, we do not mind if you currently develop in one of those languages and, like a refugee from a war zone, are seeking to escape.<br /><br />~~~<br />If you prefer to use Perl, Python, and Ruby on Rails<br />~~~<br />Even though we like and respect Perl, Python, and Ruby on Rails, if you prefer to use one of these languages then you should not apply for this job either. We know Perl is for the old-timers, Python is what they use at Google, and that "all the cool kids" these days use Ruby on Rails.<br /><br />We are not trying to be "old school" http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=old+school by using Perl or to be like Google by using Python or to be cool (dude) by using Ruby and Rails. No. We are attempting to develop great software.<br /><br />~~~<br />Clever and Eager Autodidacts Wanted<br />~~~<br />You must be willing to teach yourself Steel Bank Common Lisp. We will *not* pay for you to learn Steel Bank Common Lisp. You must currently have a *reliable* high speed Internet connection (DSL, Cable, T-1, etc).<br /><br />~~~<br />Note to "Lispers"<br />~~~<br />If you consider yourself a "Lisper" please read this section carefully.<br /><br />Lispers seem to be a breed of uber-nerds (super nerds) who are extremely clever in some ways but utterly foolish in others. Lisp is an excellent language for developing software but generally we find Lispers to be arrogant, annoying, and not worth dealing with.<br /><br />Therefore, if you are a Lisper, unless you are an unusual Lisper, please don't apply for this job. Instead, please go back to commiserate with your fellow Lispers about how hardly any Lisp jobs exist. Ok?<br /><br />We are looking for clever autodidacts who want to learn Lisp. We are not looking for self-appointed high priests of Lisp (Lispers), who think that we should be thankful that such a brave and enlightened genius like yourself has deigned to apply for this job.<br /><br />~~~<br />Software Developers Wanted, not Heads-Down Coders<br />~~~<br />http://patrickwilsonwelsh.com/?p=4<br />"I guarantee you that if your programmers are heads-down cubicle-bound code-crankers 90% of the time, then much of that time is wasted."<br /><br />If you are a heads-down coder who wants clear and concise specifications that will enable you to put your head down and crank out code, please do not apply for this job.<br /><br />We are looking to work with software developers not mere coders. We believe that software developers are supposed to receive "stories" (general problems and ideas) from clients and/or customers not "specifications." We believe that software developers are supposed to help gather business requirements and then design mockups (screenshots and screencasts) before they ever begin coding.<br /><br />Then we believe that software developers are supposed to create the specifications. Yes. We actually believe that software developers are supposed to create the specifications. If you are now thinking to yourself something like,<br /><br />"What?!? No way! I'm a programmer not a designer man! I write code! I require specifications to code to!"<br /><br />then please do not apply for this job.<br /><br />We believe that the idea that Systems Analysts and User Interface Designers will create excellent specifications for Head-Down Coders is ridiculous.<br /><br />You must be very comfortable spending much time both analyzing business requirements and designing mockups before you ever begin to code.<br /><br />~~~<br />Employee Benefits? None. Zero.<br />~~~<br />We will provide you with no benefits whatsoever. No medical benefits. No paid holidays. Nothing. But we will pay all fees you will be assessed to receive your money, such as fees charged by GetAFreelancer and ATM machine fees.<br /><br />~~~<br />Taxes?<br />~~~<br />We will not withhold any taxes from your compensation whatsoever nor will we report your earnings to you local tax authorities. That will be your responsibility alone.<br /><br />~~~<br />After the 10 Hour Probationary Period<br />~~~<br />We will post projects exclusively for you on GetAFreelancer to work on. Typically these projects will be 4 hours long. You will typically have 2 days to complete these projects. These projects will rarely have a specific deliverable. Instead they will typically be something like, "Work for 4 hours on XYZ and then report your findings."<br /><br />You *must* sign, scan, and convey to us via the Internet, our NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Of course we would provide you copy of our NDA for you to review if we are interested in working with you.<br /><br />You *must* scan and convey to us via the Internet copy of your national identification, passport, or similar document. To protect your privacy, you may redact (obfuscate) the document number such as the national identification number or passport number.<br /><br />"Huh? Why do you need that information? Are you trying to steal my identity!" No.<br /><br />Of course many folks seem to immediately worry about this sort of thing. Take a look at your passport or national identification card. If you cover over the document number, what's left? A photo of you your name, your address, your gender, and your birthday.<br /><br />We want this information because if you work with us then you will be gradually create more and more valuable intellectual property for us. Therefore, we want to be able to verify you identity so that we can sue you in a court of law in the event you steal our intellectual property. Doesn't that make sense?<br /><br />If you are unwilling to provide us with this information or any information we require, please do *not* apply to work with us.<br /><br />~~~<br />The 30 calendar day probationary period following the 10 hour probationary period<br />~~~<br />During the 30 calendar day probationary period following the 10 hour probationary period, we will allow you to work as few as an average of 2 hours per day (excluding Saturdays and Sundays when we don't expect you to work) but may allow you to work up an average of 8 hours per day (excluding Saturdays and Sundays when we don't expect you to work). In other words, after the 10 hour probationary period we may allow you to begin working full-time with us.<br /><br />However, we will not require you to begin working full-time during this 30 day period. Why? Because we realize you may currently, for example, have a full-time job which you probably don't like, but at least your current salary "pays your bills."<br /><br />~~~<br />After the 30 calendar day probationary period you must be available to work 200 hours per month<br />~~~<br />However, after this 30 calendar day probationary period, we will require you to work 200 hours each month with us. Therefore, if you currently have a full-time job or other commitments which would interfere with you working 200 hours each month with us, then after you complete the 30 day probationary period you will almost certainly need to cease working at your current job and/or abandon your other commitments.<br /><br />In other words, after the 30 calendar day probationary period we are not interested in working with you on a part-time basis. We are only willing to work with you on a part-time basis until you complete the 30 calendar day probationary period so that both you and we may become confident that we should work together on a full-time basis. Please do not apply for this job unless you are willing to work 200 hours each month with us after you complete the 30 calendar day probationary period.<br /><br />In other words, we realize that many software developers reviewing the opportunities on GetAFreelancer are looking for part-time work. After all, this website is called GetAFreelancer not GetAnEmployee. However, if you are looking for a "side job" or some part-time work to supplement your current income and are therefore hoping to work, say, 50 to 100 hours per month, then please do not apply for this job. We are only interested in working with candidates who will be willing to work 200 hours each month with us after they complete the initial 30 calendar day period.<br /><br />~~~<br />What about Vacations?<br />~~~<br />We do not provide any benefits whatsoever. None. Zero. Nothing. Of course we know you'll take vacations. Immediately below we describe how you would not be paid for vacations you take.<br /><br />~~~<br />Hours per Month<br />~~~<br />We would allow you to work more 200 hours per month. For example, if you were to work 250 hours in one month, then you'd be paid for 250 hours. Of course, if, say, you were to take a vacation and therefore only worked 50 hours in a particular month, then you'd only be paid for 50 hours for that month. To determine your hourly rate we will simply divide your monthly rate by 200.<br /><br />However, except when you are sick or go on vacation, you must be willing to work 200 hours per month. And no, you may not take 4 or 5 "vacations" per month in order to work, say, 75 hours per month so that you can keep your current full-time job, stay in school, fulfill your military service, etc. You must be willing to normally work 200 hours per month.<br /><br />If you work more than 200 hours per month we'll pay you more, but if you work less more than 200 hours per month we'll pay you less. We are not a paternalistic organization. We won't "take care of you." We are interested in a simple and straightforward contractual relationship in which we pay you for each hour you work and in which you commit to work an average of 200 hours/month (except for those months when you take unpaid vacations or unpaid sick days).<br /><br />If you want a job with any sort of typical benefits such as paid vacations, medical care, retirement pensions, etcetera this is not the job for you. We are going to pay you strictly by the hour. If this approach seems too brutal or callous or unforgiving we suggest you get a "regular" job with a "regular" company.<br />Report violationArunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-10033341829340628592009-01-14T03:58:00.000-08:002009-01-14T03:59:03.193-08:00happy sankranthii miss my parents and my sugarcane.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-90838619724386096572009-01-01T18:29:00.000-08:002009-01-01T18:30:19.916-08:00happy new year<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63jyv4cyyKUgVHOXZQQbxy5DHEJtpYBTGZpZ7pcd9xWbr04dHtn_LXgcJkW08CdM-XHjSu0eYGJN9GJvVwVYUTa-ZaNVZW43K6p6tJqHzu2htgJKB2kAMmtQyylbVYIMXTPIltg/s1600-h/launch.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63jyv4cyyKUgVHOXZQQbxy5DHEJtpYBTGZpZ7pcd9xWbr04dHtn_LXgcJkW08CdM-XHjSu0eYGJN9GJvVwVYUTa-ZaNVZW43K6p6tJqHzu2htgJKB2kAMmtQyylbVYIMXTPIltg/s400/launch.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286518117548094914" /></a>Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-67632162914283607342008-12-22T00:32:00.001-08:002008-12-22T00:33:16.422-08:00from my facebook profile<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBOcFd_t7sCONhiVN2oSZuVYG3Tmz-zcSrs_PTmMvPLQQoe3cUQId53uaaYbo3PaqJ_eDa-1FKnQP3fv_SJzzi6ko71uXPmXz19jPDHt2ZAHfZMPhX5jXGZuyiU-0DDzuy2FEkg/s1600-h/ads.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 309px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBOcFd_t7sCONhiVN2oSZuVYG3Tmz-zcSrs_PTmMvPLQQoe3cUQId53uaaYbo3PaqJ_eDa-1FKnQP3fv_SJzzi6ko71uXPmXz19jPDHt2ZAHfZMPhX5jXGZuyiU-0DDzuy2FEkg/s400/ads.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282529697201457810" /></a><br />talk about targeted advertising?Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-76216217717106121132008-12-21T21:27:00.000-08:002008-12-21T21:33:48.402-08:00moviessaw these movies again.<br />life is beautiful,motorcycle diaries and schindler's list. wat a retreat. <br />why dont ppl make great movies like this in tamil? <br /><br />on an unrelated note, has there been a recent tamil movie based on real historical events/people? periyar was the last one i remember.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-72625903544942571522008-12-21T03:53:00.000-08:002008-12-21T04:27:51.547-08:00rendez vousi have seen 2(and counting) mass layoffs so far. and have talked to co-workers minutes before and after them hearing the news. i was always surprised how they could be so composed on such a news. ofcourse i wont expect them to cry or shoutout in the air, but atleast they should be seriously pissed. (or maybe they are so mature to hide all thier emotions out of thier face.) but what do they do? they twitter and write witty goodbye emails.<br />fortunately i had not been a victim(so far), but i dont think i'll be ever in the mood to do these things atleast for a few days.<br /><br />check these 2 videos taken by aol/ebay employess on layoff day. its good to see people celebrating bad times. celebrating good times is fun. but bad times? now, that needs real attitude.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhQZqWil9mM<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ful-g_DWCE<br /><br />although it should be fair to mention these are employees in france where they end up with usually a year of salary. no wonder they are happy, but still i thought its interesting that they spend thier time in co-ordinating to make a video. hmm...Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-47255798231097202732008-12-16T02:14:00.000-08:002008-12-16T02:23:58.409-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3ohEHTOit_FqQGPR1P4L11WdIDXERcXxZnzUIL07i6yOJHVsK1y7BpJYms5rp3S5Cn2PUBGgl6RE1jHQNhritnFYkZNuA2N7fmJC6naiJlpfNHmlohjVQKt_6IEEdLeYpzEGlg/s1600-h/graph.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 323px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3ohEHTOit_FqQGPR1P4L11WdIDXERcXxZnzUIL07i6yOJHVsK1y7BpJYms5rp3S5Cn2PUBGgl6RE1jHQNhritnFYkZNuA2N7fmJC6naiJlpfNHmlohjVQKt_6IEEdLeYpzEGlg/s400/graph.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280330410574433890" /></a><br /><br /><br />The graph should be such that the slope of the the 2 curves(shud not be lines) is high <br />at the start(after a while) and slowly tapers to unison.<br />I was just too lazy to find a software which was capable of drawing curves. Also ignore the scale.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-41232389077918793322008-11-21T01:17:00.000-08:002008-11-21T01:18:18.222-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3146/2344695659_c898fc36a4_o.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 251px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3146/2344695659_c898fc36a4_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-72403485534571030782008-11-17T21:34:00.000-08:002008-11-17T21:48:46.129-08:00Today happened to listen <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msjkDLOm1GE">this song</a> in cafeteria. Used to be an old fav, but forgot what it was, then my colleague pulled <a href="http://www.shazam.com/music/web/pages/iphone.html">this app</a><br />in iphone which listens to a music playing and pulls out the song information(incl youtube videos and itunes). I should say this is the most amazing app I have seen(other than the barcode reader).<br />I confirmed my own theory that i had that lyrics and music is good if seperated. Because the one I heard was an instrumental version and it was much better than the one with lyrics(I dont understand it anyway). I wish all the songs had instrumental versions seperately and all the good lyrics songs put the music with unnoticeable or low in background, so that attention can be given only to one.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-7886001939256208812008-11-15T13:24:00.001-08:002008-11-15T14:06:54.651-08:00Songs again...I was thinking which aspect of the song, attracts one the most?<br />1. Lyrics<br />2. Music<br />3. Singer<br />4. Video(probably if the first you saw it was on a video)<br /><br />To me, I feel I first get attracted to 2. but what keeps me really liking it forever, is the lyrics. I have esp noticed with tamil songs, the only songs I carry in my favorite list for years, are only due to lyrics. Good song writers definitely have a way to evoke some kind of good feeling I guess.<br /><br />Only few songs seem to have both good lyrics and music. I feel thats bcos good music most often dominates good lyrics, so it might fall into the 'good music' category(esp in the beginning),. Unfortunately that means, some good lyrics songs will never be discovered if the music was horrible. <br />So does it mean a good musician might suppress the good lyrics guy due to grabbing your attention more to the music than the lyrics? Singer's voice doesnt seem to suppress either, but never seem to stand out. Its always subtle. For eg: we all agree that X is a good singer, but will have a hard time, identifying the best of his/her songs. Different people might give different list(I've rarely heard someone say they like the song bcos of the singer, its either music or lyrics) But I dont think that would be the case with song writers, there are clear winners among thier own work.<br />I think singers achieve thier purpose when the listeners don't pay attention to the voice, but to the flow of the song/lyrics. I guess that makes them less appreciated unfortunately (on a per song basis).<br /><br />Regd video, I've definitely liked some songs just because of the video, but the fact that I cant recollect them in 1min, says probably it doesnt matter as much as opposed to what I thought otherwise earlier when I started the post.<br /><br />Just like a song, the 4 points(=people characteristics) can be also equated to people I guess. I leave that as an exercise to the reader:)Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-41752914854613638172008-11-15T13:08:00.000-08:002008-11-15T13:15:09.207-08:00songsSome songs, you never get enough of it, how much ever times you listen to them. 100? 200? not enough.<br />My recent discovery:<br /><a href="http://www.thesixtyone.com/rhythmandblue/collection/item/19744/Let%27s+Go+Crazy/?autoplay_song#/rhythmandblue/collection/all/1/?full_refresh&goto_song_id=17799">Rthym and Blue- Crazy</a> (click on the album cover to start playing)Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-59705377089297934792008-11-08T23:05:00.000-08:002008-11-08T23:08:23.406-08:00sea?apart from the search for life on other planets, is research being done on the possibility of living under the ocean. being close to land, it seems like ocean is a good place to live or push all the industrial activities to.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-90160959280376747872008-10-28T02:37:00.000-07:002008-10-28T02:43:50.333-07:00resource allocation problemi have always found that govt (US or india) are not communicating among each other to optimize the resources. in chennai its very common scene for each dept to dig a whole on a road instead of co-ordinating on the schedule to just dig it once.<br />in the US, i have to send the same docs to dmv,uscis and everybody else who needs verification. why cant there be a trusted source which would push the info to other orgs.<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CKDS6DJ3JKA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CKDS6DJ3JKA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-74000032565241950212008-10-22T02:52:00.000-07:002008-10-22T02:56:15.836-07:00rocketswhy cant rockets be launched successfully every time? just like cars cant be mass produced? i guess its a country thing. sure, a country doesnt want to give away its procedure. but looks like thats not the issue, even with same proceudre every launch seems like a new discovery otherwise apollo itself would have repeated its own success. <br />hmm, there is some rocket science about building rockets.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-77786178151673658062008-09-29T00:26:00.000-07:002008-09-29T02:44:11.633-07:00One of the historical momentsRead, the status updates <a href="http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php?launch4">here</a>. I guess it would be one of the most exciting moments of thier life for the people in the transmission room.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/To-XOPgaGsQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/To-XOPgaGsQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />As somebody commented there,<br />"Well DONE, SpaceX!! And you know, there's no reason private companies and organisations like NASA and ESA can't exist side by side. SpaceX is focusing on heavy lift launchers and commercial launchers, right? Well, they can do construction and commercialism, so NASA can focus on things like scientific research and exploration! Private and public can work together to get humans in to space."Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-80740532694742439602008-09-06T18:40:00.000-07:002008-09-06T18:57:20.582-07:00Little annoyances taken care of.All of us know that os x has <a href="http://www.mikewhobikes.com/hey-whats-this-button-do/">well thought out</a> and nice-looking interfaces. But macs doesnt seem to stop just with software, some of the little things which have been paid attention to in designing the hardware:<br /><br />1. I used to have this annoyance when the headphone wire gets pulled off accidentally the laptop suddenly starts blaring(I listen to music, loud). This can be embarassing in office. In mac, there are 2 volume sets, one when the head phone is on and off. If the head phone is not present and volume is muted, you can listen to as loud with the headphone on, when it gets pulled, it gets back to mute.<br />Ofcourse you dont have to do anything, depending on whether heaphone is present or not, it remembers the volume changes you make and defaults to later. <br />I dont know if this is really a hardware feature or software feature, watever it is, its awesome.<br />2. The battery adoptor plug which fits into the laptop has a magnet, so you dont have keep moving your plug to try to fit to the exact spot.<br />3. Theres a battery indicator at the bottom, so you can know how much charge is left without switching the laptop ON.<br />4. The edges of the monitor are curvy to cause less irritation to eys after staring for long. Somebody told me this, although I never see this as a problem in other laptops.Arunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37059816.post-26306450009599568992008-07-25T01:56:00.000-07:002008-07-25T01:57:59.217-07:00lifeget educated in a field where there is money<br />get a boring job<br />get married<br />have kids<br />get stupidArunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323824769157330655noreply@blogger.com6