brouhaha

sleep now in the fire

2006-09-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

Found : The Unix Haters Handbook

Hosted Here : http://research.microsoft.com/~daniel/uhh-download.html

Notice that the host is Microsoft. That too, Microsoft research. A bit too much of a coincidence, no ?

blog reload 2.1

2006-08-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

a bit of spit shine, and that's about it.

the number of the beast

2006-06-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

To all the numerologically possessed, today is 06/06/06 . Supposive number of the beast and all the jazz.
Our principal was seen doing the rounds of the college today after a long and conspicuous absence, confirming our suspicions that he really is the devil incarnate.

coming your way

2006-02-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

I've been avoiding posting for almost 2 months now, mostly due to laziness. But after one insomniac night spent listening to road paving equipment that was hell bent flouting all noise norms, I am filled with this pointless wish to post again. Someone please explain to me why the PMC decides to pave roads at unearthly hours and that too with equipment making noises that can best be described as attempts by one of the machines to perform sadistic ultraviolent acts with the other.

Take my advice, and stop reading now.

My predictions of Kaun Banega Chhatrapati might be far off but the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangha did manage to come out with Kaun Banega Ramayan Expert or KBRE as they fondly refer to it. Both of them are very interesting sites I assure you. While I can offer no resources on the Ramayan, Crystal Blur offers a very excellent take on the Mahabharat. On a similar note, the Brick Testament offers an excellent Lego oriented view of the Bible.

Then the great bike company that is Hero Honda launched the Pleasure 'only for women' as they put it. So now women can go to an exclusively for them Hero Honda showroom and buy 'Pleasure' because uptil now this sort of fun was only reserved for boys. Does no one else get what is wrong with that ?

And there's this great article by Scott Adams on Calvin & Hobbes which Kunal has also linked to. For all Calvin & Hobbes and Peanuts fans I recommend Goats, which in my opinion is the greatest web comic I've ever seen. I'd suggest a start from the infinite typewriters series.

Last but not least, this place says my blog is worth $6774.48 . Any takers ?

the song remains the same

2005-12-22T00:35:00.000-08:00

As if there weren't enough controversies around the Pune airport already, the great Mr. Suresh Kalmadi has proposed to rename it as the 'Shri Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj International Airport'. Consider this, Shahu Maharaj has absolutely no connection with Pune. Pune even during his time was governed by his prime minister, Bajirao Peshwe who actually stayed here. Personally , I think that the Shahu College of Engineering is probably his strongest connection to Pune.

So, I try and imagine an scenario 50 years down the line when Chhatrapati fever is at its highest. I can see it now, Pune renamed to Shahunagar/Peshwepur/Jijaigaon or whatever the hell catches their fancy. Imagine a time when Fergusson becomes 'Thorle Chhatrapati Shaikshanik Vidyalay' if you will.

You get up to read your daily 'The Chhatrapati of India'/'The Chhatrapati Express'. You turn to page 3, now incidentally known as the Chhatrapati page to find out what happened at 10,Chhatrapati Street or the Chhatrapati Lounge. Complimented by a strong cup of Neschhatrapati. You’re angry, your favourite Chhatrapati and Hobbes strip is missing today. It does not look like this will be a bad day. You get all ready and drive to work in Chhatrapati Udyog Limited's latest 800 cc offering.A guy just misses hitting you head on. ‘Chhatrapati-fucker ! ’ you yell at him. Its your brand new car, you had to save up a lot of Chhatrapatis; you should have yelled more. You drive down Chhatrapati Marg, turn left at Chhatrapati stop, cross the 7 Chhatrapatis chowk to reach the International Chhatrapati Centre. There’s your office, sandwiched between CSPL and Chhatrapati Instruments. You head to work and greet sixty other people who are all named Chhatrapati, just like you. You then head a meeting for implementing Six Chhatrapati quality management. Later you boot up your lapchhatrapati. You remember its now loaded with Chhatrapati Buruj XP, secretly wishing you had the money that Chhatrapati Gates does.

You've had enough, you need a break. You turn on your iChhatrapati and start to browse unchhatrapatipedia. You thank god for Led Chhatrapati and Chhatrapati Floyd. Its lunch time. You sing the mandatory ‘Hail to the Chhatrapati’ that is required before ever meal. Your over strict boss makes sure of it. He reminds you suspiciously of १९८४’s Big Chhatrapati. Almost quitting time, you keep reminding yourself. Your friend brings over his C-series phone to show you. You smile, knowing your Moto Chpt is much better. That reminds of a phone call u have to make. You pick up a directory; it has only one section, the alphabet ‘C’. Quitting time. You leave, eyeing the Executive Chhatrapati’s office on your way out.

You’re home again. You’re too tired to cook dinner, its McChhatrapati’s again. You turn on the TV. Star Chhatrapati’s ‘Kyunki Thorle Chhatrapati Bhi Kabhi Chhatrapati the’ is going on. You switch immediately to the National Chhatrapati Channel. Its no use, even CBO’s ‘Chhatrapati: Nikalacha Diwas’ holds no interest for you. Wait, its Monday. ‘That Chhatrapati Show’, ‘Everybody Loves Chhatrapati’, ‘CSI: Chhatrapati’ all your favorites are on. You decide to catch up on the news, shuffling between CBC and Chhatrapati 24x7. Our latest carrier the ‘Veer Chhatrapati ‘ was launched today. The Prime Chhatrapati of Chhatrapatistan has just been assassinated. The Formula Chhatrapati season begins tomorrow. Enough, you shuffle channels and finally end up watching ‘Kaun Banega Chhatrapati’. Time for bed, its another bright sunny Chhatrapati day tomorrow.

To think it all started with an airport name.

This started over a discussion with Akshay and Mihir, many thanks to them.

in bloom

2005-12-17T02:17:00.000-08:00

Taking a cue from Maruti, I decided that all old things need a revamp. After some heavy post exam burning of the midnight oil (with pleasure i might add), my blog finally has a new look. While it is not very different from the trademark MUL 'now with improved headlights' relaunch, I do think its a pretty good job. The engine underneath remains the same as ever. Till the next exam then.

Update : For those of you who want to try out a new template, visit this : http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com. Originally a request by Salil.

Hat tip : Mihir

the eye in the sky

2005-12-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Its exam time again. Not really conducive to blogging, but this I just had to put up. For all the Google Earth fanatics out there , high resolution images of Pune are finally up. While they're not good enough to count all the potholes as of yet, they are good enough to make out the Sukhoi's at Lohegaon. (Mihir, take it easy...)

Case in point, wanton destruction of trees we call a college. Yeah, I'm talking SCOE people !!

Here's the old image , which can still be seen on Google Maps :

And the updated image, which is so far only seen on Google Earth :

And last but not least, the Sukhoi's themselves !!

Update : The above pic is of the Su-30K's of the 24th squadron. This squadron is no loner stationed at Pune. Gives a rough indication that the updated photos of Pune are roughly over a year and a half old. Hat Tip : Mihir

paper cuts

2005-11-06T18:13:00.000-08:00

To all those bloggers who believe they write well, here's a chance to prove yourself. Srijan writes about the TFA Creative Writing Awards. Unfortunately, we're almost out of time ; their deadline is the 10th of November. However they do let you mail your entries in. Lots of money to be made people ! Read more here.

Hat Tip : err.. didn't I just say Srijan ??

sad but true

2005-11-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

That quirky little search engine, YaGoohoo!gle is no more. Like so many other good things, the corporates shut it down. In case you dont know what it is, then you've never bothered with the links section on my blog. Dont try it now, you're too late now. If you haven't been reading, it shutdown !

It has however been replaced by something called Twingine. Equally good.. Infact its the same thing, Yahoo and surprisingly Google too made them change its name. What it does basically is that it gives you search results from Yahoo and Google on the same page. As a side effect it also shows how horribly pathetic Yahoo search is as compared to Google. Good tp, because it comes with a Firefox plugin, a search box for your website and for you lucky bastards using Tiger; a desktop widget.

and justice for all...

2005-10-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

I just happened to a shop besides Nal Stop traffic booth today. For those of you who don't know it, it is probably the Traffic Police's biggest single source of income. Their primary targets ? Those innocent souls who forget that there is no open left at Nal Stop.

Anyways, I was observing the police catch those unsuspecting and sometimes overzealous souls and how they handled them. Here's some quick calculations :

1. The Nal Stop signal has a cycle time of 90 seconds.
2. During one single cycle the police catch on average of 8-10 people.
3. Being very modest and considering the fluctuations in traffic, lets assume that 6 people are caught by the police.
4. Now, from what I remember; the fine for breaking a signal is Rs. 100. Of course we all know that we can get away by paying the cop 50 bucks n forgetting about the receipt.
5. So we have 6 people paying the cops 50 bucks every 90 seconds which go straight into their pockets.
6. Now, being very very generous lets assume that 2 out of every 6 people insist on a receipt.
7. So we end up with 4 people paying the cops 200 bucks every 90 seconds.
8. That's 200 x 40= 8000 bucks every hour.
9. Assume that the cops are on duty for 12 hrs a day. That's 8000 x 12 = Rs. 96,000 a day.
10. So over a period of one month, they earn 96000 x 30 = Rs. 28,80,000 a month.
11. On average there are 3 cops on duty at Nal Stop every day, so they each earn 2880000 / 3 = 9,60,000 a month.
12. So, we have traffic cops now who earn 10 lakh rupees a month. Which makes an annual package of 1.2 crores.

Now, if one wishes to join the Traffic Police all training,lodging and boarding is free provided you meet the fitness criteria. And their highest Indian package that I know off is 1.2 crores.

So here's the clincher. Why would anyone want to do a MBA in IIPM which after a yearly fee of Rs. 7.5 lakhs could only manage a international highest package of 36 lakhs and a national one of 8.5 lakhs ? Put 1% of those 7.5 lakhs into a gym instead and become a traffic cop ! Also, sue me IIPM !

who's who

2005-10-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

In response to the kobra's Guess who "blogs" too.. Bipasha Basu is fine mate, but Pete Townshend is better. Thought I better do a blogroll expansion for once, especially since people started sending me links to the blog that I'd found in the first place...

road trippin

2005-10-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

How to get to SCOE or 'My Daily Commute'

1. Get on Sinhgad Road. Avoid being hit by buses that obey no signals, they could kill you.
2. Realise that there is a gaping 10'x10' hole in road where a bridge should be. Use road created on the side. Avoid being maimed by the iron rods sticking out on the side as far as possible. They could kill you.
3. Realise that the road is just too crowded. Duck into the sidelane which is a shortcut. Avoid hitting the LPG cylinder laden truck head on. The driver might not like it.
4. Avoid hitting pole standing in the middle of the 4 feet wide shortcut.
5. Notice the cat's eye in the road. Realise that its a bull's hoof, not a cat's eye. Also realise that it has the remaining bull attached to it. Avoid being impaled by the horns.
6. Preferably do not drive straight in to the water canal. Take the inhuman turn and use the road that runs beside it.
7. Avoid hitting more MSEB poles in the middle of the pole.
8. Avoid hitting stray poultry running in the road. They cost thrice as much as they think you do. Also, the fall might hurl you into the canal. Slight chance of death foreseen.
9. Drive over the mix of bumps and troughs you see on your left. Yes that is the road. Note that it may kill you.
10. You have almost reached my college. Drive onto the ramp that you think would never lead up to the parking. It leads to the parking.
11. Climb up the steep slope. Do not be alarmed by the chunks of road lying 5 feet below their actual position. Do remember that a fall here may kill you.
12. Remember, the beauty always lies in the flaws. You have reached my college. Also, it might kill you.

N.B. Avoid any seemingly harmless potholes in the road. They might not kill you, but they have been known to swallow more than half a bike in.

physical graffiti

2005-10-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

5 things I'd like to see written on t-shirts :

1. Impressive, but how big is your dick ?
2. As long as the music's loud enough, we won't hear the world falling apart.
3. Engineering : Because Murphy's Law needs proof.
4. 50,000 monkeys at 50,000 typewriters produced this slogan.
5. Mum said no messages on my t-shirt. I said fuck off !

the division bell

2005-09-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

Well, a little late but a post on the Ganeshotsav. Also, finally something that aint Dubya related.

Anant Chaturdashi holds a special place in my heart, especially since I live very close to the river. The poetic pink wash given to the roads, the most obscure pieces of music you've ever heard and people dancing like they've got a mouse up their pants. Aah, nostalgia !

Saw one very interesting event his year. Since the very large junction just in front of my house has been declared dance stop central, I get to see a lot of what is best described as drunken buffonry. But this one incident really stood out this time. These two Ganpati mandals, who henceforth taking a cue from reservoir Dogs will be referred to as Mandals Orange and White had a slight altercation. Orange is called Orange mainly because it was lead forward by a group of way-too-old-for-half-pants senior citizen RSS members with the orange Shiv Sena flag overkill. White showed no any particular inclination and hence a neutral colour..

Mandal White reached the junction first blaring this Tamil/Malyalam song that seemed to be the rage all day saturday.. Mandal Orange was just behind them. For the dance number Mandal White put on a surprising remix of 'Allah Ke Bande'. Quite a welcome surprise after a whole day of Dhoom and Kajara Re. While the song started normal enough, 10 seconds down the line it changed to something that went as follows 'Toota , Toota.. dhikchak,dhikchak... , Toota , Toota.. dhikchak,dhikchak...' While this 2 word and 2 drum beat rendition continued for around 2 minutes or so, Mandal Orange had reached upto the junction. Seeing the road blocked ahead by White, the RSS grandpas saw the quick chance to rest their weary legs on any surface they found. And suddenly all hell broke loose.

For you see even though 'Toota , Toota.. dhikchak,dhikchak... ' might seem attractive to some people, the remix master for this particular song, bless his heart realised that the song actually had more words than 'Toota , Toota'. So, the words 'Allah ke bande' blared on the speakers. As you can imagine it bought new life into those almost ready to drop RSS walking skeletons. Aided o'course by their Shiv Sena brethren who were all happily riding behind in a truck. An immediate halt to the song was brought forth. 'An insult to Ganapati' they declared, 'Sacrilage' they cried. After many stern lectures and a few slaps by the Shiv Sena cronies, Mandal White put on what can be described as the worst recording of 'Omkara Swarupa' I have ever heard. And o'course they were made to lose their spot in the line and force Orange to go ahead. O'course this was a cause of celebration for the Shiv Sena folks and loud music was their only answer. And what song did they choose first ? A certain number by one miss 'Tata Young'. No points for getting the song.

comfortably numb

2005-09-18T00:02:00.000-07:00

Now for the million dolar question. So, imagine u'r the President of America. You are struck in a UN meeting with 150 other heads of state and you really need to go to the bathroom. What do you do ? What do you do ?

The answer ? You ask your Secretary of State for advice. After all, even Dubyaman needs to pee right ? And since you are a half witted Texan POTUS, you cant even go to the bathroom without consulting your yes men. Just make sure you dont get caught on camera, something Dubyaman didn't bother with. Clicked by a Reuters cameraman the photo shows Bush writing a note to Condi saying 'I thiNK I MAY NEED A BATHROOM break ? Is this possible ?' Why Dubya needed to ask Condi if he needed a bathroom break is quite beyond me at the moment.

the dogs of war

2005-09-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Well, its 4 years to September 11th today. 4 years since the Americans got stupider, more gullible and paranoid (Please note the fact that I say stupider and more gullible). Then they went and re-elected their President. A guy who ran ever single company he ever had control of into the ground and who had a pet cat named India. O'course ! Who else would be better suited to run a country where they cant differenciate between Sikhs and Muslims. And what are his great achievements you say ? He managed to get more Americans killed in Afghanistan than the World Trade Centre. And then his muse changed, Iraq it was to be.. To depose Saddam Hussein, the leader who was in power in 2003 only because of US help in the Iran-Iraq war.

I wouldn't say all things Bush did were bad. Didn't we all want to be looked upon as a possible terrorist when we landed in America ? What could be cooler ?And we needed absurdly long baggage checks. And o'course how could we justify the increase in pocket money without the Rs. 15 increase in petrol prices Bush caused ? Plus the environmentalists are happy too.. Hey did you hear; somewhere in Texas, a village is missing its idiot...

obscured by the clouds

2005-09-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

I have had my share of bad and sad quizzes, but once in a while along comes a real whopper.. I am talking about o'course, SCOE's very own Pinnacle '05 quiz.

It started off an hour late, which is the hallmark of every good quiz, but that's where things started going downwards.. For some reason the organisers insisted on having stupid pointless rules like validating all the payment receipts and giving out answers to the elims 3 days later. The official explanation given for this was that since the elims questions did not appear again in the main quiz, we had no need to know what the answers or even what the cut off was. While we failed to understand what the great national secret was, a look at eh answers reveals that it was better that they were not revealed. Officially the answers to the elims have still not been given out, I just managed to source them through some contacts.

To point out some of the finest examples I could find in there :

1. Internet Explorer has a Unix version. Wow, Microsoft has really changed since the last time I saw it. FYI, the quiz masters have asked people to see 'About Internet Explorer'. Apparently NCSA'a Mosaic and IE are the same software. Didn't know that, did ya ?

2. How many of you are aware that William Gibson did not coin the term Cyberspace in his book Neuromancer, he infact coined the term Neuromancer in his book Necromancer ?

3. The most popular game in the world in the 80's was not Tetris or Pacman, it was Asteroids.

4. NIN's 'The Fragile' is the only release to hit #1 on the BillBoard charts . No other release has ever #1. A quick Wikipedia search reveals that NIN infact has had two albums hit #1 on BillBoard.

5. Did you know Pietermaritzburg, capital of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa is now home to a church museum, one of the country’s national museums, with Colenso's tomb in front of the altar. Infact how many of you ever heard of Pietermaritzburg or Colenso?

Some thing other things the quiz makers dug which us stupid quizzers did not know. Shame on us :

1. The album Oye Bubbly though critically though critically ridiculed has really caught the attention of the people and has gone on to become quite a rage in India. It has 9 film and Indipop tracks.

What is wrong with us people ? Led Zeppelin albums aren't important, Oye Bubbly is important. Also, remember to note down the number of tracks in every single album you listen to henceforth.

2. Mark Burnett lives in the US because hismother told him too. He was an advisor to the British SAS in a "security operation".

How do continue to live without reading the autobiography of the man who gave us such classics as 'Survivor' & 'The Apperentice' ?

3. Kimberly Yeo of Singapore won the SingTel SMS Shootout organized by SingTel in 2004.

All of you fools who saw the Sania Mirza-Maria Sharapova match, now you know you should have been watching the SMS Shootout instead.

4. Susan Hockfield is currently the president of MIT, Boston.

Also read up on the current Deans and Presidents of Yale,Stanford,Harvard etc..
And yes o'course, remember that STES's President always has and always will be Mr. Navale.

5. Cate Blanchett who played Katherine Hepburn in 'The Aviator' was nominated for an 'Best Actress in a Supporting Role' Oscar while Katherine Hepburn herself won an Oscar.

Wow, talk about your freaky coincidences ! Can you imagine how interesting this question can get if someone ever plays Cate Blanchett in a moive ? For those of you how were ill-informed read Hepburn's autobiography 'Me: Stories of my Life'.

6.

Girl you make it feel, like the first time
Like there's never been another
Girl you make it real like the first time
Every time you lay down by my side

Are the lyrics of a song 'First Time' written by by Ronan Keating for his wife Yvonne Keating. Google actually came close to failing me when trying to find this one.

But their point is correct, Ronan Keating does come just after Jim Morrison when it comes to writing lyrics.

There was an acrostic question thrown in for just for the heck of it which was supposed to help us answer the elims, which no one got. Also the organisers were blissfully unaware of the actual answer.

The quiz started 4 hours late, with a lovely you've-come-here-for-the-money-bastards-so-wait-for-it attitude shown by the organisers. It had one of the most brlliant scoring systems I had ever seen, with teams getting as much as 100 points for a correct answer. Overall difficulty level of the questions seemed to fluctuate more than the weather nowadays, with the obscurity levels completely off the charts. Also, there was an awesome pictorial round whose details I dont want to go into.

More rants found on Siddharth's blog

On a passing note, I apologise for the tardiness in this particular post. It was lying as a draft for a long time, I just could not finish it. It has been hastily shoved out of the door as of now.

Secondly, we are currently trying for another SCOE quiz that shall be made by the regular quizzers and shall be of much better quality, I promise. Also, based on the feedback to my quiz; the Simpsons and H2G2 shal make no apprearances in it at all.

Thirdly, Aditya Udas, welcome to the Blogsphere and be so very glad that you didn't come to the Pinnacle quiz. Also, Sopan has written his first proper post, an event that few people though would ever happen.

bridge on the river mutha

2005-08-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

Update on the south end of sanity.Photos from the bridge that was supposedly under water.

the south end of sanity

2005-08-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

thunderstruck stand i, watching the dark blue,
cut away with drops shining through,
the sun, humbled, to a lowly gray hue,
what dreams do the rains make true ?

Does the rain make people lose their minds ? I'm standing on the Khadakwasla bridge watching the water gush by when I get an sms saying dont go to Khadakwasla, the bridge there just got swept away. Plus fellow SCOEians have been calling up all day asking if water crossed the Rajaram bridge. That entails a holiday for us apparently. For the record, its still a good 5 meters below the road level on the bridge. Then there was the beauty saying Deccan had been closed and the police weren't allowing anyone to go there anymore. Think twice before you react people, what's wrong with you ??

hallelujah !

2005-07-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Finally the Indian Express starts Calvin & Hobbes again. Is it because the rain affected their normal daily comic strips; or simply a change for the good, I do not know... But a pleasure either way.

a momentary lapse of reason

2005-07-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

Brouhaha proudly presents the greatest blogroll expansion ever.
Well, maybe not... But it certainly will be the biggest !

Lets see now :

Aditya 'The Kobra' Pethe

Fellow MESCOE quizzer. Also known as the kobra. Not the harmless stinging variety, the other kind.

Akshay,the Raut kind..

Fellow SCOE quizzer. Watergate's greatest fanatic. If Mark Felt hadn't owned up on his own, this guy would probably have exposed him.

Anand 'Mishmash' Ayyadurai

I know him not, but a fellow H2G2 fan.

Crimethink

My attempt at a literature blog. Big brother will probably shut it down soon, unless lack of enthusiasm gets to it first. More contributors wanted btw...

Ganesh 'Hedge' Hegde

The not so angry, angry young man. Non-conformist and fellow quizzer. Blogs with the satisfaction that he has no need to blog.

Harshad 'Green Day' Karandikar

He shoots, he scores. With a camera that is.

Kunal 'I win' Sawardekar

Quizzer extraordinare. Will probably be single handedly responsible for bringing quizzes under the Income Tax net in the near future.

Kunal Thakar

Fellow VIT quizzer,Linux fan,Rock fanatic and Pune Times hater. Rents out space on his blog.

Kvasir

An SCOE attempt for a group blog. Its death was written in its origins only. Good hilarious stuff though.. FYI: Kvasir was the wisest of the Norse gods.

Mihir 'its MiG not MIG' Shah

Fellow SCOE quizzer. Primary interests are killing machines. Knows every kind of war machine, unless it happens to be an X-Wing fighter. We think he's just trying to increase his father's business, who just happpens to be a doctor.

Mohit 'Morrison' Chhabra

The Doors, The Doors and more doors. The pride of Noida. Also H2G2 crazy..

Nikhil

Fellow PICT quizzer. Kundargi = Genius. This one suggested by Salil. Probably one of the very rare people who list last heard songs on their bolg.

Persis 'Tia' Taraporewala

Probably the sweetest person on earth. Nature freak & Peanuts fan. She knew better and kept away from quizzing.

Rahul 'White Noise' Gokhale

The enlightened one. The bringer of light. The real White Wizard. Luciferous. Read Kvasir if you dont know what I'm talking about.

Salil 'O-Kavi' Bijur

Fellow VIT quizzer and Pune Times hater. Also known as Khajur... Jeffrey Archer fan.

Siddarth 'I Object' Dani

Fellow VIT quizzer. An overall nice guy, unless you happen to be the quiz master. Likes French films, for reasons debatable...

Shriniwas 'Outscourcee' Kulkarni

Fellow MESCOE quizzer. Talented poet, but in desperate need of better topics to write poems about. Also, fellow Tanenbaum fan.

Sidin Vadukut

This guy is god. The man behind The Travails of Single South Indian Men. A must read.

Sopan 'Bullet' Sharma

Fellow guitarist. His pride is his bullet. He will start posting when he wants to start posting. A lot of anger, and no place to go...

Srijan

Fellow guitarist, but vastly more accomplished. Comes from a lineage of musicians.

Some others whom I know very little about, hence am in no position to comment :

More humorous links found in the outlanders section. All of these are foreign blogs. Hilarious and entertaining.

the final cut

2005-07-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

The Feynman Problem-Solving Algorithm:
(1) write down the problem;
(2) think very hard;
(3) write down the answer.

Need I say more ?

rock and roll aint noise pollution....

2005-07-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

Yes people, that's a photo of my very own iPod !!

All jealous cursing to be left as comments please ...

2005-07-18T03:28:00.000-07:00

this blog will self destruct in 5 seconds

highway star

2005-07-13T01:32:00.000-07:00

No, its not the Enzo. The latest offering from the Ferrari stable, the Ferrari FXX. For those who didn't know, the Enzo has officially ceased production, this is to be its replacement. This car is not street legal and they no plans to make it street legal. A compulsory competetion only car.

This fastest-ever Ferrari is powered by a 6.2-liter version of the Enzo’s 6.0-liter V12, with output rated at more than 800 hp (compared to Enzo’s 660) at 8,500 rpm. Only 20 of theses are going to be made, based upon feedback given by drivers from their "Corse Clienti" program or the “Client Test Drivers”. Where Corse Clienti offers sickeningly rich wannabes the opportunity to buy and drive used Formula One cars, the FXX scheme is similar: Ferrari says participants “will actually be joining Team Ferrari, and will have their driving experiences at the wheel of this new car monitored directly by the Prancing Horse’s technicians and specialists. How do you become one ? Simple, just pay Ferrari 1.5 million Euros !

The Maybach Excelero. The only purpose behind designing this absolutely gorgeous vehicle has been to test tires. Yes, test tires ! It weighs over 2.66 tons so that the new tires - developed by Fulda - could cope with extreme examples of weight, dimensions and size to fully test their capabilities. The Exelero produces 700-horsepower thanks to a V-12 twin-turbocharger engine. In test runs at a high-speed track in Italy, it reached a top speed of just over 350 km/h, a world record for a limousine, which is how the company describes the vehicle.

See more pics at : The Project

the swan song

2005-07-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

Max Mosley announced the new regulations for the year 2008 recently. If anybody has thought that F1 was suddenly getting more interesting this year, it wont last long.

A single, control-spec Engine Control Unit (ECU) for all competitors, "manufactured by an FIA designated supplier to an agreed specification."

Standard gearboxes fitted with common parts for all cars - with control to be via a driver-operated clutch pedal and gearshift similar to those of a conventional road car.

Revised bodywork to reduce downforce by approximately 90 percent while allowing cars a wider track.

Tyres supplied by a single manufacturer to all teams, the reintroduction of slick tyres and larger wheels - plus a ban on tyre-heating devices.

A "minimum specified" centre-of-gravity for every Formula One chassis and improved impact testing.

Standard brakes for all competitors to reduce development costs.

Greater control over which materials can be used for the construction of a car's bodywork.

The compulsory installation of a starter motor.

A ban on spare cars, with only spare chassis permitted at events.

A limit on testing to a maximum of 30,000km per team per year.

The right for a team to buy a complete car or any part of a car from another constructor, with "further discussion" over how this would effect the award of Constructors' Championship points.

Why stop there ? I have an idea, why not get just one driver to drive one car around the same track 18 times a year ? GPWC, here I come !

another brick in the wall

2005-07-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

The attack on the Ayodhya temple is going to have greater repercussions than anyone can imagine. For one thing, it is surely going to remove the lull that had come in the VHP's antics.

While the attack was widely condemned by such personalities such the President, the Primie Minister,the AIMPLB and even Pakistan; most of our pseudo political/religious organisations seem to be heading in quite a different direction.

The VHP on its part was quick to demand the resignation of the central and the UP government for failing to provide adequate security to Ayodhya. The BSP termed the Ayodhya attack as the outcome of a ‘well-planned’ conspiracy by the SP and BJP and demanded an immediate dismissal of the UP government and imposition of President’s rule in the state. Laloo Prasad Yadav of all people was the only one sane enough to specifically say that this was not the government's fault.

What's this country coming too ?

a saucerful of secrets

2005-07-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

Found on the net : An interview with Bjarne Stroustrup where he explains the truth behind C++. A must read for all those who hate the very existence of object oriented programming.
Excerpts :

Stroustrup: Well, one day, when I was sitting in my office, I thought 'I wonder what would happen, if there were a language so complicated, so difficult to learn, that nobody would ever be able to swamp the market with programmers ?
Interviewer: I don't believe you said that...
.
.
.
Stroustrup: Well, it's been long enough, now, and I believe most people
have figured out for themselves that C++ is a waste of time but,
I must say, it's taken them a lot longer than I thought it would.
.
.
.
Interviewer: Yes, but C++ is basically a sound language.
Stroustrup: You really believe that, don't you? Have you ever sat down and worked on a C++ project?

People, of course this interview is a fake. But if only...
Read the whole text at Smorgasborg

a rush of blood to the head

2005-06-26T00:02:00.000-07:00

The cries of war burst out in the air. The ghosts of the past haunt us, their remnants scar the plagued land. It is the onset of another conflict. Herose arise to challenge fate lead their brethren to battle, their conquests sow the seeds of jealousy and desire among all. The peace is shattered. Feeble minds crack and become just another insignificant splash in the rivers of blood. The shadow comes to consume us all. The mortals must rise to shape their destiny.

Yes, its placement time.

At tip of the hat to MBT, who had students waiting in college till 1 o'clock in the night, only after which they announced the results.

what a rip off !

2005-06-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

A trip to Popular Book Store recently revealed how popularity had gone to their heads. Prices in Popular are now only expressed in either Pounds, Euros or Dollars. Had gone there to pick up a copy of Animal Farm and the only one available was a 7mm thick one priced at 7.5 £. Taking into consideration the fact that the exchange rates they use are currently 85 Rs. for pounds and 46 Rs. for dollars, against the prevailing rates of 80 and 43 respectively, you get a slight idea what I'm talking about...

So at 637 Rs, Animal Farm is essentially costlier than The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. Also, it would actually be cheaper to have it shipped here from eBay... Thank god for the roadside vendors who gave me a copy for 50 bucks !

the worst race ever ?

2005-06-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

One of the weirdest races I've ever seen. After the tyre troubles faced by Ralf Schumacher & Rcardo Zonta, 7 teams withdrew from the race leaving only Ferrari,Jordan & Minardi in the race. A race between 6 cars offered no real excitement especially since the Minardis were hopelessly outclassed.

The main culprit was turn 13 at Indianapolis considered to be the only real banked turn in Formula One racing. With an angle of up to nine degrees, it demands a left-right compromise on suspension set-up. The left tyres take the heaviest strain, particularly their shoulders, with tyre temperature increasing in this area as a result. If this temperature is too high for too long, wear rates rise dramatically and can lead to failure. Michelin's request to allow tyre changes for safety reasons without penalising the teams was denied, as were the teams' requests to add a chicane to turn 13; all ruled as being against regulations. No surprises in the results as Schumi won facing no real competetion. His disappointment at the win was however clearly seen at the podium, with Tiago Monteiro being the only one really celebrating the hollow victory.

Things seem grim for out poster boy Narain Karthikeyan. Unable to overtake even his teammate, he was 4th overall and only ahead of the Minardis. His Bridgestone tyres being his saving grace; he was infact 19th on the starting grid, sandwiched between the 2 Minardis.

I think its time the FIA took a long hard look at the regulations and see if the've gone overboard this year.

P.S. Darth Dani, this post was expected from you, not me..

a luciferous look at the transmundane

2005-06-16T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hats of to all the weird stuff going on in society.

Firstly Michael Jackson gets cleared of all child abuse charges. The first thing he did when he came out of the courtroom was to issue a statement saying he would no longer share his bed with young boys. Come on people !!

Next, old Subroto Roy comes back from the dead. After the countless conspiracy theories and obituaries, he says that he was out of the public eye because he didn't want to discriminate between any functions that he night have to attend. Wonder what made him take the AIDS test then ?

Then there's my favourite working-for-a-lost-cause organisation, The Flat Earth Society. This bunch of crackpots believe that the earth if flat, not spherical (although they openly encourage discussions on both sides of the belief). These people are also supporters of the theory that the moon landing was a hoax. Of course this stems from the fact that all lunar photos show the earth as being spherical.

lapsus calami

2005-06-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

A few absurd, half-baked, unreasonable reasons to read my blog...

1. It microwave safe, batteries not required.
2. All profits are donated to a fund for the owners well being.
3. It didn't require the clearcutting of rainforests, stripmining or smashing oil tankers into arctic shores. Infact, its so environment friendly, that it doesn't use paper at all.
4. It is not run by a monopolistic corporation that wants to take over the world. Infact, I only plan to conquer Europe.
5. It is not the key to the dark side.
6. No animals were harmed in the making of this blog.
7. Its the best thing since sliced bread !
8. Your money back if not satisfied !
9. I dont use expensive palladium compounds so there's minimal danger of cold-fusion byproducts.
10. It comes with an unconditional guarantee that has only 7 conditions.
12. It not impossible its just highly improbable...
13. I won't eat any cereal that doesn't turn the milk purple
14. All of the above

You know,for a brief moment there, I had complete control over you mind...

is haloscan worth it ?

2005-06-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

I got ripped off ! Just added HaloScan and all my previous comments are lost ! What gives ? Shouldn't people be warned of this ? Just because they're named after one of the best games ever made, doesn't mean that they can do anything does it ?
I object !!

I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat !

2005-05-31T23:13:00.000-07:00

That's the sentence that bared it all ! Deep Throat, the Watergate informer was confirmed to be Mark Felt, then associate director of the FBI. The story was leaked by Vanity Fair magazine (Vanity Fair of all things ??) and confirmed by Bob Woodward on the 31st of May, the same day that the story leaked.

Mark Felt was the key control point for the Watergate investigation. All information gathered went through him. Infact, Nixon was caught on tape speculating that Felt migh be "an informer" as early as February 1973, at a time when Deep Throat was supplying confirmation and context for some of The Washington Post's explosive Watergate stories. But Felt's repeated denials, and the silence of Woodward and Bernstein kept the cloak of mystery drawn up around Deep Throat. In the 1970's, Felt was even convicted of organising illegal searches of houses of radicals but was pardoned By Ronald Regan in 1981.

"Deep Throat" was a blend of the rules of engagement Felt had with Woodward -- "deep background" -- and the title of a notorious pornographic movie. When the book and then the movie were released, Woodward said, Felt was shocked to have his place in history tagged with such a cheap title.Felt dreamed up the signal by which Woodward would summon him to a meeting (a flowerpot innocuously displayed on the reporter's balcony) and also hatched the countersign by which Felt could contact Woodward (a clock face inked on Page 20 of Woodward's daily New York Times).

Felt categorically denied being Deep Throat and repeatedly dismissed speculation by reporters over the years. Felt also hid the truth from his family until 2002, when a family friend in whom he had confided revealed the truth to Felt's daughter. Confronted by her, Felt admitted his secret to his family, they told Vanity Fair reporter John O'Connor.Caught flatfooted by Vanity Fair's announcement, Woodward and Bernstein initially issued a terse statement reaffirming their promise to keep the secret until Deep Throat died. Later however, Felt's identity was confirmed by Woodward.

The speculation surrounding Deep Throat's identity has focused on dozens of past Washington officials including Henry Kissinger,Pat Buchanan and even then U.N. ambassador George H.W. Bush !!

the rain song , reloaded..

2005-05-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

It is the springtime of my loving - the second season I am to know
You are the sunlight in my growing - so little warmth I've felt before.
It isn't hard to feel me glowing - I watched the fire that grew so low.

It is the summer of my smiles - flee from me Keepers of the Gloom.
Speak to me only with your eyes. It is to you I give this tune.
Ain't so hard to recognize - These things are clear to all from
time to time.

Talk Talk - I've felt the coldness of my winter
I never thought it would ever go. I cursed the gloom that set upon us...
But I know that I love you so

These are the seasons of emotion and like the winds they rise and fall
This is the wonder of devotion - I see the torch we all must hold.
This is the mystery of the quotient - Upon us all a little rain must fall.

Led Zeppelin's 'The Rain Song', written by Robert Plant. Just couldn't resist this after today's downpour.... Its one of the rare songs to use the D-G-d-g-b-d open g tuning, so dont try to play this on a normal guitar. Originally written after George Harrison, a huge fan of Zeppelin complained to John Bonham that Zeppelin doesn't do any ballads. If anybody out there hasn't heard this song, I pity you....

tiger,tiger burning bright....

2005-05-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Our PM is busy searching for tigers in Ranthambhore. He's the first one to visit a tiger reserve in 20 years. As it turns out, the tiger numbers have dwindled so much that the pre-visit by officials failed to spot any tigers at all. Alarmed the prospects the rangers worked overnight by luring a tigress(who had just given birth and was in no position to wander far) near a watering hole by spreading carcasses all around. Furthermore, our PM goes in a 16 car motorcade to the heart of one the most eco sensitive areas in our country to watch tiger. Bleak the future is.

We need to seriously rethink our methods for tiger conservation. The Nagarjuna Sagar reserve in Andhra Pradesh is the only that has succesfully increased the number of tigers out of 29 sanctuaries under Project Tiger. Why ? Because it is in a Naxalite controlled area, and they do not tolerate poachers. A lesson in here somewhere ? Considering that we have only two to three thousand tigers still alive out of a 40,000 strong population around 1947, I think watching Kaal is the closest we'll actually come to watching a tiger. And dont count on the Rajiv Gandhi zoo either, the tiger cage has been off bounds for nearly 6 months now. Sarsika is a prime example. Despite the stand by the park chief that there are 23 tigers still in Sariska, not one has been seen since October 2004.

P.S. The Kaziranga sanctuary is soon to be declared a tiger reserve. Just what we need, another place to lose tigers.

the gutter has come back to power

2005-05-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Looks like Laloo's proxy government at the hands of his wife will come back to power again. The 2 District Magistrate's who oppposed malpractices by Sadhu Yadav and Sahabuddin have been transferred and T.S. Krishna Murthy just does not have the flair or the will of James Lyngdoh. Looks like its back to the bad old days for Bihar. I'd like to quote Mr Paswan on this one 'When Muslims and Dalits vote for us, the upper castes will have no choice but to vote for us'. So who's worse ? Churchill's famous statement on Hitler is defineitely the best title for this post.

return of the post

2005-05-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Although i originally envisioned posts on marathi , hindi & english soap opera's, that is now a lost cause. I suffered enough while watching the one marathi soap mentioned in my previous post(FYI, the soap was 'bhagyavidhata') and cant, for the life of me; sit through some of the gruelling hindi charades.The less said about english soaps, the better... So for know, those posts are abandoned.

I do say that return of the sith deserves a post. The culmination of George Lucas's epic works or something along those lines... Here's some peculiar things I noticed in the movie :

1. Disability does not exist in the Star Wars galaxy. Lose a hand, get a metal one; have your feet chopped and your skin burned off, get more metal ones and a plastic skin; have your whole body destroyed and get your mind and heart transferred into an android....
2. Jedi really should carry an extra hand around. Current list of people who get their hand cut off includes Anakin Skywalker, Count Dooku,General Grievous,Mace Windu and Luke Skywalker. Want more ?
3. You can travel across the galaxy in seconds, but you cant have interference free communication.
4. There is no anasthesia.
5. 3-CPO uses the tagline human-cyborg relations. When did the people fom planet earth get involved in this ?
6. Jedi are blind. The force does nothing but give them vague shudders down their spine. Obi-wan has a bad feeling about everything !
7. Is it light sabers or laser swords ??

dr strangelove or : how i learned to stop caring and hate soap operas

2005-05-08T10:41:00.001-07:00

part 1 : marathi soaps

After the end of the melodramatic extravaganza called 'Avantika', new entrants have filled the void which try to diminish my joy of Avantika's demise. Here's a choice pick of mine, some unknown serial I was forced to watch at my grandma's. The scene is, one newlywed couple is honeymooning in france.
A list of things that were wrong in that episode :

The *newlywed* groom takes his mother and mentally retarded sister along with him to his honeymoon.
They hire a private plane to take them to France. Its shown to be a prop driven Cessna. A prop driven plane that takes off from Pune and lands straight in Paris. Didn't know props had become that advanced did you ?
The couple is shown going to France. O'course they dont actually go to france, they are shown honeymooning in the Corinthian instead. Yeah, the one in Pune. Apparently France and Greece are the same now.
They drive around in France in a Ford Ikon with a MH-12 number plate.
They find a marathi speaking nanny for the retarded sister, who gets conviniently lost and drives away in the Ikon.
A close up of the apparently rented French Ikon key shows the words Vijaya Bajaj clearly.
The backgrounds seen in France show among other things Maruti Omnis, Pulsars and dark men in lungis working the gardens.
They visit a beach in Paris. A *beach* in Paris. Didn't know Paris had one of those did ya ?
The bride insists on seeing the 'Eiffel cha minara'. Eiffel must have turned in his grave.
The serial is interrupted from time to time with actual shots of Paris to prove they really are in France. Shots always showing the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower at night, even though the couple is just waking up.

I will try my best to get the name of this serial. If anybody knows, please feel free to comment. Next blog on hindi soaps...

the hitchhiker's guide to vivas

2005-05-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

how to get outta ur pracs unscathed :

1. Remember, the external is not ur friend.
2. Remember, the external is not ur friend.
3. Never ever say that u read that in Tanenbaum.
4. Defend what you say vociferously, no matter how much offtrack u've gone. Never accept u are wrong, u'll flunk, but u still got ur dignity right ?
5. For the girls, crying on the bench helps. Will some courageous guy please volunteer to try this for our sake ?
6. If ur external has done a Ph.D. in RS 232 , steer 10 miles clear of that topic. I tell from experience.
7. The first batch is always the sacrificial lamb. Again, having the initials AB, I tell from experience.
8. Use floppies, CDs and thumb drives to copy programs generously. Dont be like me and end up being the only fool who actually did the program.
9. Remember, bullshit baffles brains ! But externals have no brains...

FYI : viva comes from the latin, 'viva voce' meaning live voice, and not from that idiotic band.

oh almighty submissions !

2005-04-23T03:03:00.000-07:00

Hail to the chief, he's finally taken my submission ! Is there any reason besides tormenting the students that we have submissions ? That one time of the year when all the the days bunked for quizzes,events n what not need to be acccounted for, with a calendar,receipts n certificates to prove them...
Our college has reached new heights of dastardliness this year, with our ran-away-from-yerawada princi issuing orders to solve one paper for every lecture below 75% n the prof's issuing correction after correction with that stupid grin on their faces. What is it with these ppl ? Weren't they ever students ? Do they just need continue that viscious circle of everybodying taking it out on the next batch that comes along ? Or is it just a ' You want the truth ? You cant handle the truth ! ' kinda thing ?

the rain song

2005-04-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

Its that time of the year again, with the submissions on full swing and exams around the corner. Thank the rain gods for the little respite from the heat and Led Zeppelin(also gods I might add) for the 'Rain Song' .Time to frolic when the rain drenches you and frown when its the vehicle next to you....

those oriental idiots !!

2005-04-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Did anybody see the Indian Express article about the disputed Arunachal Pradesh border ? I knew that the AP border with China was disputed, but those people consider the whole state to be theirs ? For crying out loud, the British handed it over to us in 1947, the government has been ruling it for 58 years now. Plus those blokes retreated to the Mcmahon line way back in 1963, after managing to capture just one town in AP after an incursion. Everybody knows the PRC policy, Tibet and Taiwan are prime examples, so they aren't the wait and watch kind, so i'm guessing the're just plain stupid.
I think the Simpsons summed it the best Mr. Wen Jiabao, when they showed Tiananmen sqaure with a giant placard in the centre that prominently proclaimed ' Nothing happened here '

of corporate ships and net surfing..

2005-04-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

In response to Projects and Politics . Is it the company or is it us ? Why do we abandon old friends to simply do a project at someplace like PSPL ?? I for one, am waiting for my I rejected PSPL t-shirt, mostly thanks to the freak of a guy who got paired with us, and half my group, who couldn't make it. Best of luck to those who sail on that ship (no puns intended, and no offense to Salil).
Did a calculation on the total stuff downloaded in the 26 days since I got broadband, 9.7 gb is not bad if I do say so myself. On an unrelated note, does anyone doubt anymore that yesterday's match was fixed ? Now for a question that haunts me, after the 80's and 90's, are we living in the 00's ? Is it a sign of things to come ?

My blog, reloaded

2005-04-09T11:59:00.001-07:00

I cant, for the life of me remember what my blog was called. Happened to me once before too,last year; this is the blog i had created then and its one lone post i didn't like. So it was quickly given the status of the one lone skirt wearing, nose pierced, i-am-from-latur-and-i-will-run-away-with-my-boyfriend kinda girl in your class that nobody likes to acknowledge and was quickly abandoned. Creating a third blog would have been overkill, so this one gets resurrected instead. Lets hope i dont need a revolutions version. Best of luck to my blog !

P.S. If anyone finds my old blog, please return it me, the person who does will not get a handsome cash prize !