When you are extraordinary and you still do the simplest things with great care.

Jun 30, 2005

Italian with Grammar by Mark Twain

By 11:44 PM No comments
the entire short story is here
but this is my fav part just try reading it :)
"If I have had a had, or have wanted to have had a had, or was in a position right then and there to have had a had that hadn't had any chance to go out hadding on account of this foolish discrimination which lets one Had go hadding in any kind of indefinite grammatical weather but restricts the other one to definite and datable meteoric convulsions, and keeps it pining around and watching the barometer all the time, and liable to get sick through confinement and lack of exercise, and all that sort of thing, why--why, the inhumanity of it is enough, let alone the wanton superfluity and uselessness of any such a loafing consumptive hospital-bird of a Had taking up room and cumbering the place for nothing."

intresting stories from bbc

By 6:45 PM No comments
Women gear up for gaming invasion

Maths 'stuck in downward spiral'
"There were far too few numerically trained workers to teach their successors, while A-level entries had declined sharply since the 1980s."

In pictures: How the world is changing
the first one photo is amazing. reminds me of the quote "it is nice to go to a place which has not changed; to find out how much we have changed" (it is something like that)

it is all in the mind

By 6:38 PM No comments
Life begins at 90 from bbc

"Fauja's jogging skills were developed on an Indian farm in Punjab, and then at the magical age of 81, when he moved to the UK, his love for the sport became more "serious"."
...
"So any secrets to fitness? Fauja's training regime includes a daily eight-mile walk and run, no smoking or drinking, plenty of smiling and lashings of ginger curry. "
...
"So, having only run seriously for the last 13 years, when does Fauja think he'll trade in his spikes for a zimmer frame?
"When I die!" he laughs. "

it is never too late to start doing what you want :)

quote

By 5:37 PM No comments
To realize The value of ten years:
Ask a newly Divorced couple.
To realize The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.
To realize The value of one year:
Ask a student who Has failed a final exam.
To realizeThe value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a still born.
To realizeThe value of one month:
Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realizeThe value of one hour:
Ask the lovers who are waiting to Meet.
To realizeThe value of one minute:
Ask a personWho has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realizeThe value of one-second:
Ask a personWho has survived an accident.
To realizeThe value of one millisecond:
Ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.
To realize the value of a friend:
Lose one.

Time waits For no one.
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more whenyou can share it with someone special.

Jun 29, 2005

quote

By 11:32 PM No comments
Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that
Love doesn't mean Leaning
And Company doesn't mean security.

And you begin to accept that
kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises --
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
And with the grace of an adult,
not the grief of a child.

And you learn to
Build all your Roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain
For your plans.

After awhile you learn that even sunshine
Burns if you get too much.
So plant your own garden and decorate
Your own soul -- instead of waiting for
Someone to bring you flowers.

And you will learn that you really can endure,
That you really are special
And that you really do have worth.
So live to learn and know yourself.
In doing so, you will learn to live

- Veronica A Shoffstall

Jun 28, 2005

anonymuncule

By 7:01 PM No comments
jeene ki asha,
kuch karne main umang,
rishto per vishwas,
nahi hai to kyo?

chaera per muskan,
bevajh kushi tamam,
her pal badalte rang insan,
hai to kyo?

kab badal gaye ye sawal?
kaha milege ab jawab?

--shob
(first draft)

time travel

By 4:15 PM No comments
Remembrance of Things Future: The Mystery of Time from nytimes

"There was a conference for time travelers at M.I.T. earlier this spring.
I'm still hoping to attend, and although the odds are slim, they are apparently not zero despite the efforts and hopes of deterministically minded physicists who would like to eliminate the possibility of your creating a paradox by going back in time and killing your grandfather."
...
"The mystery of time is connected with some of the thorniest questions in physics, as well as in philosophy, like why we remember the past but not the future, how causality works, why you can't stir cream out of your coffee or put perfume back in a bottle."
...
"She added in an e-mail message: "I have always thought that there has to be some basic fundamental notion of causality, even if it doesn't look at all like the one of the space-time we live in. I can't see how to get causality from something that has none; neither have I ever seen anyone succeed in doing so.""
...
"But nobody knows if phantom, or exotic, energy is really allowed in nature and most physicists would be happy if it is not. Its existence would lead to paradoxes, like negative kinetic energy, where something could lose energy by speeding up, violating what is left of common sense in modern physics.
Dr. Krauss said, "From the point of view of realistic theories, phantom energy just doesn't exist.""
...
"Being a good physicist, Dr. Polchinski phrased the problem in terms of billiard balls. A billiard ball, he suggested, could roll into one end of a time machine, come back out the other end a little earlier and collide with its earlier self, thereby preventing itself from entering the time machine to begin with. "

very very fascinating indeed.

another crucial court judgment

By 3:58 PM No comments
Supreme Court rules against file swapping from cnet (yesterday)

"In a unanimous decision issued Monday, the nine justices said companies that build businesses with the active intent of encouraging copyright infringement should be held liable for their customers' illegal actions"
...
"The decision isn't likely to eliminate file swapping. Many of the most popular services are decentralized enough that they can exist even if a parent company disappears. Many peer-to-peer services also are based outside the United States or have been created by overseas programmers.
U.S. courts have shown their willingness to reach overseas companies in some cases, however. Already, a Los Angeles court has ruled that Kazaa parent Sharman Networks, based in Australia, maintains enough business connections in the United States to be sued in American courts. "
...
""To the P2P operators, the LimeWires and the eDonkeys: We want to work with you," said Mitch Bainwol, chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America. "This is time to come forward and start filtering. We can build a better digital age together.""

quotes

By 6:46 AM No comments
I like to speak my mind. That’s why I speak less.
--Ajay Devgan

Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes

Never be content in not knowing why.
-- from http://wehaveforgotten.blogspot.com

Jun 27, 2005

quote

By 10:10 PM No comments
The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.
--Hannah Whitall Smith, 1902

By 5:15 PM No comments
India's tech Renaissance form cnet

"Tata recently won a deal to create an environmentally friendly cell phone for a U.S. carrier, for example, while rival Wipro Technologies is designing MP3 players for Europe and a flat-panel TV for an American company. Such entrepreneurial ventures in the consumer market are not confined to the largest players: Mumbai-based Celetronix produces set-top boxes for a U.S.-based satellite TV carrier. "
...
"That marathon approach is viewed as a key advantage for India. Many executives and entrepreneurs note that India's tech boom is driven by a demographic bubble that will be difficult to match for other nations. India has a large population of young people who are driven, well-educated and work for relatively low wages.
...
"For the first time," he said, "there is confidence that tomorrow will be better than today.""

quote

By 4:19 PM No comments
The Earth As It Is
Leonardo Boff

Is it possible to live in peace and happiness when you know that two-thirds of human beings are suffering, hungry and poor? To be human we have to have compassion. This solidarity is really the defining factor of our humanity and is gradually being lost in a culture of material values. It’s not only the cry of the poor we must listen to but also the cry of the earth. The earth and human beings are both threatened. We must do something to change the situation...
There won’t be a Noah’s Ark to save only some of us. To meet people’s fundamental concerns change is needed. The world as it is does not offer the majority of humanity life but rather hell. I believe that change is possible, because I cannot accept a God who could remain indifferent to this world, but only one who cares about the poor and the suffering.

quote

By 12:44 AM No comments
"aathigam paesum adiyaarkelaam sivamae anbaagum
naathigam paesum nallavarukelaam anbe sivamaagum"
(meaning as per shethra
for believers "GOD IS LOVE"
for atheists "LOVE IS GOD ")

Jun 26, 2005

quote

By 5:31 PM No comments
Even with the best of maps and instruments, we can never fully chart our journeys.
--Gail Pool

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
--Mark Twain

reservation

By 2:39 AM No comments
A flawed move in Aligarh from frontline

i have never understood how reservation ever helped anyone let it be SC/ST or women or muslims. it is like instead of giving these people the opportunity to come up to the standards we are saying it is ok to be idiots(and i am not saying that they are idiots). don't worry u will get a job in a govt office so as to messup the already messed up system. or be a doctor and kill few more of ur fellow countrymen. or whatever else u do.
if they really want to help bring up these section of the society then we have to start at the bottom. open up free primary education in the remote areas. instead of paying these professor to teach below par student, pay them to go out and teach students so that when they sit in the exams they r ready to take up the challenge. educate the society not to be biased against them. give them help or 'bheek'(can't find the english word for it).

Car Nicobar... post tsunami

By 2:07 AM No comments
Car Nicobar's resilience from frontline

"Community participation, strengthened by the tradition of tribal solidarity, is a key element in the UNICEF's tsunami rehabilitation interventions in Car Nicobar, which have proved successful despite logistical problems. "
...
"Unlike the settlers, the Nicobarese seem completely `demonetised'. "They have an organic link with their habitat and live off it. They keep pigs for meat, but there is no cattle-rearing. They do backyard poultry farming so that they can have eggs to eat. But you can be sure that the extra eggs will not be sold. The mainland concept of bank balance, property and private ownership is non-existent. The community comes first, and everything belongs to the community," explained Vivek Kumar Porwal, the new Deputy Commissioner of the Nicobars district. "
...
"We do not have such a word as `orphans' in our vocabulary" says Thomas Philip, captain of Mus and secretary of the Tribal Council. "We treat them like our own and look after them. We do not have orphanages here!"
This may be yet another reason why the travails of Car Nicobar have not been as palpably felt by the world as the pain of the other regions of Asia that are grappling with the aftermath of the tsunami. The strong bonding between the people of Car Nicobar is helping them survive their pain and loneliness. "

a ray of light in the tsunami disaster...

Jun 25, 2005

Jun 24, 2005

quotes

By 10:17 PM No comments
People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
--J. K. Rowling

If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.
--Robert Fritz

Jun 23, 2005

Beaten by Google - Joe Kraus founder of excite

By 6:18 PM No comments
Lessons from Silicon Valley from bbc

"Lesson number one from Excite is about timing in a technology business
...
Lesson two says: the internet is a new sort of market place that needs new business plans to make it work.
....
Both Excite and Google are free to use; both business plans needed the support of advertisers.
But Excite took the conventional view that the ads would come from the top 100 companies in the USA, the people who buy huge amount of TV time and blanket the newspapers and the magazines.
Google did not go for the big spenders. Google's squads of PhDs wrote algorithms that would make it viable for the company to take hundreds of thousands of ads from hundreds of thousands of small (or big) companies, and pop the ads up in highly relevant spaces close to the search lists. "

quote

By 3:59 PM No comments
"As long as there are entrenched social and political distinctions between sexes, races or classes, there will be forms of science whose main function is to rationalize and legitimize these distinctions."
- Elizabeth Fee

where have all the leaders gone?

By 3:38 PM No comments
today times of india covered the perspective makeover of "Lalu"... not that i am surprised either by the makeover or by the coverage, but was just wondering where have all the days gone when the leader were judged by the work they did, not by the "image" they portrayed to the media.
i guess it is one of the hazards of media or maybe that leaders do not do any actual work so they need images or maybe the public would like to just believe the image and look into the work they have done or a combination of all.
(just wondering)

Jun 22, 2005

read it carefully... :)

By 5:11 PM No comments
"One bright day in the middle of night two dead boys rose to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot one another. A deaf policeman heard the noise, and saved the lives of the two dead boys. If you don't believe this lie is true, ask the blind man, he saw it too."

quotes

By 12:42 AM No comments
"An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind."
-Buddha

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow grow, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation."
-George Washington

Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
-Elbert Hubbard

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.
-John Churton Collins

Jun 20, 2005

horrendous... yet again

By 9:14 PM No comments
A free woman from indian express

"I sympathise. From Karachi to the Khyber Pass, Pakistan is one of the most hospitable countries I’ve ever visited. So, President Musharraf, if you want to improve Pakistan’s image, here’s some advice: Just prosecute rapists with the same zeal with which you persecute rape victims.

Mukhtaran says she can’t talk about what happened after the government kidnapped her. But this is what seems to have unfolded: In Islamabad, government officials ferociously berated her for being unpatriotic and warned that they could punish her family and friends. In particular, they threatened to have the father of a friend fired from his job."

quote

By 8:46 PM No comments
WAR IS PEACE; FREEDOM IS SLAVERY; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
-- George Orwell, 1984

(i think this is so applicable to current world politics)

kids grow up too soon....

By 6:47 PM No comments
Violent teenagers article from hindu.

though it might not be the best written article but it sure does bring up the point where this society is going in terms of bringing up the young.

kids r not kids anymore they grow up too soon. with all the available information or misinformation that is accessible to them. there use to be a time when the younger years were the formative years, the years to learning. where even the games we played or the stories we read were modeled on the fact that they will leave a significant impact on us. now everything is market driven. gone r the days when people would say that is more important to good man than it is to be a important man. now children r taught, either by active or passive means, that money is above work, seek material over knowledge, presentation is more important than the content.
there are years in human life that they need guidance and protection, and no better place than family to get this. we all can be individuals but there is a need to put relationships above individuality.

(rough sketch of my thoughts after reading the article.)

Jun 18, 2005

Jun 17, 2005

thought

By 5:09 PM No comments
there is a thought that is stuck in my head which is itching to come out and it cannot find the right words... it might show up in my actions instead.

Jun 16, 2005

quotes

By 6:36 PM No comments
If you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions.

All men should strive
to learn before they die
what they are running from, and to, and why.
~James Thurber

If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead.
~Gelett Burgess

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
~Nelson Mandela

Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier.
~Barbara Kingsolver

Take the time to come home to yourself every day.
~Robin Casarjean

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
~e.e. cummings

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
~Dr. Seuss

Individualism is rather like innocence: There must be something unconscious about it.
~Louis Kronenberger

Jun 14, 2005

dance for life (quotes on dance)

By 3:22 PM No comments
"Dancers aren't made of their technique, but their passion."

"Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another."

"The Dancer believes that his art has something to say which cannot be expressed in words or in any other way than by dancing... there are times when the simple dignity of movement can fulfill the function of a volume of words. There are movements which impinge upon the nerves with a strength that is incomparable, for movement has power to stir the senses and emotions, unique in itself. This is the dancer's justification for being, and his reason for searching further for deeper aspects of his art."
~Doris Humphrey, 1937

"I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words."
~Ruth St. Denis

"Dance isn't a form it's a way of life."

"Anyone who thinks sunshine is happiness has never danced in the rain."

"To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak."

"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. "
~William James

freedom!

By 3:00 PM No comments
Microsoft censors Chinese blogs from bbc

"Weblog entries on some parts of Microsoft's MSN site in China using words such as "freedom", "democracy" and "demonstration" are being blocked.
...
Those using these banned words or writing entries that are pornographic or contain sensitive information get a pop-up warning that reads: "This message contains a banned expression, please delete this expression."
...
China recently introduced stringent regulations that require all blog owners to register their web journal with the state by 30 June.
The regulations require the writer of a blog to identify themselves to the authorities."

Jun 12, 2005

quotes

By 7:44 PM No comments
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
~Dinah Craik

Sticks and stones are hard on bones
Aimed with angry art,
Words can sting like anything
But silence breaks the heart.
~Suzanne Nichols

Assumptions are the termites of relationships.
~Henry Winkler

I felt it shelter to speak to you.
~Emily Dickinson

Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough.
~Dinah Shore

Jun 11, 2005

world food prize

By 7:57 AM No comments
Aquaculture researcher recognised with award

"An Indian researcher who has helped feed more than 1 million people in Asia and Africa through new fish farming methods has been awarded the 2005 World Food Prize.
Modadugu V. Gupta, research co-ordinator for the Penang, Malaysia-based WorldFish Centre, will receive a $250 000 (about R1,6-million) prize in a ceremony on October 13 at the state capitol, officials announced on Friday."

horrendous...

By 6:40 AM No comments
In Pak, officials can order rape

"The original trial before an anti-terrorism court in 2002 found that Mai was gang-raped on the orders of a traditional village council after her brother -- who was 12 at the time -- was judged to have offended the honour of a powerful clan by befriending a woman from their tribe.
...

Gang rapes and honour killings are common in feudalistic rural Pakistan. In most cases the perpetrators go free because of incompetent police investigations and flaws in the legal system, which have been highlighted in the current case.

President Pervez Musharraf, who has been trying to project Pakistan as a moderate and progressive Muslim nation, has taken a personal interest in the case, saying it was tarnishing the country's image overseas."

don't have words to express myself...

Jun 10, 2005

Sculpture outside the CIA

By 5:59 PM No comments
heard abt it on KERA yestarday...

Solving the Enigma of Kryptos from wired news
"it's been nearly 15 years since Sanborn installed the 12-foot-high, verdigrised copper, granite and wood sculpture inscribed with four encrypted messages at the CIA's Langley, Virginia, headquarters in 1990. And it's been seven years since anyone made progress at cracking its code."

Cracking the Code of a CIA Sculpture from the washington post
"It had reached the point that David Stein was seeing the letters in his head before drifting off to sleep at night. Arrayed in seemingly meaningless order on the copper sides of "Kryptos," an oddly powerful sculpture at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, they had guarded a secret since the artwork was dedicated in October 1990. "

also related to the book "da vinci code" due to which this has gotten so much popularity.

photo of the sculpture Kryptos

Jun 9, 2005

Jinnah's speech

By 3:25 AM No comments
extract from Jinnha's speech

"You know that not only we ourselves are wondering but, I think, the whole world is wondering at this unprecedented cyclonic revolution which has brought about the plan of creating and establishing two independent sovereign dominions in this sub-continent. As it is, it has been unprecedented; there is no parallel in the history of the world. This mighty sub-continent with all kinds of inhabitants has been brought under a plan which is titanic, unknown, unparalleled. And what is very important with regard to it is that we have achieved it peacefully and by means of an evolution of the greatest possible character."
...
"A division had to take place. On both sides, in Hindustan and Pakistan, there are sections of people who may not agree with it, who may not like it, but in my judgment there was no other solution and I am sure future history will record its verdict in favour of it. And what is more it will be proved by actual experience as we go on that was the only solution of India’s constitutional problem. Any idea of a united India could never have worked and in my judgment it would have led us to terrific disaster. May be that view is correct; may be it is not; that remains to be seen"

really??!!!! but too late to ponder on it now.

Jun 7, 2005

original quote

By 11:35 PM No comments
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
-- Frank Outlaw

This is actually a paraphrase of a Buddhist teaching called the "Dhammapada" which is attributed to the Buddha.

It reads:

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings....
As the shadow follows the body,
As we think, so we become.

quote

By 10:17 PM No comments
Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.
--Robert G. Ingersoll

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
-- Erin Majors

Jun 4, 2005

intangible cultural heritage

By 8:55 PM No comments
form hindu-
Rajasthan's wealth of intellectual capital

"As far as the tangible cultural heritage of the State is concerned, commendable work is being done in various parts, at different levels, to protect, revive, conserve and preserve these monuments. But in this age of globalisation and fast moving technology, geographical barriers are fast melting. Traditions and cultures no more remain hidden or guarded by strict geographical boundaries. Thus protection of one's intangible heritage also assumes huge significance. Since this State is rich in both tangible and intangible heritage, the former being taken adequate care of, conservation and protection of its intangible cultural heritage requires immediate attention. "

"one stark reality that hits us is that Rajasthan — the State with probably the greatest wealth of GIs — has not procured even a single Geographical Indication so far. "

"As against most other forms of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), which are basically individual oriented, the Geographical Indications have the advantage of benefiting the entire community of producers"

universe in a computer

By 12:35 AM No comments
a very intresting article from hindu:
A universe in a computer

"In the last few years, they have been able to determine that all the stars, galaxies, black holes and their radiation add up to a trifling five per cent of the universe. Around a quarter of creation is mysterious stuff called cold dark matter. The other 70 per cent is now known to be the even more baffling "dark energy," a kind of anti-gravity that is pushing the universe apart.
Prof. Frenk said: "We programmed the biggest computer in Europe with these ingredients and the laws of physics and we just let it compute a universe. We let it churn away — in fact we shut down all science in Germany, we excluded all German science for a month while this very large machine ground away — and at the end we got this beautiful universe, which for all intents and purposes looks like the real thing."

Jun 3, 2005

thought

By 1:04 AM No comments
its the little things that people do for you, that makes the big differnce.

you look worried what is the matter?
so is that problem fixed?
take a day off or two if you want.
i will send an email and check.
i will take you.
let me page him.
let us try once more.
if it works out fine if it does not fine too.
so what happened?
i am listening.
kya hua... how come no reply to my mail?
this can be worked out
i am happy for you.
i understand.
i will get it for u.
go ahead and get it done.
let me walk this over for you.
so finally done?

some things were said by friends and others by complete strangers... thanx, a little concern goes a long way.

Jun 1, 2005

Search