Hiking at Temescal Canyon

This is my snap during the hike at Temescal Canyon on Saturday.

You can see my latest gear, the backpack, the sunglasses, the hat and the hiking sticks! Boy those sticks make hiking so much easier!

Anyways... back to work now.
-A

Please don't go near the Gorilla!

I recently read New this article on NewScientist about how humans are passing infetions like influenza to Gorillas in wildlife preserves.

So if you love animals, go and visit them... in the wild.. where they are free.. but please do not go so near that your germs can harm them.

cheers
-A

Music of Mangal Pandey: The Rising

Maggie asked me to check out the music of Mangal Pandey: The Rising today and boy, is it GOOD!

Rehman has done a nice job. I especially like the "Main Vari Vari" song.

So go on and listen to it. I am sure it will be on Desi Radio soon.

-A

P.S. Saw the trailor of The Warrior, felt proud that an Indian movie got so many awards and is on Apple.com. I wonder why such movies do not get publicity on the Indian Media [like TOI for example]

Baby Pandas... very cute :-)

I came across this site about baby Pandas while searching for some panda pics. Very nice.

Remember to scroll down all the way for more pics. Please leave your comments.

Also, from the links below the page, this article is very cute... also has a video.

so, are _you_ also in love with Pandas?
-A

Slashdotted!

Hi all,
Slashdot finally accepted my article.
Read it here!

Me happy :-).

The visit count already shows 88 views... Welcome slashdotters!
-A

Study on time wasted at work

[just submitted this to slashdot.. lets see.. Thanks to Maggie for sending this]

C|Net News has this article about a survey of people's goofing off habits.

The article says

"It's interesting to note that the Internet was cited as the leading time-wasting activity. It goes to show how integrated it has become to the daily functions of our personal and professional lives," Samara Jaffe, a director at America Online, said in a statement. "Today, there are so many useful tools and Web sites on the Internet that have enabled people to become more efficient with accomplishing multiple tasks in a shorter amount of time."

They forgot to talk about the useless ones :-).

So, what fraction of time do you spend loitering around on the world wide web?

Long time no post..

Hi all,
Have not been able to post for some days now... keeping very busy with the coursework and research work!

Anyways, saw this new blog today. It is of Cecilia, the geek girl from the PhD Comics. I read the comincs regularly... pretty cute :-).

Enjoy the comics.. while I get back to work!
cheers
-A

Mahabharat Movie.. A trilogy

Samip sent me a link to an article about a Mahabharat Movie Trilogy being made with SRK, Aamir and Rani.

"The trilogy will capture the battles, intrigues, spiritual complexity and cultural aesthetics of India, 4,000 years ago. This will be my big project for the next three years," says Bedi, adding that he discovered the power of the Mahabharata's storyline after reading Girish Karnad's script for Agnivarsha.

Read the article for character insights. Mani Ratnam is said to direct this one.

Good... I always believed that the Indian Epics have great potential as mega movies... lets hope it gets made properly.

What do you people think?

-A

Real Life Hero...

Rahul sent me this story about a real life hero from India, who saved his wife and kid and 70 other people during the recent flood-stranded-train incident.

Pretty cool. Goes on to show what can be done with determination.

The best part was [from the article]

"If a single man could successfully enter the waters and rescue people, why could the administration not do it with all the facilities at its disposal,"

-A
Do you also want to post an article online but do not have the time/enthu/madness to maintain a regular blog? Send the link to me and maybe I will post it on my blog [with your homepage url in the credits, of course]. Please note that this method will not be 100% reliable, so don't flame me if your suggestion does not get posted.

What on earth is this???

Google goes guns again!
Rishi send me a link to Google Earth, the next big thing from them. Check it out!

Slashdot also has an article on this, with some intersting links and comments, as usual.

And yes, I have not forgotten about the extended review of Parineeta, just getting over the tiring visit to Vegas... will post soon.

take care, all you wonderful people!
-A

Google Sat maps go global

Google has added sat map facility to the whole world now.
Just go to http://maps.google.com/ and zoom out.. then scroll and change to sat view.

My fav view is the following:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=25.258598,82.995529&spn=0.095100,0.125313&t=k&hl=en
Anyone know what this is?

:-)

-A

Paheli - Short review!

Hi all,
Just back from watching Paheli at Naz8 near LA.

Since I am busy preparing for the paper-presentation I have to make in a conference in Vegas, I shall keep it short.. the longer one will follow!

So here's my review:

Do your eyes a favor: WATCH THE MOVIE!!

The visuals are simply amazing ... I am sure many Americans will get tickets to go visit Rajasthan upon watching this one [hell, "I" am going to visit Rajasthan now :-) ].

I know a lot of people will NOT like the movie... but please don't try to look for a lot of logic and story etc. in the movie. It is based on a folk tale.. and Amol Palekar has done a great job bringing this Amar Chitra Katha tale back to life :-).

Longer version coming up in some time.. once I am back from the "Sin City" :-)

-A

Another room to escape from

Hi all,
In my [and my friends'] quest for more room based games, I found this...

Escape: The Room[newgrounds.com]

A nice game... not very tough but cool timepass..

only one hint... to "use" something... click and drag it on to the place where you want to use it.

Tell me how you liked it...

cheers
-A

Robo babies with curiosity

New Scientist is running a story about how researchers at Sony have made Aibo pups that have in-built curiosity. They seem to want to explore their surroundings and know more about it.

From the article

After several hours, however, the bots started kicking their toys and even trying to interact with conventional Aibo dogs. A short video (Windows Media Video 7.8MB), available from the researchers' web site, shows an Aibo pup that has learnt to play with its toys and bark at another robot nearby.

Fascinating.... does this mean we are moving closer to the worlds depicted in sci-fi novels and movies?

How long before Skynet becomes self aware and Judgement Day occurs?

-A

No begging please, we are Indians

Rediff has an article about how the UP government is working to rehabilitate beggars.

A nice effort. However, I remember how when we have tried to get beggars to work at our homes [actually offered that very seriously], they have refused, maybe because a lot of them do not mind their state of being.

What do "you" think, my learned readers?
-A

Get out of this room!!!

I found a couple of intersting games today... really nice.

1. Crimson Room [play from this link and use 1994 as code... the main site file does not work]
2. Viridan Room
3. Blue Chamber

The above games increase in hardness... if/when you get tired... google for some hints and solutions.

Best of luck!!

Animesh

Blogging, Plane Crashes and Credit Card thefts!

Hi dear readers,
Arpit sent me these links which he thought were worth sharing with you all on this blog.

1. Steve Job's speech at Stanford. A very good one. A tru rags to riches story... I esp like the bit about death.

2. Bloggers in India to be treated as Journos!. Cool... so when do I get my press badge?

3. 50 tools to help writers!. Very nice for bloggers and non-bloggers alike! I am going to use them in me research papers :-).

Thanks Arpit... these were nice.
And you all... feel free to send me links that you want me to post and although I may or may not post them [you can be assured that I will certainly "read" them :-) ].

However, the most important news for me was the following:

Plane crashes in southern califoria freeway [cnn.com]

and

40 million credit card details stolen! [cnn.com]

I guess they are important since they are much closer home... anyways.

In other news, I saw Star Wars episode III last night... nice movie... [Natalie Portman is sooooo pretty in it.. and Master Yoda is so knowledgable]. They have done a nice job of filling in all the gaps so that episode IV is now properly placed.


Happy father's day to all you father-figures out there! [Sunday June 18].

-A

Marry me, I am [HIV] positive.

Gulf Daily News has an article about how HIV positive men are finding wives.

From the article:

HIV-positive men who placed matrimonial advertisements in newspapers in western India say they have received proposals from uninfected women who want to marry them for financial security or companionship.

It is a very nice development. What do you think? Would you marry [your GF/BF] if it was discovered that [he/she] had HIV. What would you do if you were diagnosed and your beloved did not have it?

-A


In other news:
Interesting comments in Solaris Code
Earthquake in Southern California [yes.. that includes LA!] [use bugmenot if LA Times asks for account.]

Happy Re-Birthday

June 9, 2002 , France

Jab Axay Sharma, Ashish Chandra, Rahul Kapoor aur Animesh Pathak - hum 4 bande saath mein South-of-France road trip kar rahe thhey.

Socha tha duniya ki laga denge.

Apni lag gayi!

Indeed... the conversation went like this.

Animesh [in navigator seat of a Renault Twingo] : Abey Rahul... it has rained badly last night.. reduce speed
Rahul [in the drivers seat] : Don't worry man... I have driven this track [Marseilles to Nice] before.

[they see a sharp right turn ahead, a minivan is coming from the other side, the Twingo's turn would not be able to be sharp enough]

Animesh: Shit [cannot hear others]

[collision of car with side of van... then to inner wall of the tunnel]

[some time passes.... dunno how much]

Animesh [wakes up with his head in a deflating airbag]: huh...

[thinks he is dead.. then realises he is not.. thinks others are dead.. realises they are not]

The car only has two doors.. one of which is not jammed. All 4 slowly come out of the car through the single door.

..... continuing in first person.. this narrative style is tiring.

So, thankfully.. the other car people [Husband, Wife and 2 kids] were all safe and not very angry. They flagged down a cyclist and used his cellphone to call emergency.

Soon the police and the paramedics were there... they offered us medical help but we were all fine [and wanting to get away from it all ASAP] so we politely refused, following which they made us sign a declaration that we declined medical help! Something weird to us Indians who are used to people (mostly) not-helping out when accidents happen.

My french came to the rescue while explaining to the policeman what happened.. and why he should let us go :-).

Then we caught a train back to Grenoble.. then to Paris, since the car was smashed completely.

Akshay is running his own company in Delhi now [after graduating from IITD]. Ashish is working in U.K. I don't know where Rahul is ... and I am here.

All I know is that if it was not for the seat belts and the airbags [and a lot of good wishes from our well wishers], I would not have been typing this today.

Happy re-birthday folks!!

If any of u three are reading this.. definitely leave your comments!

-A

Die! Die for stealing my cyber-sabre!

Reuters is reporting on a rather strange story about a man stabbing another for a cyber-sabre.

The stabbing was done in the real world, but the sabre belongs to the virtual one.

From the article

Qiu Chengwei, 41, stabbed competitor Zhu Caoyuan in the chest after he was told Zhu had sold his "dragon saber," used in the popular online game, "Legend of Mir 3," the China Daily said.

Does this mean we are getting closer and closer to something like the thirteenth floor?

-A

Bunty aur Babli review

[Edit on June 6, 2005, 6:30pm PDT - approx. 130 views of this post till now, a new record for my blog... I am touched :-) ]

Finally I saw it, went to Naz yesternight and caught the 9-12 show. Yes, I am talking about the movie Bunty aur Babli, about which I had blogged previously. The plan was to watch it last week with Gaurav, but had to meet Sanjay, Anshuman and Jagadish for some ITBHU.org stuff... so postponed the plan.

The movie is a nice timepass movie... light-hearted and full of fun. I strongly recommend watching it [and then coming back to my blog to read the review :-)].

Another interesting part was the subtitles. They converted "chaat pakora" to "pizza" and things like that.. and the song lyric conversion was hilarious [adding to the overall fun score of the movie]

Okay then... on to the review.

Spoiler Alert: This review will go in a lot of details, so if you have not watched the movie, you better watch it before you read on.

Content Warning: This content is rated PG-13 by me, some topics may be unsuitable for kids. Please be careful

[skip summary]
The movie is about Bunty a.k.a Rakesh Trivedi and Babli a.k.a Vimmi Saluja [Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee], who are from small towns and have big dreams. They bump into each other at the lucknow railway station after having fled from their respective homes in search of a more eventful life.

However, they realise that hard work and honesty is not going to pay and turn to conning people. Once they start liking their job, there is no stopping them. They also give away a lot of money they make to the poor.

They do a lot of very brainy [and amusing] heists, you have to see it to believe it.

However, there is a police officer [Amitabh Bachchan] who is on their tail.. and finally he does catch them, when they have promised to reform themselves! The last part of the story is also interesting when he finally frees them and then recruits them as anti-conning experts [a la catch me if you can].

And now, on to my comments...
The movie started at my weak point, with scenes of Banaras, [you all know why that place is so dear to me]. Seeing the ghats, ramnagar fort, the sand on the other side of Ganga etc. made me nostalgic... I am so waiting to visit Banaras again.

The first half of the movie has a nice bunch of capers by the duo, each bigger and better than the previous one. The songs were mostly well placed [except for the nach baliye one] and the scenes of Ladakh in "Chhup Chhup ke" simply blew me away. I am putting that place in my to-visit list :-).

Rani and Abhishek share a very nice screen chemistry, which is evident in the first half in their conversations. The scenes between them showing the development of the romantic relationship fills one up with mush... as is expected from something from the Yash Raj banner. *sigh*

The second half largely belongs to the senior 'B', who amuses with his load of "UP ishtyle" dialogue delivery [not to forget that junior 'B' also refers to himself as "hum" instead of "main", a truly UP/Bihar trait]. It was nice to see them both on screen together. There were some obvious dialogues ["kahaan se ho? allahabad se.. shakal se hi lagte ho"] and the "Kajraare Kajraare" song and the scene before that bring out the father-son duo's talents.

The capers were also very witty... I liked them all... esp the Taj one... hilarious!

A lot has been said about the song, about hot hot aish looks in it, but I beg to differ. I found her more attractive in "Ishq Kamina" than in this number, indeed I found her looking cheap and sleazy in this number. If this is how a bar dancer in UP is supposed to look like, then she did a good job :-).

The ending was also very nice ["agar maine ek bhi baar aam ka achaar aur banaya to main mar jaaoongi!!" :-) ]. I am sure they will have a sequal coming [like Dhoom], but more than that, I think this can be exploited more and be made into a TV serial, with Bunty and Babli fighting crime in their special way in each episode... what do you say??

The songs were nicely picturized. Did you notice Shiamak Davar in the "Nach Baliye" song? Also, I think Big B's rap song in the end was cute :-).

Acting wise I think the main characters did very well. I wonder why I still have this feeling that Amitabh could have done better. [loved the "makkha makkhi" joke :-) ]. Junior B was nice. Rani was also good. I am slowly moving towards making her my fav. actress in the current batch, having seen Hum Tum, Black, Veer Zaara and now BnB.

A nice point of the film was the presence of some good character actors in small roles [Raj Babbar, Kiran Juneja, Puneet Issar, Rameshwari, Prem Chopra, Ranjeet, Ravi Vaswani, the lady from WBHH, the guy from lagaan, Apple Singh, ...]. This made sure that even small scenes came out well. That said, the acting in some portions did leave a lot to be desired. The girl who talked to Vimmi [babli] at the Miss India content was simply horrible. But mostly it was nice.

Now, on to some controversies:
Firstly, I read somewhere that some sikhs had complained about the fact that vimmi, a sikh, is shown taking drugs! I think they were talking about the first con scene with apple singh, in which Rani is shown smoking. If these people cannot differentiate between drugs and a fancy brand cigarette, they need to do a little more homework before making allegations. Also, Rani is shown opposing junior B's cigarette habits later, which the protestors cleverly chose to ignore.

That said, I think this movie could have done with a little less alcohol and tobacco. In this time, movie stars should try not to glorify their use to the people.. because the youth "does" get influenced.

Secondly, some people have objected to the "hot" scenes between B and B just before the interval, with all the kissing and cuddling going on. My take on this is that although I agree that you may feel a little uncomfortable seeing that with parents etc, it was shown in a very artistic way. After all, they try to highlight the "love" angle of sex. This is a hundred times better than the ads of the continuous stream of sleazy movies coming out of bollywood presently. I whole heartedly welcome the sensitive show of love between husband and wife in movies.

Incidentally, just after that song, they showed a trailer of "Bachke Rehna re Baaba", the Mallika Sherawat/ Rekha version of "heartbreakers", and Mallika alone managed to show more skin in that 3 minute trailer than Rani could manage in a 5 minute song!

Finally, as an ending comment, Yash Chopra sure knows how to make his leading ladies look good :-) . Rani looked very sexy in the movie, except the disco song in which she looks like a prostitute. The dress designer has done wonders with her clothes, especially the kurtas worn in the first song - they give her the young-and-innocent-yet-sexy-in-a-nice-way look. I think they will be next "in" thing in fashion in India [and I will miss it all since I am here in the US :-( ]

Goes on to show that you do not need to take off your clothes to look sexy [a la Mallika and others currently].

Thanks for reading uptil now. I hope you enjoyed reading this review.
Please post a comment and let me know your views about the movie or my reading of it. I am sure a lot of you have different points of view than mine.

enjoy!
-A

Abandoned daughter sues parents

The Times of India has a nice article about a girl who sued her parents for abandoning her as a baby.

Apparently, the parents left her in a garbage bin because they had twin daughters. Also, now when she is 28, they want her to get married the way they want!

This is outrageous. These people should be jailed.

What do you say? My wise readers?
-A
P.S. Had an absolute ball at Eddie's birthday party last night, including a game of kings [with me sipping cranberry juice :-) ]

Hacker Hunters

Business Week is reporting on a crackdown by the feds on a group of hackers called the ShadowCrew.

A very interesting read.

Makes me want to do some security sermonizing [more so since two of my roommates have dysfunctional computers presently, thanks to running unprotected Windows machines].

I strongly recommend that all of you read this article till the end and realize that installing a firewall and antivirus is not an optional thing anymore.

Also, please update your software timely. Please do not ignore the flashing windows update icon on your desktop.

Interestingly, most of these things are free.

Windows Update - Please update your windows machines regularly. Turn on that auto update.

or better

Install Linux


Also,
Install Firefox to surf the web instead of Internet Explorer.

Install Thunderbird to check your mail instead of outlook.

Remember to use Ad-Aware and Spybot periodically to check your system for spyware.

Install Sygate Firewall. The Free version [linked here] is also very easy to use

Install AVG anti-virus. The linked version is also free.

So you see, you can secure your system for free.. it is easy and simple.. just like you can secure your home with a few simple practices [like locking your main door]

Please post a comment if you think this blurb from me was helpful.. or if you think something was missing.

cheers
-A

Bollywood's best comedy movies showcase

The Times of India has this article about the best bollywood comedy movies of all times. A nice read I must say.

So, how many have you watched? And which ones did you like/dislike.
Anything missing?

cheers
-A
P.S. The bay area trip was amazing... I drove 1000+ miles in 36 hours on my dear Jean-Luc-Accord! I simply love my car!

X-rays that see through clothes!

CNET news is reporting that airport screeners would soon be seeing though clothes!!

Interesting... the deptt of homeland security did this after their passengers complained on being patted down.

So, what do you think? Given that terrorists are using means of concealing weapons that cannot be discovered from a distance.. would you like to be "touched" or "seen" ??

The Slashdot comments are here

So, are we going to see a rise in the applications for airport scanning personnel??

Double shock for Films

It is a sad day. Two stalwarts of the silver screen, Ismail Merchant and Sunil Dutt passed away today.

more on Ismail Merchant

more on Sunil Dutt, and his philanthropic activities

Sad. Very sad.

-A

More Sequoia Snaps

Wow.. there are 300+ snaps in all... I have no idea where I am going to host them all.

Here are some of them. Hope you all will like them. Please leave your comments.

The Gang!


Around the car!


In the car [notice how I am the only one who is not looking in the camera, since I am driving!!!]


Pure Nature Pics: Wallpaper Worthy!


Do you see the face in the rocks?? Spooky.. isn't it?


Conifers!


This is NOT a painting... one of my favorites.

Other Interesting Snaps:

Camp Food :-). You can take a desi out of India, but you cannot take India out of desis :-).


Making sure the bears don't get our stuff!


The strawberries were soooooooooooooooo delicious... and the kids were also cute :-).


Some People Snaps:


Gaurav, Ashutosh, and the Jedi Knight! :-)


Another one that I like.


And Another. I pulled out this plastic bottle from the waterfall. Doing my bit for conservation. :-)


Look at the waterfall!! [Me, Chinmaya and Vaishnav]


Working at the farm... these american instruments are HUGE!


More snaps on their way... keep watching!!! [and please post some comments!]

-A

My red-eyed tree frogs

I love them... I simply love them.
This is my latest wallpaper [copyright reserved by the people whose website is on the side of the image - you can use it for a wallpaper]



Sooooooooooooo cute.... so very cute...

What do YOU think?

-A

Back from Sequoia National Park

I am back from sequoia National Park and back to work now.
The snaps will be up soon. But here are two that I like from my collection [still need to combine the ones from all the cameras]



That is me on the trail back from the crystal caves. More snaps of the inside of the caves soon. Notice the dense moss and the cute spring flowers :-).



This is Vaishnav, Chinmaya and Me at the waterfalls near[4 miles] our campground. Long trek, but surely worth it.

More coming soon... keep watching.
-A

Graduation at USC

This is a picture of Sumit, Zack and me at the USC graduation day [May 13, 2005].

We will all miss sumit!!!

:-(

-A

Amitabh's New Movie: Ek Ajnabee

I was pleasently surprized today to see a poster of Ek Ajnabee, the next movie with Amitabh in it.

A quick google search resulted in the facts that the movie is shot in Thailand and is a desi adaptation of Man on Fire, with AB Baby playing Denzel Washington's role!

The poster looks ultra cool.. but reminds me of the musafir poster of Sanjay Dutt.

Must add this one also to my must-watch list. What do you guys think?
-A

2 Girls Found Stabbed to Death in Illinois Park - New York Times

The New York Times is reporting on the heinous news that 2 Girls were found stabbed to death in Illinois Park, a small, quiet town in Illinois.

The girls were 8 and 9 years old, it is sad to see how someone can perpetrate such acts of brutality!

I pray for their souls, and hope the culprits are caught soon.

Animesh
P.S. If nytimes asks for a passwd, use BugMeNot or look at other versions of the story from google news.

H2G2 review.. at last!!

Hi all,
Sorry for not blogging for some time now, but I guess the presence of a final project counts as a valid excuse :-).

So, Karthik, me and a bunch of others went to first-day night show of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy[also known as H2G2], the movie adaptation of the vastly popular trilogy in five parts written by Douglas N. Adams (a.k.a. DNA) which is a must-read for all geeks and sci-fi-humor fans!

And now, on with the review:
I must say that I spent the week before watching the movie in reading the book (1st part) and catching up on the story, so my views may be a little different than your standard non-geek friend's.

[summary]
The movie starts with a regular (British) earthbeing, Arthur Dent, waking up to find that his house is going to be demolished to make way for a highway! That shock is surpassed only by the discovery of the fact that his good friend Ford Prefect is actually an alien from the neighborhood of the star Betelguese and that the earth too is going to be demolished to make way for a galactic expressway!! Ford saves Arthur by hitching a ride in a spaceship and their journey begins, in which they meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, who is the president of the galaxy and a cousin of Ford (they share three mothers) and Trillian, who is an earthperson whom Zaphod took with him on his last trip to the earth (just as Arthur was getting to know her... )

What follows is a bunch of laughs and amazing circumstances, which I do not want to divulge for fearing of spoiling your fun - but I can say one thing - GO WATCH THIS MOVIE!!

[my comments]
I first read the books in 2002, during my summer internship at INRIA, and instantly my piscean mind fell in love with Adams' imagination - the books are a must read, even if you have seen the movie.

So, I was very afraid that the director may not have done justice to the book. In fact, I was expecting a 50% justice. However, I was most pleasantly surprized to see that they actually managed to get a 75% !! The biggest thing that caught me by surprize was the excellent inclusion of the Hitchhiker's Guide book's excerpts, just as in the stories. The whale scene was also nice :-) .

The 25% where they went away from the book consists mainly of the scenes where they have accentuates the love-angle between Arthur and Trillian. Not to forget that the actress is simply gorgeous and people won't mind seeing her more, but this was one part that is very different from the books. There are also some sideplots that are either not in the books at all or are placed out-of-order as compared to the books.

Finally, Marvin, the "electronic sulking machine", as Arthur describes him, is absolutely great! The robot conveys all its emotions (and they fairly complex ones) with an excellent combination of body language and voice modulation.

All in all, a movie worth watching, methinks.

Have you seen the movie also? Please leave behind your comments and let all know what you think.

Some interesting links .. all from BBC:
1. Guide could become trilogy (I am so waiting for that to happen - A)
2. A Guide to the Guide (an interesting read - A)

cheers
-Animesh

Scientists solve unpopped popcorn

From slashdot today..

CNN is reporting on how researchers have solved the mystery as to whysome popcorn remains unpopped...

Now I can sleep in peace :-) ...

Hibernation possible in mammals!

BBC is reporting on how scientists have succeded in getting "near suspended animation" in mice. Amazing thing indeed.... reminds me of the various science fiction movies I have seen.

The wonderful slashdot comments are here.

Movie Preview : Bunty aur Babli

The guys at IndiaFm have this nice preview of Bunty aur Babli up today!

I am soooooooooo looking forward to seeing this one...

Still mesmerized by Dhadak Dhadak and Karjaraarey kajraarey ...

-A

Are you ill, try a Maggot !!

Boing Boing was reporting about a LiveScience article about using maggots and leeches in medicine. The story is incredible... remember to not watch the pictures if you are eating something. The yuck facter is high.

So, what do you think? ready to go and buy a leach or two??

-A

P.S. They also have the results of the ugly animal contest. Personally I think they all are kinda cute :-).

Bunty Aur Babli music released!

Just saw that Mahiram has released the music of Bunty Aur Babli. Amazing songs!

Have been listening to them on desi radio also.

Cannot wait to see Big B chasing Rani and Small B as crooks!!

Link to wallpapers [indiafm.com] and my personal favorite.

Also, the IndiaFM.com music review for this album is here.

:-)
-A

Pandemic-causing 'Asian flu' accidentally released

Just submitted to slashdot.. lets see.

New Scientist is reporting that a pandemic causing asian flu virus has been accidently released to labs worldwide when it was not intended to be. Alarmingly, the lab in which it was found says that the virus was initially found in a sample unrelated to the test kit.

From the article:

There are fears the virus could escape the labs, as the mistake was discovered after the virus escaped from a kit at a high-containment lab in Canada. Such an escape could spread worldwide, as demonstrated in Russia in the 1970s.

Is that why my officemate has been sneezing incessantly of late?

Call Cutta !!

Thanks to grover, I came to know of this interesting article on a cellphone based theatre form [Indian Express Article] currently being performed in Kolkata. Here is the Goethe Institute official page on this. Pretty informative.. and talks about call centers too, something that is changing the life of Indian youth presently. And here is the Indian Official page.

At the end of the first act, the player finds himself at a hole-in-the-wall shop, where he reveals a password provided by the caller. A deadpan shopkeeper replies, ‘‘Download act two,’’ and hands over a packet of potato chips and a bottle of water.

Sounds interesting.. doesn't it?

So, wanna play a role.. how about starting one in LA?? You know my phone number.. don't you?

-A

Kargil's First Hero

I got a forward today asking me to sign my name at the bottom and forward to all those I know.

Now I generally do NOT forward such emails. However, I do execute a google search for the topic and reply to the sender with the information that the mail is a hoax (as happens mostly.. remember the non-small cell lung cancer mail?).

However, my google search today on Lt. Saurabh Kalia brought forth some heartrending articles. This one on rediff about his supreme sacrifice and the government's apathy towards the issue really moved me.

Here is a link to the online petition, I wonder if this will ever be read by the government.

My salute goes to the family of him and such soldiers who are constantly risking their lives for the country. I pray that the government soon gets something done in this regard.

-A

On Google Maps, Slashdot and Yours Truly

April 4, 2005, 8:30pm Pacific Daylight Time: I notice that google maps has gone satellite and is showing sat images also apart from sketches of the areas in their maps.

April 4, 2005, 8:31pm PDT: I post a story on slashdot to let all know of my discovery and share it with fellow geeks.

I wait for my post to appear ... I wait.... have dinner at gypsy cafe [uhhh... the turkish coffee... so black...] .. wait... watch cricket match.. wait.. sleep..

April 5, 2005, 9:00am PDT: I found this post on slashdot submitted by someone else. Posted today at 9:13am, and citing a newspaper post that was posted at midnight!

I wonder why the editors decided to choose that post instead of mine, especially since that obviously came after mine [read the timings]?

They actually have an FAQ entry about this, but I would say that my post was definately interesting, albeit a bit lacking in links, but who needs links when you can go to maps.google.com [to which I linked] and experience it for yourself!

I am perplexed, but I guess I will categorize this mystery with the mystery of my lost socks and not worry about it :-).

In other news, India won the second ODI [neha's blog post link] yesterday! Way to go team!

-A

Google Maps goes sattellite!!!!

This is simply amazing!!!!

I logged onto maps.google.com today to look for some driving direction and lo! there was a "satellite" link waiting for me next to the "link to this page" link.

Google maps now has clickable, draggable sattellite maps!!!! This is simply mind boggling.... I have no words to describe how I feel now!!

Google is GOD!!!!

go to this link and click on satellite to see USC, my university.

This time, I have reported this before slashdot... just FYI :-).

Dabbawalas for Charles' wedding

The times of India is reporting about how a pair of dabbawallas or tiffin carriers from mumbai are going to attend the royal wedding in Britain.

Nice to see them being honored.

From the article
"Over 200,000 tiffin boxes are delivered by a team of nearly 5,000 carriers across the city each day."

Amazing!

-A

Idea #3: Sex determination of visitors (to your website)

So, the third idea is online on my crazy ideas blog. I am quite surprized that I actually wrote (typed) it. Or did I ???

Waiting for all of you all-knowing-owls to post comments there.

read on!

Animesh

Please don't boil our players [and fans too]

cricinfo.com has a nice article about the infernal conditions at the last cricket match between India and Pakistan. Really sad to know that the match was played at 40 degrees C [104 degrees F] with 90% humidity!!!

I pray that the BCCI comes to its senses and stops subjecting our players to such inhuman conditions.

-A

Brand New Theatre at USC

Joyita and I went to see the brand new theatre show at the Massman theatre today. The experience was simply amazing - there were these short (and long) acts performed by USC students, completely created by them: script, lighting, sounds, everything! The acts were from 5 minutes to 20 minutes long and revolved around life in the dorms/fraternities/sororities at USC but covered topics from alcohol abuse to football at USC.

For the impatient, the snaps and a video are at this page. Please note that a) the pictures were taking without a flash and so are hazy and b) there are no captions, so I recommend reading on before opening the pics or opening the above link in a new tab [what! you do not use a browser with tabbing facility... shame on you].

The theme tonight was My Big Fat Greek Production, and all was very relevent, from the stage decoration to the pamphlet.

First, a gentleman dressed in greek attire greeted us with music, playing some sort of modified hawaiian guitar and then a banjo. The first act, titled Stubats, was basically a fraternity hazing thing in which Winthrop Ellsworth showed us how much he loved his "house", depicted by a cardboard box. The idea of him talking to the audience the whole time was nice, and the other character sitting in the front row was also playing his part nicely.

Second was Scripted, which showed a young man who is deeply in love with a girl but cannot stop planning about how things should be. Hi dad comes and talks some sense into him finally and asks him to stop planning and go for the real thing. The rewind-play again nature of certain scenes was amusing.

The third performance of the night was commons, an extremely wonderful piece written and directed by Kirill Baru, who takes the cake of reminding me of the others and lost highway simultaneously. The piece starts with two girls, one of whom decides to tail her professor in search of a good script for her play, but ends up planning to murder the professor's comatose lover. The strangeness begins when the comatose girl wakes up and tells our protagonist that she is actually dreaming this whole thing! More interesting and unbelievable things happen and you simply must see it to experience it fully. Excellent work by all.

Next came Spirit of Troy, which was a nice behind-the-scenes look at how the USC Trojan football team works. They hilariously showed a scene from the home of coach Pete Carrol, whom the university president reprimands for not defeating the opponents by a zero! Hilarity ensues as he goes on to try to whip the coach's behind! Jaimey played the role of the coach's wife and did a good job of shouting at her husband towards the latter part of the act, after having tried in vain to seduce him and pull him away from the football videogame :-). [Jaimey was the one who helped me in attending this show in the first place... thanks Jaimey!! ]

INTERMISSION

The second part of the evening opened with The Way it Went Down, a funny take on how Jesus, and other biblical characters were frat boys and how the others picked on Judas so much that he had to call the police [romans in this case]. The only (minor) goof up was a beard on one of the characters that started to come off towards the end. John's streaking was hilarious! He got quite a few cheers from the girls :-). This skit reminded me of the various Modern Ramayans we used to have back in ITBHU.

That was followed by Room 308, which focussed on building of relationships between roommates when they first arrive at their dorms in freshman year - how different people get together and how some influences can be bad. The piece started with a girl enticing a new one to drink "just one drink" which leads to several more that evening and ultimately leads to her death. The first girl is then shows as a resident advisor two years later who is helping new dorm members settle down. The whole skit was sooooo nicely done... excellent performaces by all the actors here!

The final piece was titled Scenes for Young Actors, and Clay from second nature was the main protagonist, Ryder, with a "Y". The act had him trying to convince his girlfriend how he has found his true calling in life, bussing tables and secretly aspiring to act in westside story. The actors then one by one broke into a song and the whole thing transformed into a musical. The piece climaxed with the whole cast of the evening coming out of the wings to take a bow.

It was a nice scene to watch, especially when they all came together on stage. I have a small video also that pans the whole scene.

All this reminded me sooooooooo much of ITBHU theatre. I miss the good old days when we used to work day and night to get a play/skit/mime/expressions on stage and finally when the audience applauded, we felt sooo like a team and sometimes cried with joy (I still remember the last part of Kunal ). I had similar happiness today watching Jaimey, Nick, Clay, John and gang basking in the glory of their successful endeavor. I wish them all the luck and hope to see more students performances at USC.

So long guys.. thanks for reading all the way down to here... remember to make your voice heard by posting a comment!

cheers
-A

Gulp some Google!!

Today, apart from releasing new features in gmail [send me an email at firstname@gmail.com for invites], Google released Google Gulp, a fundoo energy drink that makes your brain work amazingly fast!

I especially likes their FAQ, esp the following bit

11. When will you take Google Gulp out of beta?

Man, if you pressure us, you just drive us away. We'll commit when we're ready, okay? Besides, what's so great about taking things out of beta? It ruins all the romance, the challenge, the possibilities, the right to explore. Carpe diem, ya know? Maybe we're jaded, but we've seen all these other companies leap headlong into 1.0, thinking their product is exactly what they've been dreaming of all their lives, that everything is perfect and hunky-dory – and the next thing you know some vanilla copycat release from Redmond is kicking their butt, the Board is holding emergency meetings and the CEO is on CNBC blathering sweatily about "a new direction" and "getting back to basics." No thanks, man. We like our freedom.

Notice the Redmond reference, just FYI, Redmond, WA is where the castle of evil is. :-).

Way to go people!!! I am off to drink my first bottle, since Gaurav already has a invite, thanks to his bro who works in the silicon valley.

cheers and yppah lirpa s`loof yad to you all!
-A

What [not] to do when your computer crashes

MSNBC has a nice article on people's reaction to computer crashes. A fun read.. especially the deep fryer part.

Here are the slashdot comments.

Today is Neha's birthday. She has a blog now. Sweet!

So... what did "you" .. my dear reader do when you lost precious data on your last computer crash... please post comments.
-A

Quake hits tsunami zone

Just saw this article about an earthquake in Sumatra [London Free Press]. Here is a link to more related articles[google news]

Very sad.

No Tsunamis have been reported.

Lets all pray for the victims of this catastrophe.

-A

Camouflaged octopuses 'walk' on two tentacles

New Scientist has this amazing article about octopuses that walk on two tentacles. This is simply too cool!!!!

Remember to watch the videos that we linked to from the article!

In other news, I finally managed to get semi-melodious notes (all 7) from my flute... now for more breathing practice and getting those notes straight!

-A

Bose – The Forgotten Hero :: Music Released

IndiaFM.com has a nice
music review of "Bose – The Forgotten Hero", a movie about Subhash Chandra Bose, the legendary Indian Freedom Fighter.

If you want to listen to the songs, you can get them from musicindiaonline, since they are not yet there on mahiram or raaga.

Me listening to them now... nice sounds....
Please comment on how you liked them.

-A

The Credit Card Prank II

Slashdot today posted about the zug.com article about The Credit Card Prank II ... amazing article!

The Slashdot comments on this, as always, were entertaining.. :-).

cheers
-A

US denies visa to Modi - excellent!

The Times of India is reporting on howUSA has denied a visa to Narendra Modi, who is considered by many (including yours truly) to be responsible for the mass killings of muslims in Gujarat in 2002. I feel so happy.

I am also sad that people like this give India a bad name - I was once asked by a bangladeshi man during a flight as to why the Vajpeyee govt. allowed the massacre to happen and I could do nothing but hang my head in shame.

Here's a toast to the day (in near future?) when all will live in harmony!

-A

13 things that do not make sense

New Scientist is reporting on 13 things that do not make sense. A nice read for anyone.

This added to the news of a mini black hole by BBC has made my day.... I feel so sciency .. oooooohhhhh....

cheers
-A

Sleeping sheep.. and my house..

The BBC has nice game to test reaction times. Thanks to Aditya Mandavilli for sending the link. I was sooo releived to read the notice at the end of the game :-) .

Further, here are some misc pics from my life.... my home primarily.. and Zack and Gokul (on a chair) and some pics of the multifaith function we had for Tsunami relief.

cheers
-A

Gaurav's Birthday

So, March 14 is Gaurav's birthday. Here are the snaps of the masti we did last night!!! The snaps of the corresponding party will be sent as soon as it happens.

And do not blame me for the cake smearing act... this is mearly a retribution of this. Gaurav takes nice snaps....

Cheers!
-A

When Veer Met Zaara

Outlook India is carrying this nice article on Indo - Pak Friendship. Was heartwarming to read. Goes on to prove that all this trouble/enimty is not quite a reflection of the general public's views, just that of a few politicians.

In other news, Nishant sent me a pointer to the news of a muslim woman getting a shiva temple made in Varanasi - I am surely going to visit that in my next visit.

Also, Animesh (not me, the other one) sent me a link to the news of Shakti Kapoor's involvement in a casting couch scandal ! The shocking part was not the accusation but the fact that he agreed to the act, but alleged that this was a plot - seems that this kind of conduct is so normal in bollywood that film personalities do not bat and eyelid when an aspiring actress offers "everything" to them - man, dhan.. and tan!

Dalai Lama gives up freedom dream

Just saw this on the Times of India
Dalai
gives up freedom dream- The Times of India. I still cannot believe
it folks!!

Also, he
has expressed his thanks for India. I wonder how the people of
Tibet are going to react to this!

-A

Idea #2 online!

Hi all,
Idea # 2 is online on my crazy ideas blog.

Don't forget to post your comments... I will be waiting!!

cheers
-A
P.S. Thanks to all who wishes me yesterday! It was fun.

Oh Shit!!

Wired news is reporting about a new design of toilets that flush better, much better. Have you ever flushed 24 golf balls down a toilet! Read on!
-A

Maj Gen gets RI in Tehelka case

The Hindustan Times is reporting about a major general getting jailterm for the tehelka case. Nice to know that. Here is a link to related news items. I wonder when the politicians involved will get to visit tihar!

Amen to this thought!
-A

Invisibility Shields , Google, Firefox and Kenyan Linux-based Palmtops

Nature is reporting on an invisibility shield that uses electron effects to prevent objects from scattering light. Although they admit that this is not a one-size-suits-all solution, it has interesting implications in stealth, microscopy and other fields. Read the article for more.

In other news, BBC is reporting on a Kenyan school where kids are using linux based handhelds. Those kind of things make sense in India also.

Yet another article (from ZDnet) reports about how google is helping firefox. I don't mind them getting together :-).

-A
P.S. All above references taken from slashdot ... really cool.

Annual Filmfare Awards 2004 : The Winners

Hi all,
IndiaFM.com has this nice article that summarises the results of the filmfare award!
My dear SRK got 2 awards.... and do did Rani! Abhishek Bachchan also got an award! me happy :-)

read on!
-A

Dal-roti, dal-roti 'n' some Maggie for soldiers

The times of India is reporting about the lack of proper food for the Indian soldiers who are helping out in the avalanche hit Jammu and Kashmir state of India.

Kudos to all of you, dear soldiers! We are proud of you!

Animesh
P.S. I was told that apparently some millitants were also saved from snow during the rescue mission of the army. That did not affect the terrorists' hearts, who lauinched another attack yesterday.

Creatures Frozen for 32,000 Years Still Alive

LiveScience has an article on defrosting creatures who came back to life. Interesting one. Be sure to check out the gallery of the ugliest animals also.

Slashdot readers have posted some nice comments on the frozen animals article, including some more links. The best comments are here.

cheers
-A

India, as Seen Today Through the Eyes of an Eminent Pakistani Scholar

Came across another nice article today. This is about India, as seen today through the eyes of an eminent Pakistani scholar.

Very interesting indeed. A must read.

-A

Astronomers find star-less galaxy

Another BBC article.
Astronomers find star-less galaxy. Interesting.

Slashdot post and comments here.

-A

Doubt over Nasa boy exam triumph

BBC News reports that there may be a doubt over Nasa boy exam triumph. Hmm interesting...

I shall keep a watch.

Thanks to M for sending the link over.

Indian boy tops Nasa examination

Saw this on BBC NEWS today. Really great stuff!!
cheers
-A

Mushkil hai apna mel priye... nice poem

Thanks to Animesh for sending in this hilarious (hindi) poem ... too good. I wonder who the author is.

MUSHKIL HAI APNA MEL PRIYE

mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum MA 1st division ho, main hua matric fel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum fauji afsar ki beti, main to kisaan ka beta hoon,
tum rabadi kheer malai ho, main to sattu sapreta hoon,
tum AC ghar mein rahti ho, main ped ke neeche leta hoon,
tum nai maruti lagti ho, main scooter lamreta hoon,
is kadar agar hum chup-chup kar aapas me prem badhaenge,
to ek roz tere daddy amrish puri ban jaaenge,
sab haddi pasli tod mujhe bhijwaa denge vo jail priye,

mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum arab desh kee ghodi ho, main hoon gadahe ki naal priye,
tum deewali ka bonus ho, main bhookho ki hadtaal priye,
tum heere jadi tashtari ho, main almunium ka thaal priye,
tum chicken-soop biryani ho, main kankad waali daal priye,
tum hiran-chaokadi bharti ho, main hoon kachue ki chaal priye,
tum chandan-wan ki lakdi ho, main hoon babool ki chaal priye,
main pake aam sa latka hoon, mat maaro mujhe gulel priye,

mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

main shani-dev jaisa kuroop, tum komal kanchan kaya ho,
main tan-se man-se kanshi ram, tum maha chanchala maya ho,
tum nirmal paawan ganga ho, main jalta hua patanga hoon,
tum raaj ghaat ka shanti march, main hindu-muslim danga hoon,
tum ho poonam ka taajmahal, main kaali gufa ajanta ki,
tum ho vardaan vidhata ka, main galti hoon bhagvanta ki,
tum jet vimaan ki shobha ho, main bus ki thelam-thel priye,

mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum nai videshi mixi ho, main patthar ka silbatta hoon,
tum AK-saintalis jaisi, main to ik desi katta hoon,
tum chatur rabadi devi si, main bhola-bhala lalu hoon,
tum mukt sherni jangal ki, main chidiyaghar ka bhaalu hoon,
tum vyast sonia gandhi si, main v.p.singh sa khali hoon,
tum hansi madhuri dixit ki, main policeman ki gaali hoon,

kal jel agar ho jaaye to dilwa dena tum bel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

main dhabe ke dhaanche jaisa, tum paanch sitara hotel ho,
main mahue ka desi tharra, tum red-label ki botel ho,
tum chitra-haar ka madhur geet, main krishi-darshan ki jhaadi hoon,
tum vishva-sundari si kamaal, main teliya chaap kabadi hoon,
tum sony ka mobile ho, main telephone waala chonga,
tum machli maansarovar ki, main saagar tat ka hoon ghongha,
dus manzil se gir jaaooga, mat aage mujhe dhakel priye,

mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum satta ki maharani ho, main vipaksha ki lachari hoon,
tum ho mamta-jailalita si, main kwara atal-bihari hoon,

tum tendulkar ka shatak priye, main follow on ki paari hoon,
tum getz, matiz, corolla ho main Leyland ki lorry hoon,

mujhko refree hi rehne do, mat khelo mujhse khel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

main soch raha ki rahe hain kabse, shrota mujhko jhel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye.



The end.... hmmmm makes me want to search all hasya kavita books in los angeles :-).
-A
P.S. Saw BLACK last night.. first day, 3rd show. Excellent movie.. detailed review on next post...

Schnappi

Hi all,
I have been listening to the schnappi song for some time now. It is really cute.
Go here for a nice translation of the song. The page also has a link to a real media version of the song (look for "here it is" on the page). If you want an mp3 version, ask GOD.

Really cool.
Lemme know if u like the song. I for one cannot stop thinking about its cuteness :-).

-A

Nice ideas about Bulleh Shah

So all of you must have heard the song Bulleh ,ki jaana maen kaun by Rabbi Shergil. I found this article on Bulleh Shah on the net. The song indeed has a very nice meaning.

Enjoy!
-A

Solar super-sails

New Scientist is reporting how Solar super-sail could reach Mars in a month. An interesting read I must say.

As for my ideas blog, the second Idea is on its way... hold on to your seatbelts :-)...

-A

On how to help Indian villages with technology

Read an intersting article on Bridging India's digital divide with Linux today. Hope you all will like it too.

Nice to see technical advances going on back home.

Another thing that can help in Indian villages something like this Bolivia Solar Panel LED experiment.

I hope someone back home is listening..... is someone?

Love,
-A

Happy Republic Day - Jan 26, 2005

Hi all,
My best wishes to you all on the 56th Republic Day of India.

Please read President of India's Message to the Nation here.

Great words from a great man!

Jai Hind!!!

The Car's Birthday Party!!

So, I drove with Gaurav to Artesia (the Indian market close to LA) and got some Indian food for a party that my housemates were pressing me for :-). The menu was:

Appetizer
- Bhelpuri
Main course
- Butter Chicken
- Navratan Korma
- Shahi Paneer
- Chana Masala
Dessert
- Custard (this item made by Samip, all else bought at artesia)

The snaps are online at this page.

Let me know how you like them!

I got a car!!!!

I bought a 1993 Honda Accord today! Yipee!!!
More details and pic to come!
-A

GMail Bug!!

Hi all,
Saw this article on GMail Messages are Vulnerable to Interception today. Please read.
Animesh

Announcing the "Ideas" Blog

Hi all,
I have been thinking about this for a long time now, and especially after meeting Ghosh Uncle in ITI Bangalore. So here goes:
I started the Animesh Pathak's Crazy Ideas blog today. I will be posting any and all brainwaves I get over there from now on. And you, my blog readers, are requested to comment on the posts with any suggestions/criticisms/appreciations/business plans :-).

Hope to look at that blog in some year's time and feel good :-).

Now I am going back to work... you go to http://animeshideas.blogspot.com and see what's cooking !!
-A

I am back !!!

So I am back finally!! Met a nice pair of japanese sisters in the flight.... somehow the flight has been interesting all the way.

Presently jetlagged... more posts starting tomorrow!!!

-A

I am BACK .. well.. nearly :-)

Hi all,
Posting this from Bangkok airport Business Class lounge (Thanks to Ujj!). Will be back in the city of angels by Sunday midday PST, and the mayhem will begin!
Since there is a lot of work already waiting for me there, there might be a slight delay in posting the report/pics, but good things come to those who wait :-).

Met an interesting girl in the plane, she was learning jewellery design :-O ... now that is something you don't hear everyday! Lets see what more I get to know about her trade ... and about the dairy farms :D.

Anyways.. back to work... so nice to see this great speed after a month almost!

wait for the photo goodies... they are on their way!!!

-A

Long Time no Post!!

Hi all,
Sorry for not posting for some time now, but I was busy at HiPC, the International Conference on High Performance Computing, helping with registration. Made quite a few good friends there and hope to stay in touch with them (anyone listening!). Presently at home at Mankapur, a sleepy township near Lucknow, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Have quite a few stories to tell, how I nearly missed my flight to India from LA, what all happened in Bangkok and then in Bangalore and Delhi.. the snaps will be online as soon as I get back to LA. Till then, they are happily sitting in my laptop.

Next stop, Varanasi and ITBHU, my alma mater.. lets see what all is going on there!

and yes, a very merry christmas and a happy new year to all !

yours, truly
-A

Leaving on a Jetplane

Finally, the moment has come.. in 8.5 hours time, a Thai Airways plane will take off from LA airport with me in it ... on the way to my motherland - India!

So, I won't be posting very frequently in the next month.. as I will be travelling, and internet speed may be an issue too.

Let's see if I meet any of YOU - my blog readers, in India.

Wish me luck!
-A
P.S. more abt my journey later.

Secrets of Firefox 1.0

A really nice article about the Secrets of Firefox 1.0. A must for all power users of firefox.
2 days to fly!!!

How my laptop made me clip my nails

This was coool... I realised that I had to finally clip my nails.. but the funny part is what made me do so!

I realised that typing on my new laptop (yes I bought one finally!) was getting increasingly painful with my nails making contact with the chicklet keys of the laptop's keyboard, which is very unlike a PC keyboard I realised.

So here I am, nails clipped, typing away at lightning speed :-) ... a laptop "does" change your life B-).

-A

JS Online: Think, think, shoot, score!

JS Online has this nice article about controlling things by just thinking about them. So nice to see all this happenning.... very soon... we might be in the matrix!!
Do read the article... it is a really cool developement... done in monkeys before this.. and now.. men!
-A

'Cut perks of MPs disrupting House'

The Times of India has a nice article about Cutting perks of MPs disrupting House. The 'house' here refers to the Indian parliament and MP = member of parliament.
With so many stupid politicians disrupting the works of the parliament, I think this is a real nice thing. I hope this bill makes it to law....

cannot stop laughing at the thought of the MPs stopping their friends from making a noise because their paycheck will also be affected =).

Long live democracy!

Ramgarh Alumni

Found this Ramgarh Alumni website on livejournal. Too good.... kudos to their creativity!!

Thanks to Animesh (Hazra) for the link.

one week.. and I will be India :-)

-A

Linux in Hindi and other Indian Languages!

Express computer has a nice article about Red Hat Fedora 3 in Indian Languages. Nice to know that local languages are being supported in India now...

power to the vernacular!!!

-A

The Worst Jobs in Science

Popular Science has this nice (second) article about The Worst Jobs in Science. It is a very nice read.. and you feel sad .. sometimes happy that yours is not one of them. Although I do feel like a Computer Help Desk Person every once in a while.

Does being a graduate student count?

If you think your job is worse... post a comment here :-)

cheers
-A

Second Nature: Last show of the sem.

Hi all,
Just back from ground zero, where I witnessed the last show of Second Nature Improv Comedy for this semester. Well, if you do not know them yet, read this post.

As always, they had great games for us, starting with the story "Sleeping Beast" (my suggestion :-] )and going on to make a nice shakespearian play about a strange couple, among a bunch of other games, including one involving two members of the audience and Mount Rushmore. My favorite game is still the one in which the scene moves with the outgoing character (really loved Nick's style of "diggin' through" the scenes).

Today we also wished David a good life in the Czech republic (he won't be at USC anymore :_[ ) and sang Happy Birthday to John in Czech!! I must the say the cake that Jaimey had brought was nice, although she has made it clear that she is not a baker(ess).

So Clay, Evan, Nick, Jaimey, David, Eddie, John, Jacquie, Jacob and the two new members of the gang whose names I cannot remember, thanks for making my friday evenings laughter-filled and best wishes for your finals.

Be back soon 2nImprov, we are going to miss you!!! (how abt a special session in the middle of final's week ;-) )

Your Fan.
-A
P.S. Nick actually knows my name!!!! How much cooler can life get B-)

Ladder Theory !!

Found this interesting way to model relationships!!
Ladder Theory Master Page....
any comments, dear readers???

Robots to rid us of cockroaches

This is what I have been waiting for!!
NEWS.com.au report about Robots to rid us of cockroaches (November 16, 2004): "They say they will soon be using robots to stop sheep jumping off cliffs and to encourage chickens to take exercise."

Isn't that interesting....

beware world... the robots are coming!!!!

am I the only one who is scared :-?

-A

Interactive Map Of India!!

I saw this site which has interactive maps of India. Pretty cool. Nice to see something like mapquest finally taking shape in my motherland!
Way to go people!
-A
P.S. Thanks to Gaurav for forwarding me the link.

Second Life : Your World. Your Imagination.

I came across this site called Second Life today. Apparently this is an alternate online world... nice to know that...

Or is it actually "third life" ?? are "we" already living in a virtual world???


hmm.....

think.. and post ur replies!!

BTW.. Happy Diwali!!!

101 things you can do in Mozilla

Since Firefox 1.0 got released today, it is only fair to link to 101 things you can do in Mozilla.

get firefox!!!!

Feel free to post ur comments/experience with Firefox here.. and remember, if you ever need free tech support on Firefox.. send me an IM on animesh_pathak @ yahoo messenger!!

-A

I was hungry for a day - so that someone doesn't have to

Hi all,
I participated in the USC Muslim Student Union's fast-a-thon on Thursday November 4, 2004.
The proceeds went to help organizations that help put food on the plate of people who cannot afford them.

It was nice to be in a mosque... it was my first visit. Also the fasting was a nice thing to do... cleansing one's body... also feeling the pain of hunger.. so that we can appreciate other's pains.

It was also nice to hear the speaker talk about the significance of fasting across religions. I also told some christians about the various types of fasts we have in hinduism.

Last but not the least, the food was AWESOME!!! the sweet called "baklawa" was just too good!

Diwali Culture show on sunday at 7pm... wish us luck!!!

-A

Let's remember the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots

Please visit
Timesofindia > 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots

TOI has a nice feature about the riots... reminds us that no violence is good.. no matter what the justification.. kudos to the sikh community for rising from those ashes like the phoenix.

Here's hoping for a peaceful future..
Amen.

Animesh

Free-for-all in Orissa House

The Indian Express has an article about what happened recently in the Orissa assembly.. makes me hang my head in shame... chappals in the state assembly!!!
What do you feel about this? Please leave a comment.
-A