The Last Word: January 2006

Please note that my blog has changed addresses! It's all new and improved. Hence this old friend of mine had to be left alone. You can visit me at The Last Word (beta). It's all warmed up for you! :)

A month back there were talks of a PC being made by Google and sold through Walmart, known as Google PC. Now there are rumours spreading that they might be working on an operating system based on Linux. Google has already been in the process of switching their in-house computers to Linux. Now, they are working on their own version of Ubuntu and planning on making it available to the public as an alternative to Windows, and a free OS. A quote from News.com:

"It's possible Google plans to distribute it to the general public, as a free alternative to Windows," wrote Register writer Ben King. Google representatives were not available for comment, but the company has in the past denied such rumors.
Speculation that Google was eyeing the desktop space has circulated for months. The search company recently released a package of desktop tools, including Google Talk, Google Desktop, Mozilla Firefox, and Trillian instant messenger.

It'll actually be fun to see how this story evolves! Stay tuned! :)

Filed Under: google

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I have been planning on writing about this, but putting it off for the reason that I don't think I have enough experience or expertise to comment upon what kind of a design a site must have. But over the past few days, I have been visiting many sites because of latest obsession with Web 2.0, and to find content regarding the same. Doing that, I've bumped into many sites which have amazing interfaces and a very good overall appeal. Which I cannot say about most of the sites out there. So, here are the tips that I think a web author must keep in mind when planning on designing a site --

Keep It Fast: Because the internet has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past years, its easy to forget that not everyone owns a broadband connection, or the best browser on earth at the moment (*cough*firefox*cough*). All they want is a surfing experience and good content that they can read up on without the bling blings. Ofcourse, if they eye-candy is presented without blocking off their system because it takes too long to load, they will not mind that either. This is where things like CSS (and the various other versions of it) can come into play for you. Use it properly, and you'll get stunning results. I'll give you this page as an example of what CSS can do. Your creativity is your limit (and a few attributes! :P)

Keep It Simple: You don't want users to click through 5 links to get to the page they finally wanted to. Keep navigation simple. That way, you'll have more to put on the other pages, and make sure that your user doesn't get lost in the myriad pages that your site offers. The best navigation system that I like to follow is a list type heirarchial navigation ... where each main topic opens up a subtopic (without refreshes) and the user can select where they want to go. It works the best, but any other methods such as menu driven navigations will work wonders too! Just, keep it simple!

Uniformity Matters: If someone gets to see a different format of content presentation everytime they go to a different page, they will not come back to your site again, because they just get confused where everything is. Make sure that every page has the same layout, and content is in their right places. Keep your pages uniform, and you'll be rewarded with a more sleek and elegant looking website.

This is not a Rainbow: Its very tempting to use ever colour in the charts in your site. And believe me, with a million colours (new ones being invented everyday), you will have plenty of choices. But, thats a fool's way out. Select a few colours, and paint your entire website in those colours itself. Don't stray too far from the shades which make up the undertones of all your pages. Also, select colours which are light on the eyes, and which don't add too much strain. Lighter tones always work best for sites with a lot of content, and darker tones for a lot of eye candy or a bright foreground. Brightness Must. Eyes can focus faster on bright stuff, so it will attract users easily. I used to make my pages with very dark and creepy colours, which looked cool but kept visitors at bay. The sites which are frequented the most, are all light and easy on the eyes. I can't emphasize the importance of colours and their usage. They will decide if the user comes back out of free will, or out of desperation.

Content: Ofcourse, no designing is worth it if your site doesn't have any content to show for it. Keep your content straight, brief and to the point if you don't have much, and then work your design around it. Remember, the design should always compliment your content, not the other way round. People come to your site for information, and with Web 2.0, people are paying much more attention to content and usability than how it looks. So, write something, and then design it so that people don't have any problems finding the info they're seeking

That is it for the moment. These are the few tips that I've kept in mind while designing this page, and I think I've managed to come up with a decent page with enough content that might keep people coming back once in a while to check for updates. Hope you found these useful. If you want any more info or tips, I'd love to help you out. Just drop me a line! :)

Filed Under: design

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Nice Blog Aditya... Keep your machinary on the same path.....you'll get to fly someday. :)

Ankur, on Mon May 08, 05:37:00 AM

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Over the past year and a few months before that, companies in the EU began filing anti-trust laws against the Microsoft. They said that Microsoft was using unethical means and its influences to promote its softwares, which were not letting smaller companies to showcase their products and hence gain some market. They accused Microsoft of bundling softwares like Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer, which was preventing users from trying out new softwares from the upcoming companies. Now, all this well and good, and supposedly its going to help these so-called 'new' companies appear on the face of the market, but how effective is all this going to be?

Microsoft over the years has created enough of a strong foothold, and people having been using their softwares ever since they started using Windows, and whoever uses Windows, is very much familiar with the abovementioned brands. They know what is where, and hence the familiarity and comfort level issue dominates here. A child, when faced by his/her mother and a beautiful supermodel side by side, will go to his/her mother without even thinking twice or looking at the model. Why? Because he/she is familiar with the mother, knowing who she is and what she can do. Similarly, people will still look to the applications they have been using for years. And since now Microsoft is improving all these softwares drastically since it has been faced with challenges from several companies, a slight change will be only welcome by people ... since everything else is where they have gotten used to them.

Releasing the source code in bits and pieces to try and satisfy the user base is just a small gimmick, because even Microsoft knows that it'll take more than a hundred million downloads or firefox to put them in any jeopardy. They know how to reach the top, and how to stay there. Yes, these lawsuits will put up a slight obstruction in their march, but they have the upper hand in market share.

The "Wall Street Journal" has obtained a confidential document sent from European Union (EU) antitrust regulators to Microsoft last month, warning the software giant that a release of its Windows source code would not meet the EU's requirements. Last week, you may recall, Microsoft announced with great fanfare that it would release portions of its Windows source code in a bid to meet its overdue EU antitrust requirements. Microsoft general console called the move "a bold stroke" when it was announced.

The Windows "source code was never asked for nor indeed welcomed," a British computer scientist wrote in a report describing Microsoft's botched attempt to meet European antitrust demands. You may recall that EU antitrust commissioner Neelie Kroes said she was "surprised" that Microsoft made the source code offer last week. Given this revelation, her comments can be put in perspective: She's surprised because the EU specifically told the company that a source code release would not meet its requirements.

- Thanks to Neowin.net

Lets see how this goes!

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Surprisingly, I just wrote about this yesterday, and somehow someone somewhere decided to write about it. As it turns out, Google does have a bookmarking system. But its really well hidden, and its not very feasable, not to mention that it needs to many clicks and is not public at all. All those aside, its from Google, and we can expect to go on improving over time. How to get to it? Here's the deal.

If you haven't enabled your Search History, you won't be able to use this, so go do it now. Then, as you start searching, you will begin to see your searches being stored by Google on that page, and you can later go back and have a look at them. Looking over them, you should see stars to the left of them. Click on them. Once it turns yellow, that search, has now been bookmarked. You can add tags and other details by clicking on 'Edit Bookmark', and there you are. Bookmarking, Google style! :)

But this will not really give services like del.icio.us a lot of competition just yet. They need to make this more intuitive, and allow people to exploit the API so that third party software can add bookmarks without too much hassle (kind of like performancing and del.icio.us). This is only a good for remembering and tagging your important searches and results, ones you think you might use in the future. But in its infancy, its not much use to people.

But again, like I said, its Google. They don't need to be told twice, do they? ;)

edit: Google also released a beta version of Google Toolbar, which has a bookmarking feature integrated into it. i can't test it out because it needs XP/2000, so any feedback will be more than welcome! This should make bookmarking with Google easier! :)

Filed Under: tagging, google

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First came the Internet, then came websites. Followed by web browsers, and now the Web 2.0. Whats the next fad that will take over our minds and computer screens? I have been looking and following the Web 2.0 scene for quite a while now, which is summed up quite well in my post (here), but Web 2.0 is in itself huge for it to be classified as a fad. I am going to try and be a little more specific, and see what is it that people are taking very seriously.

In my post (here), I wrote up on blogging and how its taken everything around it by storm. However, there is one more thing that is quickly catching up as the next best way of organising information, and locating them quickly. Yes, its the entirely new, yet most intuitive concept of tagging. In a brief post (here), I managed to write up a little on it, but now I will try and unravel where this is going.

Bookmarking, as far as I know, first received mainstream exposure thanks to del.icio.us, which uses a very easy interface and a very powerful API to allow anyone and everyone to fully exploit the system and use it anyway they want. It allows the end-user to bookmark anything, and put a link to it in their accounts at del.icio.us, so that they can be accessed seen and gained from by everyone in the world. also, this is a good way to allow your set of bookmarks to be available to you no matter where you are. ofcourse, this was the initial intention of del.icio.us. however, there are infinite possibilities of the applications of this simple idea, what with tagging and feeds available from del.icio.us on virtually everything.

Yes! As far as I think, tagging and categorisation is the next big thing which is going to become a household name and everybody will be utilising it in their own lives. A perfect example of what a creative use of tagging can achieve is demonstrated is by the freshtags. originally cooked up by Gregory Hill, freshtags aims to fill up and remove the blogger handicap of tags and categories. It allows individual posts to be tagged at del.icio.us with keywords which the author thinks are most relevant to the post, and by using JSON feeds, can be accessed and displayed on the users page itself. Voila! The most effective way of implementing categories!

However, del.icio.us is not the only major player in the market. Infact, del.icio.us, which is now under Yahoo!, is part of a myriad of small scale and upcoming tagging and bookmarking services. However, it'll take something novel and some smart thinking to be able to seperate del.icio.us from the ridiculously huge user-base that it has managed to create for itself. Another service, also under Yahoo!, is flickr. Flickr is to images what del.icio.us is to text based content. You can upload, tag, bookmark and share your pictures using flickr which is very intuitive and easy, hence making it easy for anyone who is willing to start with this new approach to sharing data.

These two are the biggest players in an area which is yet to be touched by Google, but Yahoo! has seen the potential it offers and jumped on to the bandwagon in a big way. Today, there are bookmarking services which allow Google Adsense to be added to the pages which list their tags, hence offering revenue opportunities to people who want to publicize there tags. Wink has found a novel way of judging the popularity of a certain page by the number of tags that link to that page. A quote from Technology Evangelist says:

Malik shapes Wink's model and similar sites as being part of a "people vs. Google" movement, where a networks of people attempt to out-do Google Search by using votes, bookmarks, or other human behavior rather than a faceless algorithm. Malik expresses his pessimism about the potential for this type of ranking system based on the lack of mainstream interest in social bookmarking and tagging. However, this really isn't - or shouldn't be - a mutually exclusive strategy for ranking content. For example, a site like Wink would be worthless if it ONLY displayed content that has been bookmarked. People would reach dead ends or marginal results most of the time if Wink didn't supplement their search results with results from . . . Google.

And its true. Somewhere down the line, all these new features and services are in a bid to slowly and steadily reduce Google's monopoly over the internet and its applications. But no matter what, only good can come out of this new concept, which will help organise the Internet, so that it can truly be used by people who might not be that technically sound. Today, if you want information on certain topics, a Technorati or a del.icio.us tag search will reveal all the information that you might need. If they don't, you always have sites like Google and Wikipedia to fall back on. But the former method should be good enough.

This will gain steam and improve as more and more people incorporate tagging as one of their regular browsing habits, hence revealing pages that neither human nor Google could knew existed which might contain tons of untapped information. Do your bit, begin bookmarking today! You'll reap the results soon. Kind of like a 'plant a tree' movement. Only, with information!

Filed Under: tagging, del.icio.us, flickr, yahoo

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Dumbledoretarian, on Mon Jan 30, 04:46:00 AM

Who says you need the whole world to tag or vote on teh results. Afterall we can determine which candidate is leading by use of polls. Though not perfectly accurate they do let us know who is leading, and 9 times out of 10 or probably higher then that pick our president. Statisticly a userbase of just a few spread out over the country or world would give us a general consensus of the internet population at large. Over time users who are lazy and prefer just to visit websites and fulfill searches will do just that, and the other users will make the results better for all of us. At Seekum we are working very hard at making the best search engine we can using nothing but user votes, and tags.

Anonymous, on Tue Jan 31, 10:28:00 AM

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They say mindsets constitute the present and future of an individual. Well, they say this for a reason.
It is what you think...that you become. Unfortunately, even today, a lot of us are forced to be conditioned under certain mindsets which have become an integral component of our lives and often the reason of our failures. We refuse to change, to explore new potentials and opportunities which maybe dormant within us...There cannot be any limitations on opportunities and dreams...we set our own limitations with our belief systems. Read this anecdote and you'll realise the importance of mindsets and continuous improvement:

A baby elephant born in a circus is trained from an early age to perform in the acts. After each performance, the elephant master takes the elephant outside and ties a chain around its ankle. Using a mallet, he hammers the chain into the ground to stop the elephant from escaping. The baby elephant pulls and pulls, but cannot break free. This happens after every performance.
The elephant grows, but the master continues to use the same chain. Eventually the elephant reaches its full size and still the master uses the same chain. However, over the years the elephant has stopped trying to break free from the chain, no longer even bothering to try.
It appears so obvious that all the elephant has to do, with its adult strength, is to pull once and it would be free, but the elephant has been conditioned to believe that it cannot break the chain.

If we cannot recognise the consequences of our limiting beliefs..we can never realise the immense potential of our future. Any change begins with the first step. It is this first step that lies between you and your dreams.
So go ahead...don't hesitate..make a difference...live your dream..and release the chained elephant in YOU

[thanks ~Shikha~]

Technorati Tags: behaviour, psychology

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There have been many arguments, and today, this topic is looked to as a fool's way of appearing intellectual. yet, its relevance in our lives right now is undeniably underanalyzed. people dismiss the ones who brave a face to complain against the system as one of the herd, but they don't see what the system has done, and is capable of doing to the future of this country. we, the school going students are touted the future generation and the ones who'll lead the nation into a new age. our english textbooks are filled to the brim with stories of sacrifice for the nation, and speeches made by influential leaders bidding the youth to dedicate their efforts and exertions to the betterment of the nation. j.s. rajput was accused of 'saffronising' the textbooks of class X, after which the curriculum was revised to look at life a bit more widely. however, the ghosts of the past come back to bite the posteriors of those who don't deal with it then and there. the motive of such provoking and baseless stories and poems are clear. they want us to learn to appreciate the country, and what it has done for us. by constantly bombarding us with nationalistic text, they think they can influence some of us to paint our faces saffron, white and green, and roam the streets cleansing it of the dirt which our forefathers and fathers have let settle throughout their times. they want to invoke the principals and patriotism that they couldn't inculcate in the past generations. little do they know, that with each passing generation, we become smarter and wide eyed. we understand more than what we see and hear. we speak less than what we mean and want. we know exactly what we want from life, and we rather mould our life than be a puppet in the mere hands of communist masters. with our examinations a mere month away, everyone is gruelling over text and facts few still follow and apply. instead of letting us approach life practically, we are made to understand the origin and the basics of every theory and conclusion from the pages of history. the reason? because we can't write a book without knowing the alphabet (or so they say). such idiosyncracies are a worthless waste of time, that prove nothing ... and result in nothing. yes. india does crank out the greatest brains and the greater work force than any other country in the world, but that is because the plastered mindset of parents to push their kids to go into high paying fields. engineering and medicine, even today, are the most sought after career options. about 20% of the total population has ever tried to break away from the norm and explore the other options available to them. i am glad to say that i am one of the 20%. parents put more pressure than anyone else. all in the name of wanting only the best. but how do they know the best when they have seen what their parents have shown them, and they have only followed what their ancestors have? it takes confidence to believe in ones'self, and break away from the norm. only a select few can achieve that. and its those select few, who can change the system ... and break the shackles of slumber!

Technorati Tags: education, careers

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blogging really has taken the world by storm, and those companies which were quick enough to jump on the bandwagon and avoid the proverbial deer-in-front-of-the-headlights situation, have made millions right now purely based on fascination at first, obsession second, and understanding and appreciation third. there are blogs everywhere, and blogs on everything. they have become universal repositories of information. a quote from my post on tagging -

for those who have been in the blogging sphere long enough, would have realised that blogging can be addictive, as well as informative. information should be readily available, and hence made useful! there are so many blogs out there which give you so much knowledge and raw information that you can readily drop out of school and just browse the blogs all day long. you'll gain so much out-of-the-way knowledge, that you'll be the textbook perfect street smart person. and if you watch or used to watch the apprentice, you would know that the street smarts are the one who take the cake! :D

but what makes blogging so appealing? there can be many factors, but most of all is the fact that blogs literally hand you the freedom of opinion and speech. blogs are like your personal newspapers, which you can publish free of cost. you can put in the news you like, give the comments you want and show it to the world to get feedback on your compilation. the difference between conventional newspapers and blogs is the personal touch. a blog strikes the reader at an emotional level, because blogs like yours and mine, which are of substance, always contain posts which are triggered by thoughts or events. every thought and/or event is backed by an emotion and a feeling. it is that feeling which, if worded properly, reaches out to the reader and manages to leave the same in-the-moment impact that it had on the author. that is what seperates good blogs from average everyday blogs.

blogging has become a big source of revenue. what with contenders like google offering money for a tiny square space on your page ... the lure of easy money is too much for the common man to avoid. again, that does not that every blog you see out there has an advertisement on it. many blogs just contain content with the sole intention of reaching out to audiences, not make money. however for blogs which have to pay their server bills and the myriad other pocket burning cashes, a source of revenue doesn't look so bad :P! people have invented new occupations because of blogs, and are flourishing in their business which relies so heavily on one of the most influential communication channel today. the most obvious example is Glenn Reynolds, a hyperactive law professor who churns out dozens of posts a day and has quickly become a huge presence in opinion journalism.

that said, the last word is this. blogging is something that is here to stay, for quite a while atleast. for people who love to write, or people who love to chronicle. critics who love to comment, and others who want a offhand anonymous opinion. with new uses coming out everyday, who knows where this'll end. who knows if it even will. but, if you haven't tried blogging yet, you're missing the biggest freedom you can enjoy today :)

Technorati Tags: blogs

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sometimes we do things that we're not proud of. things at which we look back and think, 'why oh why did i do that?'. things which you'll never want others to know ... if they don't already know. everyone has done something like that or the other, and everyone has seen what the consequences can be. i'm not here to tell you how bad you've been, and how disrespectful and derragatory you are. i'm here to praise you.

not a lot of people understand the folly in their actions. not many see that they've done something wrong. hypothetical justifications to suit ones situation is the first refuge of the guilty mind. and so strong is the temptation, that people actually begin to believe that that is exactly what happened, and they are not the guilty but the victim! that, is not who you are!

you are one of the many few, who have understood, analyzed and accepted the fact that what you did was wrong, and because of your actions the ones around you might have felt hurt, offended, or did not leave with a very good feeling. atleast you know that much. that is the best start. knowledge provokes thought. and thought, leads to actions. now, you'll begin to rectify the mistakes, and come out more learned and better for the experience. you will think twice before making the same decision and choice again.

having said that, i don't also mean that what you did can be justified, and its not that wrong. it was wrong, and thats why you should analyze and understand that it should not be done again. depending on the magnitude of this mistake, things should be considered and corrected. your life isn't long enough to make the same mistake more than once ... especially something that might cause harm to others or yourself in anyway.

i don't mean to sound like a spiritual lecturer, but this comes from something that happened last night. i'm not proud of it, neither do i feel guilty about it. i just think it was an experience that i should have gone through to understand why its wrong. hopefully, you have people around you to show that its wrong, like i did. i thank them (they know who they are) and hope, you go away feeling better and more educated after reading this.

Technorati Tags: psychology, thoughts, behaviour

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We're all given just one life to live. And no matter what anyone says, it's true, life is short. You don't even know how fast time travels. Just yesterday, when I got my excellence award. And today, I have just a few days left for my boards! And let's see how much I've valued life in those few days. Or wait, have I? Have I forgotten to be grateful that I have so much with me, have I forgotten to be grateful for the life God has bestowed me with? Have I forgotten that I am my own person, not a page out of someone else's notebook? Have I forgotten to be MYSELF? Today I wake up feeling liberated. The sun is shining, and it's shining right down on me. The sky looks blue. Why, I wonder. Have I forgotten to look at it so long? Have I become such a self centred person, that everything around me except ME seems dull? Have I made myself the only white in my black and white world? I've been gifted this one life, to make what I have of it. Not to be happy or sad by what OTHERS think of me. I have to be happy for myself. If I pull a red shirt out, I have to wear it because I LIKE red, not because someone else said it was a good colour. I have to live for myself, for in the end, I am all that I have. I'm not to let anyone else run my life for me. I'm to let THEM take MY pain away with them, when they leave, and the footprints left in my heart should be of what I have learnt, not of what THEY have put me through. I have to learn from my mistakes, not make the same ones again. It's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful life. I've just forgotten how to love it. But there's still time, still time for me to wake up and realize, yes, the glass may be half empty, but as Piku said, it's also half full! And so, in the words of Kelly Clarkson

Grew up in a small town And when the rain would fall down I'd just stare out my window Dreaming of what could be And if I'd end up happy I would pray Trying hard to reach out But when I tried to speak out Felt like no one could hear me Wanted to belong here But something felt so wrong here So I'd pray I could break away I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly I'll do what it takes, till I touch the sky And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change And break away Out of the darkness and into the sun But I won't forget all the ones that I love I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change And break away Wanna feel the warm breeze Sleep under a palm tree Feel the rush of the ocean Get on board a fast train Travel on a jet plane Far away, and break away… I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly I'll do what it takes, till I touch the sky And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change And break away Out of the darkness and into the sun But I won't forget all the ones that I love I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change And break away Buildings with a hundred floors Swinging round revolving doors Maybe I don't know where they'll take me But, gotta keep moving on, moving on Fly away, break away I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye, gotta Take a risk, take a chance, make a change And break away Out of the darkness and into the sun But I won't forget the place I come from I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change And break away Break away Break away… Yes, today, I will break away….

Originally posted by Akanksha 'Nemesis' Chawla

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on another note, it doesn't matter what life throws at you, and how much you suffer, hurt or feel pain.

life goes on...

Aditya, on Sat Jan 28, 01:14:00 AM

it does not matter because life throws more pain at you than the happier moments. the smiles are just water spots on the long winding road through the scorching desert.

enjoy the good moments while they last, they won't last forever. don't lose your heart over the painful times, they will get over.

Aditya, on Sat Jan 28, 03:17:00 AM

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due to problems with performancing, and my finicky nature ... not to mention my quest to minimize efforts to bookmark my posts, i've shifted my blog here! all the archive pages remain on the old blog address, but that will no longer be updated. please update your bookmarks.

even if you don't, you will automatically get redirected here unless you're viewing one of the individual post pages. links will get updated with time!

thank you for your co-operation, and sorry for the inconvenience! :)

Technorati Tags: updates

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We are governed by certain principles, and the certain rules. Our mind functions in a certain way, and our actions are the result of what we feel and what we think. Man is the only animal which can reach a balance between feeling and thinking. He can understand the consequences of his actions, and then with a certain result in mind can effectively dedicate himself to the task. But, the question here is how much?

I was thinking about it a few days back, and though its a question of sentiments, emotions and feelings, I believe there is still a mathematical relation to it. The equations remain to be invented, but the basic theology goes like this. Just like sherlock holmes once described the mind as an attic having finite ability to store furniture (information, as is the case with the mind) ... so is the fact that the result of an action is influenced by the sum of two variables - what the mind thinks, and what the heart feels.

The mind is something which contains intelligence. Its rationality, practicality and intelligence clumped into one small place. All those three factors affect each other and hence the final output from that part of the body. The mind will always direct the body to do whatever is the more sensible thing, and whatever is the right thing. It will never make us do that might result in personal harm, pain ... or even something that might affect the person negatively. Hence, the most pragmatic approach!

The heart, is the opposite. It'll bid to do whatever causes the least amount of pain to others, and one it loves. No matter the pain, hurt or thought involved. The righteousness or rationalities are forgotten, or pushed aside. If something can be done which will rid someone it loves off pain and discomfort, it will not think twice before pushing the body to go ahead with it. All it wants is the person it loves to be happy.

Now, the final action is the sum of these two variables, and which of the two has more influence (higher value). The ideal situation, which surfaces in very few cases, is when both the variables share an equal magnitude and hence have an equal influence. In this case, the step taken is usually the only one possible. However, as in most cases, if any of the two takes a higher value, its tendencies will dominate the final action taken, and hence the consequences will be seen. Now, how do we know which one will have the higher influence? That, my friends, depends from people to people. Ones who are akin to thinking and acting, will have a more developed response to reality, and hence think hard and well before they take any step. But the ones who feel, and are sensitive to things, will usually have a higher value for the 'heart' variable, and hence their actions will be to first comfort their loved ones, and then think about themselves.

But, in the end, man is a very complicated animal, and hence there many sub-variables to these two variables which have to be taken under consideration. To list them here will take long since they are many, including the proximity to the people involved in a situation, how the outcome might affect them, how the outcome might affect the do-er, and so on. Hence I'm not going into that aspect of it. With this knowledge, maybe it'll be easier for you to predict what yours and others behaviour and reaction to certain situations might be. Again, I might be wrong with my theory, but hopefully I'm not. Any arguments (as is usual with the theories) are more than welcome!

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"the ideal situation, which surfaces in very few cases, is when both the variables share an equal magnitude and hence have an equal influence. in this case, the step taken is usually the only one possible."
It may not be ideal to experience an equal magnitude of both variables. It may be ideal to experience the 'variable' appropriate for a given context or situation without any influence of the other variable.

[edit] originally posted by ~Shikha~

Aditya, on Mon Feb 13, 06:55:00 AM

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it just seems like yesterday that i saw you. it seems so close, yet i know that it will never be the same again. two years ago, i didn't know you existed, and today, you are everything to me. without you, my thoughts seem empty, confused, forced and dark. i am but a ghost of myself, and i can only look on ... and wait for my life to come back to me. i faced the same thing two years ago, same time. and ironically, i'm facing the same thing again this time. i am not complaining ... i will take the pain, for its mine to own. i fell in love with you in the first week of meeting and talking to you. later, you told me you didn't care who i was at that time. strangely, i think you feel the same way now too. the more i understood you as a person, your gifts, your abilities, your words, your attitudes, your meanness ... the more i fell in love with you. i didn't love you inspite of them all, i began to love them all. we started out as friends. friends ... for you, for i knew what i wanted from you, just didn't know how to say it, or if i were right to think that way either. you said things which hurt, which pained my heart to know. but i persevered, because i knew that i couldn't be wrong. you were the person i thought you were, and i knew you would someday come around to love me. sometimes, i hung by a thread to that hope, but slowly, you pulled me up and confirmed what i always knew. i was never wrong to be in love with you. i was never wrong to love you. you've always blamed yourself and have wanted to change what you feel about me, but i am happy with what you think and feel. all i asked, was to be shown what you felt, and not live in silent affirmation and security, that you'd be there for me no matter what. silence, has never been my prerogative. its what i've adopted, and regretted. i always told you i loved you, and you just smiled in return. it was those times that a word would have moved to reinforce the feeling, the thought.

the years went on, we had some of the loveliest moments. remember night out? the bus ride back to school? i can't ever forget that ... just thinking about it still warms my heart with a rekindled fire. remember the yamuna trip? the ride to the place and then back to school? how beautiful you looked with that innocence on your face, and your head on my shoulder, in dreamland where only you knew what you saw and felt. maybe i was there too ... ... just maybe i was... we used to speak late at nights, you used to whisper and tell me that i shouldn't feel bad if you cut off the phone suddenly, if your parents came in to the room. you never did cut off the phone, and we ended the conversation with a smile on our faces. sleep came quickly, and dreams were always of you on a green field under a blue sky. something like the windows xp desktop wallpaper :P but everything, just pushed my love to greater heights, and it threatened to burst out anyday. then, it happened. all it took was two months, and then not getting the attention that i had gotten so used to over those two months. you made more friends, and the little bit of security that i had developed, got lost in a day. you became angry, because you thought i was becoming too possessive, and in a week, we broke off ... and then was to start a series of events, which slowly pulled us apart from each other. you made more friends, while i buckled myself into isolation. living with those blissful memories of my angel, and the never diminishing love in my heart, i began the efforts to build back what i had lost. i became more accepting of the other people in your life. i learnt to back away when asked to, and not feel bad when you didn't talk to me. i realised, that to keep you as a friend, i was sacrificing all the things i cherished, and all the feelings that i held so close to me. you were changing, and so was i. you didn't think of me as you used to, and i couldn't understand what was happening.

many things happened, which caused insurmountable amount of pain. i spent weeks on end without sleep and just spending days in a daze. my studies suffered, i lost valuable time. people around me had never seen me like this, and you either chose not to see all this, or you just didn't care. twice, it came close to being over, of us going our own seperate ways. and both times, our collective efforts kept it in existence. those efforts seem so futile today... then, something happened which looked to me like the ray of hope that i had come to desperately seek. and once shown the chance, i didn't lose it. i doubled my efforts to bring us back to what we used to be, and suddenly, i didn't have to try so hard anymore. it was as spontaneous as it was in the beginning of the year. we started talking more, you began enjoying my company more. i loved talking to you again. we had a lot of things to talk about, and so little time to do it in. everything was falling back in place. 'i just might believe in god, yet' i thought... ... if i only knew... you became more accepting to my faults, and forgiving of my mistakes. i kept my anger to myself, and hurts locked up in my heart. we made compromises that kept us together, and all our differences seemed so irrelevant. it just felt right, and felt in place, like what happened was meant to be. but, life had other plans. it showed me that in the battle that i fought to keep you, it always had had the upper hand. it just played with me, gave me a false sense of hope, that i might win yet. it was plotting, planning to strike the final blow. it hit when it was expected. i saw it coming, but couldn't do anything about it. nothing was in my hands anymore. and in a flash, i lost it all ...

today, i stand alone on the rock, which i had once explained to you so vividly. the same rock, that i had wanted to be on with you next to me, looking down on a city, and watching the sunset over the horizon. today i stand, with the sun gone down, the city covered under a layer of fog, and the moon looking down on me with an angry shade of orange. i can no longer put you through more pain because of my insecurities, and my hurts. my anger and life are my own. i have been blessed to know you, and have your love and company for whatever time i did. i'll never forget what you did for me, and i'll never forget what you mean to me. you'll always be with me in my heart, in my thoughts and in my dreams. those memories are what will keep me going when all else fails. a memory, that somewhere i have an angel, who i love very much. and is the reason that i spent two years of my life, the happiest boy on earth. so, with a tip of my hat, a raised glass and a tear down my cheek ... i wish you the very best, and the happiest life anyone could ask for. you deserve every bit of it, for you truly are an angel, a princess, and most of all, a great friend. it was a pleasure knowing you. remember! she will be loved ... and i'll always love you. Filed Under: tribute, thoughts, princess

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