


There are weird days when you wake up, and you want to throw something. The day goes on. You hate everything around you. You've dreamt of your own funeral. And guess what happened in my dream? Right, so they find me lying in my room, a mess on the floor. Then they place me in this big black coffin. Then all the people I've ever known and loved are there, making speeches, or just crying, or acting like they cared, anyway.
It was just a dream, but you cried in it, and you gave a speech. For the first time in my life I felt like I meant something. Not just a stupid crumb of cheese or a blot of mustard.
There are days when you wake up, and you think the world is beautiful. There are days when people call you up, and they're nice to you, they just want to ask how you're doing. It feels nice to be thought of, doesn't it? It feels nice sometimes, to just look at your boring old 17th century cell phone and see a 'one message received' It feels nice, sometimes, to receive one line mails from someone, even if they're just telling you to go onto their blog.
It sometimes feels nice to know you're being thought of, whoever it's by. It sometimes makes all the difference in the world to know that once you're gone, there may be people who'll miss you. There may be people who'll think of you, and maybe shed a tear or two. There maybe be people who could love you, your parents, for instance. In the long run, you forget to thank them everyday for doing all that they do for you, don't you? It sometimes feels nice to just have someone to talk to. It sometimes feels nice to be by yourself, then sweetly have that privacy lost.
Life is long, isn't it?
I just realised, I am a REALLY awful writer. And to think I was hoping to be editor. HA!
Ok, so women in India were held under subjugation for a long period of time. Fine, there were no suffragette movement, and whatever position the women have gained, is because of their role in the freedom struggle (thank you Panicker), but does that mean it is supposed to be celebrated like this? Do we celebrate and pedestalise people like Sanjeev Kapoor for being one of the best cooks in India, because cooking is (traditionally) a women's department? What kind of idiosyncracy is this?
Any self-respecting woman will explain her motivation to foray into a field as her want to tread those waters, and make a name for herself. Not because women everywhere are matching men in every sphere, and hence she is also trying to do her part in putting women up at par with men. I have heard 50 year old aunties give this as a reason for managing businesses and becoming names in the corporate sector. Is this really what the women of India want to be known for? That they threw over the regime which was controlled by men (another ballyhoo in my opinion), and revolutionised the way people saw the womenfolk? Why do women still call themselves the fairer sex, and underpriveleged ... when there are men now who are trying to fight for there right to leading a respectable life?
We create reservations in our parliament for women, so that they can have an equal say and participation in the ruling of the country. What this does is reduce the number of people who are qualified from taking those posts, because that seat is supposed to hold a woman's ass, not a man's! Reserving for the backward classes is a different thing (debatable, but different), but appointing a person just because she is a woman, doesn't show progress ... it shows a lack of judgement, foolhardy and reactionary tendencies.
Please people! Wake up to the fact. Women who think they are held under subjugation and oppression need to learn to look out of the box, and try to come out of the shell, instead of sitting there and crying that they aren't given a chance. Its not like men are served jobs and posts on a silver platter. We have to work for it too you know! But the most saddening aspect of this whole situation is the fact that there are some shameless women, who use these laws and norms to their advantage. Who threaten authorities with a lawsuit stating bias against women as a reason, when clearly they are nowhere near to being qualified for even consideration. They are the true scum of the earth!
We must see what restrictions and laws like these are doing to the country. And yes, seeing women treated equally was Gandhi's dream, but he's dead and gone. Plus, he was nothing more than a clever politician. He did well for the country, but for selfish motives. Glamourising a natural step towards progress doesn't only kill its who purpose, but shows what a shell we live in...
[Don't call me a chauvinist ... I call 'em as a I see 'em!]
okay, now since Aditya seems to be an integral part of a "pack", i thought it would be good if his "pack" knew more about this google prodigy, seeing as how the posts are just not central enough. :P
ahem
now, to begin with, i shall describe aditya vikram mukherjee to you. skinny. REALLY skinny. has glasses, which he wears (and looks MUCH better in them) occasionally. has very very ruffly hair, which thankfully he's grown thanks to reference from yours truly. now. i will begin with the good, the bad and the ugly sides to aditya mukherjee. aditya is really really simple and down to earth. he knows what he wants out of life. he's humble, and sweet, and caring, and there for you, and doesn't shut up when he knows there's something that you're not telling him. at times, he can really get on your nerves, but then there are times when it's like he's the nicest guy in the world. he's there for you. it's as simple as that. there are times when just talking to him can change your entire outlook of the day. there are times when not talking to him can make you want to throw something. there are times when you talk to him, and he's just rambling on about google and stuff, and the things he says actually interest you. there are times when you really just want to get to know him. there are times when you're so mad at him you wonder HOW you know him. there are times when you feel you're lucky to know him, there are times when he can be the nicest person in the entire world, and there are times when he can really really hurt you and not even know it. but i guess that's something that's to everyone, right?
he's one of the smartest people i know, even though he starkly denies it. he's really logical, and really AWESOME at all weird tech-oriented things, and he knows how to make cookies and bookmarklets and god knows what. he's one of the best musicians in our entire school. AND he has an awesome voice. but there's a lot more than that. he's just a plain--awesome human being. and i'm really proud of knowing him.
and i have no idea why i'm writing this, i guess it seemed more appealing than writing an analysis of the Ahmediya Movement, something i was originally intent on doing :P:P
okay, and since i'm probably never going to see him again, i just wanna raise a toast to one of the nicest people i know! cheers!
nemesis
The assumption is, that the possession of material commodities is what makes men happy. It is thought that a man who has two rooms and two beds and two loaves must be twice as happy as someone who has one room, one bed, and one loaf of bread.
Now seriously! What gave him that idea? No matter how many rooms or beds you have, you will end up using just one! So how does that make you happier? If at all, it will make you sadder to see how alone you are when the next room is empty, and the next bed is unused!
When a man moves into a large house in a more genteel quarter, he reflects that 'better' people will call on his wife, and some unprosperous cronies of former days can be dropped. When he sends his son to a good school or an expensive university, he consoles himself for the heavy fees by thoughts of the social kudos to be gained. /p>
Now, its pretty obvious that the thought that people have a heart might not have struck Mr. Russell. Couldn't it be that the man sent his son (which I'm surprised the CBSE didn't change to daughter) to an expensive school because he wanted him to get the best education possible? And why will he want people to call on his wife and not him anyway? A larger house can be bought for better comfort, don't you think? Why does it just have to be to show off? Some people might genuinely feel more 'spaced' out!
The greater ferocity to modern war can be attributable to machines, which operate in three different ways. First, they make it possible to have larger armies. Secondly, they facilitate a cheap Press, which flourishes by appealing to men's baser passions. Thirdly - and this is the point that concerns us - they starve the anarchic, spontaneous side of human nature, which works underground, producing an obscure discontent, to which the thought of war appeals as affording possible relief.
Huh!? No, I literally mean HUH?? Which anarchic side is he talking about? The one which makes us go 'Whooptidoo!' at 12:30 in the morning? Oh wait! Normal people don't do that! What are man's baser passions? To create war? I don't think so. If he needs a change, there are a thousand things to be done except fight. Video Games! XBox, Playstation! Every heard of those things? Television! C'mon, the football game Saturday evening! Which planet are you from boy!!
But orthodox psychoanalysis has unduly simplified our unconscious purposes, which are numerous, and differ from one person to another.
Now, who the hell talks like that!? Oh wait! I know....! 3 Clues! He's white, his idea of dancing is Neo's style of dodging bullets, and we all call him horsey! Any guesses?
Bertrand Russell once wrote an essay on An Outline Of Intellectual Rubbish. Now I don't know if he wrote that before he wrote this, but surely something is amiss over here!
The rest is just werid ballyhoo which I really don't want to type out and analyse! All this struck me when I was reading the chapter, and to save myself from falling asleep, I decided to share these sudden realisations with you all! Please feel free to rant about this essay, I shall print them and mail them to CBSE if I have enough!
Filed Under: essay, bertrand russel
First they face lawsuits from Perfect 10, and now these kinds of ads are showing up... are Google actually seeing a market in pornography, and trying to make some money out of it? Obviously this is not expected of a company with Google's reputation. The worse part being that these ads show up in Google Groups, which can be accessed by many kids and elderly alike. I guess they'd have a filter for blocking all this somewhere, but I haven't looked into it!
In anyway, we expect Google to show some more sense rather than start posting such ads! Shame on you Google!
Filed Under: google
An important lesson I learnt from crayons was... There are all types of them. Long ones. Short ones. Ugly ones like Burnt Sienna. Pretty ones like Fuschia Pink. Fat ones. Thin ones. Ones I used more, Ones I broke more. But at least they've all learnt to live in the same box.It's time my Time Machine started working. Nemesis
OK. Piku (aditya on the posts, aditya on the comments) asked me to blog here. So, doing it now. I have to say just one good thing about this day:
Thank God it's almost over.
Right. So I hear you ask, why? I'll tell you why: (or as ms mitra would say, developments/evaluation/reasons/causes/wtf i really couldn't care anymore)
AMEN. I TOTALLY DESERVE TO ROT IN ANTARCTICA. GOOD RIDDANCE TO THIS STUPID STUPID WORLD.
AKANKSHA CHAWL
It struck me as to how powerful the abiility of an appreciative word is. If someone appreciates what you do, and encourages you to continue doing it, or go higher if possible ... there are literally no limits defined to which you might be willing to streth yourself, if only to reach their expectations. But then again, this holds true only if the person encouraging you means something to you. Ofcourse, someone off the street who shows belief in you, will immediately become that much closer to your heart, and a part of your mind which you'll remember for a while. The best way to befriend someone is to appreciate them. Its the only weakness that every human being on the face of the earth has. Some know how to handle it, but some fall victim to it.
Appreciate what people around you do for you, for there are people who have lived all their life without getting even 10% of the encouragement that they deserved, but they still have survived and led happy lives. You are lucky to have people around you who can see the result of your efforts before you do yourself, and push you to reach there faster. And after all, you aren't supposed to make efforts because of the results ... you make efforts for your own satisfaction. But that is a different story and post altogether!
The human mind thrives on support. Even one person supporting you gives you the amount of security you might need to work harder. Your motivation factors get divided amongst the thought of the final result, the expectations and belief put in your by the person, and the confidence in your actions that you hold for yourself. Suddenly, instead of just you believing in yourself, you have a few other people believing in you. Since man, as they say, is a social animal ... the knowledge that they alone don't think a certain way, and there are people around them who think the same way, and are willing to invest time and patience in them, is enough for most people to be pushed into putting extra bit of work. It might be your supportive boss, or your parents, or even your friends. It could be anyone at all ... because at the end of the day, the pat on the back is just a sign of reassurance that there is someone there who knows you are capable of big things.
Filed Under: psychology, people
The first thing to understand is how Blogger writes comments to your blog posts. It utilises the tag <$BlogCommentAuthor$> to write out the details of the author of the comment with a link to the profile. This is the bit of code that you need to tap. But for my hack to work, your entire comment (including the body with the <$BlogCommentBody$>) has to be included in one element. The author details can themselves be included in a subelement (span for my blog), with the respective style attached to it, but one comment block should be in one element. It doesn't matter what that element is, just has to be one which is not used randomly in the entire blog ... so that it can be referenced without creating too much interference with other similar elements. Now comes the dirty part. The Javascript code...
I'll write out the bit of code first, and then we'll understand how it works!
function author_change(){ var str=/*your profile number*/ var d=document.getElementsByTagName('*element name containing your comment author tag*') for(var i=0;i<d.length;i++){ if(d.item(i).innerHTML.match(str) && d.item(i).id=="comment"){ /* use CSS to Javascript properties to change the values, or assign it a different class using the 'className' property as d.item(i).className='something' */ } } }[Edit]: Sample Comment Display Code to make the above code work:
<BlogItemComments> <a name="<$BlogCommentNumber$>"></a> <div id="comment"> <$BlogCommentBody$> <span id="byline">By <$BlogCommentAuthor$>, at <a href="#<$BlogCommentNumber$>"><$BlogCommentDateTime$><$BlogCommentDeleteIcon$></a> </span> </div> </BlogItemComments>
The variable str holds the bit of data that you want to search your elements for, which is your profile ID. You can get it by going to your profile page, and selecting the entire set of numbers at the end, and pasting it there. The variable d, will hold an array of the element which you enter here. Notice that for my blog, my comments are stored in a p element, so my element searched for here is p. NOTE: The quotes are part of the syntax, do not remove them! Just replace only the coloured text.
The next stuff is pretty straight forward. Its completely automated, and all you have to do is enter the steps it should take everytime it finds your comment. That goes into the red part, and it will apply those settings everytime it finds a match!
Thats it! Simple! Now all you have to do is, in your body tag, you have add this bit of code: onload="author_change()"
You are set! Save and republish your blog. Then go to the individual post pages, and see if your comments are coloured or not! If they are, congratulations ... if they're not, drop me a line! Enjoy!
[Edit (5/3/2006)]: I realised that not a lot of people figured this out. This hack is only for inline comments, as has been implemented on my blog. There's a nice little tutorial to do that from Blogger (here), so first change your template to have that. The only way to use this hack on the existing comments page is to use a Greasemonkey script and Stylish for Firefox. I'll work on those later!
Formed in 2001, Prestorika have been an active part of the Indian rock scene for all these years. It has been a long journey indeed. Whether it be belting out hard hitting riffs, to executing a high energy set they do it with sheer formidable force. Making their presence felt each time they take stage, they surely are the new stalwarts of the rock scene. Their recent performances includes winning MTV campus rock idols (The biggest battle of the bands of the country), Mood Indigo IIT Mumbai, British Council (New Delhi), their ride strongly on the musical front with their feet firmly on the ground. Prestorika over the years has evolved as a multivitamin capsule disseminating tons of energy at the audiences, leaving them chanting for more. Inspired by the classical metal acts and tastes varying from each individual they have come in terms with their original sound.
Guitars, are just a listener's dream. With most of the solos I heard yesterday being played by Lokesh, and Gurtej adding a few here and there ... they truly were maestros at work. The riffs were fast, with every technique in the book under heavy use. Seeing someone shred and use harmonics not more than a 50 yards away from you, makes you leave each and every act, thought and just just look. Thats what happened to me. A 10 minute head bang session to one of their riffs has left me with a stiff neck, but the half an hour performance by these genius' was worth anything at that time.
Its so heartening to say that such a band came from Delhi residences, and has reached where they have. Their album Emergence is available for purchase at RSJOnline , and its one album which I will recommend to any fan of modern rock with hints of and influences of the holy grail of classic rock. I loved them as easily the best performance above bands like Demonic Resurrection and Zero, and I'm sure you'll love them too!
[edit]: next update, news from the frontlines!
Filed Under: prestorika, GIR, rock
slowly the leaves of my memory fall... gently i collect and gather them all... today, tomorrow, and every day through, i shall always be thinking of you.i'd really like to find out WHO invented this word, then SLAP them HARD across the face. period. i'll just end with this thing i heard once:
"to meet and part is the way of life, to part and meet is the hope of life".but what do you do if the thread of hope is just not strong enough to hold on?
There's a silence surrounding me I can't seem to think straight I'll sit in the corner No one can bother me | I think I should speak now I can't seem to speak now My words won't come out right I feel like I'm drowning | I'm feeling weak now But I can't show my weakness I sometimes wonder Where do we go from here | Why won't you talk to me You never talk to me What are you thinking What are you feeling | Why won't you talk to me You never talk to me What are you thinking Where do we go from here |
The Decision: What Google Is Doing in China The deliberative process and analysis outlined above led to the following decisions.Thanks guys!(1) Launch Google.cn. We have recently launched Google.cn, a version of Google’s search engine that we will filter in response to Chinese laws and regulations on illegal content. This website will supplement, and not replace, the existing, unfiltered Chinese-language interface on Google.com. That website will remain open and unfiltered for Chinese-speaking users worldwide.
(2) Disclosure of Filtering Google.cn presents to users a clear notification whenever links have been removed from our search results in response to local laws and regulations in China. We view this a step toward greater transparency that no other company has done before.
(3) Limit Services Google.cn today includes basic Google search services, together with a local business information and map service. Other products – such as Gmail and Blogger, our blog service – that involve personal and confidential information will be introduced only when we are comfortable that we can provide them in a way that protects the privacy and security of users’ information.
Next Steps: Voluntary Industry Action
Google supports the idea of Internet industry action to define common principles to guide the practices of technology firms in countries that restrict access to information. Together with colleagues at other leading Internet companies, we are actively exploring the potential for guidelines that would apply for all countries in which Internet content is subjected to governmental restrictions. Such guidelines might encompass, for example, disclosure to users, protections for user data, and periodic reporting about governmental restrictions and the measures taken in response to them.
Next Steps: U.S. Government Action
The United States government has a role to play in contributing to the global expansion of free expression. For example, the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative should continue to make censorship a central element of our bilateral and multilateral agendas.
Moreover, the U.S. government should seek to bolster the global reach and impact of our Internet information industry by placing obstacles to its growth at the top of our trade agenda. At the risk of oversimplification, the U.S. should treat censorship as a barrier to trade, and raise that issue in appropriate fora.
[Update]: here's something more to show you how much Google cares! (link)
Men have physical needs, and they have emotions. While physical needs are unsatisfied, they take first place; but when they are satisfied, emotions unconnected with them become important in deciding whether a man is to be happy or unhappyEveryone is constantly trying to find new and exciting ways to break away from this reality that we've managed to chain ourselves into. Which is why books, pieces of literature, media ... anything which manages to deviate from the path of the realm of the real, no matter how pathetic an attempt it might be, gets recognition because the writer/author is said to have exemplary imaginative abilities!
Today, everyone offers tagging and 'social' bookmarking at some level. Even Google joined the fray (article). And companies like ma.gnolia, though not offering anything unique (atleast in the beta) are trying to come up with a better and faster interface than others. I just got invited to the beta test, and their bookmarking is slightly more tedious than del.icio.us'. But it got me making my own bookmarklet, because the one that they gave didn't work. You can grab it here if you want! (ma.gnolia ). Webosphere is touting ma.gnolia as the del.icio.us killer...! I won't go as far as that, especially after seeing its beta phase features and offers.
Flickr lets you bookmark photos, and now a company called Dabble, is giving you the option of tagging and organising videos. They offer a sleek interface, with audio and image bookmarking options coming soon.
All these services only clutter the space, in place of innvating. They are going Microsoft's way, and the reason people don't like them too much. They are trying to rewrite what exists, instead of building on it and making something more useful and amazing. I hope they realise this sooner, so that we can benefit faster and the web 2.0 burst continues longer!
Why do we love?
I refuse to believe that love is just a reaction of a few chemicals in the brain, simply because love in itself is such a complicated feeling that people have died for it. Surely a chemical alone is not responsible for it! Is it in a quest to complete ones'self? Or keep that one person so close that you'll know that you aren't alone fighting this world and trying to live a life...? Is it just the feeling of being loved that drives us to love others? If it is all this ... then why look for someone else's love, when all these feelings exist within your house and amongst your family?
Surely its not because of the physical aspect of a relationship? That is not love then ... is it? If that is so, then the only difference between your family and your spouse is sex ... which does sound absurd! Its blatantly confusing. I guess we'll never truly figure out what drives us to seek love outside the four walls of our house (more than four for the architecturally challenged )
At this point of time, I'd prefer my parents and my family's love to anyone elses, because atlesat my family's love is fixed. Its content and constant. I won't lose it because of the way i dress, look or talk to them. Similarly, I don't love them because of the things they buy for me ... I love them because they are my support system, who are always there to help me and lookout for me whenever I might need them. And I am willing to do the same, as soon as I am capable of doing such a thing...
I don't think we'll ever realise why is it that we love ... family or anyone else...!
[edited] i realised how dangerously close this comes to Valentine's Day. this is not meant to diss anyone who might enjoy celebrating the day with their 'loved' one. This also has no connection to any person living or dead. Any similarities is accidental and unintentional. [continuation of Love Is Only A Feeling]Your HTTPS web history will never be shared with your other computers, whether or not you allow indexing HTTPS items on one of your computers.(Desktop Features Page) Although, concerned authorities think otherwise!
Digital civil rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation is warning that the latest version of the Google Desktop application may pose a serious risk to your privacy. But the EFF says that the laws protecting data held in this manner are far from robust. In fact, it becomes much easier for legal parties to get hold of your data by forcing Google to hand it over if it is keeping a copy of it, particularly governments.(courtsey PC Pro) That being the case, I have doubts as to if the motives of offering this feature are completely consumer driven. If you remember, a while back the Bush Administration had asked Google and other leading search companies to hand over their copies of the search terms and queries to supposedly track down illegal pornography (story here). This might be something of an aftermath of that lawsuit, which Google is trying to hide under the covers of a 'new feature'. Who knows what Google is upto? But whatever this is, the ease of usability and added convenience is amazing, and I am sure those who know that they've remained on the right side of the law, will gladly welcome this feature since it gives them the convenience of storing the important files from a secure and easy to access storage spot! Now, if only they would come out clean and tell us what their main motive behind this new feature is... Filed Under: google
To love is to give someone else the power to destroy you, but trusting them not to!It's a very well said line, and always comes back to haunt me everytime I think about my 'that-special-someone'. Love, as far as my thoughts guide me, don't give meaning to life. Rather, the lives of two people give meaning to the love between them. This play of words may get very interesting for few, boring for others, but if you can, try and make sense out of it. Love is never the final destination, it is rather the journey. Many people might misunderstand this concept. They think that by 'going-out' with a person (or the love of their life), they will be together through thick and thin. It's really good to hear, but then nothing on earth comes for free. Everything needs some amount of work to be put in, and love is no exception. By 'going-out', you're actually starting of a journey, which will test both of you. You're in for a treat and the time of your life! Its not easy to see yourself through, and many have been driven to do things they never thought they would, especially for another person, but then again, love is the realisation that someone other than you is for real! Its only the strong and determined who eventually succeed. Even if they don't, at the end, have the person they like with them, they have the experience and feelings which make them a better person. Only good can come out of good. What makes a difference, is what you perceive that good to be ...
You should not look to your love to complete you as a person. If you do, then you'll invariably end up with two incomplete souls.
A little girl and her father were crossing a bridge. The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter, "Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river." The little girlSo, don't be afraid to hold that someone's hand. They might not know, but they might need you any moment...
said, "No, Dad. You hold my hand." "What's the difference?" Asked the puzzled father..
"There's a big difference," replied the little girl. "If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go..."
In any relationship, the essence of trust is not in its bind, but in its bond. So hold the hand of the person whom you love rather than expecting them to hold yours...
A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother of pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?" "This is heaven, sir," the man answered. "Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" The man asked. "Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up." The man gestured, and the gate began to open. "Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" The traveler asked. "I'm sorry; sir, but we don't accept pets." The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going. After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road which led through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book. "Excuse me!" He called to the reader. "Do you have any water?" "Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there" The man pointed to a place that couldn't be seen from outside the gate. "Come on in." "How about my friend here?" The traveler gestured to the dog. "There should be a bowl by the pump." They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The traveler filled the bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree waiting for them. "What do you call this place?" The traveler asked. "This is heaven," was the answer. "Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was heaven, too." "Oh, you mean the place with the Gold Street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell." "Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?" "No. I can see how you might think so, but we're just happy that they screen out the folks who'll leave their best friends behind."When faced with glory and happiness, we tend to forget the ones who stood by us when things were not as rosy. I know people in my life who have done that, and given me a hard time when they didn't need me. Life has a good way of teaching lessons, ones which get reinforced the first time they are taught. Never forget the ones who stand behind you just because you can't see them. The reason you are in front, is because they are behind you...
When you comment on a blog, coComment keeps a copy of your message on a special page - called "your conversations" - that allows you to quickly see your comment and where it was posted, with a link to the original site. Display all the comments you make accross the blogosphere on your own blog. In one easy step you can show your readers where you've been commenting recently. Don't lose the value you create on other's blogs, benefit from it! Whether you've commented on a blog or you're just following a blog-based conversation of interest to you, coComment can let you know what's been added to a particular discussion in real time.This is in accordance with the whole concept of organised and contextual information, which is what Web 2.0 originally stands for. I hope to see more companies move and put efforts into bringing information to a more constructive level, so that we can gain maximum from each other ... and ideas and opinions can be consolidated to give maximum impact and command maximum influence. Filed Under: comments
The interface looks a lot the same. The tabs bar has been moved above the address bar ... not the way I am used to it. Thumbnail previews weren't there, and I tried with a lot of tabs too. Tab width has been lessened, probably to allow a lot more tabs to be able to fit in without the need for scrolling. Its still fast, although the left hand panel's bar is not enabled by default.
Now, for the good part! The Widgets. Safe to say, Opera is trying to make a foray into the extensions front with this. Widgets will be however completely HTML and Javascript based, or all out AJAX based. Once enabled, a small 3 button bar pops up at the right hand bottom corner, with buttons to add, remove and pin the widgets. I tried loading up two widgets, the 'Hello World' animation widget, and the 'Free Dictionary' widget. However, both of them got stuck on the screen, and showed nothing more than what was under them ... in this case, a fixed impression of the girl in the bikini on Opera's homepage. I don't know if this is because of something wrong with my computer, or something to do with Opera, but I hope they get this fixed fast, since this feature does look very promising.
I haven't given any of the others a try, because the two most hyped features disappointed me. Now I am waiting for the next call from Opera land! Hope they work in one go this time...
They will be charged from 1/4 to 1 cent for each email; the email thus paid for will receive preferential treatment. For example, with AOL the email will go straight to inboxes, and not have to pass through any of the spam filters AOL uses. Messages will also be marked as AOL Certified E-Mail. Don't worry, unpaid-for email will still be delivered, but it won't get this special treatment.
Michael Kinsley made me laugh a decade ago when he argued against Web populists replacing professional writers, saying that when he goes to a restaurant, he wants the chef to cook his entree, not the guy sitting at the next table. I'm not laughing anymore: When there are millions of aspiring chefs in the room willing to make your dinner for free, a least a hundred of them are likely to deal a good meal.A very good point. Bloggers reach out to the people on a more personal level. Journalists usually stay away from making personal comments or what they feel, because they know the magnitude of people who are going to read that article. Plus, they don't want negative publicity either, because today journalists are already under a lot of bashing because of dropping quality and more focus on sensationalism rather than usability. Like Amir Khan said on an interview with NDTV/24x7, that today a headline and its following story is shown with booming background music, the presenter constantly asking questions in a tone which hint at trying to provoke a sense of thrill ... they have turned news into soap operas. They dramatise the news so much to attract the viewer into being emotionally involved with it, that they forget to add the details which actually matter to the person watching. Bloggers aren't restricted by that. They know exactly what they want to say, and they know exactly what others around them want. After all, a teacher won't know how to make studying fun. You need to speak to the students to understand what they want in their lessons, don't you? Similarly, journalists sitting in offices will not understand or know what the average person wants to know about. They can be delusional about it, which 80% of them are ... and thats what leads to experiments gone wrong such as the Delhi Times (here).
The newspaper guild (again, reporters, editors, publishers) can't compete by adding a few blogs here, blogging up coverage over there, and setting up "comment" sections. If newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters don't produce spectacular news coverage no blogger can match, they have no right to survive.Exactly! Instead of seeing the blogging universe as a threat, the media should learn from it. See the trends, see the patterns, and understand what the people actually want. Blogs only crop up when someone has something to say about something else happening around him/her, and they don't have a proper outlet. Ofcourse, you can't hand everyone their own column in a newspaper, but you can always throw in an article or two every once in a while which deals with those issues. That keeps everyone happy! (Did I just give them a way of killing off blogs?) Next in the lineup: Battle of the news channels! Filed Under: journalism, blogs, news
read more | digg storyWell, it’s high time we summed up the results of our today’s discussion. 1GB of RAM will be enough for almost any mainstream system. This amount of system memory guarantees comfortable work in all contemporary applications. You will even be able to run a few programs at the same time without much trouble when switching between them. The previous generation games will also run without delays with the maximum quality settings, and the latest games released in the end of last year will work fine with medium texture settings.
However, high-performance systems have to get 2GB of RAM. Gamers feel the need for this amount of system memory more than anybody else, if they want to be able to play the latest games with the high-quality image settings. Moreover, 2GB of RAM or even more than that will be very handy for professionals working in “heavy” applications processing large amounts of data.
So, I have every right to state that hardware enthusiasts do need 2GB of RAM in their systems. And this need will keep growing with the time. Therefore, we are going to take a closer look at the 2GB memory kits from the leading memory makers available in the today’s market in our next article. Especially, since we have already proven: the best way to install 2GB of RAM into your system is to get a 2-DIMM kit with 2x1GB modules.
AJAX is short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It has several possible applications, including its ability to update a Web page without refreshing the browser. This would allow for alerting a user if incorrect information is typed into a form as it is entered, dragging and dropping within a Web application, and rich navigational tools.
The popularity of the technology has grown recently, as companies like Microsoft and Google are now regularly including AJAX in their next-generation Web applications such as Web mail clients.IBM will spearhead the movement, donating software to both the Eclipse Foundation and Mozilla Corporation that would aid developers in developing and debugging AJAX applications. The toolkit would be the first to support multiple runtimes, including Dojo, OpenRico and Zimbra.
Others would be invited to include their extensions within the toolkit.
"By building a community of innovation around Open Ajax, we are ensuring that the Web remains a place where breakthroughs can occur and where developers can quickly create applications to transform how businesses and people use, interact and access information on the Internet," vice president of emerging technologies at IBM Rod Smith said.
[courtsey: betanews.com and Ed Oswald]
This is touted to be Opera's answer to Firefox's extensions. Widgets in the literal sense are small programs that run on the desktop, or the application which supports them. Its not clear at the moment if these widgets will run inside the Opera application, or run on the desktop and use Opera's engine. But good times are on the way for the Opera community (and I can see a very good reason for me to go back!). Original article here.
When one hovers over a tab, they'll get to see a thumbnail preview of the contents of that tab. This feature is there in the latest beta of IE7, but Firefox's engine prevents something like this from being added. The closest one can come to this is by using certain extensions like viamatic foxpose. But Opera will have this without any addons. Original article here.
I see good times for Opera lovers! And widgets will certainly get people buzzing with excitement at the prospect of getting to code for Opera.
One of New York's leading cultural institutions was about to undertake a costly study to find out which of its exhibits was most popular with visitors. Just before the consulting contract was signed, a committee member suddenly suggested asking the janitor where he had to mop the most...A little extra: "What we seek we already are" - Buddhist saying
A husband returned home from the butcher with the ham for Sunday brunch . As he walked into the house his wife asked, "Did you ask the butcher to cut the end off the ham?" "You didn't ask me to," replied the husband. "We always cut the end off," said the wife. "Why?" asked the husband. "I don't know," said the wife. "That is what my mother taught me and it's the way we've always done it." Determined to find the reason for cutting the end off the ham, the husband called his mother in law to ask why. The mother in law said that she did it because that was what her mother taught her to do. So the husband called grandma to ask her why the need to cut the end off the ham. Grandma explained, "Well, you see, I only have a small oven, so I have to cut it off in order to fit it in."Sometimes a lot of us refuse to change our mindsets...refuse to adapt with time...and we end up doing what we've been doing all our lives or taught to do without even giving a thought about it. [thanks to ~Shikha~] Filed Under: thoughts
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