Saturday, July 31, 2004

Final day of my vehicular training

The required 15-day period, for which they (driving school ppl) were supposed to teach me to handle all thats about gears and more is going to be over today. I'm at distress because the person who teaches me is a total jackass. He's more of the talkative type than imparting me some real knowledge about the 4-wheeled minions (the car he lets me drive is an old model of Maruti Suzuki).
If I even touch 40 (yes, thats 40 kmph my friends, or roughly 25 miles), he starts his ranting about how badly I am driving and that I shd keep it slow. Point is, how slow??? If i'm going to be on the road, that speed is nothing. You are here to encourage me! Not to despise me enough so as to make me nervous. I tell you, next time I'm going to go Postal if I hear any of that. My all NFS experience has taught me better than your classes. I might try some of that NFS skills on the road too...
yea! that'd be some good family entertainment (when the whole family in opposite car would be in hospital because of the collision)!!!!!

Future planning and me

Performing tasks, keeping long-distance future in the mind never pays me any dividends. My life is somewhat dynamic than others' normal one. I cannot possibly take the risk of doing thing A in order to have thing B happen to me. Because between that, I might trail anywhere. My ideas keep changing, plans keep changing, interests keep changing and I don't find it vaild that you could only reach your destiny through predetermined and preset milestones. To approach an object, there are a infinte directions. If you think you can reach your home in the mountains only by road, you're so wrong. Moreover, who knows, that my transient interests and attitude might actually take me ahead my own aim so that i'd have to return towards it when i find some free time!!

Silence of the Monkey

This morning, I was awaken to a cacophonous sound outside. On poking around through my lawn, I found a baby monkey(male) tied to a tree by a leash, crying loudly. A large crowd of enamoured children and ladies, who had nothing better to do, had agglomerated at the spot. Teasing him as if a toy, and shouting at him to escalate its pain, the repugnant personalities among the masses made me livid. I couldn't possibly be a witness to the poor animal's suffering. He just won't stop its inarticulate protesting.
I went up to the crowd, to summon the owner immediately. On inquiring further, I found that its owner, a labourer, had left the monkey to its friends for the day (they were doing some repair work on the wall of our colony). I demanded them to release the animal, or otherwise, the hobby being illegal would be stricly dealt with (me a regular at PFA events, though i don't adhere to all their ideas). They refused, quoting that I'd have to wait till evening, when the owner returns. I couldn't hold it any longer.
I brought a pair of scissors in my left, and a phone in my right hand. I asked them to either cut his collar (it was just a piece of cloth tied real tight around the neck) and release him, or I call the authorities. "Either monkey goes, or you go (to jail)". As expected, the crowd dispersed in a cowardly fashion. Left out there were the labourers, who were friends with the owner of the monkey. The agreed to set him free, giving me some relief (I was afraid I'd have to face some resistance). Finally the animal was free!
But contrary to my expectation, the monkey remained still. He was still crying. He just stood there, not knowing what to do. I tried to shoo him away, threw stones, pointed towards the patch of trees behind our house. But to no avail. The mammal had lost all the instincts during captivity. His nails had been made blunt. I could feel the embarassment riding up my spine. A guilt at the same time. And a feeling of pain for the poor creature.

I had to ask the labourers to tie it back, for he would've been devoured by the dogs otherwise. I made it back to home with a morose soul. I could still hear the squalling of the monkey outside.

Thursday, July 29, 2004

My daily passage through the net

Slashdot
Emails
New reviews and experiments
My first forum
CGI
more CGI
Wikipedia - because you need info when you stumble upon something interesting

Good News! Computer Geeks don't face Jetlag.

We Computer Geeks (i consider myself at least 60% of one) are a happy family. Whenever we would get the oppurtunity to go across the globe for improving our business relations, or getting a job, or gaming tourney, or coding competition, we wouldn't falter.

Why?? Simply because we are adapted to their times. Being a unique human life-form, who has absorbed the habits of the nocturnal, we are accustomed to waking up till 5 AM. Moreover, we can even stop dozing away for a few days, if embarked on serious mission. Our timings have drastically changed, so much that in our homeland, we are considered lazy slobs. But in reality, when people are getting off to wet dreams, we are efficintly jamming at the kbd to learn and earn more.

Three cheers!!!

Troubled days ahead

My college would be starting in a few days. My fresher year!
My 3D card, 5900U, which I had paid for 8 months ago, and developed problems is yet to come back to me. Wonder if it ever would. I'd get killed and all future computer spendings impounded if it isn't so.
My net spree would have to be reduced due to high high dialup bills. My area does not have a single boradaband ISP. And the plan to get an unltd dialup is still in its infancy. Lets hope it gets done in a week or so.

Continuing from AYBABTU trend...

More of wikipedia. More of phenomenal internet crazes.

Here's One: An over enthusiatic site made by a Turkish man. Very "inconsolable" grammar use. Thats right, go the the site to find out what it really means.

Another One: Oolong - the most popular rabbit on planet circa 2002-03. Died in 2003. Very dedicated site.

More: Best Page in Universe. Made by an egotist guy who likes to parody everything around. Been around for long time. I found it revolving on pattern used by MAD, except for the derogatory slangs used. Kinda okay, but not my type. You should award hardwork by appreciation, not by farcical humour.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

India Won - Sad Situation

My team won a decisive match today, which takes them in finals of Asia Cup 2004.
I'm just flummoxed on how easy applying the phrase "match fixing" has become to any miraculous match, or unexpected defeat of your team.
I just hate it when ppl who sit lavishly in front of the screen, eating pickles and proudly displaying their flatulence abilities comment negative over an exciting game of cricket, even though they have nay experience of it whatsoever.

Got grasp of some Psychology

Today I finished NLP by Christopher Hedberg (my first book on Psychology), from where I'd left off a week ago. Pages 46 to 85 in one go. Previously I had kinda studied the whole technique and its principles. This time I read about NLP's effectiveness, research over it, results, conclusion and recommendations. Very nicely done indeed!
This reading introduced me to new methods like Gestalt Therapy, Rogerian Therapy, Encounter Groups, etc. Now I wish to learn more about them, if i get free time in the future.
Just keen interest. Nothing else.

Dreams - Transforming My Identity

Wow, even though I haven't seen any movies lately, and not given any thought to human sufferings, or my friends, or sweet romances, here's what I woke up recollecting after I took a little daytime nap. This is just overwhelming to me:

On small island. All friends. We soldiers. Facing a heavily-guarded German coast.
We make advances in the water. Intense artillery forces us to return back to our side, and we find few of the enemies following us and entering our domain. We surround them and pin them down to get an explanation that they are civilians. One female. 2 males.
They seem emotive as neither of the two men want to leave their homes to join the army, but they have to. They tell us they'll have to return back to their side for their responsibility towards their nation and family remains unfulfilled. The first man tells me, that the girl is his fiancé. I speak to the lady, trying to cheer both our souls, and she responds with tales about their unending love. Profound emotions are visible on everybody's face.
I speak to the 1st man, and tell him that when the war's over, and if he's alive, and gets married to the beautiful lady, spare a moment and remember me, somebody who would wish luck to you (even if transitorily). And remember how savage man still remains, for he's intent on killing his own brother for supremacy. And how you can invent all the technical dealybob, but nothing to stop the propagation of greed, jealousy and fictitious morals.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Livid over mainstream music

The past 6 months, i believe, have been horrible from the artistic point of view, especially in music. No virtuoso performance lately.
Where's that song that glued to the mind for weeks, forcing you to slap yourself bcoz it was driving you nuts gone from the scenario????

"Rap" (and S&M) has been the worst thing for America. From my viewpoint, it promotes free violence, free sex, and continuous hope for the flop artists. Just every black artist wants to become rapper now. Where's that old-fashioned enriching music??
And putting parody, flatulence-standard humour, and obscene gestures topped off with dumb lyrics is actually making it really work!!! Shame on the audience. I'd kept a look on the charts for a while, and they tell me music standards are at all time low.

This other day I was with my friends in a food joint, and they were playing the #1 song on US Chart. My friends bcame vexed by the song, and when I told they were playing the #1 track, they laughed frantically and commented western music was going to doom.

Encyclopedia of Arda

Dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien's works, this contains all the history about his visioned realms of The Middle Earth. After acquiring the "dictionary of middle earth" over IRC, this couldn't have helped more to develop my interest in the genius of Tolkien.

The Link: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/

AYBABTU

It was only today that I stumbled upon "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" link on wikipedia. I had seen it many times on forums, but never pondered as to what its origin or history would be.
And it turns out, that this eccentric piece of English translation by a Japanese Video Game company sparked a craze over the net in 2001.
The link to its history and videos that started it all: http://www.planettribes.com/allyourbase/index.shtml

Monday, July 26, 2004

Informative day - sunday - eep!!

Ah Sunday! the day ppl finally try to relax, soothe their spirits. Nobody wants to engage themselves in anything other than fun or rest.
And here I am. Woke up till 5:33am, just absorbing all the information i can over various topics (tech being majority) saved from all over the net. Took a nap till 11 am on a hot and humid day. Then back to the saved sessions on PC once again for some more reading.
Whew! I put in lot of brains today. Lets see if anything clings long enuff to actually benifit me. Am trying to make a really strong base, so that nobody could drop me to the ground with a single unknown fact. I got to know at least something about everything. And everything about somethings.

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Social Life and Geekhood...

...both are something, that could, almost never, be together. To achieve one completely, you'll have to sacrifice somewhat whole of the other. I am feeling the pain of trying to balance out both. It has resulted to me thinking of algos and programs during my social trips with friends/families and dreaming of a successful social life while looking at my "saviour box" (the computer). I'm on the road towards nowhere currently. Tho my inclination towards comp is becoming stronger with every frightful human aspect I become acquainted with, its still not the stuff true Geeks are made of.

Running towards Global Knowledge Insemination

I had been a follower of Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger really weren't upon something new, but they knew that an honest, sincere, and cooperative effort would not vanish among the copper wires. Recently, I stepped upon my old collection of Wikipedia articles I had saved, and browsed for more. Its really stunning effort. Just proves why Open Source is much much better and truly makes the web a place it is. They have a library of articles multiple times that of the best encyclopedias available, with through followups and links. To anyone who wants to become a Matador of the web, go here. I myself am doing the same expecting the same outcomes.
One thing I'd feel sad about is lack of content relating to Asia. Very little and less informative profile of countries, cities, customs, etc. I hope to publish some posts relating to my own topics of interest asscociated with my country. Let me step into the brotherhood!!

Transient Emotions

No matter what the situation is, I am guilty of coming out of its intensity after not too long, not "feeling it up" to its ability. I don't know, but something alleviates my sincerity towards any emotion, mostly of the lugubrious type. You'd find me feeling down about a poor decision, sad event, or current scene of human suffering. And after some time, the same me is enjoying a humorous thought, or feeling calm listening to a song. Trust me, with the people I have around, and their varied personalities, I haven't seen any have such small emotion intervals.
I suppose I can attribute that to my somewhat optimistic trait. Even tho I often wander off to nihilistic lines of thinking, I still come back to my own jubilant self after a few self-therapy sessions, and knocking own head forcefully.

Thursday, July 22, 2004

My only support for the USA

Lance Armstrong sped away to take great distance from Basso today in the time trial after taking the yellow yesterday. He really looks like a man on mission. His each victory on TDF has been so dramatic, as should be for a man who came over cancer (testicular). He's a true genius, and an icon for me. Something that US makes me feel proud and a proponent of.

Comedy of Errors

Yesterday, we went to the theme park. But not before lots and lots of chaos and confusion. Phone calls followed by more, to finally make a decision that even tho we were reduced from 8 to 4, we still go.
Well, our friends were hoping that there'll be lots of single girls in the waterworld. But turned out every other guy in Delhi thought so, and in the end it looked like a gay ensemble in water of some kind (i kept my distance) ;-)
We remained in water till our eyes started to burn. Then we went to the rides section, which were as boring as playing ballads in a disco. I was feeling sleepy all the time. Such low thrill factor!
Go Karting was really fun. My first time, and I drove quite well, and even took over some riders, they knocking themselves on the sidewalls in the process.
I returned home, took bath and shot off to sleep. Woke up after 13hrs. Thought of doing something constructive. Slept again for 3 hrs. yippee!!! Another day wasted. Seems i'm getting good hold of the skill slowly.... but surely

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Shoo away dreams

I'm dreaming too much these days. Delta and Theta Waves being prominent in my 24hr cycle. Just today I was trekking in the beautiful and mighty Himalayas, that too when I took a short nap in the evening.
Does this signify anything? I hope something miraculous!!

Open Source

Open source has been the best thing to punch those corporate bastards right on the face! No more monopoly mister, focus on innovation and implementation. You can't keep mankind away from efficiency and security anymore. If you fall behind, you're done away with.

But I somewhat, have sympathy for Microsoft (esp Billie). They standardized the world with their formats (no matter how devilish they were on limitations). After all, if Bill Gates was so ordinary, you or i coluld've been there. Apple was inventing and developin much earlier than the geeky kid, whose nifty fingers jamming on the keyboard in a hotel in Albuquerque (and things that followed) made him a billionaire.

Other than his occasional idiotic comments over OpenSource taking jobs away, and not being secure, or integreated, or XP being better, I don't have any reason for anger over him. Geekier crowd has to agree more for good. Programming is a skill that everyone can practice for hours. And when most started out, they had hopes of being true masters of the binary (something like i did). But as you grow, you find you talent is not enough. You hate the genius who thrived on this (Bill Gates). Thats my philosophy. And it only applies for the hopeful-geek or semi-geek. Even those who contribute to open source. Because their heart is not completely for the masses.

To the true believers and practitioners of OpenSource, I hail them.

You can also say that Intel hasnt given us 10GHz commercial proccy bcoz of its monopoly and strategy. But because hardware is not everybody's hobby, esp going to Nanoscale, ppl don't complain that often.

Its going to be an entertaining day

Ah! Old friends reunion. Am going to meet 8 other friends from schoool. Not that I totally lost touch with them, but hanging out with them was something not done since a long time. We'll be going to a theme park, spending the whole day over there. Being a weekday, we are sure not to be smothered by unhygenically agressive crowd. I only expect lovers, and similar folks like us waiting for their college to repon to be present there.
If we stay there whole afternoon and evening, i am sure gearing up for some gr8 time.

Monday, July 19, 2004

Bloggin already bringing me examples of individual genius

Just randomly clicked on recently published blogs, and look what i fall into.. ditch that led me through some pretty ordinary stuff, right to this.
The implementation has been brilliant, the script is a totem pole for all the geeks out on the net! It was originally taken from here, where apparently there's a lot more for ppl with diff tastes.

Learning about the mind

A few days ago, i set up on a mission to get good files i can find on IRC over controlling your mind and toughening yourself mentally. Guess i got loads of them now.
I just started reading them, getting not much time these days. So far I found out about Alpha Waves, the electrical oscillations in the brain and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) by Christopher Hedberg.

Being a credulous character, and also the brilliance of NLP theory, I am very interested in it now. Just the way it simplifies your mental situation is so easy. It was suggested by Bandler and Grinder, who wrote first books related to it. NLP says that the mind is an active constructor of its reality. Rather than passively receiving the information from an active world, NLP states that the mind assembles the incoming information into a model comprised of rules, summaries and descriptions of reality which need not be directly related to what actually happens in the world outside in order to be useful. It goes on to say that as brain actually doesn't touch anything, it experiences distorted perception of reality. The model in our brain is constantly dissected in small parts and uploaded in another faster memory, based on what situation we are in. We further summarize the rules and express them in outside world, and expect the person opposite us to accept that subset and decode it into long and explained commands. The whole structure of the world is modeled on 3 things: Generalization, Deletion and Distortion.

NLP views a person's mind as impoverished or "lacking options" due to the existing structure of world and rules created in its mind over the years. We have to experiment, try different techniques and dig up the rules his mind shunned long time aog and distort some existing rules to improve his own life, while not harming others.

Thats just briliant!! I still have a lot of it to read and to summarize it won't do it justice. Try if you could grab a copy floating around over the net.

Satisfying the tummy

Ah, Sunday! No idea what i'll be doing in next few hours (i.e. if i'm not dozing off). Got up whole night, and finally caught sleep at 5:30AM. Was woken up by my elder cousin, HD. He asked if me, and my younger brother would like to go for an eating spree, and we enthusiastically got ready in 3 hrs (isn't that quick?). Next we went to a food chain called Nirulas nearby and ordered pure non-veg along with colddrinks. Heavy bill, and all taken care of by HD. First one to give up was my brother, only half a Tandoori chicken. Then came HD, with 3 quarters. And then me with a full one. I guess I would've easily been beaten by HD if he's not watching his health. He drastically reduced himself from a chubby boy at school to a well-built muscular man now.

A nice lunch never hurts.

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Sad Beginnings, Happy Endings

Today, 85 school children died in a fire in Tamilnadu. All their, and their parent's dreams burnt in that fire. The beginning of their journey into the world ended when they gulped in last breath of monoxides. Sad end to a cheerful beginning. This shows why india's famous for its reputation. Nobody cared to complain about the conditions earlier. And why only talk abt that region, India's capital is no better. Nowhere in Delhi schools, have I found any fire escapes, or any drills being carried out to avoid so. You educate us all of Quantum Physics, Programming, etc so that we run out for glorious careers and can't educate on how to even protect ourselves???

Other than that, my heart went out to Hannah Foster's parents and the effort they made to hunt out Maninderpal Singh Kohli (for the uninformed, she was raped and murdered by this man, who later ran away to india, and then girl's parents had approached indian police after an yr for help. within days of their arrival, the support of local authorities, acelerated by the Rs. 5000000 prize amount - big big deal - got them the killer). I can't imagine anything less than life imprisonment for him. I'd give him a death sentence. We can really do without such people. Lay off protestors of "Death Terms".

Crazy Dreams

Lately, i have noticed my dreamworld expanding into something to take notice of. All kinds of stuff there, kind of life IRC server :-)

I don't know if others dream this much, but not anyone else in my family. They just wonder how my neurons transmit such wild stimuli. I doze off for even half hour and i wake up recollecting a dream, and whether i should write it down and consider making a movie or novel out of it sometime.

Topics range from one end of universe to another - all the genres being played out in my mind. And the cast is brilliant too! My friends, my crushes, unknowns, animals, dinosaurs, aliens, gods, personalities, family, name any and i guess i'll have to say "was there". Similar locales exist too!

Does it point towards anything? Wonder if its a sign of my success, my awakening, my hallucinating, my slackness, my escape from reality, or warning??

Lazy Life

I woke up really early today. Always a good start. Took some driving lessons at 7am. Then went to sports complex at 8, just a gathering of school friends. More of old-time rememberances than real competitive play. It looked as if my 3yr old vow to become fit and active was starting to take shape. And this was the day!!!

And then BAM! I go home, take a shower, sleep. Wake up at 2, have lunch, sleep. Wake up at 5, look around, sleep. That just sent my honest attempts on a cruise.

Saturday, July 17, 2004

Bon voyage!

I'm finally writing my own blog. very first time. its been long enuff since i ignored this awesome concept. All the time from 97, i have known journals and blogs exist, and all this time i've been just doing nothing about it. Now i do.
People say blogs are a way to express your true self, and in the process gain friends, foes, and experiences. Sure, i'd like to make friends. Just hope they are those unpolished diamonds out there, each coming and making my day brighter.
Wouldn't it be cool to be among a group of hackers, rock bands, philanthropists, psychos, dumbasses, all at the same time ;-)

Well, lets see where my ship goes. BON VOYAGE!!!!!