I often use self emails (email sent by me to me) as reminders. Few days back I sent an email to myself with something I wanted to the next day. And Yahoo spam filter marked that as "spam". On the other hand it fails to filter at least 5 messages per day which are real spams.
This is ridiculous. I haven't seen a worse spam filter. No wonder Microsoft is offering only $42 billion for the take over...
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Even fewer reasons to go back
Accept it. There are much better carrier opportunities in US compared to India. Especially in the field I am in (Computer Science). There are a lot of other reasons as well for me not to go back to India. And in addition to all those, I got this news that our (so called) honorable Supreme Court has ruled in favor of government in the OBC reservation case. So now in addition to SC, ST and women (in some cases) even OBCs will get their cut of the cake. If MNS and Mr. Raj Thackrey had their way, they will also introduce regional reservations. Wow...
Knowing all this, why should I even consider going to a place where I know my children will be discriminated? Why should I even bother about it ? As far as I can see such decisions will be leading to the ultimate doom of Indian people and the nation as it exists today. So why shouldn't I secure my future. Of course, you may say that true Indian should fight rather than running away from battle. But who am I fighting with? They are neither Britons nor Afghan raiders, They are my fellow countrymen. And I see no point in it. Some may argue (reminds me of Madhavan in RDB), that I have to go their and change it. But to be honest I don't have balls to do that. There is a nice quote in RDB that (effectively) says "If you are unhappy with a system, either change it or accept it". I can do neither. So I decide to leave it. And I don't see anything wrong in that.
I know that in this country (US) I will always be treated as "resident alien" but at least my children will not suffer. Whereas in India, not just me or my kids but (possibly) my generations to come will suffer for crimes committed by my ancestors. So it makes all the sense to leave it to its fate.
Next time someone in India talks about brain drain, I will be ready to whack his ass.
Knowing all this, why should I even consider going to a place where I know my children will be discriminated? Why should I even bother about it ? As far as I can see such decisions will be leading to the ultimate doom of Indian people and the nation as it exists today. So why shouldn't I secure my future. Of course, you may say that true Indian should fight rather than running away from battle. But who am I fighting with? They are neither Britons nor Afghan raiders, They are my fellow countrymen. And I see no point in it. Some may argue (reminds me of Madhavan in RDB), that I have to go their and change it. But to be honest I don't have balls to do that. There is a nice quote in RDB that (effectively) says "If you are unhappy with a system, either change it or accept it". I can do neither. So I decide to leave it. And I don't see anything wrong in that.
I know that in this country (US) I will always be treated as "resident alien" but at least my children will not suffer. Whereas in India, not just me or my kids but (possibly) my generations to come will suffer for crimes committed by my ancestors. So it makes all the sense to leave it to its fate.
Next time someone in India talks about brain drain, I will be ready to whack his ass.
And now its a hail-storm
Last one year has been .... funny. I have experienced every damn weather condition. First it was intense Hyderabad heat. Then came enervating Mumbai-humidity. Just before I left for Uncle Sam's land, I saw crazy Mumbai-Monsoon.
Then it was beautiful Lansing Fall followed by bone-chilling winter. Now, the snow has melted and spring is round the corner (some say it has already arrived but I disagree). Today, I was caught in a hail-storm followed by torrential rains. It was fun (yes despite the chilling winds it was fun).
I am blessed !!!
Then it was beautiful Lansing Fall followed by bone-chilling winter. Now, the snow has melted and spring is round the corner (some say it has already arrived but I disagree). Today, I was caught in a hail-storm followed by torrential rains. It was fun (yes despite the chilling winds it was fun).
I am blessed !!!
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Finally my laptop is complete
As I had written in one of my older posts, I was facing issues with sound drivers. ALSA was not able to record anything and OSS was recording but not playing anything. I even fiddled with Pulse Audio but had fell back on alsa. Today I installed latest OSS (just because I did not want to study). And to my surprise this version actually does work. I can play and record. That was a pleasant shock. When I first switched to GNU/Linux, a lot of things were missing (webcam being one of those). Today for the first time in last one year, every feature that my laptop hardware offers is being used. I am happy.
Long live Gnu....
Long live Gnu....
Thursday, 3 April 2008
The Fellowship of The Ring
Today I completed first part of the great book by JRR Tolkien. Many may consider this absolutely insignificant. But some who know me will appreciate it. I must accept, I am nowhere near a good reader. I don't even read newspaper completely. It took me many months to read this one. So for me it is an achievement. It renews my confidence that I can complete the entire book.
Anyways, Having read it, I must say that Peter Jackson has done a splendid job. He has captured all that is important without hurting the theme much. Of course, he has changed a few things here and there, but that's acceptable as "cinematic liberty". In fact I did find the book boring and uninteresting in places and Jackson has smartly abridged those portions or dropped them altogether. Otherwise, he really has tried to capture the exact words of Tolkien. In fact, I would have never considered reading this book if it was not for the Jackson's trilogy.
Anyways, Having read it, I must say that Peter Jackson has done a splendid job. He has captured all that is important without hurting the theme much. Of course, he has changed a few things here and there, but that's acceptable as "cinematic liberty". In fact I did find the book boring and uninteresting in places and Jackson has smartly abridged those portions or dropped them altogether. Otherwise, he really has tried to capture the exact words of Tolkien. In fact, I would have never considered reading this book if it was not for the Jackson's trilogy.
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Longcat is loooong and ppl are stupid
Some random guy I don't want to know about, sees a picture of cat who is abnormally long (The picture may even be fake...) He then creates a so called "artist's impression" of that cat which happens to be looooooooooooooooooooong.
Half the world goes crazy for that. And then these crazy people try to drive others who are not yet out of their minds, insane by constantly bugging and buddy-pouncing them.
Someone please explain...................................
Half the world goes crazy for that. And then these crazy people try to drive others who are not yet out of their minds, insane by constantly bugging and buddy-pouncing them.
Someone please explain...................................
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Never use a Visa-card operated payphone
The other day I was stuck at the Detroit airport and wanted to let my friend know that I will be late. So I decided to use the pay-phone to call him. Unfortunately I did not have any quarters so I used my card instead. The call went fine. But the bill gave me the shock of my life. First they had charged me $5 for the call which is 10 times ordinary call charge of $0.5. After a couple of days the $5 charge was replaced by $19.41 :-O. The that offered this "service" was ILD Teleservices.
WTH ...... I called up their customer service (luckily this number appears in the credit card statement). First, they made me on wait and I had to listen to crappy ads for 20 minutes. After an almost endless waiting time finally the customer service executive answered my call. I was told that the $5 charge was just to check my account balance and $19.41 is the actual call charge. This is written nowhere on the pay phone box. $19.41 for 3 minutes??? I can call mars at a cheaper rate. I just googled for this so called ILD teleservices and realized that I am not the first one, they have been charging people for unknown or hidden services for quite a some time( check this and this and this). So NEVER NEVER NEVER do any business with ILD.
The lesson I learnt (the hard way) from this is : Never use your credit card for a pay phone. Always carry a few quarters. If you don't have them buy a McDonalds burger for about $4.2, Pay the cashier $5 and get the quarters. Even if you throw the burger in the trash you still save more than $14.
WTH ...... I called up their customer service (luckily this number appears in the credit card statement). First, they made me on wait and I had to listen to crappy ads for 20 minutes. After an almost endless waiting time finally the customer service executive answered my call. I was told that the $5 charge was just to check my account balance and $19.41 is the actual call charge. This is written nowhere on the pay phone box. $19.41 for 3 minutes??? I can call mars at a cheaper rate. I just googled for this so called ILD teleservices and realized that I am not the first one, they have been charging people for unknown or hidden services for quite a some time( check this and this and this). So NEVER NEVER NEVER do any business with ILD.
The lesson I learnt (the hard way) from this is : Never use your credit card for a pay phone. Always carry a few quarters. If you don't have them buy a McDonalds burger for about $4.2, Pay the cashier $5 and get the quarters. Even if you throw the burger in the trash you still save more than $14.
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
staying.crap
This is what I call misuse of technology. Fooling the innocent machines and trying to act smart.
P.S.
Some may say thats creativity. I disagree ...
P.S.
Some may say thats creativity. I disagree ...
Monday, 10 March 2008
Spring break is over !!!!!!! :-O
How did this happen ? We were supposed to have a break for five days... I don't remember more than three days :-O..... This cannot be true.
But it is. Spring break is over before I even realized it. I had made a long list of things-to-do in the spring break. But most of those remained only in the list. It's funny how time just passes by... Even funnier is the fact that while I have realized it finally, I still ain't doing anything productive. Instead, I am sitting on my bed, with my laptop on my lap, typing this almost pointless post.
Procrastinating is fun !!!!
But it is. Spring break is over before I even realized it. I had made a long list of things-to-do in the spring break. But most of those remained only in the list. It's funny how time just passes by... Even funnier is the fact that while I have realized it finally, I still ain't doing anything productive. Instead, I am sitting on my bed, with my laptop on my lap, typing this almost pointless post.
Procrastinating is fun !!!!
Monday, 3 March 2008
The eternal quest
चलने ही चलने में कितना जीवन, हाय, बिता डाला!
'दूर अभी है', पर, कहता है हर पथ बतलानेवाला,
हिम्मत है न बढूँ आगे को साहस है न फिरुँ पीछे,
किंकर्तव्यविमूढ़ मुझे कर दूर खड़ी है मधुशाला।।७।
किसी ओर मैं आँखें फेरूँ, दिखलाई देती हाला
किसी ओर मैं आँखें फेरूँ, दिखलाई देता प्याला,
किसी ओर मैं देखूं, मुझको दिखलाई देता साकी
किसी ओर देखूं, दिखलाई पड़ती मुझको मधुशाला।।३९।
दो दिन ही मधु मुझे पिलाकर ऊब उठी साकीबाला,
भरकर अब खिसका देती है वह मेरे आगे प्याला,
नाज़, अदा, अंदाजों से अब, हाय पिलाना दूर हुआ,
अब तो कर देती है केवल फ़र्ज़ -अदाई मधुशाला।।६५।
छोटे-से जीवन में कितना प्यार करुँ, पी लूँ हाला,
आने के ही साथ जगत में कहलाया 'जानेवाला',
स्वागत के ही साथ विदा की होती देखी तैयारी,
बंद लगी होने खुलते ही मेरी जीवन-मधुशाला।।६६।
यम आयेगा साकी बनकर साथ लिए काली हाला,
पी न होश में फिर आएगा सुरा-विसुध यह मतवाला,
यह अंितम बेहोशी, अंतिम साकी, अंतिम प्याला है,
पथिक, प्यार से पीना इसको फिर न मिलेगी मधुशाला।८०।
From "Madhushala" (मधुशाला) By Harivanshrai Bachchan
'दूर अभी है', पर, कहता है हर पथ बतलानेवाला,
हिम्मत है न बढूँ आगे को साहस है न फिरुँ पीछे,
किंकर्तव्यविमूढ़ मुझे कर दूर खड़ी है मधुशाला।।७।
किसी ओर मैं आँखें फेरूँ, दिखलाई देती हाला
किसी ओर मैं आँखें फेरूँ, दिखलाई देता प्याला,
किसी ओर मैं देखूं, मुझको दिखलाई देता साकी
किसी ओर देखूं, दिखलाई पड़ती मुझको मधुशाला।।३९।
दो दिन ही मधु मुझे पिलाकर ऊब उठी साकीबाला,
भरकर अब खिसका देती है वह मेरे आगे प्याला,
नाज़, अदा, अंदाजों से अब, हाय पिलाना दूर हुआ,
अब तो कर देती है केवल फ़र्ज़ -अदाई मधुशाला।।६५।
छोटे-से जीवन में कितना प्यार करुँ, पी लूँ हाला,
आने के ही साथ जगत में कहलाया 'जानेवाला',
स्वागत के ही साथ विदा की होती देखी तैयारी,
बंद लगी होने खुलते ही मेरी जीवन-मधुशाला।।६६।
यम आयेगा साकी बनकर साथ लिए काली हाला,
पी न होश में फिर आएगा सुरा-विसुध यह मतवाला,
यह अंितम बेहोशी, अंतिम साकी, अंतिम प्याला है,
पथिक, प्यार से पीना इसको फिर न मिलेगी मधुशाला।८०।
From "Madhushala" (मधुशाला) By Harivanshrai Bachchan
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