Rantings

Can you still write?

i.e. Can you still write with your hand? I ran across this article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7907888.stm) on the BBC, which predicts that we will have forgotten the art of handwriting in another 100 years or so. Imagine, a specialist having to decipher handwritten notes, although I should confess that I think it takes a specialist to read my handwriting now :).

As with most people of my age, I actually went through a formal “handwriting” class. I remember, we used to have special assignments, where all you did was write 🙂 . I used to write a lot of handwritten letters during my childhood, but as I grew up and started to use computers, my need to hand write something became less and less. If I remember correctly, the last handwritten letter I wrote was ~6 years ago!! It is so easy to type up an e-mail and send it off, but writing a letter makes you think and reflect on what you are writing. I do miss it 🙂

Speaking of things that are going to be “things of past”, I also think that most of the regional languages in this world will fade away in another 200-300 years. Everyone will speak some form of English :)..

So when was the last time, you wrote something (meaningful) with a pen or pencil?

Never give up..

Ran across this story on the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7871989.stm) about a 68 year old women in South Korea, who has attempted to get a car driving learning permit for the last 3 years. She attempted the exam 771 times, but hasn’t been able to score the minimum required score. What did she say, after failing again? “I will continue trying!!”.

All of us run into difficult situations from time to time. It can be a simple thing as trying to give up on a favorite food to reduce weight or attempting to reach a certain position in your career. And many times than not, we just give up.

I printed this news story and posted it in my office to remind me every day.. “Never Give Up!!”

P.S : Yes.. I do get my news from the BBC 🙂

You know you are addicted…

  • When you check your blackberry every minute, even when there is no e-mail waiting for you..
  • When you are in a social gathering and keep checking your blackberry rather than mingle with people..
  • When you are in a drive-thru lane at a fast food place and have to think “I will not check my blackberry until, I get to the window and get my food” (that takes an average of 30 seconds!!)..

I think I need to get some help here :-).. And looks like this is not a new phenomenon.. Here are some stories about the addiction

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/03/just_how_far_do.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-401646/Blackberry-addiction-similar-drugs.html

Any ideas? 🙂

Be careful what you put up on Facebook..

Ran across this story on BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/7845946.stm) about a women being stabbed to death by her husband because she changed her status to “single” from “married” on Facebook.. WTF?????  What is wrong with people!!

Morale of the story : Be careful.. what you put up on the Internet.. :-).

P.S : As you can see.. that rule doesn’t apply to me :-).

What does one trillian dollars get you?

If you are a Zimbabwean, it will get you USD30 worth of stuff!! Ran across this story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7832601.stm) on BBC, about the government of Zimbabwe releasing a trillian dollar note to cope with inflation. Zimbabwe was one of the most stable and prosporous country in Africa, until Robert Mugabe, started to enforce his lunatic policies. I can never understand, why people allow such morons to rule them..

BTW, One trillion has 12 zeros in it :-).. It looks like this..

$1000000000000

I would like to get my hands on one of these notes.. just to look at it :). I tried a search on Ebay and it looks like there is an active market for the Zimbabwean currency. At least Robert Mugabe managed to make a Zimbabwean product desirable :).

Why SouthWest gets it..

Another reason to fly SouthWest.. Look at the picture of the chairs they are providing their customers at the Midway airport in Chicago.

This is good marketing and customer care. Not only did Southwest take the time to put in comfortable seating at their gates, but also took the extra step to provide power outlets and listen to this.. USB charging outlets. How many of you have had to run around airports looking for a power socket to charge your dying battery? :-).. I am going to fly SouthWest moving forward.. whenever I can.

Yes.. that is my laptop getting charged :-).

Stephen Colbert.. I envy you.

I thought long and hard before writing this post.. but finally thought,  the topic was too funny not to share it with others :-). Warning that this post contains sexual content and is NSFW..

I was browsing (I swear) through the channels on my TV, the other night, and came upon a program called “Katie Morgan’s Sex Tips” on HBO. And yes, it was purely coincidental :-).. So anyways, one of the viewers asks Katie about multiple orgasms. Katie brought a guest on the show by the name Marenna Lindberg to answer the question. Apparently this women can experience an orgasm in a few seconds!! Katie asks her to give a demo on screen and voila.. Marenna whips out a picture of Stephen Colbert.. yes, The Stephen Colbert 🙂 .. looks at the photo for a few seconds..closes her eyes and in a few seconds whimpers out an orgasm!!! I was literally rolling on the floor as I watching this :-). And Marenna attributes this to her diet and her crush on Stephen Colbert. She even wrote a book about it.. “The Orgasmic Diet

So ladies.. start eating fish oil, stop drinking and smoking. Make the “not-so-better” side of you happy 🙂

How does the iPod touch detect your location?

If you are the proud owner of an iPod touch, you would have noticed that the Google maps application on it identifies your current location with scary preciseness. Every wonder, how the touch manages to do that without a GPS or cellular receiver? Apparently, Apple uses a service from a company called Skyhook Wireless to do this. And how does Skyhook achieve this? They drive around in vehicles scanning for wi-fi signals and create a database that matches the SSID and MAC Address with the physical address. Put on your tin hats folks!! 🙂

Some interesting links

Apple’s use of Skyhook : http://www.skyhookwireless.com/inaction/apple.php

How Skyhook does it : http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/wps.php

What next??

I ran across this report from BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7743312.stm) about some clerics in Malaysia issuing a fatwa against Yoga. Why?.. To quote the reason…Yoga would “destroy the faith of a Muslim”.

Excuse me?? Even though Yoga started out in India as an Hinduism practice, most know that Yoga is practiced today mostly as a stress reliever and workout. I just wonder, what goes through the minds of these so called enlightened gentlemen, when they come out with such ridiculous decisions.

P.S : This note has nothing to do about Islam or Hinduism. We have “enlightened” people like these in all walks of life. It is more about how we let crazy decisions like this divide us.

Note to self : Audio conference providers

If you you are ever looking to deploy an audio conference solution, make sure you go with a solution that doesn’t have more than 7 digits as the conference passcode. The human brain is not capable of remembering anything longer without writing it down!! :-)..