Go forth and vote (for me)

Friends, readers, country bumpkins ... one entry from this blog has been nominated for September's blog Mela. Go to http://www.madhoo.com/polls/september_poll.php and vote for me (... else it defeats the whole purpose of me putting up this post .. doesnt it?). Be aware that your voting will decide the winner of the $10 Amazon certificate that Shanti Aunty kindly gives to the winner of the blog mela.
Your enthusiasm and clarity of thinking will surely be rewarded, for He misses nothing.

Shwaas

I have been meaning to watch Shwaas for a long time now. My sis watched it, and told me it was good .. so I had to watch it .. cos she is extremely picky about liking films [pickier than me]. So we told Ajit to get a CD from India. Alas, we should have known better. After 3 freaking months to do it, somewhere in between missing flights, receiving presents from all over the world on his bday, calling the US at unearthly hours, going shopping with his exs and god knows what else.. he just plain didn't bring the CD. ... and now Shwaas is our entry for the Oscars. If someone (in the US) has a copy -- do let me know.

BTW .. who decides the entry? They .. or their taste in movies has definitely improved.. cos if I remember right, in some ghastly year .. our official entry for the oscars was .. Jeans!!

While we are on the subject of entertainment .. for all the Sholay fans .. soon to come are: screensavers, ringtone dialogues, wallpapers, movie clips and games based on the film. [Link]

WTF

Today must be the worst. I come into the office and realize .. that I am really hungry. Chipotle beckons me.

Ajit has shifted. His current post talks about god and such. While I do not have the enthusiasm to provide my 2 bits on this much-harped-upon subject, heres something to chew on ;-) [Courtsey: Parag].

cnh

I crave

I yearn -
peace of mind, paratha, butter chicken and malai kofta, to be with my school friends again, to play with my dog, a Honda Civic coupe .. stick shift, to sit and chat with my parents and sister, a banana Snapple, a business of my own, to go for a long walk .. alone, kulfi, to live in the same city as most of my friends, better handwriting, a pet falcon, tender coconut ice-cream in Pune, a kick-ass battle tank, a place of my own, a nice river near where I'll live where I can go kayaking, a chipotle burrito bol with extra guacomole, a good nights sleep - every night, a blazing desktop with a sleek and tiny cpu cabinet, modaks, to know where I am headed, more will-power, a strawberry cheescake blizzard from Dairy Queen.
Thats it for now.

yahooo?

I typed in http://www.ayhoo.com accidently and came up with the linked page. Quite intelligent. Trying out a few more things: http://www.ahoo.com gets you the same page, so does http://www.yyahoo.com, http://www.yaaahoo.com, http://www.yaaahooo.com, and perhaps many such combinations. However other common typos are already taken up, else I'm sure Yahoo! would have ended up with about 50 or so domains, all giving us the same page. ;-)

http://www.yahooo.com redirects you to the original Yahoo! page. Similarly http://www.gooogle.com redirects you to the Google homepage. I didn't bother experimenting more with the google domain. After a long detour, let me (finally) read the news on yahoo.

Settling to a comfortable level of mediocrity

Why is it that the people I see are satisfied with what they have, when clearly they can have (and thus, perform) better? Are they just plain old complacent, or is there anything more to it? Is it that people are so afraid of change, so unreliable of the self, that they go for a mediocre future rather than putting in more effort, taking a few calculated risks and reaching the level that they have the potential for? Why do individuals underperform? Why do organizations comprised of such individuals suck? Why is it that such organizations will seek people who would fit into this web of sycophancy, buck passing, irresponsiblility and lack of vision; instead of those who can lift them up from this muck?
Why are some exceptional people capable of creating a change within such organizations with able leadership, while other people with similarly exceptional capabilities settle down to their own level of mediocrity under a similar set of circumstances?

cant stress it enough

I posted this more than a week back. That was just me trying to get used to the idea of leaving Duluth. Now, the time has come. I leave in an hour. Can't get enough of this place now .. all the familiar places, faces. Went down by the lakeside and sat there at night .. alone .. 2 days back. Lake Superior, UMD, 1829 E 5th, Heller Hall, Green Mills ... you sure will be missed.

..the pursuit of happiness and WiFi for all

The city of Chaska, Minnesota joins the elite list of cities offering it's habitant's cheap broadband wireless internet access by starting its own ISP. Starting September this year Chaska, a suburb of Minneapolis has started offering broadband WiFi services for as low as $16 a month (the average monthly price of a private broadband connection is $35). 200 powerful wireless access points are located on top of street-lights throughout the city. Tests conducted earlier yeilded an enthusiastic response from Chaskans. Upon registration (free) the residents are provided with a wireless bridge (again free) which can connect to the WiFi. About a 1000 households are participating currently and the city believes it will break even if a total of 1500 households enroll for the WiFi services. While the Chaska WiFi covers an area of 33 sq. kms, Philadelphia is experimenting with their own WiFi covering a staggering 345 sq kms!!

While educational institutions worldwide were in the lead in providing WiFi access within their campus, WiFi within city limits is fantastic. It's a result of the city authorities taking the initiative and actually implementing what they thought was good for their community. No doubt this will bolster the economic growth of the area as well. Cool. Me likes.

Young Innovators..

Cool. Something like this article is what I'd like to read more of. The International Exhibition of Young Inventors in Japan was held last week, and India showcased 10 entries. From low-cal biscuits and Herbal Pesticides to Carbon Nanotubes using plant oils .. a wide range of inventions were exhibited.

As part of a joint initiative of the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Department of Science & Technology, to promote inventions and innovations among students and youths and instil the innovation era, CII and DST organised the Indian participation at the Tokyo exhibition.

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Much like AnarCapLib, the Minister for Science & Technology Kapil Sibal stated that the large population was not a bane but a boon, and all efforts should be made to harness the budding population. [which; is very true]. The minister also said that the task of the State was to encourage the children of today and tomorrow to nurture the genius and give them the confidence to grow. What is the Libertarian stance on this? Would anarcho-cap-libertarians have the govt. not meddle in anything, yet provide encouragement to such innovations? Is it the government's job to stimulate such growth or should it wait for the market forces to take care of it? If so, the govt taking an initiative and supporting and encouraging research is essentially a bad thing?