The chosen one!

Short post. Basically a tweet.

I am buying a bike and they are paying me to ride one! 

So one fine morning State called me and said: You are the chosen one! You are a good person and we want you to save the environment! I said: well, I do want to save the mother nature. They said: There you go! We knew you are the one, from the minute we had a glimpse of your name in in our applications amidst thunder and lightening! go! get a bike and report to us, o'chosen one! I said: well, fine. if you insist. They say: Do not despair o' chosen one, we will pay you 49 cents/mile and compensate for accessories! I said: Mother nature is precious we should save her and sigh left me. They said: o'chosen one for you, and only for you! We will pay for your public transport expense too! 

Mother nature loves me and I love her back!

Pat on my back!

Thank you!

yeah, yeah, there are fine prints like this is a starter incentive for three months only, reward/compensation are limited to $100 maximum and I have to sacrifice two Saturdays but who is counting teeth of donated cow? not me!

Why Google Book Search project is Evil....

Acronyms:
GSBP: Google Book Search Project
AAP:   Association of American Publishers
BSS:   Book Search Settlement

Imagine you are looking for some rare book, you can't find it in libraries, bookstores or even on Amazon. Finally you find it it on Google Book Search, and you are happy as a clam only to discover that you have to pay $10, 000 to get it! Yes that can be very real scenario if the GBSP continues as it is planned.
Alright! you are like we know you just want to make sensational statements for shock value. but, but, bear with me while I provide background.

GBSP is an ambitious plan to digitize the every book ever written and available in world's libraries. In 2004, Google started teaming up with some biggest libraries of English speaking world like NY public library, Howard, Oxford etc. to scan their entire collection in Google database, so far Google has scanned 10 millions books. The mission of the project was simple: to organize world's information and make it universally accessible. Sounds benign enough right? No, my dear sir, it's not that simple.

There is a copyright law for protection of literature.That says you can not use copy righted material without explicit permission from  the holders except for fair use. Google initially planned to use only little snippets from scanned work in response to query. This would circumvent the copyright but AAP sued Google arguing that mere scanning of collection is copyright infringement. They (AAP) are not wrong because google did not seek permission of actual right holders. To overcome this problem Google struck up a deal AAP called BSS.
ok now Answer:
oh the question. Right.
Why the GBSP is evil?

The deal is where devil lies. So what happened here was:  A cope caught a thief stealing a loaf of bread so he struck a deal with him: If the thief robs the next door bank too and shares that loot with the cop, he is good to go!  ok, let me explain.

There are two class of copyrighted material in print literature and out of print literature or orphan books. These are the books whose right holders cannot be found. This deal awards exclusive right to google to use/sell these books as long as it shares profit with AAP.  Yep you read that right! it's like legalized version of finders are keepers, but only finders have to share the item with the proverbial big brother, in this case AAP. oh and this settlement has class action status. What does that mean? That means right holders of the orphan books don't even know that their rights are being compromised  in US court. Normally in class action status lawsuits affected parties are sent mail from  the court informing them outcome of the lawsuit even if they never participated in the lawsuit. you guys have received such mails. Say one of the wireless service provider is sued for wrong text messaging charges by one of the customers and nature of the lawsuit is determined to be class action  then the court sends mail to all the customer informing them about the lawsuit and outcome of the lawsuit. But here the original right holders can not be found to start with so they would not ever know that they do not own the books that they themselves published or wrote. As wrong and unjust it sounds, it actually is. you are like but I never wrote a book so why do I care? but my dear reader you are the bigger victim here because you (common consumer) will pay the price of monopoly.

In conclusion I will try to answer these three simple questions:
1. Is google as a company evil or unethical?
Probably not. Thanks to Google you can see your home from space, track swine flu(it was current when I prepared this speech but...i will say procrastination sucks) or figure out traffic congestion without paying a dime for it. oh and you are reading this because of Google. blogger is free service from Google. :wink:
2. Does google rouse suspicion?
Yes it does. There is this habit of tracking what you search for and take your contacts from your Gmail account make it public without ever consulting you(remember early version of Buzz?) [I had much more material on this one but I removed from the final draft to fit into time limit and my old laptop died without warning so I lost it all and more. again procrastination sucks people]
3. Is the GBSP and BSS evil?
Yes. It's awarding exclusive right of selling books to a single company giant! do I need to say more? No? but I will. :P

First and foremost, authors, the real owners/publishers are over stepped and common consumer is subjected to monopoly for millions and millions of books not just one or two. This sheer amplitude of the impact is nerve wracking itself. how anybody in their right mind can agree to something like this?

UPDATE: My friend told me and rightfully so that I need to say something about China-Google conflict. Well, I think Google is right on that one.  I need to read more to form a detailed opinion.On surface Google seems right. also I am not at all anti Google, I think Google has show sportsmanship so far. I am anti monopoly though.

Avatar Review and Musing it awoke.

Avatar Review Engineer's style:

Script/Story: 2/5

Imagination: 3.5/5

Animation: 5/5

Acting: 4/5

Direction: 3/5

Overall:3/5

Avatar Review, Scholar's style:

ok It's kinda late. I watched movie four weeks ago but was too busy catching up at work. When movie ended my reaction was [at applauding people] bunch of idiots! everybody was like ooh and aah! but frankly that was not the emotion it awoke in me. I would have felt that if story too was equally powerful as the animation. Look at those blue people and beautiful scenery of Pandora and you can't help but admire Cameron.

Let's start with story: he could done have lot better. What was the story about? A fool can see that it was the story about how Europeans had attacked and tried to destroy native culture of [Insert any country here] but with cheesy and totally BS end. They failed at it! (Europeans failed) If you are going to make it about real issues then at least keep it real. We are not toddlers that we need to be fed in form of  baby powder flavored with different food, in  name of real food.

You guys are like but no! he wanted to give message about how we are destroying our planet and one day we might be out of resources. In that case final message came across was: Even if we keep destroying available resources we will be successful in finding new resources by hook or crook.

Imagination: I gave 3.5/5 because it was not pure imagination it was tainted by real rituals of different cultures. For example Navi's prayer music resembles so much to Muslim prayer music. There was a mosque not too far from my home and it blared Adhan (call for prayer or announcement for namaz time) five times a day on loud speaker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0929J-wYv44

As soon as they started prayer I was transported to my hometown. Then comes their ritual gestures to revive human grace. I swear that was like to be back in time namely in 17th century where people would believe in ancestor spirits and stuff. ok I need to explain: In Hindu culture there is a phenomenon called "mataji aavva" literally: materialization of goddess's spirit into human. here is the picture of Goddess.

 When this happens said human gains superhuman physical strength and sometimes ability to predict future. It's quite difficult to restrain the man/woman in this condition. Normally this happens when goddess is angry at somebody about something and wants to stop that behavior. Like if some mother in law is being cruel to DIL then goddess will come into DIL's body and forbid MIL from being cruel etc.oh sorry! I ventured in wrong direction. so point was when "mataji aavva" happens said person starts shaking violently back and forth just like in Graces' revival scene Navis do.  Disclaimer said phenomenon is a psychological disorder per Indian psychologists. you can guess that scene does not induce awe emotion. My brain was struggling between two totally different scenes it created in my mind. music was reminding of the mosque and scene was reminding me off person being restricted by 10 people and still in violent fury. I am pretty sure native Africans also can see some of their ritual being used as Pandora's own culture.

This is not imagination this is sewing of two cultures in worst possible way to create new, original culture. huh!!? even that sentence is awkward.

Animation: well it's 5/5 so nothing to say, except perfect, brilliant etc.

Acting: They got 4 because half of the actors are not real. The real ones have done good job.

Direction:  It gets 3 because let's face it there was not much to be directed in the story, was there? Half of the movie is cartoon and for the rest of the part there is a bedtime story to be followed.

Overall: It's like a mediocre product in a very shiny and expensive packaging with  extra oridinary and totally awesome accessory for the average product.

     -x- review ends here -x-

while we were watching movie my sister asked why aliens always have to be ugly. I said that's a good question. I will answer you in my blog. That way I can be sure about at least one reader. ;)

My theory is we always imitate what we see in the nature when we create fictional world. (damn! this theory  nullifies my argument about Cameron not being original but he failed at hiding his sources) Man is the most beautiful or symmetrical creature in entire animal kingdom. yeah when each feature is compared individually with different animals we fail but overall product is the best. So whenever we try to create a new creature we never can make it nicer than us. The other theory is in more than less movies aliens are bad guy, now bad guys have to be ugly.  Navi's are not that bad because they are not bad guys but still they are not really beautiful either. The third theory is total destruction theory. continue at your own risk. (inner critic raises eye brow with gimlet eyes(holler to dear friend glo!) me: What?! oh, i never condemn being cheesy, inner critic: friking hypocrite!) The perception of viewer is relative, viewer would be my sister, may be she has ultimate standard for being beautiful is, Man. so any creature other than human is not as beautiful as man. Well that is entirely possible as narcissism runs in our family. :P (Champa, please don't kill me)

Any other theories? please put them in comments I would love to discuss.

oh and interesting fact: Avatar is a Sanskrit word, meaning Incarnation of deity on earth.  Gotta give 10/5 for the title of the movie.

Authentic Kathiyavadii Sheera recipe with jaggery or gur!! hail oi! ;)

ATTN: West coast people

Imagine it's raining cats and dogs outside and howling wind is keeping up with rain fairly decently  You can't go anywhere in this miserable weather. You already have two cups of coffee/chai/Jack Denial in order to warm up. Now you want something to comfort you while you watch crappy reality television and keep your hang over at a bay right?

[Hang on for a minute, while I make east coasters miserable ok?]

ATTN: east coast people,

Imagine it's been snowing for past 4 days and there is a foot high snow outside. You just came in after shoveling your side walk second time in past 12 hours. Sucks hardcore, ain't it?

You want something hot and sweet and nourishing to your tired bones.

Well, mope not! I have a perfect dish for you. It's easy, it's fast and best of all you don't need to make a run to the grocery store to make it!!! I know! (ok it's true only for Indians, all my non-Indian friends please make a run to Indian grocery store before you start drinking/shoveling/being sad. My apologies.)

Without further ado here is Sheera recipe.

You can eat as dessert or side dish or itself if you don’t mind sweet dish as main dish.

Serves 2 people normally or 4-5 calorie conscious people. 

Ingredients:

1 cup whole Wheat flour (make sure it’s not refined wheat flour known as maida)

1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter)

1/2 cup jaggery (substitute powdered sugar if jaggery is not available)

3 cup water.

optional: (you can use either, both or none)

1/4 cup almonds, thinly sliced (brings richness)

or

3 table spoon dry ginger powder ("Shunth" if you go to Indian store); (brings little hotness to this all around sweet dish, makes cold and cough go away);(my favorite version)

Procedure:

1. In a wok heat up ghee for about 1/2 minute. Lower heat add flour. Stir the flour with broad spatula continuously for five minutes so that it is roasted evenly.

2. Add either almond or dried ginger powder in to flour. Keep roasting the flour for 5-7 minutes more or until mixture is deep brown. (if you use non stick pan it will be around 12 minutes and you will require really strong arms, normal wok is recommended.)

3. Meanwhile boil water in a separate pan. now if you are using jaggery then add it into water, let it melt into water. If you are using sugar then no need to add it into water. Add the boiling water to the flour mixture slowly. Increase the flame a little and stir gently in one direction to avoid forming any lumps.

4. In 2-3 minutes water will be absorbed completely. Lower the flame, add sugar into mixture, if you added jaggery in step 3 then of course don't add sugar. Continue to stir for 2-3 minutes or until it’s mixed well.

There you go, ultimate comfort food is ready. It’s calorie count is really high but totally worth it.

It looks like this:

Picture courtesy: http://pedatha1.files.wordpress.com

how I embarrassed my IT department!!

ok It was not my original intent to embarrass them but...
Our IT department updated our MSoffice to 2007 and screwed up the document managing program. It impacted me the most. Email war started between me and IT dep. They suggested bunch of solutions. None of them worked. I got pissed. Opened up my own eyes and the help files. did not find anything. really got pissed. this time actually opened the brain too. read coded error 55 times. found the clue word. plugged in the search bar of help files. found three relevant topics. read them. figured out solution. followed through. voila!
didn’tfuckingwork!
My heart said I am on the right track. Now read the error code again. nothing at all. so changed my attack strategy from help files to common sense. opened the property box try to find the program name. found it was wrong! changed it to the correct one. Now followed the steps I previously deducted from help files .
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It worked!
Called IT people. he saluted me! and told me to write down those steps and email him. turned out there are lots of people facing same problem in other offices too.
oh yeah we only have 50 people in our dedicated IT department.

Aamir khan as a collegian?

3 idiots! oh that hype has scared me out of wits. I have not watched the movie yet. but the hype!! omg!

i am not sure if I want to watch it. The bigger the hype bigger the disappointment. ok now title(of the post dear) why I am so sure that I will be disappointed? because Aamir khan and R.Madhavan are playing collegians!!! Would it get any stupider than that? 40 years old people who should do art movies only are playing collegians. I know young Indians are not interested in politics that's why we have to endure 80 years old scrooges/stooges as politicians!!( oh yeah i know Rahul Gandhi is young but his qualification is his last name any surprise that he can't lead the country and please do not remind me that drug addict Rahul Mahajan who appears in some trash reality TV) but come on! can't you find young actors to play i don't know young role??

Much ado about nothing

Yes, I know title sounds like a cheap paperback you’d read in the flight but it’s neither a frivolous nor a fiction. Zero played a crucial role in development of algebra, Cartesian co ordinate system and Calculus. In turn it is a very building block of physics, chemistry engineering and of course computer science. In this speech I will talk about what is zero, where it came from and why it terrorized the western world before it was accepted as a number.

So what is Zero?

Zero is a symbol of something that does not exist. And that’s how it is represented in a circular symbol. It is the indentation that was left behind when the pebble was removed from the send in old calculation system. It represents the void or vacuum. We do not realize but we use zero in two totally different ways, namely as a quantity and as a place holder. First use is all too easy, zero as a numerical representation of nothing. However, the second one is more symbolic than numeric. In the number 205, zero acts as a placeholder signifying that number 2 is in the hundreds place and there is no tens. It shows that 205 and 25 are two different numbers.

Now second question where zero came from?

Records show that by the second millennium BCE, Babylonians and Mayans had a symbol for a place holder in their place value based number system. However, neither of them used zero as a number. India was the first to use zero as a cardinal number. Indian Mathematicians Brhmagupta and Bhaskera developed rules for the use of zero in basic arithmetic by 800 CE. India introduced zero to the Arabs who shaped the modern day numerals and passed them, along with zero, to the Europeans in the 12th century. But, it was not until about 15th century that zero was accepted as the number in the western world Mathematics.
Now the third question, why Greeks or western world was so reluctant to accept zero?
There are two reasons behind it. First: roman and Greek numerical systems were not place value based so they had no use of zero as a place holder. The second reason is much more subtle than mere necessity issues. The use of zero as a number challenged western philosophy and religion. While Hindu philosophy had embraced the void, Aristotle--and consequently the church--had rejected it as Aristotle explained "Nature abhors a vacuum". Also acceptance of zero leads to its twin infinity. Now infinity has no place in the finite, revolving around the earth universe. Eventually Copernicus' heliocentric model of the solar system cracked open the nutshell universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Earth was no longer comfortably enclosed in the center of the universe and there was no shell covering cosmos. Universe went into infinity. Gradual acceptances of infinity lead to acceptance of void too. It would not be an exaggeration if I say mere discovery of zero as a number pulled western world into religious and philosophical whirlpool and finally lead to Renaissance.

So 1400 years after the discovery of zero can we say that now zero is completely conquered? No my dear friends, even today, zero continues to hold the terror for humankind. Not too long ago, the guided missile cruiser USS Yorktown was brought to a grinding halt because of a “divide by zero” error in its control software. And why Black hole scares us, it does not make sense to us because there are zeros in black hole defining equations. These zeros ultimately lead to singularity or zero volume. You can see that the fact that there is a mass but no volume to contain that mass is not easy to comprehend. Why is that? Because zero has no finite scope, it is almost like an amphibian between being and non-being.