obvious musings
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Cool Software
The merging of Google and Keyhole produced Google Earth which is free ! Get it here : Google Earth. Although a software engineer myself I love free software :). If you havent heard of what it can do yet, check out some cool pictures here.
Blogger now has picture upload ! So know no using a kludgy Hello or Flickr solution.
Also check out (via Kurt), Yubnub. Its a social browser search shortcut site. Very cool.
¶ permalink 2 comments Blogger now has picture upload ! So know no using a kludgy Hello or Flickr solution.
Also check out (via Kurt), Yubnub. Its a social browser search shortcut site. Very cool.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Book Tagged
Priyanka book tagged me. So here goes :
Total number of books I own:
Around 200-300
( I think its not a question which is very insightful though, borrowed books, library, books lent out and never returned, books read on the internet, audio books all are not factored in, maybe should be changed to books I have read ? )
Last book I bought:
"To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee
( Actually, technically speaking it was Applied XML programming in Microsoft .NET, but I dont think that is the point of this exercise :) )
I know, I know, this book the favorite of scores of people I know, I can hear shocked "In your 26 years of existence you havent read it YET, how can you justify your existence and so on". There was a similar reaction from someone very recently and then I had to buy it, to see what the fuss was.
However this got me thinking, dont we all have some "popular" books or movies that we just didnt get too. Somehow you were always going to read/watch it but it just missed you by. I know StarWars is another one for me. What is it for you ?
Last Book I was gifted:
The complete Newyorker Cartoons. Hilarious stuff. Along with the Gary Larson's Far Side and ofcourse Dilbert my favorite cartoon series. All kudos to the sweet person who hauled the very heavy book.
Heaviest Book I have :
(See above)
Last book I read:
The World's Religions by Houston Smith
Wondeful, entertaingly written introduction to Religions. I bought it to read about Hinduism acutally. I realised that I know precious little about what religion I am supposed to be in ? Any other suggestions for something that in some way brings together all the mish-mash that the religion seems to be ?
Five books that mean a lot to me :
Flow : The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Cary On Jeeves by Wodehouse
India : Shashi Tharoor
The Class : Erich Segal
Guns, Germs and Steel
My next list :
Hirak
Sagnik Nandy
Gvenum
Kurt ¶ permalink 5 comments
Total number of books I own:
Around 200-300
( I think its not a question which is very insightful though, borrowed books, library, books lent out and never returned, books read on the internet, audio books all are not factored in, maybe should be changed to books I have read ? )
Last book I bought:
"To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee
( Actually, technically speaking it was Applied XML programming in Microsoft .NET, but I dont think that is the point of this exercise :) )
I know, I know, this book the favorite of scores of people I know, I can hear shocked "In your 26 years of existence you havent read it YET, how can you justify your existence and so on". There was a similar reaction from someone very recently and then I had to buy it, to see what the fuss was.
However this got me thinking, dont we all have some "popular" books or movies that we just didnt get too. Somehow you were always going to read/watch it but it just missed you by. I know StarWars is another one for me. What is it for you ?
Last Book I was gifted:
The complete Newyorker Cartoons. Hilarious stuff. Along with the Gary Larson's Far Side and ofcourse Dilbert my favorite cartoon series. All kudos to the sweet person who hauled the very heavy book.
Heaviest Book I have :
(See above)
Last book I read:
The World's Religions by Houston Smith
Wondeful, entertaingly written introduction to Religions. I bought it to read about Hinduism acutally. I realised that I know precious little about what religion I am supposed to be in ? Any other suggestions for something that in some way brings together all the mish-mash that the religion seems to be ?
Five books that mean a lot to me :
Flow : The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Cary On Jeeves by Wodehouse
India : Shashi Tharoor
The Class : Erich Segal
Guns, Germs and Steel
My next list :
Hirak
Sagnik Nandy
Gvenum
Kurt ¶ permalink 5 comments
Friday, June 10, 2005
Yahoo Messenger - Desi ishtyle
Yahoo has just come out with an Indian version. Get it here. The COOLEST thing in it are the hindi audibles. Absolutley first class and side splitting funny. If you get it just for the audibles you wont be disappointed. Try it out ! ¶ permalink 3 comments
Instant Messenger users are fanatically loyal to their own programs and their respective program fixation is based on obvious things like on what programs most of their friends are signed on and possibly what features they offer.
Another reason is simply the first program you ever used.
I distinctly remember the first time I used IM. It was the summer of '98 and I was back home from college for the summer holidays. A friend called me and asked me to download Yahoo Messenger and off we went. I also remember jumping up and down in joy for a considerable period of time, thrilled at the prospect of simula-talking with all my friends not paying ( especially then ) the autrocious long distance phone call rates. So it was Yahoo Messenger for me.
MSN Messenger and Yahoo seem to be the most popular in India. AOL definitely seems to be the most popular here in the US. They are also programs like Trillian which combine all your accounts in a single account.
Since my first download, Yahoo has consistently added features like voice chat, avatars, audibles, stealth settings, games and several more.Yahoo has just come out with an Indian version. Get it here. The COOLEST thing in it are the hindi audibles. Absolutley first class and side splitting funny. If you get it just for the audibles you wont be disappointed. Try it out ! ¶ permalink 3 comments
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Greatest Movies Ever !
Time has come out with its list of 100 best movies ever. Apart from the usual suspects, Schindler's List, Raging Bull, Lawrence of Arabia, also warming my Indian cockles I notice that the Apu Trilogy, Nayakan and Pyaasa are included as well. Three deserving director's there ! Here's the list.
¶ permalink 3 comments
