digital curry

"Don't you have any morals man" "Can't afford them Guv'nor". I think that was Geroge Bernard Shaw. Profoundly hilarious.

Disha: "How's life ! ? Me : "Not too good ! I've hardly been getting any sleep!" Disha: "Fie, fie, you're in love :) " Yeah ! if only it was that. It's going to be a super hectic week. And i'm already exhausted thinking of it :). Somehow i've had disdain for things that require me to take great care in completing but require very little logic. I would rather think over something really really complex and just scribble the output on paper , Its a different matter that i seem to be losing my ability to do that too ! Its a farce, I know it is. What do I really want to do ? Head off, make my life an experiment, reflect, fly, know my inner self, actualize. Ancient hermits in india put years of their life experimenting - wore only one color, ate only one color to study the effect of the color on their body, learnt of things we can only dream of today- it's probably the most exciting thing i think of doing -and yet i don't do it. Will

I'm quite excited ! I'm going to be at the i conference 2006 at the University of Michigan. I'm looking forward to two exciting days of (surprise surprise) information flow :)! i conference is organized by the ischools project - the naming of which I'm sure has nothing to do with an ipod as suggested elsewhere! . I'm sure the people who thought of it had better things to do than name an important movement after an ipod ! The iconference started with presentation by John Wilkin and C. Perry Willett of the University of Michigan Library on the Google Book Search Project . A brief overview of their talk is at the SI 504 class blog. Apart from the host of interesting points disucssed on the class blog here are a couple that I think will be fascinating to look at: 1. from the interface design point of view - browsing scanned books in the current manner (clicking next on a link to go to the next page is primitive and in my opinion a poor translation of the hyperli

Today, I attended a talk by Jonathon Grudin - well half a talk actually, I had to head off to class halfway through the talk, but the talk was pretty interesting. Having had a couple of his readings as course readings ( groupware, is hci homeless? ) it was interesting to see what he had to say in person. I liked the way in which he put spoke of the history of hci from a very practical point of view; He spoke quite a bit about how the research fields in hci have evolved based on technological innovations. At the very beginning he asked all the people in the room where they stood in relation to technology shaping human behaviour and living: The four categories were 1. hard determinism - firm believer that tech determines the way we live 2. soft determinism 3. co-determinism 4. no determinism He saw himself somewhere 1.5 :) . Prof. Judy Olson - 1 :), Prof McQuaid 3 with two hands up !!! I, like the majority was 3. Also, he said most of the places he asked this question there was one bra

There was an annoucement today about Pandora coming to Michigan for a presentation. I'd never heard of pandora but inquisitive as I am decided to give their website a look. I loved my first interaction with the website. Pandora is based on the music genome project (http://www.pandora.com/mgp.shtml) and is the third largest online radio broadcaster. What was interesting to me was that the site didn't clobber you with information, didnt ask you to decide the genre or some other attribute of music and doesn't innundate you with choices of search results for your query. It simply sets up a station for you to listen to based on its "recommender system". I'm not really sure what they base their recommendations on. Also there is a nice balance between people who want to learn more about artists/music and people who just want to listen to some songs through their feature called backstage. I'm going to return to the site more often, apart from going for their prese

Unbelivably, I'm writing in again today ! It's been a long weekend. Long because there were so many things to finish over the weekend - and i've almost managed to cram them all in. I've finally been able to integrate Google Map into the RideNow project ride display !!!! The long time was primarily because working twenty hours a day at another place I didnt really get any time to work on it through the week. So I was mostly working on it some late nights and at the weekends! Nevertheless, I'm so relieved its done - because it involved getting my feet wet with GMap and AJAX by looking at code of a significant level of complexity :). But then somehow I think I learn better that way ;) Weekends have become more like a time to catch up on work for the week. There used to be similar times at IIT too but that was more because I wouldn't have worked through the week. Here, after slogging through the week, i've to work at weekends to try to catch up with the remainin

I'm writing in after a huge break - but with a new resolve to write in more regulary (deja vu ?)! Its been quite a while since I landed here at the University of Michigan and i've been meaning to blog about such a lot of things ! Lest you begin attributing it to my laziness - let me absolve myself of it now - this time its not laziness :) - well not totally ! Life here is really hectic. For the past one week each day i've been sleeping at 3:00 am in the morning and getting back to class at 9:00 ! The coursework is pretty hectic itself but on top of that i'm working twenty hours a week. Not that i'm complaining though! It's kind of fun to go through all this. Not exactly FUN but fun nevertheless. Oh! another thing I intend to do is start writing more 'academic' stuff on the blog. If nothing else it'll help me keep notes ! To end the post on a interesting note - i'll be at the i-conference 2006 at the end of this week! Go blue !

Desi Summer of 69' I had my first real six rupees, stole it from my father's pants. went to a madrasi hotel, to eat the sambhar of 69. Me and some kadke dost, had it all and we caught bukhaar, jimy puked, joey got ulcers,and Bagga ne maari dakar. Oh when I went back there now, the food was as stale as ever, and though it was 1999, still the sambhar was being served over there, that was the worst food of my life. Therez no use in complaining, when you got no other place to eat, rushed in the evening to the doctors clinic, but he too was at thetoilet seat, yeahstanding there waiting outside, nurse told me I will wait forever, oh and when I held my breath, I knew that I had to use that loo there That was the worst food of my life. Back to the sambhar of 69

Just got back after watching the Australia Italy World Cul 2006 match. What an utterly shameful way for Italy to win after that delibrate 'dive' in the 'D' that fetched them a penaly in the last breath of the match. I remember back in school during a house match when a player objected to a decision by the referee, our coach ran into the field and asked him to do 5 head rolls as punishment! Such an act at a world cup final by a player of one of the best teams in the world is utterly disgraceful. If you thought it couldn't go worse, you got another think coming - because I was even more horrified when in the post match analysis one of the people analysisng the match condoned the act saying that in the italian and spanish football culture this wasn't frowned upon and was something 'natural'. So it wouldn't be weird for Italy to do it. Also in the replays the referee was in a perfectly good position to see that it was a dive. It was wrenching to see the

So in the world's largest 'democracy' students are beaten up like common criminals for peacefully protesting against something that aims to cripple both their future as wel as the future of the country. It's really a pathetic state of affair - but then what else can you expect with prized morons like Arjun Singh making decisions. The guy is unbelievably dumb - seriously !! I mean you think you've heard Bush and you've heard it all but you've just got to listen to this asSh07E. Just to give you an example of how dumb this moron is - here is what the HRD minister, someone who was considered for the Indian Prime Minister Post actually said on a national interview: Interviewer : we are talking about the reservations for the OBCs (Other Backward Castes) in particular. Do you know what percentage of the Indian population is OBC? Mandal puts it at 52 per cent, the National Sample Survey Organisation at 32 per cent, the National Family and Health Survey at 29.8 per

So in the world's largest 'democracy' students are beaten up like common criminals for peacefully protesting against something that aims to cripple both their future as wel as the future of the country. It's really a pathetic state of affair - but then what else can you expect with prized morons like Arjun Singh making decisions. The guy is unbelievably dumb - seriously !! I mean you think you've heard Bush and you've heard it all but you've just got to listen to this asSh07E. Just to give you an example of how dumb this moron is - here is what the HRD minister, someone who was considered for the Indian Prime Minister Post actually said on a national interview: Interviewer : we are talking about the reservations for the OBCs (Other Backward Castes) in particular. Do you know what percentage of the Indian population is OBC? Mandal puts it at 52 per cent, the National Sample Survey Organisation at 32 per cent, the National Family and Health Survey at 29.8 per

Rrrrrrrrring..... Me: "Hi Dad!" Dad : "so you are supossed to be an IIT Graduate ? " Me: thinking what kind of a question is that ???? Me: " Well, I've finished my exams and just have to fill in the no dues form and...." Dad : " At least learn how to write an adress ! " Me : " Now what did I write wrong ? " Dad: "Where on earth is michigan supossed to be.....is it a country ? " Me : " Oh great....so you called me up for that !!!!!!!! I just copied the address [:)] ....just write U.S.A. na !" Me : "Oh btw.... Dad , I got a 9.85/10 this semester !" Dad : "That's wonderful......so our coming to convocation will be worth it...How many other prizes are your getting ? " ME : OTHER Prizes...errr.....now just a sec...hold on !! Me : " Errr......Dad it's not like school. I mean My first few semesters were not good...cause you know they were kind of boring....so I don't really think I&#

Rig Veda: 10th Mandala: Sutra 129 : "At that time existed only Brahma, imbued with energy in his nature and nothing else existed. Darkness was hidden inside darkness and existence was unknown. With the exertion of its own tapas,Brahma emerged out of nothing without external cause or action" Stephan Hwakings 'n' thousand years later in 'A brief History of Time' "At the big bang , the universe is thought to have had zero size and so to have been infinitely hot." (tapas above directly implies heat). The universe has arisen after this big explosion and has its origin in this super condensed mass. Rig Veda 1-50-4: "I bow to the one(with reference to the light of the sun)which travels 2202 yojans per half Nimish" this when converted in the SI units comes out to be 299,000 km/s which is very close to the currently calculated speed of light !! Its amazing how we have utterly disregarded even the mere consideration of Vedic teaching in the Indian cu

Scene: the third floor of a residential hostel in IIT Guwahati. Time: 1:00 am background: Pink Floyd - We don't need no education. Occasion: a big sweet baboon - Tushar (T) was leaving IIT Guwahati after spending four memorable years with us. All of us were naturally nostalgic ;) and wanted to celebrate this time together. Players: Doctor (D) (drunk - and unwilling to accept it!) Tushar (T) (excited that this was his night! nostalgic about leaving; a little drunk) Kataria (K) (sensible, having fun goading doctor!) Abhinav Mathur(A) (drunk like hell - and boasting that he is sooo in control) Arup(R) (trying to make sure all of us are okay; the guy in control) Me ! (M) (the second guy in control ;), nostalgic and fooling around) Mood : Really Really sentimental , thinking about the future. Doc: No matter what guys, we'll always keep in touch - and let's promise to invite each other whenever we marry. And we'll all going to %$%$%^& the guy who doesn't invite all of

Oh, meanwhiles ! Our team is in the semi-finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup. We were one of the 8 or so judges' selected teams from around 600 ! Exciting...very - except for the fact that our interactive prototype now needs to be on a microsoft platform !!!!! I don't do that !!!!! :D guess we'll have to mash something up - and do it quick !!!!! time is running out - the submissions end on the 8th of May.

Read this interesting piece from techdirt : " Wired News is looking at the possibility of one day being able to use your thoughts as your password for better security. The idea being that the computer would recognize your specific brainwaves, that couldn't easily be copied by someone else. Some people believe this will never happen, as distinguishing on that fine a level of brainwaves might be impossible. However, even if it was possible, you have to wonder how effective it would be. It could work for normal logging in... but how does it work when you don't want to log in, but someone else wants you to? Ever try to not think about a certain thing? Our brains aren't really wired that way..........." If its thought dependent what about when we are in a hurry, or a disturbed state of mind, or when really really angry !!!! will the brain waves be the same and consequently the login process smooth ?

Today we - a bunch of people who are going for their higher studies to the United Statesthis fall-had an informal chat with four of our professors who were telling us of their experiences and what choices we would have and what India might have to offer us in terms of research and work when we get back. It was a nice feeling the way they explained to us various aspects of the situation. There was also a lotof variety of opinions amongst the professors themselves - with someone mentioning that the the world was becoming increasingly more global and itwas not really a big decision whether to come back to stay abroad. Someothers however were more fervent and said that it people like us could be instrumental in helping shape the India of the future and whatever our decisionwe must realize the responsibility we carry. The one thing that stood out was that all of them encouraged us to go out, seek,and learn from what the world had to offer has and use that in whatever way we could to give ba

I just read this piece of information at : http://www.ibnlive.com/article.php?id=7372&section_id=3 (article also pasted below )and its fascinating....... necessity is definitely the mother of invention and this is just another proof of something I believe in so strongly - there is so much of knowledge around, and the perspective of people who have actually been in the problem can make so much of a difference. Second, there is a strong need for India to support grassroot innovations like this and take ideas like this forward with credit - both monetory and othrewise to briiliant people like Saidullah. ----------------------------------------- Necessity they say, is the mother of invention. When floods ravaged Mohammad Saidullah's village, he found a new way to survive. "Nadi ke kinare mera ghar tha. Aus usine mere ghar ko kat diya. (My house was near a river and it was destroyed by the river)," Saidullah says. Saidullah designed a bicycle that can not only travel on l

Okay, some things have got to be filed ! and this is *definitely* one of them. (the cartoon strip, i mean) Life's been a roller coaster for the last couple of months. More on the high side :) We'll i've got a little more spiritual, my heart filled with a little more love. Been a little disorganized too. Work or no work, by some weird quirk of circumstances i somehow manage to stay awake till 3:00 am !!!! damn ! its 2:00 am here now. Why the post today ? Well for one I've just managed to send in entries for two competitions which is like a big load off me. The first is for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2006. Our entry is called "Sparsh- touching lives" :). The second was for MotoFwrd 2006. Somewhere between the entry i got carried away with emotions and lost coherence. Of course i didnt realize it just then ;) current interets : AJAX ;)

You scored as James Bond, Agent 007 . James Bond is MI6's best agent, a suave, sophisticated super spy with charm, cunning, and a license's to kill. He doesn't care about rules or regulations and somewhat amoral. He does care about saving humanity though, as well as the beautiful women who fill his world. Bond has expensive tastes, a wide knowledge of many subjects, and his usually armed with a clever gadget and an appropriate one-liner. James Bond, Agent 007 92% Neo, the "One" 83% El Zorro 75% Lara Croft 71% William Wallace 71% The Amazing Spider-Man 63% Indiana Jones 63% Maximus 58% Batman, the Dark Knight 58% Captain Jack Sparrow 50% The Terminator 42% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

After a hectic bout of applying for graduate studies and in between a not so enjoyable spree of calling companies for placements and explaing to them what design is , luckily enough to keep us sane there was Alcheringa - our cultural festival. Even as I write this there is a twang of nostalgia - it was my last alcheringa -as a student at least. And it was truly memorable. After a spree of offstage shows - which i truly love doing!- i finally hostd the biggest game show of alcheringa 2006. Thanks to Shaiz for the wonderful way he organized everything and all the guys behind the scenes for the show. There were lots of expectations and I wanted it to end on a really good note. I do plan on writing a post about the show - another one on the to do stack ! - but for now i'll just say that the horde of sweet people coming to congratulate me and some truly lovely compliments do feel nice and i'll venture to say that the show did go really well. Thanks to all the people in the audience

I watched "The Road to Perdition" for the second time today and now I am certain - Conrad Hall is a true genius. Watching each frame of the movie was like watching exquisite poetry in motion. I loved "The professionals" but "The road....." was way out of league even for the Conrad Hall ! Sometimes you just want the scenes to flow out and stay pasted on your walls. And the movie is not just a collection of a large number of beautiful shots - Each shot is beautiful ! I want to watch another movie by him soon !!!!!!

to strive, to seek, to find; and not to yeild................

she :"Stop staring at me !". me :"you're talking to me ? " she :"isn't that so obvious ? " me :"don't flatter yourself. you aren't that attractive." she :"i know ! you have pretty bad taste ;) " me :"well, i'll show you a thing or two about taste; you like coffee ?" she :"is that your way of asking me out ?" me :"see you've got to stop flattering yourself. I mean i can understand what a guy like me staring at you can do you raise your self esteem- but get real" she :"am I hallucinating or is your sense of humour better ? " me :"whatever! what i meant was I could show you what really good coffee is like." she :" oh ok, lets see. Where are we going?" me :" That depends how much you are willing to spend on both our coffee" she :" WHAT ? you expect me to pay for your coffee !!! "