Here are some mind boggling photos I found

American River Sunset, originally uploaded by mrwsierra.

Canyon Colors, originally uploaded by ocsp4u.

A little relaxation at midnight in the office

I teach a colleague how to ride a bicycle inside ThoughtWorks Pune!

K, my friend, you rock...

... because anyone who comes up with shit like this is a rockstar!

If you love 'If you come today", try this...

...Rajkumar's 'Love me or hate me'. It's not as good as the former, but that's just my opinion. Enjoy maadi!

Population vs GDP vs PPP

Something to put it all into perspective:
Check out the map for population, the map for GDP and this other map for PPP (Purchasing Power Parity).

Wedding Invitation? Wedding Invitation!

I loved this! Check out this wedding invitation!

Artful presentation

I came across this post comparing the presentation styles of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates here. While you can't usually say much about a presentation from a few shots, these pictures of Jobs' are very much the exception. And is it just me, or has Jobs even gone so far as to dress to suit his presentation?

Currently Reading: Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

Blurb and info:
Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rules their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons. Lord of Light.

Published: 1967
Awards: Hugo (1968)
--------------------------
Alrighty, here's my 2c. Zelazny delivers a brilliant concept, as always, but I found the narrative rather tedious and occasionally obscure. But since that's the Zelazny we've come to know and love, who cares. Zelazny does the time switch thing again, where he moves forward and backward along the timeline of the narrative telling different parts of the story in each chapter. To be continued...

Full circle

My last post, almost exactly a year ago was about Neil Gaiman - well, more or less. It's odd, because it's Neil Gaiman's work which has prompted me (compelled, rather) to come back and write some more. I finished Neil Gaiman's Sandman two days ago. Right to the last issue. I'd started on it a long time ago - a year, maybe two, possibly three, I don't know for certain. I stopped shortly after hitting issue #20 because the distro I had was damaged and I'd tired of all the missing pages.
A colleague re-introduced me to one the pivotal comics of the mid-eighties recently - The Watchmen - which I concluded I didn't quite like though I was impressed. The Sandman was another such, so I went and got the entire Sandman+spin-offs. And I sat and read, like in the old days. At work, during the lunch break. At home, until four in the morning. In the loo. And all I can say is: Mr. Gaiman, I salute you. The dreaming and all it's cast - Morpheus, Death and the other endless, Cain, Abel, Lucien, Merv, Thessaly, Hazel, Fox and all the others; they made me imagine. I forgotten what that was like, to live in my imagination, to feel it was more real than anything else. In the last year or two I've gone all prosaic, the magic gone from my days and nights. Just the occasional moment snatched from reality when it wasn't looking.
I stopped writing here because I concluded that this was useless, that it didn't accomplish anything. Who on earth is going to read this shite anyways? Better a technical blog where I can share the stuff I do everyday, stuff others may find useful. Well, no more. There is that, but I need this for me. It is good that I titled this blog 'What dreams may come'; now I dedicate this to the dreaming and what it brought back to me.
I've always said reality is for other people; I'd rather settle for a dream or thirty instead.

I bought my first book ever

... with my own money that is. "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Neil Gaiman is one of my favourites from Vertigo comics, especially the 'Sandman' series. Terry Pratchett is quite possibly one of the funniest authors I've read - his 'Discworld' series totally rocks.
I'd read "Good Omens" before, but some books you must own, know what I'm saying?
I've got this whole list of books I will buy (probably half-a-million dollars worth ;-P) when I get rich. Don't snigger, this is right up there on my list of priorities along with the black Murcielago, the matt black Augusta Brutale Serie Oro, world peace and long life for all.

The silly buggers are at it again

Yet another terrorist attack. Looks like someone, somewhere is worried that Manmohan Singh's attempts at resolving our problems with Pakistan might just be working. (Read about it here, here and here).

You see, Manmohan Singh, in his own quiet way has turned out to be considerably more effective than the previous BJP government. Oh, the BJP were tough, no doubt, and we all wanted someone in power who wouldn't let anyone mess with India. But we've seen where that goes when taken too far - Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and countless others are testimony to that fact. And of course, the BJP was unavoidably tied to that shame of the respectable Hindu, the RSS.

Manmohan is smart, subtle and clean. He is the only good thing about the miserable Congress party and their idiotic coalition government. Without him, it is nothing more than a bunch of sycophants, without one single backbone among the lot of them. As for the good lady of Amethi - well, let’s not go there.

Manmohan Singh seems to be utilizing his considerable background in economics in several far reaching ways - ways the BJP never considered. One must admit though, that deploying the army along the Indo-Pak border for eight months as the BJP did, takes balls, especially in the face of criticism by the least responsible nation in the world, the US of A. The friendly President Musharraf did get a bit of a shock then. It was worth it for that alone. But that didn't pay attention to the crux of the issue, one that most of us tend to miss - Pakistan is incidental, a mere fly. Remove the American and Chinese support and it will crumble in months. It has long been used to keep India distracted from the important things in life - economic development, economic development and of course, economic development - first by the US and now by China.

The US of course had its reasons in the good old days - India was pretty friendly with the USSR, and they wanted a lapdog to keep us occupied. With China, it's harder to tell. It is an open secret that a significant fraction of Pakistani nuclear tech is of Chinese origin. So is their entire cruise missile tech. After the Pakistanis withdrew from Kargil in 1997 after attempting to invade India, all the handguns and such left behind were of Chinese manufacture. What the Chinese hope to achieve, beyond keeping India distracted (if anything) is beyond me. Because disbursing nuclear tech and cruise missile tech to an unpredictable, fundamentalist and terrorist neighbour just to keep the other, democratic, non-aggressive, but economically competitive neighbour distracted doesn't make sense. Of course, they could just be repeating America's mistakes, but somehow I think they are much too smart for that.

But Manmohan is trying for a more long term approach. He is focussing on building relations with the Pakistani people rather than the Pakistani government - a radical approach. He is also refusing to lose focus on economic improvement, by keeping focused on improving our energy sources and gain access to new ones before the US or China grab those as well. But ultimately, he understands subtlety, and cause and effect. I have a feeling that anyone who messes with India with him around will regret it.

What's with the rain?

The incessant torrential downpour that's been going on here for the past week or so is playing merry hell with Banglore's already strained infrastucture. For me it means an excuse to stay back in the office and play some Unreal or AOE, but it isn't a joke for all those people who've been flooded out of their houses. I've been in this city eighteen years now, and I can't remeber it being like this for so many days.

Heck, to keep my feet dry on the way home today, I was forced to first climb onto the compound walls and then onto the roofs of houses to avoid a flooded road (okay, I wasn't, the water was just a foot deep at the deepest point, but I was just looking for an excuse to monkey around :-P).

The weather is going haywire these days. Back in Kodagu (or Coorg if you prefer) which is where I'm from, the last four years have been dry. Almost a drought, with people running around frantiacally trying to arrange for sprinklers for the coffee crops and managing the household on a half-dozen bottles of water (this really happened at my maternal grandad's place - 6-10 litres of water a day!).
Now this year, its rained so much that the coffee has started rotting off the crops. Crazy.

The most threatened democracy in the world

This simply hadn't struck me until my dad pointed it out - India is the most threatened democracy in the world, especially now that even Bangladesh has turned to hardcore Islam with the new government being right wing and having supposedly set up terrorist training camps.

Let's take a look at all our neighbours; to the north we have China (which has been supplying arms, cruise missile tech and nuclear tech to Pakistan and sees India as an economic competitor and possibly as a threat because we're democratic) and Nepal (now in the throes of a Maoist rebellion). To the east is Myanmar which is run by a military junta and Bangladesh which is turning to hardcore Islam. To the south we have Sri Lanka, run by the terrorist LTTE (responsible for assassinating the Indian Prime Minister in 1990). To the west we have Pakistan - hardcore Islamic, run by a military dictatorship, home to a dozen terrorist outfits, safe house for the Taliban, nuclear power with cruise missile tech, China's protégé and counter to India in the subcontinent and of course, last but not least, "America's strategic ally in the war against terrorism".

Do the jehadis want Bush in power?

Looking back at the last five years, I'm beginning to suspect that the jehadis want Bush to stay in power.

He's doing their job for them all by his lonesome, isn't he? They just need to keep a majority of the American population scared of the terrorists so that he has a free hand to do whatever he wants.

He has killed the American economy. Jobs are going elsewhere, prices rising, people are dissatisfied. If I'm not mistaken, China owns 60% of Americas debt. From the world's strongest, most independent economy ten years ago, the US is now utterly dependent on their closest rival, China.

He has effectively turned a respectable fraction of the world's nations against him, what with his hypocrisy and double standards. Nobody wonders whether America harbours imperialist designs. The question is quite simply "Who's the next target?". No wonder the terrorists are sitting tight. They've understood that in this age, wars aren't fought with guns but with economics. Gun and bombs are incidental, tools to create fear, which in turn is just another way of directing economies.

Someone I know pointed out that historically, when an empire possesses military might disproportionate to its economic might, then war is sure to follow. Looks like he was right.

Lazy ol' me

Yes, yes, I have been lax with my posting. It has been umm... five weeks
of training plus four of actual work now since I last posted.

Let me quickly cover my reading since my last post. I did finish "Neuromancer", but did not
read "Flow my tears". In the order in which I read them:

• William Gibson
  

• Sprawl Trilogy Book 1 - Neuromancer
• Sprawl Trilogy Book 2 - Count Zero


• Ashok Banker
  
• Ramayana Book 1 - The Prince of Ayodhya
• Ramayana Book 2 - Siege of Mithila
• Ramayana Book 3 - Demons of Chitrakut
• Ramayana Book 4 - Armies of Hanuman
• Robert Heinlein


• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress




• Terry Pratchett
  
• Johnny Maxwell Trilogy Book 1 - Only You Can Save Mankind
• Johnny Maxwell Trilogy Book 2 - Johnny and the Dead
• Johnny Maxwell Trilogy Book 3 - Johnny and the Bomb
• Discworld Series - The Wee Free Men
• Discworld Series - A Hat Full of Sky


• Larry Niven
  
• Ringworld Book 1 - Ringworld
• Ringworld Book 2 - The Ringworld Engineers
• Ringworld Book 3 - The Ringworld Throne


• Robert Jordan
  
• Prologue and Chapter 1 of Wheel of Time Book 11 - Knife of Dreams

Currently reading - William Gibson, "Neuromancer"

This cult classic was the source of the term 'cyberspace' as also many of the ideas behind the Matrix.
A friend of mine who dropped by today was discussing the game "Deus Ex" (based on the Unreal 1 engine, released around 2000) and the genre described by him as 'cyberpunk'. Which reminded me that I have this book, so now I'm reading it. Expect a review in a day or so.

Next Read: Philip K. Dick, "Flow my tears, the policeman said". By the same dude on whose books and short stories the movies "Minority Report" and cult classic "Bladerunner" ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?") were based. I read this three or four years ago and don't remember it too clearly any more. Just that it was whacked out!

Take your Jung Typology Test here

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

and check up the details of the result here

Its pretty interesting because I turn out to be an INTP, but online my behaviour more closely resembles that of an ENTP - at least in the sense that I love to argue.

Fresher's Day

Well, the new batch of freshers at work are getting together for an ice-breaking session tomorrow at the office. We are a very diverse bunch - 11 Indians, 14 non-Indians. Here's the breakup:

• Among the Indians, there are only two "localites" including myself(thats slang for long-term resident of Bangalore and probaly implies that you're culturally a Kannadiga).
  
• A couple more are hostelites from engineering colleges, so they've been here for the four years of their courses.
• Five are from Pune
• Two are from Bombay

I didn't get much of a chance to chat up the non-Indian freshers - we spent an hour or so together attending a couple of real long sessions covering Lotus Notes and stuff. I'm not even sure if all of them attended. Guess I'll get to know 'em better tomorrow. I'm not too sure but here's the approximate breakup

• Two or three guys and one chica from the US
• Two (maybe three?) guys from Canada
• Two from China

I'm not sure how that makes 14, but I'll figure it out tomorrow :)

Just curious about yoga...

Just curious - how many of you think yoga is unchristian? I mean, technically it is categorized as heresy, being a central stream of philosophy in Hinduism, so...

Doc Ern's post here brought this to mind.

Start work today

Aaargh! Work! Wonder what its gonna be like. I'm going to find out the hard way in a few hours. better get some shut eye.

Here's a pic of my crazy mutt Elsa, who's half Labrador, half Alsatian and mostly hyperactive. Never mentioned her earlier - I'll try to get a better pic of hers. She turned a year old on 23rd June 2005. Not sure what my dad did with all the others he took...