Stanfording a Dream

Last weekend, I visited the Stanford University campus (just a drive through). Studying in Stanford was one of my dreams, long ago. But I never thought that this visit would end-up in such a dream which would have given me a heart attack while asleep.

My-sister-in-law tells my father-in-law that I wish to study at Stanford and my father-in-law tells me that he will take care of the expenses!

When I woke up, I pinched myself to make sure that I am not dead but alive and still can feel…

PS: No offence meant to anybody

Hold me !

A little girl and her father were crossing a narrow bridge over a river.

The father asked his daughter: 

"Honey, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river."

The little girl said:

"No, Dad. You hold my hand."

"What's the difference?" Asked the puzzled father.

"There's a big difference," replied the little girl.

"If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go."

Don’t try to hold HIS hand, let HIM hold your hand.

Friends and Sheep

You have 100 sheep. One of them is missing. What will you do?

Well, you will hardly notice it….

(Not referring to Bible story)

If you have hundreds of friends, you can afford to ignore/avoid a couple of them, you won’t feel much difference

 

Friends and Fruits

Many a times, friends are like fruits. Juicy ones are perishable. Dry fruits might not look appealing but they stay longer..

A Better Tomorrow !(?)

I happened to put my head into one online discussion. The topic was ‘ A better tomorrow’.

People expressed their views/concerns about war, poverty, women being ill-treated and traded like a commodity, society lacking moral values etc.  Some even tried to sell their religion taking advantage of the opportunity…

How can we change this world into a better tomorrow? Is that possible?

How can we prevent war? Here in the US too the gas (gasoline/petrol) price goes up year after year, just like any other country. If I convert the price of stuffs from dollar to Indian currency, for almost everything we need to pay more than double, compared to the price for that item in India in Indian money (I know this conversion is not logical but still this has a point here). One Kg of Lay’s potato chips would cost around INR 200 in India. And it would cost around INR 600 in the US.  But look at the cost of petrol, even if we convert it into Indian money, it’s cheaper here. So, the gulf war paid off, right?

Most of the wars we see/seen have/had some political agenda behind it starting from World War I. To what extend can we prevent it (or influence the political system), that too when there always is a section to support the wars/political decisions? 

Can we ban the following three things which strongly influence crime and morality?

1.Alcohol

2.Drugs

3.Porn (including so-called adult media in any form)

If we cannot, our tomorrow won’t be much different from today.

We cannot ban religions, can we? The other day I read a Christian saying this:

“We will not forgive the Jews because they killed Jesus”

I see, so, that is how it is…This is a very ‘strong’ view. 

I am not talking about a particular religion, but in general. Islamic rulers did damage to Hinduism and India in the past by destroying temples, looting wealth, killing innocent people, forcefully converting people into Islam etc. But this is not the time for Hindus to take revenge in the same coin.

 Those who sell religion should understand one fact – Lord Ram, Lord Krishna, Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus, Prophet Mohammed, all these guys became ‘popular’ ONLY after their death. This means even if God is living among us today, in human form, we will come to know about Him only after his death (or probably after somebody kill him).

With the money spent on Gulf war, they could have fed every single hungry human in the world for months (one Tomahawk missile-used in the Gulf war- costs about $600,000. US spent 61 billion USD for this war alone) or even years. And the worst, war creates poverty ! But that is how system works, around the world. 

Changing the world should start from us, by we changing ourselves. Better ourselves for a better tomorrow..

Life In A Day - July 24 2010

YouTube says:

“Life In A Day is a historic global experiment to create the world's largest user-generated feature film: a documentary, shot in a single day, by you. On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera. The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into an experimental documentary film, executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.”

“The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and will be available right here on YouTube. If your footage makes it into the finished film, you ‘ll be credited as a co-director and you could be one of the 20 contributors brought to Sundance to celebrate with Kevin Macdonald.”

 

For more details:

http://sites.google.com/site/lifeinadayfaqs/

Lake Tahoe and a Jet Ski

I do not remember when this desire to do a Jet Ski sprouted in my mind. May be it started when I saw a picture or more possibly when I saw it in a movie…still can’t recollect it. But I am sure about one thing – this desire was there in me since many years. What should we do when we get a chance to fulfill one of our long cherished dreams? May be we will try to make it as memorable as possible..

Lake Tahoe is one of the most popular tourist attractions in this part of the world. A lake shared by California and Nevada. This is the largest high altitude lake in the U.S. which is located at 6225 feet. This is the second (16^th in the world) deepest lake in America with a depth of 1645 ft.  This fresh water lake is particularly known for being clear and has got 2 million years of story to tell. She is a blue beauty. The surrounding area is known for skiing and snow related activities and tourism is the main income in this area, but this lake never freeze.

When a suggestion came to visit Lake Tahoe, I had nothing to rethink about it because Jet Ski is one of the main water sport activity here during summer. And it is near Reno, the mini- Las Vegas and the ‘biggest little city in the world’ a place with Casinos Casinos and Casinos.

When I sat on the Jet Ski for the first time, I was thrilled. I took my son with me and we both were very much excited to do our first water sport.  

Since I had 30 minutes left,  I decided to go far from the shore. I was very excited and drove madly. Out of excitement I had no idea where I am going, I even forgot in which direction I am going. Yes, this might sound stupid but I should admit that this is what really happened. When decided to go back and turned and travelled towards the shore, I realized that I am approaching a different shore. I got lost….what a place to get lost….I did not carry my mobile, I cannot see any other Ski people near me . there were some speed boats moving here and there and they did not notice me and it wasn’t easy to attract their attention. Then I saw a ship near the shore and decided to move towards it and I felt it bit difficult to control the Ski. What the hell is this? I looked around and I saw the board ‘Danger Zone’. WOW, I have crossed the boundary and standing in a wonderful wavy place…

For a moment the fun started moving away and made way to fear. From the danger zone I read this on a boat ‘POLICE’. Are they coming towards me? Am I in trouble? I shot towards them and waved my hand for help. They came to me and one of the officers asked me to turn off the Ski. He looked 'cool' and I told him :

“Sir, I lost my way”  

“From which shore are you coming from?”

I forgot the name of the shore and I told them the name of the organizer and they could not make out where it is. Even at that stage, the officer was very cool and this made me bit relaxed. Then there came a good Samaritan in a small boat and he looked at my Ski and told them the name of the shore. The officer pointed his finger to some direction and said:

“OK, you go that way”

“Should I cross that?” I pointed to some rocks I saw and then the officer who was driving the boat smiled at me and said:

“Follow us”

They started moving and I followed them. Now that the U.S. marine police is piloting me and what is there to fear about? This made me happy and the fear slowly faded away and I started enjoying the ride. One minute, two minute…we are not reaching anywhere and then I thought we are going in the wrong direction.  We were moving slowly and then all of a sudden the boat picked up speed and went very fast. And I too shot after them  though it wasn’t easy to control it and at some point of time I thought  the Ski will topple…Then I saw the officer to whom I was talking to showing me a ‘Thumbs up’ and  now the distance between me and the boat was more. I thought they were asking me to go further all by myself and then my son said

“They are not asking us to follow them any further” 

So I stopped and looked around..

But where is my shore? I could not see it from where I was. So I stopped there and looked at the police boat and using some hand signals tried to tell them that this is not my shore. Then I saw the officer asking me to follow them again and this time they reduced the speed.  And finally, using hand signal he asked me to go right and there I saw my shore!   We both still had some distance and I thought if they get a chance to come near me, they might scold me. But I really wanted to thank them and test the luck. So I ‘ran’ after them and said thanks. To my surprise, he just smiled at me and nodded his head.

It was a ride filled with fun, thrill, action, suspense, horror and what not?  I wanted it to be a memorable one and God said

“So be it”

How can I forget my first Jet Ski?

Thank you God !

The feast

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

-Revelation 3:20 

Beautiful Hair...

He first saw her in that corner café. The first thing that attracted him was her long hair.

‘WOW, it’s beautiful’ he told himself.

He could not take his eyes from her, because of that hair.

She saw him sitting jaw dropped and gave him a glance…

Days passed and they started sharing the same table, enjoying coffee and chit chatting. Every time they met, he did not forget to praise her hair and she giggled.

Months passed and they started sharing the same house, as wedded husband and wife. He was so happy that day, so was she.

One day, when opened his lunch box in front of his colleagues, he found a hair in it and he got embarrassed.  He scolded his wife that day.

Days passed and the beautiful hair appeared here and there..in the kitchen, in the wardrobe, in the living room, in the bath room…

“Did you see that hair?” he asked

“Yes, I will pick it up later”

He did not feel comfortable with that and hence he picked it up. Not once but..

He felt some distance…he felt like something is wrong. May be she too felt the same. It looked like all the problems started with a strand of hair but it got branched into many areas and they found this or that reason to blame each other. He realized that life is not just about beautiful hair, or may be eyes, or smile…

Days passed and so did months..

One day, they met in the same café and said:

‘Hi…how are you?’

Driving in California and International Driving License/Permit

I think I better make this correction regarding driving in California. In one of my earlier blogs which I wrote during the initial days of my CA life, I had mentioned something which could mean that if we have international drivers permit (IDP) we can drive in California. That is wrong and I am sorry if it sounded that way.

The reality is the State of California does not accept IDP as a valid driver license irrespective of our nationality. This does not mean that driving in CA is complicated; the driving rule/law is simple and people friendly. 

If you are a visitor on Business Visa (less than or equal to 90 days), just carry the valid driver’s license you have from your country. CA accepts it and no further license is required. If it is in any language other than English, you need to have IDP with you. You can drive a car straight away ( at your own risk ..if you forgot to stop at a red signal, you could  get a $500 ticket. If you do not stop (some conditions apply) when a School Bus's red lights are flashing, its a $1000 ticket).

Those who are on long term visa are considered as resident aliens and in that case, things are different. In this case, we have only 10 days to apply for a California driver license (this means our license from home country is valid only for 10 days). But if we have a valid license from home country, upon passing a written test, the motor vehicles department will issue a temporary permit which is valid for 2 months (apart from the student permit which is valid for a year). With this permit, we can drive alone ; means there is no need for a licensed adult sitting next to us. But if we do not take a license within 2 months,  we can not renew this temporary permit and hence an adult with valid CA license should sit next to us, when we drive.

Paul the Octopus, Germany and a Soccer Cup

Paul the octopus was born (some two and a half years ago) in Weymouth (England) and now by profession he is kind of an oracle specialized in soccer match prediction, exclusively for Germany. Currently he lives in a German aquarium. He started predicting Germany’s matches since 2008 and so far, he has 100% accuracy. 

In the 2010 world cup, when he predicted Germany’s win over Argentina, many people laughed. How can Germany beat Argentina? Well, Argentina lost the match very badly and from that day onwards Paul is getting many death threats. Now, many people want to kill him (and some even want to eat him).

Some people had predicted that Germany would win this year’s cup based on some ‘magic number’. That number is as follows:

Brazil won the World Cup in 1994;   before that they also won in 1970.  1970 + 1994= 3964

Argentina won World Cup in 1986; before that they also won in 1978. 1978 + 1986= 3964  

Brazil won the World Cup in 2002; before that they won in 1962. 1962+ 2002= 3964 

Germany won the cup in 1990; before that they also won in 1974.  1974 + 1990= 3964  

Germany won the cup in 1954 also. So, 3964 minus 1954 = 2010 and hence Germany will win the cup since none of the other team’s data match with 2010.

So I was curious about this year’s FIFA world cup since Paul predicted that Germany would lose the match to Spain in the semi-finals. Many people, including his care taker thought this time he will go wrong. It was said that Germany has good players and Spain had no star players (personally I don’t know. My knowledge about international soccer players and teams are poor) usually I do not watch soccer matches but today I decided to watch the match live, out of curiosity.

Once again, Paul’s prediction became perfectly right and now he has become a big celebrity, who might even need some extra security.  The way he predict the winner is like this – his care taker provides same food in two square boxes marked with two flags, one being Germany's and the second being the opposite team's. The octopus predicts the winner by opening and the winner’s box and eating that food first.

For me, octopus was kind of ‘sea-spider’ since it has 8 legs and I never was comfortable with octopus. But just like spiders, they always fascinated me (But whenever I read about spiders, I read it with a little fear). Somewhat same with octopuses too. I did not really like them (so far no octopus came to my dreams as nightmare….touch wood). But just because we do not like octopuses we cannot deny that they are smart, right?

Just like a cuttlefish, an octopus too has 3 hearts. Two pumping blood to gills and one to the rest of the body. These creatures have very complex nervous system and brain functions. It is said that each arm/leg can work with its own intelligence and hence some people say an octopus has 9 brains (I am not sure about this). They have great vision and they observe very keenly and analyses well. This is one reason why many octopuses managed to escape from places where they have kept as ‘captives’. They have some 'extra sense' like cats and dogs, it seems.  I saw how Paul open that box and eat his food. 

Whatever….. Great work Mr. Paul. Keep predicting.

But won’t his predictions before a match affect the team psychologically?

Kind of a Surprise

Surprises can offer more happiness (than how it would have been if that thing or situation was expected) when it brings something good.  Is there anything which can came as a surprise, neither good nor bad, make us sad and make us happy as well?

Prologue

I watched the Prison Break only recently, after coming to US; though it was aired internationally (most of us might have heard about this very popular American serial. If not, this serial is about a man who got sentenced to death for killing the brother of the Vice President of USA. When this guy’s brother, who is a genius structural engineer, comes to know that his brother is innocent, he deliberately ‘tries’ to loot a bank to lead him to the prison where his brother is and then successfully breaks him out from that high security prison.  Though the story looks simple, it’s a brilliant work with further twists and the story was written by different people and episodes were directed by different people). 

I am a fan of Clint Eastwood and I have seen most of his popular movies, including ‘Escape from Alcatraz’. Alcatraz was a high security prison built on an island in San Francisco Bay. Only three people ever broke that prison and escaped (they broke the prison and their dead bodies were not found; so it is assumed that they escaped, though some people do not agree).   In that movie, Eastwood plays the lead man Frank Morris who made the escape possible. Alcatraz is not a prison anymore but a tourist attraction.  Last weekend, I paid a visit to San Francisco to have a sightseeing cruise which included passing this island.

The Surprise

Yesterday night, I felt like checking the mail box at 10 pm (since I wasn’t expecting any mails, I did not check in the afternoon) and there is  summons from  the Superior Court of California. I checked the address many times, yes, it is addressed to me. I got worried, what could be this? I used to get some calls from the debt collectors. But they were looking for one Italian guy and not me. So, what on earth is this?

 I opened the envelope and just below my address line, I read this

‘ Failure to respond to this summons will subject you to a fine, a jail or both’.

 Jail? If this innocent man goes to jail, who will break the prison for me?

Looking at my face, my wife grabbed the paper from me and read (she reads at least 10 times faster than me) and told me

“They want you to become a Jury in that court for one trial and you will be paid fifteen dollars’

This is great ! I am the jury of the superior court of California, excellent job ! who care about the pay. I became very happy.

See?

Note: In the U.S. there is this ‘Jury service’ in which the judiciary asks people to become one of the juries. They select people randomly.  It is mandatory for that person, including disabled people, to become the jury if one is qualified (it is not educational qualification but some other criteria and the first criteria is that one has to have U.S. citizenship).  If one is not qualified, one must inform them.  In the case of working people, the employer must give time off. I wasn’t aware of this till yesterday (June 28, 2010)

Can Snakes hear?

Around the world, in how many countries human(s) depend on snakes to meet their ends?  Mostly in India (and a few more countries). For some illiterate village people, snake charming was a profession in India. Even now we can see them here and there (it’s against law). Lately, I happened to see one snake charming video in the Internet where that guy plays the traditional musical instrument to make the snake ‘dance’. Among some comments posted by some people, I read something like this too “you fool, snakes cannot hear” I accept the fact that this charmer is performing this act since it was his tradition and not because he has extensive knowledge about snake’s hearing abilities. But still, are snakes deaf?

I remember that I studied that way in my science class in my schools. Snakes do not have external ears and hence they cannot hear. They sense the vibrations on the ground and they have a special tongue which is capable of sensing on ground, air and water. The end. This is where the science or may be some section of the scientists went wrong – instead of accepting the fact that ‘we do not know’ they made that as a statement. Thus this ‘fact’ became part of biology/science text book.

But there were some biologists and scientists who did not hesitate to say ‘we do not know’ and nobody cared them. Who cares those doesn’t know something? But they were the people who were standing at the right side.

 Somehow, some biologists/scientists got attracted to the jaw of the snakes. Snakes have special jaws which help them swallow food bigger than their (mouth) size. But now it is known that these jaws have got ability to pick up sounds. And this mechanism works like two ears and hence they can hear in stereo. 

Snakes can hear better when they keep their jaw on the ground but this does not mean that they are deaf if they lift their head off the ground. If we keep a paper in front of our mouth and speak or if we touch the cone paper of a speaker when the speaker is working, we can clearly feel the vibrations. So, snake too should be able to pick up vibrations travelling via air, though it can do that better when grounded. From the jawbones, these vibrations go to the inner ear (to the cochlea, to be precise) and nerves carry this to brain.

Some earlier studies showed that snakes do not respond much to louder sounds. Now the same is interpreted as a defense mechanism exhibited by snakes. It is like soldiers lying on the ground when they hear a ‘bang’.  When they ‘hear’ such big sounds, instead of being panic, may be snakes prefer to stay motionless and make use of all its gifted sensing abilities, who knows?

At least snakes understood what Lord Voldemort said, didn’t they?

 

Acid Reflux Remedies … The Secret Ingredients

What are the remedies for Acid Reflux, especially the home remedies?

There are so many websites that offer two secret home remedies which they claim as cure for acid reflux or GERD; remedies which just hide in the grocery cupboard in our kitchen. Those sites contain a lot of ‘testimonies’ too. To know what they are, we need to pay 30-40 dollars. That is one way of making money via internet. It is just a business and it usually comes with a disclaimer saying they do not have any responsibility or liability if anything goes wrong..

Here is that top secret ingredients info for free:

1.Apple cider vinegar

2.Honey

(Then comes Chewing gum, milk and 7up, baking soda etc )

I am a person who have faced severe acid reflex and I even underwent endoscopy to get it confirmed or to determine the severity. But I am not writing this to recommend above mentioned remedies but to ‘expose’ those secrets so that there is no need to pay for just two names.

Me being a GERD man, what do I suggest? I suggest doing a neat search in the internet and read more. Give weightage to those sites which are more health and medicine related than sites which sell particular brands of apple cider vinegar or honey.  A spoon of vinegar won’t give us any serious damage, even if it backfires.  So there is no harm in trying at own risk.

This blog is not about what acid reflux is, its causes and remedies or even how I personally manage it (I might write that…may be next time)

Anyway, I would like to make a special note on this apple cider vinegar (ACV) thing. There are two theories about how it works and they are contradictory.

 Look at the two possible situations of acidity – body producing more acid than needed and body producing less acid resulting in indigestion and reflux. In the first case, the theory says if we take ACV, body will start producing less acid considering there already is enough acid. In the second case, ACV helps fill the lack of acid and helps digestion. Which one is right? Second one looks logical but I really do not know. If both theories are right, anybody who has GERD can take ACV, which I don’t think so. 

 

Words and Silence

When we arrange alphabets in such an order that it appears in the same way in a dictionary, we make a meaningful word.  We can make people relax, laugh, cry, angry or even hurt by arranging some alphabets in one way or another. Then it can convey emotions.

Words are not just a collection of alphabets but it also has got some meaning.  So is silence, sometimes…

Height of Technology

The other day, I was listening to radio using my Nokia E51 when I felt like going to toilet. It was too late when I realized that there is no toilet paper.  That phone had no SIM and hence I cannot make any call or send any text. I used the phone to connect to my WiFi in offline mode and logged into Gmail and sent one mail with subject line ‘URGENT’ to my wife (who was working from home that day) in her official id. In few seconds the toilet paper got door delivered. 

Geee

India, Idols and a Rat

Following is taken from a mail (my reply) to one of my friends...Yes, copy righted by me. That friend (lives in another country) saw a TV program about Indian culture where they say we Indians eat food with rats (sharing same plate) and we worship animals as God. My friend wanted to know whether I am such a person or not...Interesting

Selamat Pagi !

[ removed some paragraphs which are not connected to the above]

Understanding Indian culture is not easy. Hinduism is not a religion founded by somebody but it’s a way of living. Christians follow Bible, Muslims follow Koran and what about Hindus?

Hindus have 4 Vedas (or may be 5, when we consider Ayurveda, the Indian system of medicine), over 108 upanishads, Smritis, 4 Ithihasas including Ramayana, 18 Puranas, Bhagavat Gita (its part of one of the Ithihasa – Mahabharata), more than 4 Agamas, 6 Darshanas…there is a scripture about love making (Kamasutra) there are books about how to construct buildings (Vaastu)…I really don’t know how many scriptures we have got..we have scriptures dealing with every aspect of our life. What I know very clearly is that one human life is not enough to study all these.

One of the most popular  ways or learning  basics of arithmetic is by way of using counting frames or Abacus. Initially, a student physically see what is 1 or what does it mean when we say 2.  Once the skills are achieved, a student moves on to mental math. The more skilled you are the more you can do mentally ( for example, the Indian math genius  Shakuntala Devi can perform  all the math YOU teach  your students using  black/white board or paper and pen/pencil, just mentally).

In a similar fashion, in Hinduism, the idea of a supernatural force (God) starts with forms (pictures, idols etc) and end in a formless God. When a person finally realizes that God is not just a creator but he is there in his creation, they sees God in everything around them and this includes trees, animals etc. Sounds stupid?

Consider that somebody prayed to a formless God and his/her prayer got answered. Had that person prayed to a tree with same intensity and devotion, then also the prayer would have answered. If first one did not work, the second one also would not work. 

As per Bible, one is not supposed to worship idols. But as you can see these days, there are lots of Christian denominations (mainly catholic) who worship  the idol of Jesus, Virgin Mary, and the Cross. Same with the  Hindus too. They go to temples and offer prayers. Are they just fools and idiots?

No, they go there coz their prayers are getting answered (I am not saying every prayer..why is it so? this universe has some subtle logic). It doesn’t matter to whom you offer your prayer, to Allah, Christ or Krishna, it goes to one direction. That’s the reality.

Enough introduction. Now you know why some people worship a snake or a tree, I mean the logic. Some people say the worship or snake started from fear. That has some sense, possible. Worshipping the form is the easiest way of worship. For a 5 year old child, if we show the an idol of Krishna or Jesus and say ‘ That is God’, they can understand it better, than we pointing our finger to Sky and telling there sits the God (An Indonesian’s up is an American’s down. When an Indonesian and American points to sky, they point in opposite direction. When people from different parts of the earth points their finger up, they point to different places of the universe. Either this (God concept) is total nonsense or it means God is everywhere, there is no third possibility)

Then why can’t we directly worship the formless? It is not easy to digest. Osama Bin Laden may be able to recite the whole Koran without looking the Koran. But don’t you think he miss the whole point of spirituality? Did he understand God? When I say this, I am not telling that only those who worship idols understood God better. There are millions who get stuck to the idol itself for their whole life and think that idol is God. On the other side, there are millions who worship a formless God (since they are taught worshipping God in form is sin)and never sees the presence of God in his/her life here (on earth) when they are actually living. For them, God sits up in the sky and stuffs related to God happens only after their death. There are some others who believe God is giving some test here and he/she is going to get the result on the day of final judgment.  As a teacher, you know why you are giving your students a test. It is to measure how much they learnt/understood, right? You are testing them because you don’t know to what extend your student know. Why is God giving us a test? Coz he don’t know what we humans know? After all it is He who created us. And he need to give us a test? Then I would say he is not worth calling God.

Now, the straight answer to your question – No, I do not worship a rat or a monkey nor do any of my Hindu friends or relatives (I am very sorry to admit that I had even killed snakes). We do not share food with a rat, which is not at all hygienic (some people eat rats, you know that?). I have never heard of anybody in India doing that. May be some minority sect somewhere might have done that and that TV people got it.

Outside India, people will hear only the bad side of India. India is a nuclear nation,  every software you use has some Indian connection, including the one which helps you read this mail, India sends the satellites of many other countries into the space, zero was invented here, we have thousands of years old scriptures which deals with math including trigonometry, airplanes, architecture,.. the first brain surgery was done here (thousands of years ago by Sushrutha). Thousands of years ago, Indians knew that earth is round in shape and it is the earth that is circling the sun and not the other way…we have books on astronomy and astrology.....it’s a long list. But outside world see only the bad things, even today.

A Russian friend of mine thought that in India there are no toilets. Another friend of mine from Paris did not believe me when I said I live in 11^th floor of my apartment coz she thought India is a poor country and we Indians live in small houses and huts.  That is how India is being promoted by the west with some vested interest.  After that ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ movie couple of my friends from abroad asked me ‘ do you still have such slums?’ they did not ask ‘do you have such brainy boys in your slums?’, do you see? So I am not surprised if you saw such a TV show about India.

[removed the rest]

Rgds

Jay

Internet Security, a Joke?

Some long time ago, I had mentioned in one of my blogs that Google is one of the major players who is after digging up stuffs from our computer. If we are using any of the Google products, we knowingly or unknowingly share some of our personal details with them - it can be the searches we made, the sites we visited, our IP address when we accessed internet, the browser we use, the operating system with version and service pack, our MAC address, mail ids, passwords…

Now it’s official that they were sniffing on our wireless routers, whether it’s secured or not. If it was secured, they collected the IP and MAC address and possibly the number of connections. If it was not a secured one, well, they might have sniffed out everything that was possible when their Street View cars were passing through our neighborhood roads. To some extent, by combining IP address and MAC address (as a composite primary key in their database) they can even point their fingers to specific people. We already know that they read every mail in we send/receive via Gmail.  (since its millions/billions of characters, they use software to read and it’s not read by any individual. But this does not mean that no individual can access these data. The relevant ads we see on sides of the  Gmail is placed using Business Intelligence (BI)technology and those who develop that definitely need sample data)

 It is said that some (government) agencies are going to check/audit the data they collected by sniffing the wifi networks. Google’s explanation about this spying is too silly and childish. How can somebody inject a chunk of code without the project manager or testing team know? And how can they keep such HUGE data (they sniffed out data from around the world) in their servers without the network admins know? Who were taking the backups then? They say they did not use these data for any of their products. Then why were they keeping these terabytes of data they collected over many years?

It is good that somebody made this public..Now they are going to offer  (probably by next week) some secured search engine! As if they care about our privacy !

This Google story was the best joke I read this week…

Golden Day !

Golden Gate Bridge was in my ‘must watch’ list since months. But ‘the time’ did not arrive till last Saturday, that is  May 8^th  2010.

I had heard about this bridge loooong back, when we studied about the wonders of the world. But that time, I had no idea that one day I would see it for real. This bridge, built on Pacific Ocean to connect the SF peninsula to the Marin County, is THE symbol of San Francisco. When we consider this was built on 1937, this is really amazing.

Apart from being one of the seven wonders of the world, this bridge holds another credit – United State’s most popular suicide point…. the place where world’s most suicides happen.  Now, pedestrians are not allowed in the bridge at night. Somebody suggested and designed a suicide net to prevent the jumps but there is no fund. The documentary film ‘The Bridge’ is based on this bridge and its suicides. I did not watch that documentary yet but it is said that they captured some real suicide jumps. Wonder what was important, filming a suicide or preventing the jump…I don’t know. If they prevent, may be those guys would go to some other place and die.

What if one do not die after jumping from this bridge? Should we call them lucky or unlucky? I don’t know. The bridge is very high (abt 75 meters from sea water) and when somebody jumps from there, he/she reaches at a speed of over 120 km/hour before hitting water.  If we fall from such heights to water, it is as good as jumping from a 75 m high building onto the floor. Science says the property of water is like that……its kind of immediate death.  But still, some people did not die… lucky or unlucky?

Anyway, I would call myself lucky and unlucky. Lucky, for being able to see the bridge myself…and unlucky?

My Golden Gate visit gave me another everlasting memory. I accidently passed through the FastTrack toll gate without paying toll and now eagerly waiting for my first ticket in the US !

 

 

Blog in the Mind

The other day, one of my acquaintances asked me:

“Why are you not blogging anymore?”

I said:

“Thanks for asking; but I was asking the same question to myself”

Yes, I was kind of regular and I wrote over 450 blogs…

Is it just laziness? Or maybe I was after something else …or maybe it’s a mixture of both

At least one or two of my old blogs need some correction/update...

 I will be back, very sooooon