Error Messages

new_york_times, originally uploaded by vishal_sah.

Windows: Changing Default (irritating) login sound

Manas, this is how you can change the default sounds -

Windows XP-2000-NT Tip #590: Changing Sounds: "You can change the sounds that are associated with various events such as starting Windows, receiving mail, logging off, etc. Simply open the Control Panel, then open Sounds, 'Speech and Audio Devices,' then 'Sound and Audio Devices.' In the Properties window that appears, click the Sounds tab."

Now you dont have to announce to the world that you have logged into Windows ;o)

What is Your World View?

My results --

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 88% Idealist 81% Postmodernist 69% Existentialist 63% Romanticist 63% Materialist 50% Modernist 44% Fundamentalist 38% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

Microsoft - Vista baby

"Like all marketing strategies, this means… anything you want it to mean."

-The Register

Current Proxy

CRISILpng, originally uploaded by vishal_sah.

Working at Irevna www.irevna.com which was acquired by CRISIL

My ex workplaces - 3

SRF-Ltd, originally uploaded by vishal_sah.

SRF-Ltd Done exceptionally well - ever sine I left in November 2003. Wouldnt u think so ?

My ex workplaces - 2

ProductDossier - Still a pre-IPO comany

My ex workplaces - 1

GEOM, originally uploaded by vishal_sah.

Was wondering how the stock price of the companies where I have worked previously.

Here is the First one - Geometric Software

Done quite well ever since I left ;o)

movies seen last week-end

BlackBerry with your pizza

Sign of trouble: A BlackBerry with your pizza:

"You could argue that getting a free BlackBerry with airline tickets or hotel reservations might make sense, as the demographics match up. And you might get a bona fide user from the offer. But it stretches credulity to think that, because a person orders a Papa John's pizza, he's exactly the right person to pay $40 a month for constant contact with his e-mail.

To repeat, this can only be viewed as an act of desperation. I continue to feel that the clock is ticking against Research In Motion. One of these days, there's going to be a serious implosion in that stock."

Harry Potter - HBP

Just Completed -



I Sat 11 hours straight to complete this one.

Comments -

Not recommended if the previous books in the series have not been read.

Ending dissapointing and too short. last 2 chapters could have been spread across 5 chapters.

Title of the book not really meaningful or relevant to the development of the plot

Most of the gap of the previous books quite well - except for chapter 2 where the arguments are difficlt to digest. Force fitting things to suit the current plot

Death and its impact underplayed

Not realy that dark as the book 5 inspite of more deaths being reported.

Dissapointing that there was - No encounter with One-who-cannot be named. Infact not much reference to him directly

Degenration of ideology

In one of my posts I had given an example of degeneration of ideas

Manas wrote his comments here

Today I Stumbled Upon ( using www.stumbleupon.com toolbar ) at Crazy stuff from the bible which gives examples of contradictions in the Bible. Some of these were quite difficult to digest and I had to verify the content from other sources. Could not verify all of these entries.

Yet the point is that even if some of these are true, it implies that we cannot take these works for granted. Whatever be the original message/event it is subject to different interpretations by different people -

"Another favorite is the cursing of the fig tree. (Never mind that this tale portrays Jesus as being hungry and looking for figs when it's not even fig season!) In Mark, the tree does not wither immediately, but the disciples marvel over it the next day. Matthew's story has it wither immediately, and the disciples marvel immediately after it withers. In our National Bible Week Poster, I suggest that Matthew was dissatisfied with a Jesus who would take a whole day to wither a damned fig tree."
- http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9449.htm

India Story

Sensex_Nasdaq, originally uploaded by vishal_sah.

What better to prove that India Story is not a story but a reality.
Here is the relative movement of Indian Sesex vs NASDAQ.

Hope (Lyrics)

"you want to trust religion
and you know it's allegory
but the people who are followers
have written their own story"

"and you're questioning the sciences
and questioning religion
you're looking like an idiot
and you no longer care."

-R.E.M.

Azureus

My dear friend
Lokesh Shah had suggested Azureus.

I figured out that the issue might be that I am connecting throught the LAN set-up we have at our home. Since one of my room partner Umang has left chennai for good and since Shukla's computer is down, I can have the entire connection to myself. But I still need to get the connection re-configured.

Wil give Azureus another shot then.

TXU vesrus NASDAQ

TXU_NasDAQ, originally uploaded by vishal_sah.

TXU - The killer Utility company.

Here is what TXU does -
"The Group's principal activities are the generation of electricity, wholesale energy trading, retail energy marketing, energy delivery, and other energy-related services and, through a joint venture, telecommunication services." Source:MotleyFool

Notice.. Nothing about changing the world ..etc etc

So u thought Tech was HOT?

UTY_Tech, originally uploaded by vishal_sah.

We generally consider that Tech sector is the place where all the action is.
While looking for a career who thinks of Utility sector. Moreover from purely investing point of view, the Utility sector is consider a defensive sector - where u invest for safety (Read low Beta)

Convention wisdom can be misleading.

Here is the relative performance of the US Utilty Sector versus the Tech Sector.

* Source:Fool.com Dont believe this? Check out yourselves

Choosing death

Jack's Death, His Choice - New York Times:

"'I'm just grateful I live in the state of Oregon, where we have this option,' Mr. Newbold said. 'I'm just sorry the John Ashcrofts of the world want to dictate not only how you live, but also how you die. There's nothing more personal, other than childbirth, than passing on.'"

"By God, I want to go out on my own terms," Mr. Newbold said. "I don't want someone dictating to me that I've got to lie down in some hospital bed and die in pain."

Like many patients, Mr. Newbold says that his biggest concern isn't pain so much as the loss of autonomy and dignity. That's partly why he wants the medication on hand - if he feels himself losing the self-control he has prized all his life, he can hasten the process.

"I may never use the medication," he said, "but the knowledge that you have the ability to end it gives you so much relief."

Last throes .. hmm

Iraq insurgency in 'last throes,' Cheney says

Daily Times - Site Edition: "Bombers kill 40 in Iraq"

Origin of Al-Qaeda

Isn't it interesting, that the origins of this organization is never discussed in the mainstream media.
BBC -- Al-Qaeda:
"Al-Qaeda emerged in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, as Arab volunteers joined US-backed Afghan mujahideen fighting to expel the occupying Soviet forces.

Bin Laden set up an organisation to help the volunteers, which became known as al-Qaeda, or 'the base'."

Google Web Accelerator

Google Web Accelerator:

"3. Can I use Google Web Accelerator with a dial-up connection?

Dial-up users may not see much improvement, as Google Web Accelerator is currently optimized to speed up web page loading for broadband connections."

First google product where the logic and use-case stumps me. Acceleration available only for broadband users, not for dial-ups

Have you ever checked out http://www.google.org/

"We hope that someday this institution will eclipse Google itself in overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world's problems."

- Sergey Brin & Larry Page

BitTorrent in Opera

Faster, more efficient downloads in Opera technical preview with BitTorrent

My experience with existing BitTorrent clients have not been good. The new version of Opera would hopefully change the situation.

FoodBuzz hits headlines

The Hindu : Metro Plus Bangalore / Food Line : Customised office lunch

Great going .... Vaishali & Manas

western philosophy

Last week completed the book 'Sophies World' by Jostein Gaarder

My earlier attempts to understand Western Philosophy were thwated by my choice of book, lack of any previous background or perhaps most importantly by my lack of maturity. I had attempted the book - Story of Philosophy
by Will Durant 6 years back but had given it up after 2 chapters. The same phenomena had happened for - Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. Few years back I was finally able to read the entire book Zen.. without understanding it completely. Eveny night on retunring from office I would read a couple of pages and would then doze off. This lasted for 2 months and by the end of it I was able to tick mark this book off my list of 'To be Read' books. Though the content gets heavier after a while I still managed to complete it due to the shear mental association with the Motorcycle trip. It kind of broke the monotony of the philosophical content.

After this I had given up on reading any other book in this domain. My interest got rekindled on the suggestion of the owner of Corner Bookshop at Spencer Plaza. I am glad that he recommened this book.

Sophies World is brief introduction to the entire history of western philosophy. For the first time I was able to follow the flow of ideas from the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers to Jean Paul Sartre without getting into the trap of definitions and jargons.



Best part is that fictional/story telling structure the the book similar to the Goldratts 'The Goal' makes it a easy read.

bringing back dead

Boffins create zombie dogs

"Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has developed a technique in which subject's veins are drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution.

The animals are considered scientifically dead, as they stop breathing and have no heartbeat or brain activity.

But three hours later, their blood is replaced and the zombie dogs are brought back to life with an electric shock.

Plans to test the technique on humans should be realised within a year, according to the Safar Centre."

Google @ $300

This summarizes my feeling on google's valuation -

Google | What a lot of wheatgrass | Economist.com: "IT IS hard to know whether to be impressed, suspicious or amused."

Google Print

I can get a fair idea of the book that comes up in the search results. By tweaking the url you can also read many of the pages from the book.
Does this feature translate into more sale for the book publisher. If you are only interested in couple of pages then buying the book becomes redundant. On the other hand, the same argument can be applied to the bookstores. If all that you are intrested in is to read a couple of pages, then you can do this in a bookstore.

Just completed

India : A Wounded Civilization
by V.S. NAIPAUL

Digital Fortress
by Dan Brown

Now reading

Who will guard the guards (2) ?

I have never laughed so much on reading a slogan ..

Printer Friendly Version: "Sharma said the Bajrang Dal would also replace its slogan ‘‘Jo hindu ka hit karega, voh desh mein raj karega’’ (Those who benefit Hindus would rule the country) with ‘‘Trishul bantega, desh bachega’’ (Tridents will be distributed, country will be saved)’’"

... and these people still claim to represent me

Who will guard the guards ?

Do these two political parties represent me ?

On Petrol price hike -

BJP's point of view (21-June-2005)

BJP announces week-long stir against petro price hike:

" The BJP decided to launch the agitation at a meeting of senior office bearers chaired by party President L K Advani, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters"
Lashing out at the UPA government, the BJP leader said the 'big' increase in the prices of petrol and diesel will have a cascading effect and costs of all items will rise."

Congress point of view (1-Oct-2000)

"Pondicherry Chief Minister P. Shanmugham today criticised the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for hiking the prices of petroleum products.

The ‘exhorbitant’ increase effected in the prices of cooking gas, petrol and other products showed that the Centre was following anti-people policies, he told a meeting of Congress workers here.

Asserting that his government was “going strong”, he said only the Congress “could provide” a stable administration. It was going ahead with finalising welfare measures for the people and a package would be announced soon, he added."

Nice concert

Scotsman.com News - UK - Nice concert. But can it really save millions from dying?

Nice Article. But can it offer any alternative?

Live 8 @ Wikipedia

Live 8 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "We don't want your money, we want your voice. - Bob Geldof"

This is something that I just love about Wikipedia. All current events are documented in detail. Contrast this to the static information Encylopedia Britannica Delux edition (2004) on my computer where

Reading on the controversy and the criticisim of this event reminded me that even doing charity or helping the world many not always be free from lifes ironies. Ritesh told me of the following incident. Owner of a big sweet shop in Rourkela used to distribute all sweets to the beggars at the end of the day. A good act of charity we might say - giving away edibiles instead of throwing them away. But he soon stopped this practice. Why ? Because, all the beggars started praying that a larger portion of the edibiles remain unsold.

;o)

Following the Equator - Mark Twain

Following the Equator, Part 5, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens):

"Famine is India’s specialty. Elsewhere famines are inconsequential incidents—�in India they are devastating cataclysms; in one case they annihilate hundreds; in the other, millions.

India had 2,000,000 gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.

With her everything is on a giant scale—�even her poverty; no other country can show anything to compare with it. And she has been used to wealth on so vast a scale that she has to shorten to single words the expressions describing great sums. She describes 100,000 with one word —�a ‘lahk’; she describes ten millions with one word—�a ‘crore’"