I am back to blogging after a brief ;-) hiatus of 2 years. Don't get mislead by the title of the post. This post has got nothing to do with the two tracks, Aerosmith or ACDC.
It's like a rebirth. Giving a fresh life to a thing I care about. Yesterday I finished reading the fantastic book named "Clutter Busting". It has inspired me lot to clean up the junk, that i dint consider junk so far, from my life. I have started removing many of my precious belonging from my computer attic.
I cant believe its almost been a decade of getting hooked to computers. The Digital Clutter had been gathering for long time that kept me distracted and less focused. You can expect few things coming straight out of my attic making their way to this blog.
Leaking the secret of not posting for so long: I had decided that I will move to a hosted blogging platform (am a control freak, I guess) and own a domain name and only then I'll publish my next post. The sad news is neither of that happened so far and the good news is I have decided to change the way I have programmed myself to think.
By the way today happens to be the day when I started my professional career six years back.
Hello world!
Showing posts with label personal thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal thoughts. Show all posts
Go Green
Maybe you and I can afford to waste, but our country and planet cannot afford to do so. Please Don't waste Food and Energy.
Here is the getting started guide:
- Please turn off the computer monitor whenever not in use
- Switch Off work PC when leaving for the day
- Opt out of paper statement options for banking and other billing statements
- Take prints only when absolutely necessary
- Check the emission of your vehicle
- Control the temptation to use the plastic bags, try to reuse the same ones
PS: I know there's nothing new in this post. Just consider it as a reminder and tally yourself how many points you actually follow.
The Pen
My friend calls me on my cell and wants me to note down a number. Du-uh I manage to get a piece of paper but where the hell is the pen. I search here and there and finally I end up saving that number on my cell while I put my friend on speaker. To hit the last nail, I press the end button when call is over, and Whoa.. the number is erased from the screen. The point here is not how I lost that number, the point is where do all the pens go? This phenomenon of losing pen when its required most is not limited to my home but happens every now and then at my workplace too.
No matter how safely i keep it (the pen) at some place, it is either lost or stolen. There is a big black-hole that swallows every pen that comes it's way. Strangely this AI-enabled black-hole leaves those pen that can no longer work, largely because of exhausted refill ink. In fact, sometimes the same stolen pen is also found after some days. I think the black-hole spits it out when my need is over.
At my desk, sometimes I find a pen that I neither bought nor borrowed from some one. Anyways, I use it and then one fine day that is also gone. If my black-hole theory is not correct then there is certainly a mafia involvement behind the lost and found of pens.
Recently I bought a pen and could hardly use it before it was gone (from home) and atleast 3 pens were missing from my desk when i came back from vaccation (at my workplace). So thought of sharing my grief with you guys
No matter how safely i keep it (the pen) at some place, it is either lost or stolen. There is a big black-hole that swallows every pen that comes it's way. Strangely this AI-enabled black-hole leaves those pen that can no longer work, largely because of exhausted refill ink. In fact, sometimes the same stolen pen is also found after some days. I think the black-hole spits it out when my need is over.
At my desk, sometimes I find a pen that I neither bought nor borrowed from some one. Anyways, I use it and then one fine day that is also gone. If my black-hole theory is not correct then there is certainly a mafia involvement behind the lost and found of pens.
Recently I bought a pen and could hardly use it before it was gone (from home) and atleast 3 pens were missing from my desk when i came back from vaccation (at my workplace). So thought of sharing my grief with you guys
हिन्दी में प्रथम लेख
कई बार मुझे इस बात का एहसास होता है कि हिन्दी हमारे देश कि प्रमुख भाषा होते हुए भी कंप्यूटर पर कदाचित् ही उपयोग में लायी जाती है। शायद इसकी एक वजह हिन्दी की देवनागरी लिपि हो सकती है, जो कि मूल रूप से कंप्यूटर पर लिखी जाने में थोडी कठिन होती है। प्रायः हमारे कुंजीपटल पर अंग्रेजी अक्षर अंकित होते है और हिन्दी कुंजियों का क्रम शायद ही कोई जानता हो। परन्तु अब अंग्रेजी कुंजीपटल के माध्यम से भी देवनागरी बड़ी ही आसानी से लिखी जा सकता है। यह लेख उपरोक्त कथन का जीवंत उदहारण है।
तो फ़िर क्या वजह है कि हिन्दी का उपयोग आज भी व्यापक रूप से नही हो रहा। हमारे देश मैं इंटरनेट का उपयोग करने वालो कि संख्या दिन प्रतिदिन बढ़ रही है, पर हिन्दी लिखने वालो का प्रतिशत आज भी नगण्य है। एक आम उपयोगकर्ता आज भी हिन्दी मैं लिखना नही जानता। कहने को तो आज हम सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी की महाशक्ति है, पर हम हमारी ख़ुद की भाषाओँ में ही लिखना नही जानते।
हम अपने सामने ऐसे कई उदहारण रख सकते जिन्होंने अपनी भाषाओँ को ससम्मान इंटरनेट तक पहुँचाया। जर्मनी एवं दुसरे यूरोपियन देश, चीन, जापान, थाईलैंड, अरबिक देश आदि आज कामयाबी से व्यापक तौर पर अपनी भाषाओँ का उपयोग कर रहें हैं। पर हम आज भी अंग्रेजी पर पूरी तरह अवलंबित हैं।
कोई दोमत नही कि आज हम जहाँ है उसमें अंग्रजी का महत्वपूर्ण योगदान है। अंग्रेजी की वजह से ही हमने सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी में यह मुकाम हासिल किया है। पर इस वजह से आज हिन्दी का तिरस्कार होने लगा है। यदि आप हिन्दी बोल रहें हो तो लोग आपको नीची निगाहों से देखने लगते है। कम से कम तथाकथित 'कॉस्मो' शहरों का 'मल्टीप्लेक्स कल्चर' तो यही कहता है। बच्चो को बचपन से हिन्दी बोलने पे सज़ा दी जाने लगती है। हिन्दी को प्रायः दूजी श्रेणी कि का दर्जा ही हासिल होता है। या तो अंग्रेजी कि वजह से, या उस प्रदेश कि प्रांतीय भाषा के सामने। कई लोग तो हिन्दी में बात करने वाले को सीधे-सीधे पिछडा करार दे देते हैं। लोग फ्रेंच, जर्मन या कोई विदेशी भाषा बड़े गर्व के साथ सीखते है। पर हिन्दी का ज़िक्र तक करते उन्हें शर्म आती है। यह दर्शाता है कि हम में कितना आत्मसम्मान है।
हो यह गया है कि हम ना तो घर के रहें है न घाट के। ना हमें ढंग से अंग्रेजी आती है, (जी हाँ, आज भी हमारी अंग्रेजी का आंग्ल-देशों में मज़ाक ही उडाया जाता है) ना ही हम ढंग से हिन्दी बोलने के काबिल रहे हैं, और ना ही अपनी प्रांतीय भाषा। और इस भाषा कि खिचडी को नये पीढ़ी की 'फैशन' करार दिया जाता है। मैं किसी हिन्दी के प्राध्यापक की तरह कोई भाषण नही देना चाहता, और मैं ख़ुद भी इसी 'फैशन' का जाने-अनजाने गुलाम बन चुका हूँ।
आज भी हमारे देश की ९० फीसदी से ज्यादा जनता (जो की पढ़ लिख सकती है ), प्रमुख रूप से हिन्दी या प्रांतीय भाषा का प्रयोग अपने रोज़मर्रा के कार्यो के लिए करती है। यदि उन तक हमें इन्टरनेट को पहुचना है तो अपनी भाषाओं को इन्टरनेट तक पहुचाना ही पड़ेगा। हम लोग भाग्यशाली है जो अंग्रेजी पढ़-लिख सकते है। परन्तु जो नही है उन तक इस चमत्कारी सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी को पहुचाने के लिए देशीय भाषाओं का इन्टरनेट तक पहुचना अत्यन्त आवश्यक है।
यद्यपि आज के दौर में अंग्रेजी अत्यधिक महत्वपूर्ण है परन्तु अपनी मातृभाषा का सम्मान करना भी हमारी ही ज़िम्मेदारी है। भले ही आप ख़ुद हिन्दी का प्रयोग ना करे, पर इस लेख को पढ़ कर यदि आप हिन्दी के लिए भी अपने ह्रदय में थोड़ा सा स्थान बना पायें, और हिन्दी को हीन भावना से न देखे, तो भी मेरा यह लेख सफल है।
तो फ़िर क्या वजह है कि हिन्दी का उपयोग आज भी व्यापक रूप से नही हो रहा। हमारे देश मैं इंटरनेट का उपयोग करने वालो कि संख्या दिन प्रतिदिन बढ़ रही है, पर हिन्दी लिखने वालो का प्रतिशत आज भी नगण्य है। एक आम उपयोगकर्ता आज भी हिन्दी मैं लिखना नही जानता। कहने को तो आज हम सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी की महाशक्ति है, पर हम हमारी ख़ुद की भाषाओँ में ही लिखना नही जानते।
हम अपने सामने ऐसे कई उदहारण रख सकते जिन्होंने अपनी भाषाओँ को ससम्मान इंटरनेट तक पहुँचाया। जर्मनी एवं दुसरे यूरोपियन देश, चीन, जापान, थाईलैंड, अरबिक देश आदि आज कामयाबी से व्यापक तौर पर अपनी भाषाओँ का उपयोग कर रहें हैं। पर हम आज भी अंग्रेजी पर पूरी तरह अवलंबित हैं।कोई दोमत नही कि आज हम जहाँ है उसमें अंग्रजी का महत्वपूर्ण योगदान है। अंग्रेजी की वजह से ही हमने सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी में यह मुकाम हासिल किया है। पर इस वजह से आज हिन्दी का तिरस्कार होने लगा है। यदि आप हिन्दी बोल रहें हो तो लोग आपको नीची निगाहों से देखने लगते है। कम से कम तथाकथित 'कॉस्मो' शहरों का 'मल्टीप्लेक्स कल्चर' तो यही कहता है। बच्चो को बचपन से हिन्दी बोलने पे सज़ा दी जाने लगती है। हिन्दी को प्रायः दूजी श्रेणी कि का दर्जा ही हासिल होता है। या तो अंग्रेजी कि वजह से, या उस प्रदेश कि प्रांतीय भाषा के सामने। कई लोग तो हिन्दी में बात करने वाले को सीधे-सीधे पिछडा करार दे देते हैं। लोग फ्रेंच, जर्मन या कोई विदेशी भाषा बड़े गर्व के साथ सीखते है। पर हिन्दी का ज़िक्र तक करते उन्हें शर्म आती है। यह दर्शाता है कि हम में कितना आत्मसम्मान है।
हो यह गया है कि हम ना तो घर के रहें है न घाट के। ना हमें ढंग से अंग्रेजी आती है, (जी हाँ, आज भी हमारी अंग्रेजी का आंग्ल-देशों में मज़ाक ही उडाया जाता है) ना ही हम ढंग से हिन्दी बोलने के काबिल रहे हैं, और ना ही अपनी प्रांतीय भाषा। और इस भाषा कि खिचडी को नये पीढ़ी की 'फैशन' करार दिया जाता है। मैं किसी हिन्दी के प्राध्यापक की तरह कोई भाषण नही देना चाहता, और मैं ख़ुद भी इसी 'फैशन' का जाने-अनजाने गुलाम बन चुका हूँ।
आज भी हमारे देश की ९० फीसदी से ज्यादा जनता (जो की पढ़ लिख सकती है ), प्रमुख रूप से हिन्दी या प्रांतीय भाषा का प्रयोग अपने रोज़मर्रा के कार्यो के लिए करती है। यदि उन तक हमें इन्टरनेट को पहुचना है तो अपनी भाषाओं को इन्टरनेट तक पहुचाना ही पड़ेगा। हम लोग भाग्यशाली है जो अंग्रेजी पढ़-लिख सकते है। परन्तु जो नही है उन तक इस चमत्कारी सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी को पहुचाने के लिए देशीय भाषाओं का इन्टरनेट तक पहुचना अत्यन्त आवश्यक है।
यद्यपि आज के दौर में अंग्रेजी अत्यधिक महत्वपूर्ण है परन्तु अपनी मातृभाषा का सम्मान करना भी हमारी ही ज़िम्मेदारी है। भले ही आप ख़ुद हिन्दी का प्रयोग ना करे, पर इस लेख को पढ़ कर यदि आप हिन्दी के लिए भी अपने ह्रदय में थोड़ा सा स्थान बना पायें, और हिन्दी को हीन भावना से न देखे, तो भी मेरा यह लेख सफल है।
Google Chrome
There was a time when browser used to be a separate application that was not a standard part of Operating System. People had options. Then came a big giant, and things would never be the same. Air would never be clean again. A cold war was set off. Do I need to tell more?
Internet Explorer, the blue E, had become synonymous to internet the same way Windows became synonymous to computer. [I have deliberately used internet in place of browser and computer in place of OS, so please, no hullabaloo regarding the same ;) ] . The little blue E was made an inseparable part of ubiquitous Windows. Though there was an Antitrust suit blah blah.. (which I don't want to discuss here).. it hardly made any difference.
Time kept passing by. The big M had now become a symbol of tyranny. The little E kept reigning the browsersphere. Given the backing of the big M, nobody could move E from its throne.
Meanwhile there was born a little g (then little), who had all good intents of organizing information. Little g would not intrude into business of others. It would just innovate (or take over small fishes in the pond).
At around same time a little m was born. By 2004 little m devised its flagship product named ffx (firefox, if you don't know). It was open source browser, all set to set all the records straight with M for whatever it had done to the poor chap NN (Netscape Navigator). And by far, it is climbing the ladder of success, successfully.
During all this, little g's growth had been exponential. Its journey from little g to bold face, font size 64, underlined, hyperlinked G was record breaking, jaws dropping.
G liked the good deeds of m. Shook hands. Together they looked like becoming a synomym of web 2.0. Glory of browser was coming back. People started realizing that Internet cannot only be explored by IE (and also computer cannot only be operated through a small service Window). G was ruling the web.
G should be having data of users like no other on the planet. G's offerings were increasing day-by day. G Offered win-win situation for businesses and end users by its Advertising services. G took control of everything, from search to email, blog to documents, code to health, finance to patents (and the endless list goes on). But somewhere in the back of its mind, G realized that all services it provides are still accessed through a medium (browser) on which it has little control.
Bang!!!! G lunched its own browser named chrome. They are giving good reasons as well. (Psst psst... has it got anything to with impending release of IE8)
As of now (2-Sep-2008), it (like all other Google products) is under Google's cool, all-new, exclusive forever-beta tag. Do they also think putting beta is trendy? because gmail, after 4 years, still has beta.
Anyways, I've always liked almost everything Google has offered. And am going to try this out as well and very soon gonna update you about it.
PS: Don't be deceived by the cynical language of this blog. I am a Google fan. I have respect to MS as well. They have done a lot good to the computing world. Please don't always disparage MS. It should really hurt the good folks working there.
PPS: Throughout this blog I have not mentioned the super brand with little i (and their broswer Safari). And also the browser with big O (Opera). This does not mean their contribution is insignificant. They were not here just because they would add a very little to the discussion. Now I have mentioned them, I feel better. Feel much safer from those iFanatics.
PPPS: You can find more on browser comparison (and almost anything that you can think of) on wikipedia
Internet Explorer, the blue E, had become synonymous to internet the same way Windows became synonymous to computer. [I have deliberately used internet in place of browser and computer in place of OS, so please, no hullabaloo regarding the same ;) ] . The little blue E was made an inseparable part of ubiquitous Windows. Though there was an Antitrust suit blah blah.. (which I don't want to discuss here).. it hardly made any difference.
Time kept passing by. The big M had now become a symbol of tyranny. The little E kept reigning the browsersphere. Given the backing of the big M, nobody could move E from its throne.
Meanwhile there was born a little g (then little), who had all good intents of organizing information. Little g would not intrude into business of others. It would just innovate (or take over small fishes in the pond).
At around same time a little m was born. By 2004 little m devised its flagship product named ffx (firefox, if you don't know). It was open source browser, all set to set all the records straight with M for whatever it had done to the poor chap NN (Netscape Navigator). And by far, it is climbing the ladder of success, successfully.
During all this, little g's growth had been exponential. Its journey from little g to bold face, font size 64, underlined, hyperlinked G was record breaking, jaws dropping.
G liked the good deeds of m. Shook hands. Together they looked like becoming a synomym of web 2.0. Glory of browser was coming back. People started realizing that Internet cannot only be explored by IE (and also computer cannot only be operated through a small service Window). G was ruling the web.
G should be having data of users like no other on the planet. G's offerings were increasing day-by day. G Offered win-win situation for businesses and end users by its Advertising services. G took control of everything, from search to email, blog to documents, code to health, finance to patents (and the endless list goes on). But somewhere in the back of its mind, G realized that all services it provides are still accessed through a medium (browser) on which it has little control.
Bang!!!! G lunched its own browser named chrome. They are giving good reasons as well. (Psst psst... has it got anything to with impending release of IE8)
As of now (2-Sep-2008), it (like all other Google products) is under Google's cool, all-new, exclusive forever-beta tag. Do they also think putting beta is trendy? because gmail, after 4 years, still has beta.
Anyways, I've always liked almost everything Google has offered. And am going to try this out as well and very soon gonna update you about it.
PS: Don't be deceived by the cynical language of this blog. I am a Google fan. I have respect to MS as well. They have done a lot good to the computing world. Please don't always disparage MS. It should really hurt the good folks working there.
PPS: Throughout this blog I have not mentioned the super brand with little i (and their broswer Safari). And also the browser with big O (Opera). This does not mean their contribution is insignificant. They were not here just because they would add a very little to the discussion. Now I have mentioned them, I feel better. Feel much safer from those iFanatics.
PPPS: You can find more on browser comparison (and almost anything that you can think of) on wikipedia
Felt like writing just Anything
Once again i am feeling like writing. The same old story about not knowing what to write. There are things in life that make you feel good or bad. Almost everything you feel about something/someone can be boiled down to these two adjectives. Still we have coined thousands, if may be not a million, of adjectives to define every feeling defined in the world. Yet at times we run out of words to express ourselves. Language is the medium of communication, a medium to convey your thoughts to the other person (in fact to computers as well, now a days). It is a way of communication. It is One of the ways. This gives way to a thought that there are of course other ways as well. A hug of a friend is just irreplaceable with thousands of words. Sometimes a slap gives a better message to a kid than hundreds of warnings. You cant shy in words better than your eyes. Beauties can be defined in words but can never confined to words. All this is just a random musing over the very thought of writing something. I felt like writing something. I did it. I cant bound experiences in word but at least they give me power to share something about it. Without them (words), I could not have slapped this keyboard or stored my tears on the hard-drive. I think this is all for now :)
complicating things to get rid of complications
This blog is dedicated to me ;)
I do code to earn my bread & butter. I have observed that I keep on refining/refactoring the code until everything becomes so customizable that it gets too complicated to understand at first sight. I have seen people who just do the work. They do great. They almost never drive themselves crazy for just a freaking line of code which doesn't seem right to them.
I do code to earn my bread & butter. I have observed that I keep on refining/refactoring the code until everything becomes so customizable that it gets too complicated to understand at first sight. I have seen people who just do the work. They do great. They almost never drive themselves crazy for just a freaking line of code which doesn't seem right to them.
The point is to understand the 80-20 principle (Pereto's principle). 80% of work is done in 20% of time but the rest 20% takes the 80% of time to complete. This principle is amazingly true. Notice the time spent on each activity, even the trivial ones. We tend to spend a lot of time on the 'finishing touch'. And if you are not doing so then you are already on your way of learning the art of time management. The art is to cut the rest 20% of work at the point where you can just say you have completed your task. (Say at 90%... you saved 40% of total time just at cost of 10% of work.)... Well it’s easier said than done... :)
In fact, I fall in the category of those pigheaded perfectionists who consume whole 80% of time, still reach to 95% then again waste 20-25% of time & even after that believe there is something left to be done. And this last portion of work which I do really looks like a Monalisa hung on bathroom’s wall. It was really not needed. It doesn’t actually blend with the quality of rest of the things in place.
I do really waste a lot of time. I just can’t understand that why I complicate things so much. How do I convince myself that 90% is enough and is more than what is usually expected or done? Will write something more on the same topic, some other perfect day.
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