Monday, March 28, 2005

Why the K??

This rather wierd and curious question just hit me a few mins ago... while watching the daily news on KCAL 9. Why do all the news channels in CA have their names starting with "K"?? I tried googling on this but couldnt get anything.... the only sensible explanation that comes to mind is, they wanted to use "C" for California, but that must have been used by some other state..... any comments??

Sunday, March 27, 2005

My New Car :-)


My New Car !!! Posted by Hello

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

We actually thought of this...

I came accross this article about Samsung's new innovative ideas for their next generation mobile phones... when it hit me that I had actually thought of something similar a few months ago. Sometime ago I was chatting with a friend on the phone when she said that she really wished there was some way people could pinch or slap each other on the phone and what ensued was a discussion about the possible ways in which this can be done.... and I cant believe we actually came up with a marketable idea:

Soon, Mobile Phones will feel emotions

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Trade-offs Everywhere in Life..

If you observe closely enough, you will find that there are tradeoffs in virtually everything in life. Almost every design, task, action or decision can be executed in more than one way and changing one parameter always affects the others and ultimately a tradeoff has to be made to suit our requirements/ expectations from the task, at that moment. And even more interesting is the fact that the trade-offs we make for a given task can change even if the task doesnt change... but the time is different.

I just got back from a 4 hour hike a few hours ago and I discovered yet another tradeoff... The weather today was cloudy.... there was no sun visible directly and there was also a very slight drizzle. It seemed like perfect hiking weather to me.... no sun, no sweat.... meaning far less exhaustion and more hiking for the same effort. But as always there was a tradeoff... I realized this when I reached the peak... all I could see below was a white sheet :-(


See what I am saying? Posted by Hello

Monday, March 07, 2005

My new Work Desktop Image


Stamp this one "Software For Work" !!! Posted by Hello

Friday, March 04, 2005

Understanding the problem is half the solution

Today was a pretty hectic day.... I have been trying to fix this issue for quite some time now and for some reason although, I was making good progress, there was this inkling feeling that I am not going the right way. At one point I decided I was going to put aside what I have done so far and attempt the problem afresh. So, I saved what I had done and began to go around cubicles, asking folks what they thought of it. At the end of the day I realized that I had been trying to solve a much bigger problem than I actually had to. I spent the last hour at work trying to chalk out a clear plan of action to solving this new/ smaller problem... and now I can't wait to get back to work on Monday... :-).... isn't it true... that many times in life... "Understanding what the problem is, is half the solution".

Thursday, March 03, 2005

On a Day Like Today...

I was just listening to this song and for some reason I feel I can kinda relate to it!
If you are also one of those who's life keeps changing faster than they can think... you might like this one:

Singer: Bryan Adams
Album: On a Day Like Today (1998)
Song : On a Day Like Today

Lyrics:

Free is all you gotta be
Dream dreams no one else can see
Sometimes ya wanna run away
But ya never know what might be comin’ round your way ya
Ya ya

On a day like today
The whole world could change
The sun’s gonna shine
Shine thru the rain
On a day like today
Ya never wanna see the sun go down
Ya never wanna see the sun go down

Somewhere - there’s a place for you
I know that you believe it too
Sometimes if you wanna get away
All ya gotta know is what we got is here to stay
All the way

On a day like today - the whole world could change
The sun’s gonna shine - shine thru the rain
On a day like today - no one complains
Free to be pure - free to be sane
On a day like today
Ya never wanna see the sun go down
Ya never wanna see the sun go down

Free is all we gotta be
Dream dreams no one else can see
But ya never know what might be comin’ for you and me ya
It’s gonna be

On a day like today...

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Life is a Marathon...

.. for the "lucky few" ;-)
... the only way for us (the "lucky few") to get through it... constantly remind yourself that "YOU never lose until YOU give up" (Courtesy, Abhishek's MSN Nick).... keep pluggin' away folks!!

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

"Marathon"

Since, we are on the topic of "running", an interesting conversation I had with my brother a while ago comes to mind. My brother is a very serious runner and probably the only "full marathon" runner I know of, personally. If you are an athletics/ sports enthusiast you probably know that, to qualify as a Marathon, a run (or race, if you will) must be 26.2 miles long. Turns out there is quite a history behind the reason why the distance is what it is and equally interesting is the origin of the word "Marathon".

The word comes from the name of the greek city, Marathon and, the reason it is 26.2 miles long is because that is roughly the distance between Marathon and Athens (both, ofcourse, greek cities). But why would the distance between these two cities be of relevance?
In 490 BC, the Greek army repelled a persian naval invasion on the plains surrounding the coastal city of Marathon. And legend has it that a runner (the only way to convey news of war or invasion at that time, was by foot messengers) was sent to Athens to relay news of the victory. Upon reaching Athens, the messenger shouted "Rejoice, we conquer" and fell to the ground, dead.

If I have you enthused enough by now and you wish to read more about this stuff, here are some interesting links:

Prologue: The Legend
(Excerpted from "Olympic Marathon", by Charlie Lovett)

FAQ's about the ancient Olympics"

Now. if you have been reading todays blog carefully enough, you may have noticed that I "italicised" the word "roughly" when I refered to the distance 26.2 miles, above. The reason is because, the distance from the Marathon battlefield to Athens is estimated at 21.4 miles. The lenght of the Marathon was not standardized initially and the first official marathon was held at the first modern Olympics in 1896. The distanced kept varying, until a distance of 42.195 Km was adopted in 1821:

Year Distance (km)
1896 40
1900 40.26
1904 40
1906 41.86
1908 42.195
1912 40.2
1920 42.75
Since
1924 42.195