If you follow me, I love you. Intend to stop subscribing? I’ll still love you. It’s all for love …

• A writer must not shift your point of view.
• Do not put statements in the negative form.
• Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
• Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
• If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole.
• Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.

†

Since, yours truly aims to please, I’ve customized my feeds and you can get just the stuff you want with the following RSS links: + My Personal Posts (basically the ones without any code) + My Coding Posts category=code (I post stuff with actual code here like useful terminal commands, php snippets, java code etc.) + My Complete Feed (If you love me as much as i love you, this is the link you should follow)

Currently I’m not skipping my coding posts from my blog homepage because I’m undivided on if that’s the right thing to do (though a little php tweaking is all it requires).

All this was actually pretty simple courtesy WordPress (you… wonderful chunk of PHP you…).

(Nerd Note: Category = Code implies there’s actual code in the post, Tag = Coding implies thoughts on the process of coding)

courtesy: Shawn Blanc

• adding daring fireball styled rss links (i’ve had it before, but there were some kinks that needed straightening) courtesy: DFLL plugin
• changed the site appearance directly to add a permanent url at the bottom. requries some basic php judo to get done courtesy: random post at metafilter
• to make sure i’m more regular, i’ve rigged my setup to directly blog from TextMate courtesy: this post form TBR that inspired me, wonderful live video from the makers of TextMate and this awesome plugin from Justin Blaton that allows me to work with the custom links.

if you’re subscribed to this blog, i love you and please update your rss feed link to this one. i’ve dropped feedburner and decided to serve my rss feed with good old xml. you can alternatively click to see the site in all its css styled glory and click the rss icon hovering there on the left.

super productive day for blogging, not for the other things…

†

unlike my brother who’s a gaming legend, the only serious gaming i’ve ever really done was with my good old Sega Mega drive. besides a few PC games here and there like Counter Strike, Mafia & Prince of Persia, i never really have been that “into” gaming. i recently read this post on iOS gaming by Brooks review and could relate to it so well.

after the Sega (my last “serious” gaming device), the only real gaming i’ve used for some serious gaming action is the iPhone 4 and the game that has me currently hooked is Spiderman’s Total Mayhem. it’s a fantastic game and the graphics are amazing thanks to the iPhone’s retina display.

Peace.

Stephen Fry – What i Wish I’d known at 18

Sir Ken Robinson – Schools kill Creativity

Steve Jobs – Harvard Commencement Speech

There seems to be some issue with the comments sync process. So all old comments are temporarily down :( . But i’ve written to the Disqus team and have full faith they’ll sort it out.

The comments now look pretty, so please start using them?

The Correct Usage:

• It’s = it is or it has.
• Its = possessive pronoun meaning belonging to it.

Is the meaning lost?

• It’s A Bird… It’s A Plane… No, It’s Superman!
• There is love of course. And then there’s life, its enemy.

The same 2 statements with the so-called incorrect usage:

• Its A Bird… Its A Plane… No, Its Superman!
• There is love of course. And then there’s life, it’s enemy.

Did the context change? Did the improper apostrophe placement suddenly throw you off in comprehending the meaning? Let’s take a more compelling case:

• Nope, Its antenna is fine… it’s a problem with the way you’re holding it.
• Nope, Its antenna is fine… its a problem with the way you’re holding it.

The grammar hounds I was referring to:

• The Craig Web Experience
• Word Detective

Apple is the cool kid on the block. There is no arguing that. This point was pushed vigorously by Apple with the whole Get a Mac- ad campaign. To be very honest, I found it funny but mildly obnoxious. I felt they were cheap jabs by Apple at Microsoft (sort of like kicking the wimpering puppy). I stuck on to the PC deluding myself into thinking, the whole thing was just a brouhaha by loyal fanboys.

That is of course, until I got myself a Macbook Pro. My god, all these years…. wasted with a PC…. tragic TRAGIC! If i’ve not made it abundantly clear through my numerous tweets and status messages, you should know I’m absolutely in LOVE with my new Macbook Pro. It’s amazing how Apple has this instant power to transform buyers into fanboys. I’m trying to find more excuses now to spend time on my new Macbook (this coming from a geek who already spends unhealthy amounts of time in front of a computer).

I’m not doing the detailed tech-filled review for my first impressions post because the Apple experience is so much more. These guys make awesome stuff and rightly market the crap out of it.My final advice:

If you spend more than 6 hours in front of a computer, do yourself a favor and get a Mac, period.

I’m discovering new things everyday with my Mac. I’ll post tidbits and tips for the new converts like myself as I savor each part of this wonderful creation.

Google Reader: If you’re interested in reading the stuff, I find interesting, here’s my Google Reader Shared link. I’m not polluting other areas like facebook, Buzz etc with this anymore. If you already use Google reader, friend me so I can also read the stuff you read online. If you don’t know what a feed reader is, shoot me a mail and I’ll open your eyes to a new world of information.

Twitter: I’m not as active as I’d like to be on twitter, but if you’re on twitter, send me a tweet. Since tom, dick, harry and their mothers are on twitter, I’m sort of forced to have an account.Twitter is where I get in touch with folks on the interwebs that I haven’t met in person. Hello Oprah, Obama, Fry!.

Facebook: Facebook is for friends and folk who i’ve met and would like to keep in touch with. Add me as a friend if you’re on facebook.

That’s it. Anything more is too much for me to handle and probably not worth the time. If you find anything posted in the above mentioned, it’s because I really really wanted you to see it. No more of the annoying cross-posting BS.

Watch this advertisement first:

Now read this really interesting article by Eric. A lot of what I have to say below, is lifted from the article.

Why major airlines hate carrying your baggage:

• In today’s world it only makes business sense to link up with airlines on other routes. This implies there will be frequent aircraft changing. If a passenger travels from A > B > C > D, they are going to want to check their bags in only once (A > D. Period.Thank you). But assuming route C > D is handled by a regional airlines using a non-Boeing 737 aircraft, the airlines is going to have baggage transfer problems. If they say “travel with all the baggage you want”, there will be more baggage than the regional feeder aircraft(presumably smaller) can accommodate, and lost/undelivered baggage is probably reason 1 for passengers to start a hate-airlines movement.
• They don’t want the liability for tracking and reuniting you with a bag left behind because of network mismatch (all the more a probability when you handle routes A>B>C>D>…X ).

Why it works for SWA:

Clearly, South West Airlines (SWA) have an agenda with this. Ok, maybe nothing malicious or diabolical but definitely something they wish to work for their favor. The whole “please check your bags” mantra boils down to Time saving. The “Time is Money” concept cannot be more truer in the Airline industry. Time spent on the ground means time not in the air. Airlines only make money when the jet is flying. Check baggages… Turn flights faster… Create more profit!

• Airlines get most of their revenue from quick business travelers who anyway travel light. So the marketing campaign by SWA adds good will at almost no additional cost.
• Checking in bags is faster for the airlines i.e faster for them to load & unload baggages than for passengers to carry and store in overhead bins. Think 5000 checkpoints for cabin bags, not to mention the “Ah C’mon that’s just 10ml more liquid than the 100ml limit! I ain’t carrying any explosive gelly yo, just some hand moisturizer!”.
• SWA are pros in Fuel Hedging (see below for definition). So checking in bags saves time and saving time by turning aircrafts faster means more revenue for the fuel already purchased.
• They operate only Boeing 737s. baggage capacity consistent with passenger load. They can get their baggage handling streamlined and know what to expect. Consistency => Reliability => Understanding what to expect.
• They operate specialized and focused routes – SWA’s successful business model involves flying multiple short, quick trips into the secondary (more efficient and less costly) airports of major markets (No question of A>B>C>D).

Other interesting stuff:

• Fuel Hedging – Basically advance purchases of fuel, at a fixed price, for future delivery.
• SWA hedged 70% of fuel requirements in 2008 (I repeat 70% ) and here’s the kicker they saved approximately $3.5 billion doing it.
• Many a time passengers think the airlines lost their luggage. In actuality, the airline couldn’t accommodate it so they chose to pay a premium to deliver it to you later (often at the cost of your loyalty and future business).

I agree with Eric’s article on the tracking technology thing. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds. But the “pay the passenger to check bags” idea, I’m still doubtful. Why this campaign will tragically tragically fail in India :)

Core Fitness is a kuwaiti men’s gym that promises to “transform” your physique over a course of 7 weeks for only 3 – twenty minute workout sessions a week. so 3 sessions a week, for 20 minutes over a course of 7 weeks. The sessions are known to be grueling, and that apparently is an understatement. I tried searching online for the prices but couldn’t immediately get hold of it. So called them up and found out:

Their timings are from 6:00 am – 10:00 am and 1:00pm-10:00pm.

Get my website/blog back up

I’ve been saying this too many times…. 2010 WILL see this task done. Period..

Read one book a month

I sought to do something similar in 2009, instead I tweaked my rss feeds and lived like an information junkie. No regrets though…. i’ve learned and gathered much more information than I would have reading just books. The problem though is that my attention span has dwindled to an alarming low. Going to take care of that.

Get fit, get a Tattoo!

I recently watched the movie Avatar with my folks(check my brother’s review here). Both my bro and I were fascinated with the movie and in particular, Sam Worthington’s tattoo. My mom remarked, if you can get as fit as him, then i’ll pick the tattoo for you. This was mind-blowing for me. You see my family is an extremely pious one, and the fact that my mom would even hint at the possibility of me getting a tattoo made me giddy with joy.. This isn’t going to be done in a year. But I want that tattoo so bad :)

(Tried googling around for a pic of the tattoo, this is the best I could come up with: http://news.bme.com/2009/12/20/avatar-the-movie/ )

Happy New Year folks ! Here’s wishing your 2010 is ten times more snappier and jolly than you hope it to be. What are you planning for this 2010?

So the HAWT news is how India has Kick Butt at the Oscars this time with Slumdog Millionaire. A couple of things I feel appropriate to highlight.

I always had this notion that the Oscars was more of a social-movies-award. They gave Russel Crowe the Oscar for Gladiator. He truly deserved it for a Beautiful mind. Denzel Washington got it for Training Day(beating Beautiful mind) which seems illogical and we all know it was more for the whole African-American sensitivity issue. You see Will Smith should have won it for Ali, but he didn’t and in my humble opinion they didn’t want to seem racist the next year and thus gave it to Denzel (Irony being they got caught in the racket they tried to avoid).Don’t get me wrong all these actors are spectacular (DW being one of my favorites), it’s just that sometimes performances shouldn’t unduly be deemed oscar-winning.

This time around, in the 81st Academy Awards , A.R.Rahman won two Oscars and I’m sure the world would agree when I state boldly that he truly deserves the honor. Again if Slumdog millionaire deserves it for the best motion picture is highly doubtful (Let’s face it my desi-brothers, the movie was good but not mind blowing), it was a simple-warm-cozy story and that’s about it. Nothing earth-shattering. Again I think the hype of the underdog getting somewhere and the hope for it winning the oscars enabled Slumdog to bag the best motion picture oscar (Mind you, again I’m talking only of the best motion picture award). I’m ecstatic that ARR bagged two. I hope this shoves those moronic critics who kept saying ARR uses too much technology, he doesn’t have that “genuineness” in his music. Ahem, I believe I strongly opposed these yahoos back then(Allow me this gloat).

I’m a music enthusiast and I truly relish ARR’s music. Some of his compositions even to this day remain the best in the world. Buzz me if you want a list of must-listen-to-ARR songs. If you’ll excuse me now, my boss is wondering why the hell I have this 42 teeth smile on my face.

I was swept of my feet with this movie(get it :P). It has this typical-frustratingly-awesome ending of concealing what really happens. Check out my review of The Wrestler at reelsuave.com. If you’re a film buff, you’ll LOVE the site…. has loads of hot-stuff, content and updates. I plan on doing all my movie reviews(1 and counting :P) there, Feel free to contribute and comment!

A similar movie I wrote about once which has this indefinite story-telling pattern is No Country for Old Men. Also two movies that taught me to appreciate the Romance genre: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset.

After completing my board exams back in 2006, I was a whooping 100kg. My immediate chair-bound sitcom-loving life in college didn’t help one bit. I’m a decent 73 today. I’ve done a tonne of research regarding the matter and continue to research ways on getting fitter. The following series of posts is what worked, what didn’t, what I needed to know and what could have been done differently. Most of this is a compilation and largely taken from reliable sources. That being said, you have to understand there are quite a few areas where contradictions are plenty. I have tried my level best to resolve such matters and make the most sense out of it all.

I plan to split this into a series of posts on fitness cause one jurassic post with all the information would serve no purpose, there are tonnes of them out there already. I want these posts to serve as both inspiration and proof that getting fit and in shape is both possible and more importantly realistic. I plan to split my posts as follows (I’ll link to the posts from here as and when they’re complete):

• Fitness 101 – “De Equation”

  I gave a toastmaster’s speech once, regarding this topic and after researching/drafting/pruning my speech to the 6 minute time-limit, it boiled down to 3 things:
  1. Diet
  2. Exercise
  3. Attitude
  But since I have the luxury of space on my blog, I’m penning everything that I’ve learnt through the journey. So brace yourself for sporadic spews of self-help make-yourself-feel-better stuff as well as concrete scientific evidence to proven techniques/tips.

• Fitness 102 – Know your terms

  As always it pays to research what your up against and that is precisely what I had to do. For the benefit of the world and the lazy few who would like a single go-to location for all the terms and information, I’ve posted most of the stuff you’ll need to know to burn ‘em jigglin wigglies.Oh yes lot of Science Stuff here :P.

• Fitness 103 – Round up/Post its

  This is the must-read post if you just want a cheatsheet for the “learnings” of all previous steps. This is basically a round up of what you should/shouldn’t do. Take a print out of this and pin it up on your door until you have this ingrained.

• Fitness 104 – Sample Workout Routines

  This is just a compilation of the workout/routines that celebrities, health-coaches and others have posted.

• Fitness 105 – Action Plan (TFT style)

  I was successfull with my previous regime(check Fitness 103) in drastically shaving off the blubber, but I recently noticed, that while I look fairly thin, my body fat percentage seems relatively high. I’m a 23 year old male who’s 5’11 and weighs 73 kg (as on 28th January 2009). The BMI charts say my weight is perfect. I did a couple of rudimentary Body fat tests though and found it to be between 20% and 22%. The handheld-electric-current-through-fat device thingy gave a reading of 21.7% and the tape-measurement method yielded 22%. Another test came up with around 20.5%. The accuracy/inaccuracy of these tests aside, it’s pretty clear my body fat levels (what I should REALLY be worrying about) is a little on the higher side (I blame my mother’s unconditional love and ridiculously tasty dishes). Anyways quite clearly a major revamp in my diet/exercise-regime is in order (again). Even if I had to do it all over from the blubber-stage, this would probably be the better way to have approached it. I’ll post exactly how I intend to approach my diet/regime here TFT style. This is probably the best post to read if you too are looking into reducing your belt-clamp-size intelligently.

When I was a kid, Republic day only meant “one more holiday in School”. Adolescence and immaturity taken into account, I could probably excuse myself then. I’ve been an NRI for a large part of my life, and many of my friends from college days have strongly criticized me for being hypocritical in my patriotism for India, (citing my NRI-status). Boy are you fellows mistaken. How NRIs contribute to India is reserved solely for a different post, but what you have to realize is, this physical distance from the nation merely strengthens the link. I know how it is not freely roam the streets of a mother-land. I know how it is to not be able to criticize the government and voice your opinions freely. Before you retort with any accusations let me remind you what Mark Twain has said on Patriotism, “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” I will always be able to appreciate the freedom we so royally take for granted in our nation. Something I doubt you few who haven’t had the fortune of staying/visiting abroad will be able to revel in.

I’ve stated elsewhere, I will never forgo my Indian passport and have every intention to have my ashes buried in my motherland. Call it a superstitious hope of being re-born only as an Indian. And to make sure I don’t end this joyous occasion on a depressing note, a quote from Churchill: “When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.”

Happy Republic Day and Jai Hind brothers !

P.S: Many ask what the difference is between Independence day and Republic Day? After attaining independence on August 15 1947, a Constituent Assembly was set up to draft a constitution for India. This constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950.

Headless Horseman stage

So we had the Obamaugration yesterday and I sat glued till 1 a.m KST (Kuwait-Standard-Time) today… following which I was inspired to read “Dreams from my father“…following which I saw my brother play a couple of warcraft games….following which I was inspired to read Kasparov’s book “How Life Imitates Chess“… following which I realized it was 4 freaking a.m and I had to sleep…..following which I realized I would never get sleep if i thought I had to get sleep…….following which I decided to tire myself out physically by doing 30 push-ups in a row….following which I dropped dead on the bed…..my mind kept racing(was Obama really going to achieve what his hope audaciously claims to? How awesome would it be to work on the team of Story-writing for Blizzard? Was Kasparov after all just a simple man with absolute focus and dedication? how should I tailor my workout to get the body of a Governor who can never become President?) ….. which is finally when I dosed off…..It’s 5.45 and my iPhone promptly irritates the hell out of me with the blues tone…..I realize the whole point of setting my alarm with the blue tones is for this purpose…. purpose achieved…… I’ve essentially slept for 1 hour and successfully completed stage 1 of Sleepy Hollow.

Sleepy stage

I’m debating whether to get up and brush my teeth or sleep for those precious “5 more minutes”. I drag myself off the bed and flop straight on the ground crawling to the bathroom. I finish my ablutions which unfortunately includes a bath. Enter Hollow stage!

Hollow stage

That “refreshing” bath just yanked my ass off sleepy stage and into the most dreadful stage of SH. Nations can fall or prosper depending on the one’s actions in this stage. I decided this is all bollocks and thought of going back to sleep blissfully allowing Rome to burn. But you see that’s when my mom came and smacked Nero some, which essentially shoved me into the Undead stage.

Undead stage

I drive to office. There’s this retard Kuwaiti driver on the road shouting at me for going at 80kmph on an 80kmph road. Really what was I thinking! But you see in the undead stage it doesn’t matter, you’re oblivious to whats happening around you (I presume this is how one feels when high, only much much lower). I enter my office sit in my cube and furiously start typing away. I’ve submitted a report to my boss and I’m not yet fired…. I’m assuming my sub-conscious has taken over. He tells me something and I nod blankly looking at the pretty angels dancing on the tip of his pen. My god how many really are there?

Shutdown phase

The exact description of what happens thereafter, can never clearly be documented, because at some point during the undead stage, your body just doesn’t take any more and you’re literally doused with sleep.

The problem with Sleepy-Hollow is that you’re seduced into the Headless horseman stage without actually realizing it. Once drawn in, you’re doomed to follow the stages!