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As human beings we have little appreciation of things that we get for free. Freeware, SALE!!!, GRATIS!!!, DISCOUNT!!! these are words that dazzle us…. Many times free stuff and discount sales are just ploys to lure us….

But at times free stuff are brought to us by genuine, selfless, philanthropic efforts of others…We make use of these freebies without giving a second thought to the toil behind the scenes.

Wikipedia which is so much a part of our lives as google or hotmail is completely voluntary, supported solely by contributions….

I hope all of us take the opportunity to share and contribute during the ongoing Wikipedia fund raiser in however small way we can to help Wikipedia survive and deliver… Please visit Wikipedia to know more…

Identity Crisis…

Today we went to Pizza Hut for lunch. The service was prompt and the ambience comfortable. The price tag, dizzying. A whopping Rs.495.00 for a potato appetizer that looked so inviting on the menu but pathetic on plate, and a medium pizza  whose topping consisted of a smattering of cheese, sliced portions of two olives and one jalapeno, a diced quarter pepperoni and three baby corns.

The intrinsic value of what we had didn’t add up to more than Rs.100.00. But we were not only paying for the merchandise but also for the commercials, for the hoardings, for the air conditioning, for the location, for the service, for a host of intangibles that we didn’t realize consciously. They were not selling just pizzas or appetizers at Pizza Hut. They were selling an experience. What we ate mattered. But only so much!

The restaurant couldn’t sell the food any cheaper. If they did, the upmarket image of the chain would be lost. Customers came in not only to eat, but to be seen and heard, to be counted, to be reassured of their affluence and social standing. When dining at Pizza Hut, they were dining among equals. The rickshaw pullers, the daily wage workers, the janitors, the sweepers and the security staff that we saw outside through the glass windows did not figure in the scheme of things inside the restaurant. It was out of their bounds (may not be literally so, but socially so). Pizza Hut defined us, defined what we were; it gave us the stamp of authenticity. It was not a price tag, but a social tag. We were paying for our identities…..

We whipped out the credit card, paid up and left… We were still credit worthy….

Political Cannibalism – In defense of Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor stepped down as Minister of State for External Affairs today. Made me real unhappy.  I felt particularly sad because IPL, a highly commercialized version of the game that keeps half the country glued to the idiot box, provided the context for his resignation. His (forced!) resignation is well deserved in case Tharoor misused his office. However there is no shred of evidence which proved his involvement in the IPL bid process. He had to step down on the basis of accusations.

Tharoor was capable, honest, forthright, intelligent and well meaning. We all know that these are not the qualities that makes a good politician. Funnily, Tharoor knew it well too, as his book The Great Indian Novel bears testimony. How do we interpret his current predicament then?

Ever since he took office, the media and political cabal were at his throat. It was seldom appreciated that he was the only minister who twittered, expressed his opinions frankly and openly, attempted to reach out to public and answered their queries in real time while other politicians closely guarded their statements and practiced obfuscation to perfection. Hyperactive TV and print media made headlines of his twitter posts. Sensationalism being its mainstay, media blew the IPL case too out of proportion with scant regard for truth and provided Tharoor’s detractors the opportunity they had been waiting for. That his aptitude and credentials were detested by his associates was evident from the clamour for his resignation that came from within the Congress party and the vociferous opposition. The people who called for his resignation were no saints. In a clear case of the pots calling the kettle black, the criminals, unscrupulous politicians and avaricious businessmen that made up the brigade assumed moral superiority over Tharoor.

Gandhigiri has its limits – Shashi Tharoor wanted to be the change that he wanted to see in Indian politics, but then he hoped to see too much change too fast. The old vanguard who fiercely defended their home turf has dealt him the first blow. But I’m certain that he has sufficient mettle to withstand it and return the punch. The pursuit of personal aggrandizement for which most people join politics cannot be easily replaced with dedication to the service of the nation easily. Purging the Aegean stables is a painful process that would require many sacrifices, but the time will come, Plato’s Republic still has hope, if someone like Shashi Tharoor does not succumb. In Tharoor I perceive the kind of politician I would rather follow. I would prefer him anytime to the Mayawati’s, Shibu Soren’s, Kalyan Singh’s, Advani’s, Shekhawat’s and Modi’s . Best of luck, Mr. Tharoor. May you return vindicated.

P.S: Thanks to Tharoor controversy, the IPL Pandoras box is now open for scrutiny. Wish the real goons get burned big time too….

Summer Relief

IT IS HOT!!!! There have been a steep rise in temperature over the past two weeks with mercury touching 43 degree C since yesterday. The blazing sun and torrid heat are hard to bear. We have myriad ways to beat the heat – we apply sunscreen, done dark glasses, turn on fans, coolers and air conditioners, fix sun blocker films on our cars, use umbrellas and caps, gulp down soft drinks, Nimbu Pani or good old plain water to quench the thirst.

What about birds and destitute animals? How will they cope up with the intense heat and dust storms? Summer is a matter of life and death for many of them, be it destitute donkeys and cattle one find on the street or thirsty, desperate birds around our housing complexes. 
 
We can help some of them. My wife keeps clay bowls filled with water in our balcony. She also sprinkles some grain for good measure. It is a pleasure to watch squirrels, pigeons & mynahs drink water and occasionally take bath. Sometimes they wander inside our house to inspect nooks and corners.  Their chirp and twitter are soothing music to ears. We feel immeasurable satisfaction and a sense of contribution by helping them. I hope you would try it too. It is a small act of charity, but probably goes a long way in aiding these endearing creatures survive summer.

Reinventing Innovation!!

You are about to witness dire necessity and the power of lateral thinking in hilarious fusion!

Einstein – your creativity pales against this genius… This is the mother of all innovations… Do you hear God’s Last Sigh!!! Look Down….

National Anthem

Saif Ali Khan was awarded Padma Shri.
This created a furore.
An agonized Bal Thakeray penned the epic ‘Padma Ghotala’
Taporifying Saif,
Unalloyed jealousy I would say
Bishnoi’s staged a protest
Didn’t understand what for..
The nation debated for a while
And lost interest
If Obama can win the Nobel, then
Saif might as well keep the Padma Shree
Tit for Tat…
Salman Khan and Rakhi Sawant will have to wait till
Next year, sad to say..

And Shah Rukh Khan?
Oh, he has his cup full..
With Shiv Sena baying for his blood..
The entire clan is out
Fangs bared, claws extended
Tigers on rampage
Burning posters and effigies
That’s all they are capable of
Paper tigers, burning bright…
Setting fire to buses
Making life miserable
On the streets of Mumbai
Reasserting their claim to
Being the real tapori’s
The real idiots
A senile man and two jerks
Screwing up lives
Fragmenting a nation forged out of non violence and suffering
Through their divisive politics
And mindless violence
Speak Marathi if you want to live here, they yell
What for?
Language is for communication
Why stuff it down our throats
But they slap, they coerce,
They rip off our clothes
The police, impotent
Standby and watch the fun
No law to shackle the goons
No will to restrain
Treating these thugs with kid gloves
Sterility masquerading as legendary tolerance!

Narendra Modi
The author of “My experiments with carnage”
Believes that politics
Is the means to alleviate poverty
So we are told
By none other than Nitin Gadkari
The BJP president
It seems Gandhiji believed it too…
Reflected glory
Or the meeting of Titans?
Great minds think alike! [Chorus]
Modi is a man of many faces
We have seen but a few…
The revelation…
The saintly incarnation..
The angel in the demon..
The true Avataar..
It might soon come to pass
Meanwhile
Let us suspend disbelief
And wipe off that silly smirk…

My favourite softwares

I am a born again software addict. My rebound from terminal software nutcase to sane user has been excruciating. The phenomenal obsession with shareware, trial ware, demo ware and freeware has since been toned down to occasional browsing for useful freeware. However, I have been able to compile a list of excellent applications while walking the wild side of cyberspace. Like a fairy tale dungeon dragon I have been guarding it all these years but I realize now that it has been damn tiresome and pretty stupid of me. So I have decided to bare it all – A Double Cheese Burger + Triple Sundae + Pepsi software combo pack of applications, mostly freeware and a few pay ware.

I haven’t written even one line of code in any of the applications listed. True to the spirit of every self respecting end user license agreement, I take no responsibility what so ever in case any of the applications featured here threaten you, your family, pets, neighbours, the planet, universe et al with eternal damnation and perdition.

Dedicated to selfless open source and freeware developers whose unflinching madness has yielded some of the best software’s mankind has ever known.

P.S:- The software’s listed are only for the Windows platform. Linux, BeOS, Mac OS, Other OS users – please excuse me. Power users, this list is not meant for you. I’m sure you have got them all and more.

1. PDF XChange Viewer - Outstanding PDF viewer and Annotator. Best I have ever known. The freeware version is quite impressive. Far better than Acrobat or Foxit Reader [Download Link]

2. PDFTools from Sheel Khanna – Hassle free Encryption/ Decryption, pdf splitting/ joining, pdf stamping and pdf page rearrange at no cost [Download Link]

3. PrintConductor - Freeware batch print utility. I couldn’t find another freeware replacement for this one [Download Link]

4. XYPlorer – Best windows explorer replacement with document preview and file search. Portable. XYPlorer Ver 5.55 is still available for free download [Download Link]

5. XPlorer2 – Another impressive windows explorer replacement [Download Link]

6. Everything Search – Lightning fast desktop file search engine. However works only with NTFS drives. Portable version available [Download Link]

7. Snowbird search – Portable desktop file search engine. Works with NTFS and FAT drives. Can search inside files as well [Download Link]

8. 7 Zip – Freeware, portable, zip/ unzip engine. Can handle multiple formats [Download Link]

9. Deskpins - Pin any number of windows to the desktop. Portable [Download Link]

10. TrayIt – Reduce desktop clutter. Send them all to the system tray [Download Link]

11. eTextReader - Unobtrusive, customizable, portable text reader [Download Link]

12. WordWeb - Excellent dictionary and thesaurus [Download Link]

13. The Sage – Very good dictionary and thesaurus. I like WordWeb better though [Download Link]

14. Autounbreak – Remove line breaks from text files [Download Link]

15. Text Stripper – Remove line breaks and a lot more. Much more versatile than Autounbreak [Download Link]

16. FSCapture – Uncluttered screen capture utility. Version 5.3 is freeware for home users [Download Link]

17. Screen2Exe - Very good onscreen video capture tool. Converts directly to standalone exe file. [Download Link]     Another good alternative is Camstudio [Download Link]

18. IrfanView - Superb Picture Viewer [Download Link]

19. Photoscape - Feature Rich Photo Editor [Download Link]

20. PhotoFiltre – Another fantastic photo editor. Combined with Photoscape provides matchless photo editing capability [Download Link]

21. FreeVideoConverter - Excellent video format converter [Download Link]

22. DVDShrink – Very good DVD ripper. Use Backup option under File menu to begin DVD rip [Download Link]

23. Calc98 - Excellent scientific calculator [Download Link]

24. Convert - Very good unit conversion tool [Download Link]

25. MyLockBox - Password protect your personal folder for free [Download Link]

26. Polyedit Lite – Compact, fast text editor. Notepad replacement [Download Link]

27. EditPad Lite – Similar to Polyedit Lite [Download Link]

28. VLC Player – Most versatile video player [Download Link]

29. KM Player – Good video player. Not as versatile as VLC player though [Download Link]

30. PStart - Compact, no fuss program launcher [Download Link]

31. TrueCrypt – Create highly secure encrypted file vaults [Download Link]

32. Universal Extractor – Extract files from exe files and make them portable [Download Link]

33. Sumatra PDF – No frills PDF viewer [Download Link]

34. Duplicate Cleaner – Find and clean duplicate files. User friendly interface [Download Link]

35. CloneSpy - Duplicate Cleaner. Less user friendly, but more thorough. Duplicate Cleaner combined with CloneSpy gives you formidable power [Download Link]

36. Eraser - Erase files and folders without a trace. Excellent. Portable version available [Download Link]

37. CCleaner - Full featured system cleaner [Download Link]

38. Cathy – Lightweight, simple disk cataloguing tool [Download Link]

39. QTTabBar - Enhance windows explorer functionality with this add-in [Download Link]

40. Sandboxie - Protects PC from viruses by denying access to hard disk while browsing internet [Download Link]

41. Avira Antivirus – Excellent freeware antivirus package [Download Link]

42. Super Antispyware – Anti-malaware tool. Best used for offline scanning [Download Link]

43. Rainbow Folders – Colour your folders for easy identification [Download Link]

44. MyNotesKeeper – Fantastic Personal Information Manager. Not freeware [Download Link]

45. Lookout - Fast, advanced search engine for Microsoft Outlook [Download Link]. See Note A

46. TextTicker – Scrolling text on your desktop. Not freeware [Download Link]

47. Excel Password Remover – Very good password remover add-in for excel [Download Link]

48. HxD Hexeditor – Very good Hex Editor [Download Link]

49. Picpick – Multi-utility screen capture, screen zoom tool [Download Link]

50. MyMobiler – View and manipulate windows mobile/ PDA screen on PC [Download Link]

51. Online Armour – Excellent Free Firewall [Download Link]

52. Mutorrent – Portable, easy to use torrent client with a tiny footprint [Download Link]

I use most of these software’s on a regular basis and I love them all. I’m sure you will too. Ciao…

Checkout this unique web resource – www.techsupportalert.com, it will have you hooked. The blog, whatsonmypc.wordpress.com is another great place to keep your software arsenal updated. Another wonderful site is, www.whoismadhur.com…

Other great software sites -www.ampercent.com; www.makeuseof.com….

I have discovered a few more gems. Guess I need to keep this site updated all the time. Here we go:-

53. Inkscape: Fabulous opensource scalable vector graphics editor. Simply the best. [Download Link]

54. CDBurnerXP: A Blu-Ray, DVD, CD Burner application with the most user friendly iterface. [Download Link]

55. DynamicDraw: Freeware Visio replacement. Excellent for flowcharts etc. [Download Link] (See Diagram Designer)

56. UBitMenu: Do not like Office 2007 Ribbon Toolbar? Want the Calssic toolbar badly? Check out UBitMenu – free for home use [Download Link] Another option is Exshail classic Menu [Download Link], My personal preference is RibbonCustomizer-Starter Edition [Download Link]

57. Mobythesaurus: Comprehensive freeware thesaurus. [Download Link]

58. Ycopy: Hassle free file copying for windows. Portable [Download Link], Another option is Teracopy [Download Link]

58. What is your computer doing?: A more useful Windows Task Manager [Download Link]

59. Great sites for PDA/ Mobile Utilities: http://3pda.ucoz.ae/; http://www.imserba.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=74; http://www.mobilism.org/

60. NirLauncher: 100 useful portable freeware in a single bundle [Download Link]

61. Diagram Designer: Great free software for designing flow charts [Download Link]

62. AbstractSpoon ToDoList: Free, portable Getting Things Done software- Simply Wonderful [Download Link]

63. Debut Video Capture (NCH Software): Best Video Capture Software, Free Too [Download Link]

Note A: Lookout can also be used with Outlook 2007. Check out this link to find details [Link]

Potatoes and Laptops

You must be wondering about the relation between potatoes and laptops. Are there laptops made of potato peels? Can laptops be made of recycled potatoes? Have scientists invented machines which transmute potatoes into laptops? Have potatoes gained computational capabilities? Or have we discovered intelligent laptop wielding potatoes in the outer reaches of space. These could be some of the sophisticated questions cropping up in your fertile imagination. The answer to all of them is a resounding NO!!! Not yet, at least.

What I had in mind was the ballooning food inflation in India. It has hit 15.5% today, pushed up by potato prices which soared this year, reaching up to Rs.30.00 during the Navaratri season. Prices of grains and pulses, fruits and vegetables have also seen an upward trend. One of the reasons for high food prices seems to be lack of rains. This was a drought year for the country and understandably it severely affected the crop yield.

However, the more compelling reason for high food inflation and for high potato prices in turn, is the continued lack of investment in agricultural sector and the conversion of agricultural land for residential and industrial purposes. Combined with an uncooperative weather, this has lead to skyrocketing food prices. The Gandhian vision of grassroots level development was lost as soon as India stepped into the industrial development. But I believe it is time we rediscovered his ideology. With a nation of more than 1.2 billion people and still growing, we cannot continue to neglect the farming sector which performs the most critical function of feeding the nation. All talk of India becoming a superpower will be rubbished if half of the nation goes hungry. Although substantial sums are allocated in the national budget for development of the farm sector, most of it is siphoned off by politicians and vested interests. Some of them have built monuments and statues to fulfill their megalomaniac ambitions, pulling the wool over the poor farmers. The policy and frame work for development of agricultural sector may already be in place, but as usual due to inadequate enforcement, they cannot bear fruit. There is an urgent need to focus our attention and invest time and resources to nurse this vital sector back to health.

Contrary to food prices, laptop prices have fallen steadily. A decent laptop is now available for as much as Rs.16000.00. These laptops until a year back used to sell for almost double this price. The prime reason for reduction in prices is the continuous improvement of technology which has multiplied the computing capabilities manifold while slashing the component prices each year. Such focus of energy and intense research is of course driven by market interests.

Perhaps private farming initiatives could achieve similar excellence in agricultural production if the necessary regulations to dissuade them from overexploitation of labour and resources are put in place. Maybe the solution is to form agricultural cooperatives. I am not sure of the correct route to follow.

But one thing is certain, if the inflationary trend continues, it would be difficult for many of us to make both ends meet. Most importantly, it would severely affect the nutrition of children and the poor, not to mention the seeds of anarchy it would sow in the society. For each of us it is a wake up call not to be taken lightly. This could presage the course of things to come unless we choose to be dead serious about it. After all, we cannot eat laptops, no matter how cheap they become.

Carbon-The Kernel of Life

 Life is a miracle. That it evolved on our planet is another. The profusion of myriad forms in which it exists on our planet is mind boggling. Mired in the business of living, we seldom reflect on life, except when a fleeting thought flashes across the mindscape like a meteor. But on rare occasions, existential dilemma grips us. Then we wade into books, trying to make sense of it. More often than not, we hit a brick wall. Religion, with its standard prescriptions does not offer any explanation except divine creation. Science is a labyrinth in which one easily gets lost. Philosophy has built impenetrable citadels of unfathomable ideas to escape from enquiry.

But occasionally one comes across passages which provide unexpected insights. The following excerpt on carbon, from the book LILA by Robert M Pirsig is one such.

The chemistry of life is the chemistry of carbon. What distinguishes all the species of plants and animals is, in the final analysis, differences in the way carbon atoms choose to bond.

All life contains carbon yet a study of properties of carbon atom shows that except for the extreme hardness of one of its crystalline forms there is not much unusual about it. In terms of other physical constants of melting point, conductivity, ionization, and so on, it does just about what its position on the periodic table of the elements suggests it might do. Certainly there’s no hint of any miraculous powers waiting to spring chemistry professors upon a lifeless planet.

One physical characteristic that makes carbon unique is that it is the lightest and most active of the group IV of atoms whose chemical bonding characteristics are ambiguous. Usually the positively valenced metals in groups I through III combine chemically with negatively valenced non-metals in groups V through VII and not with other members of their own group. But the group containing carbon is halfway between the metals and non-metals, so that sometimes carbon combines with metals and sometimes with non-metals, and sometimes it just sits there and doesn’t combine with anything, and sometimes it combines with itself in long chains and branched trees and rings.

Carbon bonding was a balanced mechanism they could take over. It was a vehicle they could steer to all sorts of freedom by selecting first one bonding preference and then another in an almost unlimited variety of ways.

And what a variety has been chosen. Today there are more than two million known compounds of carbon, roughly twenty times as many as all the other known chemical compounds in the world.

 Today, a world without carbon is unimaginable. Our “bond” with carbon is intimate, to say the least. Most things we consider indispensable, the fuel we burn, the plastics we use, all comprise of carbon in one form or another. Diamond, the most coveted precious stone is a form of carbon. The amount of work universe had to do to generate carbon atoms and then scatter them sufficiently in star systems so as to engender life is stupendous. Here is how Dr. Paul Davies described it in The Mind of God.

 While investigating the nuclear reactions that lead to the formation of carbon in the stellar cores, [Fred] Hoyle was struck by the fact that the key reaction proceeds only because of a lucky fluke. Carbon nuclei are made by a rather tricky process involving the simultaneous encounter of three high-speed helium nuclei, which then stick together. Because of the rarity of triple-nucleus encounters, the reaction can proceed at a significant rate only at certain well-defined energies (termed “resonances”), where the reaction rate is substantially amplified by quantum effects. By good fortune, one of these resonances is positioned just about right to correspond to the sort of energies that helium nuclei have inside large stars.

Where scientists found inscrutability, Neo-Spiritualists discerned divinity, and ascribed cosmic significance to the structure of carbon atom (Link). Unaware of all this, the carbon atom continued to perform its material and spiritual duties diligently until we chose to discredit it. Carbon was accused of causing climate change and global warming.

While we routinely bandy about carbon trading, carbon emissions, carbon footprint and black carbon little do we realize that it is the basic building block of life. The breath of life has developed into intelligent beings thanks to the versatility of a providential atom. Our sense of awe and respect would return once we ponder over the timeless, torturous path life has taken to turn an inanimate atom into animated spirit.

 

Constructive Names, Destructive Ambitions

MNS is in the news again, and no marks for guessing, it is for the wrong reasons; this time for assaulting a minister for taking oath in Hindi (instead of Marathi) during the swearing in ceremony. Bereft of constructive principles or ideology, the party has consistently resorted to shock politics, taking perverted pleasure, like a street corner stripper, at their capacity to offend and intimidate. They have gone about vandalizing shops selling Valentine’s day cards, forcing abject apologies out of movie directors and beating up immigrants to vindicate their phenomenal Marathi jingoistic fixation.

The existing structures need to be pulled down before reconstruction. Seen in that light, MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) antics are fully justified. Before they can undertake reconstruction, i.e. navnirman of Maharashtra, the existing secular, democratic structures have to be destroyed. MNS succeeded in securing 13 seats during recent elections to the Maharashtra assembly. Their burgeoning support base indicates a widening popular support to their barbaric vision.

The extent of harm destructive ideologies if allowed unchecked can impart to the social fabric of the country is recognized by everyone. Even though yesterday’s outrage by MNS have been condemned by political parties across the country, the approach of the ruling party of Maharashtra have been conciliatory. There are times when spoilt brats are indulged with. But they are restrained before they go overboard, for their own good. MNS need to be similarly tethered before the self destructive political road map they have adopted brings harm to them as well as innocent bystanders.

Read related article in The Hindu here: Link