Slash

Being from the field of computing and computers, we inadvertently use a lot of "slashes" everyday. Thought I make a stupid tutorial for all those of us who are confused between the terms "back slash" and "forward slash" :) !!

Imagine a slash to be a guy ---> |- with a head and a toe.

If he leans on his back he becomes a back slash like this --> \
If he leans on his front he becomes a forward slash like this --> /

If he can hold a guitar in his hand and wear a hat and play with his hair on his face, while smoking a cigarette, he becomes Slash and is a part of the Guns N' Roses :P

And if you didn't find this post funny, its absolutely okay, neither did I :) !!!

Food for thought

Going by the title, I bet most of my regular readers are anticipating another blog where I talk about food, fat and other pleasantries :) !! Naah, don't you worry, this time, I am actually thinking, so this ain't a stupid blog on food.

I read this particular comment on Slashdot by a user "Opportunist" and it got me all thinking about our responsibilities as netizens sharing a common information highway. Have you ever wondered that to do anything in this society you need a license, a permission? To drive, you need a driving license, to possess a weapon you need license etc. etc. This licensing scheme though has many pitfalls, actually makes you liable for your actions, and brings order in the otherwise chaotic society. I remember my Indian license has these words on its last page "Driving is a privilege, not a right".

However, when it comes to sharing the Internet (hey you can't deny, the entire Internet is a giant interconnected web) we somehow don't seem to have any responsibilities. In this world of always-on Internet if your computer gets compromised, you are not only hurting your own self, but also hurting others on the Internet (which means, technically you are a threat to everybody!). If a user doesn't know how to protect his/her computer on the net, then he/she shouldn't be allowed to use the Internet. Cause every compromised computer is a time bomb waiting to wreak havoc ....

Well, on a lighter note I remember two years back there was this particular virus that infected my client organization's computer network. Around 10:00 AM in the morning I got a instant message from my boss which said "Hey Girish! Check this out, photo of you and me from last night ". Luckily for me, I didn't click on the link, cause well I didn't expect my straight faced boss sending me such messages outta context and secondly I wasn't with him the earlier night :P !! But all said and done, there were at least 100 other users in the network that clicked on similar messages that they received, and in no time the entire network was infected by the virus. We lost most of our network functions for more than 2 hours after that. Imagine 40000+ users not working for 2 hours because some people were fullish enough to click on links that weren't relevant.

Hmm, so what am I trying to say from all this? Well, since we are not as computer savvy as the brains behind these attacks are, our only defense is to be street smart while on the Internet, and behave like responsible citizens, who are sharing a road!

Diet Control

Though I regularly cook lunch or at least have one in the cafeteria everyday, the friendly vending machine still happens to be my chief source of nutrition (the bad kind!). So everyday around 4:00 PM, my stomach growls and then I go and spoil myself crazy with a high calorie snack or two.

Every time that the vending machine dispenses the oh-so-tempting forbidden fruit, I promise to myself that this will be the last time that I will ever eat outta the evil machine, but come tomorrow ... and the cycle continues... so much for self-control :) !!

But the last week has been funny! I have been outta dollar bills. The vending machine just accepts 1$ bills and loose change. So, though my stomach growls, the poor me can't feed the vending machine a credit card and make it spit out poison! And everyday in the evening I promise myself that I will get change tomorrow.

Today happens to be just one more time that I did that, and I suddenly realized that procrastination is not all bad. Sometimes it does good to your health :) !!

Mona had eyebrows

I am not an art aficionado nor am I remotely interested in history, but yesterday I paid a visit to "Da Vinci - An Exhibition of Genius" in San Francisco, and the 4 odd hours that I spent there were truly unforgettable. My knowledge of Leonardo Da Vinci was limited to his role in my history textbooks in school and thereafter his passing references in "The Da Vinci code", but yesterday I got a glimpse into the life of a genius. The breadth of his knowledge and the contributions that he has done to a vast spectrum of fields is amazing.

Also, yesterday was the first time that I studied Mona Lisa so much. I mean, I had heard about the painting and that it existed in the Louvre in Paris. But I almost attended an art appreciation class yesterday :) !! From figuring out that there is a bridge behind the left shoulder of Mona and a road on the right, to the presence of an "H" written behind the painting for no particular purpose, I did learn a lot about her :) Other than helping rookies like me to understand how to look at a painting and genuinely admire it, the exhibition also lists the in depth analysis that was done by Pascal Cotte (I can't believe there is no Wikipedia entry on him :( !!) on Mona Lisa using his multi-spectrum 240 megapixel camera.

Coming back to my subject line, well, the research done by Pascal Cotte indicates that Mona indeed had eyebrows, laying to rest some of the most profound questions of history :) !!

If you live in San Francisco bay area, and are remotely interested in art, technology, war or history, this exhibition is a "must attend".

Blogging in plain English

Found this funny video by common craft about blogging and thought I share it with you guys...

That reminds me, I have been using del.icio.us for more than 2 years now. Everytime some one asks me what it is, I have to sit and explain a million advantages. Some helpful soul from (Common Craft again) has made a video explaining del.icio.us too :) ... check it out:
The video is titled "How to explain del.icio.us to your parents :) !!"