tRoUbLe sEEkEr's iNc.

& then came Google Chrome

2008-10-05T20:26:00.003+05:30

When was the last time these geeks let your soul rest in peace and let things be as they were. Never, because that's why they are "the geeks", you know.

I am talking about a hoard of web-browsers that seems to have crept up from nowhere. I am not a net junkie nor am i a software guy who keeps up with the latest viruses and trojans on the net. I am someone who uses a system (a computer) for work, to make presentations, databases, reports and other related things, if you get the hint. So what if i have computers degree with me, naah, that does not make me a geek!

Anyway, as far as i can remember, some of the latest web-browsers that have come up in last year or so are - Internet Explorer 8, Mozila Firefox 3, Apple Safari, and then... the much awaited - Google's Chrome.

I can't take somethings away from Chrome (read Google) because somethings are really good about it. Like the tabs appearance, separate process trees for different tabs (so that if one crashes, your browser does not die), it of course does work better with Google wares (Gmail, Gtalk, Orkut, etc), its faster (loads web-pages faster - as they claim - why didn't i feel so?). Oh yes1 i forgot to mention the Java applications handling prowess of Chrome.

But somethings (a lot of things, i guess) are missing, let me try and make a list -

Plugins - Download, book marks, PDF covertors, Ad blockers, Others
Skins
Not compatible with systems which have Symantec as their Anti-virus programs
It does not work with Windows version lower than XP and Vista (though there are codes available now)
Etc

For me it somehow still does not beat Mozila Firefox 3, I am still convinced someday Chrome shall get better of Firefox but untill then i will wait and Hail Mozila FireFox!

081005 - Words

2008-10-05T19:48:00.004+05:30

Capricious - Determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason
Suffuses - Cause to spread or flush or flood through, over, or across
Missives - A written message addressed to a person or organization
Lamented - Mourned or grieved for
Sated - Fill to satisfaction
Jettisoned - Throw away, of something encumbering
Oppressive - Weighing heavily on the senses or spirit
Claustrophobic - Uncomfortably closed or hemmed in
Alcoves - A small recess opening off a larger room
Vernacs - provincial; culturally backwards, unfashionable, or unrefined
Guttural - Like the sounds of frogs and crows
Cavort - Play boisterously
Slew - a large number or amount or extent
Scathing - Marked by harshly abusive criticism
Aglow - Softly bright or radiant
Roiled - Aroused to impatience or anger
Chute - Rescue equipment consisting of a device that fills with air and retards your fall
Vehemence - The property of being wild or turbulent
Rancor - A feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will
Sagacity - The mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations
Lechery - Unrestrained indulgence in sexual activity
Wizened - Lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness
Enmeshed - Caught as if in a mesh
Wiles - The use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)
Pivot - Axis consisting of a short shaft that supports something that turns
Slovenly - Negligent of neatness especially in dress and person; habitually dirty and unkempt
Waltzed - An assured victory (especially in an election)
Tufts - A bunch of hair or feathers or growing grass
Convulsed - Be overcome with laughter/ Shake uncontrollably

Return to Innocence :-)

2008-10-05T19:39:00.003+05:30

Well, it has been over a year since i last posted anything. I don't know exactly what made me stop posting; I guess I was busy with work, life and other stuff in general. But then again, it doesn't seem a good enough reason to stop doing what I like. I like to write, in general, not books, not theories. For that matter i am not even a good writer i suppose. One of the main reasons for me being out here is to help myself, yes elusive self-love. I want to pour out whatever is brooding inside me for so long.

Last time i posted i had gone to Nandi Hills with a bunch of office colleagues. That trip was amazing, because when we did decide to go ahead with it, it was middle of the night and we figured we didn't want to sit home the next day and waste ourselves. So instead we rose to the occasion and did what we felt like.

I have been to Nandi Hills a couple of times after that as well, and to my realization, each time it was unplanned, and best part was - every time with a different group of people to accompany me. So the trips have been good and an exhilarating experience.

Anyway, this is not why i am here, I am here to do what i like. Get back to writing.

Lately, i have started reading (mostly fiction novels) again; I thought it would be a good idea to write about all that i read. I am thinking of putting up the words that i will learn over a period of a week from now on.

Nandi Hills

2007-08-20T14:23:00.001+05:30

When you need a little fresh air in Bangalore what do you do? Best would be to sit back at home under the air conditioner which promises you the best air you can get. But that would be a little too boring unless you are happy with the TV turned on and some snacks to munch on some juice to quench the thirst. But if a better option is available like driving in the arms of mother nature and then sitting there feeling the breeze caress your hair and whole body as if it were to tell you that there is nothing better in this world but you.

One such place that I love to go and spend time is Nandi Hills. It’s a two hours drive from the busy roads of Bangalore. Moving towards Hyderabad @ 50-55 kms/hr helps quite a bit to freshen up your lungs. The place is about 70 kms away waiting to be explored, not actually. Every weekend several couples move towards the place and spend quality time over there.

The last 6-7 kms is where the fun actually starts when we finally begin going up the hill, the way goes round and round. Some of the curves are pretty sharp and may actually demand a lot of care if you are driving and trust if you are sitting behind. Either way it is fun to go up the road and enjoy the valley that you leave behind. The clouds flow over there and help you feel the atmosphere much better.

Once you reach the top there is nothing better to let yourself free and roam around, enjoy the nature and admire the beauty. Look out for some nasty monkeys which keep hovering around the tourists for food and like.

To give you a better view of things… have a look at these… http://www.flickr.com/photos/7954158@N05/

Old flame!

2007-07-23T20:27:00.001+05:30

What we do is what we must face. Old is gold, we have all heard about it haven't we? Of course, we are not talking about diamonds, gold, friends, books or parents; we are talking about life in general.

To be more specific, I would like to talk about old love, sounds familiar? No? Well, good for you, if you found love in the first person you actually felt was good enough. But not all of us are all that lucky, right? So what do we do about that? Well... we move on feeling all the optimism in our head and heart, being brave venturing in the world all over again. But what happens... we fall again... and then we look up to what? The Old flame.

Old flame? What the heck... all the way back to square one is it? But we all do feel the pain of the old one not being around, I believe, when we think... damn my ex would have done this in that situation and look at this guy/gal, what does he think he is doing? Does he/she even understand me at all? Is it worth it? Or was I happier back then?

There is always this special lure of the lost love... You know what I feel the craving for what you already had and lost remains true for all those little material assets of life too… Common now, how can we accept someone having what used to be ours. People get attached with things and losing is really hurtful. Some people try to get things back more with vengeance rather with the love for it. I would say this applies to love more so than with anything else you try to get things over or try and get better things.

Imagine if you happen to bump into old GF/ BF in the shopping mall with someone…ELSE. Don’t you get wildest of a thought that somehow breaks them apart? Trust me it is quite natural, it happens all the time, it’s the human basic instinct of not letting others have what was ours once.

So is there a cure? Depends... whether you want/ should get back to your old love or not is solely a matter of choice dependent on the circumstances. I'll leave the choice of decision upon you. May God be with you and help you make a wise decision. Stay happy & be good.

Sore topic? Naah... but obviously not all that sweet also. :)

Optimism

2007-07-02T09:33:00.001+05:30

It is not necessary that what we have been through was the bad enough, in an optimistic view of the world, one needs to understand that I might have just escaped the worst. Not many would agree with me when I say, being optimistic is the “Raambaan”/ panacea for all situations. But I would like to extend a challenge to them, lets take a scenario, where you are lost everything you possibly could, now you sit and frown over it, obviously you need to do that, but at one point of time you need to sit down and think and try and move on. If you can’t, ask these questions to yourself –

Where is it taking me?
Am I getting stuck to one point of view and not letting the windows of wisdom open upon me?
Do I really need to torture myself for this long?
Is it serving the cause, or is it mere show-off that I want to do in front of the world, showcasing them that I am in grief and I demand sympathy?

I am sure not a lot of people would like to be categorized with those questions and their obvious answers. :) Its natural people want attention and want others to care for them and their feelings, but these kinds of expectations can’t be set forward for all the human beings one comes in touch with.

There are a few more black spots when we talk about failure. Blame! Well, are we all not familiar with that word? I guess, we all are but not every time we are interested in seeing the real cause of the issue/failure, and even if we are interested in that, we tend to ignore it and blame stuff or things which no one can associate with us and say “Hey! I know this happened because you didn’t do this or you did that.” So, we try to escape this situation and put the blame on others. Its fair till the time it doesn’t hurt others or you are the only one going to get affected by it.

Let me quote an example – When I used to go to school, the only things that I dreaded were, one, getting the test copies signed by my dad and second, accompanying my dad for the parent-teacher meeting. God! It sucked, it still does… those memories still haunt me at times, when my teachers couldn't stop talking about me as if they were the best orators of my life and its experiments, and my dad was a famous figure in the school because of his political associations, thus more trouble for me, every little mischief I did, had to reach the ears of my dear dad. Now, before I deviate from the topic, how did I try and escape the situations… I signed those test papers at times on my own, acting my own parent (most of the times, being mother was easy, as I could never understand my dad’s signature), now who did that affect, me, my school or my parents? Well it did affect all of us, but then at that, the limited view of situation made me believe that I was the only one who was going to get affected. Thus, best medicine was for me to talk to my inner self and shut it up till the time it gave up preaching me that I was doing wrong.

Try and not blame others for whatever happened because it doesn’t matter anymore, because whatever bad had to happen has already happened, its better to learn from it and move on.

Another important thing that I want to mention is learning, how many times do we actually do we commit the same mistake over and over again? And then we have ourselves in the same situations over the time, again and again.

Every situation/circumstance teaches us something… now its up to us to take that learning with us forward or to forget it there itself and keep making the same mistake again.

I am no preacher and I can’t school no body about a lot of things, I am a normal human being myself, one of you guys, but I am still different, after all we all are unique, right?

Now what’s unique in me? I make mistakes… but I every time I try to make a new and different one, as some great personality said once. At least, it will help us increase the borders of our experience and learning.

Cheers! :)

Indians & Google!

2007-05-24T18:49:00.001+05:30

Indian engineer develops Google's latest product

New York, May 24 (IANS) An Indian software engineer working with Google Inc., one of the top search engines on the internet, is the brain behind the company's newest offering Hot Trends.

Developed under the supervision of Amit Patel, one of the world's top search patent inventors and a veteran of six years at Google Inc., Hot Trends combines elements of Zeitgeist and Trends, the two existing Google products that give a glimpse into web search habits.

"There are events going on all the time that most of us are not aware of happening," said Patel.

Hot Trends will show a list of the current top 100 fastest rising search trends and will be refreshed several times daily, using data from millions of Google web searches, ethnic newspaper Indo Link reported.

"It's very entertaining and it's very addictive," Patel said of the trends list.

Patel believes the rankings will be useful to researchers and reporters looking for story ideas. The improvements will also enable users to analyze search terms within the sub-regions of 79 countries.

With Google Hot Trends, the California based company said, you can compare the world's interest in your favourite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they've been searched for on Google.

Google Hot Trends also displays how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and people from which geographic regions have searched for them most often.

Attrition

2007-05-23T18:59:00.001+05:30

The world is running because of it or is it running from it???

I work for a startup research company which began its operations in 2002, with 3 people. Today it has some 35 odd people working for it. It has been doing decent work since its inception, and has managed to bag a lot of good and big projects from a lot of MNCs from various domains.

I joined this firm after completion of my post graduation some 3 months back. When i did join this company there were exactly 35 people working for it. Today as i grow out of my probation period of 3 months... 3 people have left the company to join some other firm or for higher studies.

We have worked on projects which consider attrition and then tell the clients how to stop it.

Today, i am just wondering the people who suggested those things and ways... are themselves not following what they were trying to preach others...

What has this world come to?

When today i try and think of it, how long will i be able to save myself from what has been going around me.

For how long?????

20 things I wanted to do!

2007-05-10T10:29:00.001+05:30

This is the list of Twenty things that i wanted to do 6-7 months ago... i wrote this for a friend, who has always acted as a guiding light. She is my GDM, i.e. Pallavi.

I am still working in these... hoping to cover them soon... :)

“The List of 20 things that I want to do before I die”

God knows it I need to earn a lot of money, and by God I will.
Have all the latest gadgets, computer accessories, music system.
Live a satisfied life after I have attained what I want to.
Help people around not because I am a philanthropist but because I believe I have a duty towards this society, that I live in.
Make my parents proud of being My Parents.
Kick some butts (specific persons only).
Have all my friends around me.
Learn languages… many languages.
Learn how to play guitar.
Learn how to dance.
Have my own small world (family).
Find The One for me.
Marry the one I Love and The One who loves me.
Roam around the world with my partner.
Work for the betterment of the world around me.
Know how to do almost everything… Jack of all the trades… may be Master of some too.
Acquire Knowledge and use it.
Try and be happy.
Enjoy Life.
Just keep doing something and never being static…. Just wish to remain Dynamic my whole life.

I am working on the updated list and will be posting it soon.

Geeta Sar

2007-05-10T10:15:00.001+05:30

Whatever happened, it happened for good.

Whatever is happening, is happening for good.

Whatever that will happen, it will be for good.

What have you lost for which you cry?

What did you bring with you, which you have lost?

What did you produce, which has destroyed?

You did not bring anything when you were born.

Whatever you have, you have received from Him.

Whatever you will give, you will give to Him.

You came empty handed and you will go the same way.

Whatever is yours today was somebody else’s esterday and will be somebody else’s tomorrow.

Change is the law of the universe.

If you look at what you do not have in life, you don’t have anything, if you look at what you have in life, you have everything.”

from the Geeta Sar

Rise of The GOOGLE

2007-05-09T11:35:00.001+05:30

Google Rises To The Top Of The Brandz™ Ranking With A Brand Value Of $66,434 Million

I have lately been a big fan of GOOGLE as a company but more as an INNOVATOR of all sorts and i was really pleased to notice this when as a brand also GOOGLE toped leaving the likes of MS & Coke behind.

LONDON, UK, 23rd April 2007 — The second annual BRANDZ™ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands ranking published in cooperation with the Financial Times was announced today by leading global market research and consulting firm Millward Brown. Google has risen to the top of this year's ranking, taking the number one spot with a brand value of $66,434 million. This was followed by General Electric ($61,880 million), Microsoft ($54,951 million) and Coca-Cola ($44,134 million)

Produced by Millward Brown Optimor, the firm's finance and ROI arm, the ranking identifies the most powerful brands in the world as measured by their dollar value. A full report will be published today, exclusively in the Financial Times.

The aggregate value of all brands in the BRANDZ™ Top 100 increased by 10.6% in one year, from $1.44 trillion in 2006 to $1.6 trillion in 2007.

Source-
www.millwardbrown.com/Sites/optimor/Media/Pdfs/en/BrandZ/BrandZ-2007-RankingReport.pdf

Lets promise ourselves

2007-04-25T10:45:00.002+05:30

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind;

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet;

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them;

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true;

To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best;

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own;

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future;

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile;

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others;

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear; and too happy to permit the presence of trouble;

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds;

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

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This is not my creation... and I give full credit to the author.