tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-122220572011-07-28T16:29:42.445+05:30Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going - Tennessee Williams. Problem is, memories are unreliable and do not scale. A Blog can help.daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1134719215353455912005-12-16T12:50:00.000+05:302005-12-16T13:35:26.886+05:30

It's a month or so, for that day to come around again. A day on which I know that you and I will be doing the same thing - Celebrating. You might not put much store in religion, nor in occasions of state (not that I know which nation you belong to now), but there is, of course, that one day in a year which you will be marking with joy, I hope. A few years in the last decade, I have marked that

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1120401389023374232005-07-03T20:30:00.000+05:302005-07-03T20:34:55.116+05:30

The most intriguing presence on the Live 8 stages was that of William H Gates. Musicians have always kept big business at arm's length, and when it comes to an event that makes a political statement, that arm extended for miles. However, the 21st century already seems to have made a substantial adjustment to the position protest music had taken against the generalizations of Evil Politicians and

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1120390504267175382005-07-03T16:48:00.000+05:302005-07-03T17:45:33.576+05:30

What a day. England and Australia played out a thrillingly tied final, in a triangular One Day Series which involved Bangladesh in the initial stages. Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport in the longest Wimbledon Ladies' Final. Andy Roddick beat Thomas Johansson in a bruising Wimbledon Men's semi-final. The two Ferraris qualified third and fifth at the French Grand Prix, with a little help from

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119985875378482392005-06-29T00:02:00.000+05:302005-06-29T00:47:25.676+05:30

So he goes, to mis-quote Kurt Vonnegut.Yashwant Sinha, BJP spokesman and former Finance/Foreign Minister, has paid the price for his outspoken opinions about L K Advani's statements in Pakistan. Sinha had stated that Advani was right to resign as BJP Leader, and in fact, suggested the latter resign from the post of the Opposition Leader in Parliament as well. Having had to eat humble pie in the

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119965427943248592005-06-28T19:45:00.000+05:302005-06-29T18:23:25.433+05:30

If any event could get bigger and more emphatic than Live 8, as it's roster of concerts and performing artistes stood last week, it could only be Live 8 this week. And it has - James Brown will be at the Edinburgh concert, Moscow and Johannesburg are hosting Live 8 concerts, Pet Shop Boys will be headlining the Moscow edition, the ONE campaign will give 50 bloggers a chance to go backstage, and a

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119960415635403122005-06-28T16:42:00.000+05:302005-06-28T17:44:18.260+05:30

c|net News' Special Report this week focuses on what it calls the Indian Tech Renaissance. I wonder in what sense the term renaissance is being used. If c|net News believes it is a period of revival for the Indian technology sector, I can't recall a time when it has flagged in the last fifteen years or so : it's been growing almost consistently ever since it spurted, as an offshoot of the first

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119644289361688612005-06-25T01:22:00.000+05:302005-06-25T14:39:36.496+05:30

Coldplay, Deep Purple, Dido, Green Day, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, REM, Tragically Hip, Sting, U2 will be amongst performers at the Live8 Concerts across seven countries on July 2. The concerts, of course, are part of an effort to get the G8 leaders meeting in Scotland to act more forcefully against global poverty. Technorati is aggregating blog content about Live8, while Indymedia intends to

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119638418162465672005-06-24T23:22:00.000+05:302005-06-28T17:38:05.210+05:30

Mark Tran writes in The Guardian BlogOne of the more Machiavellian justifications for invading Iraq was the flypaper theory. Invading and occupying Iraq might turn the country into a magnet for anti-US terrorists, the argument went, but it was better to slug it out in a distant and foreign land instead of closer to home.The post goes on to cite a CIA assessment turning the theory on it's head,

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119631106129596272005-06-24T21:07:00.000+05:302005-06-26T01:14:08.586+05:30

The company I work for has a strict dress code : Do. The Mumbai University has sacrificed brevity in the interests of the elimination of rape in Indian society, and plans to impose a ban on an impressive laundry list of clothing in associated educational institutes.The Vice Chancellor is not content with the lofty objective of preventing rapes : he is quoted as saying that the ban will also serve

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119549452372061532005-06-23T23:05:00.000+05:302005-06-23T23:59:50.010+05:30

Headline News reports that General John Abizaid's testimony to the US Senate Armed Services committee refutes US Vice President Cheney's claim that insurgent activity in Iraq was declining.During an interview with CNN last month, Cheney said that, from a military standpoint, he felt insurgent activity would decline, adding, "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."I

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119215585912221462005-06-20T01:55:00.000+05:302005-06-20T02:53:20.250+05:30

Hmmm, the Formula One experts are already on their soapboxes, commenting on the US Grand Prix farce. They are right, of course : it was farcical. I can't help but disagree with some of their opinions though. To start with, Chris Goodwin and Steve Slater of Star Sports seem to be more concerned by the repercussions on F1 viewership in the United States than the actual merits of the Michelin Teams'

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119209453260073372005-06-20T00:24:00.000+05:302005-06-25T17:15:04.566+05:30

The United States Grand Prix began with all Michelin shod cars pulling off after the warm up lap into pits, and only the six Bridgestone tyre-based cars lined up for the race start. Michelin clearly failed in providing tyres that would be safe enough to race on in the race, and its a shame that the Michelin based teams indulged in the kind of gamesmanship that seemed to shift blame to the

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119127907909089152005-06-19T01:54:00.000+05:302005-06-19T13:12:03.340+05:30

BBC Radio 3 broadcast nothing but Beethoven's symphonies for six days earlier this month. Performed by the BBC Philharmonic and conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, the BBC Radio 3 site hosted MP3 downloads of the performances which, alas, are no longer available. The cycle completes with broadcasts of the last four symphonies starting 27th June, and the MP3s will be hosted on the site in a staggered

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119098655174949242005-06-18T17:55:00.000+05:302005-06-18T18:20:41.353+05:30

Steve Jobs delivered the Keynote Address at Stanford University's 114th Commencement on June 12. The speech almost sums up his life, and distils three lessons Jobs says are important - ...You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1119082199342540602005-06-18T12:57:00.000+05:302005-06-18T13:45:27.576+05:30

The Museum of Broadcasting Communications hosts an online encyclopaedia of Television. The entry for Soap Opera regards Dallas as the program that sparked off the primetime soap boom of the 1980s in the United States. Dallas focused on the shady business dealings and dysfunctional family dynamics of the Ewings, a Texas-based family whose wealth was derived from oil.India seems to prefer its soap

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1118743641100578042005-06-14T14:59:00.000+05:302005-06-14T15:51:39.083+05:30

BBC reports that Pink Floyd will perform at the Live 8 Concert in London next month. The hysteria surrounding this announcement is because it will be the classic Floyd line-up : Gilmour, Mason, Waters and Wright. No, no Barrett.Floyd's music, of course, was what would accompany most of my moods in those nihilistic teenage years. Moods that ran the gamut from exhiliration to depression to energy

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1118531507510183932005-06-12T01:30:00.000+05:302005-06-12T04:47:43.096+05:30

The story goes that in 1842, when Sir Charles Napier finally defeated the Amirs of Sind, he telegraphed the Governor General (or his, Napier's, brother; the stories differ, as apocryphal ones usually do), a single Latin word - Peccavi (I have sinned).If the RSS has it's way, Mr. L K Advani will have to say something of the kind too. This time, the phrase will have to be meant literally.The BJP

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1117034561621136572005-05-25T20:48:00.000+05:302005-05-25T20:52:41.623+05:30

Sunil DuttActor, Politician, Outspoken Citizen and Human BeingJune 6, 1929 - May 25, 2005

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116777762083442482005-05-22T23:50:00.000+05:302005-05-22T23:54:55.393+05:30

[ Update : Co-incidentally enough, CNBC India just telecast an interview of Nooyi in their program The Diaspora. Nooyi's comments on the show, possibly recorded before this incident occurred (no references to it that I could catch), are pertinent. When answering a question on Bill Gates' comments about the H1B Visa, she remarked that the USA is a country that welcomed intelligent people with open

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116697781101336362005-05-21T22:33:00.000+05:302005-05-21T23:25:14.086+05:30

I read somewhere a few days ago that competitors wearing red are more likely to win than those wearing any other colour, according to a study. First of all, I made a mental note to discover how to get commissioned to make such a study. I can spend a couple of years conducting an absorbing study of, for example, which cows produce more milk, the blue ones or the green ones. Besides, the

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116683593509684132005-05-21T18:53:00.000+05:302005-05-21T20:01:27.406+05:30

[Update : The Bayosphere launched on the 13th of May, actually. Mea culpa.]Dan Gillmor has finally announced Bayosphere this week, a Bay Area community website where people can find news and opinion they can trust, and information that helps us in our daily lives. Gillmor was a well known columnist for the San Jose Mercury News (I've linked to SiliconValley.com deliberately, as the business and

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116668511039694542005-05-21T15:08:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:59:53.936+05:30

After being treated to the likes of Roger Waters, Sting, Mark Knopfler and Joe Satriani, India is likely to see Eric Clapton and Steve Vai perform, according to the Times of India. My generation of urban Indians largely grew up listening to the anger and angst, the passion and pain, the mysticism and magic of musicians who were out to incite revolt against every possible figure of authority. Or

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116359089722446442005-05-18T00:28:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:59:13.416+05:30

I love the enthusiasm spammers bring to their much maligned profession. Especially when such mail surfaces this late in the night - 4theLit:tleGuy     Ge:tTh:oseF:ewExt:raI:nc:hes...     Tue 17/05     1kI mean, how is the idiot ever going to get her/his tongue around "W:ant Fr:i:es wit:h: T:hat:::?" after indulging in sending out thousands of such mails?Seriously, the only way I've managed to

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116355237420187192005-05-17T23:20:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:58:16.726+05:30

Silicon Valley Watcher reports that IBM will introduce their corporate blogs soon. I look askance at the question the article starts off with. Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems takes a humourous dig at them, and Robert Scoble of Microsoft comments on the blogging guidelines posted on the IBM developerWorks blog of James Snell.IBM apparently has a flourishing intranet blog culture, with 2800

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116347077393231392005-05-17T21:06:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:57:13.680+05:30

Over the past fortnight, The Sunday Times and The New York Review of Books published an extremely sensitive, need-to-know only British Government memo from July 2002 that confirmed what we already knew : (i) Iraq was known not to have WMD capability of any significance, eight months before the USA initiated hostilities (ii) The Bush Administration was inclined to go ahead and justify "

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116277937713413612005-05-17T02:17:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:55:59.173+05:30

c|net News has published an interview with Dr. Deepak Phatak of IIT Mumbai, in which he discusses his thoughts on the possibility of an Open Source license that motivates proprietary software developers to collaborate with free software developers. The article unfortunately seems to be short on the real details, and unduly focused on sensationalizing the subject. The headline equates Dr. Phatak

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1116257003284066032005-05-16T20:50:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:55:23.296+05:30

I wrote earlier about why I think the Times of India has nearly reduced the newspaper to the tabloid. A recent incident, involving the reporting in the newspaper of a spoof.com story as straight news only serves to underline the qualitative deterioration of the newspaper. The spoof article talked about Aishwarya Rai, who is attempting B2H after the enormous success of B2B, B2C et al, appearing on

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1115657052265548652005-05-09T22:07:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:54:48.426+05:30

I was watching the BBC coverage of the 60th anniversary of VE Day. While Japan would continue hostilities for a few months more, until Hiroshima and Nagasaki convinced her to surrender in August, the 8th and 9th of May marks the end of war in Europe. The Second World War, in a way, re-shaped life on the planet; not, in my opinion though, by altering the big picture. Even as the war wound down in

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1114206750870949322005-04-23T03:03:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:54:20.193+05:30

My job involves travel, and this week I visited Srinagar. I find it ironic that the founder of Srinagar was Ashoka, an emperor who embraced the non-violence espoused by Buddhism after witnessing the ravages of a war he began. Now Kashmir has been debated endlessly, and I do not have anything original to add to the discussion on how peace can return to a troubled land. Cicero popularized the

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1113731235211991322005-04-17T15:10:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:53:51.953+05:30

When I was a kid, Sundays used to be centred around newspapers. The supplements cast their nets wide, coming up with articles on a variety of interesting subjects. There was fiction too, occasionally, and then there were the comics. My reading habits were voracious and indiscriminating, and happily, the content used to be compelling enough to occupy the good part of a lazy morning. The Hindu and

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12222057.post-1113732312346534502005-04-10T22:00:00.000+05:302005-05-21T19:53:27.046+05:30

There is an unexpected lump in my throat as the camera sweeps up from the piazza to the apartment above. The windows are still lit, but somehow, no longer illuminated. The Pope is no more, and it feels like a part of my world died with him. His papacy had its share of discord, arguably, but the man was indomitable and charismatic, and above all, embraced mankind in his efforts to apply Christian

daemonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08707861551653358267noreply@blogger.com0