Almost Famous

Lester Bangs: Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.
William Miller: Well, it was fun.
Lester Bangs: They make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.
William Miller: I know. Even when I thought I was, I knew I wasn't.
Lester Bangs: That's because we're uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don't have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter.
William Miller: I can really see that now.
Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love... and let's face it, you got a big head start.
William Miller: I'm glad you were home.
Lester Bangs: I'm always home. I'm uncool.
William Miller: Me too!
Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool.
William Miller: I feel better.
Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.

Gone but not forgotten

December 8, 1980, John Lennon died. This year marks the 29th anniversary of his tragic murder

IMAGINE
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM..wherever you are ..

Music

tagged by iceman

Opening credits: Somewhere over the rainbow-Aselin debison

Waking up : Laguna sunrise- Black Sabbath

Average day: These days-Gregg Allman

First date: Wonderful tonight-Eric Clapton

Falling in love: Forever-Kiss

Love scene: Aa chal ke tujhe-Kishore Kumar :P

Fight scene: Raining blood-Slayer ;)

Breaking up: Babe I'm gonna leave you-Led Zeppelin

Getting back together: Piece of my heart-Janis Joplin

Secret love: Sweet child o' mine-Guns n' roses

Life's okay: Dream on-Aerosmith

Mental breakdown: Brain damage - Pink Floyd

Driving: Born to be wild-Steppenwolf

Learning a lesson: Like a rolling stone-Bob Dylan

Deep thought:Lost-Coldplay

Flashback: Forever young-Bob Dylan

Partying: Ace of spades-Motorhead

Regretting: No remorse-Metallica

Long night alone: Exit music-Radiohead

Death scene: One-Metallica

Closing credits: Guaranteed-Eddie Vedder

No time to stand and stare

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stop and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

Not time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

by William Henry Davies

I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains; but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
-Ulysses (Alfred Tennyson)

Meet Google Linux !!

You knew it was coming. Surely you did.

First Google had their "Google Desktop" that mostly went nowhere. Then came Chrome, the browser that threatened to "out cool" any other browser. And then came Android, the operating system for the phone of the future (the one that supposedly could take down the iPhone). Android. An operating system for mobile phones.

And it could go further.

That's right. The creators of Mobile-Facts.com have managed (in less than four hours and with rusty skills) to compile Android to run on a netbook. That's not surprising since Android is Linux and Linux can run on everything from a toaster to a PS3. What is surprising is that they discovered Android was actually designed for both phones and for mobile Internet devices (such as netbooks).

Now remember, Google already has Google Mail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google this and Google that. It is now shy only a platform to run as a full-fledged system.

So there you have it. Google has always been really good about sneaking things under the radar. Chrome hit us in the back of the head with little to no warning. And now this. But what does it mean?

From my point of view it means this:

1. Google's Android finds some success with the mobile phone platform.
2. Android finds its way pre-installed on some netbooks taking advantage of all the Google gears and Google cloud.
3. Android-based Netbooks allow simple tethering to Android-based phones.
4. Android finds its way onto the PC desktop giving birth to Google Linux.

But this wouldn't be just any old Linux. This would be Linux with the support of the mighty Google. This would mean support, support, and more support. This would mean Google Linux would be the epitome of mobility and connectivity.
This would mean a big win for Linux. And I believe Google has been planning this all along. And why? Microsoft. This would be a serious coup de gras in the battle between Google and Microsoft.

Think about it this way. Everyone knows Google. Not everyone knows Linux. If everyone saw a netbook running "Google" they would snap it up right away. Why? It's Google! Imagine what you could "google" on a Google computer! You certainly couldn't "google" as much on a Microsoft netbook as you could a Google netbook.

Seriously though, it's about branding. Up until this point Linux had no branding. Even though the tech-inclined knew of Linux, the average user doesn't.

As much as I hate to admit it, Linux is still far from the taking command of the desktop war. But this could change that. Google Linux could be the deal maker. If the Google operating system comes to fruition the way it could, it would bring to Linux some serious branding cred.

A Google operating system could make Linux the easiest to use OS available as well as the slickest: Android uses Chrome which integrates seamlessly with Google docs/gears and does so with the stability and security of Linux. It's a perfect combination.

And with that thought in mind I happily say, let's all Meet Google Linux!

Life is difficult

This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we truly understand and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

M. Scott Peck from The Road Less Traveled

Gone but not forgotten

A birth and a death of two legends on 8th december

December 8, 1943, Jim Morrison was born. This year would have been his 65th birthday.

December 8, 1980, John Lennon died. This year marks the 28th anniversary of his tragic murder.

LOL!!

Is software engineering a meaningful profession?

I met a friend of mine today who has graduated as a doctor.

The Doctor said : I serve the sick, I cure their illness,kill their sufferings. I save lives.

I said : I sit and write sorting programs or write DB queries ??!!

What the hell?? Then,I had lots of questions squirming in my brain.                  Programming,is it a meaningful career to choose,does it mean anything at all,does it serve the poor,the sick,the needy. Why have my friends around me in college chosen software engineering as their career, Is it just they happen to do this because they have got bills to pay, just for those attractive pay cheques offered by multi-national companies. Do they really love what they do?

Moonlight walk

(Special thanks to electricty board for their endemic power cut to provide me such an opportunity)

Peaceful night,moon lit fields,my friend Moni beside me,blissful cool breeze,fresh air from betta cooling the day's heat of the city, I lay down with the joy of not having tests the next day. Jim Morrison and Jimmy Page to entertain us with their maddening words and music,left us stoned . Faint noise of the screeching insects,probably they too were admiring the night. Hallucinations across our eyes when gazing at the clear open sky,feeling like flying high up among the stars above,beside those silver clouds as though swimming our way to the moon .We just held our hands up into the sky embracing mother nature,feeling her warmth. Lights of vehicles very occasionally piercing our eyes,surrendering ourselves to the peace and calmness,we walked on down the road which had a mild glow seemed like a calm river under the moonlight which came filtering through the silent tamarind trees. Shooting star to add to our delight,blazing ball of fire almost hitting the earth before it burnt down with a greenish flame. What more could I wish for except for such graceful moments in life!!

The Square Root of Three

“The Square Root of Three” by David Feinberg

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

Sweet child o' mine

She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories 
Where everything 
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky 
Now and then when I see her face 
She takes me away to that special place
And if I'd stare too long 
I'd probably break down and cry 


Sweet child o' mine 
Sweet love of mine 


She's got eyes of the bluest skies 
As if they thought of rain 
I hate to look into those eyes 
And see an ounce of pain 
Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place 
Where as a child I'd hide 
And pray for the thunder 
And the rain 
To quietly pass me by

Sweet child o' mine 
Sweet love of mine 

Where do we go 
Where do we go now 
Where do we go 
Sweet child o' mine

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. 

Rather be dead than cool. 

The worst crime is faking it. 

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

         -Kurt cobain of NIRVANA

Rock around the clock

I've decided to post something on music now on ( mostly rock). I will be writing on songs that you gotta listen to, which are both lyrically and musically brilliant , presenting you interesting facts on the song. I will try and post every weekend about a song , I wanna call this series “Now playing”.

JEREMY

The song for today is “Jeremy” by by the band Pearl Jam."Jeremy" was released as the third single from Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten (1991) in 1992.

Accolades:

The song reached the number five spot on both the Mainstream and Modern Rock Billboard charts.19^th on M TV's "100 Greatest Videos Ever Made".36^th on Rolling Stone "The 100 Top Music Videos". VH1 's "100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years" and "100 Greatest Songs of the '90s". Kerrang! "100 Greatest Singles of All Time”. In 1993 the video won 4 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video Of The Year.  The album sold over 10 million copies.

Lyrics:

written by frontman Eddie Vedder and music written by bassist Jeff Ament.The song takes its main inspiration from a newspaper article about a 15-year-old boy named Jeremy Wade Delle, born February 10, 1975, from Richardson, Texas who shot himself in front of his English class at Richardson High School on the morning of January 8, 1991 at about 9:45 am. Delle was described by schoolmates as "real quiet" and known for "acting sad." After coming in to class late that morning, Delle was told to get an admittance slip from the school office. He left the classroom, and returned with a .357 Magnum revolver. Delle walked to the front of the classroom, announced "Miss, I got what I really went for", put the barrel of the firearm in his mouth, and pulled the trigger before his teacher or classmates could react. A girl named Lisa Moore knew Jeremy from the in-school suspension program: "He and I would pass notes back and forth and he would talk about life and stuff," she said. "He signed all of his notes, 'Write back.' But on Monday he wrote, 'Later days.' I didn't know what to make of it. But I never thought this would happen."

Video:

The video won four MTV Video Music Awards in 1993, including Best Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Metal/Hard Rock Video and Best Direction. The video was into controversy,reason was because of the topic of suicide, and recent school shootings and was also banned for a time Pearl Jam did not release another video for 6 years. They decided that videos detracted from the music, and wanted their fans to come to their shows rather than watch them on TV. They also hated the process of making the videos.

I try not to die while I am still alive!

He'll find the spirit

for eternal life,

He'll drink it to glory,

and never he'll die

From the memory of all

who know and love him.

He fills their cup of joy,

to the brim.

One person here I talk about,

That is my friend,

That is you.

wondering what this is?

Few beautiful words written my moni(Mohan aka 'DUDE') for me (more than what i am ;) actually).

thanks for those immaculate words ...moni 

Just for change

Deathly lost

Months are just rolling on .Years are passing by like dust to dawn. Sometimes I feel that I'm trapped, stuck being who I am.Things are not what they used to be. I fight to change myself, trying to change what I do and the way I do them but ultimately it has very little effect.Emptiness is filling me. Day after day I'm going nowhere wondering if anything could change the way things are going. Every night when I sleep I have the same thoughts up in my mind just hoping for a new beginning. It is not painful but the monotony of life is killing me.

But I ain't gonna give up. I still hope for brighter days...

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And Tomorrow is only a Vision;
But Today well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!
-Kalidasa

world’s first Android-powered phone

T-Mobile launched the world’s first Android-powered mobile phone in partnership with Google. Available soon only for T-Mobile customers spanning two continents, the T-Mobile G1 combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard with a mobile Web experience that includes the popular Google products that millions have enjoyed on the desktop, including Google Maps Street View, Gmail, YouTube and others.

“We are proud that T-Mobile is the first operator in the world to launch an Android-powered mobile device,” said Christopher Schläffer, group product and innovation officer of Deutsche Telekom. “Since 2005, Google has been an established partner in T-Mobile’s groundbreaking approach to bringing the open mobile Internet to the mass market. With the T-Mobile G1, we are continuing our strong tradition of being pioneers in the world of the open Internet.”

Some Interesting News about T-Mobile G1 (Google Android Phone) Phone:

1. G1 Phone is some what like iPhone only difference is keypad
2. It is dual-band 1700MHz and 2100 MHz UMTS and quad-band GSM/EDGE.
3. It supports AAC, MP3, WMA

Google Map Street View on Android OS

The G1 offers a lot of location based services including the ability to see where your friends are. Similar to Buddy Beacon the G1 can help you locate others as well as broadcast your location, however it is not limited to those who are using a specific application. It is the same with all Android phones.

Communicating on the Go:

The T-Mobile G1 features a rich HTML e-mail client, which seamlessly syncs your e-mail, calendar and contacts from Gmail as well as most other POP3 or IMAP e-mail services. The T-Mobile G1 multitasks, so you can read a Web page while also downloading your e-mail in the background. It combines Instant Messaging support for Google Talk, as well as AOL, Yahoo! Messenge and Windows Live Messenger in the U.S. With access to high-speed Web browsing and a 3-megapixel camera with photo-sharing capabilities, the T-Mobile G1 is ideal for balancing a busy lifestyle, whether sharing pictures, checking the latest sports scores or accessing social networking sites.

Embracing User-Generated Content:

Customers can use the T-Mobile G1's 3G and Wi-Fi connection to attach and share pictures over email and MMS or download music from their favorite web sites, and soon, upload and post pictures to their personal blog. Built-in support for YouTube allows customers to enjoy YouTube's originally-created content, easily navigate through YouTube's familiar video browsing categories or search for specific videos.

Music at Your Fingertips:

The T-Mobile G1 comes pre-loaded with a new application developed by Amazon.com that gives customers access to Amazon MP3, Amazon.com’s digital music download store with more than 6 million DRM-free MP3 tracks. Using the new application, T-Mobile G1 customers are able to search, sample, purchase and download music from Amazon MP3 directly to their device (downloading music from Amazon MP3 using the T-Mobile G1 requires a Wi-Fi connection; searching, sampling and purchasing music can be done anywhere with a cellular connection). The T-Mobile G1 will be the first device with the Amazon MP3 mobile application pre-loaded.

Pre-loaded applications in G1:

The G1 comes pre-loaded with many useful applications including Google Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Contacts, Calendar and IM. Sing in just once with you Google account and it will automatically synchronize all of your applications. You can even protect your data with a secure “lock pattern”

Let’s look at some of the problems which Google Android/the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is supposed to have had in the last months:

1. Developers supposedly have been staying away from Android and focusing on the systems already out there: BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile and the iPhone;
2. Open Handset Alliance Member Sprint was arguing that Google Android is not addressing “industry fundamentals more pragmatically”;
3. Google was rumored to build its own “Gphone”;
4. Most recently HTC is supposed to be “having structural problems to incorporate Google’s demanded feature set” and not being able to make it this year.

I think the success of the Android-based Dream will be based on how well the software and applications work. Apple's open API (application programming interface) for the iPhone and its App Store, where applications are easily sold and downloaded, have created a robust marketplace for new applications for the iPhone.

Android, which is built on an open-source platform, promises to offer developers an easier way to develop new applications. And this will likely be the case. But the fact that Android will be used on hundreds of different handsets might complicate application development and distribution.

Android is also supposed to have tighter integration with many Google applications. It will be interesting to see if easy access to these applications and the Android Market will satisfy customers enough to entice them to choose the Dream over an iPhone or BlackBerry.

seminar on open source

Team obscura had organized a seminar for freshers of this year mainly to educate them on the field of open source. I being a core member of obscura ;) had to attend it.It was scheduled to start at 2:30 pm.Although we had a bitter experience before the beginning , not able manage the crowd. Frankly, we never expected such a huge number. It started of with an introduction to open source from chinmayi.Then followed by Kailash's (our sun campus ambassador) talk on different sun products and why sun is into open source.It was really informative and kailash has to be credited for such a job as he had been preparing for it since weeks.Preetam's talk on advantages of using linux operating system was long but enlightened juniours about the OS.The GUI and few softwares really amazed the crowd.Raghu gave an introduction to game programming using netbeans IDE.
And the program ended,with virtually no one getting out of the hall lamely.All the juniours were interested(atleast seemed to be ;) ) . I hope to see a lot of participation from them in the community.At the end of the day its a pleasure to be involved in such a thing.

thats it for now ! ;)


I believe the creation, protection and evolution of intellectual property can accelerate everyone's ability to participate in an open network...And that, surely, should be everyone's common goal with free and open source software. It's not about bringing the competition down, it's about driving global participation up.
— Jonathan I. Schwartz

GNU/LINUX habba

The Mysore Linux Users Group and volunteers of Sampada Community had organized talks on GNU/Linux and open source softwares.
It was mainly aimed at introducing Linux for the masses with a focus on using Kannada on the operating system and to introduce GNU/Linux to the non-technical
computer users.
The Session started with a brief introduction about the concept of 'Free Software' - History, origin and evolution of FOSS . There was an interactive session on open source products. The team introduced few softwares like pidgin,kalzium, stellarium.The geeks, non-geeks, users and fans of
GNU/Linux were together, so the talks were not meant for a specific group of people. It was informative , was worth spending few hours of my lazy Sunday morning specially on 'free software day' , on the 25th birthday of GNU operating system.

Thanks for the organizers for hosting such an event in mysore.



People said I should accept the world. Bullshit! I don't accept the world
-Richard Stallman