Delhi Metro NRS 03 results
Average Issue Readership in 000s
The Times Of India 1432
Navbharat Times 1431
Hindustan Times 1327
Punjab Kesari 1119
Hindustan 894
Grihshobha 612
Dainik Jagran 552
Meri Saheli 346
India Today - Eng 340
India Today - Hindi 310
Sunday, December 21, 2003
NRS results...
The NRS results are out.
The Times of India featres as the only English paper in the top 10 daily newspapers in the country.
Coverage on
Mediaah
Exchange4media
There has been a lot of litigation on the release of the NRS.
The Times of India featres as the only English paper in the top 10 daily newspapers in the country.
Coverage on
Mediaah
Exchange4media
There has been a lot of litigation on the release of the NRS.
Ego Mania?
Saturday, December 20, 2003
The Virtual world is not virtual any more...
This is a really significant precedent. First there was the intersection of commerce on the edge, with scores of E:Bay auctions selling stuff in the make beleive worlds, then it was legitimised, with the game companies selling the stuff themselves. And now a judge in the real world rules on property in a vistual world. The intersection of the virtual and real worlds is complete
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4022155
Online Gamer in China Sues, Wins Over Virtual Theft
Fri December 19, 2003 08:30 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court has ordered an online video game company to return hard-won virtual property, including a make-believe stockpile of bio-chemical weapons, to a player whose game account was looted by a hacker.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4022155
Online Gamer in China Sues, Wins Over Virtual Theft
Fri December 19, 2003 08:30 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court has ordered an online video game company to return hard-won virtual property, including a make-believe stockpile of bio-chemical weapons, to a player whose game account was looted by a hacker.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
The many paradoxes of broadband
Did you know that the postal department can also be termed as broadband...
Not so fast
I thought this was a brilliant idea. Apparently the Google bar doesn't have the IE Control+Enter shortcut, and it trips up on urls like http://bloglines.com/myblogs, or part urls like download.com, which are handled by the address bar.
So if someone at google fixes this, then one can be rid of the address bar and save some screen height in the Web Browser...
So if someone at google fixes this, then one can be rid of the address bar and save some screen height in the Web Browser...
Bye Bye address bar, welcome Google Bar
In search of more browser screen space, I was trying to minimise the space consumed by the toolbars, when it struck me to replace the address bar with the google bar... like so
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
God Considers Smiting Bible Pirates
Smite on...
God Considers Smiting Bible Pirates
Vatican City - God did not rule out smiting as a final measure against those who share his most famous work, the Bible, on the Internet. This marks the first time a deity has spoken on IT-related questions since Steve Jobs was temporarily Enlightened when touching the One True iMac some years ago.
Authorized Version?
Citing misuse of His word, misquotation, and putting hardworking Bible printers out of work, God said he would now start hunting Bible pirating around the globe. 'I have to defend both my world-famous brand - the Bible and its distinctive likenesses - and the livelihood of those who create and distribute legal copies of it. Sure, they live not by bread alone, but website hits - someone else's website mind you - don't pay the bills for these folks.'
Since large portions of the Bible are many centuries old, many people believe the work to be in the public domain. Not so, said God. 'Look, most copyright laws are based on something like the author's lifetime plus, let's say, 15 years. News flash: I'm still here.'
' I am a jealous God,' He said, 'but I am by no means unreasonable. If the person will stop distributing My copyrighted materials, there will be no further consequences. Like I've said before: hate pirating, love the pirate.'
Monday, December 15, 2003
The Blog is dead.. Long live the blog...
I've finally renamed the blog today... It is now no longer called "A Blog Formerly known as My Ramblings and Rants", instead it is now called Marlinspike. This is a sailors needle and can most simply explained as Knot Untangler. Though it is aso used to tie knots :D.
Why Marlinspike?
Read on...
Why Marlinspike?
Read on...
Saturday, December 13, 2003
What is a Marlinspike?
Marlinspike is a knot untangler... it is used by sailors to... Untangle Knots and also to tie them.
Of ego surfing and rebranding...
Decided to go ego surfing today.
The term Chirag throws back this blog as the number 5 result. Not bad considering a few months ago I wouldn't even feature in the top ten.
A search for Chirag Patnaik now throws back this blog as the first one... Earlier it used to throw back one of the sites I'd done.
I also decided to have a look at who was linking to me... Pitifully few of course. And all of them from Comments I made somewhere or as part of some blog directory. I found
Recently Updated Indian Weblogs
He lists my Blog as... Chirag
This is of course because of the long and unwieldy name of my blog. I'd realised this earlier of course. This just proves that I have to rebrand the blog.
The term Chirag throws back this blog as the number 5 result. Not bad considering a few months ago I wouldn't even feature in the top ten.
A search for Chirag Patnaik now throws back this blog as the first one... Earlier it used to throw back one of the sites I'd done.
I also decided to have a look at who was linking to me... Pitifully few of course. And all of them from Comments I made somewhere or as part of some blog directory. I found
Recently Updated Indian Weblogs
He lists my Blog as... Chirag
This is of course because of the long and unwieldy name of my blog. I'd realised this earlier of course. This just proves that I have to rebrand the blog.
Friday, December 12, 2003
poor loser strikes again...
As much as I dislike indulging in a flame war, but this poor loser seems to have a fan following...
Further the poor loser claims
HAH! He doesn't like the fact he can be google bombed too :D
In retrospect, the term poor loser seems to have been very apt since he is most definitely a poor loser.
Okay Okay, I'm repeating myself...
Further the poor loser claims
I admire and respect people who can argue logically, without getting petty or personal. I also admire people who can admit defeat graciously when they lose an argument fair and square. I admire people who hear out other arguments before stating their own, instead of blindly sticking to a stand. I hope to be such a person myself.
HAH! He doesn't like the fact he can be google bombed too :D
In retrospect, the term poor loser seems to have been very apt since he is most definitely a poor loser.
Okay Okay, I'm repeating myself...
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Name a Blog
Suggestions are welcome for a new name for this blog... use the comment link to leave a suggestion.
Branding
I'm considering a change of name...
Not my name.. the name of this blog...
Why?
It's a long story...
It goes back to my training as a marketeer... The Name "A Blog Formerly Known as My Ramblings and Rants" is far too long and from a branding perspectiv too complicated for anyone to refer. Not that anyone is refering to me... But, if someone were to refer to me, then that would be a real problem... A Branding nightmare... In fact I can hardly think of any popular blog which has such a long name.
So one needs a snappy one or two words for the blog...
Not my name.. the name of this blog...
Why?
It's a long story...
It goes back to my training as a marketeer... The Name "A Blog Formerly Known as My Ramblings and Rants" is far too long and from a branding perspectiv too complicated for anyone to refer. Not that anyone is refering to me... But, if someone were to refer to me, then that would be a real problem... A Branding nightmare... In fact I can hardly think of any popular blog which has such a long name.
So one needs a snappy one or two words for the blog...
360 degrees
Sony has announced a 360 degree camera lens.
This has to be the most cool thing in photography since photography itself... :D
This has to be the most cool thing in photography since photography itself... :D
Poor Loser
I commented on an item on this poor loser's blog:
To figure out the context visit this Poor Loser's Blog
How juvenile...
It's like spitting on a Mercedees Benz whizzing by, while sitting in a bus...
To figure out the context visit this Poor Loser's Blog
Monday, December 08, 2003
Friday, December 05, 2003
Indian Railways
Economist.com has this analysis on the Indian Railways. If it were privatised. God only knows how it would run. If it were not there. God only knows how this country would run...
MidDay Stocks
This is a curious article on Mid-Day. It talks of a meteoric rise of the MiDay Stock in response to speculative trading. This is all the more curoius because other media stocks are flat.
Of Course rumours of buyout of MidDay means that speculators are at play. and some talk of my company as being one of the suitors. That seems to be unlikely as there is some internal movement my company launching an Afternoon paper in Mumbai.
Of Course rumours of buyout of MidDay means that speculators are at play. and some talk of my company as being one of the suitors. That seems to be unlikely as there is some internal movement my company launching an Afternoon paper in Mumbai.
Cry Baby...
Roland Piquepaille in Can You Pay U.S. Programmers at Overseas Salaries?
What is irritating about this is that America waves the flag of globalisation and when globalisation hits it, it goes screaming like a baby...
This is similar to the Visa regimes instituted by the West post World War II, trying to stop the influx of immigrants to maintain a better standard of living. When people world over figured that manufacturring in poorer countries is cheaper and businesses started moving manufacturing... America started screaming like a baby again about labor standards et al.
Conclusion of this Rant: If you want globalisation, allow free flo of labour. oops, you can't do that... otherwise Indians will take over your tech jobs... :D
While cMarket has solved its immediate challenge, the implications of Jon's approach are potentially mind-bending. What if other companies begin taking the same approach -- offering Indian-style wages to American workers? On the positive side, we could begin to solve our job-creation problems. But on the negative side, America's standard of living would inevitably decline. There's only one way to find out for sure how it all might shake out, and that is for other executives to replicate Jon's experiment. The results could be quite interesting.
What is irritating about this is that America waves the flag of globalisation and when globalisation hits it, it goes screaming like a baby...
This is similar to the Visa regimes instituted by the West post World War II, trying to stop the influx of immigrants to maintain a better standard of living. When people world over figured that manufacturring in poorer countries is cheaper and businesses started moving manufacturing... America started screaming like a baby again about labor standards et al.
Conclusion of this Rant: If you want globalisation, allow free flo of labour. oops, you can't do that... otherwise Indians will take over your tech jobs... :D
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Economics meets Broadband
This wired story comments on natural monopolies. While commenting on the economics, gives the instance of Burlingon.
Which is a better deal?
Phone cum camera cum MP3 Player or only a camera?
Camera phones set to prompt price cuts on digital still cameras... They better fal somewhat quickly as I'm looking for a nice high quality Digicam for sometime...
Camera phones set to prompt price cuts on digital still cameras... They better fal somewhat quickly as I'm looking for a nice high quality Digicam for sometime...
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
For God, Country, and Coca-Cola
Last night I started reading For God, Country, and Coca-Cola by Mark Pendergrast...
It traces the history of Coca-Cola from the early days of being a patent (quack) medicine as a rip off by pemberton, of something that was then sold as Vin Marini... the buying out my Asa candler, the early blanket marketing by Robinson... The rumours of Cocaine content, and the subsequent removal fo Cocaine from the formula. Earlly advertising, the journey from being a medicine, to a Cocaine laced soft drink to a Simply refreshing Cold Drink. The book reads like a thriller. I've reached a point where Robert Woodruff has just taken over the company...
It traces the history of Coca-Cola from the early days of being a patent (quack) medicine as a rip off by pemberton, of something that was then sold as Vin Marini... the buying out my Asa candler, the early blanket marketing by Robinson... The rumours of Cocaine content, and the subsequent removal fo Cocaine from the formula. Earlly advertising, the journey from being a medicine, to a Cocaine laced soft drink to a Simply refreshing Cold Drink. The book reads like a thriller. I've reached a point where Robert Woodruff has just taken over the company...
Monday, December 01, 2003
Election Day
Today was election day in Delhi, and the streets were empty. I rocketed through on the way to work...
Friday, November 28, 2003
Borrowed Time...
In a Scientific American interview Michio Kaku is grilled on the possiblity of Time Travel
Guardian launches digital edition
This edition still in Beta, presents the daily paper online, not in classic internet format, but regular broadsheet format. With one being able to click and read the section one desires. This is similar to the Orange Country Register Digitl version.
Though one is not privy to the software being used, but the underlying technology, navigation and presentation clearly points to Olive Software, which has also powered the Orange County Register digital edition.
http://digital.guardian.co.uk/
Though one is not privy to the software being used, but the underlying technology, navigation and presentation clearly points to Olive Software, which has also powered the Orange County Register digital edition.
http://digital.guardian.co.uk/
Thursday, November 27, 2003
Monday, November 24, 2003
The Money Map
The Money Map is a neatresource on where the Presidential candidates are getting their funds from...
Talk about the ridiculous
This Wired story on a space mission being put up on eBay has to be the most ridiculous thing I've heard so far...
Time for IBM to exit the business?
This had to happen sooner than later... Dell was the first to start commodotisation, Walmart will take this further...
Wal-Mart to write own name on notebooks
Wal-Mart to write own name on notebooks
Scoble Comments
Last night in the airport I was reading a copy of Fast Company magazine. It's really weird to see quotes from webloggers in the pages of magazines. Joi Ito had a quote featured there.
In Wired, the smiling faces of Ben and Mena Trott stared out of the pages at me.
It's a strange world we've all entered. Three years ago I barely knew what a blog was.
It’s NOT just a game
NYT talks about The Hollywood Stock Exchange, which is apparently something the Hollywood studios have begun to take really seriously...
Pocket PC... Poof?
There is speculation, that Microsoft may abandon the Pocket PC platform... Between the Phone Platform and the Tablet PC, there is little reason to continue with that platform anyway...
Thursday, November 20, 2003
EVD or DVD
Wired reports Move Over DVD, Here Comes the EVD. Analysts qouted in the story say that the evd will not suceed, considering that hollywood studios may not support the same... I think otherwise, The Asian markets are still new to DVD's and Asian producers may switch to this. Also like most consumer electronics, DVD/EVD players will be manufactured in Asia (China, Taiwan et al). They just might suppport it...
Monday, November 17, 2003
Internet 2 finally takes off...
In a Wired Story Fast Track for Science Data, what has been termed as Internet2 for quite some time has finally gone online...
Saturday, November 15, 2003
This is neat. You can link to the middle of a realmedia stream... Presidential debate has been discussed, but I can use it as a marker in between a movie...
Read more via [Boing Boing Blog]
Some more links of AdAsia Coverage
The Times of India
Advertising industry enters a new era
Advertising industry enters a new era
The Economic Times
Ad Asia ends with kudos to creativity of Asians
AgencyFaqs
Santosh Desai lambasts marketers for their narrow view of society
‘Don’t emulate western ideas,’ is the creative consensus
Money is compensation for not living your life the way you want to: Charles Handy
Are marketers missing the grey boom, asks expert on ageing
Don’t break the wrong rules: Jack Trout
Financial Express
Curtains On Grand Advertising Meet
Advertising Highs: Lessons From Jaipur
Reflections From Thought Leaders
The Times of India
Advertising industry enters a new era
Advertising industry enters a new era
The Economic Times
Ad Asia ends with kudos to creativity of Asians
AgencyFaqs
Santosh Desai lambasts marketers for their narrow view of society
‘Don’t emulate western ideas,’ is the creative consensus
Money is compensation for not living your life the way you want to: Charles Handy
Are marketers missing the grey boom, asks expert on ageing
Don’t break the wrong rules: Jack Trout
Financial Express
Curtains On Grand Advertising Meet
Advertising Highs: Lessons From Jaipur
Reflections From Thought Leaders
Change in RSS Feed URL
I'll be changing the RSS feed URL, in a few days. I've to rely on Feedster, as blogger is still not providing rss feeds...
Om Mallik comments... This was the whole point I was making, that technology is no longer something you can talk about when you are marketing a product when I posted this
According to the Chinese Ministry of Information, world # 1 and #2 wireless handset makers are not doing that well in China. From January to September 2003, Chinese makers produced 129 million handsets. Ningbo held the top spot at 15%. Motorola slips to #2 at 14%, followed closely by TCL at 12%. Rounding out the top four, Nokia held a 10% share. Wanna bet that next year one of these two chinese handset makers will be selling phones in US for $50 a pop - and they will include camera, some bluetooth and good knows what.
[GigaOm]Friday, November 14, 2003
Kazaa to distribute Indian movies...
Awesome...
The file-swapping company, which is locked in a legal battle with Hollywood studios, has struck a deal to digitally distribute a full-length feature film made in India's Bollywood. CNET News
Thursday, November 13, 2003
It'd seem Ricardo Semler's talk at AdAsia is having an impact as Hind Lever freezes market research budgets :D
Boing Boing Blog comments on VoIP an dall the chaos surrounding the VoIP providers.. The fun will start when some does VoIP over WiFi.
While this is new as a commercial service, the technology is not really new... Dial Pad, Buddy Phone et al. from 4 odd years back... and not to forget corporate WAN's. my company, The Times has been using it fo quite some time...
While this is new as a commercial service, the technology is not really new... Dial Pad, Buddy Phone et al. from 4 odd years back... and not to forget corporate WAN's. my company, The Times has been using it fo quite some time...
Skype
One of the things the blogosphere is talking about Skype. Skype is peer to Peer voice application on the web...
From the Skype webite
Telcos beware
From the Skype webite
What is Skype
Skype is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA. Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users – not to share files this time, but to talk and chat with your friends.
The technology is extremely advanced - but super simple to use... You’ll be making free phone calls to your friends in no time!
Features
Free unlimited worldwide phone calls to other Skype users
Superior sound quality - better than your regular phone
Works with all firewall, NAT and routers – nothing to configure!
Friends list shows you when your Skype friends are online and ready to talk or chat
Super-simple and easy to use
Your calls are encrypted “end-to-end” for superior privacy
Telcos beware
Nokia 3108
New Pen-Based Nokia 3108 phone... Finally is all I can say. The competitors like Sony Ericsson and Treo are already into their second (P-900) or third (Treo 600) editions of their Stylus phones.
OS is no longer a differentiator for Nokia
As a member of the Nokia planning team, I was party to the market Insight, that the device is becoming secondary to the whole process of communication... While this is worrying to Nokia Nokia is itself digging it's own grave...
How?
For years, Nokia phones were known for their simplicity and ease of use, and admittedly by the top execs of hte company that the proprietary interface on their hones had a lot to do with it... Howver the newer Nokias are using the Symbian Series 60 based OS. Which means that the interface is no longer the key distinguishing factor between the different brands of phones.
This coupled with the earlier insight would mean an ever weaking technological position which has been Nokia's marketing pitch in the past. The oft repeated statement in any marketing course as to Technology no longer being a differentiator, but a leveller, will be true for Nokia.
This Wired story on cracking of the Nokia N-Gage Games to be run on other Series 60 OS phones (Siemens), illustrates the point above.. It doesn't matter who you buy your phones from, modern applications will run on all of them
How?
For years, Nokia phones were known for their simplicity and ease of use, and admittedly by the top execs of hte company that the proprietary interface on their hones had a lot to do with it... Howver the newer Nokias are using the Symbian Series 60 based OS. Which means that the interface is no longer the key distinguishing factor between the different brands of phones.
This coupled with the earlier insight would mean an ever weaking technological position which has been Nokia's marketing pitch in the past. The oft repeated statement in any marketing course as to Technology no longer being a differentiator, but a leveller, will be true for Nokia.
This Wired story on cracking of the Nokia N-Gage Games to be run on other Series 60 OS phones (Siemens), illustrates the point above.. It doesn't matter who you buy your phones from, modern applications will run on all of them
Some More coverage on AdAsia
Some more coverage of the AdAsia conference in Jaipur...
The Economic Times microsite on AdAsia
The Times of India
India's moment has arrived : Ambani
Exchange4Media microsite on AdAsia
Indian Express
Batey Bets On Top Ten Global Indian Brands
Brand India
Business Standard
Ambani, Kumar Birla pitch for Brand India
The Economic Times microsite on AdAsia
The Times of India
India's moment has arrived : Ambani
Exchange4Media microsite on AdAsia
Indian Express
Batey Bets On Top Ten Global Indian Brands
Brand India
Business Standard
Ambani, Kumar Birla pitch for Brand India
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Crooked Timber: Sex selection banned in the UK
Crooked Timber: Sex selection banned in the UK India went a step further than this when it banned Sex determination per se.
This is ofcourse, because of the society feeling that the girl child is unwanted and a bureden on the family.
This is ofcourse, because of the society feeling that the girl child is unwanted and a bureden on the family.
AdAsia on the Web
My Boss and other bigwigs fron the The Times are away at the AdAsia conference at Jaipur...
A poor substitute to being there is to read about it... So read on...
The Economic Times microsite on AdAsia
The Times of India
Ad Asia mantra: Break rules to break even
Ad industry maturing in Pak
Business Standard
Admen salute consumer, the king
Asian admen get royal welcome
agencyfaqs.com
Brand India will succeed: Mukesh Ambani
Great brands play the role of protagonists: Scott Bedbury
Cult Branding: The Harley Davidson experience
Over time media will become more targetable: Irwin Gotlieb
"Advertisers have lost focus of the key purpose of advertising" – Sergio Zyman
I have never broken any rules; perhaps none of us have: Amitabh Bachchan
Product variety is not the same as experience variety: CK Prahalad
Engaging the consumer of tomorrow: MS Banga
"Industry-wide emulation" is the problem, says Ricardo Semler
Anticipation unbound
The Telegraph
Salary fixing is based on basically three parameters for the corporation: what the competition pays, what the company pays for the same job, and the level of anticipated profits in the year ahead: Ricardo Semler via Mediaah!
Bachchan shatters marketing myth on norms
Indian Express
Breaking Rules & Bringing A Pot Of Gold
Financial Express
Advertising Is More Than Just Commercials: Zyman
Retail Revolution Has Begun In India: Banga
Business Line
Big B beckons admen to keep finger on common man's pulse
The Guardian
Ad men try to keep eastern promise
The Statesman
Big B owes Zanjeer success to Emergency
A poor substitute to being there is to read about it... So read on...
The Economic Times microsite on AdAsia
The Times of India
Ad Asia mantra: Break rules to break even
Ad industry maturing in Pak
Business Standard
Admen salute consumer, the king
Asian admen get royal welcome
agencyfaqs.com
Brand India will succeed: Mukesh Ambani
Great brands play the role of protagonists: Scott Bedbury
Cult Branding: The Harley Davidson experience
Over time media will become more targetable: Irwin Gotlieb
"Advertisers have lost focus of the key purpose of advertising" – Sergio Zyman
I have never broken any rules; perhaps none of us have: Amitabh Bachchan
Product variety is not the same as experience variety: CK Prahalad
Engaging the consumer of tomorrow: MS Banga
"Industry-wide emulation" is the problem, says Ricardo Semler
Anticipation unbound
The Telegraph
Salary fixing is based on basically three parameters for the corporation: what the competition pays, what the company pays for the same job, and the level of anticipated profits in the year ahead: Ricardo Semler via Mediaah!
Bachchan shatters marketing myth on norms
Indian Express
Breaking Rules & Bringing A Pot Of Gold
Financial Express
Advertising Is More Than Just Commercials: Zyman
Retail Revolution Has Begun In India: Banga
Business Line
Big B beckons admen to keep finger on common man's pulse
The Guardian
Ad men try to keep eastern promise
The Statesman
Big B owes Zanjeer success to Emergency
It's not what you know, but who you know
Ross Mayfield Comments on Many to Many:
The rise of social networking gives greater credence to the saying "It's not what you know, but who you know." This inherently undemocratic notion concerns some, and, indeed, the Network is the Market. Within a power-law distribution, preferential attachment implies... Full Article
The rise of social networking gives greater credence to the saying "It's not what you know, but who you know." This inherently undemocratic notion concerns some, and, indeed, the Network is the Market. Within a power-law distribution, preferential attachment implies... Full Article
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Some Newspaper Blogs that I cam across, there are many more ofcourse
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weblog/
http://www.journaltimes.com/weblogs/
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weblog/
http://www.journaltimes.com/weblogs/
The 10 most overpaid jobs in the U.S.
I wonder how I can get myself one of the 10 most overpaid jobs in the U.S.
Ridding oneself of the electronic leash...
Should you turn of your cellphone or remove the battery if you don't want to be contacted? This comment on Smart Mobs says that mobile phones can be tracked even when they are turned off... I found this worrying and somewhat unbelievable... till one reads the comments...
Where someone comments that a signal is sent out by the phone, when it is being turned off... This gyan explains the different operator messages one gets when one removes the phone battery without turning the phone off... vs. just turning the phone off...
Where someone comments that a signal is sent out by the phone, when it is being turned off... This gyan explains the different operator messages one gets when one removes the phone battery without turning the phone off... vs. just turning the phone off...
Monday, November 10, 2003
Reading Why Indian media is so self obsessive, makes me wonder whether Om Maliks definition of a blog, is to be news and anaysis and can't be on the lighter side of things... Also read the comment that I left attached to the post... PM have you read this...
Friday, November 07, 2003
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Economist Emerging markets data
Economist Emerging markets data shows India's GDP Growth to be 5.7 WHich is more that the Hindu Rate of Grwoth Theory, which hypothesises that's India's growth will never be more than 5%
Computer or a Work of Art...
CNet has this story of hwo VIA's mini-ITC boards are being used to create fully functional PC's in the strangest of cases and place like Lampshades and Bread Boxes
Friday, October 24, 2003
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railroad Tycoon 3 is out.. Can't wait to get my hands on it... I hope it runs on my (almost) acient comp...
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Cell Number Mobility
NYT reports that from next month, subscribers will be able to switch services without having to change numbers... One wonders when this will happen in India, I'm just about sick of the service and am going to switch.
Number moblity would be so cool...
Number moblity would be so cool...
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
From Betamax to Kazaa: The Real War Over Piracy
Forune has an intersting story on Piracy. While Most blog commentary has been decidely anti-RIAA, This one takes a more balanced view to the whole issue.
Monday, October 20, 2003
Death of PDA
Frst it was the death of email...
now death of the PDA (Economist Link. No Premium mebership required)
now death of the PDA (Economist Link. No Premium mebership required)
Making of a Saint
No Comment on the life and works and other controversies surrounding the Mother, just rah rah on the beatification... read the Wiki on The Mother, if you have more time read the book Final VerDict. The full text is available online without pictures...
The Book looks at the other side of the personality
The Book looks at the other side of the personality
Popular Operating System...
The World's most common Operating System is... not Windows, but something called ITRON which runs on an approximate 3 billlion microprocessors
The Death of Email...
There is some talk in the blogosphere on the death of email, saving email, rss replacing email, new email projects like Internet Mail 2000... what I'm trying to do here is to piece together the various points of views and solutions..
The premise: E-mail is dying. Why? because of the amounts of spam flowing into peoples mail boxes and the attack of viruses like SoBig.
We will explore what Michael Fraase has to say now and then. At some point one will begin to wonder whether RSS will kill "email" or "email publishing"... huge difference between the two. When one figures this out, one will realise that there are people on the other side of the debate too. i.e. feel email will live and of course someone countered this as well and a response to that and of course there will be people like me who will be bystanders attempting to make sense in the chaos that exists
The premise: E-mail is dying. Why? because of the amounts of spam flowing into peoples mail boxes and the attack of viruses like SoBig.
We will explore what Michael Fraase has to say now and then. At some point one will begin to wonder whether RSS will kill "email" or "email publishing"... huge difference between the two. When one figures this out, one will realise that there are people on the other side of the debate too. i.e. feel email will live and of course someone countered this as well and a response to that and of course there will be people like me who will be bystanders attempting to make sense in the chaos that exists
Diwali
The Festival of Lights This is one of the oldest Hindu festivals occuring in the month of Kartik, which commemorates the return of Rama to Ayodhya after an exile of 14 years. It also marks the beginning of the new year and is celebrated with the lighting of lamps. Diwali or Deepawali, literally 'an array of lamps', is the festival of lights and is celebrated on the darkest night of Kartik. It is perhaps the most important festival in India. Originally a Hindu festival, it has now crossed the bounds of religion and is celebrated by all in India with fervor and gaiety. This day is a public holiday all over India.
Twinkling oil lamps or diyas light up every home and firework displays are common all across the country. The goddess Lakshmi (consort of Vishnu), who is the symbol of wealth and prosperity, is also worshipped on this day. This festive occasion also marks the beginning of the Hindu new year and Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, the symbol of auspiciousness and wisdom, is also worshipped in most Hindu homes on this day.
Another view is that Deepawali is meant to celebrate the destruction of the arrogant tyrant Bali at the hands of Vishnu when the latter appeared in his Vamana (dwarf) avatar. The occasion of Deepawali sees the spring-cleaning and white-washing of houses; decorative designs or rangolis are painted on floors and walls. New clothes are bought and family members and relatives gather together to offer prayers, distribute sweets and to light up their homes.
Diwali is also perhaps the oldest festival still celebrated today and is mentioned in the Ramayana. The celebrations include the lighting of lamps and candles, and the bursting of crackers (fireworks). Friends and neighbours exchange special sweets. People buy new clothes and in fact, in certain communities, it is absolutely essential to wear new clothes on this day. Diwali in India is equivalent to Christmas in the West. Therefore it is also the time when people get the festival bonus to their salaries. It marks the beginning of the new year for a large majority of Hindus, especially the trader community. Preparations for the festival begin many days prior to Diwali. It is time for a thorough cleaning of the house, for the belief is that Lakshmi will enter clean and nicely decorated houses. The scientific reason is that the monsoon is a time for insects and fungus to breed.With the end of the monsoon, homes need to be cleaned and painted, and belongings aired and dried before the onset of winter. The festival itself extends over about a week even though the most important day is the new moonday. In east Bihar and northern India, two days before Diwali is celebrated as Dhanteras in honour of Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods. He is believed to have emerged with a pot of amrita during the samudra manthan. People bathe early in the morning and observe a fast, which is broken only after sunset with sweetmeats, puri and other delicacies. On Dhanteras, new kitchen utensils are bought and kept at the place of worship. The buying of utensils, according to one theory, relates to the myth of Dhanvantari emerging from the ocean with a pot in his hand. Since he is also the physician of the gods, cleanliness and hygiene are essential to this festival. The day before Diwali is celebratedas Choti Diwali or 'small Diwali'. It is Diwali on a smaller scale, with fewer lights lit and fewer crackers burst. The morning after Choti Diwali, the women of the house make beautiful, coloured rangoli in the doorway and courtyard. Tiny footprints made out of rice paste are a special feature of the rangolis made for Diwali. They signify the footprints of Lakshmi, as she enters the house. In Hindu homes, Diwali celebrations involve a ritual puja to Lakshmi and also to Rama in the evening. Songs in honour of the gods are sung and arati is performed. Oil or ghee diyas are also lit. The gods are offered kheel, batashe and khilone and various sweetmeats. After the puja, the diyas are placed in and around the house: in the doorway, near the Tulasi plant, the backyard, every room and the back and front gates. After this, crackers are burst, and people meet friends and neighbours to exchange good wishes and sweets. Since Diwali falls on the new moon night, lamps are lit to brighten this moonless night. According to a myth, Lakshmi will not enter a dark house. The lamps also welcome home the spirits of dead ancestors, who are believed to visit on this auspicious night. In addition, the light frightens away any evil spirit that might be wandering about near the house on this night. In Orissa, lamps are lit to light up the dark path that the spirits of ancestors take back to heaven. In modern times, ghee diyas have been replaced by wax candles and coloured electric bulbs. In many areas, there is a competition of sorts among neighbours as everyone tries to have the brightest lights. The origin of Diwali can be traced back to ancient India, when it was probably an important harvesting season. It was thus extremely important to the largely pastoral Vaishya community. Their granaries were full, and the weather was good, at the end of the long monsoon and before the arduous winter. It was therefore a good time to celebrate. The Vaishya community began their new year with this happy occassion, after paying their debts and clearing their ledgers. As the religion developed, various mythological stories and explanations were attributedto this festival to give it religious sanction. However today, this historical explanation is all but lost among the many stories and folklore linked with the origin of the festival. According to the most popular one, Diwali is celebrated in honour of Rama, his consort Sita and brother Lakshmana, returning to their kingdom Ayodhya after a 14-year exile.To celebrate this event, people at Ayodhya are believed to have lit up their houses with lamps. The illuminations also symbolise the removal of spiritual darkness and the onset of happiness and prosperity.
According to another belief, it is on this day that Lakshmi emerged from the ocean during the samudra manthan .Lakshmi Puja commemorates her birth and therefore forms a major part of Diwali celebrations. Being associated with the goddess of wealth and fortune, Diwali is specially important to the Vaishya community. Most tradesmen close their old ledgers and dealings and start afresh with new ledgers after Diwali. This day, with its emphasis on money, is also considered lucky for gambling. Giving social sanction to a vice, a popular saying states that one who does not gamble on this day will beborn a donkey in his next birth. Casinos and local gambling houses do brisk business during the Diwali week. In most homes, people invite their friends and relatives over to play cards.
Another reason for the celebration of Diwali is that it marks the killing of the evil Narkasura at the hands of Krishna Naraka is believed to have abducted 16,000 women. Krishna killed him and rescued these women whom he later married. Naraka is the personification of hell and is believed to be the monsoon during which all activities come to a standstill.
Though Diwali is equally important in the south and the north, the celebrations are markedly different. In South India, the story widely associated with Diwali is that of Narasimha, the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu. According to a legend, Hiranyakshipu was an evil demon king. He was unjust and cruel to his people. However, he was almost invincible, having extracted a boon from Brahma that he would be killed neither by beast nor man, neither inside nor outside, neither during the day nor at night. When his atrocities became unbearable, the gods sought Vishnu's help. Assuming his fifth incarnation of Narasimha, the man-lion,Vishnu killed Hiranyakshipu with his claws in the courtyard just before day break, hence steering clear of the boundaries of the boon. For this reason in the south, people light diyas in their houses on the day preceding Diwali. The next day begins early. First is the ritual bath, which begins with an oil massage of the hair and body. This is absolutely essential on this day. Its importance probably refers to cleaning oneself thoroughly after the monsoon months. After bathing, people receive new clothes and gifts from their elders, which they are expected to wear. The family then prays to Vishnu for its well-being and prosperity. After the prayers start the main celebrations which, as in the north, consist of bursting crackers and lighting candles.At day break, all celebrations end.People then visit friends and relatives and exchange sweets.
References to the word 'atishbaji' or'crackers' are found even in ancient literature. The bursting of crackers is today the most important and eagerly-awaited part of the Diwali celebrations. According to one belief, the sound that resounds throughout the universe makes all aware of the great homecoming of Rama. Another belief is that the crackers are an indication ofthe joy of the people living on the earth, making the gods aware of their plentiful state. Still another possible reason has a more scientific basis: the fumes produced by the crackers kill a lot of insects, found in plenty after the rains. The use of high-tech bomb crackers is fairly recent. At times, Diwali celebrations get ugly, especially in the metropolitan cities. In New Delhi, people start bursting crackers in the evening and this continues till the early hours ofthe morning. As a result, the city is engulfed in toxic fumes and smoke for almost 10 hours. Another problem with crackers is that their manufacture is usually unregulated. As a result, the manufacturing units are unsafe and the material used is inflammable and toxic.Every year, many units are destroyed inaccidental fires, resulting in the death of those employed there.
Kerala is probably the only state in India where even Hindus do not celebrate Diwali. The major festival there is Onam. In West Bengal, Kali Puja is performed on Diwali as it is believed that on this day Kali killed the wicked Raktavija. Being one of the main festivals of the trader community, markets are gaily decorated and lit up. Many safety measures and precautions are telecast on television and radio, especially for children. The fire departments are kept on the alert, and the municipal corporations of bigger cities also organise buckets and tankers of water at strategic locations. The second day after Diwali is celebrated as Bhai Duja when sisters apply tilak to their brothers and pray for their long and happy life. In all likelihood, this ritual was originally intended only for married women. Since they celebrated Diwali with their in-laws, this festival allowed them to come to their parents' home during this auspicious time. They got some time to meet the family and to rest after the hectic activity of the preceding week.And it gave their parents an opportunity to give them gifts, an opportunity they did not often get. Nowadays however, among many communities Bhai Duja is observed by both married and unmarried sisters.
http://webonautics.com/ethnicindia/festivals/diwali.html
Twinkling oil lamps or diyas light up every home and firework displays are common all across the country. The goddess Lakshmi (consort of Vishnu), who is the symbol of wealth and prosperity, is also worshipped on this day. This festive occasion also marks the beginning of the Hindu new year and Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, the symbol of auspiciousness and wisdom, is also worshipped in most Hindu homes on this day.
Another view is that Deepawali is meant to celebrate the destruction of the arrogant tyrant Bali at the hands of Vishnu when the latter appeared in his Vamana (dwarf) avatar. The occasion of Deepawali sees the spring-cleaning and white-washing of houses; decorative designs or rangolis are painted on floors and walls. New clothes are bought and family members and relatives gather together to offer prayers, distribute sweets and to light up their homes.
Diwali is also perhaps the oldest festival still celebrated today and is mentioned in the Ramayana. The celebrations include the lighting of lamps and candles, and the bursting of crackers (fireworks). Friends and neighbours exchange special sweets. People buy new clothes and in fact, in certain communities, it is absolutely essential to wear new clothes on this day. Diwali in India is equivalent to Christmas in the West. Therefore it is also the time when people get the festival bonus to their salaries. It marks the beginning of the new year for a large majority of Hindus, especially the trader community. Preparations for the festival begin many days prior to Diwali. It is time for a thorough cleaning of the house, for the belief is that Lakshmi will enter clean and nicely decorated houses. The scientific reason is that the monsoon is a time for insects and fungus to breed.With the end of the monsoon, homes need to be cleaned and painted, and belongings aired and dried before the onset of winter. The festival itself extends over about a week even though the most important day is the new moonday. In east Bihar and northern India, two days before Diwali is celebrated as Dhanteras in honour of Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods. He is believed to have emerged with a pot of amrita during the samudra manthan. People bathe early in the morning and observe a fast, which is broken only after sunset with sweetmeats, puri and other delicacies. On Dhanteras, new kitchen utensils are bought and kept at the place of worship. The buying of utensils, according to one theory, relates to the myth of Dhanvantari emerging from the ocean with a pot in his hand. Since he is also the physician of the gods, cleanliness and hygiene are essential to this festival. The day before Diwali is celebratedas Choti Diwali or 'small Diwali'. It is Diwali on a smaller scale, with fewer lights lit and fewer crackers burst. The morning after Choti Diwali, the women of the house make beautiful, coloured rangoli in the doorway and courtyard. Tiny footprints made out of rice paste are a special feature of the rangolis made for Diwali. They signify the footprints of Lakshmi, as she enters the house. In Hindu homes, Diwali celebrations involve a ritual puja to Lakshmi and also to Rama in the evening. Songs in honour of the gods are sung and arati is performed. Oil or ghee diyas are also lit. The gods are offered kheel, batashe and khilone and various sweetmeats. After the puja, the diyas are placed in and around the house: in the doorway, near the Tulasi plant, the backyard, every room and the back and front gates. After this, crackers are burst, and people meet friends and neighbours to exchange good wishes and sweets. Since Diwali falls on the new moon night, lamps are lit to brighten this moonless night. According to a myth, Lakshmi will not enter a dark house. The lamps also welcome home the spirits of dead ancestors, who are believed to visit on this auspicious night. In addition, the light frightens away any evil spirit that might be wandering about near the house on this night. In Orissa, lamps are lit to light up the dark path that the spirits of ancestors take back to heaven. In modern times, ghee diyas have been replaced by wax candles and coloured electric bulbs. In many areas, there is a competition of sorts among neighbours as everyone tries to have the brightest lights. The origin of Diwali can be traced back to ancient India, when it was probably an important harvesting season. It was thus extremely important to the largely pastoral Vaishya community. Their granaries were full, and the weather was good, at the end of the long monsoon and before the arduous winter. It was therefore a good time to celebrate. The Vaishya community began their new year with this happy occassion, after paying their debts and clearing their ledgers. As the religion developed, various mythological stories and explanations were attributedto this festival to give it religious sanction. However today, this historical explanation is all but lost among the many stories and folklore linked with the origin of the festival. According to the most popular one, Diwali is celebrated in honour of Rama, his consort Sita and brother Lakshmana, returning to their kingdom Ayodhya after a 14-year exile.To celebrate this event, people at Ayodhya are believed to have lit up their houses with lamps. The illuminations also symbolise the removal of spiritual darkness and the onset of happiness and prosperity.
According to another belief, it is on this day that Lakshmi emerged from the ocean during the samudra manthan .Lakshmi Puja commemorates her birth and therefore forms a major part of Diwali celebrations. Being associated with the goddess of wealth and fortune, Diwali is specially important to the Vaishya community. Most tradesmen close their old ledgers and dealings and start afresh with new ledgers after Diwali. This day, with its emphasis on money, is also considered lucky for gambling. Giving social sanction to a vice, a popular saying states that one who does not gamble on this day will beborn a donkey in his next birth. Casinos and local gambling houses do brisk business during the Diwali week. In most homes, people invite their friends and relatives over to play cards.
Another reason for the celebration of Diwali is that it marks the killing of the evil Narkasura at the hands of Krishna Naraka is believed to have abducted 16,000 women. Krishna killed him and rescued these women whom he later married. Naraka is the personification of hell and is believed to be the monsoon during which all activities come to a standstill.
Though Diwali is equally important in the south and the north, the celebrations are markedly different. In South India, the story widely associated with Diwali is that of Narasimha, the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu. According to a legend, Hiranyakshipu was an evil demon king. He was unjust and cruel to his people. However, he was almost invincible, having extracted a boon from Brahma that he would be killed neither by beast nor man, neither inside nor outside, neither during the day nor at night. When his atrocities became unbearable, the gods sought Vishnu's help. Assuming his fifth incarnation of Narasimha, the man-lion,Vishnu killed Hiranyakshipu with his claws in the courtyard just before day break, hence steering clear of the boundaries of the boon. For this reason in the south, people light diyas in their houses on the day preceding Diwali. The next day begins early. First is the ritual bath, which begins with an oil massage of the hair and body. This is absolutely essential on this day. Its importance probably refers to cleaning oneself thoroughly after the monsoon months. After bathing, people receive new clothes and gifts from their elders, which they are expected to wear. The family then prays to Vishnu for its well-being and prosperity. After the prayers start the main celebrations which, as in the north, consist of bursting crackers and lighting candles.At day break, all celebrations end.People then visit friends and relatives and exchange sweets.
References to the word 'atishbaji' or'crackers' are found even in ancient literature. The bursting of crackers is today the most important and eagerly-awaited part of the Diwali celebrations. According to one belief, the sound that resounds throughout the universe makes all aware of the great homecoming of Rama. Another belief is that the crackers are an indication ofthe joy of the people living on the earth, making the gods aware of their plentiful state. Still another possible reason has a more scientific basis: the fumes produced by the crackers kill a lot of insects, found in plenty after the rains. The use of high-tech bomb crackers is fairly recent. At times, Diwali celebrations get ugly, especially in the metropolitan cities. In New Delhi, people start bursting crackers in the evening and this continues till the early hours ofthe morning. As a result, the city is engulfed in toxic fumes and smoke for almost 10 hours. Another problem with crackers is that their manufacture is usually unregulated. As a result, the manufacturing units are unsafe and the material used is inflammable and toxic.Every year, many units are destroyed inaccidental fires, resulting in the death of those employed there.
Kerala is probably the only state in India where even Hindus do not celebrate Diwali. The major festival there is Onam. In West Bengal, Kali Puja is performed on Diwali as it is believed that on this day Kali killed the wicked Raktavija. Being one of the main festivals of the trader community, markets are gaily decorated and lit up. Many safety measures and precautions are telecast on television and radio, especially for children. The fire departments are kept on the alert, and the municipal corporations of bigger cities also organise buckets and tankers of water at strategic locations. The second day after Diwali is celebrated as Bhai Duja when sisters apply tilak to their brothers and pray for their long and happy life. In all likelihood, this ritual was originally intended only for married women. Since they celebrated Diwali with their in-laws, this festival allowed them to come to their parents' home during this auspicious time. They got some time to meet the family and to rest after the hectic activity of the preceding week.And it gave their parents an opportunity to give them gifts, an opportunity they did not often get. Nowadays however, among many communities Bhai Duja is observed by both married and unmarried sisters.
http://webonautics.com/ethnicindia/festivals/diwali.html
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Google Compute
I have been running Google Compute for some weeks now... It is a distributed computing project like SETI@Home. SETI@Home is itself going to migrate into an open distributed computin platform which is due to start soon
Mozilla Firebird
A new release of Mozilla Firebird 0.7 to be exact. I wonder if it has changed enough to match the IE feature set..
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
100 greatest novels of all time
The Observer's 100 greatest novels of all time. I've read 22 of them and have heard of another 10...
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
One of the advantages of working with a newspaper is that you meet all sorts of people, techies, editors, business people, Lawyers. A few things that I have been talking to people about recently in the company
Preseidential Blogs
Death of Email / Email Vs RSS
Marketing the 3650 by blogs
Social Sofware
Comment Spam
If I find the time to follow the incredible number of cross links and discussion threads expect more on these...
Preseidential Blogs
Death of Email / Email Vs RSS
Marketing the 3650 by blogs
Social Sofware
Comment Spam
If I find the time to follow the incredible number of cross links and discussion threads expect more on these...
Friday, October 03, 2003
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Thursday, September 25, 2003
MSN chat
Lycos critical of MSN chat room closure Microsoft may say otherwise, but the reason for closure is most obviously Financial.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
It is not A Yahoo Group... it is the whole thing
All Media reporting seems to concentrating on the fact that a single yahoo group has been banned. but the fact of the matter is. It is the entire Yahoo Groups sub-domain groups.yahoo.com that has been banned...
The ultimate irony is tht everyone know knows of this yahoo group... and atleast worldwide (if not india) people can read what the dissidents have to say... and this censorship has made them more famous, rather than consign them oblivion which was the intention...
The IT ACT 2000 says it allos for balanced flow of information... which is bullshit. It is censorship plain and simple. What is most pissing is that hey don't even know how to do it properly.
The ultimate irony is tht everyone know knows of this yahoo group... and atleast worldwide (if not india) people can read what the dissidents have to say... and this censorship has made them more famous, rather than consign them oblivion which was the intention...
The IT ACT 2000 says it allos for balanced flow of information... which is bullshit. It is censorship plain and simple. What is most pissing is that hey don't even know how to do it properly.
Bill aims to curb Net censorship
Bill aims to curb Net censorship... They better finish it very quickly... How soon before the Indian Government start banning emails...
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Google News Alerts
I was looking for coverage of the blocking of Yahoo Groups by the Indian Government and I stumbled onto Google News Alerts.. Neat...
I can already see possibilities here... I can set an alert for "Chirag Patnaik" be the first to know when I get famous...
I can already see possibilities here... I can set an alert for "Chirag Patnaik" be the first to know when I get famous...
How long before we devolve to the level of China in censorship
Wikipedia entry on censorship in china... it is pretty comprehensive, in terms of what the Chinese government has been doing, plus what the world has been doing to circumvent it... How long before we have a similar entry for India?
oh to bypass the censorship by the Govt...
This is the first major censorship attempt by the Govenment of India.
My alumni group runs on yahoogroups... I'm really really pissed. Apart from anonymizer.com, there is Guardster.com, the-cloak.com and the dmoz/google directory of free anonymising proxies...
this is al very fine.. but I can't login to see the mesages on the group... The Cloak is supposed to allow it, but it doesn't seem to work... suggestions welcome
My alumni group runs on yahoogroups... I'm really really pissed. Apart from anonymizer.com, there is Guardster.com, the-cloak.com and the dmoz/google directory of free anonymising proxies...
this is al very fine.. but I can't login to see the mesages on the group... The Cloak is supposed to allow it, but it doesn't seem to work... suggestions welcome
Govt. of India blocks Yahogroups...
Govt. of India blocks Yahoogroups access from India. Why? because it did not like what was going on two of the groups there...
Ths is the most asinine thing I've ever heard... I don't know why we even believe we live in a democracy...
Ths is the most asinine thing I've ever heard... I don't know why we even believe we live in a democracy...
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Friday, September 12, 2003
Dgital BlasphemyFriday, August 29, 2003
To tell the truth...
[Gizmodo] AgileMobile says it has a new software application for cellphones that can detect when the person you're talking to on the phone is lying. Supposedly it can measure the stress that shows up when someone is being less than truthful. We're sure it works perfectly.
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Moving on...
I'm moving on from by job at Zenithmedia to my previous employer Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd. who publish The Times of India and The Economic Times
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Nice Quote for the day...
He who will not reason, is a bigot, he who cannot, is a fool; and he who dares not; a slave. - Byron
MIT Everyware
MIT Everyware MIT is giving away their course ware to everyone for FREE... you can be sure come people will sign up...
GP, PGP, PGP-13
GP, PGP, PGP-13: Sound familiar? actually not... For every Physics grad (like yours truly) who ever went to a Movie... Any Movie. Intuitor Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics
Incase you thought Diamonds were expensive... Check this piece out in Wired on The New Diamond Age. Diamonds are cheap it says... $5 a karat to be exact... :D... Not to mention DeBeers is not amused...
for those with a need for speed
For those with a need for speed, coming soon Diamond semiconductors, NTT
did a demo which ran at 81 GHz. For a refernece. Intel's current consumer chips run at about 2.x GHz
did a demo which ran at 81 GHz. For a refernece. Intel's current consumer chips run at about 2.x GHz
PowerPoint is NOT Evil
Michael Gartenberg says
PowerPoint is NOT Evil. This of course in response to a recent Wired story that is doing the rounds of th weblog community
PowerPoint is NOT Evil. This of course in response to a recent Wired story that is doing the rounds of th weblog community
Monday, August 25, 2003
[Wired] Toyota plans to release a car that parks itself. Automotive journalists test-drove it and say it works like a charm.
I Want One
I Want One
Decentralisation in the real world
Decentralisation in the real world The Distributed Library Project
Friday, August 22, 2003
HT in Bombay?
HT to go to Bombay. Best of luck to them. It's gonna be an interesting time in The Times. Almost makes me want to go back to my previous company.
Thursday, August 21, 2003
PowerPoint Is Evil?
I have been looking for Edward Tufte's Book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Envisioning Information. He keeps on Raving and Ranting about Powerpoint... So much so wired did a
piece on this...
piece on this...
We Love Arnie...
We Love Arnold from the people who brought you http://www.WeLoveTheIraqiInformationMinister.com/
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Good Worm, Bad Worm...
Wired: A new worm circulating on the Internet is designed to kill MSBlaster, the worm that wreaked havoc on computers last week.
Bad Movies Beware...
Texting blamed for summer movie flops .. Text Messaging! .. got faster .. using SMS... consumers
Currency Map...
Map of the world's currencies... I think you may need an economist subscription for this...
Business Opportunity?
Hey this is yet another oppurtunity for India... to set up back end data warehousing and backup operations.. far far away from your site of operations...
New York Times: Many companies that had their own disaster recovery plans found on Aug. 14 that their backup site was within the blackout area.
New York Times: Many companies that had their own disaster recovery plans found on Aug. 14 that their backup site was within the blackout area.
New Scientist reports a DNA powered computer playing tic tac toe, and apparently, it can never be beaten...
Monday, August 18, 2003
Bye Bye Power Failure
Buckminster Fuller believed tieing all the world's continents into the same electrical grid... connecting power grids across the world...
Wired report, The Internet still functions after Saturday midnight -- so far. The Blaster worm failed to bring down a Microsoft's site and network, and cause other mischief as planned. Microsoft says 'no problem,' but warns individual computers remain vulnerable if not patched.
When my comp was having fits last monday I was wondering what the hell was happening... It was this blaster worm of course, fortunately for me I had another OS installed, I got on to the web, downloaded the patch and was back up and running in no time flat :D.
When my comp was having fits last monday I was wondering what the hell was happening... It was this blaster worm of course, fortunately for me I had another OS installed, I got on to the web, downloaded the patch and was back up and running in no time flat :D.
Google Calci
Next time you run out of a calci Use Google's... Just type the equation in the search window, hit search and ta dah back comes the answer
Why aren't all weekends like this
Long weekend last week... Independence Day, Sat, Sun... This should happen again and again...
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Audio...
Suddenly and quite of the blue I'm on this audiophile kick... I have this unexplainable urge to buy a Home theatre system, DVD/CD 5.1 Surround et al... Onkyo is uspposedly good... so is Bose, but that is very expensive. Research, research adn research.
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Content Management
Though Technology is supposed to be a business driver, sometimes it seems technology is adopted for the sake of technology rather than for achieving something concrete.
In my previous company (a publishing house, which generates pages and pages of content everyday) , whenever one spoke of content management , the discussion usually involved tech professionals, on what to use how to use. Very rarely would a discussion be around as to how does it help business This piece looks at it from a managerial perspective, as a business driver.
In my previous company (a publishing house, which generates pages and pages of content everyday) , whenever one spoke of content management , the discussion usually involved tech professionals, on what to use how to use. Very rarely would a discussion be around as to how does it help business This piece looks at it from a managerial perspective, as a business driver.
Extra! Extra! GM made crappy cars...
Michael Fischler comments on GM's campaign to tackle the negative quality perception.
The ad as described (I've not seen it) is marketing suicide... which is the thought the author has articulated as well.
The ad as described (I've not seen it) is marketing suicide... which is the thought the author has articulated as well.
Miscellaneous junk...
iRATE radio is something one needs to watch... along with the Grapevine Project...
Monday, August 04, 2003
Is someone reading this...
This piece attracted quite a bit of offline comment from my people in my previous company BCCL which publishes The Times of India and The Economic Times...
The pretty girl and the old woman...
Robert Heinlein "An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl she used to be. A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is, and force the viewer to se the pretty girl she used to be, more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo see that this lovely young girl is still alive, prisoned inside her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart."
Friday, August 01, 2003
I'm famous...
The Times of India Delhi Today published a screen shot that I gave them of Google going Local (i.e. India edition). If you look closely at the Google screenshot on the business page (free registration required), in the taskbar there is one tab which says Chirag... That's ME...
Monday, July 28, 2003
First it was Black, now it is blue...
My bike after extensive repairs... all the body panels were changed from black to blue. 
Sunday, July 27, 2003
A week of biking
It's been a week since I started driving a bike again... I don't think I can get the bike to scream down the streets of Delhi at 100+ Kph for a few months to come :(
The Bike is now blue (Pics tomorrow), it was black before.
Black is not lucky (auspicious?) for me (or so an astrologer told my parents)
The Bike is now blue (Pics tomorrow), it was black before.
Black is not lucky (auspicious?) for me (or so an astrologer told my parents)
Friday, July 25, 2003
Monday, July 21, 2003
dilli shehar ke rehne walon main aa raha hoon
Friends, Pakistanis and Wellwishers, lend me your ears. (actually eyeballs) :).
After weeks of what can only be termed as medieval torture i.e. pricks, boiling water, melted wax, electrocution, fingers bent thisway and that, I've recovered to a state which can be termed as normal as far as civilised humans go. I was finally able ride a bike (Yes the very same one, that was smashed in my unfortunate close acquaintance with a truck on the picturesque route to Mussorie) as of yesterday. It
was limited to a an agonisingly short 10 minutes, but till more strength returns that will have to do. Physiotherapy will continue for the next few months, but if all goes well, I should be back in Delhi on the first of August and rejoin on the 2nd. Of course I have to hunt for a physiotherapist that suits my timings, but that is a small matter...
Before you say that should be the last joyride across the country, I'm thinking of driving back to Delhi on the bike... still have to convince a few people though... :)
Cheerio
Chirag
After weeks of what can only be termed as medieval torture i.e. pricks, boiling water, melted wax, electrocution, fingers bent thisway and that, I've recovered to a state which can be termed as normal as far as civilised humans go. I was finally able ride a bike (Yes the very same one, that was smashed in my unfortunate close acquaintance with a truck on the picturesque route to Mussorie) as of yesterday. It
was limited to a an agonisingly short 10 minutes, but till more strength returns that will have to do. Physiotherapy will continue for the next few months, but if all goes well, I should be back in Delhi on the first of August and rejoin on the 2nd. Of course I have to hunt for a physiotherapist that suits my timings, but that is a small matter...
Before you say that should be the last joyride across the country, I'm thinking of driving back to Delhi on the bike... still have to convince a few people though... :)
Cheerio
Chirag
Blog by mail..
apparently blogger can send posts by mail ad well... am trying to figure out a way to use it...
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
America Ahoy!
American shores beckon a batchmate of mine, Rohan from Times School of Marketing. He is going to University of Michigan. Best of Luck Rohan!!!
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
A Community in the making or...
I have a community online that I've been trying to do somehting contsructive with @ http://tsm.indiatimes.com/community/ it'd appear that nothing seems to be working... it is deader than a fish out of water. more time, more time...
Monday, July 14, 2003
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Why oh why did he lie...
A person I thought was a good friend lied to me, on something that I feel is fairly trivial...
why did he do that is what has been troubling me the whole of this weekend...
why did he do that is what has been troubling me the whole of this weekend...
I thot it was gonna be one of those days, but...
I was mucking around with my hard drives partition and guess what... no operating system... it seems the the boot loader has been corrupted :(.
so I picked up one of the free linux cd's lying around, installed it and downloaded a msn messenger version for linux and now I'm good to go... :D
so I picked up one of the free linux cd's lying around, installed it and downloaded a msn messenger version for linux and now I'm good to go... :D
The Internet as I see it...
Some months ago, when I was with BCCL, (the publisher of The Times of India and he Economic Times), I had a conversation with CTO of the group Internet company, Times Internet Limited. Who asked me to put down some thoughts on how I see things on the internet shaping up. While I did put down those thoughts, I never actually sent it to him, the file was lying around till I came across it a couple of days back. Here is a rewrite of what I initially penned down (typed up?).
A lot of rambling about nothing in particular.
The positioning of a product or service is more and more targeted to more and more specific audiences? Case in point are the BMW and Mercedes, both are from fine German engineering pedigree, both are premium luxury cars. However the buyers of the two will probably as different as two people can be. The former will be bought by a person who will drive the car himself and the latter probably by someone who has a chauffer (Yes, I know Mercedes also makes sports cars… this is the general perception that I expressed here). Such a huge differentiation in mindset is what branding is all about. This trend is seen in media as well. The rise of niche publications in developed economies such as the US and UK is illustrative of this.
Any media would broadly undergo the distinct phases of consolidation in the growth phase and then fragmentation once the medium matures. The internet is perhaps one medium which fragmented even before it matured. This is perhaps explained by the global reach of the media and the fact that ideas can be easily replicated across geographical & political boundaries; i.e. something that works in America, will almost certainly not work in India, simply because the maturity of the American market is of a different order of magnitude. To illustrate this point further the existence and flourishing of sites like epinions.com (in the American context) and the apparent non-starter of the Indian equivalent mouthshut.com which are sources of information. Or price comparison sites like mySimon.com which as far as I know has no comparable Indian site.
With this brief background, it would be instrumental to see the whole internet game in a different perspective . The internet tends to promote the formation of groups of people with very specific interests. A sort of mother of all niche publications, which you can talk back to and what’s more it talks back to you and allows you to communicate with your peer group.
While the Bennet philosophy has been to be an aggregator of audiences by subsidizing the price the audience pays to retrieve content and then retrieving profit from the purchasing those audiences. This can prove counter productive as far as the Internet goes, as the internet has people who are used to getting content for free and are likely to freeload. On the other hand the audience which does pay to retrieve the content would then be most prized and wanted by an advertiser, if nothing to prove non frivolousness of their transaction with us. The idea would be to convince the mass populace that information is of value. The easiest way to ensure that is to look for focused verticals in the information segment. The first one that comes to mind is economictimes.com or more accurately perhaps the work of ETIG.
The biggest problem that one can make out is how will people pay for it online. Multimodal payment mechansims are already in use by the Indiatimes family of websites. Virtual currency of some kind can perhaps be also created for this purpose.
What about the business we are in?
Content can take several forms, one of the forms could be that of blogs (such as the one you are reading right now). Blogs are the latest rage in America, now spreading to other parts of the world. Blogs are nothing but a personal running commentary on the world in general and sometimes specific to a topic.
Another form could be in the form of reviews. Reviews can be on any topic, from the palces to party & eat out in Delhi to where to find the best shoes in Chandini Chowk. Ineractivity which needs to be the cornerstone of such an offering. Such content may well be in the form of a blog.
Traditional content in the form of newspapers, TV, Radio will definitely migrate in one form or the other to the web. Evolution of devices like the Microsoft Tablet PC or the Handspring Treo are definitely a step in that direction.
In that respect standardisation under one name a la indiatimes.com is probably the biggest single mistake being undertaken by us and many others across the world. This conclusion is based on our initial premise that internet promotes the formation of specific focus groups. By definition these focus groups would be unlikey to turn to a general interest portal to get their kicks so to speak. The creation of multiple brands would be a better branding and strategic idea, having a ghoomnahai.com rather than having something like Indiatimes Travel. This gives an identity to the content and makes it more valued by its consumers.
The above, when seen in the overall context of evolution of media, is a perfectly logical sequence of events. Growing media consolidates, and then fragments. During the growth phase it is perfectly acceptable to have a single brand name, but the moment the medium matures (maybe in the context of the limited audience it gathers in the Indian scenario)
Show me the money!!!
Whether people will pay to read (& someday in the future see) such content is debatable. The likes of Al Ries would have us believe that advertising will never work on the internet (which is something I disagree with strongly). So what will happen? Will the internet become a subversive medium which will undermine modern society as we know it. A sort of a no man’s land where no content will be paid for? products and services being the only ones able to draw any sort of revenue?
“The Truth” as the immortal words form ‘X Files’ go “is out there..”.
My personal suspicion is that heavily prized content a la NYT or WSJ will not only be paid for, but will also attract significant advertising revenues. For the rest, creation of strong niches will allow them to do the same…
PS: Don't hesitate to comment...
A lot of rambling about nothing in particular.
The positioning of a product or service is more and more targeted to more and more specific audiences? Case in point are the BMW and Mercedes, both are from fine German engineering pedigree, both are premium luxury cars. However the buyers of the two will probably as different as two people can be. The former will be bought by a person who will drive the car himself and the latter probably by someone who has a chauffer (Yes, I know Mercedes also makes sports cars… this is the general perception that I expressed here). Such a huge differentiation in mindset is what branding is all about. This trend is seen in media as well. The rise of niche publications in developed economies such as the US and UK is illustrative of this.
Any media would broadly undergo the distinct phases of consolidation in the growth phase and then fragmentation once the medium matures. The internet is perhaps one medium which fragmented even before it matured. This is perhaps explained by the global reach of the media and the fact that ideas can be easily replicated across geographical & political boundaries; i.e. something that works in America, will almost certainly not work in India, simply because the maturity of the American market is of a different order of magnitude. To illustrate this point further the existence and flourishing of sites like epinions.com (in the American context) and the apparent non-starter of the Indian equivalent mouthshut.com which are sources of information. Or price comparison sites like mySimon.com which as far as I know has no comparable Indian site.
With this brief background, it would be instrumental to see the whole internet game in a different perspective . The internet tends to promote the formation of groups of people with very specific interests. A sort of mother of all niche publications, which you can talk back to and what’s more it talks back to you and allows you to communicate with your peer group.
While the Bennet philosophy has been to be an aggregator of audiences by subsidizing the price the audience pays to retrieve content and then retrieving profit from the purchasing those audiences. This can prove counter productive as far as the Internet goes, as the internet has people who are used to getting content for free and are likely to freeload. On the other hand the audience which does pay to retrieve the content would then be most prized and wanted by an advertiser, if nothing to prove non frivolousness of their transaction with us. The idea would be to convince the mass populace that information is of value. The easiest way to ensure that is to look for focused verticals in the information segment. The first one that comes to mind is economictimes.com or more accurately perhaps the work of ETIG.
The biggest problem that one can make out is how will people pay for it online. Multimodal payment mechansims are already in use by the Indiatimes family of websites. Virtual currency of some kind can perhaps be also created for this purpose.
What about the business we are in?
Content can take several forms, one of the forms could be that of blogs (such as the one you are reading right now). Blogs are the latest rage in America, now spreading to other parts of the world. Blogs are nothing but a personal running commentary on the world in general and sometimes specific to a topic.
Another form could be in the form of reviews. Reviews can be on any topic, from the palces to party & eat out in Delhi to where to find the best shoes in Chandini Chowk. Ineractivity which needs to be the cornerstone of such an offering. Such content may well be in the form of a blog.
Traditional content in the form of newspapers, TV, Radio will definitely migrate in one form or the other to the web. Evolution of devices like the Microsoft Tablet PC or the Handspring Treo are definitely a step in that direction.
In that respect standardisation under one name a la indiatimes.com is probably the biggest single mistake being undertaken by us and many others across the world. This conclusion is based on our initial premise that internet promotes the formation of specific focus groups. By definition these focus groups would be unlikey to turn to a general interest portal to get their kicks so to speak. The creation of multiple brands would be a better branding and strategic idea, having a ghoomnahai.com rather than having something like Indiatimes Travel. This gives an identity to the content and makes it more valued by its consumers.
The above, when seen in the overall context of evolution of media, is a perfectly logical sequence of events. Growing media consolidates, and then fragments. During the growth phase it is perfectly acceptable to have a single brand name, but the moment the medium matures (maybe in the context of the limited audience it gathers in the Indian scenario)
Show me the money!!!
Whether people will pay to read (& someday in the future see) such content is debatable. The likes of Al Ries would have us believe that advertising will never work on the internet (which is something I disagree with strongly). So what will happen? Will the internet become a subversive medium which will undermine modern society as we know it. A sort of a no man’s land where no content will be paid for? products and services being the only ones able to draw any sort of revenue?
“The Truth” as the immortal words form ‘X Files’ go “is out there..”.
My personal suspicion is that heavily prized content a la NYT or WSJ will not only be paid for, but will also attract significant advertising revenues. For the rest, creation of strong niches will allow them to do the same…
PS: Don't hesitate to comment...
Thursday, July 03, 2003
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
Thursday, June 19, 2003
BTW, Martin Sorrell bought over a sister (our host) agency Bates. Which means our host will probably cease to exist ina few months time... which makes me wonder as to what happens to my agency? 25% of which is now owned by WPP, and the rest is owned by WPP's arch (and bigger) rival Publicis... the word that comes to mind is B...... :|
that the agency parentages are somewhat complicated is an understatement...
that the agency parentages are somewhat complicated is an understatement...
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Saturday, June 14, 2003
Friday, June 13, 2003
Have been doing some work on cellular service providers in the country (India), Click here to have a look at the various brands available in the various circles...
More stuff coming up on this...
More stuff coming up on this...
Thursday, June 12, 2003
I could have been Newton...
It is said that if Newton had not discovered the principles of Gravity, somebody else surely would have. This has been proved time and again, Ramanujam reputedly singlehandedly calculated all the mathematical principles that the world had done in the for the past 100 years or so, because nobody told him that someone had already done so...
Why am I talking about this?
I thought it might be neat idea to use WiFi as a third standard for 3rd gen mobile telephony (apart from GSM, CDMA), by piggybacking VoIP on WiFi. simpe isn't it.
It turns out that half the world is already working on it... Not only working on it but a search for it tells that it is talking about it like crazy. And not only working on it & talking about it, but also taking steps to counter/co-opt it, as last month's (sorry can't lcoate it online) issue of wired reports...
Why am I talking about this?
I thought it might be neat idea to use WiFi as a third standard for 3rd gen mobile telephony (apart from GSM, CDMA), by piggybacking VoIP on WiFi. simpe isn't it.
It turns out that half the world is already working on it... Not only working on it but a search for it tells that it is talking about it like crazy. And not only working on it & talking about it, but also taking steps to counter/co-opt it, as last month's (sorry can't lcoate it online) issue of wired reports...
I thought mega retail outlets were not making money, apparently they are, because RPG is spending a lot of moeny...
Dettol is not an antiseptic soap... gosh!! I would have never known... I remember my branding prof back in college saying "Dettol means *protection*"... Hee Hee :D
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
So you thought economics was a nutty subject... In
What's the difference between working for money and playing for money? Kottke comments on virtual economies interacting with the one in the real world...
What's the difference between working for money and playing for money? Kottke comments on virtual economies interacting with the one in the real world...
More on CAS Chaos, this time the research focuses on consumers rather than the commercial interests.
It's a research report, so one can't comment, but one guesses that far more people will go in for the boxes than the research suggests, even at the higher prices mentioned. TV is too much of a basic necessity for families to ignore. What will they do in spare time? go and take a walk in the park or hit the football field, like the old days? not bloody likely.
It's a research report, so one can't comment, but one guesses that far more people will go in for the boxes than the research suggests, even at the higher prices mentioned. TV is too much of a basic necessity for families to ignore. What will they do in spare time? go and take a walk in the park or hit the football field, like the old days? not bloody likely.
Nice quote for the day...
"There's a warder who's fond of me. I don't ask why, I've learnt to take what's there without questioning the source. When he sees me on all fours scrabbling at the earth in a random-looking way that is quite scientific, he gets upset and hurries over with the spade and offers to help me. Especially, he wants me to use the spade.
He doesn't understand I want the freedom to make my own mistakes."
~from "The Passion", by Jeannette Winterson
"There's a warder who's fond of me. I don't ask why, I've learnt to take what's there without questioning the source. When he sees me on all fours scrabbling at the earth in a random-looking way that is quite scientific, he gets upset and hurries over with the spade and offers to help me. Especially, he wants me to use the spade.
He doesn't understand I want the freedom to make my own mistakes."
~from "The Passion", by Jeannette Winterson
Monday, June 09, 2003
Does advertising have variations across the year? was a question asked.
Of course. and it varies differently for different categories. As a broad and general statement for print, advertising peaks in October, with an immediate fall in November. For the rest of the year it is more or less at a stable level, except for a slight dip in Feb, April and July.
Of course there is also the fact that there will be individual variations for different categories... woollens, cars, computers for obvious reasons.
Then there are special events like the world cup, which would bring about huge swells in spends. This last world cup showed a monitored swell of 50% on print... amazing is the only word I can think of
Of course. and it varies differently for different categories. As a broad and general statement for print, advertising peaks in October, with an immediate fall in November. For the rest of the year it is more or less at a stable level, except for a slight dip in Feb, April and July.
Of course there is also the fact that there will be individual variations for different categories... woollens, cars, computers for obvious reasons.
Then there are special events like the world cup, which would bring about huge swells in spends. This last world cup showed a monitored swell of 50% on print... amazing is the only word I can think of
CAS (Conditional Access System) was supposed to be a boon for the viewer, with the promise of cheaper cable. Option of choosing only the pay channels one wants to watch. More accountability of the cable operator towards the braodcaster.
Instead it has brought uncertainity... worst case being talked about is that the four cities just drop of the Satellite TV map of the country on July 14th (the date of implementation in the four metros). Bah!
Thank God I never bought a TV...
More on CAS from agencyfaqs.com
Instead it has brought uncertainity... worst case being talked about is that the four cities just drop of the Satellite TV map of the country on July 14th (the date of implementation in the four metros). Bah!
Thank God I never bought a TV...
More on CAS from agencyfaqs.com
exchange4media reports that there might be a shift of ad revenues from TV to print due to CAS (Condional Access System)...
Nonsense.
I think (like the other Media Planners quoted in the story) nothing of the sort is going to happen. Silly to assume, that post CAS viewership and readership patterns will change... In fact if the promise of cheaper cable comes through. one might have more people opting for a cable connection.
Nonsense.
I think (like the other Media Planners quoted in the story) nothing of the sort is going to happen. Silly to assume, that post CAS viewership and readership patterns will change... In fact if the promise of cheaper cable comes through. one might have more people opting for a cable connection.
Saturday, June 07, 2003
Drew's Blog comments on something I've been looking for, for quite some time... He mentions Radio. I've heard of Radio... Expensive... sigh!
Friday, June 06, 2003
ETC Punjabi is throwing a party on their 3rd Anniversary today at The Ashok... yay. I'm off straight to the party from Office...
Some people commented that this was a new thing and they had read about it in the magazines...
Not True!
Look up my archives, they date back to 2000. (I just kinda dropped out of the scene.) and there were people blogging years before I was...
Not True!
Look up my archives, they date back to 2000. (I just kinda dropped out of the scene.) and there were people blogging years before I was...
For the people who are visiting this place and have no idea about what is a blog... here is a brief intro...
A Blog is short for WebLog. It is nothing but a personal online journal. In my case as the description on the side says, it is "The Ramblings and Rants of somebody in particular about everything in general..." :).
If you need pointers on how to get one for yourself, do drop me a mail...
A Blog is short for WebLog. It is nothing but a personal online journal. In my case as the description on the side says, it is "The Ramblings and Rants of somebody in particular about everything in general..." :).
If you need pointers on how to get one for yourself, do drop me a mail...
My Favourite Quote for Today...
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better...to know even one life has breathes easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better...to know even one life has breathes easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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