On my bookshelf!

Despite all my attempts not to buy any more books, I landed up with five more. This time the bookshop came to the office campus. With discounts!! Now how can anyone resist a good bargain?

Picked up The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown), River Dog: A Journey Down the Brahmaputra (Mark Shand), Yadav: A Roadside Love Story (Jill Lowe), 52 Weekend Breaks from Bangalore and a city road map.

I recently finished Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich and loved the book. The amazing inside story about a gambling ring of M.I.T. students who beat the system in Vegas -- and lived to tell how. Filled with tense action, high stakes, and incredibly close calls, this book is a nail-biting read that chronicles a real-life Ocean's Eleven. If you happen to come across the book, it's worth a read.

Another book I read recently was Dave Barry Does Japan. Written in his truly inimitable style, it's pretty howlarious! He will have you in splits as he belts out oldies in a karaoke bar, marries a geriatric geisha girl, takes his first bath in public, bows to just about everyone, and explores culture shock in all its numerous humorous forms, including: Failing to Learn Japanese in Only Five Minutes Or: "Very Much Good Morning, Sir!" ; Humor in Japan Take My Tofu, Please!; Sports in Japan "Yo, Batter! Loudly Make it Fly!" , and more. Not a book if you're looking for a serious insight into Japanese culture, as Barry himself admits!

I love recursive ad-infinitum arguments

Don't people just hate it when they are labelled as typical and are generalised upon ? Everyone wants to be different. Everyone wants to be unique. And everyone is different. So when someone attempts to group people of a certain type together because of their traits or their behaviour, the subjects of the grouping normally do not find it very amusing. Bah they say, 'I'm not really like that'. Generalization hurts.

Ok now I'm beginning to generalize. I love recursive ad-infinitum arguments.

Some cool stuff!

A Bookaholics delight!
Found a really cool lending library with a pretty good collection where you can book online and get delivery at your doorstep (for a small price, but very worth it). I’ve been trying to find a good library for a while now, so I am thrilled to bits when RM asked me to check out this site! It’s a nice concept and this is the first time I’ve actually come across a library making use of the Net so extensively. If you’re in Bangalore, and like reading, it’s worth trying.

A manager to manage your bookmarks!
del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others.I am pretty much hooked on it now. Simple and great idea. I have now stopped bookmarking in my browser and instead use del.icio.us.

Connecting to the world
While I was researching the internet connectivity options, I discover (thanks NG) that even BSNL has an "account free" dial-up connection scheme called NetOne that authenticates based on Caller Line Identification (CLI) and is reasonable at 10 paise per minute. This is apart from the normal outgoing call charges for ISP dial-up numbers (17xxxx). TouchTel in fact has gone one step further and has eliminated the ISP charges altogether for its subscribers! Anyone with a landline connection from either BSNL or TouchTel can therefore start using their dial-up services right away and there is also no hassle of renewals. Now you don’t have to buy an ISP pack from VSNL or Sify?

Encyclopedia
I recently rediscovered the excellent online resource Wikipedia - I had seen it in its early days when it didn't have much useful or accurate content but I was quite pleasantly surprised to see just how much it has evolved in the intervening period. I was also quite sceptical of a wiki producing anything useful, considering just how much it can be abused, but I seem to be wrong after all. Wikipedia is quickly becoming the de-facto starting place for me to find out about something. Very highly recommended!!

Happy Women's day!!

By the time the Lord made woman, he was into his sixth day of working overtime. An angel appeared and said, "Why are you spending so much time on this one?"

And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec sheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic, have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable and able to run on diet coke and leftovers, have a lap that can hold four children at one time, have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart -and she will do everything with only two hands.

The angel was astounded at the requirements. "Only two hands!? No way! And that's just on the standard model? That's too much work for one day. Wait until tomorrow to finish. "But I won't," the Lord protested. "I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick AND can work 18 hour days."

The angel moved closer and touched the woman. "But you have made her so soft, Lord." "She is soft," the Lord agreed, "but I have also made her tough. You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish."

"Will she be able to think?", asked the angel. The Lord replied, "Not only will she be able to think, she will be able to reason and negotiate."

The angel then noticed something, and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek. "Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model. I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one." "That's not a leak," the Lord corrected, "that's a tear!" "What's the tear for?" the angel asked. The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy, her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love, her loneliness, her grief and her pride." The angel was impressed. "You are a genius, Lord. You thought of everything! Woman is truly amazing."

And she is! Women have strengths that amaze men. They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they hold happiness, love and joy. They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand up to injustice. They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution. They go without so their family can have. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend. They love unconditionally. They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards. They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding. Their hearts break when a friend dies. They grieve at the loss of a family member yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left. They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors. They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show how much they care about you. The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning. They bring joy, hope and love. They have compassion and ideals. They give moral support to their family and friends. Women have vital things to say and everything to give. However, if there is one flaw in women, it is that they have forgotten their worth.

Happy Women's day!!