Part Of Being Sane Is Being A Little Crazy

Of course it is the Nano. Everyone and their dog knows it; unless you aren't an Indian or have been living under a rock for the last two years. But imagine my surprise finding it on the How Stuff Works website (one of my favorite reads, title is self explanatory). Call me weird, but it actually had me feeling all warm and fuzzy. In spite of all the hue and cry about congestion, traffic, pollution etc., I'd really like to see this car succeed (and before you ask, it has nothing to do with the car being 'Indian'). Maybe then, these issues will finally be addressed. HowStuffWorks "What's the world's cheapest car?"

As you can see, I have started blogging only recently. So far I have used the native platform offered by Blogger to create and edit my posts. But it's kind of limited in scope. Uploading pictures is a long drawn out process and also a bit wonky (sometimes it works, other times not) plus formatting options are limited. So, I started looking around for blog editors. Only two really stood out from the rest. One was Windows Live Writer .My first reaction? Microsoft? No way could it be good.But after downloading a hefty 17 MB file and installing it (beware! as usual, MS tries to install other 'Live Apps',) and playing around for a while, I had to change my opinion. The wizard is very helpful and a breeze to follow. Setting up a connection to your blog is very easy and takes just a few steps. Creating, editing and formatting posts is also a snap. In fact, this is one of the few apps that Microsoft gets right. Live writer also connects to your blog and downloads the CSS, so yo

Making Rasagullas | The Imagined Universe If ever I round up the courage to step into the kitchen and actually make something, this is the way it will go no doubt!

Intrigued? Who wouldn't be? After all, this comes at a time when even the biggest proponent of free markets, that giant capitalist engine called the US of A, has admitted to market failures and errors. So what market might I be referring to? But of course the great Indian Bridegoom market/ mela !!! Before I go on, I'd like to point out where this rant is coming from. Blog: GenX and the Dowry Demon   Also be sure to read all of the comments. They make for quite good reading. This is no doubt a very efficient market when it comes to arranging marriages. All the variables are priced properly including salary & family background (for the boy); beauty and 'acceptable' level of intelligence (for the girl). Doctors and IT engineers are more expensive of course, even better if you are an NRI . Exactly what you would expect. If the girl is beautiful, then the price drops a bit. If she has a job, (which by the way, she should be ready to quit if it interfere

Kubuntu Rocks!!! - Ubuntu+KDE for the uninitiated It really is amazing. I used to think Linux as similar to kung - fu. Arcane language, command line acrobatics and what not. Now, I'm not unfamiliar with computers but I'm no geek either. Yet I was able to install Kubuntu all on my own. My laptop was up and wearing its Linux cool within hours (it took just under 3 hrs). In fact the longest time was taken for downloading the CD image of the distro. This says a lot about how far Linux distros have come, especially a specific few like Ubuntu. This has got to be one of the most accessible distros out in the wild. Yet this not to say that Linux can compete with windows any time soon. It's not even close. While installing apps and games has been made more streamlined, it is still confusing for the average person looking to switch from windows. While everyone may vent at Microsoft's crappy software, they still expect things to work with minimum effort from them. A typic

In December 2004, a two-page ad ran in The New York Times promoting Firefox. The main text read: Are you fed up with your Web browser? You're not alone. We want you to know that there is an alternative. The sponsors of the ad were more than 10,000 Firefox fans who donated money to promote their favorite indie browser. The ad was intended to coincide with the release of Firefox 1.0 in November 2004, but publication was delayed -- it took until December to figure out how to squeeze the names of more than 10,000 underwriters into the spread. Via HowStuffWorks Now that is definitely one for the nutty bin...

Last Tuesday, I had chocolate for lunch. Yes you heard me right. I had chocolate for lunch and what chocolate it was! The day had actually started out quite badly. I lost my dissertation report file (aah the mysterious ways of computers,who can figure them out?), the same file I had worked on for two days straight. With just a day left for submission, what's a girl to do? First things first of course. Maggie and I went to Beer Sarai to print out her report. That must have taken around an hour or so (we made pretty good time considering neither of us knew where to go!) We came back just in time for lunch but food at the cafe? Nah. So we added Adi to the car, and off we went to Costa Coffee for lunch. We ordered 2 Frappe Royale (Adi and I), hot chocolate for Maggie, one chocolate truffle cake and the biggest choco - chip muffin I had ever seen! The food and drinks were great way better than at rival CCD and Barista. Nothing quite saves the day like chocolate. I submitted my

Now don't get me wrong. Charles Darwin's observations are by no means 'nothing'. He gave to the world his work "On The Origin of Species", a culmination of all his observations about nature and species. A hundred and fifty years on, scientists are still modifying the basic tenets of evolution and finding more proof to substantiate Darwin. But few scientific theories have generated as much disturbance and controversy as this particular one. Why does evolution pose such a big threat to the established order of things? Why does a country that is supposed to be at the forefront of scientific thought, have laws that prevent evolution from being taught? A mere 40% of Americans actually believe in evolution. So what do the other 60% believe? They believe in 'creationism'. Come again??!! You heard me right. Creationism is the belief that all life on earth was created in its present form by a deity or 'God'. The movement to re-introduce crea

This morning Amazon officially announced its second-generation e-book reader, the Kindle 2 (although leaked photographs of the device have been floating around the internet for some time now). All-in-all, the new Kindle is a modest step up from the first generation, introducing nothing too radical to the design or functionality but improving the device in a variety of incremental ways. Via Techcrunch So, what does the new Kindle mean for those of us who still like to curl up with a good book? Be it an action packed mystery or a spine chilling horror story or even a good old fashioned romance novel, nothing quite compares to the feel of turning the pages of a well written book. I'll admit, when I first stumbled across the Kindle some time ago, my reactions ranged from 'This monstrosity replacing my precious paperbacks?' to 'Just one more gadget to lug around which I'll never use'. However, I've recently started to change my mind (I'll admit

Well so do I. If I can just figure out how! Now that we have that out of the way , back to reality . Amusing anecdotes, interesting tit bits, intriguing news or nonsensical thoughts will (I presume) make their way here. Hopefully, if anyone ever stumbles by, you'll have as much fun reading as I intend to have writing.