Doha Asian Games Silver Medalist Fails 'Gender' Test

This news item was hilarious. And I'm not referring to the fact that 'she' failed it.

'She' had passed the same test when they were conducted on 'her' in South Korea last year :D:

"Reports say the athlete cleared the gender test at the Asian track and field championship in South Korea last year where she won the silver medal in the 800m."

Yellow Submarine

For a long time, I didn't like The Beatles. They weren't real rockers, I'd say. The first 'Boy Band', was the epithet that I handed out to them. All that changed when I first heard "Norwegian Wood". Then other stuff started making sense, and I picked up other old bands like CCR. Rolling Stones still sucks, by the way. Wannabes...

And I used to publicly decry The Beatles, and (may I say it in the same breath?) even Bob Dylan. And at some time, quite recently, new age bands like Linkinpark.

The point of all this being?

No one's ready to debate with with me about exactly what it is that they like about the stuff that is trance (Rap, R&B etc. people still allude to singing).

I'm not saying that I'd listen to it with a dispassionate mind. I'm heavily opinionated. But, I'm also old. Older at any rate.

I happen to have a set of criteria for music. Essentially the same old classical stuff. Meter, notes, chords, lyrics, mood, and of course, lastly the tune. Debating the tune of a song is as insulting as talking about the syntax of a language, grammatical correctness of written communication, the smoothness of a spirit, the truthfulness in a relationship, the taste (not flavour) of food... it is a forgone conclusion.

Beats per minute? I know of human percussionists who can do more BPMs than the ear can tell apart.

I remember a short story by a popular author, a sci-fi thingi, that talked about a Utopian society. It was a society where all aggression was weeded out. Some poor fellow finds some Dylan songs (in print), and causes a revolution. And it's believable. I believe Trance can't do that.

It can't make people think.

That's the difference between good rock songs and great rock songs. Great rock songs make you think.

And this is the dissertation that I can't seem to make when I'm with my friends who listen to trance. I can't get them to make comparisons between the two, along the kind of arguments that I've posed just now.

Now, I shall go ahead and undo the entire dissertation by saying that there is such a thing as free will.

There is such a thing as free will. And people are free to chose, at least in this country, last time I heard, what kind of music they want to listen to.

It still makes a nice drunken conversation, if you are willing to entertain me. Like all other drunken discussions, it is guaranteed last and have no result in sight.

And in case you're wondering about the title of this post, what I've dared to talk about makes it amply clear...

Maybe my opinions should've been darker?

P.S. The lyrics are here.

What to do when the NSA taps your phone

Falstaff wrote this really funny article on his blog recently. It's called "The End of the Line". Check it out.

P.S. And while you are at it, you might want to read this other funny List :). It's called "Or Else". Enjoy.

New Theme

Finally time for spring cleaning. Yeah yeah, I know it's still winter on most of the land surface on earth.

Like it? You might also want to check out the new daily cartoons listed in the "Noteworthy Links" section. Both are really good :).

Why Blog?

So a friend of mine named Sumit recently posted an entry on his blog by the same title.

So rather than express, in detail, his question all over again, I thought I might make an entry of my own on the topic.

Why do I blog? My very own two seconds of fame? To be immortalised for posterity in the somewhat lame hope that someday, in some future civilization, it might actually be considered good reading material? Or maybe to give an opening to myself to rant about stuff that would just make other people uncomfortable if I tried to tell them about it. There's also the possibility that it gives me an ego boost, "Look Ma, I'm publishing."

I think the main reason that I blog is because I'm bored. It is exciting to find that someones made a comment on my blog, I'll be the first to agree with that. However, I don't necessarily regard myself as a serious blogger, mainly because, if I was, I wouldn't be frequently be stuck with "Bloggers' block".

That said, I am attracted to the devious pleasure of writng somethingthat anyone anywhere can read. Do you think that you'd blog if a blog was private? Might as well keep a journal or a diary, right? A blog is a bit like an Orkut scrapbook. The main pleasure is in keeping it public, saying that I have a voice and that I want to be heard by everyone who cares. There are people I know who don't keep their orkut scraps, and delete them, because it violates their sense of privacy. Stick to email people!

The third reason I'd give is pride :). It really gives me a kick tosee the statcounter counter rolling.

So there you have it Sumit. What's your excuse?

P.S. Yeah, the party was fun. We should do it again soon. Ginger Court tomorrow? It is Thursday night :), and the fish fingers are back.

Do you hate UNIX?

I do. Verrrryy much. Though I do have to say that I hate it less than I hate vi. But they didn't write a book about that. However, to my great fascination, here's The UNIX-HATERS Handbook.

I'm loving it :D.

You got mail?

Check out this amazing ad:

http://chitthi.webchutney.net/

MS-Paint Art

When I was working in Veritas, I used to prefer using MSPaint for making screen mockups rather than using Visio. I used to be pretty good, and fast. But these videos show how limited I was. They have both been done in MSPaint. Check them out:

She's Electric

I know you. My energy entirely wasted. My escence.

I enabled you. Heat? A byproduct. I don't like my cousin much.

You guessed didn't you? You slimy...

But I know. Your kind preached.

"Don't get mad, Get even."

Me slave, You Masta...

MASTA

I love you. I serve you.

Bridge, bridge the gap, will you... Will I?

Sorry, I forgot you didn't like NEUTRAL much. Such a pity...

I'm not meant to hold him. They drive him. 11000V of him. He's 50
times more powerful.

My love will try. But she's dead. Melted away.

You don't know. You didn't know. 50 times. I knew. Molten
lead+gravity... She reached over in death.

RIP.

Hate Fantasy Movies?

Well you'll really like this one :D. Here's a trailer of the new spoof that's going to come out in Jan '07. Damn funny:

Epic Movie

Check out these amazing videos of pool trick shots

They are really amazing :). Enjoy:

You thought that the Zidane episode was over?

Well, there's more. All of us have seen that email where different nationalities think different things happened out there on the field, right? So this particular website gives us a graphic potrayal of what happened between Zidane and Materazzi.

Enjoy :).

Toilets and Babies

So someone had a great idea about toilet training babies. It goes like "Start them early"... or "If you do it anywhere else you'll have to stay in the loo for half an hour"...

Well this story really takes the cake. Early? Early????

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006551047,00.html