Be content, for this world has enough temptations to keep you yearning forever.
- Tarun Aggrawal
Story behind this post: Yesterday, I posted a status message on facebook which got a lot of likes from a lot of people. After 4-5 years of facebooking, it still felt good! I thought it would be a good idea to post some interesting thoughts on this blog every once in a while. However, don’t take the heading literally. It’s not really going to be a thought-for-the-day, think of it more like a Thought-for-the-week or so (maybe more, I’m not Socrates). There’s a longer story as to why I even thought up this quote, but I’ll talk about it later.
It would probably reflect very poorly on a blog if within the span of 5 days, three posts are made, two of which pertained to Google logos. Putting this blog’s (little) reputation on line, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Correct me if I’m mistaken, I believe this is the first time Google came up with a logo that is impossible for the human eye to read. There are no letters to read; all you see is a bar-code in remembrance of the day this now-ubiquitous invention came into existence.
As it would make sense to me, I took a screenshot of the homepage and cropped the logo right off the page. But the cropped logo in itself looked so regular (it was a bar-code after all) that I had to take a new screenshot and a bigger crop of the homepage! Here’s what the Google homepage looks like today -
Google came up with a very innovative logo for their homepage today on October 2, Mahatama Gandhi’s birth anniversary, and looking at it only made me wish that I had come up with such a creative piece of art.
A famous sketch of Gandhi’s profile covered up for the G in Google, leaving the famous corporation with only “oogle” to spell out. The way in which Gandhi’s mustache converted what might have been mistaken for a ‘C’ into a ‘G’ was the best part. An extra touch was given by putting the Google logo on a khaki, albeit photoshop-woven.
I wonder if you have ever used the keyword feature in firefox. If you haven’t, I cannot stress how handy a tool it is to speed up your internet experience in firefox. If you find yourself going to a number of websites where you have to search for stuff, (eg. Wikipedia, IMDB, youtube, dictionary.com etc) then this feature is for you.
Next time you go to youtube.com, just before you get down to searching for your favorite videos, right click in the youtube search bar, and then click on “Add a Keyword for this Search”. Fill in whatever you want for the “Name” section, but in your keywords put something short, something like “yt” or “y”. Once everything is filled in, click on Save.
Today, while aimlessly checking the gtalk status messages of my friends, I found a link to a news article next to Manu’s name. It mentioned thatGrooveshark.com, one of my favorite websites had reached 1 million users! What made it all the more special to me was that this site is a venture by 3 Gators! Go Gators!
For the uninitiated (and not part of the one million..tsk tsk :P), grooveshark is a site where you can listen to almost any streaming song within a few clicks, as opposed to, I don’t know, hunting the internet just to find that the rare song you’re searching for IS rare. What makes it best is that you can purchase the song if you like it (at a pretty cheap price, I believe), thus giving the owners to the rights of the songs something to be happy about too. For a person like me, who almost always finds himself getting an urge to listen to a particular song I have heard years ago, grooveshark.com does the job for me just fine, sparing me the trouble of fishing through my highly unorganized music library, one that I have been promising myself to fix since the past 5 years.
I am on my knees, my eyes are closed. I take a deep breath. I try to concentrate. In the next few minutes, I will be talking to God, establishing what can only be called a transcendental connection.
While in prayer, it is amazing how one seems to be connected to God. The cathexis a person exudes, comes across and mesmerizes you. However, what goes on in the subconscious of the worshipper generally, is sometimes baffling, rather amusing. Before we go on, I must tell you about my deep reverence for God.
Ethics – a set of principles of right conduct. That’s what dictionary.com would have me believe. It’s a simple definition. Just one line. One glance at the definition and you would think it’s the simplest concept on Earth. Yet, it’s easily one of the most debated topics in the world today. The question is, is the concept of ethics, really as simple as you would like to believe?
The concept of ethics is a rather complex one. The reason is simple. The definition includes the words “right conduct”. What “right conduct” means, no one knows. Not even dictionary.com (which thinks I misspelled reconduct!). Yes, you may split it up into “right” and “conduct”, yet you still close in onto a very general term – “right”. What’s right? And what’s wrong? Why do we need to have the concept of right? Why can’t we just do things and leave them as they are? Why bother to see whether they are right or wrong? Or in simpler words… why do we need ethics? Why did they come up in the first place? Why do people have different ethics? Is something right somewhere, wrong elsewhere? Let’s explore.
Author’s note: Before you begin reading this article, be forewarned! This article is very specific to my life in undergrad college and is about the wonderful teachers/staff I found there. Unless you’re from CITM, I guarantee you that you’ll find this article boring!
College is a fun place. Especially if its CITM. You just know something’s gonna happen, even though the time table may suggest a boring 7 lectures in continuation. Ah, 7…!! That reminds me of something. Oh ya! Isn’t that the number of bullets in a revolver. Hmmm… It’s a pretty similar situation you see. Day in and day out, I move around like a criminal trying to save myself from those 7 bullets. Those 7 lectures. Some are eventually gonna get you, cause the very first day Vijay sir had told us that we were going to be marked for attendance. I still remember the long “Awwww….” that had followed. Brings me back to my old days. Good old days.
I cry and I cry
Tears pouring down my cheeks
Each tear begging for happiness
And one visit from God
Coz down here deep inside
I believe Im wronged
Someone’s been unfair
Somethings been wrong
Its all so hazy
Nothing appears clear…
All I know is that I cry and I cry
And my moist eyes just do not dry.
God sometimes seems to leave you alone
And tears become silent, their hope all gone
And your soul cries out for freedom
The body is a prison dawns your setting wisdom…
Giving up on Gods gift
Surely plays on my mind
But what I’ll leave behind
Always changes my mind
Its all so hazy
Nothing appears clear
All I know is that I cry and I cry
Silently without a wail
Hoping deep inside
Someone hears my sorry tale
I am in standard twelfth,
That’s one title to my belth.
But am I a perfect person?
Even though I may gather enough might,
Till today I suffer from stage fright.
Going on stage or standing on a podium,
Is as risky for me as holding sodium.
Butterflies flying all around in my tummy,
Stammering all way thro’ , I look a perfect dummy.
I suffer nightmares all night
In the morning my lips are tight
I want to find shelter,
Least I might falter.
With the speech clinched in my fist,
All I have remembered goes into mist.
What all remains is something hazy,
Recalling which simply drives me crazy.
My only claim to fame:
At this time I can put a dance master to shame
For him also that’s not a piece of cake
The frequency at which my legs and hands shake.
Today, while aimlessly checking the gtalk status messages of my friends, I found a link to a news article next to Manu’s name. It mentioned thatGrooveshark.com, one of my favorite websites had reached 1 million users! What made it all the more special to me was that this site is a venture by 3 Gators! Go Gators!
Ethics – a set of principles of right conduct. That’s what dictionary.com would have me believe. It’s a simple definition. Just one line. One glance at the definition and you would think it’s the simplest concept on Earth. Yet, it’s easily one of the most debated topics in the world today. The question is, is the concept of ethics, really as simple as you would like to believe?
