Suresh’s Random Ramblog

Apple released the latest version of iTunes recently & I’ve been wasting a lot of time with it. Let me go to the beginning, it all started when I fell sick a few days earlier. iTunes added a new feature, the ability to store lyrics within the ID3 tags of an MP3 file. I was bed ridden and with nothing better to do, so I decided to go through my music collection and add lyrics to all the songs. I started of by doing it manually (i.e. Google search, Copy/Paste). With 24.86 GB of music (5538 individual songs, 15 days & 10 hours of constant playing) it became obvious that I would never accomplish this side of Armageddon (after which music seems, kind of, irrelevant).

I started looking for something automated (I was using a computer after all, shouldn’t it be doing all the work for me?) I came across pearLyrics that does the work for me. The catch, like all good software, it works only on a Mac Luckily my Apple PowerBook has risen from the dead.

It works by fetching the lyrics when the song is played in iTunes. So for the past couple of days my laptop has been going through my music collection, updating the lyrics. I just reached (The) Clash as I type this. It’s going to be a long time before I reach Zucchero.

I’ve discovered knowing the lyrics while listening to songs, enhances the experience. Reading the words makes me realise I’ve often been singing the wrong words. I’ve also discovered some gems that I previously was unaware of, hidden in the song.

I haven’t blogged in a long time since I’ve been traveling and falling sick. As a filler here’s a must watch advertisement video link that’s just great:

:::Carlton United Big Ad:::

PS. It’s work safe

I came across this amazing photpgraph of the light patterns on the pavement caused by the recent solar eclipse .

From the photographter, Nils van der Burg:

What you see is the form of the sun when the moon was passing in front of it, then the shadow of the moon is reflected through the leaves of the trees.

I’m sure each one of us has come across encyclopedias at one time or another. Netizen are aware of of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Question: What’s the opposite of Wikipedia?

Answer: Welcome to Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

I hope I’ve spoilled your morning’s productivity! My work here is done

Does no one care about their Civil Liberties? Today’s Hindu has an article that reflects what I’ve been thinking for a while. In the last few years, there has been an increase in the level of intolerance among the public, or rather, there has been an apparent increase. Why apparent? To me it seems like it like it’s been orchestrated by politicians and others with a vested interest.

Remember the news articles in which Chennai Police decided to become the moral police and started targeting couples whose only crime was trying to spend time together. Never mind there was no legal basis for their action.

A university’s primary function is to strive for excellence in education - both in themselves and their students. Anna University has enforced a ‘Dress Code’ on their students and on students of affiliated collages. There is a reason why the education in most institutions India is still in the dark ages. I can on and on this point alone, but It deserves a post of it’s own. Recently a few college boys were called up by the morality police for wearing dark shirts and were asked to confess to their ‘crime’! I wish I was in such a college. I would have broken the rules on purpose.

Talking to youngsters, especially girls, about AIDS, drinking, drugs, Sex education, rape, child molestation or contraception is against our culture. Notice how all most issues have a greater impact on women. In the 80’s, when AIDS was an issue in the West, our all-knowing Health Minister, refused to discuss the potential impact the disease would have in India. Their reasoning? AIDS was a Western disease caused buy their decadent lifestyle. In India, ‘our culture’ would prevent such a disease from spreading. India now has one of the highest AIDS populations in the world

Now what is culture? It’s not something static but a living, changing concept. The past influences the present and the present influences the future. We, that means you, I and everyone else alive and kicking, are responsible for defining what culture is. Culture can not and should not be held hostage to the narrow vested interests of a few.

Is it time for a civil disobedience movement? A second Quit India movement but aimed at those in power? It does not have to be an organised mass movement. Each and everyone us can make a difference in their own way. Like my law professor used to quote often, “It’s a slippery slope.” If we don’t act now, it may be too late.

Back in college, the gents hostel gate never used to be closed. One day the authorities inform the student’s council that they were going to lock the shutter. When we objected they told us it was for the safety of us and our belongings. Although the shutter would be closed at 10 p.m. We could come and go as we pleased at any time with no restrictions. We knew that this was always going to be an issue. That night when the hostel security was about to close the shutter a bunch of us stood outside the gate. What follows are the events as I remember:

Security Officer (SO): “I’m going to close the shutter, would you like to come in?”
Us: “No, we want to stay outside”
SO pulls down the shutter. Next moment. . .
Us: “Please open the gate. We want to come in”
SO opens the shutter, we come in and he closes the shutter again.
Us: “We want to go out”

. . . We repeat the cycle a couple of times. After the 4th or 5th time you can imagine him getsting irritated and loses his temper. This is what we’ve been waiting for. We calmly inform him that we are allowed to come ad go as we please, the closing of the shutter is just a formality and he is free to complain to his higher up if he has a problem. Naturally he calls in and shortly the authorities are called and we force the issue. The shutter remains open and we’ve won a small victory. All it takes is standing up for your rights.

Whay are our rights? In the same Hindu article, Nirupama Subramanian puts it across beautifully:

As long as a person is an adult, and does not kill, maim, molest, rape, abuse, or spit on anyone, how he or she chooses to lead his or her life should be their business alone, strictly off-limits to anyone else. That includes the clothes they wear, the books they read, the music they listen to, the films they watch. It includes life choices such as finding a career, making friends, marrying, staying single, getting a divorce, having children or not.

What we really need in India is something similar to the American Civil Liberties Union (Read the Wikipedia ACLU article too) . If there is one organisation that has fought for civil liberties in the US consistently it’s the ACLU.

If you think it’s not going to affect you, I sign off with a chilling poem written about the Nazis.

First they came…

First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left
to speak up for me.

Martin Niemöller (1892 - 1984)

Why is it impossible to get a decent Gin & Tonic? I was out at the bar with Vijay yesterday night and was in the mood for some Gin & Tonic. I don’t think the waiter even knew what I was asking for.

For a native drink* you’d expect it to be more widely available. Even the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy states that each race in the galaxy has developed a drink that is pronounced the same, but spelled differently (such as jynantonnyx). If my neighbour in Alpha Centauri can get one any any space port why can’t I get it in my local watering hole? The reason for this is must one of the great mysteries of the universe.

* The cocktail was concocted by the British in India. Tonic water contains quinine, which was used to prevent malaria. Because the tonic water consumed to prevent malaria in the 19th century was extremely bitter, gin was added to make it more palatable.

Factoid: Tonic water will glow under a black light, due to the quinine in it.

This is how I should have been thought in school:
Remember the Gin and Tonic!: Using Alcohol to Teach Boolean Searching

Yipee! I’ve just installed my first rackmount server. It took me a while to get the rails aligned correctly but after mych labour and trials, it’s finally in and working perfectly. After all that running NetWare 4.11 on it seems like sacrilege. Well, if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it. I should be getting the latest versions since I’ve signed up for Novell’s DevelopperNet.

It looks cool but do you know what would make it look cooler? Blue LEDs. I have photos up soon. Now, if only Abel would get me the missing mounts for the other rackmount cabinet, I’d have a second rackmount. Two rackmounts beat a single rackmount anyday! Able get of your butt and get me the missing parts.

I gave blood today. It’s the World Blood Donor Day. It shouldn’t require a special day to convince people to give blood. There isn’t a World Accident Day or a World Surgery Day. When the demand for blood is constant throughout the year why don’t people give blood more frequently?

I guess it part ignorance and part selfishness. I can forgive you if your ignorant. Ignorance isn’t restricted to the uneducated. Afterall when you’re in your teens or in college, there are more important things in life (girls, movies, drinking, lots of drinking, getting drunk, waking up the next day with a hangover, etc.)

Blood donation is probably the single most humanatarian thing you can ever while you’re alive. Forget about giving away money when you become rich or doing social service. Just donate a unit of blood every 3 to 6 months. If you’re a college kid let me put you on to a secret. Girls dig guys who’ve given blood

What do you do with people who are just selfish? I remember an incident when I was a House Surgeon. I had a patient who needed blood. I was trying to convince his son to donate blood and he just refused. His mother jumped in saying she didn’t want her son to give blood even though it was her husband who needed it.

Today I heard some depressing news. The Golden Swan is closing. This goes back to my life in the US. The Golden Swan was a Chinese restaurant with a difference. Unlike most American Chinese restaurants serving Americanised versions of Chinese food, where most of the dishes are indistinguishable because they all contain MSG and taste sweet, they actually served Chinese food that tasted like Indian Chinese. I realise, American version or Indian version, they both aren’t authentic Chinese but so what? Taste is a personal preference.

So why am I so devasted espically since I no longer live in the US? Well, the Golden Swan was my regular dinner haunt. It was more than just another restaurant for me. Spencer and his family who ran the restaurant took personal care of all their customers, always with a smile. That personal touch is missing in most chain stores in the US.

For me it was my second home. I’ve spent countless evening there with a book in hand eating my regular (i.e. “Spencer, I leave my dinner choice to you. It’s up to you!) I’d finish my dinner and just stay on reading the book. Rita, Spencer’s wife would come up and tell me there was no hurry for me to leave and to take my time. They always made me feel as if I was family.

Spencer would come through in emergencies too. School would be get over at 8.50 pm. I’d call Spencer and ask him to have a take away ready for me.

Did I mention the food always tasted great there? Spencer’s cooking was simply superb.

I gave them a call today. The economy hasn’t been doing too well in Cleveland and it has adversely affected them. They’ve ended up loosing money in the buisness and have to sell their house. They seem to be philosophical about it. It’s sad to hear that another small buisness close down. Although I’d like to blame big buisness, the chains and franchisees for it, I don’t think I’d be justified. I now have one less place to visit when I’m in Cleveland.

With all that’s going on in my life (mostly good, mostly bad) I thought writing a blog would give me an outlet. Read it at the risk of going crazy yourself.

Over the next few days (months, years) I hope to get this blog customised with my own look and feel.