Month: November 2009

Reality in the US

For most of us in the IT industry, it looks as though, there is just too much ‘hype’ about the ill-effects of the country. If the following news article in the NYTimes is true, then it shows that the situation in the US is indeed dark. Scary.

Food Stamp Use Soars Across U.S., and Stigma Fades
By JASON DePARLE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
A program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.

Wow. That means that one in eight americans are not employed and not capable enough to earn enough for their own food.

Read the full article here.

Salad at Namdhari’s

Had a veg salad at Namdhari’s for dinner yesterday, and was I surprised or what. The quantity is large, and the quality of the vegetables are good. Lots of sprouts, bean sprouts, corn, spinach, cabbage, carrots. I tried two of the dressings – coriander and mint, and mayo and garlic. Did not use too much of the dressing, for that would contrast the purpose of the salad.  The salad is served with a piece of soft bread – which is also very good.

On the whole, a very fulfiling meal. I did not think, a salad could fill me up, but the quantity here is such that, I left with just-about-a-full-stomach — which is by far the best feeling one can get after dinner (not stuffed, nor empty).

Ratings:

Ambience — 4 / 5 (The ambience is very sparse)

Food taste – 5/5

Quantity – 5/5

Service – 5/5

Appearance of the food – 5/5

 

Beautiful Darasuram

Visited the beautiful temple of Darasuram (about 5 km from Kumbakonam). The temple is one of the two temples built by the Raja Raja Cholans (I and II), which have striking resemblences to the big temple in Tanjavur (the other one is in Gangai-konda-chozhapuram). The temple has now been taken over by the Archeological Society of India (ASI) for preservation and restoration. More info on wikipedia here.

The ASI has really done a nice job landscaping the outer periphery of the temple.
Restoration work being carried out by the ASI.

Notice the similarity of the Gopuram to the Big temple in Tanjavur.

Lot of greenery around the temple.

Legend: The temple kurukkal (priest) gave us a run down of the legend of the temple. The white elephant of Indra (Airavatha) was cursed by someone and became black. The elephant then, came to Darasuram, took bath in the temple tank, and then did abhisheka to the Lord, and Lord Shiva gave papa-vimochanam, and turned him back to his regal white color. Hence the name of the diety – Airavatheshwara. Lord Shiva’s consort name here is Periya nayagi.

Scott Collins quote …

Just prior to Firefox 1.0 arriving, Mozilla’s Scott Collins, a veteran of Netscape and evangelist for the Mozilla team, said this to Linux.Ars:

“I have hope that we will be a mainstream browser and that people will use Mozilla. That’s the thing I learned to lust after as a programmer. It’s not my ability to solve one problem, to plow this field, but the ability to build a plow that every farmer uses. The ability to make something that touches not ten people, not a hundred people, not a thousand people but a hundred million people. I want Mozilla to be there again. IE is a browser with no soul. I want it to be Mozilla because I think that people who care deserve a browser with a soul.”

Quoted from lifehacker article on History of firefox.

Beautiful. I am bowled over. That quote personifies passion. Passion to be the best!

Air Piano

This thing is amazing. I just read this in the online version of the IEEE Spectrum. Omer Yosha, the inventor, has invented an air piano. Wonder what is an air piano. It basically is a piece of wood and a sheet of plexiglass. He has some sensors which detect his hand at three different levels, and plays different notes accordingly.

A note about Yosha:

Omer Yosha is a formally trained musician who plays guitar and sings. He left his home near Tel Aviv to see the world, traveling dusty paths in India and busking in the streets of London before settling in Berlin. The German capital is wide open, its energetic art and design scene spurred by a polyglot, multidisciplinary mix-and-match mind-set and cheap space. — IEEE Spectrum

There is a video in the above link – which is awesome.

I found one more video that I found on youtube.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh4Ovsh2DZY]