Random wanderings from the mind of a moody orangutan
…no matter how empty the train is, your feet will get stepped on an average of two times.
…when you decide to sit under a fan in a crowded train, about three people will stand around you, not only blocking out the fan, but also blocking all light, so forget about reading that book/paper.
…not only will they stand around and chat loudly over your head, but they will chew paan and tobacco and so fill the air with that stench.
…if you’re really unlucky, the juice dribbling down their mouth (or spraying all over when they guffaw at whatever joke) will fall on you.
…elbowing or being elbowed out of the way when trying to board a train on a good day.
…being yanked backwards by the collar/scruff of your neck and virtually ejected from the train on a bad day.
…the smelly old man sitting next to you will fall asleep on your shoulder.
…the same smelly old man will sit with his arms akimbo and poke you in the ribs.
…despite being asleep, the smelly old man’s arms will successfully resist attempts to push them away.
…never being able to talk on the phone since you use a crappy phone service that won’t work on the train.
…people will ask to read your morning newspaper before you’ve finished reading it.
…looking at advertisements for “Body Massages” (with “home service”) and wondering why they’d want to put that in a train since everyone gets a free all-over body massage standing in a crowded train anyway.
…if you’re sitting in an aisle seat, the guy standing in the aisle will decide to rest his butt on your shoulder.
…you’re thankful he doesn’t decide to rest his groin on your shoulder as others are wont to do.
…being late every now and then since there’s always some “rail roko” by “public-minded” groups protesting some inane cause.
…learning to forget you ever had personal space.
…this list will go on! 😀
I recently installed Firefox 1.5 on my parents’ computer and was idly browsing for extensions when I came across Performancing. This is an extension that allows you to blog to WordPress, MovableType or Blogger from within Firefox!
Experimental support is also there for LiveJournal and MSN Spaces or a custom blog based on known blogging APIs. I just found a flaw in this extension though. Actually it’s more like a lacking feature than a flaw. There is no way to delete or go back and edit a post you make through the Performancing extension. You will be forced to do that from within your regular blogging service’s interface. Also, there is no way to change the date and time of your post. And, Performancing is only for Firefox 1.5.
These are minor quibbles nevertheless, and considering that the extension is still in beta, its bound to get better! I’m already in love with it, although this is probably the last post I can make with it for a while since I’m heading back to Bombay tomorrow.
*sigh*
But dammit, this is so coooool!
Update: I’m just so stupid! There is a History tab which allows you to edit your last few posts and delete them even!
Unlike al_lude, I didn’t try to spot the “trick questions,” but they are pretty obvious, so I just answered some randomly and some truthfully. But hey, I don’t mind the outcome… 🙂
Your results:
You are Spider-Man
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You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.  |
Bangalore, the city my parents live in, was shocked on the 28th of this month. A man brandishing an assault rifle fired indiscriminately on scientists attending a conference at the J.N. Tata Auditorium, across the road from the Indian Institute of Science(IISc). One scientist was killed and at least three others injured. Later investigations also found that grenades were hurled too, but luckily one didn’t have its pin removed and the other didn’t explode. Obviously the number of people killed/injured would have been more if either or both of them exploded.
This is the first time that something like this has happened in Bangalore. Two days later, it still isn’t clear what was the motivation behind the attack, nor which group, if any, was responsible for it. The police only today have released a sketch of the man based on accounts from some of the injured. There is still some uncertainty about whether there were more than one attacker and how he/they made their escape. On the day of the attack it was reported that he/they got away in a white Ambassador car. Now it appears that there may not have been any car involved.
In the aftermath of that incident, various threats have been received apparently by fax, threatening celebrations at hotels on New Year’s Eve, the Chief Minister’s residence and even a mediocre college named Oxford College (completely unrelated to the UK University.) Obviously the police have to take such threats seriously and investigate but what silly is when people start locking themselves in their homes refusing to go out because they are scared. Noises are made about how the security at the IISc is terrible. I was really happy to see Dr. Balram, the director of the IISc, come on national TV this morning and say that the very purpose of an academic institution will be defeated if it is turned into a fortress. He did agree that perhaps institutes need to be more alert, but did not think that a lockdown is needed.
Which brings me to the point I want to make. How do terrorists win? Killing a random individual is hardly going to make a difference to a nation. They win when they succeed in terrorising people. If a bomb is exploded in a market before a busy festival season and people stop celebrating or shopping, they win. When people are afraid to go on living their normal lives, they win. Sure, we need to worry a little more and be a little more careful, but locking ourselves up doesn’t work. Terrorists shouldn’t be given that satisfaction.
Being a wonk (as Brits would say) or a nerd/geek is usually a bad thing. If you’re too interested in science or (god forbid) you choose that as your profession, you can forget about ever being called hot or sexy. You’re more likely to be that boring person in stuffy clothes and glasses that stands in a corner at party and bore people to death whenever you open your mouth to talk.
Well guess what? That stereotype is going out the window! Not only do some women find geeks hot (yay!) but even a magazine like People rated a scientist (a geologist, yawn!) as one of the sexiest men alive in 2005! Dr. Michael Manga who is at the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley rubs shoulders with Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Viggo Mortenson and Matthew McConaughey among others in the latest issue of People.
While idly browsing the net for any other articles on Dr. Manga, I also came across inkycircus, life in the nerd girl world, a blog by three women science journalists which categorises their blog-post about Dr. Manga under “men whose babies we want to bear!”
I just discovered that Blogger’s spellcheck doesn’t recognise blog or blogger as words and suggests block and blouse for the former and blocker, Bulgaria and bleaker for the latter!
I’ve been tagged by Morpheus. (cue: Matrix soundtrack) I vaguely remember doing this quiz earlier… or maybe something similar. Oh well. Feel free to tag yourselves, my non-existent blog readers…
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Your Inner European is French! |
 Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything – at least, *you* think so. |
It’s bad enough that non-issues are used for publicity and even taken to court, now even Ministers of the Union Government decide they should tell us about sexual mores!
The whole Khusboo incident (read a bit about it at Kate’s blog) has been blown so hugely out of proportion its not funny! And yesterday, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, the minister for Health, whose department runs an anti-AIDS programme has been quoted as saying pre-marital sex is not ok.
…it is wrong to say that pre-marital sex is alright.
I’m not sure if he was voicing a purely personal opinion or spoke for the Government, or for his party. In any case, it boggles my mind.
With all the time on my hands (sounds messy, doesn’t it? ok, ok, don’t groan!) and with no friends willing to help me spend it, I’ve been trying to figure out someway to kill it alone.
Usually I end up going for a movie, grab a bite to eat and head home. But all the movies showing are quite blah. Top of the blah list being “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” which I actually spent money on last week (including the super expensive snacks in the theatre.) What happened was I sat cramped in a corner seat surrounded by townie kids, and got bored through most of the movie except to appreciate the special effects. (Though I kept expecting the dragon to talk in Sean Connery’s voice, but all it did was bleat a bit. Oh, ok, it roared.)
So here’s my great idea for this weekend (and don’t tell me you thought of it already!) I’m going to bounce around the city on the local trains. Maybe pack a thermos of coffee and book and just sit on the train reading it. Since I have a season ticket, it won’t cost me anything. I don’t have to be worried about someone telling to get out (like they do in crowded cafe’s once you’ve finished your coffee) and I still get to see interesting people. That is, since its the weekend, I assume it won’t just be the yuppies going to the stock exchange to make their next million.
So that’s my plan for Sunday. Expect a post here saying what a stupid idea it was next week. (Of course, I’d expect comments telling me its stupid idea, but no one really comments here anymore.)