Thursday, December 16, 2004

Information is power

I was talking to this guy when he stopped outside this another guy's room and told him to send him an ebook by a famous author. I had found it with a lot of difficulty, spending too much time googling and browsing bulletin boards. So, I wanted to know where he found it out so that it won't be difficult for me next time. When I asked him where he downloaded it, he said it was a secret and asked me why I wanted to know. He said that why I was 'so curious' and it was 'not good'.

Cut back to a few months before when he was a 'supplier' to the hostel of a famous sitcom. He was very restrictive about whom he shared it to and when. The load on his comp could get too much when given open access and this was understandable. I said him to give me access atleast when he was sleeping or off to the class, but he denied every request. Well, the reason of his comp slowing down when given access to more than a handful of people was reasonable and there being a lengthy 'waiting list' was also equitable. After waiting for a couple of months, I got bored and quit bothering him.

Coming back, he did not tell me where he downloaded it. But many guys have told me where they get pretty interesting stuff and they were not even close to me! But they weren't, you know, management students.

Why did he do this? Maybe to have that 'competitive advantage', where he has information which others don't have. In economics, it is said that 'incomplete information' gives advantage to either the seller or the buyer (or something like that, I mostly slept through the economic courses.) If everybody has the information this advantage disappear, doesn't it? My father says, unsolicited advice (or information) has no value, it just annoys others. But what if you don't give something even if asked for? Even if you tell only when asked, if you tell everything, you are a sucker. But, where do you draw the line when you tell and when you don't?

Knowledge is power, rather Information is power. Don't ask don't tell is old adage, Don't tell if you don't gain anything is in.

This guy might not be a psycho, but something related: Psycho-Bosses.

The internet is really sloooow today. Molasses moves faster than this, even an ant swimming in molasses would be faster; struggling for over 2 hours trying to post this *fuming*.

Sunday, December 12, 2004

The meaning of is is

This thing has been bothering me for a while. While others can give the meaning of English words I know, no one could give me what the meaning of 'is' is. Whomever I asked the question, they first tried to recall what the meaning was and after floundering for some time, they quickly pronounced me crazy! After some time on the internet, I came reference.com which defined 'is' as 'Third person singular present indicative of be.'

This dilemma was said to be leveraged on by Bill Clinton during his trial. Some say he was the first, but this lady says not so.

There is even a philosophy course at UTexas Austin, that ponders over the meaning of 'is'.

Now, who will answer the question, which came first - The chicken or the egg?
So, for the last few days I've jumped into the field searching for jobs. Only only a few months left for graduation and I MUST have a job before I leave this place. So far, no luck :(

Either the companies reject me based on my resume or marks or both, or I screw up in the group discussion part.