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*.

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.

Mug

Anyone who has seen the movie 'Office Space' will have noticed Lumbergh walking around and managing with a mug in his hand.



Guess what we were given on the first day, along with books and stationery items? Yeah, a mug, with the insti logo on it. Training to become Lumberghs, eh? We were not given any staplers, let along Red Swingline Staplers. Where do they expect us to find a Milton here?

Pride or Vanity?

I am very reluctant to touch old smelly stuff, but I have to rant somewhere before I receive some more . Over the last five years, coinciding with the increased usage of email in India, some wellmeaning but clueless friends keep on forwarding a couple of emails to me to make feel 'proud' of the achievements of India. If there is anyone reading this, go read those letters first and then come back read my responses.

The first letter gives all those utterly useless crap *ahem* 'trivia'

Can't believe those guys are still falling for that fake email circulating as 'recent study.' It is one thing to be proud of our country but fallacies is not a good sign. This is not to discredit all the things India has achieved.

At the peak of Nalanda University, the world was limited to Japan on the East, and the meditteranean Roman Empire on the west. South was limited to Ceylon and possible Maldives and/or Madagascar. North of India, China was the only region known, not even our closest ally Russia was known at that time. Also remember that 'India' existed only as thousands of small warring kingdoms, so close to 90% of the 10000+ students would have been from within the subcontinent (@ an average of 10 students per country). People would have definitely come from far west and far east to take advantage of the excellent university, just like desi students fly to the western countries and down under.

Sanskrit is indeed the mother of all Modern European languages.

When they say Sanskrit is the most suitable for computers, they talk about the grammar (constructs) and them alone, not the script or vocabulary or stuff like that.

Indians have not invaded a country in 1000 years because they were not a single country then but thousands of kingdoms and a few republics (Yes, the oldest republic is from the sub-continent, that too in lawless Bihar.) It is false to say that 'Indians' never invaded another country. There were thousands of kingdoms were effectively thousands of nations and they were busy, what's the word here?, umm yeah, INVADING EACH OTHER. Ok, if we don't considering 'brothers' fighting as invasion of other countries, it is still false. Cholas were frequently invading and plundering Ceylon, and the Chola Navy invaded some Indonesian islands (Sumatra, I think) and spread Hinduism (and to some extent) Buddhism in S.E. Asia (though Buddhism is more popular there than Hinduism).

Proclaiming "Days are not far off when we Indians, whether in India or otherwise, will be a dominant force to reckon with if not already…. " is just vacant, empty, jingoistic rhetorics, like the rooster shouting from the top of a haystack. Mere feel-good words like these won't help achieve this, only actions.

The second is about India having found the largest diamonds in the world and became the richest country in the world

Jeeesus, what a load of crap! Alot of people had their heartiest laugh in their lifetime because of these guys. Isn't it enough that we have a very bad image outside? Do we need to appear so desperate to show our 'superiority' over the whiteys? The World Bank paying India in instalments? Why hasn't the the USA invaded us yet? The funny part is, I am still receiving this kind of bull. Friends realised this once explained, but some India-based mailing lists still transmit pooh like this.

The third and another funny one is that of a 12th standard student disproving Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

In short, there is no Dr. Massimo Martelli, President of IAP. There is no IQ-meter at the American Embassy in Delhi, There was no Prof. Carl Uppsala, Chairman of the Nobel sub-committee for physics reported in the Times of India. And I am still waiting for that Operating System superior to Microsoft Windows. An Indian scientist disproved Stephen Hawking about that black hole theory he had, but was disgraced first by his Indian colleagues and was kicked into oblivion.

I thought this craze ended by 2002, but it has been almost 2 years here and I am still receiving such 'be-proud-of-yourself' emails. Thankfully, they are making only quarterly appearances nowadays. I think the Indian companies themselves are sending them during their quarterly report time to divert attention from their pathetic performances by making the shareholders 'feel proud.'