You've got to be really brave to...

I have stayed in Delhi (the capital of India) long enough to make the following statement, and I'll also mention quite-a-few instances and reasons (in a multi-part series to follow), to drive my point:

You've got to be really brave to drive a vehicle in Delhi

To get things started, consider the case of what happened on numerous roads in the city today (September 12, 2007):
Some insane people, the group being quite large in number apparently, decided to protest by blocking various heavily-used roads at multiple points all over Delhi causing blockades and hence a lot of inconvenience to traffic throughout the city.

The news was all over the radio and television channels and the RJ, on the radio channel that I was listening to, ran out of breath multiple times when he started calling out the names of the roads affected. This is preposterous!!
And.. that is not the end of it. The police, according to the same RJ, had all the information about the 'protest' but never bothered to take any corrective/preventive measures. They intervened only once there was helter-skelter all over the city and there was complete pandemonium on the city roads. What the hell was the 'With You, For You, Always' force doing sitting on their butts when they knew what could happen (and it eventually happened!)?

Anyway, thankfully or luckily, I decided to leave for office a little early today (although I had no idea about the chakka jam protest) and therefore did not have to face the 'music' :-)

By the way, nobody knows what the protest was against.

This is a part of a series titled 'Delhi Driving'.

Super Mario Bros. Anthology

This is a treat for Super Mario Bros. fans. I found a website (sincere thanks to Google) from where I could download the MP3s of most of the sounds in my all-time favourite arcade game. The website is KHInsider.

Thanks KHInsider and Google :-)

Truth about 'commitment'

No comic strip has ever been this close to describing me! ;-)

Video Game: PETA against KFC

Here's a nice game 'inspired' by my all-time favourite: Super Mario Bros. from Nintendo:

Source: [The Thinking Blog]

Thought of the day: #4

Read it on the Graffitti that appeared in the Delhi Times section of The Times of India (20 August, 2007):

A bore helps you appreciate the brighter side of solitude

;-)

Thought of the day: #3

Found on the inside of another chocolate's cover:

Dare to love completely!

Thought of the day: #2

Found it on the inside of a chocolate wrapper:

There's no excuse not to dream.

I have one too, and my quest is on (Ref: TOTD#1)

Thought of the day: #1

Pardon me if you find this (or another quote that means something similar) elsewhere, but I don't remember reading it anywhere and therefore, I consider it a result of my own thought process:

If you truly love someone, then that individual is worth sacrificing and risking everything you've got because once you win that person over, you really have got everything.

Feel free to remember 'Yours Truly' if you use this quote anytime anywhere.

For Linux Lovers

Old Linux Newbie is one of the few blogs where I contribute, and I love this one dearly.
Anyway the last post there is about screen which has really excited me and I am sure you'll also find it highly useful. Let me know what you think.

Howto: Be a Programmer

How to be a Programmer: A Short, Comprehensive, and Personal Summary - Robert L Read

A nice and not-too-long article! I specially liked the "time estimation" part, which guides you how to make the estimates logically and to never make pessimistic estimations. Must read, I would say.

Spam, Spam and more Spam...

HEY ITS DIANNA, FROM THE DIRECTOR OF ORKUT, EVERYBODY SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION BUT ORKUT IS CLOSING THE SYSTEM DOWN BECAUSE TOO MANY BOTTERS ARE TAKING UP ALL THE NAMES, WE ONLY HAVE 57 NAMES LEFT, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT, DONT SEND THIS MESSAGE, IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR ACCOUNT, SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST. THIS IS NOT A JOKE, YOU'LL BE SORRY IF YOU DONT SEND IT. THANKS DIRECTOR OF ORKUT, TIM BUISKI. WHOEVER DOESNT SEND THIS MESSAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DEACTIVATED AND IT WILL COST YOU $ 10.00 A MONTH TO USE IT.

Kick some ass...

This is my original composition, on behalf of Ozzy, whose birthday is not too far:

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Long long time ago,
I can still remember,
How the lukkhagiri used to make me swear.
And I knew if I had my chance,
That I could really kick some ass,
And may be they'd swear back for a while...

And now April makes me shiver,
For every kick that he had delivered,
Some of 'em hardest 'n some softest,
I couldn't take one more step...

I can't remember if they cried,
When I kicked around their dearest hind
The kicks, they hurt them deep inside
And for days, the ass would die...

---

This is under Creative Commons license.
Let me know if you like it. Even if you don't like it.
Suggestions are most welcome.

All In One Vijay (awesome swf)

Some nice quotes

1. Everything I say is a lie. Except that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that.
2. Computers are like air conditioners: they stop working properly if you open Windows.
3. He came , he saw, he coded (and left a bug).
4. Always write your code as if the person who's going to maintain it is a violent psychopath who knows where you live.Always write your code as if the person who's going to maintain it is a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
5. entomophobia n : A morbid fear of insects; Example: Most computer programmers suffer from entomophobia.
6. Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9.
7. There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots.

I like the bold ones the most. Picked all of them up from a database in my organization.

(1975) Dog Day Afternoon

Rating: 8.5/10
Genre : Crime, Drama, Thriller

Dog Day Afternoon (DDA) is an excellent movie based on a real incident that happened in Brooklyn on August 22, 1972. It is one of those movies which is claimed to be closest to the real life incident it is based upon (although this has been challenged by the real-life protagonist).

The movie is based on an incident which started out as a 10-minute bank robbery, turned into a drama, and ended on a _____ note. (The space has been left blank intentionally so that this post does not act as a spoiler.) All of this happened in about 14 hours and the director Sidney Lumet has done a tremendous job of capturing the whole of it in just about 2 hours without leaving out (m)any details. Also worth mentioning, is the job of Al Pacino (Sonny Wortzik) and Chris Sarandon (Leon Shermer). I was disapponted to find Chris' name absent from the list of characters on IMDb.

What I liked most about the movie was how the protagonist managed to gather crowd support by shouting "Attica! Attica!" against the police. The details of the "Attica" incident are here.

Some of the quotes from the movie will last in the viewer's mind for a very long time:

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Sonny: Attica! Attica!

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Sonny: It's your job, right? You know, the guy who kills me, I hope he does it 'cause he hates my guts. Not 'cause it's his job.

---

Sonny: Kiss me.
Moretti: What?
Sonny: Kiss me. When I'm being fucked, I like to get kissed a lot.

---

Sonny: [talking to Sal, waiting for his wife to answer the phone] You know I can call anybody, they'd put it on the phone? The Pope, an astronaut, the wisest of the wise...

---

Too much for the movie. Now about the real incident and the men involved.
The man involved in the real bank robbery attempt is John Wojtowicz. He was sentenced 20 years of imprisonment but was released after 7 years. He was offered $7500 + 1% of the net profits of the movie, for his permission to make a movie on this incident. Here is a must read letter from the man where he explains his side of the story and also talks about what the movie did not capture, intentionally or otherwise.

I would recommend you to watch this movie soon.

[IMDb page]; [Crazy4Cinema review]; [Movie script];
[Attica incident]; [John Wojtowicz's letter];

Cute Wickedness