Owner: Life in 360 URL:http://blog.vinni.co.in Join Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2007 04:45:44 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: About rantings on various things like music, business, MBA, politics, rock music, comics, life, love, software and the internet. My specific interests include software reviews, rock music, cuisines, business strategies, marketing and goofing off. Site statistics:Click here
A Tribute to Salesmen 2007-11-05 02:48:00 Salesmen are a big problem to their bosses, customers and wives, to credit managers, hotels, and sometimes to each other. Individually and collectively they are cursed and discussed in sales meetings, conventions, behind closed doors, in bar rooms and under one’s breath from many angles, and with much fervor. They make more noise and more mistakes, create more cheer, correct more errors, adjust more differences, spread more gossip, explain more discrepancies,, hear more grievances, pacify more belligerences, and waste more time under pressure, all without losing their temper, than any class we know – including ministers. They live in hotels, cabs and tents, on trains, buses, and park benches, eat all kinds of food, drink all kinds of liquids – both good and bad – sleep before, during and after business hours with no more schedule than the weather bureau, and with no sympathy from the office. They come in at the most inappropriate time, under the slightest pretext, stay lon
Life in 360: Version 4.x 2007-11-04 06:26:00 Hi!I am working on version 4.xPlease leave comments, so i can incorporate them as i work on itPlease check back later.Thanks.Vinni
The Last Day 2007-10-30 12:24:00 Sequel to 'Bit of Everything'There was a simple tradition I followed. My PC was always the last to be packed. Unfailingly. It used to be crooning the rock melodies till I had done the last of my packing. It was case on the last day as well. I remember listening to “Lost for Words”, by Pink Floyd; the last one I played that day. We were working on the report and the code till the wee hours of the morning on 12th June 2006. That was when we had the project submission and viva.The person who did take it was none other that the infamous KVV. He asked us a lot of shit on why we made a lame game when we should be doing some kind of research. Well, we did come up with a lot gyaan on how it helped us understand the software development process. (Yeah! Right) I remember, every time he kicked ass with a question, we had one thing to say, “Yes sir, you are absolutely right. We should have thought of it that way as well”. I don’t exactly remember what all he asked, but I think our ass
Bit of everything 2007-10-21 07:17:00 Its been more than a year since I came to Pune. Have been speaking to so many seniors from SIBM. They all have just one thing to say, 'Gosh! We really miss the place'. I can't stop wondering, what they are going through after passing out, I am going through now. No, I am not missing SIBM. I am missing RVCE. I spent fours there. RV taught me a lot of things. I grew up in a place far from parents. Not that you don't when they are around, it was more of the defining period of my life. i turned 18, the second day I was at RVCE. Boy! It felt great. I had never seen so many people around living with me. (Our hostels had 900 people from all years, of course we had a separate one for each year). I was tossed around and butt kicked the whole day by people I had never spoken to. Of course the seniors had a fit, since they could rag me for all they care and say Happy B'day and be done with it. I was the crazy type then. One of my seniors told me to make an ad for condom. I crack myself u
Selling on orkut: Create a business online 2007-10-20 14:48:00 This is something I am doing right now (trying to speak to a guy making a sale). And I realized how effective this is to sell stuff online
. So what was I doing? I got a scrap from this guy/girl (DVD Maniac) on orkut. The scrap was pretty simple. DVD titles and the price. this is what it looked like: -->>NOW AVAILABLE<<---- Friends (8 DVD)(all seasons) Rs.800 Seinfeld (7 dvd)(all seasons) Rs.700 The Simpsons (12 dvd)(13 seasons) Rs.1000 That 70's show (8 dvd)(all seasons) Rs.800 Wonder Years (5 dvd)(all seasons) Rs.500 Lost (6 dvd)(all seasons) Rs.600 Everybody Loves Raymond (9 dvd)(all seasons) Rs.800 I Dream of Jeanie (3 dvd)(3 seasons) Rs.400 Malgudi Days (1 dvd)(complete) Rs.300 Scrubs (3 dvd)(5 seasons) Rs.450 Ducktales (2 dvd)(all seasons) Rs.400 Talespin (3 dvd)(all seasons) Rs.450 Tintin (2 dvd)(all seasons) Rs.400 Southpark (2 dvd)(10 seasons) Rs.400 Byomkesh Bakshi (1 dvd)(24 episodes) Rs.250 Karamchand(new) (1
Alms for Shanti: Varanasi Trail 2007-10-17 14:18:00 The second coming into my life. Don't get confused with the album by Induscreed. Have been listening to this for the last two days; and I can't stop listening to it. Uday Benegal and Jayesh Gandhi formed the band with some of the best musicians from India like Taufiq Qureshi, Rakesh Chaurasia. Mostly classical. Though this was the most popular track they came out with, there was another video 'Super Bowl'. That did the rounds on the charts as well. The band Induscreed though hugely successful, parted ways since each member wanted to pursue his own goals. Uday and Jayesh stuck on and came up with this. The sound can be best described as Indian rhythms and melodies melded with rock and funk grooves. The lyrics can be summed up in two words: cynical optimism. Its been many years since they came up with an Album and I am really looking forward to one. Romour has it, that are working on a new album. But then again, I am just waiting. You can check their website but I reckon its Read more:Varanasi
, Trail
The Chipko Movement (The Chipko Aandolan) 2007-10-14 14:30:00 Blog Action Day is here. This post for what it's worth, is a step towards that. One of the 15000 blogs that are participating on this day. 15th October, 2007. Maybe I am just lost. But that's not what it's about. The forests of India are a critical resource for the subsistence of rural peoples throughout the country, but especially in hill and mountain areas. The villagers depend on the forests for firewood, fodder for their cattle, and wood for their houses and farm tools. Over the years after independence, the government restricted huge areas of forest from their use, and then auctioned off the trees to lumber companies and industries from the plains—a practice inherited with little change from the British colonialists. Because of these restrictions and an ever-growing population, the mountain women found themselves walking hours each day just to gather firewood and fodder. Large lots of trees were sold by the state Forest Department through the “contractor system,”
OpenID: One world, one login 2007-10-10 17:24:00 Well, this is one the landmarks of Web 2.0 and open source. Open ID is an amazing concept and it is catching on fast. OpenID
has arisen from the open source community to solve the problems that could not be easily solved by other existing technologies. OpenID is a lightweight method of identifying individuals that uses the same technology framework that is used to identify websites. As such, OpenID is not owned by anyone, nor should it be. Today, anyone can choose to be an OpenID user or an OpenID Provider for free without having to register or be approved by any organization. OpenID by Simon Willison So why should you use OpenID? Here it goes. OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience. You get to choose the OpenID Provider that best meets your needs and most importantly that you trust. Your OpenID can stay with you, no matter which Provider you move to. The OpenID technology is not proprie
Blog Action Day 2007-10-09 08:11:00 Blog Action
Day Video II Blog Action Day Video I Check my blog on 15th October, 2007. This blog would see some fireworks. ITS BLOG ACTION DAY!
My Study 2007-10-07 15:19:00 This is the home of my plans and crimes I work on, like this post. Clicked using my good old digicam dad had bought in 1999. Canon PowerShot A10. It has 8 MB of memory which I am unable to upgrade anymore since its obsolete. It comes with a 1.3 Megapixel capability with 6X digital zoom. In the year 1999, what else could we have asked for. I don't think I will let go of this camera anytime in my lifetime. It would be one things I would keep for old times sake. It works perfectly well. And one does not need the best cameras for the best pictures. A point in case.
Read more:Study
Is PowerScrap really powering your scraps? 2007-10-07 09:36:00 I had been using PowerScrap for some time. Thought its free and bypasses firewalls, it however really screws up your profile with ads and links to its own website. The privacy policy of PowerScrap states the following: "The PowerScrap.com system only temporarily stores your user information so that our system can perform the requested functions from the user. " This is not being followed since PowerScrap is storing passwords for a longer duration, perhaps forever. Are you comfortable sharing your password to a third party? I changed my Google account password to protect my privacy. PowerScrap also does not mention that it would be changing the profile of the user. clearly an infringement of the privacy policy. All it does mention is this: "By using PowerScrap.com you can send text and multimedia content through the compatible sites. This information will be available to any user of these sites." It does not mention how, and the privacy policy of the sam Read more:scraps
Forgotten Father 2007-10-07 07:57:00 October 2nd, 2007 like every year was 'Gandhi Jayanti'. When the day started, and when it got over. I have no clue. Maybe I have become one of those people who has no time for anything but for themselves. When I was in Chandigarh, I used to frequent the Gandhi Bhavan often to pick up books and while away time. I had read his autobiography too. I think it changed my life in many ways. Even now, many times when we are faced with problems, it could be with authority, the state or life. Why do we think of the most violent ways to put forth our reservations? True, the results using a non-violent approach seem remote but they have been achieved. Our independence is the prime example. On would argue that in the case independence, we were all united and since there were more people for the cause it had more effect. True, don't you feel there was a reason for all the unity? Yeah, there was. Sanity. My friends and I often had the discussion about Gandhi. Well there are quite a lot of m Read more:Forgotten
, Father
Chicken at Home 2007-10-07 03:08:00 Discovered an easy way to make chicken at home. hardly needs any effort and the results are very pleasing. So, to make chicken at home you'll need Chicken
(whole pieces) (You can make 1kg in the microwave at a time) Chicken Masala (4 tea spoons for a kg) Curd (200 gms) Red Chilli Powder (3 tea spoons) Chillis and Coriander (as per taste) Procedure: Marinate the chicken well in curd mixed with the masalas and spices. Leave for about 45 minutes. Put it in the microwave, cover it with a plate or plastic packing sheet. Set it in Combi for 20 minutes. Its Done. I realized making chicken is so simple at home and it comes out really well. You should try it out some time. Cheers!
Gosh! I outdid myself 2007-10-04 08:43:00 My friend and I were up the whole night working on CRM at AirTel. It was a project we had to do part of the CRM course at school. Over the past one year we have been taught nothing but to make PPTs. But then again, making effective PPTs is not something one can learn overnight. This is something we came up with overnight. Imagine, we managed to author the CRM of the 6th largest telecom company in the world in 2 hours. Now that includes facts, fiction that sounds cool and 'Pfaff' we made up to fill in the loose ends. After I ran through the presentation, I was like. Man! I totally rock this world! You can check the presentation. A small word of advice, if you guys think that you found some solid stuff on the topic we are presenting about, think again. This by no means is true, perhaps even remotely. Its something we cooked up overnight to get an A. Which we did! Cheers to the MBA community. I know I am rocking, are you? To know more about how I went about doing it, click here.
Read more:myself
The Best Gmail Hacks 2007-10-01 14:00:00 Ok, for the past few weeks, people have been asking me a lot of questions on how I make my Gmail
look so clean and COOL! I have gone through many scripts (greasemonkey and stylish) and Firefox addons. These are some of the best that I have come across. All of them are safe to use but then again, you do so at your own risk. A word for Internet Explorer users: Get a life, use Firefox! Firefox Extensions GmailThis - excellent browser bookmarker that lets you quickly forward highlighted text on any webpage via Gmail. Small and handy! DragDropUpload - this handy extension lets you quickly attach one or more files to your emails by dragging them over the “Attach a file” link. A great utility. Now using gmail is just like using an email client on the machine. Very very very handy! GTDInbox - turns your account into flexible and feature-loaded ToDo-management service. A really cool addon, supports multiple enhancements. It does get things done. Like they claim! Custo
Calvin has a haircut 2007-09-30 16:18:00 Its not that I am running out of ideas on what to post. I was reading Calvin
after some time. Calvin has a haircut, and guess who cuts it for him. Hobbes! This, my friends is one of the most wicked comic strips I have come across. Notice the haircut? I will never forget the time I did that to myself. I wasn't too long before. I looked like a bubble head.
Oh! The in betweens! 2007-09-30 12:34:00 This is something Simon, commented on to me previous post. I felt it deserve a post for its length (sorry, Simon! you do go on for long!) and relevance (that's why its here) Everything does have its phases. I used to think I would eventually reach a kind of plateau in life where everything would be sorted out. But now I realize that life isn't like that. There are 'good' times and 'bad' times (and lots of in betweens!) and the phase you are in at the moment just happens to be, well, the phase you are in at the moment. But 'bad' times do provide an opportunity for us to develop as people. Often, when things are going OK, you don't have to try. It was when things got rough for me that I got into all the self-development stuff I write about in my blog. It has opened the door into a whole new area of life. Chaos and uncertainty can be very unsettling - and we humans tend not to like them - but look at it this way: when everything is easy and sorted out, there is little opportu
Not sleepy 2007-09-29 17:37:00 Its very late now, 3 AM. Its Sunday. I should be sleeping. But I can't. There are too many things clouding my mind now. Its been some months since I parted ways. Everything has its phases. This is perhaps the last lap. I hope at least. The first phase was when I was trying to go berserk and live life like nothing happened. It was normal. I remember it got to me when I got shit drunk in Belgaum. The auto guy was kind enough to drop me to my room. That's when I was moving to phase two. Now you start coming to terms with what has happened. It starts eating you slowly. You look at your mails and cell phone but there are no missed calls or messages. You keep staring at it with the hope that something does come. Maybe a one liner, a forward. Perhaps even a couple of abuses. But there is nothing as you stare into the blank screen. All it shows is four towers and my own name. I was back in Pune and I was having serious symptoms of re-bound. Anything would do. having cloudy thoughts and l
What's Microsoft upto? 2007-09-29 03:51:00 This is a post inspired by this article on ZDNet (Is Windows XP too good for Microsoft
’s own good?) Windows XP was a huge leap from Windows 98/ME. It made the right interface and people got used to just to easily. Most importantly it provided the right set of features. It managed to run on a computer with 128 MB RAM. It flew on a computer with 512 MB RAM. Life was really good. It had the right amount of eye candy and features. Nothing went wrong and it did what you wanted it to do. The reasons why I like XP are really simple Neat interface and the right colors Fast, runs on PII as well Installs all drivers and software. No compatibility issues here. surprisingly stable, unless of course you messed with your OS Huge number of hacks for the likes of me who like to screw around. It also made it easy to make a lot of changes. A lot of plugins and add-ons were available which made customizing very easy.
Walk for chicken 2007-09-28 06:33:00 I was reading the blog of my cousin sister, Shilpa. Could not help but remember our good ol granny. Its been some time since she left us. Miss her a lot. Does seem strange. She was one of a kind and I don't think I will ever forget the stories she used to tell us. When Shilpa was young she used to join me. But later she grew up and the kid that i still was, i was huddling to granny for her stories. :-) She fed us well and was a brilliant cook. She could make the best sweets and south Indian delicacies. I don't think any one could make it so well. When I was in 3rd grade I remember, she was making 'mysore paak' and I was playing in the kitchen like the buffoon I am. She was mixing the sweet in the 'vaandli' (large cooking vessel) and some of the hot mysore paak fell on my hand and burnt it right through. I was howling in pain. But after having a taste of the sweet she had made with all the love, the pain just vanished and I was off with my destructive ways with a bandage around m
Life in 360. Version 3.x 2007-09-26 14:14:00 Ok, this is the new look which I have given to the blog. Over the last 2 years it has grown a lot. I get more hits of course. I have also been adding more blogger friends. I am putting a version history of the blog. Would appreciate comments on the new look as well. Version 1.0 This was the original blog that I was using. A pre made template. I had not even changed the links which are shown by default. Some of the things I used to do then were (they are not recommended): no labels on posts no titles for posts maintain a personal log Version 2.0 I was using this till day before yesterday (24th September 2007). The modifications I had made to Version 1.0 were Increasing the width of the viewable area to 900px Install blog feeds Subscribe to feedburner bookmarks on all posts at the bottom of the post Remove the top navigation bar which is provided be default by Blogger Add a favicon to the blog. Added a JScript to prompt the visitor for his
Windows Live Writer, tested and working 2007-09-23 12:50:00 Ok, so Windows
Live Writer
does work. No doubts about that. I am too lazy to write reviews but here are a few things I found in Live Writer. You can save as many drafts as you like on your computer to be published later It supports all the formatting tags that blogger has. (I use blogger, I am not aware of WordPress and others) You can publish directly from the computer and you don't need to go to the Blogger website. You don't have to screw with the HTML tags and it does all the dirty work for you. You edit in the theme of your own blog, so its really WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU REALLY GET! You can configure multiple blogs You can insert these in a jiffy Pictures (no need to do it the hard way!) Videos (from websites) Tables Maps Hyperlinks .... Spell Check, just like a word processor. Some features missing and bugs I found It screwed up some formatting of the widgets on the right bar of my blogExport options (to word Read more:tested
, working
, Windows Live
, Windows Live Writer
Windows Live Writer: Blogging Made Easy 2007-09-22 15:13:00 For all the bloggers this is THE tool! I stumbled across it recently, and this is the first post i am publishing using the Windows
Live Writer
. If it does work, I'd say Microsoft has done a good job. What's surprising is that it works with Blogger, Word Press, LiveJournal and not just Live Spaces. What a relief from the one sided Windows software we have seen till now. I must admit, I am tense as hell now. I wanna see if this shit really works and I cant tell the world about it, if it really does. Ok here goes, this is from the website and what it claims. testing 1 2 3 ........ Ok this is what it claims to provide: Compatibility with your blog service Windows Live
Spaces, Sharepoint, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Moveable Type, Community Server, and many other weblog services. WYSIWYG editing Rich media publishing Makes it easier to embed media like pictures. We all know what a pain it is to put pictures on blogger. Read more:Windows Live Writer
, Blogging
Indus Creed: Pretty Child - A tribute 2007-09-19 07:12:00 Heard it the first thing in the morning, and have not stopped listening to it since. My brother used to play it often and it used to be running on TV all day. This song was something. Was voted 9th in the best 100 videos of 1993, worldwide. There is something very nostalgic about this song. Make me remember my brother, my home in Delhi, the dhabha outside our house which played this song often, Doordarshan (MTV initially used to air for 2 hours in the evening on DD2). There is weird aura about the lyrics and it makes you remember your loved ones. It makes me remember well some of the people who came into my life and changed it forever. I don't know what it is about this song..I'll cry. Indus Creed
: Pretty
Child, music video The lyrics for you to follow pretty child, they're cheering away as you ride through your kingdom of sand lovely child , you're a hero today you're a magical mystery man like a bird on the wing, you soar through your dreams Read more:tribute
Orkut hoaxes 2007-09-15 06:21:00 This took me some time to compile. Over the past couple of months i have been flooded by mails which claim to do a lot of things including infecting your computer with a virus, closing the account and what not. Here are some that have come to me. If you see something coming your way, send it across to me. I would put it here. Please ignore the language and the spellings. These are directly copied from the hoax mails. I am not giving any gyaan but i think one should be smart enough to figure out a hoax.These messages are hoax message and try to understand the message content. There are some people who want to create this kind of hoax message which will reduce the performance of any system like Orkut
. So please beware of these hoax messages and don't forward them to your friends. If you forward the message it will just affect the performance of the systems wherein you are using the messaging system. Just try to avoid those messages and help Orkut to serve you better.Hoax 1: Orkut delet
Hamara Bajaj, Aaj ka Bajaj 2007-11-18 04:22:00 For long, Bajaj had been accused of using obsolete technology that is polluting the air. They were selling scooters, which were low on mileage and considered a poor man's transport. Over the years, scooters had started becoming less popular and they had lost our dominance in the scooter market. Although they were still the largest selling brand in the country, they did not have that overwhelming brand presence anymore. Bajaj lost their position because they failed to convince the consumers that they have environment-friendly, stylish, sleek products. This was one of the most popular ads of that time. The hamara bajaj campaign went something like this. Hamara Bajaj: 1989 Bajaj over the years has been redefining itself and the idea was communicating this new Bajaj to people. It started with the Auto Expo 98 and 99 wherein Bajaj displayed new sleek products that the consumer had never before associated with Bajaj. Then in 1999, they launched 17 products that were sleek, s
These advertisements also sell 2007-11-18 03:21:00 Currently running on all TV networks. Advertisements have changed over the years. They have become more meaningful and aim to connect to the consumer. I remember ads, that aired some years back. Most of them focused on features. Ads later started focusing on the benefits and the value associated with them. A new trend has started - Ads with a social messages. These ads are meant to appeal to consumers with what they feel strongly about and . Its not really CSR (corporate social responsibility). They are essentially trying to sell, but in a very smart way. What we are seeing is, a strong trend where brands are utilizing issues that surround the consumers’ immediate environment and are addressing them through their mainstream advertising. Some such ads in recent times have been the 'Jaago Re' campaign by Tata Tea. They have tied up with the Jaago Re Foundation and have been airing different ads every fortnight. The TV commercial deals with political corruption, while t
For Maadarc**d 2007-11-14 14:34:00 Four years of engineering life, and the same four years in hostel. The best of my life, undoubtedly. I have seen friends come and go. But there was one who never left me, in spite of me! The old lovable hostel mutt. I have known him since the 1st semester. I used to call him maadarc**d (motherf**ker in english), and he is used to lovingly come running to me and jump all over me. I never gave him a dog name. He liked this inane name. the 2nd semester i had decided to stay back and not go back home. I was all alone in the hostel. Who was there for me? Maadarc**d! For want of company, I used to keep in my room. He used to spend the cold night in a corner where I had made a make shift bed for him with newspapers. He used to be sitting outside till around 7 PM after which it would get cold outside. He would keep scratching on my door till i let him in. He was so cute! Could never say no. I used to code late into the night and whenever i was frustrated I used to say the beautiful words
Creating a Professional Blog in Easy Steps! 2007-11-27 06:42:00 Before I start telling you how to go about doing this, I assume a few things. You know a bit of coding especially in CSS, HTML, jscripts and PHP. Understand networking terminologies like CNAME, A Records etc Know how to use FTP and have a FTP client Finally, believe that you really can have a professional blog for less than 5$ !!! Hosting Solution. You would need a hosting solution first. There are hosts of free hosting providers. Some of them also offer space upto 2GB without any ads. I recommend FreeWebHosty. You can a comprehensive list from here. What you need to look for in the hosting solution PHP Support SQL Database Good amount of space Native SSL Support CUSTOMER SUPPORT (Yes, even free hosting providers give customer support!) FTP Client. You would need a FTP client. You can download one like FileZilla or FireFTP which are free. If you have purchased an FT Read more:Creating
Getting the feeds to do it 2007-12-03 21:47:00 I discovered an interesting way to make your blog popular, submitting your RSS feed to RSS feed aggregators. I have been doing so for some time now. Recently, I came across RSS Hugger. Recently launched perhaps a few days back, it presently has some 260 feeds. Some of the interesting features include, Top 100 feeds, most read feeds etc. Why don't you give it a shot? Oh i forgot to mention. Its FREE!
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