Five Friends Take Pictures Over 35 Years - From CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/five-guys-take-same-photo-for-35-years

Speeding Up Indexing In Windows 10

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/speed-up-or-disable-windows-search-indexing-in-vista/

ccleaner is a good windows tool for cleaning unwanted files and registry errors.

I realized wondershare video converter could be a malicious tool. Do not use it. It did not allow me to uninstall it. So I went to its folder and deleted the entire folder after killing its processes. And used ccleaner to clean the registry. 

Impact of GST On Various Expenditures

http://www.financialexpress.com/economy/gst-goods-and-services-tax-rate-list-impact-mobile-bill-movie-eating-hotel-air-travel/739498/?utm_source=izooto&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=browser_push&utm_content=&utm_term=

Fashion And The Belly Button

While out for a walk yesterday I saw a woman wearing a salwar kameez. The kameez was slightly different from a normal one. It had slits in the sides and also slits in the front, the belly button was visible. Perhaps there was a slit in the kameez in the back as well I am not sure. I saw her walking towards me, I didn't turn back as she walked past me.

Now I wondered. What was such a design for? A slit that is long, ending below the knee and starting from above the waist. And a slit in the front as well?

And another design that I saw was like a male pajama, very loose from the hips all the way to the ankle. So loose? It looked hideous.

Snobbish Friends

I was struck by one thing recently. Most of my friends are hard core snobs.

Guruji is an apple juice fanatic and only stopped drinking that because someone told her that an apple (in any form) a day keeps the doctor and his wife away.

Femmo who was planning to go to Chennai dropped the idea because someone told her she wouldn't need a passport / visa to get to Chennai. She never goes to any place where she wouldn't need her passport.

The deep frier only likes Armani because someone told her that Armani is Sindhi.

The baby tsunamita wont marry a shoe maker because I threatened to gift her a coblerone chocolate as a marriage gift.

God, women are like elephants; expensive creatures and as useful to have around.

Published on

10/18/09, 11:52 AM

India Standard Time

Ranked At The Top In Google Search

For all those who want to drive up traffic on their website and get customers, it is important to get a good ranking on google search. Many people would sell their left arm and their right foot to be ranked high on Google search.

I have been reading a lot about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how to design pages, how to create key words, how to barter with other people and exchange links on each other's page and so on. I have implemented them assiduously in my blog. I have earlier written about Google search (http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2010/10/google-search-and-mobiles-how-our-lives.html). Since there are tons of material on this subject I don't want to write another treatise on the same.

My efforts have paid off. Today I saw that the search of three words "Old" "Indian" "Mo" gives 132 million results and my blog came on top. 

http://www.google.co.in/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=old+indian+mo&meta=&btnG=Google+Search

It just goes on to show that with good web design and good content design it is not impossible to come on top.

I don't understand the meaning of the third word "Mo" in the search. I am not even sure my blog contains the 2 letter word "Mo". If I replace Mo by Movies, the results are entirely different. If i change the order of the three words (Old Indian Mo) in the search, the results are again very different. 

One thing still nags me. How the heck does Google PageRank work anyway? How do you get your website to come on top on Google search?
Interesting articles on Google PageRank
http://www.sirgroane.net/google-page-rank/

 Published on

1/9/11, 6:29 PM

India Standard Time

Charity

Isn't it strange? The biggest donations to charity are from people who have espoused capitalism completely? (http://luxpresso.com/news-lifestyle/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-kickstart-india-visit/3928). 

Both Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are in India this week to encourage Indian businessmen to donate.

The Tatas and Birlas have long been knows for their ability to contribute. I hope others also do. It's lovely to give something back to society.

 Published on

3/23/11, 5:06 PM

India Standard Time

Course 101 for Aspiring Gurus

When you are on your way to become a guru (of any variety Zen, Osho, Baba etc etc. They come in multiple flavors and sizes but usually male) you have to know the subtleties of expression.

People get thrilled with nice explanations for what they are doing. Explanations that help them to overcome the feeling of guilt.

A good guru's primary job is the alleviation of guilt. Find what people are guilty/sad about and provide a neat explanation that removes that feeling while encouraging them to pursue the same activities with renewed vigor.

The other option of diverting the desciple's activities towards "better" things will usually result in failure. While this ideal may sound lofty, a good guru knows that you can almost never change the way a person behaves.

Let me explain this through a real life example.

Guruji comes from a religious family. She herself was not religious and she felt bad that she, an adult and a mother, was doing something wrong. She didn't explain all this to me. But I could sense it. 

So instead of advising her to do what her family expects her to do, I explained to her the evils of being religious and the goodness in being self centered (she felt guilty about being self centered). 

I gave her a nice book (http://calmisc.blogspot.com/2017/07/frisco-and-slug.html) to read on this subject. 

Now you can see what the effect was. Guruji has accepted me as her guru. (I will refrain from mentioning how she actively and joyously broke many dinner plates after I had had a few sessions with her.)

Fear, obligation and guilt are the things that an emotional blackmailer raises in a person to keep him under control (read the lovely book on Emotional Blackmail by Susan Forward ). 

The person being emotionally blackmailed hates it. And when you help remove those negative emotions, a person will accept you as a guru.

So when you telling a person to do something, are you commanding her to do what she was doing anyway or is she independently doing what you wanted her to do? Well while you started off with the former, because of the credibility established the latter will happen. This is the secret recipe of an Ellsworth Toohey.

Published on

4/6/11, 2:46 PM

India Standard Time

Most Powerful Country - India Ranked 5th

India is ranked the 5th most powerful nation based on multiple parameters such as effective population, defense strength and economic capability etc (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-13/india/29413252_1_energy-security-nsi-defence-capabilities).

Apparently the ones ranked above are US (ranked 1st), China, Japan and Russia. The nations that are ranked 6th to 10th are South Korea, Norway, Germany, France, UK.

What does all this mean to the average man in the street in India? We have seen the kind of education we have, the kind of elections and the state of politics in India. The average man wants his roti, kapda aur makaan (food, clothing and shelter). Are we empowering him to get these basic wants? I certainly am not an advocate for doling out things for free? But how do we get this Bholaram and Sitadevi (Indian John Doe and Jane Doe) to the mainstream?

Where do we see the foresight and the mental wherewithal anywhere here?

Additional reading:

• http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/04/education-in-india.html
• http://Calmisc.blogspot.com/2011/04/turbulent-priest.html

Published on

4/14/11, 2:02 PM

India Standard Time

Search For Mr Right

This is a well written article (http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/love-sex/will-you-wait-for-mr-right-blog-1-marie-claire-india.html) on the search for Mr Right. Google may do well to address this too.

Published on

4/16/11, 11:40 AM

India Standard Time

Wherefore Art Thou. Loyalty

I have been thinking about loyalty and its absence in some of us. Let me define loyalty. It's that feeling that we have about and entity (something or someone) which makes us stick fast and support the entity, no matter what.

Examples of loyalty are: "Till death to us part", "Whether he is as interesting as a stone or a blade of grass, he is still your husband" (saying in Tamil).

Additional reading: http://www.davideigen.com/2008/11/14/ethics-loyalty/

Published on

9/24/11, 4:56 PM

India Standard Time

Miss My Husband

My friend was furious with me the other day. She looked fit to explode. Read FAQ about her family (http://Calmisc.blogspot.com/2011/05/fhaq-frequently-asked-questions-by-new.html?showComment=1306136423267)

All that I had asked her was whether she missed her husband. Now why would this question create such a reaction?

To explain this well, we have to dig a little more into the background. First I will explain "mayke" which is a rather unique Indian concept. The word literally means "mother's" and refers to a woman's parents' house. Indian women get married and move to their in laws/husband's house. She always remembers her mayke fondly. 

Mayke is the place where a woman is encouraged to be lazy. Unlike in the husband's house where she is reprimanded for being lazy. Mayke is also where Indian women traditionally go when they are pregnant. Mayke provides a lot of comfort and solace to women.

And now my friend has this habit of going to mayke, uhmmm, more frequently than most women in India who live south of Kashmir. And I, as an avid data collector and researcher of women's habits, have secretly kept tab of her visits to mayke. I have the dates, durations etc categorized by year, month, excuse for visiting mayke etc. My friend usually has tickets booked to her mayke for the next two visits at least. 

So it seemed natural to me that a woman who spends 11 months in a year at mayke would justifiably miss her husband. And that was the reason behind my question.

I guess she didn't like my insinuation.

I still fondly wish that when this friend goes to visit her parents, she hears from a neighbor, that classic line just before the interval in the movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge "Wo tho kal hi sab bechkar chale gaye" (they went away only yesterday after selling off everything).

Additional reading:
http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/01/dilwale-dulhaniya-le-jayenge-ddlj.html

Published on

10/3/11, 11:20 AM

India Standard Time

Trust In Relationships

This is a nice thread on trust http://sosuave.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-116189.html.

More interesting ones: 

http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/when-her-frigidness-is-not-a-warning-sign/ 

http://www.winggirlmethod.com/why-do-women-flake-on-plans/

http://anamikas.hubpages.com/hub/signs-of-rebound-relationship-definition-identifying-knowing-how-to

http://ezinearticles.com/?Signs-That-Say-Hes-Just-Not-Into-You---How-to-Spot-Mr-Wrong-So-You-Can-Make-Room-for-Mr-Right&id=6139514

http://www.askmen.com/dating/heidi_100/132_dating_girl.html

Human behavior is complex. If we cant understand it, we have to try through indirect routes. Determine the circumstances under which a person may behave in the way in which we have seen them behave. Then we sometimes get an idea of the circumstances surrounding the other person. Maybe we cannot do anything about it. But it sure helps us understand better.

Published on

8/31/11, 1:18 PM

India Standard Time

Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

I found the book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig online. Here it is http://design.caltech.edu/Misc/pirsig.html.

Quotes from the book: 

"I try always to pick a book far over his (author's son) head and read it as a basis for questions and answers, rather than without interruption. I read a sentence or two, wait for him to come up with his usual barrage of questions, answer them, then read another sentence or two. 

Classics read well this way. They must be written this way. Sometimes we have spent a whole evening reading and talking and discovered we have only covered two or three pages. It’s a form of reading done a century ago—when Chautauquas were popular. Unless you’ve tried it you can’t imagine how pleasant it is to do it this way." Wow. What an amazing way to read.

Published on

12/6/11, 10:22 PM

India Standard Time

Passive Aggressive Behavior

While plain aggressive behavior is easy to detect, more difficult to see is the passive aggressive behavior as explained here. Symptoms for this behavior listed by Diagnostic and Statistical manual are here. Example 1 mentioned here is very interesting.

Additional reading: 

http://vbala99.blogspot.in/2012/03/emotions-what-are-they.html

Published on

4/8/12, 12:53 PM

India Standard Time

Advertising In Facebook (FB)

I read this article on the effectiveness of advertising in FB. I remember discussing this about a year back with a friend. I had said to her then that I didn't think it would be effective because people come to FB to network and are not likely to be in a buying mood.

Other articles I read then seemed to indicate that advertising in social media was catching on and one could not afford to ignore them. I would love to see some figures that throw some light on this.

 Published on

5/18/12, 8:28 PM

India Standard Time

Overthinking

An article on overthinking and its effects. Another one here. But I guess this is about paranoia and not about analysis.

Additional reading: http://www.kristensguide.com/Relationships/why_are_women_crazy.asp

Published on

5/21/12, 11:10 AM

India Standard Time

Conversation With A Friend

I met an (age 1 year) old friend today. I asked her if I was a narcissist. 

She replied "ggnnn nnga nge nga di da"

Translated this means:

"Well its a difficult question.. there are different kinds of people. people with high self esteem and those that are genuine narcissists. Look, I have good self esteem but I am not a narcissist. I don't keep looking at myself in the mirror (bottom of mirror in my house is 6 inches above my head). I don't think you are one either because you have cut yourself shaving again. So you don't look at yourself in the mirror either. "

So that settles the matter finally.

Note:
I chose a one year old to ask this question to since I wanted to be confident that the reply to my question won't be YES.

Published on

5/24/12, 9:12 PM

India Standard Time

Home Remedies For Upset Stomach

Here is a list of remedies for stomach upset. And here is a recipe.

Published on

11/4/12, 10:21 AM

India Standard Time

Puzzles

Here is a nice page for logical puzzles.

Here is another one a friend gave me.

Proof Of Pythogoras Theorm

http://www.cut-the-knot.org/pythagoras/index.shtml - See proof no:4 by Bhaskara.

The area of the bigger square is: (a+b)²

Area of the inner square = area of outer square - area of the 4 triangles 

= (a+b)²-4*(1/2*a*b)=a²+b²

Inner square has side c. Its area is c²

Hence a**2+b**2 = c**2

Additional reading: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/solving-linear-equations-and-inequalities/variable-and-expressions/v/why-aren-t-we-using-the-multiplication-sign

Published on

6/16/13, 12:33 PM

India Standard Time

Navratri Bingley

There is a movie called Navratri in Tamil which was made in the 1960s. It was remade in Hindi as Naya Din Nayi Raat with Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri in 1974.

The heroine's marriage gets fixed and she is love with a college mate. She runs away from home and meets various other people in the course of 9 days (of prathamai to navami of Navratri) all 9 are other roles incidentally performed by the same hero. Those roles could have been performed by any other actor. Finally, the heroine  returns home and finds that the groom found by her parents for her was none other than her lover.

There is a friend of mine who loved someone at the age of 13 who was a Bingley. She dreaded a Bingley. She ran away from him and subsequently found 8 other men who also were Bingleys. Finally she met a man of her choice and at last she was happy... until she found that the last was a Bingley too. 

Let this be a guiding rule for all those romantic girls who run away from something awful in the hope of finding the ultimate. Often the ultimate turns out to be no different from the initial. Imagine running desperately across time / space to reach the point you started from.

Published on

10/16/12, 11:25 AM

India Standard Time

Whither Goest Thou

A friend of mine was going on a trip. She told me (she was on the train) that the train goes to Varanasi and then this place and that place and the train is expected to be 2 hrs late at Varanasi but will reach Nagpur at the right time. That all these were told to her by a co passenger. I asked her whether the co passenger was a male. She blushed and said yes. Yes, of course.

Another friend called me yesterday. She was having guests over from England and that the guests were gaga about mountains in her country. I asked her where the mountains were. Well, she is still trying to figure out North? East, West naaa South or is it North east?

Another friend couldn't point to North west in her house.

Directions to a woman is like recipe to a man. The important thing is the destination (food). It is someone else's job to know the directions (recipe) and take (feed) me there. I don't need to know.

Published on

1/1/13, 11:20 AM

India Standard Time

Me? Huh? - Man In Black

Man in Black by Oliver Goldsmith: http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/goldsmth/mniblck.htm or http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/47799/

Published on

10/20/13, 9:08 AM

India Standard Time

Measuring Time In Minutes By Burning Ropes - Puzzle

http://sbjoshi.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/puzzle-burning-ropes/

Published on

9/4/14, 8:17 PM

India Standard Time

Cyclic Quadrilaterals - Angles In A Circle

• Angle at center is twice angle at circumference: http://theoremoftheweek.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/theorem-32-the-angle-at-the-centre-is-twice-the-angle-at-the-circumference/
• http://www.benjamin-mills.com/maths/Year11/circle-theorems-proof.pdf
• http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMAT6680Su06/Byrd/Assignment%20Nine/CyclicQuad.pdf
• http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/circle-theorems.html

Published on

9/18/14, 5:30 PM

India Standard Time

Carl Sagan - Quotes And Stuff

From Broca's Brain:

Page 58: "People are rarely grateful for a demonstration of their credulity."

Page 59: "No one ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

Page 61: "The hits [accurate premonitions] are recorded, the misses are not. Thus human nature unconsciously conspires to produce a biased reporting of the frequency of such [ESP] events."

Pg 73: "In my opinion the claims of borderline science pall in comparison with hundreds of recent activities and discoveries in real science, including the existence of two semi independent brains inside the human skull; the reality of black holes; continental drift and collisions; chimpanzee language; massive climactic changes on Mars and Venus; the antiquity of the human species; the search for extra terrestrial life; the elegant self copying molecular architecture that controls our heredity and evolution; and observational evidence on the origin, nature and fate of the universe as a whole."

Pg 66: "In many such cases we are not unbiased observers. We have an emotional stake in the outcome - perhaps merely because the borderline belief system, if true, makes the world a more interesting place; but perhaps because there is something there that strikes more deeply into the human psyche."

Pg 102: Brain Wiring: A hypothesis sometimes also known as racial memory or the collective unconscious. It holds that there are certain ideas, archetypes, legendary figures, and stories that are intrinsic to human beings at birth, perhaps in the way that a newborn baboon learns to fear a snake and a bird raised in isolation from other birds knows how to build a nest. It is apparent that if a tale derived from observation or from diffusion resonated with the "brain wiring" it is more likely to be culturally retained.
I have two issues here. First, Carl Sagan starts saying that "Brain wiring is a hypothesis" - meaning it isn't 100% proven to be true. In which case why would he use the idea brain wiring resonating with other things as a possibility? Second, Observation as well as diffusion are already treated as two possibilities. Why would "brain wiring" resonating with either of these be a third distinct possibility for cultural retention?
Additional reading:
Quotes by Carl Sagan: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan

Published on

2/13/15, 3:08 PM

India Standard Time

Nice Sudoku Sites

This site solves Sudoku puzzles (on clicking the button Solve my Sudoku" : 

http://www.solvemysudoku.com/index.php?action=solve

This site seems to provide interesting stats on a Sudoku puzzle and helps solve Sudoku: http://www.sudokuwiki.org/sudoku.htm

This site creates some of the most difficult Sudoku puzzles that I have ever come across, possibly because they puzzle create incomplete puzzles which leads to non unique / multiple solutions. http://www.sudoku.com/ -  choose Hard or Expert Level (Perhaps Medium too). I had a torrid time trying to solve the Medium to Expert level puzzles and that led me to check whether the puzzles were complete in the first place,

Published on

1/14/15, 6:40 PM

India Standard Time

Sun Sets In The South (West)

A friend sent me this picture (a place in Europe) yesterday afternoon. I thought the camera was facing west. I was told it was South facing. I was perplexed..

And this link explains why I was wrong. 

My friend takes better pictures than I do.

Published on

2/14/15, 1:05 PM

India Standard Time

In Dating: SP Seeks SP, SJ Seeks SJ, NT Seeks NF, NF Seeks NT - Do Likes Attract? Or Opposites Attract?

From http://www.helenfisher.com/downloads/articles/Article_%20We%20Have%20Chemistry.pdfP

Men and women who were primarily novelty-seeking, energetic, curious and creative were statistically significantly more drawn to those who shared these traits, while those who were primarily conventional, cautious and rule following were also drawn to individuals like themselves. But those who were more analytical, tough minded, direct and decisive were disproportionately attracted to their opposite, those who were imaginative, intuitive, compassionate and socially skilled; and vice versa. In short, Explorers preferentially sought Explorers, Builders sought other Builders, and Directors and Negotiators were drawn to one another.

Explorers seem to map to SP (as in MBTI), Builders are SJ, Directors are NT, Negotiators are NF. If this is the case, are we really discussing a new model here? The difference is that this model seems to link the chemicals in us like estrogen to our type.

As per this article, Directors love debates. I think I would put it differently. Directors love to argue about things they feel strongly about. But they don't love debates where they are given a topic at random. Ellsworth Toohey once won a debate speaking for a topic when he was a student. He was challenged to now speak against the topic. He did and won again. He would never be a Director. You could never get Francisco D'Anconia (another Director) to speak for the topic "Money is the root of all evil. Even a Builder would never that. A Negotiator or an Explorer might.

In the movie Anniyan, the heroine (Sada) could not stand Ambi the hero. Ambi was a very strong J. Sada was a P, definitely not J.

Additional reading:

1. http://www.more.com/relationships/dating-sex-love/when-love-meets-biology-4-personality-types-decoded?page=2 
2. http://digitalcitizen.ca/y/
3. http://edition.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/11/12/o.love.types/index.html?iref=hpmostpop
4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1358941/Sexual-chemistry-How-brain-chemicals-divide-personality-groups-key-finding-perfect-love-.html
5. http://socionist.blogspot.in/2009/04/helen-fishers-types-explorer-builder.html
6. https://spreadhopelikefire.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/personality-types/: explorer is defined as sexual
7. http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1876113,00.html
8. http://intjforum.com/showthread.php?t=14870
9. http://www.alwanza.com/onlyRumors/personality.html

Published on

5/16/15, 4:44 PM

India Standard Time