Archive for October, 2003


Books in the house!

Filed Under: java by Arjun Ram — 2 Comments
October 30, 2003

I made fully use of the 40% coupon that I found @ techbargains.com for Borders and picked up 2 books that I have wanted to buy for a while.

Picked up Struts in action (Messing around with Struts @ work)

Had a chance to read chaps 11 & 12 online I found it to be cool.

Also picked up one for reference Core J2EE Patterns( been reading the book online & I think its nicely written)

Been a while since I spent money on my books. So it was money well spent! Moreover I hear the economy might be improving ;) So heres my contribution to the growth of it :p!

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Have you been Flyblogged Yet?

Filed Under: blogging by Arjun Ram — Leave a comment
October 26, 2003

Comment spam – flyblogging

I’ve just written a piece for the The BillBlog(it’ll be on the BBCi news site tomorrow about comment spam – the increasingly prevalent practice of putting unwanted and inappropriate commercial messages up on other people’s blogs. I’m suggesting that we take the word “flyblog” from those who use it to mean ‘blogging about flying’ or ‘blogging while flying’ and use it here – flyblogging is a digital form of flyposting

Movable Type seems to be hardest hit, perhaps just because it’s one of the most popular platforms, and the authors have started a debate on their blog about what can best be done.

Here there come .. Its only a matter for time before they hit Jroller.

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New google feature

Filed Under: technology by Arjun Ram — 4 Comments
October 26, 2003

Google has a new feature, the “define” …

Google has a new feature, the “define” keyword

Geek:

a person who may be very smart yet lacks the social graces of those who are considered cool , a “computer geek” is someone who spends too much time on the computer and has no social life.

define:geek

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Essense of Diwali

Filed Under: india by Arjun Ram — 9 Comments
October 25, 2003

The beginning of the Hindu New Year, Diwali is one of the most important festivals in India. Deepvali is the sanskrit word meaning rows of lights.

This festival commemorates Lord Rama’s return to his kingdom Ayodhya after completing his 14-year exile. Twinkling oil lamps or diyas light up every home and firework displays are common all across the country, the entrance of houses are decorated with Rangoli.. The goddess Lakshmi (consort of Vishnu), who is the symbol of wealth and prosperity, is also worshipped on this day. In the south, Diwali has two more legends connected with it. The first legend again concerns the victory of good over evil. Narakasura the demon of hell, challenged Krishna to battle. After a fierce fight lasting two days, the demon was killed at dawn on Narakachaturdashi. Talk about diversity!

The celebrations take place on the darkest night of the lunar month, Amavasya, when diyas burn and the sky is ablaze with fire crackers of all kinds. It’s not only the festival of lights, it’s also a festival of colours. True, Indian colours that adorn places of worship and decorate houses across the country.

It’s an occasion for families to meet and catch up with each other. It is also the perfect occasion to catch up with close friends with whom you always mean to spend time with, something you never quite get around to doing in the hustle and hurry of everyday life.

History:

Images:

Celebrations:

How to wish someone for diwali:

You either say “Happy Deepavali” (dee-paa-va-lee) to a South Indian & “shubh diwali” (shoob-dee-va-lee) to a North Indian

 

diwali to me:

Diwali to me brings plesant memories of back home and my childhood days. Growing up the objective for me and brother was two fold: Be the first ones in the street to wake people with firecrackers. We were fed a scary appetizer Marunthu which we used to detest. The bottom line was food, crackers, relatives and a good freaking time! Brings back plesant memories. Celebrations in the US boils down to lunches and parties with friends. Anyways hope you all have a happy Deepavali!

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Origins of the word 'Potluck'

Filed Under: life by Arjun Ram — 1 Comment
October 24, 2003

We were having a discussion @ work, which led to me analysing the origins of the word. Heres what I found

Potluck — whatever happens to be available especially when offered to an unexpected guest or when brought by guests and shared by all; “having arrived unannounced we had to take potluck”; “a potluck supper”

In North America, the term “potluck” has been around for a long time. Yet, when I looked in my Concise Oxford Dictionary, the term was not listed, although our local native tradition, the potlatch,  was defined. It was interesting to ponder the word’s various meanings.

     The word’s primary meaning, according to the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, is “the regular meal available to a guest for whom no special preparations have been made.” It is only in the second meaning as “a communal meal to which people bring food to share” that the definition matches our understanding of the word.

     The other common definition is “whatever is offered or available in given circumstances or at a given time.” From this last meaning comes the title of this piece, and new ways of understanding the word.

     We give according to our situation at any time in our lives. If we have more, we can give more. If less, then a smaller contribution is understood to be part of our “given circumstances.” In its first meaning, the term is used like this in Canadian homes: “It’s getting late, would you like to stay for dinner? You’ll have to take potluck.” By this we mean that we may have to add extra dishes to make the meal enough for the unexpected guest.

     This sense of the unexpected is what makes the potluck such a lovely idea. And now, I wonder, why is this term so similar to the word, potlatch? The word potluck originated in 1592, a time when we were making first contact with the native people who used the word potlatch. Interesting! In the potlatch, native families demonstrated their wealth by giving away more than their neighbours. Those that could give more, would win the highest status.  It seems to me that the native word matches at least some of the meanings of potluck.

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Hypocrisy in the American media

Filed Under: india by Arjun Ram — 1 Comment
October 24, 2003

Here is a map of India from CNN’s web page

MSNBC has the correct one which clearly talks about the disputed area.

This is not the first time this has happened. I dont think CNN has the gall to do the same to Israel’s map. I know mistakes do occur in journalism but u just cant take things for granted. I would not go as far as other to say “Kashmir is a integral part of India and hence the map has to be shown in full”. Whether one likes it or not Kashmir is a disputed area! and the map has to reflect that! but CNN has no freaking business to distort it time and again. Period! Im sick and tired of the media interpreting stuff. The people’s opinions are formed based on what the media reports, very few people go back and check facts. With this kind of reportin Im not sure if the folks in the US are getting the right information!

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Websphere links

Filed Under: java by Arjun Ram — 2 Comments
October 23, 2003

If you are using websphere, here are some interesting magazines/sites/links

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An interesting perspective to outsourcing

Filed Under: technology by Arjun Ram — 1 Comment
October 23, 2003

From Chris’s blog:

“The jobs Britain stole from the Asian subcontinent 200 years ago are now being returned. The Guardian Reports “

Britain’s industrialisation was secured by destroying the manufacturing capacity of India. In 1699, the British government banned the import of woollen cloth from Ireland, and in 1700 the import of cotton cloth (or calico) from India. Both products were forbidden because they were superior to our own. As the industrial revolution was built on the textiles industry, we could not have achieved our global economic dominance if we had let them in. Throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, India was forced to supply raw materials to Britain’s manufacturers, but forbidden to produce competing finished products. We are rich because the Indians are poor.

There is a profound historical irony here. Indian workers can outcompete British workers today because Britain smashed their ability to compete in the past. Having destroyed India’s own industries, the East India Company and the colonial authorities obliged its people to speak our language, adopt our working practices and surrender their labour to multinational corporations. Workers in call centres in Germany and Holland are less vulnerable than ours, as Germany and Holland were less successful colonists, with the result that fewer people in the poor world now speak their languages. So is the flight to India a good thing or a bad thing? The only reasonable answer is both. The benefits do not cancel out the harm. They exist, and have to exist, side by side. This is the reality of the world order Britain established, and which is sustained by the heirs to the East India Company, the multinational corporations. The corporations operate only in their own interests. Sometimes these interests will coincide with those of a disadvantaged group, but only by disadvantaging another.

For centuries, we have permitted ourselves to ignore the extent to which our welfare is dependent on the denial of other people’s. We begin to understand the implications of the system we have created only when it turns against ourselves.

Interesting perspective ;) Indians have moved on and almost forgotten about the British occupation. Does seem to be case on the other end. Well Well..

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Human aggregators

Filed Under: blogging by Arjun Ram — Leave a comment
October 22, 2003

“human aggregators” seems to be the “in-thing” in the blog world these days. Yet another sign of people getting lazy ;) . Human aggregators are folks who post the “best of the blogs” links in the blogs. I love to read the “Human aggregators” when I dont get a chance/time to go through my list of RSS feeds and I wanna quick glance of whats happening around me. Here are my top Human aggregators ;)

  • Erik (Anything Java land)
  • Scoble (Anything M$ land, “the original human aggregator”)
  • Winer (Anything blog land)
  • Marc Canter (Anything social networking)
  • Jain (Anything Indian or Technology)

You got any more that u find valuable, let me know.

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Very good Java resource

Filed Under: blogging by Arjun Ram — Leave a comment
October 22, 2003

The more and more I look for info on java related stuff I find myself landing up on Oracle’s OTN. They do have some very well written examples and articles. Heres their RSS feed.

Subscribed!

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