Mundanity.

Don't have anything interesting to talk about. I am on a rather long vacation (partly chosen, partly enforced) and trying to remain as creative as I can. I sometimes feel there is such a thin line between, lethargy and creativity, while there is so much difference between the consequences of each. On the blogging side, I am thinking about writing on a serious issue. It will certainly take some research and time for completion. I might be able to finish it tomorrow, otherwise I will have to continue with mundane blog for one more day again and I apologize to u in advance if you happen to stumble upon it.

Life is pretty routine, for now. Morning jog, Breakfast, Tech News, News, Lunch, Programming, Nap, Tea, Books, Snack, Evening meetup, Dinner, Talk around TV, Blog, Meditation, Sleep. I insert social media in and around every above mentioned event. I have developed pretty serious affinity with Twitter. It can be very useful tool if you follow right people (..and that list varies for everybody). Facebook is pretty boring but effective on catching with good old friends/contacts. Google+ has hardly taken off for me and not sure if it will ever take off to overshadow Facebook. I don't think its a human nature to maintain hundreds of "friendship" around multiple social sites. Google+ can be a Bing of Social Media, its pretty good but why would you need it when u already have Google?

Lets stop this mediocrity here, right now ..................till tomorrow

Why so serious, UAE football officials ?

It is the most talked about kick in the football world right now. UAE’s winger Thiyab Awana scored an outrageous back heel penalty but for some “serious” people it was a cause for concern. Awana might be suspended and fined for his audacious effort, which is framed as “disrespectful”. Just imagine what would have happened had he missed the penalty?

My feeling to all this is “where’s your sense of humor, all you serious people?” Players kick their opponents out of the park; moan constantly with referees and escape but this poor guy tried something funny (and we all enjoyed it) and is being treated as enemy of the game. One of the reason (or the biggest reason) we watch sport is for entertainment and Awana provided plenty of it. He was even yellow carded in the game for his goal but might be fined again. There are plenty of example where players have deliberately handballed, dived in opponents penalty box, performed playacting to deceive referee and most of them if spotted are only penalized (carded) during the game. They say there was not enough evidence to prove whether it was intentional. This case certainly has evidence, but it is such a non-issue. Don’t UAE officials have better things to do?

Copa America 2011 + Japan's Victory

It was certainly an odd day for football in Copa America. Brazil, usually the ruthless penalty takers became the first team in tournament’s history to miss all their spot kicks. I wonder if they were watching Larissa Riquelme at the stands. I missed the game (match timing was little too odd for me) and as a Brazilian fan I was certainly disappointed to hear the news. But after a little while it didn’t bother me much and everybody has a soft spot for underdogs. With no Brazil and Argentina, Copa America is truly wide open now. I fancy Uruguay to go all the way but rest three has pretty decent chance too and we have already seen few upsets.

Second match of the day also provided an upset. Venezuela booked their first ever Copa semis after beating Chile. I like the way Chile plays, liked them in World Cup too and certainly wanted them to do well. They could have won it with little help from lady luck but it wasn’t to be as the goalkeeper’s best friend “woodwork” rescued Venezuela throughout.

BTW, before I go, congratulations to Japan for their first ever women’s world cup victory. This is what I wrote in my Facebook wall after the match.

USA could have (should have) won it. They were poor defensively on the day but take nothing away from Japanese girls. Considering what happened in the recent past, Japan's victory was simply a better script. You just can't beat a good story.

Till tomorrow.

30 Day Challange

After listening to Matt Cutts, I have decided to take a 30 day challenge starting tomorrow (July 18). "30 Day challenge" is simply doing the things u love to do for 30 straight days(come what may) or undoing things that u don't want to do but still keep doing it. Writing is something I have always loved and have strived to improve upon. So, blogging is one of my "to do" items on the list and I intend to keep doing it every day for next 30 days and will try to keep doing it pretty regularly afterwards too (...although I have failed on this regard numerous time before).

I thank Matt for waking me up from my blogging slumber. Please do comeback to check how am I doing and don’t forget to watch Matt’s talk.

Liberty Featured Number "1,000,000,000"

Too bad, I went away from my supposed to be regular post "Featured Number" for too long. But I am back with pretty big number ( they say Back with the Bang isn't it?).

U know IPL ? who doesn't ? are IPL and Modi doing game a favour ? I think its too early to say but Cricket has never seen a salesman of caliber of Lalit Modi. The IPL commissioner had sought a net worth of $1 billion from parties who wanted to bid for the new IPL teams. Yes, a Billion with a Big B. I don't know how successful he will be but certainly he gave me a big number to Blog.

Stem Cell Therapy

All hail Tendlya

I read about Tendulkar’s 200 just before leaving for work. I couldn’t wait to come back home and write something to salute Little Master.

When Sachin first entered the scene at tender age of 16, the world knew him as a child prodigy who just loved to play cricket. Today, after more than two decades he is master of his craft, nightmares for the opponents and god to those whose religion is cricket. At heart he still is the same kid who just loves to play more cricket.

I remember a Q-A from Tendulkar’s interview that I watched last year. He was asked “After all these years and achievement in the cricket field, how successful do u think you are?” . Tendulkar replied “I think I have been reasonably successful”. …. Wow……. Tendulkar, arguably the best batsman after DON replied “reasonably” successful. He could have easily said “My record speaks volume, I am the best ever” with a popular bollywood swagger of unreal heroes and nobody would have mind a bit. By his answer Tendulkar reminded everyone the ages old adage “tree laden with fruits is bended”. The world loves Sachin because he is so easy on eyes, not only he is one of the best stroke players ever but also one of the humblest.

During 90’s Tendulkar carried almost whole Indian batting on this little shoulders. Today this burden might have eased a little, but he still is an important cog in the wheel. Sachin carries a heavy bat and on average one billion plus hopes every time he enters the cricket ground. When Sachin sneezes, whole Indian team catches cold. Moreover, Sachin never had a luxury which most other cricketers have. His performance yardstick is such that even a minor blip in form is unacceptable. In mid 2000 when he suffered a minor form slump, critics all over the world jumped in sync to conclude his best days were behind him. Newspapers printed “Endulkar” for his last name. Ex-cricketers started suggesting him to call it a day. The Cricket world, it seemed for the very first time realized Tendulkar is also mortal and it had troubles accepting it. Never once did he complain but left his batting do the talking. He battled his form, critics and troublesome tennis elbow and remained in the scene and thanks god he did. Cricket would have been poorer had he left the scene early.

Tendulkar has such a glittering career, its hard to come up with something that remains to be achieved. Few years ago Binod Kambli predicted Sachin to cross 20,000 ODI runs. Dhoni won’t rule him out playing in 2014 world cup and Sunil Gavaskar now wants him to set sight on 250 in an ODI innings and 450 in Test innings. All these milestones are quite challenging even for Sachin but one thing we have learned watching cricket is “Never bet against the abilities of Little master”.

In 39 years and 2961 ODIs, Cricket has seen many legends to embrace the game, including Sachin’s hero Sir Viv but I can’t name a name more deserving than Sachin for this feat. Who? If not Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Virus Scan for Cars?

Toyota brake problem reminded us of the sea change the vehicle has gone through in recent years. Most drivers don’t realize or are unaware of how modern cars have changed from their ancestors. Few years ago Automobiles started following the Airbus’s path to replace direct hydraulic controls with electronics. No more the accelerator or brake pedals are directly connected to the throttle by a physical connector. Electronics acts as intermediary.

I remember one of my friends expressing his frustration for not being able to do small repairs of his new car by himself. “Its all electronics, I don’t know what’s goin’on? I can do nothing” he was saying. Electronics systems and networks to connect them now make up 40% of the vehicle. Its difficult even for the auto mechanics as 40% of the vehicle is Black Box for them and they have to depend upon other Black Boxes to diagnose the problem. The firmware to control all the electronics is becoming increasingly complex too. For example in Prius, the software in the brakes controls the anti-lock braking systems, stability control and a system to convert the energy from braking into power to recharge the batteries.

The stakes are high with firmware design. Small glitches can have damaging effects. Problems with sudden acceleration and momentary lapse of braking are scary, esp in a highway situation. Even scarier thought is vehicles hacking which are very realistic, as we will see more software control of vehicles in future. What if terrorists were able get an insider into supply chain to insert a dormant code into each new vehicle that on a specific date and time would disable braking or cause sudden acceleration? I cannot outlaw a possibility of companies performing Antivirus software scans for vehicles before sending to the market in future.

Home-2

Banda, as usual has crippled life. Few people don’t care and teenagers who get break from school actually enjoy it, but most people and the country as a whole is suffering. However, some are luckier than others. Those who are affiliated to Maoist are free of Banda related hassles faced by ordinary public. Yesterday, I was travelling to my friend’s house and saw a vehicle with a red banner with Banda Anugaman (Banda Survey) written into it. People all over the country are forced to renounce the vehicle even in emergency situations but these morons needed vehicles to survey their Banda. I read similar stories in daily newspapers. A group of Pro-Maoist lawyers used a bus for their election campaign to travel from Mahendranager to Nepalgunj. All business is on downward slide but shooting of movie Kishaan (Farmer) was allowed to continue without any trouble because its been directed by Pro-Maoist director. Morality has never been an ally for Nepalese Politicians and now Maoists are hitting new low.

On personal side, I am enjoying my stay. Every day is weekend. I wake up when I feel like waking up. Drink few rounds of Tea while reading different newspapers in sun. Spend time with friends and close relatives. Go around town with old mates. It might sound boring as daily routine but its great fun if you do it only for a month in every two years.

Home -1

Guys,

So u thought I was lost? I truly was. I missed blogging all those days but never quite started writing after the break. May be it had to do with “Mental Inertia”. Something special was needed to wake me from my slumber and my travel to home provided exactly that.

Flight so far has been nice. I thought 14 hours flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong would be little tiring but it wasn’t too bad after all. This is my first time in Hong Kong Airport and I like it. After coming here I am online and enjoying noodles, Muffins and Green Tea. I especially liked the green tea. The flavor is quite different from what I used to drink.

I have “The Warren Buffet Way” as my travel companion. I am onto third chapter but I doubt, I will finish it on the way. Its an interesting read. I also watched couple movies onboard. “Transformers 2” may easily be one of the worst movies I have watched in quite some time. Second Movie of the night was “Julie and Julia” and I am glad I chose to watch it. It turned out to be really nice movie. Meryl Streep is always nice, Amy Adams is impressive too. I plan to read The Julie/Julia Project for the rest of the day.

I also tried to get some sleep but to no avail. It didn’t make much difference though; with eyes open or closed I am able to see only one thing – HOME