Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Search Engines goes on Strike.

Today while discussing the Air India strike during Lunch hour we chanced to discuss a scenario if all Search Engine go on strike. What will happen to our lives??

It’s theoretically impossible for that to happen but just by chance if all the servers shut down some day what will happen. I am sure the mass of India would remain unaffected but considering the usage of Google worldwide, I can imagine a mini dark age to be dawn on the netizens.

Trying to find the how much the world uses search engine I went to http://www.google.com/trends . The statistics generated there is mind boggling. The usage of Google for education/work/entertainment has virtually created a matrix of its own. Imagining a day without this matrix means a virtual shutdown of an important part of life.

Just imagines all Search Engines goes on strike on a Saturday. I won’t be able to get quick references to websites, phone numbers, address etc and would be completely lost in World Wide Web.Now imagine this for everyone. It will be a virtual dark age minus all online communication. A part of your identity will stop functioning. But there is a catch. This will probably give the time to use our brains whose grey matters are slowly replaced by Google search. Today thoughts and memories are dependent on Google search engines. So without the search engines we would struggle on many aspects of our lives.

The web now has become so large and complex that without search engines we will be lost in the labyrinth of words and images and videos. The search engines are the torch to search our way through this maze of information. So without this torch we are doomed.

Honestly I would like to see the actual affect of this scenario. I am sure no company will shut its server down for this kind of social experiment which amounts to losses of millions of USD. But we should ponder over this scenario. The dependency on a virtual network has grown so much over the last 5 years that the question arises “Are we ready for Search Engines, if it decides to go on strike”??

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Height of 'Optimisim' of a die hard fan

Being an Optimist I'm quite flabbergasted that SRK has already begun apologising when KKR is very much in the reckoning for a semi-final spot especially with the MASSIVE advantage of playing the the last 2 games at home and the final game against a team that has already qualified. They will know the exact run-rate required if it comes down to that and they'll be up against a not-so-motivated Mumbai side who might just take it easy.The road to semifinal will be as shown below:

15 Apr DD must beat CSK  | DD 14 from 13 matches CSK 12 from 13 matches
16 Apr KXIP must beat DC | DC 12 from 13 games KXIP 10 from 13 games
17 Apr MI beats RC           | RC is 14 from 14 matches
17 Apr KKR beats RR         | KKR 12 from 13 matches and RR 12 from 14 matches
18 Apr KXIP beat CSK       | CSK 12 from 14 games KXIP 12 from 14 games
18 Apr DD beat DC           | DD 16 from 14 game DC 12 from 14 games
19 Apr KKR beats MI         | KKR 14 from 14 matches

So other than Mumbai the semifinalist would be RC,KKR,DD. The bottomline is KKR has to win which is too much of expectation from them considering their present performance.

Interestingly KXIP can also reach semifinal if this happens:

 
15 Apr DD must beat CSK   | DD 14 from 13 matches CSK 12 from 13 matches
16 Apr KXIP must beat DC  |DC 12 from 13 games KXIP 10 from 13 games
17 Apr MI beats RC           | RC 14 from 14 matches
17 Apr KKR beats RR         | KKR 12 from 13 matches and RR 12 from 14 matches
18 Apr KXIP beat CSK        | CSK 12 from 14 games KXIP 12 from 14 games
18 Apr DD beat DC           | DD 16 from 14 game DC 12 from 14 games
19 Apr MI beats KKR          | KKR 12 from 14 matches


So other than Mumbai the semifinalists would be RC & DD. The final spot would on run rate between RR,KKR,KXIP,DC,CSK.

Cricket is a funny game and there is a possibility that one of these two equations being correct.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

L S D

It’s a good idea to import Tarantino’s movie making style mixed with the style from “Blair Witch Project”/ “Paranormal Activity” to set a new dimension in Bollywood movie making. The problem is, handling such a task needs an understanding of Indian audience. Dibakar Banerjee has made a wonderful attempt to bring out a new dimension in movie making with his movie “Love,Sex aur Dhoka” but the representation lacks the sensitivity of putting forward a critical social issues taken up in the movies.
 
One can argue its reality shown at point blank. I agree to this but what’s the whole of showing them? Does this movie serve the purpose of raising social awareness? No. Is this a “Paisa Vasool” movie? No. So if the movie is neither social nor entertainment then why make this movie at all?

This movie has 3 distinct real life stories shot in cam coder mode showing three independent interrelated stories to bring the concept of Love,Sex and Dhoka as applicable to modern world. The first story deals with honor killing. The second one deals with voyeurism and pornography while the third one deals with exploitation in entertainment industry juxtaposed with sting operation.India has read these stories in some form or other in recent past and the movies just brings it out in celluloid screen.

Director Dibakar Banerjee has made a wonderful attempt to bring out a new idea to bollywood film making. If you really want to watch the movie then go with an open mind to experience something new. Whether you will like the new thing or not will be entirely your discretion. As for me I am yet to decide whether to love it or hate it.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Reservation and Future...

If you are a guy born in coming years who does not belong to the reserved classes I am sure you will curse your birth. No matter if you have merit or skills you might have to struggle extra to establish yourself. The reason is 33% of bright future is reserved of certain class of people who prefer to remain backward after 70 years of independence and 33% of bright future is being reserved for women, so if you are neither you will struggle with rest of the people for the remaining 34%.
These reservations has actually wiped of the importance of merit in education system. I am not sure these reservations will take India forward but it will make life difficult for a majority of the middle class. Reservation is necessary for people who are backward socially or economically but when laws such as these are implemented in India, it turns out that there is more misuse of these laws.
The road cleared for 33% reservation of all MP, MLA seats for women and this is the topic that’s making round these days. I support this reservation with a little reservation of my own. I am sure 33% women MP’s and MLA’s will do much better and efficient work than the current MP’s and MLA’s. They will present a better picture of parliament during those live telecasts. But this step actually will go forward with 33% reservation in education system as well. Then I have a problem. Education builds the future of nation and reservation will only make that more fragile than strengthen it.


Imagine this:
Rabri Devi is in parliament instead of Lalu Yadav, thanks to the women reservation bill, having argument with Mamta Banerjee on Rail Budget with Jayalalitha pitching in with her views and Sushma Swaraj leading the opposition on a walkout.
I will surely watch this budget live!!