Monday, August 27, 2007

Hunter being hunted

Watch this video - http://speaktonature.blogspot.com/2007/08/blog-post_27.html


This amateur video beats many professionally made wild life videos.


Watch the entire video. Every minute the things change in ways you can least expect.


I think nothing other 'hunter being hunted' can be better title for this video.


Cheers!


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Saturday, August 25, 2007

Like and Want

"If you stop doing what you like, you can do all that you want to do." - Late Sathya Sai Baba (not the modern Sai Baba)


How meaningful is this quote? Most of our wants are good ones, but we are always engaged in doing and satisfying out likes which many times add no value. There are rare people whose wants and likes are same. In addition, their wants and likes are not only useful to them but to all the mankind. Blessed are such people. From them emerge great souls like Sri Ramakrishna, Gandhi, Vivekananda etc.


Cheers!


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Write in Indian Languages

If you like to write in Indian languages, you may want to check out Quillpad.


You can write in your own language using English and the online software transliterates into your language in its original script. For every word you type using English, the software is smart enough to identify most of the variations. This way you do not waste much time in coming up with exact word by trial and error. This feature was missing from other software such as Baraha.


Once you are satisfied with what you see on their web site, cut and paste into any editor and you have the text in your own language. Use it in e-mails, blogs, documents etc.


The service is free.


Cheers!


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Sunday, August 19, 2007

Thumbs-up for Picsquare

Picsquare is a cool online photo printing service. Especially useful for overseas Indians.


It has nice integration with Flickr and other online photo sharing services. Of course, they also allow you to upload your photographs directly.


If you have pictures to sent to your relatives in India, you can do that from anywhere in the world. They will print your pictures and send them to the address you provide in India. They accept in both rupees and USD. Some days back they were having 5 cents per 4x6 pictures. Reduced from 9 cents. Great deal. Also search on the Google for Picsquare coupons and you will find a few and you can use the one which gives the most discount. Best I found was 'INDICAST' (see here) which allowed 10% whopping discount on the final price.


So, great service. Unless there is any problem with their shipping and delivery, I recommend this service very highly.


[Update]


Delivery was so so. Processing got delayed almost by 2 weeks. I guess they got a huge response for their 15th August price cuts and could not process the overload. Anyway, they kept e-mailing about the delay and promptly informed when the order was shipped. Order was shipped using local courier agency which was delivered to my relative in a small town near Shimogga. That's good. I was told that they sent some free albums as well. That's nice. I think they send albums for every so many prints ordered.


Hopefully, they improve their order processing and delivery to provide more predictable time they can live up to.



Cheers!


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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Managing Up: How to Forge an Effective Relationship With Those Above You by Rosanne Badowski

The author Badowski worked as the executive assistant of Jack Welch, legendary ex-CEO of GE, for good 15 odd years. In this book she shares her experiences of how she and Jack worked together as a successful team and what we can take away regarding how to work with our superiors.


This is not a generic 'how to manage up?' book. It is better termed as a journal of author's term as admin of Jack Welch. In that journal she does try to highlight few gems of wisdom of managing up.


Roger Gittines assisted Badowski to write the book. I mention his name here because he probably deserves kudos along with the author for such nice style in which the entire book is written. Very easy to read. KISS - Keep it simple and stupid (or sexy) is well illustrated here. Had not read a book in such a refreshing style in a long time.


There is a lot of good information about how to be part of a team and how to excel. Impatience is not always bad as sense of urgency is many times required especially from the top. Without that many time the whole organization become complacent. It is absolutely fine to disagree even with the people at the top. To make your disagreement palatable, always disagree but offer alternatives. Always be prepared. Always keep thinking about what is next. Be very well organized. Here organization techniques are mainly applicable operations people but we all can also benefit from some good tips for organizing our files and data.


Above mentioned concepts and many more all described very well with examples drawn from author's interactions with Jack Welch. Those who have read about Jack Welch know that he never tolerated stupid people. Whatever that meant. So the book can be read as the book from some who was smart enough for Jack Welch is probably smart enough for many.


Excellent book.


Cheers!


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Sunday, August 12, 2007

Spilled Milk

"Do not cry over the spilled milk. It could have been scotch whiskey."


Love these people who take a quote and modify it to sound funny without killing the original intent.


Cheers!


Ads by AdGenta.com


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Friendship

"Friendship is like pissing on your own feet. Everybody can see it. Only you feel the warmth."


Apologies if your vulgarity meter hit the roof. Despite it's lack of decency, the author has come up with a unique way of expressing the warmth of a true friendship. At least for that he deserves credit.


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Thursday, August 09, 2007

Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up by Stanely Bing

Make sure you are comfortably lying down while you read this book. Standing or sitting is simply too dangerous a position to assume while reading this book. In any posture other than lying flat, you will fall down to ground laughing your brains off as you read this book. Why fall and then roll on the floor laughing loud. You might as well lie down and roll with laughter while you read this book.


The author has delivered a masterpiece which is a satire about bosses. If you know anything about Buddha and his teachings, you will certainly appreciate author has very creatively used Buddha's teachings in his satire and to make fun of bosses.


If you are looking for serious ways and techniques for managing up, you may not find much here. Not that good stuff is not here but author's hilarious style masks anything serious and useful in it. You will simply laugh your way till you lay down this book. May be when you read for second time, you can attempt to consciously curb the funny parts and try to get some serious stuff.


Honestly, I have not come across such bosses which many managing up books talk about. May be because of knowledge industry I am in. I can not think of how a fire breathing bosses can even exist in today's world. These days people will shove their resignations up boss' 'heart' and move on if the boss is crazy. But, we have seen such firebrand bosses who are found in administrative and operational roles where their need to more tactical than strategic.


The book starts of with 'Zen and the art of managing up'. This itself cracks me up. Then comes three sections about dealing with the elephant. First handling the elephant, second managing the elephant and third throwing the elephant. Things get advanced and more funny as you turn pages.


Some Jewels:


"We are all one with the corporation. It has no beginning and no end. So relax. Nothing really matters that much." - Do not take this literally. As they - " take your job seriously but not yourself."


Modern day Buddha's nine step path to Nirvana.


1)Not caring


2)Not hoping


3)Not speaking


4)Not reacting


5)Not judging


6)Not listening


7)Not thinking


8)Not feeling


9) Not planning


One extra step


10) Not giving up.


Read this book and you will know which book to pick up when you need some laugh.








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Saturday, August 04, 2007

Silent Waters

Silent Waters. Very nice movie. More information at - http://www.netflix.com/WatchNowMovie?movieid=70011223&trkid=203073.


Many movies have been made based on India - Pakistan partition and its effects on the people of Indian sub-continent. No movie has touched the subject in such a unique way that this movie touches.


If we know even little about the brutality and genocide that took place around that time, it is not difficult to see that this story is strongly influenced by some real life incident.


The movie is about a woman who is left behind when her family escapes to India. She continues to live in the village which becomes part of Pakistan. She lives like any other Muslim of the village.


Things get hot when one Sikh among the Sikh delegation starts meeting her. Even today, Pakistan allows Sikhs to visit their sacred places which are now in Pakistan. So, Sikhs do get to visit their sacred places once in a while.


This Sikh gentleman is sure that this Muslim woman is his sister who was left behind when rest of the family fled to India. Encounters between the Sikh and this woman opens up a Pandora's box in that little village. How it affects her son, rest of the village and how the woman reacts to the proposition that she was Sikh's sister make up rest of the movie.


Kiron Kher, as the Muslim woman, fantastic. I think it is her best performance to date.


It is more than 50 years now since that vicious incident happened. The genocide was unimaginable. The whole trains full of dead people traveled from this side of the border to the other side. Trains coming from Pakistan were to be full of Hindus massacred by Pakistanis. Violence only breed violence. Some trains were sent across the border with Muslims slaughtered. Imagine whole trains full of dead people. If there was woman, she was raped before murdered in most of the cases.


This train incident is well documented in many movies and books.But there are many such little known heart wrenching incidents such as men folk killing their own women folk because they felt it was better for their womenfolk to die in honor by their own husbands and fathers than die a violent death after getting raped by mobs. In some cases women were coaxed to commit suicide and in some cases men folk closed their eyes and simply shot their wives and daughters. This movie does not show any of this gore much but all along the movie it becomes clear that this woman was one left to die but somehow refuses to commit suicide by jumping into a well, rescued by some good Muslim man, gets married to him, becomes Muslim and lives like that this Sikh gentleman relentless pursues here and digs into her past.


This movie is going to haunt you for a long time.


Cheers!




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