From south of the river and north of the mind

Movie thoughts – February

kay — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:25:45 +0000

It has been quite sometime since my last post. Finally found some time to blog. Glad to share some thoughts on some movies that I watched in the last couple of weeks.

Ghostbusters – Shows where creativity can take you. Family friendly – Yes
Throw momma from the train – A simple storyline can still be funny – Family friendly – No
Sahara (Humphrey Bogart version) – A strong story beats color and graphics on any day- Family friendly – Yes
Around the world in 80 days (original version) – Shows how much we take automobiles and air travel for granted. Family friendly – Yes
African queen - Shows 2 actors and a good script can keep you up for more than 2 hrs – The color quality for a 50s movie is impressive. Family friendly – Yes
Animal house – Shows what overdose of fun can do (Warning: this will bankrupt the spiritual credit you earned all your life This movie is a little bit dated.) Those who have had the undergrad college experience in the United States could relate to it well than others. Family friendly – Big No

The French and British bite the bitter pill

kay — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:56:20 +0000

In recent days we have seen some news surrounding the massive cuts in public expenditure by the British and French governments. One has to remember that the citizens of two countries have long enjoyed the relatively large welfare system (especially France). In France we are seeing massive protests just for raising the age of retirement. People who have long toiled to reach retirement age definitely have a reason to protest but one needs to appreciate the resoluteness with which Mr Sarkozy and Mr Osborne are dealing the budget crisis in their respective countries. It certainly demands a very strong sense of leadership to enact laws that are in a country’s interest but that are largely unpopular. I think pretty soon the 40+hr work weeks would become a norm in France but not before waves of protests from the unions. They can’t be in the cradle forever!! What is also interesting is in the United States we are seeing the “Tea Party” folks protest against too much government spending and in France we see protests condemning spending cuts. We live in different worlds !! Every now and then we forget the basics in life “Don’t live beyond your means”

Hope sense prevails

kay — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:58:08 +0000

After the landmark Ayondya verdict I hope the sense that prevails among these kids prevails among the adults.

The face of the next generation India ?

How to start using the new Rupee currency sign

kay — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:15:52 +0000

Some good information on how to start using the new (Indian currency) sign in your word processor or editor at http://blog.foradian.com/

In the break mode..

kay — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:23:36 +0000

It has been a while since my last blog was published. I am still in the break mode after Spring semester of classes listening to interesting talks and catching up with some old movies and books . I wanted to run down my thoughts on a few Hitchcock movies that I had a chance to watch in the last couple of months.

I would definitely rate Dial ‘M’ for murder and North by Northwest as the best of the four. Both the movies are typical hitchcock suspense thrillers whereas Frenzy would still amaze people in spite of the fact that the suspect is identified at a very early part of the movie. I must say that To catch a thief was not that exciting for the simple fact that the bar was set so high from the other Alfred Hitchcock movies that I had seen and also the pace of the movie was a bit slow. Vertigo and The man who knew too much were the first two Hitchcock movies that I watched that set the bar very high.

Another thing that amazed me was the colorization process. A task which was undertaken by Ted Turner has truly been done to perfection brilliantly transforming the old black and white images to color without leaving any detail. The technology used to preserve the picture clarity of these classic movies made in the 50s and 60s is also worth appreciating.

Every Hitchcock movie that I picked up so far has not disappointed me making every minute worth while. It would not be fair to not mention about one of Mel Brook’s famous spoofs ‘High Anxiety‘ which any Hitchcock fan would find hilarious. Don’t miss this if you have seen Vertigo and any of the other movies.

Started a HTPC build

kay — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:09:28 +0000

In my attempt to build a Home Theater PC I have started to pick some components on sale. Here is what I have as of now

Still looking for

A decently priced mid-tower case (though I might end up salvaging my old desktop’ s ATX case)
N-Videa based video card that is at least 1GB
80+ certified Modular power supply that is 700-800 Watts

iPad Trademark

kay — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:34:25 +0000

I am not sure if the information posted in this article regarding Apple’s iPad name is true but it is interesting to note that Fujitsu owned the iPad name trademark and apparently Apple now owns it. One wonders how much this deal would have been worth ?

Learn to be nice before October

kay — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:44:35 +0000

If you are in New Delhi, India learn to be nice before October 2010 at least temporarily. With regards to the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi the local government is planning to create awareness among the public for a decent etiquette to better position Delhiites before the visitors. While this is not very different from what Beijing did before the opening of Beijing Olympics and also while this initiative deserves to be commended I was wondering why these habits shouldn’t be taught at elementary level in every school or in every household. Also shouldn’t this be done as a critical health initiative by the government irrespective of the Commonwealth games in all cities ?? While I understand in the absence of basic hygiene facilities for some among the public these habits will continue but not so long ago the local government was resolute in removing the unauthorized constructions in the city in spite of much opposition, which means things can be accomplished if there is a strong will to enforce ideas.

On a slightly related note I came across this initiative from the Southern Indian State of Karnataka that provides incentives to villages if they learn to live in harmony and avoid conflicts. Doing the right things at the right time at the right level for the right purpose are the only means to create societal change. In that respect I think this initiative is a step in the right direction.

Who should companies serve ?

kay — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:43:30 +0000

I came across this interesting article that touches on an organization’s links to society and social problems as part of its strategy, something that American businesses used to do so well but unfortunately not that common today. The article commends the efforts of some of India’s successful companies and how that has helped them emerge stronger. I agree with the author’s perspective on how Indian companies help the society to some extent and the executive compensation and CEO lifestyle of an average Indian company is definitely much more simpler than companies in the Western world but at the same time I also think when it comes to customer service very few companies in the world can come close to what American companies can offer in terms of the customer experience. However this could in the long run with more competition and more demanding customers.

This also brings up the classic dilemma of who should the company really server first. The consumer,the society or its shareholders. Maybe they are not mutually exclusive.

Google knows about you

kay — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:50:48 +0000

There has been a lot of talk recently regarding the way Google keeps its customer data. I have a lot of respect for Google as a highly technically competent and innovative company. Gmail is one of the most professional web-based email service that is available. Some of the applications that it provides to the community like location based services, flu tracking, city transit information are of really great value but some of its practices with regards to storing user searches or using user data do not make me that comfortable.

The following website basically sums up the things Google can know about its user.

http://www.criminaljusticeusa.com/blog/2009/25-surprising-things-that-google-knows-about-you/

Even though most of this information is tracked by software and not by a human it still does cause some jitters. Coincidental today’s article on CNN Money touches on some of the other privacy issues with Google recently.

Google makes money through targeted advertising and search so there may be nothing wrong with using user information but next you sign up for something free remember you are trading some of your information in return for access to the so called ‘free resources/services’.