staying.cool

i have seen more than one post about the brilliance of ubuntu - the linux revolution.. and then of course, the geek in me was blown away by the multitude of videos showcasing beryl and xgl.

and so,

plus of course,

thus exists one of my workstations. it is a matter of time, methinks, before i need it on my laptop.
aero can go suck ass.. triple their effects and you get to about the basics of beryl.

as far as ubuntu itself goes, i’ve used version 3 last. version 6.10 is pretty damned awesome as a step up. simple setup, easy updates, a little googling to get the right setup for beryl, and voila !

even taking into account that i’m a little more fearless than the standard end-user of windows.. ubuntu certainly seems to be on the right path to be a competitor.

simply put, wow. the windows install on this pc might languish a while..

kubuntu, though, needs a lot of work. even if kde is way cooler than gnome.

and i’m now a vi supporter.

too many thoughts, too many things, too much fun. i’m off again.

india lost. india. lost. india lost. india lost.

have you got it yet ?
i met people who were depressed after yesterday’s match. i’m not ridiculing them, there was a time when such things would have affected me as badly, if not worse. indeed, even sampling the days’ indian newspapers laments the debacle that is indian cricket today.

we have all grown up worshipping the game of cricket. despite who any of us may like, the indian team playing out there - being heralded as one of the best teams in the world, and we puff and preen. i have jumped in the air when india hit that final winning run, off that final delivery. i have left the house, and found the streets agog with happiness that ‘india won the match!‘. i have been frustrated at the defeats that i have seen.. when india was sure to win.

This is simply brilliant in terms of creativity.

However, it doesn’t seem to be actually selling the product…

[via VSL]

unlike of course, the nike ad for cricket. ah, we crazy indians..

it has been a while since i went off on a loop about the crappy forwards that people seem to keep want sending on orkut. somehow the method of copy-paste & send message to ‘all’ has some kind of weird attraction for so many people out there. why, indeed, they want to broadcast stupidity.. is a little beyond me.

the latest from orkut:

Because u have read this.. u will get kissed on the nearest possible friday by the LOVE of ur life if u don’t break the chain. tomorrow will be the best day of ur life. However, if u don’t send this to at least 10 people by the stroke of midnight tonight u will be forever cursed in LOVE.

and of course:

Finally,its out…its your ORKUT CRUSH LIST FINDER.Download here and send it to everybody before midnite or something bad will happen to your near ones. [insert probable virus download link]

before, i do start on my raving about the monumental stupidity of the above emails, not to mention the obviously irritating structure and punctuation.. i’m going to take a minute. and offer a prayer that the reproductive systems of these people shut down at such time as appropriate. i could not imagine these genes spreading… and becoming dominant. a worthy nightmare.

i still remember picturing when i read the first email… walking down the street/corridor, and suddenly the person you’ve been secretly admiring for months - never mind the obvious problems such as them being rich, famous, inaccessible, married, way above your league, way below your league - turn up right there in front of you. and kiss you. right there and then. and you, mentally bless the day you forwarded that email to everyone you know. because, obviously, there is no other way you could have got it “made”. my only question, was ‘why friday ?’ sunday is too relaxed ? tuesday is too-middle-of-the-week ?
the thought comes to me that ‘10′ seems to have a relation to the possibility of a curse. i wonder why. isn’t ‘6′ something to do with the devil ? and ‘13′ unlucky ? somehow, the mutual curses of 10 people (or in my case at least 1), will offset the curse that could potentially befall you ?
email count: over 30.

the ‘crush list finder’.. well, i’ve analysed the various forms of the crush list. i’m just curious about what kind of virus it is. and of course, how many people remembered they’re giving their email account and password to some random software. and what it did. and who the genius was that came up with it. plus of course the meaning of the answer of ‘42′.

which i’ll remain wondering about…

the lack of options for watching the world cup live.. has meant i’ve to rely on esoteric means such as 3D cricinfo. please, tell me if you know of any such free options..
incidentally, the worst place to check the progress of the damned thing - and indulge in the discussions that we all have to have as to whether possibly the worst indian team to hit the world cup is going to win - is the official site. CRAPPY. and not even updated. nice.

and then, we have 3D photography. one of the things coming out of live labs. photosynth is a tech preview beyond any other.

and ai.. at a whole new level. 20q does a pretty decent job of playing ‘20 questions’. for any object/person. a little freaky.

and then we have google trends. and the random sets of searches that you can generate.

[there are some others lying around here. expect updates.. hopefully..]

the mind rambles, the thoughts don’t come, i keep typing. a blank page must necessarily remain a blank page, there doesn’t seem to be a reason to fill it up. content is immaterial, the purpose is to type and purge the head for a while. the idea of the head being ‘woolly’ is understandable now, the lack of sleep can only be alleviated by coffee. eventually, either tiredness or the lack of rest will tell, and the system will have to shut down. i realise here that the last two can easily be mistaken for being the same thing… but they’re not. once again, the realization strikes that i’m not exactly making sense, but rather typing as the thoughts come. ironically, now i’m thinking about rambling, which is a pretty redundant thing to do. a random formatting change occurs. i wonder whether i should leave this as a single paragraph (or should that be monograph ?). that could be construed as unintelligible. not that the rest of this is meant to be anything more than a stringing together of words as they enter the head. eyes droop, as they have in the last one hour. i’m putting off the caffeine for as long as possible. too much caffeine is dangerous, we don’t want the natural laxative effects to take their course. ‘laxative’ seems inherently gross somehow, but it is the most indirect way of putting the natural excretory process. somehow ‘excretion’ seems sleek as compared to ‘excretory’. this could be a new mode of writing here. just typing as they come. usually, i do try to have an idea, or a concept, or a rant in my head that excites me enough to write about it. even a philosophy. those monologues seem pedantic, almost too pompous for words now. the underlying tone of sarcasm is lost on the vast majority. as it will be. i can be too abstruse for my own good. as i now believe: ‘clarity of thought’ should be my motto. saves time. breaking down problems and then addressing their solutions, rather than intuitively arriving at them. really helps. means the concepts are a lot clearer. the motivations are easier then. even if that path is bloody boring. step-by-step, even if tedious, is simply easier. and even if i don’t realize it, appears cooler. i feel as though my eyes are shut inside my head. it is almost screaming for rest. i force the alertness. the slower thinking needs to be maintained until it is too slow. at that point, i risk being called ’stupid’. the natural faculties aren’t much higher above that level in the first place. degrading myself seems a second nature now. that probably isn’t right. i like to think it keeps me on my toes. over-analysis, and still not reacting, points to some amount of craziness on my part. somehow, i seem to have filled up at least part of this page. some relief is there, though the creativity i’m looking for seems to be lost. i need to write, create; fictionalize… explore that arena of my brain. i don’t want to lose it. i’m probably in denial though. i’ve already lost it.