Posts tagged blogging

is blogging once a week really blogging?

Or should I resort to twittering? Given that I update my Facebook status once a day (as a rule of thumb), it seems I could tie it all up pretty neatly. Status update – twitter – blog post. But then you would be treated to such gems as ‘Satish is researching how to research’. Seriously. Didn’t seem to work out for Uber-T when he tried it either. Besides, Twitter seems to go against the philosophy of my wanting to keep abreast with writing. I’m not really “writing” too much here either, but at least paying to have this site alive forces to me add something to it at least once a week. Though for some time to come, I doubt I will be able to post much more frequently. Or much longer posts. Come to think of it, I used to be able to set aside time to post everyday… a long time ago. Posting more frequently might mean this space gets a plethora of updates like ‘Today I went to the loo in college. It stinks.’ or ‘I had choley for lunch today. Joy.’ Do I really want to degenerate to that? I’ve already degenerated significantly from the original tone of “thoughtful randomness” that characterized most of 2004 and 2005. Somehow more esoteric thoughts seem to occupy the forefront of my mind now. Such as what to have for lunch tomorrow. I’m guessing it has something to do with research occupying a majority of my waking life, but maybe I should push myself a little more. But then that’s what I always say. Pushing myself seems to imply limitations that I have to supersede somehow. Which is not easy. And that’s a tangent I’m forcing myself to develop right now. I was hoping to start talking about one thing, move to another, then another and  somehow bring myself back to the start. Like Pulp Fiction. Which reminds me that ‘Inglourious Basterds’ releases this summer. This summer is disappointing movie-wise. Just ‘Basterds’, ‘Wolverine’ and ‘Bruno’. Compared to last years plethora of BIG summer movies, this seems tame. Maybe ‘Transformers 2′ as well. A fanboy’s delight. Big huge robots. And Megan Fox. Yes! My movie list, as I have mentioned a billion trillion times, is growing at an exponential rate. And shows no signs of being whittled down. I wonder if I will ever watch even half the movies on the list. Or for that matter, even half the movies I’ve collected. Given the way I collect books which I eventually, eventually, finish…I’m confident there will come a time when I finish things up. Like my Reader. Which has been sitting pretty at 2000+ unread items and counting for the last year or so. Whew. I read tech-news weeks out of date and find it amazing… only to find how out-of-date I am. Damn. This post reminds me a lot of Riri’s “brain dumping” as she put it. Which is sadly offline now – she has moved to using FB notes. Which I do too – indirectly. But somehow that does not appeal to me as much as this page. I’ve suddenly realized that I have come back to FB/Twitter vs staying.cool. Which was the point of this post anyway. Which is why the blogging continues.

And somehow related to this is the fact that Kate Winslet chose the naked scenes route to winning the Oscar. Most of her movies in 2006-2008 have all had them. Which means there is something to that theory. Which reminds me of my theory that only “good” adaptations of source material can ever do well. Such as LOTR vs. Spidey 3. I know that this means I’m comparing an epic to a comic. But still… this was the subject of a morning debate that lasted a good 30 minutes. And then I complain to the would-be that I don’t come to lab on time. And that was a reference to the missus so that she doesn’t take offense to the fact that I don’t refer to her as much as she would like me to. Now everyone’s happy. And so the blogging definitely continues.

cross-post link alert

Since I post here so very often that you guys just cannot keep up with the flow in your Readers, I’ve made a very special, important and absolutely god-awesome post over at G’s blog. Which does not refer to porn at all. Ish.

Yes, that means you should go there and read it. Now.

partial -> full

i’ve jumped.

from half to full.

i’m not talking about cups. or bandwagons. or jacks. or pogo-sticks. or any other random association you might make.

the fact that you’re reading this sentence in your reader, should give you a clue.

i’ve read more than a few posts, such as this, and this, this, this, this, this, this [i assume you get the idea now]; all of which play devils advocate on the topic of partial RSS vs full RSS feeds. you have those who prefer to have a summary so they can decide, those who believe some kind of freedom is being affected, talk about the possibility of spamming, and those who talk of advertising advantages. now, i personally don’t mind clicking through on a partial feed (especially given a fx extension that lets me do it in reader direct), and more than a few spammy pings convinced me a few years ago to switch into partial feeds as well. recently, i have even started putting in custom summaries [see how much i love you guys?].

i do mind having my content stolen by spammers [eg: right here].. even if only a few people read it in the first place :) but, i’m going to suck it up, and no, this is not because i read a lot of posts about how people don’t read partial feeds as much. at all.

i have currently enabled full feeds for everything in this blog, if you do a ‘refresh’ in reader for my feed, you should see it take effect. this is not a momentous occasion, though i’m trying my best to make it feel like one :D

man, do i make a big hoo-ha about the most random of things..

update: “random of things”?! and not one of you said a thing? damn, damn, damn, damn..

oh, you love me.. you really love me!

once upon a time, long long ago, in blogland… a misguided soul was misguided enough (obviously) to appreciate other souls who, well.., blogged.

because this is what is done in blogland. you blog.

now the misguidance of our aforementioned soul was true misguidance. it wasn’t guidance under a false name, false address and fake social security number. this is was real, hardcore, full-blown misguidance. (note: that most of those adjectives have ulterior meaning has not escaped my attention. the reason will follow soon.)

and so, as is to be expected, the bloglanders (not bloggers, you poor misguided unfortunate souls)… well one of them anyway was jerk enough to ignore the appreciation. and ignore the ensuing sacrilegious booing that followed. he was a jerk. such people do not deserve awards, or even appreciation.

even when it comes as a result of misguidance.

however, people can change. even in blogland. this bloglander was shown the error of his ways. suffice to say it did not involve unspeakable things to do with transformers, electronics, and other… toys. it did not involve cream and jell-o and other… items. there was some beating around the bush (figuratively, not literally), some turning of the tables (again, figuratively) and some possibly undoable actions involving… blogging.

*shudder* (note whether in pain or in pleasure is left out due to a discerning audience)

the error has been seen. the light has shone down, and angels have sung.

i shall officially accept galadriel’s brilliante weblog premio award (awarded to me roughly a month ago). i understand that acceptance construes bestowing it ahead on another 7 of my ilk.*

this is not easy. i am not sure that 7 people exist who (a) follow this blog regularly, and (b) have not previously received it (y’see, it would be nice to have others see the light), and (c) it involves some amount of my appreciating others. i have seen the light, yes… but this step actually involves coming into the light.

the actual award(ing) function shall hence happen in a second post. it means i get to drag this out a bit more; clearly, a month is too short a timespan. and of course, if there are people who believe they should receive it (you and you don’t count.. not because you haven’t received it, but because i am still a little bit of a jerk), by all means, leave a comment. it means i will get another comment for my blog posts. score.

*and since it is galadriel, the usage of the above adjectives can be understood. if not, see here. and here. and here. and… you get the idea now, right? no? how dumb are you? i refuse to have anything more to do with you. go on, get off my blog. click the close button on top. dum dum, navigate away from here now! i can’t be seen with you on my page. go away.**
**no, actually, wait. please wait. please please. you are actually reading my blog. don’t go. please. i will give you an award. right now. a BWPA. its awesome. you get to post about it and everything. its brilliante. its an award. you’re not dumb. you’re brilliante. me, i’m just a jerk. what do i know? don’t listen to me. leave a comment. have an award. don’t leave. please?

oh, and before i forget, thank you, galadriel. very much. see ? i’ve improved even more.

about

Everyone seems to have an ‘About Me’, or and ‘About this blog’ page. While I’ve always found them interesting; I’ve never bothered to write one. I hate those kinda questions: “Write 5 lines about yourself”. In a virtual sense, its crap. I could be Superman’s real alter ego, not that ultra-geek Clark; and you’d not know the difference. Which reminds me, when you look like Clark, why wouldn’t girls fall over you ? And would everyone not know you were Superman ?

As obvious as the hint may sound above, I’m not gay. I’m not interested in knowing how to inflate organs to superhuman sizes either; I think they would eventually get to be a bit of an embarrassment. This fact is lost on spammers however.

The person behind this blog is someone I’m still discovering. To the world, I’m Satish Easwar Viswanath, or SEV. Professionally, engineer, medical physicist and student. Wannabe traveller – I’ve lived in the UAE, India, the UK and (currently) the US. I’m currently confused about how best to describe myself, so I’ll randomly point out some likes/dislikes and crap that you might like to know about me. I believe that’s the point of this page anyway.

I have been an Anglophile from the time I learnt the meaning of the word (around the age of 6). Towards this end, I have cultivated a near maniacal obsession with English grammar, and a rather underused ability to write. Other interests include music in any form, movies of any kind in any language, books (once again, something I stopped counting at age 6). Books can be extended to include “anything that can be read”, and I’ve been known to spend time reading ‘Rules and Regulations of sitting in the bus’, when I’ve had nothing else. Comics are developing into a passion.
Techstuff (esp related to computers) is one of the focal points in passing my time, and trivia of any kind is another. As an example, I have actually watched the 35 hours advertised on the Matrix 10 DVD box set. It’s actually 36 hours and 10 minutes, not including bathroom breaks. I have next to watch the LOTR extended “making”, having sat through the 12-odd hours of the three movies.

In other news, I’m a cusp of Aquarius and Capricorn (or should that be Capri and Aquarius ?); which is another way of saying I’m one amongst the 23 types of people in this world ? Photography would be a passion if I let it be, but my major character trait of faineance has precluded many such activities. I also love complicating my sentences. I have been known be acidly caustic on extended occasion, and hate mornings, the common cold, stupidity and spam.

This blog was fashioned due to a few too many free afternoons in a lab, boredom in doing some assignments, and a questioning nature that reared its head once I left home. There used to be a philosophical/introspective streak which you might find in the older posts; but somehow, this ground for thoughts is all that remains. I have moved over various platforms from Blogger, to MyBlogSite, and now plan to stick to Wordpress. This domain is a collaboration with Ubertechnophile, and that happened due to a discussion in the UK about how Google is taking over the Internet.

The following is supposed to identify me to members of a elite community of geeks. I doubt it exists, because geeks are antisocial. I nearly am, but anyway :

—–BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK—–
Version: 3.1
GCS/E/IT/L/MU d-(+)@ s+:- a– C++$ ULC(+++) P+(++) L+(++) !E W++$ N+ o? K w+ !O M+ !V PS>+ !PE !Y PGP->+ t>+ 5>+ X R tv– b+++(++++) DI++++ D++ G++>+++ e+++>++++$ h+ r–>+++ y-
——END GEEK CODE BLOCK——

[Decode]

My bloginality, when I last checked, is INFJ (Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging).
We used to have a photo domain, but now you would find pictorial matter on my Picasa Web.

I try to keep up-to-date with all the blogs listed here, and then some. Please, contact me if you think you should be on this list; or if you want a reciprocal linky.

This is a pretty dynamic page, so don’t be surprised the next time you happen to come here..

encephalous leadership

i had no idea this happened, but greatbong kinda summarizes anything  i have to say on the topic.

just for comparison, an observation by suyog.

its simple really. sometimes, we indians just suck.