Why celebrate Jan 1 as New Year's day ?

There is really no good reason for this day being the one given that every religion/culture have their own New Year day - And the reason Jan 1 is even celebrated is because "that was the date the Roman consuls took over their duties"...I would have preferred celebrating the discovery date of electricity or the light bulb or the telephone ( who is stopping me, u might ask ? )...Celebrating Valentine's, Mothers, Fathers day etc makes more sense to me - every human being can relate to this...New Years can make sense to businesses, as it could be end of quarter ( if it was profitable )...but to a common man ??? And that too the day when some lazy Romans finally decided to work...ah ha....now I get it...a Roman is going to work...that deserves a celebration. Switch on the neon lights, play some loud music, call your friends and yell "The Roman is off to work...let us celebrate..."


HAPPY NEW YEAR... ( I meant this for Tamil New year's on April 14th )...

Got this from some message board:

"Socialism is a remarkably wonderful economic system if you happen to be sick, lame or lazy. It also affords government bureaucrats a tremendously beneficial career at the expense of those who choose to work. People who have gumption, however, are inclined to leave the system and relocate to America where meritocracy still exists to a limited degree. "Something for nothing" has always appealed to the sick, lame and lazys of this world. Free prescription drugs has always been at the top of their wish list. Yes, we do have socialists in America, but they are largely confined to university faculties and Hollywood. What's even more interesting, is that people who can afford it tend to leave those socialist countries for the U.S., get rich, then go back to their homelands to retire as a member of the upper class. "....


Have been reading "Gangs of New York". Reminds me of India. But if one reads 10 pages of this book ( actually any 10 ) u will get the idea. Every chapter seems to be the same. Havent seen the movie yet...

Zen Thoughts...

* Always remember you're unique. Just like everyone else.
* Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
* If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
* Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
* If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
* Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

Saw "Kutti" couple of days back. This was a decent movie. I would rate this better than most tamil movies. Most characters had performed decently. Couple of Raja songs were really good. ( "Chinna maharani" , "Thangachi Thangachi" )

Saw "Love Actually". LOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG chick flick.

"Today, A centres constitute nearly 70 to 80 per cent of the collections, and B and C centres, once the backbone of the trade, are now becoming insignificant." -- from Hindu's article on the Tamil movie industry performance in 2003. And Ram Gopal Verma had some harsh things to say in his Time Asia interview about making films for the non-urban population - "With my films, I'm targeting the urban multiplexes, the sophisticated media-savvy young crowd. Frankly, I couldn't give a f--- for the villages."

And of the top ten Tamil movies of 2003, only one had a title using English words ( "Boys" )...Does anybody care about Viduthalai Siruthaigal...

This is vacation week. Had to take vacation - else I would have lost the vacation days. Having fun though...

"When I watched 'Kaadhal Kondaen', I felt that maybe I could have had such a climax for my 'Guna'" -- This is part of Kamal's speech praising Danush. There was a discussion not long back where I had mentioned that KK is a better Guna - many Kamal fans ( veriyan ? ) didnt like that. Does Kamal feel that he could have done something better in Guna to get it to the level of KK ??? :-)

I saw "Dil Se" and "Pithamagan". A Mani movie and a Bala movie. A bad ( jevvu ) movie and a decent movie. I dont want to compare the directors again, but Bala is definitely better than many ( most ). Especially the fight sequences in "Pithamagan" were impressive. And the story is very focussed. Although establishing the bond between Surya-Vikram's character was too quick. In a couple of not-so-convincing scenes they have become thick friends. Reminds me of Mamooty-Rajni stuff in "Dalapathy"...

I dont understand Indian movies and slapping characters. I feel like everybody in ( love stories or drama movies ) seem to be slapping everybody around and the reciever doesnt seem to mind much - sometimes even ignoring it and continues delivering lines. I have seen many emotional families in my life, but a slap is a "major" incident that is remembered/recalled over years. And usually people react immediately. Most side characters ( comedians or college friends ) seem to get slapped and dont react.

Saw "Jism". We stopped it after 30 minutes. Couldnt tolerate it. What a poor remake of "Body Heat" ? And Bipasha Basu, please stick to modelling...

"a Jet Li fight sequence has a "Dhool" song playing in the background, sausages become pav bhaji, and Jackie Chan receives an avichamuttai instead of a black eye" - ROFLOL - this Hindu column ENglish films, Tamilish style was a good read - seems television has eaten only into Indian movie profits...Hollywood has adapted to Indian audience too...

Saw "Bruce Almighty" twice last night. Not that the movie was great. It was ok. But the second time, I watched it with the director's commentary. And that was fun. So much of the movie is made in post-production. Also most of the movie was shot in LA ( Universal Studios ) whereas the story location is in Buffalo. I felt like almost 20% of the movie's scenes were done post-production. All this just with Photoshop and "After Effects".

Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets.
"We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter.
"You don't?" I replied.
"We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply.
"So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?"
"That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.

Just noticed that many brokerage firms ( T.D.Waterhouse, Ameritrade ) are offering free trading for a month or two. They have become so desperate to get people to trade stocks. Bad times to be offering such deals...no money to spend and it is the holiday season.

Terra Server allows you to get aerial pictures of almost any location ( street, house etc ) in the U.S. The pictures are old ( taken in the 1990s ) but it is pretty cool. This picture is where my house is located ( although it was still not constructed when this picture was taken ).

Sometimes one catches a cold and have no idea where this came from. I couldnt figure out why I had a running nose ( I used a tissue every 10 sec )...finally figured out that the house had gotten too dry after I had switched on the dehumidifier in the basement...switched on the humidifier last night and had 4 hours of peaceful sleep...This happens every year ( humidity issue ) and I forget it every year...

Exams are over today. Too many movies to watch: Lord of the Rings, Kakka Kakka, Thiruda Thirudi, Jeyam, Julie Ganapathy, Love Actually, Iyarkai, Pithamagan...

I feel bad for those in the Arab world who thought Saddam was fighting for their cause. How could he have surrendered and negotiated with the soldiers ??? Come on, I will bet that Osama will not do that...Saddam's daughters still support their dad, inspite of "hating" him...hmmmm....

Got an email - sent to wrong address but had a nice URL link...

Every one of the charges against Saddam is valid except the last one: "Saddam Hussein may also be put on trial for his possible role in the insurgency against the coalition troops in Iraq now"...Is it a crime to defend oneself ???

I think we are seeing the last of Ramesh and Balaji in international cricket. The Bombay team ( oops, Indian team ) seems to doing fine. Hope the two of them enjoy their stints as 12th men...

This is interesting. They dont seem to leave any place for placing ads. Look at my "Shout" box. Somebody has placed an ad...

Microsoft to cut Swastikas from Font...I dont get this - the article clearly says that this symbol is used in Buddhism..."A form of the swastika has been used in the Buddhist religion to symbolize the feet or footprints of the Buddha. The symbol, which was also used widely in the ancient world including Mesopotamia, Scandinavia, India and the Americas, became common in China and Japan with the spread of Buddhism."....Is it ok to get rid of specific words and symbols from a software ( used globally ) just because it means something bad to one religion but works in another religion ???? What about using this in kolam...havent Buddhism and Kolam been there much before the Nazi party was formed ????

Here is an interesting quiz: Programming language inventor OR serial killer

Disclaimer: These are not my jokes...

1. It is important that a woman keeps a clean home and has a job.
2. It is important that a woman makes you laugh.
3. It is important to find a woman you can count on and doesn't lie to you.
4. It is important that a woman is good in bed and loves making love to you.

And finally,

5. It is really important that these four women don't know each other

If somebody wants to contribute to the family or the cause of S.K.Dubey, here is the link...S.K.Dubey Foundation...

It is official: Two Indians in the PGA tour this year...Arjun Atwal and Daniel Chopra...


The New California Governor has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the state, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, The Terminator's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Austro-English" (or, perhaps even better, "Austrionics".)

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

If zis mad yu smil, pleas pas it on to oza pepl.

Busy weekend. Spent good part of Sunday shoveling snow ( 10 inches ). I and my friend did the job together. 2 driveways - 3 hours approx. We did miss the beer. And traffic was so light today. Although I saw school buses. Maybe the parents decided to take the day off.

Important Golf News: Arjun Atwal could be the first Indian golf player to play in the PGA tour ( premier golf tour in the world ). Today is the final round. He is ranked 10th currently, and the top 30 get to play in the PGA tour. Also Daniel Chopra is a player from England - he could also be of Indian origin. If these 2 qualify, then there will be 3 players of Indian origin in the PGA tour next season...( Vijay Singh - world no 2 - is of Indian origin ).

Looks like every Indian batsman in the last test ( India-Australia ) did decently. So is this the beginning of the end for S.Ramesh ??? permanent 12th man for this tour...

Is this the First Computer "bug" ever recorded ??? This is a cool clock - some school project...


S.A.T. TESTING

The following questions and answers were collated from the SAT tests given to 16 years-old students! Don't laugh too hard-- one of them could become president one day!

Q: In a democratic society, how important are elections?
A: Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election
Q . What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets on the stairs.
Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.
Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to adultery.
Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.
Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?
A: Keep it in the cow.

This is a sad day for me. A college & batch mate has been murdered when doing his job...I have seen him many times in the mess, canteen, TV room, magazine room etc although I dont recall having had a conversation with him...

Hmmmmmm...

Took me 2 hours to get to work yesterday. So frustrating. A colleague of mine came in around 11 - took him 3 hours for 30 miles !!! Some guys turned around after an hour or so...sick ( of driving ) leave...all this because there was few minutes of snow fall in the night and it was a clear sky and roads were clear during the drive...

Go to Google.com and search for miserable failure. Look up the first link that Google serves up...The many faces of Michael Jackson...this is scary - Microsoft fires worker over blogging...I am at work too...:-)

Arjun Atwal has made it to the final round of the PGA qualifiers. This is golf news, btw....


I've spent most of my money on beer and women. The rest I just wasted....

Understanding Women...

For all you guys out there who just can't figure it out, here it is – In the world of romance, one single rule applies: Make the woman happy. Do something she likes and you get points. Do something she dislikes and points are subtracted. You don't get any points for doing something she expects...Sorry, that's the way the game is played.
Here is a guide to the point system.

Simple Duties:

You make the bed... (0)
You make the bed, but forget to add the decorative pillows... (-1)
You throw the bedspread over rumpled sheets... (-2)

You leave the toilet seat up... (-5)
You leave the toilet lid down... (-10)
. . . after the lights are out... (-30)

You replace the toilet-paper roll when it's empty... (0)
When the toilet-paper roll is empty, you resort to Kleenex... (-1)
When the Kleenex runs out you shuffle slowly to the next bathroom... (-2)

You go out to buy her spring-fresh extra-light panty liners with wings… (+5)
But return with beer... (-5)

You check out a suspicious noise at night ... (0)
You check out a suspicious noise and it's nothing... (0)
You check out a suspicious noise and it's something... (+5)
You pummel it with a six iron... (+10)
It's her father... (-10)

Social Engagements:

You stay by her side the entire party... (0)
You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with a college drinking buddy... (-2)
Named Tiffany... (-4)
Tiffany is a dancer... (-6)
Tiffany has implants... (-8)

Her Birthday:

You take her out to dinner... (0)
You take her out to dinner and it's not a sports bar ... (+1)
Okay, it is a sports bar... (-2)
And it's all-you-can-eat night... (-3)
It's a sports bar, it's all-you -can-eat night, and your face is painted the colors of your favorite team... (-10)

A Night Out With The Boys:

Go out with a pal... (-5)
And the pal is happily married... (-4)
Or frighteningly single... (-7)
And he drives a Mustang... (-10)
With a personalized license plate (GR8NBED)... (-15)


A Night Out:

You take her to a movie... (+2)
You take her to a movie she likes... (+4)
You take her to a movie you hate... (+6)
You take her to a movie you like... (-2)
It's called DeathCop 3... (-3)
Which features cyborgs having sex... (-9)
You lied and said it was a foreign film about orphans.... (-15)

Your Physique:

You develop a noticeable potbelly... (-15)
You develop a noticeable potbelly and exercise to get rid of it.... (+10)
You develop a noticeable potbelly and resort to loose jeans and baggy Hawaiian shirts... (-30)
You say "I don't give a damn because you have one too"... (-800)

The Big Question:

She asks, "Do I look fat?”... (0)
You hesitate in responding... (-10)
You reply, "Where?"... (-35)


Communication:

When she wants to talk about a problem, you listen, displaying what looks like a concerned expression... (0)
For more than 30 minutes... (+5)
For more than 30 minutes without looking at the TV... (+10)
She realizes this is because you've fallen asleep... (-20)

We ( friends and me ) planned on Thurs night, how to get hold of every free item on sale on Friday morning. Everyone was assigned a store and everybody seemed excited at 7:00 pm. Few beers later ( 11:00 pm maybe ) everybody had changed their mind. It turned out to be for the good...the cops were turning people away from WalMart because all parking lots within a n-mile radius were packed...interestingly I went yesterday to WalMart and saw the same deals and the items were available...:-)

Is this professional ??? I dont think so. "Vice-captain Rahul Dravid stood-in for Sourav Ganguly on the field today who chose to have an extended batting net while the game was on. Even when Ganguly came back to field in the second hour, Dravid continued to lead the side"...

Saw "Signs" last night. I didnt like it the first time, but found it ok. Actually the post-production video was cool. The amount of story-boarding work done is amazing...Here is a cool script to storyboarding to screen flash movie of "The Last Samurai"...

Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid
I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra in Twister." I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the "cruise control" and then went in the back to make a sandwich.