Eye-opener

 Business  No Responses »
Sep 302008
 

From an 1998 interview with Michael Dell:

“… That means we have to stay on top of our customers’ needs, and we have to monitor and understand the innovations in the material science world- everything from semiconductors to polymers to liquid crystal displays. You need to track anything having to do with the flow of electrons, and you need to keep asking how these marvelous developments might be useful to customers.

The customer doesn’t come to you and say, “Boy, I really like lithium ion batteries. I can’t wait to get my hands on some lithium ion.”

The customer says, “I want a notebook computer that lasts the whole day. I don’t want it to run out when I’m on the plane.”"

Reminds me of a quote from Henry Ford: “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said, “Really fast horses!”"

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 3:20 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Sarah-ppalling!

 People, Politics  3 Responses »
Sep 292008
 

As someone rightly pointed out, this woman makes George “Dubya” Bush seem like an intellectual.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 11:26 pm  Tagged with: ,

John McCain: a failed leader

 Politics  1 Response »
Sep 292008
 

John McCain’s leadership credentials have taken a huge beating, after the “bailout plan” for which McCain claims all the credit (and totally undeservedly) was defeated in the House of Representatives.

McCain’s supporters and campaign managers had gone on every single news program claiming that it was the Arizona senator who had engineered bipartisan support for the bill, while also calling for the plan to be rewritten and expanded upon. This from a man, who had just a couple of days earlier claimed not to have read the original 3-page Paulson plan. And a man who openly agrees that he does not understand the economy.

Yes, quite a few House Democrats did not vote for the bill. But House Republicans, who Senator McCain claimed to have convinced voted “Nay” in large numbers. This is a huge failure for Senator McCain; it shows that neither does he have any knowledge of the economy nor does he have the leadership required to run a country in crisis. Damn, he doesn’t have his “House” in order.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 2:07 pm  Tagged with: , ,

iRan and iRaq

 Miscellaneous  No Responses »
Sep 252008
 

It’s all Steve Jobs’ fault.

Else, why would zero-IQ Sarah (like that Miss Teen USA or someone) continually mispronounce the names of these two countries? I mean, just because the iPod is so popular, not everything that starts with an “i”… no, forget it.

I am an ay-ndian, so I’ll never get it.

By the way, can you believe, this Palin woman, she talks foreign policy in terms of “good guys” and “bad guys”? Like some 3-year old. Reminds me of this Youtube video.

McCain should have considered the young girl for his running mate. OK, but he has already picked me.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 11:38 pm

Vijay Narayanan for Vice President

 Politics  2 Responses »
Sep 252008
 

I hereby invite Senator John McCain to consider replacing Governor Sarah Palin with me as his running mate.

Well, there are many reasons why he need not. For one, I am not a former Miss Alaska runner-up. I don’t know what a moose is. Hockey-moms won’t vote for me. When last measured, I had a three-digit IQ  (and the first digit isn’t a zero!).

But here is one strong reason why. I have had a photo of me taken outside the gates of the White House. That means, I have a thorough understanding of foreign policy, defense, the economy and handling crisis situations. At least, that is what Palin-logic leads me to infer:

Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It’s funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don’t know, you know … reporters.

Couric: Mocked?

Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.

Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…

Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.

(Courtesy: CBS News)

Oh, and I have been to a couple of other countries as well. I’m so confident of getting onto the ticket! Moreover, I’m only 25, so the average age of our ticket is lesser than the Obama-Biden combo. So all you folks, go out on November 4, and vote for Senator McCain and me. Remember, we’ve seen it all.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 11:14 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

“The economy is like a bathtub”

 Business  1 Response »
Sep 242008
 

Speaking on MSNBC this morning, Warren Buffett was all praise for Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, of whom he said he was “thankful Paulson had the imagination to come up with the plan.” When asked why the taxpayers should foot the bill, Mr. Buffett replied “The economy is everyone’s problem…”

And he continued, tongue-in-cheek, “You see, the economy is like a bathtub – you can’t have cold water in the front, and hot water at the back!”

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 10:17 am  Tagged with: ,

Is God…

 Personal  3 Responses »
Sep 232008
 

… an interface or an abstract class?

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 12:26 am  Tagged with:

The Ghost Goal

 Football  No Responses »
Sep 222008
 

This happened yesterday when Reading took on Watford.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 10:29 pm  Tagged with: , ,

If…

 People, Politics  No Responses »
Sep 202008
 

… knowledge of the economy, and proven executive experience are the parameters on which the Presidential race were decided, maybe it is time Americans said in one voice “Hank Paulson for President!“

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 7:19 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

World of Warcraft

 Miscellaneous  No Responses »
Sep 172008
 

I am not a big-time gamer; mostly, I prefer playing sports (football – of the soccer variety, and tennis) games on the computer. Online role-playing games have not interested me one bit. Second Life held my fascination for a while, but I was looking at it more from an academic perspective than from an entertainment perspective.

When people talk of Second Life, another multiplayer online role-playing game that people talk about is “World of Warcraft”. The Wikipedia entry for World of Warcraft (or WoW) says that the game, the latest edition of which is set in the world of Azeroth, is the world’s most popular massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), hogging more than 60% of the MMOG market, estimated at around 10 million subscribers.

Games are generally time sinks. But World of Warcraft seems like  a massive resource sink as well. It requires 512 MB of RAM (considering Windows Vista needs around 300 GB of RAM to run at acceptable speeds, you need at least 300.5 GB of RAM), and a whopping 6 GB of free hard disk space. However, in case you are looking to save some money on World of Warcraft, you should consider this website – cheap wow accounts.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 11:18 pm

McCain and the Blackberry

 Politics  1 Response »
Sep 162008
 

Back in the day when I was part of a large development team, one of my co-workers who was not having much work for a couple of weeks (incidentally, those who know him know well that he has had this lucky streak for years now) decided to borrow a book from the library. The book was called “How Tomcat Works?“; evidently technical in nature, and not for a lay audience anyway, lay being defined as the kind that has had a few years of hands-on experience in server-side technologies.

Now, we had a senior person on our team who was known to embellish his abilities and achievements. For this reason, he was frequently the object of water-cooler, or rather, coffee-vending-machine talk. Now, my friend had a question to ask of this person, and so he invited the latter to his cubicle.

Upon seeing the aforementioned book, the senior person said, “How Tomcat Works. Hmmm, why do you need such a book when you have a Tomcat architect in the team?”

My friend turned around and asked in as earnest a tone as possible, “Who?”

Those in earshot were in splits. And trying very hard (and some, rather unsuccessfully) to not break into a Hillary-esque ear-splitting, stomach-curdling, puke-inducing laughter. The senior person probably failed to sense the irony in my friend’s question, else he wouldn’t have responded, “Why, it’s me.”

Moral of story: “பொய் சொன்னாலும் பொருந்த சொல்லணும்.” (Lie, but convincingly.)

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 7:22 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Sarah Palin

 People, Politics  6 Responses »
Sep 132008
 

Interesting article from the New York Times on Governor Sarah Palin, titled “Once Hired, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes“. It could as well have been titled, “Palin: A Profile in Personal and Political Vendetta“.

Reading which reminds me of what someone wrote about former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. “When in New Delhi, Gowda would act as the Prime Minister of India from 6 AM to 6 PM. From 6 PM to 10 PM, he would act as if he were the Chief Minister of Karnataka. And from 10 PM till midnight, as if he were the Panchayat President of Hardhanahalli village!”

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 7:49 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Random

 Miscellaneous  No Responses »
Sep 132008
 

Random gyan from Sherlock Holmes (from A Study in Scarlet):

“Good boy,” said Holmes, blandly. Why don’t you introduce this pattern at Scotland Yard?” he continued, taking a pair of steel handcuffs from a drawer. “See how beautifully the spring works. They fasten in an instant.”

“The old pattern is good enough,” remarked Lestrade, “if we can only find the man to put them on.”

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 7:34 pm  Tagged with: ,

Enlightenment

 Personal  1 Response »
Sep 122008
 

Of what use are prayers or rituals, Arjuna, if the mind is impure and unyielding?

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 7:29 pm  Tagged with:

The Indian accent

 Miscellaneous  5 Responses »
Sep 112008
 

[Warning: totally, as in, T O T A L L Y, pointless]

The Indian accent is the object of ridicule in many situations. But for some situations, it gets the job done like no other. Mind you, I didn’t say it rocks or anything, but it gets the job done. Sample this.

Erika, if she were an American, would introduce herself as “Hi, I’m Erika.” To anyone else, it is going to sound, “Hi, America.” So when you proffer your hand during an introduction, you would be confused why you are hearing the name of her country instead.

Throw in the Indian accent here. “Haai, Ayam Yerika.” No confusions. The name is conveyed. And so is the nationality. See.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 4:44 pm
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