Ever since I used a Kindle a couple of months ago, I have been meaning to write a post about it. But as with such “meaning to write” topics, this one never took off.
Seth Godin, marketing guru, has a fabulous post about the Kindle, and analyzes the product from different perspectives. A highly recommended read.
Image via WikipediaAs we all know, Hillary Clinton will suspend her campaign tomorrow, and will endorse Senator Obama. I was wondering what she will say tomorrow, considering she has been bitter especially over the past few months.
I am not going to write out an entire speech here, but going by the way she has plugged for her website in the recent past, I bet she is going to say towards the end of her concession speech:
“And, by the way, remember to visit www dot hillary clinton dot com, and donate liberally!”
Image via WikipediaCarlo Ancelotti has, according to reports, rejected an offer to manage Chelsea Football Club. The offer is known to be in the range of 6 million pounds a year, effectively double his current contract with AC Milan.
Ancelotti’s snub reveals the extent to which top managers in Europe think unfavorably of the Chelsea job. In terms of performance in the Champions League in recent years, the Italian leads the pack with three final appearances and two trophies in the last six seasons. However, his teams are not exactly known for playing the type of football that Roman Abramovich wants to see, yet his money cannot buy.
With Mark Hughes* rejecting Chelsea to accept the relative comfort of Manchester City, the past 24 hours has seen both of Chelsea’s targets jilt them. It was previously rumored that Luiz Felipe Scolari might be handed the reins at Stamford Bridge, but the Brazilian had not been as forthcoming. Now the spotlight falls on Frank Rijkaard and Roberto Mancini, who was not really a choice until yesterday.
The manager’s role at Chelsea might mean lots of money, both to spend and to take home, but it also comes with an uncertain job description – one that expects the best of both worlds (good football and winning football). So, even Jose Mourinho‘s 6 trophy wins in 3 seasons was deemed not good enough. In the recent past, only two managers have proved that they can win the Champions League while playing attractive football – Frank Rijkaard and Sir Alex Ferguson. Considering the latter might not be too keen on uprooting his family to the south, Rijkaard now seems most likely to inherit the poisoned chalice.
* Mark Hughes deciding to leave Blackburn Rovers for Manchester City is surprising. Considering that Sven-Goran Eriksson was sacked by Thaksin Shinawatra, though the Swede led City to their best finish in recent years, the demands of the boss at City is just as uncertain. How long can Sparky last?
This is a video about a USB plug-and-play virus that targets Apple Macs. Must confess that even the viruses for the Mac are so cool 
At this very moment, the word that would most likely describe me is promiscuous. Over the past week, I have tried at least a hundred WordPress themes. No love affair has lasted more than a few hours – prompting me to wonder if even promiscuous is too light a word.
I hardly change blog themes. But, on this occasion, it was more out of necessity.
It all started with my decision to upgrade my WordPress installation to the latest (2.3.3). My trusted TripleK2 theme (which I had settled upon after a bout of promiscuity) decided that it could take no more. So just to not let the blog lapse into a coma, I settled on one of the themes I had used in the past – Tulip Time. Let me confess that I thought even the females would think Tulip Time was so very feminine (notwithstanding a few comments over the past week that the theme did look good!).
I am not a fan of 2-column themes, because I feel that having just one meta-column means having to compress too much meta information (About, Subscribe links, Recent Posts, Archives, Ads, Blogroll etc.) into one single line. I have consistently picked 3-column themes, as they help balance the extras rather neatly.
Today, however, it occurred to me that having an extra column would bring about an even more equitable distribution of these extras. The result is the Quadruple Blue theme that this blog now sports. I think it looks kinda neat, without any distracting images. It uses shades of blue rather well. I see a few negatives in it, the most evident being it doesn’t display the blog’s tagline. (Not that I have a killer tagline, but someone who does might feel bad.)
I still have some edits to put in, the subscribe links, for example. If you, dear reader, feel I can add something into the theme, do let me know. What’s that? Some good content? OK, let me try.
As I was settling into my seat in a rather empty bus this morning, I observed a young lady prospecting for a seat. She looked at the seat two rows ahead of me, only to discover that it was right on top of the tire. Disappointed, her head turned 180 degrees, only to discover that the seats to her left were also on top of the tire.
To me, it brought back visions of this video…
Essential wisdom for bloggers:
“Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.” – Edward R. Murrow, US broadcast journalist & newscaster (1908 – 1965)
DesiPundit is looking for a new tagline, and is inviting suggestions. The folks are offering $50 for the one they will use. Cool money, and definitely worth a shot. The suggestions are already pouring in, and I can already see some winners there. You can add your idea as a comment to the linked post. Contest ends November 5.
Desipundit is closing down, and it’s a huge disappointment. Both as a reader and a (small-time) contributor, I have enjoyed the Desipundit experience immensely. I join a list of readers whose daily reading list will now have a void.
Yes, there are desi Digg-clones, but DP proved superior as it has had some kind of unspoken editorial policy (variously criticised as being elitist, Northie-centric, narrow in scope, even nepotic) which has ensured that the posts we link to are good, and the kind that people will love to read, refer to friends, and get back to us for more.
This is probably not the time to answer critics; but there is one point worth nothing. As of July 2006, Desipundit had linked to over 5000 posts across 1450+ blogs. Honestly, this statistic surprises me, and I’m sure every other contributor would feel so too, because for long, we had ourselves bought into the argument that we were linking to too few blogs.
Closing as it does, with an average linking rate of over 80 posts and 25 new blogs every week, Desipundit is sure to be missed in the Indian blogosphere. By fans and critics both.
In order to attend to some personal and professional commitments, I’ll take a break from active blogging for a couple of months.
Thank you. Au revoir.
P.S.: The oldies posts might continue.
Picking up this tag from Vinayak. Never mind if you spot a few lies in this post…
What is your full name?
Vijay Krishna Narayanan
Are you American Or English?
Tanglish
What are you listening to right now?
To some conversation at a nearby desk (kinda eavesdropping!)
What are the last two digits of your phone number?
74
What was the last thing you ate?
Donuts. Love ‘em
If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
White. (now, is there a white one?)
How is the weather right now?
Windy. Heck, it is 11 PM!
Last person you talked to on phone?
The telephone operator! Wanted him to get me a number in the US.
First thing you notice about the opposite sex?
The safest answer is already taken! “The eyes. Undoubtedly.”
Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Kini, why do you do this to me!?
Vatsan has tagged me, and this time, you, I and everyone else stand to gain a free air ticket. Just answer a simple question, tag four others and submit it on Pagalguy, and voila, your free air ticket is flying your way. The question is:
Q: On which GoAir Sector would you like to win a free air ticket?
A: Chennai – Delhi (cos it’s the longest, right?)
The rules state that I must copy the entire junk they have put up, but since I’m not winning anything, why care? Go ahead, why say “No” to linklove?
I tag Vinayak, Sekhar, Aparna and Thennavan.
Tagged by Vinayak. Here are 6 weird things about me:
1. I listen to one song at a time, in the repeat mode. If I like it, I’ll listen to it all day long, for weeks. I consider Johann Pachelbel’s Canon to be among the finest pieces of music ever composed. I should have listened to James Galway’s rendition of it a few thousand times till date — arguably the most number of times for someone who is neither a student of the flute, nor is a practitioner.
2. I can manage with about four hours of sleep daily. And without solid food for two days on the trot. Seriously!
3. I failed my first test for a driving license — on a TVS Champ!
4. Whenever I read a book, I tend to resonate with one particular character — and it is generally NOT the main character. Like in The Hound of the Baskervilles, I found Mr. Frankland the most like me, for Doyle describes him thus: “He fights for the mere pleasure of fighting and is equally ready to take up either side of a question…“
5. The last Hindi movie I watched was Parineeta. Before that, I don’t remember watching any Hindi movie, not in the ten years before that at least. In fact, I have watched more films in the French language than in Hindi.
6. I enjoy wordplays, and I attempt them ad nauseum. While speaking in the Youth Parliament when in college, as a member of the Opposition, I closed the debate on a bill seeking reservation for women in Parliament thus: “The Government seeks to give women a fair representation in the legislating bodies. But, Mr. Speaker, I think it would be fairer if the fairer sex fare well in a fair competition.”
Despite (3), my driving record is quite impeccable. And given my recently-acquired tag as a male chauvinist, I think (6) is a bold confession to make, what say?
I hereby tag Vatsan, KG, Praveen, Vijay R and Anu.
Marketing guru Seth Godin has compiled a huge list of ways to get more traffic for your blog. Many of the tips are obvious:
#8 Announce news
#15 Be sycophantic. Share linklove and expect some back.
#38 Write about blogging.
#39 Digest the good ideas of other people, all day, every day.
#46 Edit yourself. Ruthlessly.
#48 Be patient.
#50 Ping technorati. Or have someone smarter than me tell you how to do it automatically.
Some are controversial:
#10 Encourage your readers to help you manipulate the technorati top blog list.
#14 Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
#21 Use photos. Salacious ones are best.
And some are contradictory:
#2 Be topical… write posts that need to be read right now.
#5 Be timeless… write posts that will be readable in a year.
#9 Write short, pithy posts.
#12 Write long, definitive posts.
#11 Don’t write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.
#13 Write about your kids.
But in all, it is a funny, interesting read. You better read it, because it isn’t a nice idea to mess up with the gurus!
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